The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-11-14
COUNTRY HOMES.

| A rolling country, where the hills were
sometimes crowned with maple forests,
| in autumnal splendor of coloTs, some
time cultivated TO and over their ridges,
yellow corn-fields glowing with vast
heaps of Orange-colored pumpkins, pas
ture lands in which good cattle were
feeding leisurely, brush lots crimson
with sumach except where rich blue
asters made spots of the earth to looks
like spots of the sky.
But it's beauty had not caused it to be
thickly inhabited, had not even kept
the population here which had once
found homes in the valley. For as my
horse walked slowly IN the hill road we
approached house, which at little dis
tance off looked picturesque and pretty,
but as we came nearer was found to
have only the beauty of ruin. 1t was
deserted farm house-one of those
houses to which have so cften refer
red in these letters when describing
journeys along New England roads.
There is sometimes beauty in ruin.
Nature occasionally takes hold of the
works of mems hands and shapes. decor
ates them to be very beautiful. This
old house had been a low story and a
half tenement, painted red. The red
had faded and been washed into score
Of tints, which only old tapestries and
embroideries can match. Wild cherry
bushes, growing close around it, we're
trying to match them. and in trying
made with their leaves very delicate and
very surprising variations and contrasts.
There was a spot of brilliant color which
caught my eye long before reached
the house, and when came up to it l
discovered that young maple had
sprung up in the shattered doorstep,
and filled the doorway with it's foliage,
mostly of a like color with the house,
only there was bunch of leaves at the
top, all as golden as gold.
shall not pause to repeat my often
repeated description of deserted farm
house in New England. They are all
in the most prominent features, gener-
ally resembling each other in many
minute details. For the life in them
was very much the same, and the life in
the house gives specific character to the
surroundings. The worn spot on The
little piazza of the kitchen end, or l., is
again and again visible, the spot where
the farmer sat down daily for little
while when he took the very short rest
which the farmer can afford to give him
self in daylight. The marks on the in
side of the window seat are almost al
ways there, made by the broken mugs
and teapots and the cans and boxes in
which his wife kept her flowers growing
when frou drove them indoors for thr
winter. Hrr garden s always there end
| know place where | go and gather
roses some lines, from bushes IN 4 deuse
tangle, which were the garden roses II
farm house that utterly vanlshed more
than fifty ears ago.
drove on, still slowly up the hill, and
after a little saw the cus tOmary burial
ground, inclosed in stone wall, only a
few rods from the roadside. Going to
it / found four upright stones, and on
one of them read name and an inscrip.
which vas somewhat startling: But
now they desire better country"
Why so many people make the mis-
take of exposing to find that better
country by going off on railways? There
Is nowhere on earth a better country
than this northern New England coun-
try. When we get reasonable amount
of common sense into legislatures and
law makers, when they got to realizing
what a good county this is, and how
good it can always be if they will pre-
serve the glory of their forests from the
axe, and the purify of their streams from
the sawmill, il will be safe for any one
to make home in it for the time he
must spend among tho things that are
uncertain,
| You have undoubtedly noticed the
fact that Vermont and New Hampshire
are becoming very wide awake to the
truths which have for 80 many years
written about, the extensive abandon
ment of farms and the gradual decrease
of the best element in the population,
The people are inquiriug into the cause,
with a view to find cure for the dis
ease. 1t is disease, and IL is diseas
which affects the community and the
State by affecting individuals.
The inscription on that gravestone
suggests the explanation of the disease.
Those old people who are never going
to travel off in search of new homes in
the far west were con;ented and happy
enough in the red ia m house, looking
for better country beyond all seas, all
possibilities of travel in the fl -sh, Later
generations were not contented. Life
was hard, and they thought to find
place where it would be easier. They
went to large town, to a city, to the
west. 1t is beyond doubt that they
went to less happiness, harder labor,
with smaller reward. Not one in ten
bettered his condition by the going. II
you had known the personal history Of
as many country families who have
moved away from the old places as |
have known, you would understand why
l am so ready TO affirm that the great
hnIy ~ Nau En0land aFniura N W hO
have gone away from these farms have
done worse than they would have done
had they remained in the old homes.
Is it probable that the efforts now
made to turn the tide of emigration and
lead it into instead of out Of New Hamp-
shire and Vermont will succeed
Why not ? The land is fruitful and
beautiful. The climate is wholesome
aud enjoyable. What is there TO keep
people away Nothing, except that vague
idea, which is universally deceptive,
that the better country, here one may
grow rich with ease, may live well with
out much labor, lies far off at the end Of
railway or steamer journey,
There are some characteristics of
American families in which they differ
greatly from people of other countries.
One of these Is in their ideas Of what
form the necessaries of comfortable life.
That which goes to the daily support Of
humble family in America would sup
port in luxury ten families in the same
social position in old countries. There
are a hundred considerations which an
American has in selecting home which
no European would stop to think Of.
do not find fault with these, but they are
to be regarded in seeking the causes of
depopulation of portions Of country.
Contentment with a moderate enough
is not an American characteristic. 1t
ceases in a few years to characterize
Europeans who come over here to settle.
The "enough" includes too many things
which are not necessities. Look at a
practical illustration There are great
numbers of American families who are
in what are called reduced cIrcumstan-
ces. Men, women, sometimes husbands
and wives, have but small incomes. They
have a hard time to get food and cloth.
ing in the position and with the sur
roundings to which they have been ac-
customed. They suffer, their lives are
full of struggling anxiety, pains, too
often debts. They are untitled for work,
and work, il they were able to do 1t is
not easy to get. Thousands OF these per-
sons cling to life in the city, where rents
are high. where food is costly, where the
requirements of dress seem TO demand
much expense. Now at the same time
you have the broad country, especially
New Hampshire and Vermont, with
these facts The average expense OF liv-
ing of family is not $500 year. And
this furnishes better and more abundant
food, better and more clothing, better
everything that men and women need,
than can be found anywhere else IN the