Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-02-07
Harlra ]f.Htrtsets,
Monotony in Farm Life.

AhNN NoAhNhJ 10 INV oHlNO VI INV
is very generally admitted. Yet,
farmers, as class, do not get as much
of the spice of variety as they should.
Their lives are often monotonous al
most beyond endurance. 1t must be
confessed, however, that farmers are
themselves largely to blame for this
monotony. The isolation of the farm
er's home is one Of the greatest OBJ
stacles in the way ofsocial enjoyment
he has to deal with. 1t is our duty
to one another to cultivate social hab-
its; to visit each others homes, COM
pare notes and make suggestions as
to the best methods of farming, etc.
Nor does our duty end at this
neighborly intercourse. In fact, it
does not begin there either. That is
merely an incidental duty we owe
ourselves and society. Our first obli-
cations, like charity, begin at home.
We should make the farm home just
as attractive as our means will allow.
An attractive home does not necessa-
rily mean an elegant mansion sur
rounded by all the luXuries that art
and taste can contrive and money
procure. / have seen many, very
many, farm houses which the genius
of good taste made more attractive
and charming at very small outlay
of dollars and cents than many pal
atial city mansion with its gorgeous
array Of tapestry, gilded frescoes and
costly works of art.
On the other hand, how many farm
houses are utterly devoid of attrac-
tions! The house is implanted and
uninviting; the fences are dilapidat-
ed; the gates have sagged down to
the ground; the entire surroundings
are dreary in the extreme. In the
yard grow noxious weeds where roses
and other ornamental plants should
be seen. Scrubby bushes stand
where a neat grass plat should be-
Instead of an orchard of beautiful
fruit trees, we see here and there, al
long intervals, a few brOken~limbed
neglected apple and peach trees, and
a dense thicket of plum bushes hard
by.
The adjacent fields have been cul-
tivated for years in the same crops
plowed by the same shallOw-running
plows, and producing their steadily
decreasing little crops of corn or cot
ton. No manure has ever been APP
piled since the land was first cleared
The same round of drudgery has beer
gone through with year after year
the same cry of "hard times" has
always been heard on this farm; anC
the same doleful expression has beer
seen on the farmers face for years
past. Indeed, this lugubrious eX-
preston seems to have settled dowr
to stay, and stay it doubtless will
until the grave shall close over hi
weary form.
The work-stock receives but {
scanty and monotonous ration of corr
and fodder, while the mich cow
have to subsist upon what they cal
CLEAN from the bare forests and ole
fields.
1t is not necessary to say that for
tune is not crowding the proprietor o
this agriculturalCD concern; but tn
man who holds the mortgage is
There is no variety to this mans Inf
none of that palatable spice tina
makes life enjoyable and worth liv
ing.
Is it at all strange that boys shoul
abandon this kind of sordid, wear
some life and flee to the city as 500
as they become of age? 1t would in
deed be strange if they rename
there. No boy with any ASPIRATION
would stay on such farm any long
er than he could get away.
But think of the hardships tn
poor wife must endure upon such
cherries farm as this! Oftentime
without even the common luxury {
a vegetable garden, and, perchanc'
little or no poultry or milk to aid he
in her culinary cares. Is it M
enough to run a sensitive woma
crazy?
Yet the picture is not overdrawl
There are thousands of just sue
dreary, monotonous, cherries farI
homes in the West and South, an
perhaps elsewhere. There are thou
ands of incapable men all over tn
country who, today, are trying
make a meagre support for a famii.
and year after year dragging out IL