The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1884-08-30


|+bouehtful men complain OF our boys ior
|not taking to the farm more Willingly
First farm life is not bed OF roses upon
(which to repose in dreamy existence ana
|inbale the fragrance OF sweet perfumes,
i onp before the Bucolics OF Virgil had
|piyen such charms to pastoral lie, Y re-
clan song in the stirring hymns Homer
to Ceres,had covered country lie with the
livery witchery OF fancy. But after all the
efforts OF ancient and modern genius TO
endow the farm with scenes ofunproken
pleasure it still remains a hard practical
I life, here at least and yet, we can see
see something in it, that is pleasant ana
agreeable when we turn cur fancy iree
at will to range. Waving corn and pas
( lures green, tinkling bells and lowing
herds, ripening grain and the reapefs
song, warbling birds and sighing zephyrs'
4 the honey bee hum and the grass
Zhopper chirp, the sultry noon and the
cooling shades, the flowing spring and
/ the babling brook, are suggestive OF
pleasure. But "my son." says the iarm-
er to his boy, "hitch up the mule and
break up that acre of new ground" and
then the hard pan OF solid TACT is reach
ed, and if there is any thing in it that
looks or sounds romantic or poetical, we
could never see it, and just here the
trouble comes ia with our boys.
There is nothing before them but hard,
dull monotonous work, and to contne
ambition unshaped and unpurposed to
this blank desoate order Of life, requires
something stronger than q mere venera-
ton for the old homestead to keep him
/ there. The cotton farms of the South,
are mere tread mills of almost protitless
drudgery, involving millions OF money
for general use, but a skeleton purse for
home consumption. Were these broad,
soon-to-be feecy acres, interspersed
with rich pastures and fine stock. fields
of waveing grain, and comfortable
barns, laborsaving appliances OF every
applicable design and use, there might
be something in these, to stimulate the
pride and hopes Of our youth, to remain
on the farms, and devote their talents to
improvement OF business, to which
their earlier years were almost forcibly
dedicated. Twenty years are not suffic-
lent to eradicate the inheritance of gen
erations, and the boys of to-day, have
learned of the easy life of their ancestors
in the storied excitements of the chase
over the hills and in the brakes, of the
sports of the heather, with fine guns and
whirring birds, and the generous carouse
around the social board when the days
sport was over. .a..5 a7
These pastimes have gone to return
no more, and in their place, where they
can be sustained, farm houses should
have the appliances OF books, papers ant
pictures, not only for amusement, bu
for education. Make farm life attractive
by surrounding it with something pleas
ant and tasteful, if not aesthetic. Do no
suppose that the barren profitless life o
Il cotton farmer in itself presents an,
special charm to the mind of the you'll
of ambition, although he first saw tn
light of day on its sacred soil. Th
\ farmers of the South should live wei
h every day in the year, and yet it exer
cises the tact and resources of some 0
our people, whose farms alone shoul'
4 produce the most ample supplies 10
home life, to get up good dinner for
friend who might drop in by way of call
\ But the subject widens and amulifie
as we write, and rather than be eprolix,w
y will close by saying, il you wish you
boys to stay at home, make farm life at
\ tractive with something, more inviting
4 than mere hard unremunerative work.