The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-01-22
The Farmers Family Present and
Future.
PAPER READ ny FRANCES NJ. EvEs'ATTnE
MEETING OF TIE STATE BOARD OF
AGRICULTURE AT BLooMsBURG,
ON THURSDAY, DEC.
3. 1888.

MEETING OF TIE STATE BOARD OF
AGRICULTURE AT BLooMsBURG,
ON THURSDAY, DEC.
3, 1885.
In retrospectioD of thirty years as
part of a farmers family, residing in
one Of those beautiful valleys of cen
trail Pennsylvania, separated from
the bnsy outslde,,world by those dividing
ridges that form the Allegheny range,
but have not yet aspired to the name
of mountain. Reared under cir
oumstances perhaps quite as IA
vorable as those Of farmers
families by which we were surrounded;
we love to recall that primitive life
and that of the generation preceding
our own, its simplicity and economy
The hand to hand struggle to provide
for, and educate large family, the
privations, and lessons of endurance,
and hope, held in reserve have been
marvellous helps ia after life.
In those farmers families of the past,
sacrifices were made, habits of reflect
ion formed and seed sown which has
produced the advanced thought, ,thatt as
been brought to bear upon every avenue
of art aud science, ,and has eliminated in
innumerable inventions to tighten the
toll and lessen the labors of the yeo
many of our land.
To those unpreteDding farmers
homes we are indebted for such men as
Washington, Lincoln, Greeley, Whit
tier and long line of kingly men and
noble women who rose above their
fellow men, whose lofty aims and
noble deeds and aspirations have made
the world better, the surroundings
pleasanter, and produced opportuni-
ties to satisfy the thirst for knowledge,
which had been denied them, possible
for those that followed. In the farmers
families of the past, integrity was the
watchword,toil the constant experience
idleness, almost unknown.
In the years 1914 and 1796, efforts
were put forth, in this state, to esta!'-
lsh state society for agricultural i'm
provements. In 1900 was held the
first national agricultural society at
Georgetown, district of Columbia, for
the promotion of domestic aud rural
economy. The farmers family of the
present are the recipients of the i'm
portant results of those early efforts, in
the State Board of Agriculture, literary
societies, reading clubs and public Ii
brares. All are the outcome of the
needs the farmers family of the past
felt, and slrovc TO overcome.
As our representative men assemble
to discuss the merits and dement's OF
subjects pertinent to intelligent hus-
bandry, new questions continually rising
before the old can be answered, do
they ever discuss subject exceeding
all others in Importance, and upon
which depends their success Or failure
in life ? Do they discuss how 10 pro-
mote the health, comfort, and educs-
cation of their families, how to provide
homes of taste and refinement, sur
roundings that will imparL good in
fuence, mould the thoughts of the
young, and prepare them for the war
fare incident TO daily life? Pardon NE
if undue stress is placed upon this.
The responsibilities of the present can
rot be ignored. The farmers family
of the present will furnish the recruits
in the future,as it has done in the past
to the executive mansion, senate cham
Der, legislative halls,to the ministry, edi
tors sanctums, law, banks, and mercan
tile offices and in the retirement oi
rural homes are growing up daughters
worthy to be the helpmeet of such
who will be qualified to give judgment
in all that constitutes the individuality
of woman. The earnest thinking
farmers wife and daughters of the
present must lift their communities t.
higher plains of thought and maintain
the ground they have won by forcing
their way into the higher walks o
literature, and make the way easier TO
succeeding generations.
From the farmers families of the
present in possession of a rich inheri
tance from the past, we will pass t
the farmers families of the fut ure
from this age of invention, to the ag,
of culture and draw aside the mystica
vail; and invade this ideal realm of the
future, to find that the possibilities OF
the past and present will in the future
become realities Without recapitulat
ing we will remind the farmers present
of unperformed duties. Surely the
wisdom of the generation we have
just passed from, will protect the farm
ers families by wholesome laws that
will control or subdue the awful traffic
Of Intoxicating liquors, that blasts the
hopes of so many families, and casts {
shadow over every heart The cul
ture of the tobacco plant will, also be
prohibited by law. Its pernicious ust
will no longer impair the physical ard
dwarf the intellectual powers of those
upon whom the burden of maintaining
this government must rest.
| The question of the inferiority OF
woman will no longer be mooted
Time, women, and intelligent men vii
have grappled with and settled it. Ir
her true sphere; she will, in the futur,
be the acknowledged equal of nan, il
religious, domestic and civil affairs anC
in all of the reform movements auC
lawful avocations Of life.
Compulsory laws will exist in regarC
to attendance at public schools, where
industrial training will form the tru'
basis of all teaching. This kind o
training will help all to become self
supporting and thus suppress vagranc.
and crime in this favored era. Pro
lection to the sanctity of the home
scattered over this great prairiea of tn
west, on pleasant hlllsides and lovel,
valleys of the east will be secured
Then, indeed, will the farmers tamil
become the bulwark of the great re
public. His will be an Arcadian life
| anch ns insnirad The mat nnniallnm