The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-07-19
The Husbandman.

John Smith is a neighbor of mine but
no relation. He is good farmer, but
Well, I will let him tell his own story.
He came to me the other day and said:
ri want you to advise me what to do.
We are having awful times over at my
house. The boys are falling into bad
habits. The girls are gadding about all
the time. My wife is as cross as a bear.
She says it is all my fault that the chill.
dren don't do better, and that have
nobody but myself to blame. But you
know that have always been sober,
harl-workiug man. l have made a good
living for my family, and can't see why
things turn out so. What do you think
I ought to do?"
.'shall tell you just what think?"
eyes"
"Well, John, my opinion is that if you
had been as good husbaudman indoors
as you are out of doors, your family would
be in as good condition as your farm is.
You know that the Bible calls the farmer
husbandmau, and we speak of farming
as husbandry. And I take it, the idea is
that mau ought to care for and culti-
vate his land just as he does his home.
But if Won had treated your farm as you
have treated your home, it would be all
overgrown with weeds and thistles."
"What do you mean by cultivatipg my
home7 understand about cultivating
land. But that is very different thing
from cultivating people,"
"I am not sure of that Let US look at
the matter. Soon after you bought your
farm you married your wife. In becom.
| ing a husband, your assumed in regard
| to her the duties of a husbandman. She
expects you to study her capabilities and
her wants as you studied your fields.
Your idea when you looked on your land
| was, how can 1 make it hdost productive
and yet keep 1t in good heart? If you
saw the crops beginning to grow light,
you summer fallowed, or changed the
seed. But did you study your wife in
that way? Did you ever think that she
! needed encouragement? Did you ever
see how she was dropping from the monot-
ony of her daily tolls and cares, to try to
give her change? Did you ever say,
Come, Sarah, we will take journey to
the Mountains or to the seashore and rest
awhile tell you, John, people need
summer following as we'll as land. And
if they don't get it now and then, their
spirits grow worn and weary, and the
crop Of comfort for them, and for those
who are dependent on them, will be light.
Nay, in spite of themselves, they will get
to be irritable. You say that your wife
is cross. Don't you see why? She loved
you and thought that you loved her.
But after you married her, how did you
treat her? Did you cultivate her, OF did
you neglect her2 Don't you act just as
| if she had nothing to expect of you but
to keep the family supplied with proVis.
ions, and to eat your meals when she had
prepared them? Aud didn't you some.
t;mes prumble even wien she wanted
money for things necessary to the comfort
of the family? Aud didn'ty you complain
| of her cooking, when she was doing the
best she could to please you? Now,just
remember how much more careful you
| were of your land than Of your wife how
| much more time you spent in trying to
| mellow it and smooth it, aud to find seeds
adapted to it, than you spent in trying to
make her happy, and you will see why
you have such harvest of thistles, when
you might have had wheat and fruit and
| howersl
"And then about the children. You
are the best man I know of to handle
horses. I have often wondered at your
patience with your colts. You never
seem to get tired Of training and petting
them. You are 80 kind to them, and
vet so firm with them, that by the time
they are old enough to work, they will
do anything you want them to. That
pair of bay geldings that you drive is the
finest in the country, and it is because
you have taken such pains in breaking
them. Now, if you had done as we'll by
your children as you have done by your
colts, they would be just as nice girls and
boys. But while you petted colts, you
repelled your children. I have seen lit
tie Johnny come to you while you were
in corral trying to'gentle the horses
and you would order him away harshly
and then turn and speak as softly and
caressingly to the beast as a mother talks
to her babies. You knew that if you
had spoken to the horses as you spoke to
Johnny, you would have spoiled them.
Is it any wonder, then, that you have
spoiled Johnny.
II tell, you John, your wife is right
You have nobody but yourselfto blame.
You have been a good land farmer, but
a shiftless and careless house farmer, you
have been frstrate husbandman, but a
very Indifferent husband and father.
And you are reaping just what you SOW.
ed. Now, my advice is to do just as you
would if you had field that had been
neglected until it was covered with un-
derbrush and thistles. Clear the land
and begin to cultivate it. Take an inter-
est in your wife and children, and it may
not be too late for you to secure happy
home Be kind to your boys and girls,
and yet firm with them, as you are with
your horses, and they will learn to love
you and obey you"
write out the substance of this con.
-, - c.,sl Lot 46ore