Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-01-12
Looking Backward and Forward.


Looking Backward and Forward.
New England Farmer.
There is, perhaps no more appropri
ate time in the whole twelve months
for taking a look backward and for
ward, than at the turning point be
tween the old year just past, and the
new year just begun. Our lives are
one continuous journey, always for
ward, each day and each hour bring
ing its present work that must be done
as long as life lasts, but as human life
is made up of experiences, memories
and hopes, it is well at these periods
which mark the progress of time, 10
take a look, after the manner Of the
old double faced Deity Janus, in two
opposite directions at the same time.
1t is not impossible that some of us
may have sometime wished that sum
mer or autumn would last all the year
round, and that the cold icy winter
might be left out of the annual arrange.
ment of seasons, but the history of
those nations who inhabited warmer
belts, where winter, as we understand
the term is never known, fails to show
that perpetual summer is particularly
conducive to the development of mans
greater possibilities. We need the
winter to teach US to be industrious
while the summer lasts, and also 10
teach us to be provident, to lay up
stores against time of need.
The division of the seasons into pc.
riods of activity, and Of comparative
rest and leasure, also shows us that
man should not require the whole year
for providing himself with the neces:i-
ties of life, or with those things which
contribute merely to the supply of his
bodily wants. If we sometimes find
ourselves compelled to work almost
constantly forsuppyling our daily wants,
we ought to take a little time now, es.
pecially if we are farmers, to learn
wherein we are working at such dis
advantage that even the animals Of
the forest have an easier time than we.
And first of all, let US look over the
account books, the records of the year
and see what we have been doing thest
past twelve months. Is il possibl,
that some of us have kept no books
Is it possible that we have trustee
wholly to our poor memories for a rec
ord of our financial transactions Their
let us begin now, and have something
r more satisfactory and reliable for tn
, future. M
1t has long been our belief tina
9 farmers failures are largely due to tn
neglect of good system of bOok.keep
ing. 1t is true that farmers very rare
: ly fail Of paying their debts, but man
: tail of reaching that high degree Of in
= dependence that would be desirable
e and which ought TO be within reach ,
all who labor as hard and as industr
d ously as most farmers do labor. 1t
our opinion that farming even in Ne
, England, is good deal better bushes
!. than many of us have been inclined
d believe. Very few farmers work q
n steadily as do the operatives in on
d mil IS and shops, while the majority {
: farmers possess a great deal that til
d shop man longs for. We all feel OF
d individual aches most keenly, and OF
1t own pimples doubtless often seem large
to us than the boils of our neighbor
70 So it's not always an easy matter
measure ourselves as others measure u
The mechanic who receives cash ia
all his labor can very easily see, froI
day to day, exactly how his financi,
affairs are running, but the farmt
whose capital is, largely invested
land, stuck, tools and buildings, an
s, whose ahors of today may not be pal
for until months hence, need to q
more than merely count up the halanc
OF his weekly earning in order to kno
whether he is really getting ahead (
running behind.
1t is good time now to turn over
leaf, to form good resolutions, and the
A. carry them out. Take the time no,