Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-12-14

for them"
Il don't think the tillers of the soil
IN France, for instance, need come to
America to learn the lesson of tomor-
row. Their tomorrow is assured in
the peacefulness, content and quiet
industry OF today. The fact is, | be-
lleve am coming to the conclusion
that vast territory is not an unmiti-
gated blessing. Our young men are
led by it to reach afar off for what
lies unheeded at their very doors, and
they are often wrenched to pieces by
the effort. Hundreds of them, after
dreary failures, are now wearing their
lives out on misery wages, while the
farms of their ancestors are going to
ruin.
But you must confess that fortunes
are not made on farms"
Perhaps not, great fortunes; but
the rest and peace and homeness and
healthfulness of a country life may
well be taken in exchange for the bare
dream of a fortune; and more than
you think would take them, if they
were not crippled by a fear to move a
step from their assured crust"
We'll! now let us go back, and
tell me, pray, how you have brought
up large family on ten acres"
ut has been done by industry and
economy, and by turning every shadow
of an opportunity to advantage
Every one of has been a producer.
Everything possible has been made to
produce. Even our three sugar ma
pies have contributed their share. My
eldest daughter has made bees her
study, and has a regular market in
Boston and Springfield for her honey.
My two elder sons when home devoted
themselves to raising asparagus and
celery, and became famous in the
growing Of both. 1t was for these two
vegetables that l have bought the ex-
ira five acres for my two younger
sons, who will be farmers. Our
chickens and our turkeys in winter
| have steady sale in near cities, and
we sell hundreds of eggs besides. This
very parlor carpet is the result of the
sale of blackberry preserves-berries
gathered on these Franklin hills,
where hundreds of quarts of them
yearly go to waste. And you know,
perhaps, that we import from England
and Scotland enormous quantities Of
preserves and marmalades yearly.
We have even sent choice flowers from
our conservatory to Boston florists
during the winter"
"And this reminds me, what do you
do on this ideal farm in winters"
"a farm in winter has disclosed to
me what possibilities lie in every hui
man being. Our indoor life has de-
veloped in our children the most Gu
rious talents. The eldest boy, for in
stance, now studying art, actually
mended, when he was home. all our
shoes-the lesson learned through
occasional visits to the village shoe
maker. The second son, who has
elected to be a Unitarian minister,
built that door in the wall, and made
| the sofa on which you are sitting.
Necessity, in fact, has made them so
quick to do everything, that calls for
outside help with us are almost un-
known. AS for my own winters. l
have generally had three or four lads
to teach with my own sons, and my
wife has given susie lessons. 1t was
in fact, by these winter methods that
we got our trip to Europe"
MY friend was apt to become garru-
lous when his family and his farm
were under discussion; so here, l
turned away awhile to compare things.
That evening there was great
wood fire on the sitting-room hearth,
for the October nights are cool. SAID
NV friend. after a silence, with his
ewes fixed on the dancing flame:
"Farming, too, is the safest occupa-
tion. A farm can't burn up. One
can't be robbed of it; and its pro
ducts are always growing and increas-
ing even while its owner idles or
sleeps. And then, too" he added a
little tenderly, "a farm gives the chill
dren a Observation-Disclosures Tran
| acriDt