The Opelousas courier., 1894-03-31
ADDRESS OF A. D1MM1cK, ESQ,
Before the State Agricultural Society
at Opelousas.
Mr.. President. Ladies and Gentlemeh:

40 or 80 years ago a frugal people, hon,
est, industrious and peculiarly adapted
by an educated experience to grapple
with the cares and struggles OF life:
Their environments were rugged and
niggardly and not the least hardship
they had to contend with, was a dreary
climate and a sterile soil. Perched
valleys they lived upon their small
holdings and little farms, contented and
happy. Their little farms would num-
Der from 30 to 200 acres; but 100 acres
was considered a good sized farm, while
all beyond that number would be con-
sidered large or belonging to the upper
class. They were almost perfect exem-
plars of diversified farming and indus
tries. From the Atlantic Ocean to the
Alleganies this was the rule and these
were the conditions that prevailed
among these industrious and simple
people. The little farm would be divi-
vided into lots or small fields usually
by a kind of fence they called a stone
wall. This wall answered two purpo-
ses it made q good fence and then it
provided means of getting rid of the
stone and rocks which were Sc numer-
Gus in some places as to entirely defy
the efforts of the husbandman. Every
farmer had his little field Of corn, oats
and rye, wheat and buckwhea6 He
always had a patch Of turnips, pump
kins and squashes. He always had a
good garden where was grown all the
standard vegetables and always a large
patch of Irish potatoes. There was al
ways the inevitable apple orchard near
the dwelling, with a few peach, pear
and cherry trees. Always the currant
and gooseberry bushes, always the
never forgotten rhubarb or pie plant.
Every house had a cellar usually the
size Of the ground floor, walled up with
rock or brick in which were bins for
potatoes, turnips and apples, and where
were stored pumpkins and squashes for
winter use. There also you would find
plenty of onions, carrots and parsnips,
transplanted from the garden with
their roots still in the ground. The
kitchen during the fall and winter
monts would be festooned with strings
of dried apples and rings of pumpkins
hung on poles to dry while put away
by che careful housewife, piled in the
pantry and on the shelves, we're all
kinds of dried fruit, red and black rasp-
berries, Strawberries, gOOseberries and
currants, and all kinds of preserves
sweetened with maple sugar. In an
other part of the house was to be seen
the big and the little spinning wheels.
The n was to spin the yarn of which
the homemade clothing was made, the
other to spin the fax for bed and table
linen and thread to make the garments.
The loom vas situated up stairs as they
called it, or in the loft, where the clank,
clank, clank was heard from morning
till night, weaving out the cloth for the
"a uos1u Nv fho oorpot for fho
parlOr or sitting room. The music of
this idylic home was principally the
clank of the loom and the hum and buzz
of the spinning wheels, which some
persons might think more harmonious
and sweeter than some of the more
modern piano playing. In the smoke
house would hang the homemade ham
and sausage, and the dried beef. In
the cellars were barrels Of picked pork
and c0rned beef. There too the house,
wife kept her barrels of soft soap and
the farmer long rows of cider barrels.
In fact the farmer never went to bed
without first saying his prayers and
then drinking a pitcher of cider.
There would be several pasture and
meadow fields on his little farm and
the farmer would have a few cows and
other cattle, two or three horses, a few
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fattened on cooked food, for corr was
too scarce and too valuable. In a cal
drOn kettle severaletimes a week were
boiled together a mixture of Irish po-
tatOes, apples and pumpkins, and when
cooked q quantity Of rye, wheat or
buckwheat, bran and shorts were STIR
red in to give the food tone and relish.
The farmer vas frequently a tanner, a
cooper, q blacksmith, a carpenter, a
shoemaker, &c. He made his own
sleds, axe handles, hoe handles, pillow
handles, plow beams and harrows;
made his baskets and hoped the bar
rels; made the nails and sh0d his own
horses, and made and mended the shoes
and boots for the family. The house,
wife spun the yarn and made the gar
Ments for the household, done her wash
ing, mending and cooking. But on
Sundays the whole family would 90 to
church and, dressed in their store
clothes. would look about as smart
rs people do nowadays. The
and his barns were filed with oats, rye,
wheat and hay. The grain would be
threshed out by hand with fails on the
barn floor and cleaned up with tanning
mills or fans after dark. The COWS
were stabbed, fed and MIXED in the
barn. The oxen and horses had also
their stalls and curried and clean
ed regularly.
Ii the winter months the farmer was
out of bed at 8 o'clock, or two hours
before day, and after calling the boys
and girls he would 60 to the barn and
do the chores ; the boys would roll out
and follow suit. The girls and the
housewife would roll out and busy
themselves getting breakfast. By the
time breakfast was ready the farmer
and the boys had returned from doing
the chores, had curried and fed the
horses, fed and MIXED the cows-for
know that the men always did the milk
ing in that conntry-fed the oxen and
the hogs and the outside cattle and
sheep and cleaned out the stables; then,
when they had washed and combed and
had family prayers. were ready for
breakfast which the thrifty housewife
and girls had provided, with plenty of
hot buckwheat cakes and maple syrup
and always homemade meat and vege-
tables, butter and cheese for don't for
get that every housewife knew how to
make butter and cheese, and these or
nAmental articles were to be seen upon
the table Of every meal.
This is the way, my friends, the farm
or plOdded on his weary way. This is
the way the farm was managed, this
was the way farmer lived, and this was
the way your humble servant was
brought up. But Of all the multiplicity
OF affairs which entered into the farm
life in those days. there was one thing
that yOu would never find attached to
the farm that is quite common at the
present day-yOu aUOad ReUer find d
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