Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-12-21
FARM AND HOME.
The Dark side of Farming. ~


Practical Farmer A bright. witty
woman once remarked of those
married couples who sought disunlon
In the courts that they were misfit
couples; and surely this term may be
applied to those farmers who have got
into business unsuited to their
character and habits and In which
they chafe themselves. and live under
the dark shadow of discomfort. Con.
tentment is a spring Of happiness and
happiness in one $ vocation is the
secret of success. Riches and the
means Of extravagant living are not
often possible to the farmer; plain
sufiic.ency. abundance oven of all the
necessaries and many of the comforts
of life a farEier may have, but the
empty superficial pleasures of society,
the goss p. and the frivolous employ
ment which sonfe call society" are
scarcely consistent with farm life.
When these are thought to be the sum
of happiness then one pines in what
has been called the dreary isolation of
farm life. and contentment vanishes.
with all the brightness which it brings
to the life. There is no dreariness or
isolation when farmer and his family
'shut up in measureless content" find
within their narrow environments all
that is pleasing 10 an intelligent mind,
In the contemplation of all the beauties
and wonders of nature, in the pure
mir breathed, in the wholesome, varied
exercise of the field anu garden, in the
studies and pleasing discoveries which
are made day by day. and in the
'sweet restorer. balmly sleep" which
Is enjoyed nowhere else so fully as on
farm.
The man or woman who is q misft
farmer or farmers wife is to be pitied,
not Lecause farm life is not desirable. but
because the disposition to enjoy it and
make the most of it is wanting. and
Ibis casts dark shade over the life.
however one may be situated. Once
saw cross child given bright toy;
it was one that opened with a spring
and let loose gayly dressed figure.
The child in its petulence threw the
toy from him with force enough to
loosen the cover. and out burst the fig-
ure. Here was a revelation, discov-
cry of something which startled the
mind and gave rise to plaus BILE sur
prise. The child instantly changed
frowns to smiles; tears were dried. and
with cry of JOY. the castotf toy was
picked up and examined and its nature
pried into and every discovery was
pleasure. just so in large way the
misfit farmer may at some time. and
generally does sooner or later, ma Ike
the discovery that he Is at fault, and
that he has been casting from HIM
in disgust many enj oyable oppor-
tunites and privileges which
he could find nowhere else.
He has been living in darkness
because he has shut his eyes TO the
light Sometimes this is true of the
farm wife, and with her all the family
are made miserable. The children then
LOOK forward with hope and antictpa-
ton to the time when they can flee
from the farmhouse which has been
dark and dreary to them. and by and
by one by one they disappear. and the
old couple alone seek enjoyment in
their old age. like Bunyan's Giant
blind and helpless. hut full of spite and
rage. because every passer by seemed
happy and was beyond his reach. Such
life makes the boys leave the farm.
and the girl. are in haste to follow
them. 1t is not the land or the soil; it
is the men, who have been misfitted to
il, or perhaps the women, who have
made their labors doubly hard by their
own discomfort and fretting and have
worn out their life in misery
How can 1t be altered? 1t is not hard
for mans disposition 10 be changed.
A word does il sometimes, a bright
thought breaking in upon the mind;
reflection, as it were. from mirror.
which shows the man his fault; but it
must come from without; it cannot
spring from within. No man was ever
converted from the error of his ways
By slow process Of self-roasoning.
But he has been brought up 'all
standing" as it Is said. by sudden
thought or circumstance. Now. let
1iis farmer who feels that he Is living
IN the dark side of his occupation, be-
gin to think of the purpose of every
pct and work of his; to study the prin-
siples of his work; ask himself why
Shis is and how that is. When he sees
the seed he has sown terminating and
sending up its spire and down its radi-
Gle; or the trees and plants, only few
days ago dead and lifeless. now break
ing out into leaf and bloom; or the in
sects Which buzz and seem to enjoy