Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-09-03
FARM rrIL.4G Es.
Assuaging Mr.. BoolSwaltcr's Scheme for
the Loneliness Of Country Life.

and economic evils, but ii has seemed to
most persons who have weighed its
statements that its members have gone
far afield from the real situation in their
efforts to make things better. They
have sought in general causes to explain
unsatisfactory conditions, and have not
looked sufficiently at their own homes
and to the remedies which they might
Introduce for making their farms more
remunerative and their lives more at
tractive. 1t is for this reason that the
suggestions of Mr.. John w. Bookwalter
in the September Forum are specially
welcome. He is the first writer to treat
this subject in the'light of social expe-
rience and economic conditions. Him
self brought up in the Wabash valley
and trained in the farm life on the
prairies, he Is speaking out of his own
knowledge when he describes the isola-
ton OF the farmer and the depressing
conditions under which he carries on his
work. The trouble is that everything
goes hard with him. In the first place,
he is set down TO work out his problem
alone. lie is compelled to make large
expenditures on account of his isolation,
and his returns are frequently such that
he Is not recompensed for his outlay.
He buys on trust, and at every turn
some one gets the better of him. The
interest on his mortgage is met with
difficulty, and his toll is incessent to
keep body and soul together. What is
hard for him is doubly hard for his wife,
who is isolated from other women and
is burdened with more work than she is
equal to. His children are without the
advantages of church or school, or
almost any civilizing association. Mr..
Bookwalter describes these conditions
OF farm life at the west in great detail.
He'shows that the social, as well as the
economic, situation of the western
farmer is against him, and il is out of
this experience that he has proposed a
remedy which ought to be worth much
more than the political gains to be
secured through the Farmers Alliance.
This remedy is the repeating of the
principle of association and concentra-
ton OF energy which were the founda-
ton OF the success of our early New
England villages. A hundred years ago
every part of New England was devoted
to agriculture, and in every town were
villages or hamlets where the people
were congregated together in common
life; They had their property princi-
pally IN outlying farms, but they
avoided the isolation which comes to the
farmers on the western prairie, and
their methods of farming permitted fire.
quent combinations in helpful work.
The social life was possible, both for
men and women, and their children had
the district school, often the village
library, and the sturdy and vigorous
clashing of mind with mind over such
matters as We're of public interest
Under these conditions race was bred
which has made itself felt all over the
country. What Mr., Bookwalter has in
mind, though he does not connect the
two, is the establishing Of farm vi lagos
in Nebraska which shall realize, under
somewhat changed conditions, what oui
fathers and forefathers accomplished in
the farm life Of New England. We dc
not deny that you can lind people as
nearly starved, socially and intel
lectually, in New England as you car
In the isolated farms AT the west; but il
is because they have allowed themselve:
to fall out to one side and lose theil
fresh contact with life. Mr.. Book.
walters idea is to illustrate in the newer
sections of the west what can be accom-
plished by carrying out this plan. liz
would have tract of 1900 acres di
vided into 150 farms of so acres each
and in the centre Of the tract he would
have village consisting of $50 houses
| one house for every farm. In this vii
lage he would have concentration o,
energy wherever it is possible. Tho
village well and cistern and bath house
and creamery and laundry and baker,
would be organized so that great dea'
OF labor would be saved without any
increase or expense, giving opportu
| mites for intellectual and social ant
moral culture that would lift M thu
farm life into something entirely diff
erent from that which is now common
BY this means he would restore man,
of the features which once made OH
New England villages the pride an,
glory OF the country. One main reason
why the boys and girls escaped from til,
farm to the city is that life is too dull
and monotonous at home. None of tn,
isolated farms in New England can keel
the young people, but where these farm
are close to active villages, and tn,
social and intellectual life is worth while
the incentives to go to the city are largel,
removed. All that we have heretofor,
said about restoring the social prestig,
to country life bears directly upon thi
subject, and it has to do with the yer,
existence of the farming life of the fla
west. Tho hardness of the western
farmers lot is no greater than was ono
the hardness of the lot OF the New
England farmer, but it is largely due [,
the fact that he cannot concentrate hi
energy to the best advantage, an,
that he lacks association and unite,
effort in both his work and ii
his social life. We are sure that MI
Bookwalter has touched bottom in thi
matter. 1t is the wretched isolation an,
the abiding soul-weariness which d.
more to depiess the farmer and his son
and his wife than anything else. The
have to do 50 many things in their un
comfortable homes which could be BET
ter and more cheaply done if they wer
associated with neighbors, that they ar
all worn out with the effort Of LIVING
and have no time for the refreshmen
and social change which renew one
strength and enable one to enjoy tn
bright side of life. The rush into III
Farmers Alliance reveals the hunger a
the heart among these people, but ther
is nothing in this movement that goes /
the root Of the difficulty. The financio
trouble is bad enough, but the barren
ness of the social life, and the impossj
bility of concentrating energy and o
saving strength in united effort, are ia
worse. Mr.. Bookwalter has studied Iii
economic and social condition Of III
western farmers to some purpose, but
yet remains for him to introduce IN
remedy and create the farm-yiI!age
which would do much to brighten an
improve life for the farmers Of the ives