The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-05-08
COUNTRY LIFE FOR CITY
LINERS.
aYou a farmer 7"

"You q farmer !"
That was what my wife said.
"You-why you don't know a
horse from a COW. You can't pillow.
Which would you plant 6rst-corn or
potatoes ?
''But my dear
Eyes, know all about that-you
could learn. OF course you could.
But what would We live on in the
meantime I? And if we did manage
to live. you are not strong enough to
do the hard work about farm. Fancy
CIV yourself splitting rails-you who
will never even split the kindling-
wood but must hire some little boy
to 90 it"
but don't mean"
"Of course, there is great deal of
poetry in hearing the birds twitter.
and in seeing the wild flowers nestle
down about the roots of an old messy
stump; but when it comes to feeding
the pigs on a wet day, with the mud up
to YOUR boot tops i! Oh, no, John !;
farming won't do at all. ;"
There shall not be a pig on the
place"
"Oh!"
Nor a square yard of mud.
My wife was overcome. She sat
down in her rocking chair and looked
through the doorway at the troop of
dusty, red faced children who were
playing ''catcher" ard whooping like
demons on the opposite side of the
street, but, like the poor craven bride
groom, "said never a word"
And / don't mean to plOw nor TO
do any more hard work than l am do
ing now. In fact l propose to 90
right On with my present business.
why, you said"
Eyes, | know. We were both
grumbling about the heat, and the
noise, and DUST of the city, when l
said that farm would suit US.
"And now you say that you didn't
mean to pillow. How can YOU be a
farmer without blowing Dig up the
ground with a spade ?"
Hired man."
when We can just barely afford
a hired girl. Why you are a hired
man yourself. And where will we
get the money to buy farm ?"
How much yearly rental do we
pay for this six room house, here on
Barr street. my dear?" / asked her.
well, I'm sure you ought to know.
You seem to have hard enough time
getting it ready when rent day comes
around. We pay $50 month, that
makes $500 year."
"And suppose We can rent a better
house, with six acres of ground about
it, and in the country. within three
miles Of Cincinnati, for half the mon.
ey, and only two rent days in the
year-what then p
"You can't do it"
Il can"
"Pshaw
81 tell you my dear, there are too
many people like you who imagine
that to be q farmer it is necessary to
20 to the end of the world. They don't
seem to know--and you yourself don't
know it-that poor man can put
his horses to his own pillow, and run
furrow through his own field, with
cut leaving his business in Cincir.
natl"
"No; l don't know it"
"Nst after what l have told you 2"
ono"
"Why, renting a country place
near the city, instead Of buying one
far away, i. the whole of the secret.
If l lease a piece Of property for
three years, that property is mine for
three years. What did Thorean say
about this very thing?
Il dent know"
HE said enjoy the whole earth,
but own none of it. Now, suppose
you and can find a-well, say a five
room house, in the country, in good
repair, with a good barn attached to
it, with an orchard, . kitchen garden
. pasture. and two or three acres of
arabic ground, within not more than
six miles of the city, if situated on
the line of q railroad or three miles
On turnpike; the whole renting for
about $50 or $500 . year-don't you
think We had better take it for a year,
just to try?"
''But you can't get it, John"
"Well, suppose we can"
81 don't know"
Then let me put it in this way
Suppose We can live in the country,
keeping our own horse, and COW. and
chickens. and not spend one cent
more than we would sDend IN life in