The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-05-09
The Girl On the Farm.


The agricultural papers teem with
articles on "How to Keep Boys on the
Farm" but seldom a word about the
girls. Now, we could not think of
doing without the boys Bless the
dear, noisy boys Their CHEEKY. airy
whistle Is the best sntidote for the
blues one can take. The girls, precious
jewels, are just as essential to farm life
as the boys, and farm life is just as
necessary to their full and evenly bal
anced development, minds and bodies,
as they to farm life, and where they
are not happy and eontented in their
farm home, something is radically
wrong somewhere. If the father is
continually growing abols the mud or
dust, the heat or cold, the tariff, low
prices, poor crops, the mother about
farm drugery, deprivations, lack Of
congenial society, need we wonder
that children growing up in such an
atmosphere will long for ''wider fields,
to know and be known, to meet people
of note, to listen to the grand flow Of
elOguence from the pulpit or rOstrum, "
are anxious to flee from evils they
know to those they know not? Ny
heart aches for children Of such homes.
The very joys of life are dashed aside,
and they peer into the dim future with
distorted vision and imagine they see
honor, success and happiness, which,
when they meet. is only the black de-
spair of disappointment.
Parents, pause and consider the OBJ
legations you are under to your chill
dren. This debt can not be paid with
broad acres or many dollars. a con-
tented spirit, Well-balaneed mind, a
strong constitution, helpful hands,
temperate habits, honor, love aud un-
selfishness are the birthrights of every
child. Just so far as they fall short of
this standard you have failed to start
them Alright in this world. When you
fail to teach by preeept and practice,
these holy principles, you rob your
children Of that priceless pearl.
l would be the last person to dis
courage any laudable ambition, but it
is with genuine sorrow hear girl
lament the "narrowness Of farm life"
and express a desire for "city or town
advantages, and determination TO
seek employment there. To such l
say, Don't my dear. Where one, who
has left the farm, succeeded, scores
have failed. Many without sufficient
fOrtitude to return to the farm home
and begin where they left off have
drifted to ruin. have heard it be-
fore. 1t is true, nevertheless, as many
wrecked life, premature grave, will
tell you, if you listen.
If your home is a happy, cheerful
one, you are needed there to keep it
thus. If it is cherries, discontented
abode, your duty is to make a model
home of it. Farm life is not narrow,
neither need our lives be narrow on
the farm. In no other place, in all
this beautiful world, does nature deal
out her glOries with so lavish hand.
In no other place are the evils Of life
so completely excluded. These long
winter evenings you can meet the
noted writer, the eloquent preacher,
the scientific lecturer, between the lids
of book or magazine, and meet them
at their best. There they are shorn of
the petty frivolities that mar the beau
ties of so many lives. What glorious
hours for study, for aequsinting ones
self with gems of thought, for mental
communion with the true, the noble,
spirits of the day Drive away this
discomfort with plans for frightening
and beautifying your home, then put
your plans into action. No duty, how
over distssteful, but may be made a
pleasure if you will. Take an interest
in everything around you. Look for
beauty and you will see it. Work for
happiness and you will get it.-Mrs.
Annie b. Bushong.