Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-02-28
FARM LIFE.
Tho views Of n Bright Woman

frequent answers W correspondents VII
the subject of the superiority of
agriculture to other pursuits. 1t is
evident to me that you never wholly
depended upon farming for food and
clothing or your opinion would be
changed. | once thought with you,
but ten or twelve years of practical ex-
perience, thought, and observation
have changed my views.
At first, let me ask you, is not a
thorough education the best worldly
inheritance parents can give their
children? If so, how is the farmer to
obtain it? He works harder, sleeps
less, lives palmer, and has fewer lux
uries than the jewellers in cities or vii
lagos. He cannot "have his cake and
eat it, too" and if all his luxuries are
not saved to sell, he has nothing with
which to buy his plain clothing, tools
and few groceries. He and his child
rem must work early and late, or they
cannot be clothed and fed. Not from
early spring until late autumn is there
anything like leisure for the farmer or
any member of his family. The few
weeks which then can be devoted to
study are insufficient to complete even
thorough English education, provided
he has school advantages, blessing he
does not always enjoy. Time, money,
and opportunity to study are his chief
lacks.
l know you will speak of his indie
pendence. grant that, although the
Indian and savage have a similar indie
pen dence for that matter. | also know
that he has few compensations. |
have enjoyed them for many years,
but to say that they in any way repay
him for the lack of nearly all life's lux
uries, graces, and refnements, to say,
in my estimation, that the moon is
more efficient and useful than the sun.
Colossal fortunes are built upon his
labors by the dealers and spectators,
by the fruits of his toll, while he enjoys
too little of the results of those labors
l feel that there is something wrong
somewhere, though what it is cannot
see; but l have faith enough in your
wisdom to think you could tell me- if
you would look at it in the right light.
Is it the middleman, or the purchaser,
or the speculator? Or has political
economy anything to do with it?
l am not thinking lightly on this
topic nor solely for myself; yet in my
own case l cannot see where we have
been at fault. | am forty-fve and
gray-haired. l have striven for years
with all my nerve and strength, and so
has my good husband. We have prac
tised economy, self-denial, and frugal
ity, along with our hard labor, to a
painful extent. We have done the
very best we could, and our toll has
not been adequately repaid, What we
have to sell brings always too little for
what we buy l can bear ordinary
privations, if not with cheerful at
least with patient submissions; but
when see no hope of anything but
the merest rudiments of an education
for the bright, bonnie BARNS the Lord
has given me- without sacrificing the
home itself, feel that it is too cruel
Providence, if it be not mans injustice
The farmer is not properly paid or
there would not be thousands of
mothers similarly situated.
In vacation, before l left school, and
before and since my marriage, 1 have
taught in rural districts both in Iowa.
Illinois, and Missouri, where the soil is
richer and the farmers more prosper
Gus than here. Fvesee many farmers
children with exceptionally bright
minds, and others Of natures best gifts,
But in a few years ignorance and toll
have laid their stamp upon them.
The girls marry farmers, and very
few years changes their blooming
youth to a haggard old age. Where is
there so over-worked drudge, with so
few recreations and SO little rest as the
farmers wife?
would like to 90 into a few details
to explain my meaning, but fear I've
already wearlrd you. Let me Just add
that the prices the farmer receives for
all products, such rs grain, butter. fowl,
and fruit, do not pay for the time and
labor expended in their immediate pro-
duction, except for very short periods
IN time of great scarcity, when the
benefit is only to the few, and not to
the farmer at large. For instance,
butter in the season of its abundance
always drops to 50 low price as to
hardly pay for the labor of milking
churning, and marketing. For the
capital expended in COWS and the land
devoted to their maintenance the
farmer is paid nothing. Let any far
mer tell you the number of days he has
worked on any one crop, and the actual
cost of the food his team consumes
during that time, with the cost of seed
and other expenses, and the prices for
which that crop would sell, or what it
is actually worth to his family at mar
ket prices, and he will not be paid
over from twenty-five to fifty cents per
Jor, opI bic Ino,1 a