The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-05-23

large cows; but in the month of May alone
they brought in 1885. During the year
mentioned the grain bill has been $19, and"
adds Mr.. Hayden, during the time
1 sold oats enough to more than return
the cost"
In this cramped abode, from the windows
OF which there is nothing more cheerful in
sight than the distant houses of other set
tiers, just as ugly and lonely, and stacks Of
straw and unthreshed grain, the farmers
family must live. In the summer there is
a school for the children, one, two or three
miles away; but in winter the distances
across the snow-covered plains are too
great for them to travel in severe weather;
the schoolhouse is closed and each family
must live mainly to itself Life shut up in
the little wooden farmhouses cannot well be
very cheerful. No singing schools, spelling
schools, debating clubs. or church gather
1ngs enliven the monotony of the long win
ter evenings. Neighborly calls are infre-
quent, because of the long distances which
separate the farmhOuSeS, and because, too,
of the lack of homogeneity of the. people.
They have no common past to talk about.
They were strangers to one another when
they arrived in this new land and their
work and ways have not thrown them much
together. OFTEN the StrangeneSS is intenSi-
hed by differences of national origin There
are Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, French
Canadians, and perhaps even Films and
Icelanders among the settlers, and the
Americans come from many different states.
1t is hard to establish any social bond in
such mixed population, yet and all
need social intercourse, the thing most
essential to pleasant living, after food,
fuel, shelter and clothing
An alarming amount of insanity occurs
In the new prairie states among farmers
ana their wives. In proportion to their
numbers, the Scandinavian settlers furnish
the largest contingent to the asylums. The
reason is not far to seek. These people
came from CHEEKY little farm villages. Life
in the fatherand was hard and toiisome,
but it was not lonesome.
There is but one remedy for the dreari-
ness of farm life the praires; the iso-
lated farm house must be abandoned and
the people must draw together in villages.
The peasants of the Russian steppes did
this centuries ago, and so did the jewellers
on the great Danubian plain. In the older
parts Of our prairie states, in Western
Minnesota, Eastern Nebraska and Kansas,
and the eastern parts of North and South
Dakota, titles to homestead claims are now
nearly all perfected by the required five
years occupancy of the land. Thus there
is no longer a necessity that the farmers
should live upon the particular tracts
which they cultivate. They might so out
with their teams to till the fields, and re-
turn at evening to their homes 1t would
be entirely feasible to re-divide the land in
regions where it is all of nearly uniform
fertility and value Let us suppose that
the oWenrs of is quarter section farms.
lying in body and forming four full sec
TONS should agree to remove their homes
to the center of that tract, and run new
dividing lines radiating to the outer boun-
diaries. Each settler would still have 100
acres, and no one would live more than a
mile from the remotest limit of his farm.
The nearer fields could be used for stock.
and the distant ones for grain. The homes
of the IS families would surround village
green where the school house would stand.
Such a nucleus of population would soon
possess a church in common with other
farmers in the neighborhood, who might
still cling to the old mode or isolated living
and there would probably be a store and a
postoffce. An active social life would soon
be developed in such community. The
school would go on winters as well as sum-
ners. Friendly attachments would be
formed, and mutual helpfulness in farm
and household work would soon develop
into a habit.
If the plains people were thus brought
together into hamlets, some home industries
might be established that would add to
family incomes, at least save outlay.
The economic weakness of farming u the
North is the enforced idleness of the farmer
and his work anlnis Is during the long VIM
ter. Four or five months are unproductive,
and all this time the people and the ami
mails are consuming the fruits of the work.
ing season. Even the women are not fully
occupied in the care of their little houses
and the cooking of the simple meals. for
the stockings are longer knit at home:
there is no hum of the spinning wheel. and
the clothing is bought ready made at the
stores. If it We're possible to restore to the
farm some of the minor handicrafts that
were carried in the county thirty
forty years ago, there would be great gain
in comfort, intelligence, and contentment
Now and then, where travelling over the
Dakota prairies, 1 hear of a family that
sends to market some kind of delicate
cheese, or makes sausages of superior quail
ity that find ready sale in the neighboring
towns, preserves small fruits. These
little industries might be much extended il
the farmers lived in communities where ex-
ira labor could be had when needed, and
where there would be mental attrition to
off the rust of the winters Incidence,
and stimulate effort on new lines
There is a crusty individuality about the
American farmer, the Inheritance of gen.
Grafton of isolated living, that does not
take kindly to the faniliarities of close as
sociation 1t will take a long time to nodi-
fy the settled American habit of isolated
farmsteads If it is ever changed the new
system will have to be introduced near the
top of the rural social scale, and work
down gradually to the masses. A group Of
farmers of superior intelligence and of
rather more than average means must set
an example and establish a modern farm
village, or perhaps this could be done by the
owners of one of the so-caled bonanza
farms, who might subdivide four sections Of
his land. as l have described, and invite
purchasers to build their homes around a
central village green: or, still better, ha
might himself put up the farm houses and
barns. and then offer the farms for sale.
The experiment would be widely discussed
by the newspapers, and thus extensive free
advertising could hardly fail to attract as
purchasers a class of people with faith in
the idea, and possessed of such sOciable,
neighborly disposition as would open the
way to harmonious living and to consider
able practical cooperation in the field work
and the care of animals. One successful
community would soon lead to the forma-
ton of others. and the new system would
steadily spread.
A Unique Paper.
We have for some time received the
a fearless Peoples party and