Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1885-01-10

My friend and had been talking
about the growing tendency Il.
America 10 Il return To country life.
and then | learned for the first
time that his WAS but Il tcn.acrc
farm. or had been for twenty-five
wears, until three years ago, when
five acres more were added to it.
...And do You really mcan," !
said. that oft Of these ten acres
You have supported Your family.
and in rugged New England:'
Yes; and sent the two elder
boys to college for the Junlorand
Senior years. and had, with my
wife. a trip to Europe"
The memory of the thousands
acre farms | had seen in the West
lose up very wildly beside this toy
affair. and | frankly confessed to
my friend that his ways and their
results were beyond my under
standing.
.Wrll," he said, "thrrc is a great
deal in choosing the work we are
best fitted 10 do. like farming.
and | do not like the noise OF the
World. So choose farming Tor
my work Then when left college
and was casting about for the clear
est road ON which to settle, |
stumbled upon Il coed number of
Young men returning from the
West, bankrupt in almost every
thing hut their elcquence to plead
against emigration westward. In
lie East, they said, we hear of the
one man who is a success. but Il
most never Of the hundreds who
are failures. And so it WAS per
hapS in Ibis way that was led to
conclude that Il few acrcScultivated
every foot. and with neighborS and
schools. and churches. and doctors.
and mi6dlcmcn or near markets.
and i'll Il healthi'ul nelghborhcod.
w;lS Il better outlook than many
acres in the West. all studded over
with chills and fever traps and
loneliness. So, starting with Il
patrimony of $4,000. Ipaid $500 for
this place-itS owners. unable to-
make aliving. had gone WcSt-and
spent &l200 more iii repairing
and furnishing. | brought my
bride TO it one summer morning,
and told hcrwe had tie farm, the
interest oi32000 and our faith to
start lite with
But the surprising thing is not
that You lave done so much with
so little, but that you have done II
on WORKOUT soil"
That the New England soil is
Worn out is he most amusing ar
guunent that is ever presented
against New England farming. The
soil is not worn ont. and is only
hard 10y comparison with western
virgin soil. Old England is smaller
than the State of New York and
it has been feeding her millions
for centuries. and exporting rs
well. Germany sends TO great
America cargoes of vegetables.
aud, i'll tact dlsgracetul and al
most unbelievable, hundreds of
barrels of eggs yearly. Mountain
ous little Switzerland takes care of
herself and cXportSioo. While com
palativclv small France has worked
over and over again every inch of
her soil, and given to all the world
a Share Of its delicate products. |
wish could tcllyou thceXact mum.
ber-I have it Somewhcrc-of the
hundreds of thousands OF chickens
raised in France yearly, aud of the
great income tlleretrom.'
But al these people. you forget.
are .jnStllving: there is no to-mor-
Tow for them
Il don't think the tillers Of soil
in France. for instance, need to
come to Americato lcarntlIe lesson
, Of to MORROW Their tomorrow is
assured in the peacctulneSs, and
content. and quiet industry of to-
day. The fact is, ! believe | am
coming to the conclusion that vast
territory is not an unmitigated
blessing. Our young men are led
by il 10 reach atar oil for What hes
nnhceded ut their very door. and
they are often wrencled to pieces
by the effort hundreds Of them,
alter dleary failures. are now wear.
inc their lives out on miscrly wages,
while the farms OF their ancestors
are going 10 ruin"
But YOU confess that fortunes
are not made on farm
The rest, and peace, and home
illness, and hcalfIluluess of Il coun
Try life may well be taken in cx-
change fer the bare dream Of Il fol-
tune. and more than you think
would take them il. they were not
crippled by fear to move a step
from their secured crust"
"Wcll, now let us go back, and
tell me. pray, how you brought up
large family on ten acreS?"
at has been done by industry,
economy, and turning every shad-
CIV of an opportunity to Advantage.
Every one of us has been a pro
durer. Everything possible has
been made to produce. Even our
two sugar naples have contributed
their share. My eldest daughter
has made bees her study, and has
II regular market in Boston and
Springfield for her honey. My two
elder sons, when home, devoted
themselves especially to the raising
of asparagus and celery, and be
came famous III the growing of
both. 1t was for these two vegeta-