The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-09-13
CHILDREN.
Bill Arp P~hiIosophizes Sweetly on tn
Privileges of Farm Iifo.

IbAbA III
Privileges of Farm Iifo.
1t is a great thing for a family to be
independent. 1t is a good thing for the
boys and the girls to know how to do
ali the family work, and to DO willing
to do it, and We have tried to raise our
flock that way. The boys can hang q
gate or a window curtain, or put in a
pane OF glass, or mend n chair, or max
a wagon for the baby, or cut the wood
and feed tho stock, and the girls can
paper a room as nicely as Mauck, and
they can cut and fit and make their own
garments, from calico to silk, and cooIs
as good a meal as anybody, but we don't
want them to do these things all tho
time, and they shall not as long as |
can help it,. There are some social
privileges and pleasures that are reason
able and natural and innocent, and we
all like to enjoy them. IL a friend comns
to SEQ me | wish to entertain him pleas
antly and cordially, and not have to say,
'Fve got to cut some stove wood right
now and you will have to excuse mo-"
IL ladies call to see my wife and daugh-
ters it would not DO pleasant or polite
for them to say, I'VE don't keep a cook
and are doing our own work, and you
will nave to excuse us this morning."
Tho poor should not envy tho rich for
enjoying these social pleasures, nor
should the country people be e~nvious of
the town people. All would do the
same thing if they could, and it is
everybody's duty to better their con-
dition If they can. Nine farmers out
of ten would move to town If they
could afford to. They would do it for
their children's sake-for better schools
and better preachers and better social
advantages. But nine out of ton can't
move, and so it is their duty to build up
the country schools and country churches
and raise the grade of both. II the Al
lance does no other work in the legisla-
ture than to demand and enfore a tax
tina will establish a good ten months
school in every settlement that can num-
ber fifty scholars between the ages Of
eight and eighteen, it will nave accom-
plished a great work. Give the country
heretofore | would have been In the
country farming until now, for there my
children spent the happiest years Of
their life. They talk about it yet with
memories of delight. The springs and
branches, and ilsh-pond, and the creek
and mill not far away; the wash-hole
and the spring-board; the walks through
shady, winding ways to tho lime-sink
field, and the little spring beyond that
was overhung with haw trees; Inc dells
and coves, and meadows, where the wild
flowers grew, tho hunt for huckleberries,
and maypops, and ~blackhaws, and scaly-
! banks, and w~alnuts; tho ripened grain,
and the grass falling before the reaper's
blade, and their sweet, dizzy rides on
l tho top of the loaded hay. They still
, love to tell how they fished, and seined,
and hunted squirrels, and rabbits, and
: coons, and set traps for birds and killed
= the water moccasins that hung in the
l bushes that bordered tho meadow
branch. They talk about the colts they
. raised, and the narrow escapes they had
r from butting rams and vicious bulls and
I runaway teams, and they magnify al
I these accidents and incidents the more
1 and more as time recedes from those
happy days. IL they live to the allotted
\ ages OF three score years and ten, the,
t will still recall their farming life will
fonder memories than any other.
. wish that all the children of thi:
o blessed, bountiful land could be raised
D at least, in part in tho country upon
y well-watered, well-managed farm.-Bil
, Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.