The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-08-28
THE NEW ENGLAND "H1RED MAN,

One of the sober lessons which ale
conveyed by the startling tragedy for
which Almy is soon to be held accounta-
BILE to justice is that our New. England
farmers, as the heads of families, cannot
be too cautious in the selection and the
treatment of their 'hired men," The
'hired man" ON New England farm oc-
cupies a unique position, and in many
ways is a privileged character AS a
usual thing, he is regarded, not as a SER
want, but almost as member of the
household. There are New England
farmers worth their hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars who never sit down to a
meal that they do not have their field
hands at their elbow. In the ordinary
household intercourse the workmen of
the farm are treated not as menials, not
as interiors, but almost, if not quite, as
equals. They are on terms of comrade-
ship with the other members of the
household, young and old, and they have
their recognized place in ordinary family
gatherings. This relation of the en-
ployes to the employer is phenomenon
that is to be found in New England only,
or at least in the Northern States of
America, where New England customs
largely mould the habits of the agricul
tural population.
There is nothing essentially wrong in
II II e. 4
his hired "hand," as we have briefly pic
tured it. In fact, there is something
commendable land genuinely Arcadian
in its delightful simplicity. But this in
innate relation of master and man
originated, as is well known, in condi-
tions which no longer exist. In the old
days, when the farmers "hired man"
was his neighbours son, who lent his aid
to help a neighbor through the bnsy sea-
son, and often spent the rest of the year
teaching school or pursuing his studies
in country academy, such an arrange
ment was only the natural and
proper, and indeed the only possible one.
The "hired man" was treated as an
equal and admitted freely to the family
circle because he was an equal, who held
his place by right. But those days have
long ago departed. 1t is true that a
neighbours son will sometimes still be
found lending willing hand in the farm
labor, but the "hired men, of New Eng
land, considering them as whole, are
now distinct and separate class,
usually of unknown and occasionally of
sinister antecedents. The old familiar
relations of master and man are no
longer always desirable or safe. Yet
there are many farmers who persist in
going blindly on in the old way, making
their hired men their familiar compan-
ions and the companions of their wives
and children at the table and the fireside
without the slightest attempt to ascer-
tain their character. A resident of a
town or city who followed similar line
of policy with an unknown man who
drove his horse or built his furnace fires
would be deemed fit subject for a
lunatic asylum.
The danger which lies in the close
familiarity to which strange "hired
men, in many of our New England
farmhouses are admitted is no imagi-
nary or exaggerated danger. 1t has
been too often emphasized by disagreed
and even tragic facts. The conserva
tism of an agricultural people is pro
verbally slow to alter, but it ought moi
to require many more hOrrid crimes tt
open the eyes of our farmers to the
actual situation.-BOstOn Journal.