The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-08

in the agricultural districts were to be
identified by their Clothes The country
man was dressed as n lahorer. and had no
''best suit. +" That time has passed. The
political lecturercs who go out in all sorts
| of weather to instruct the people find that
the farmer is likely to come to the meet
| ings good deal better dressed than the
dweller in the smaller towns. The farmer
takes q pride in looking well, and he
dresses accordingly and has his wife and
daughters do the same. He is no more
the creature of the caricaturists' pictures
and has more the appearance OF well-to-
do merchant than that Of a toiler among
the sand. of the bottom lands. He has
the Pr -e 70 preside over the meeting
| If CALI on. and it has not been un-
known he farmer delegate was the
victor in a ttssle for supremacy between
the smart lawyer and the representative
Of Waybac Township. The lycetlm that
the teacher of the district school was so
eager to organize has become fixed edu-
cational feature of the country, and it
often happens that the farmer is SO well
! grounded in the principles of parl1amen.
tary practice that he is the superior OF
many OF the city inhabitants. He is thus
informed on many matters OF usage that
are not to be picked up in the field, ana
he remembers to practice them when he
comes to the city for business and pleas
llre 10 be sure, the green goods man and
| the bunko steerer are not yet out OF jobs
but they are shorter and shorter on vic
TINS every year, and when they do get a
| victim 1t is usually one from the very
backwoods, and who has not read the
papers. The chances for making a living
out of the farmer by selling him light
ming rods and taking his note for q
patent right are getting less each season,
and there will be soon none so poor as to
do reverence to these old stand-hys. The
| early promoters of these tricks We're good
| Gvers. They found that the farmer could
| be worked in the easiest possible man
| her. They took his money with an ease
| that was the envy of the business man,
and showed that there was nothing so
| simple as humbugging. But they find
cold comfort now, and the papers are fire.
| quently chroniclers of the speedy depart
ure of some sharper from farming COM
munity to avoid the avenging arm OF the
awakened people.
| The cause of education is favorite one
with the farmer, and here is seen the
most startling progress. There is an adj
vance that ought to be convincing as to
his forward march in the worlds graces.
| The days when the boy on the farm was
considered sufficiently educated if he had
| the three Rs at his finger ends-or fairly
within reach, which was the more likely
| are no more. The schools of the coun-
| try districts all over the West are fully
| equal to those of the cities, compared
with the respective needs of the communl-
ties. The country districts that have only
| three months school, as provided by the
| laws OF most OF the states, are few and far
| between. Nearly every western state has
at least six months school in every dis
trict, and many have eight and nine.
| Then there are country high schools for
the benefit OF the country boys and girls
that were unknown in the old times.
Then the boys who went to the town
school got along very well because they
could whip those who were not civil, but
the girls had many a crying spell before
they were able to get on the right side of
their school friends. The line of clothes
and bearing was drawn, in spite of the
best efforts of the teachers, and the coun-
try girl had to suffer. Now they have
same progress as their city cousins-and
good deal larger number of them are
doing it, too.
The advent of the newspaper into the
farm house has been the entering wedge
to widen the view and make a better life
| for all. There is a better understanding
of the events of the world, and the meas
llres that are at the bottom of them. 1t is
| through this influence that there is such
a power in the farmer vote today 1t is
I
| gate to carry off the honors of the con-
vention, but there is coming to be an
added respect for the united stand of the
farming communities when the campaign
is in progress The advance that has
| been made in the transportation of
freight has all been ON account of the
| farmer and for his betterlnent. The
pioneer, who once a year drove fifty miles
with his grain to the mill or the market,
now grumbles if he has to take the grain
| six miles, and has in his head we'll
matured plans for the improvement of
the roads that seem SO long to him. He
rails at the freight rates that subtract so
much from the price of his grain, and
yet does not think how great is the adj
vance for him over the time when he had
hard work to sell his grain at all.
And the farmers wife. Does not she
share the advancement? She is no more
| the downcast woman that she appears in
the pages of the old novelist. She has
| her own magazines and her own depart
ment in the columns of the county papers
Read the correspondence that comes to the
aforesaid county papers, and see why she
! is respected. She is the ruler of the dis
4 trict She sits on the school board and
has the say in the meetings. She indulg
es in societies that are for the benefit of
the race, as does her sister in town. She
no more has to struggle with the butter
and milk The invention of the creamery
separator allows the farm hands to care
for all that. They pour the milk into the
| huge cans, and one of the children drives
off with it in the dewy morning to the
milk station, whence is issued on the first
Of the month checks for the receipts Of
milk that represent a good deal more
than the housewife Of old could have done
with all her work and worry. There is
no more churning, and the butter sthat
won't Gomez is relnembrance-noth
more. If it were not for the enforced alb
sence from SO many pleasant events that
are delightful to the feminine heart the
farmers wife would be as happy as any
one. She is lonesome yet, however, for
society, and that is the next step in her
emancipation. In the homes of thousands
Of farmers are found pianos, and organs
are as common as sewing machines,
neither of which were seen outside the
homes Of the rich only q few years ago.
The range is taking the place of the
cramped stove, and the problem Of do
nestle service in the country is being
solved as the conditions for the work of
servants become more agreeable.
So vastly has the farmers influence and
| In lodi. of+ lO;, 8