Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-03-20
Good Farming as Teacher of Morals

Journal of Agriculture.
1t behooves every man in every
pursuit to do what he has to do to
the best of his ability. For his own
sake, not only because it pays him
better, and wins for him more of
what is desirable in the world, but
also for the sake of the influence and
the moral effect. A man does not
live to himself. Tied together by all
bonds which bind in its aggregate
what we call "society,"a man may
feel that as an unimportant integer
in the great mass of figures, he has no
influence, but no man can safely act
on this assumption. Even the far
mer, whose life is always quiet, and
generally comparatively isolated, has
influence for good or evil, if not in
his personal associations, then in the
exhibit he makes to the world in his
work.
If one sees a botched job of carpen-
try, a poor piece of blacksmithing, or
any other defective specimen ofhandi-
craft, the thing most prominently
suggested in his mind is the worth
lessness of the mechanic who did the
work. So it is with farming. A
man riding along a country road and
looking at the farms that lie along on
each side will involuntarily draw
conclusions as to the character of their
owners, from the appearance that
each presents. If a farm is we'll
fenced and looks trim and clean,
cleared Of briars and weeds, well
drained and well titled, it takes no
effort to picture a man, bustling, ac-
tive, shrewd and energetic, square in
, his dealings, methodical and system
, attic in his work, with his farm paid
for and money in bank. Nor is that
r all it is easy to go on with the pic
: ture. One will expect to find the
9 household of such man as well Or
Q dered as his farm; a wife who is a
, thrifty, busy housekeeper, and child
v rem who are obedient, intelligent and
q industrious, who stand at the heads
: of their classes, and who, when they
/ arrive at years of maturity, will not
D be found loafing in disreputable
places, but following in the footsteps
t of their father.
4 The silent influence for good ofsuch
e man can hardly be estimated. The
n contemplation of good example has
+ an influence extending beyond the
# limits of its own line of life. "Act
Il well your part, there the honor les y
applies as forcibly to farming as to
It any other calling, and the mere fact
@ of doing well what falls to ones lot is
n standing rebuke TO the slovenly and
@ careless, and braces up the weak to
/ renewed efforts. For it is a speaking
If illustration of what may be done by
" grit and determination, and invinci.
d BILE proof of how much better it is tC
Il make good use of our means than tC
l. abuse them.
J. The farmer whose farm not only
r. thrives but presents the outward evil
dences of it, which bears the sigr
manual of his thrift and prosperity
~ always commands the respect of his
40 fellow men. If some one is wanted
Il for responsible position, he is the
- man selected. If he should want t.
a borrow money, he can always get it
" He is naturally ranged by all whC
~ ~ see his farm with the honest, the up
+ right, the sober, and the patriotic.
~ On the contrary, the man whose
70 farm presents a shiftless look will
naturally be set down as shiftles'
- character. Vice and crime and in
W temperance are the concomitants o
- slovenliness and an unthrifty appear
o+ ance. To stranger the appearance
7 of any farmers home is primo faci
evidence against the character of thu
i man. He may be good man, bu
:, he is not likely to be one, and he Ger
or tainly will not be taken to be such.
The moral of this is, keep up you
=, fences, keep down your weeds, clear
~ out your fence corners, run your farm
~ Systematically, be prosperous and b.
D. ., honest, and you will be respectedanC
VI have influence for good beyond wha
~ you may expect.