St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-09-14
FARMER ANDPLANTER.
ABOUT THE FARM GIRL.
A Few Timely Words on ~ucs''ae
that is Usually Sadly Neg
lected.

The farm boy-why, he is the sub
ject of hundreds of articles by those
who think they know just how ne
ought to be treated by his father ana
mother. His room is carefully de-
scribed, and we are told how we ought
to try to interest him in farm mat
ters, so that he will not want to run
away to the city; but the girl, VINO
thinks or cares for her?
But it is a serious matter we nave
to deal with when we come to think
about the farm girl. She will be the
farmers wife of tomorrow If some
city or town chap does not come IN
and carry her away to grace his home
which do not blame him for dong;
ii is the most sensible thing he could
possibly do. Still would far rather
see her stay among the birds and the
flowers and the sweet scenes OF the
country than to know that we have
lost her, even to make our city youth
happy.
But where are the girls of the farm
to-day? do not know. Do you? AL
most every week some one calls at
Clover-leaf farm and asks: DO you
know where can find good girl to
work for me? My wife is sick, and
we need some one to help us for few
weeks" And I do not know where 10
send him. l try to think OF the girls
that used to be in the neighborhood.
One of them is teaching school a
grand and noble occupation. Another
is fitting herself for the same calling.
We are proud of the reports which
come to us from her. Still another
is "doing dressmaking" in town. So
go on, and come back just where l
started. l do not know of single
girl that could be had for love or
money.
Now, can not say that blame the
Young women for wanting to do just
as well as they possibly can. 1t is all
right to reach out for the very best
that is within touch. Teaching, type
writing, sewing, working in the fac
tory, serving as clerk in the store
these are all honorable professions.
But so is farming. wonder it 1T can
be that it is because our girls really
prefer to be shut up in the factory,
or bend over the sewing-table from
morning until night, that they go
away from the farms? I do not quite
think so. What then?
I believe it is because the girls are
dissatisfied with the life on the farm.
1t is not simply because they can earn
a little more money in town than they
can on the farm, although, no doubt,
some do leave us on that account; but
the prime motive, so far as my obser-
walton goes, is lack of real love for the
country home. A feeling of sadness
came over me when wrote that last
sentence, for I do not like to think
that any of our boys and girls should
ever cease to love the scenes of the
country. And do not believe they
would it their home surroundings
were just what they should be. That
NAV hurt some fond father or mother
who has helped Mollie pack her trunk
tc go away to town. I think can feel
something of the sorrow which ac-
companied her going away. But let
me ask that mother whether or not
she has not by herself talking slight
ingly of the farm and its work, by the
way in which che has educated her
daughter during the early years of
her childhood, helped to bring on this
feeling that the country is not just
the place for live girl or boy. 1t is
rot exciting enough. Nothing ever
happens in the country. Life is dull
here. Is not this the common trend
OF the conversation?
Well, if that be true, what shall we
do to keep our girls with us? Every
farmer father and mother must an
swer that for himself or herself. Do
you think if the home were as beau
tiful as it should and might be with
the outlay of little care and not a
great deal of money; if the girls life
were full of bright, CHEEKY and help
full things, as every farmer girls life
might be; if all that is said and done
in the home should be such as to deep
en- the girls love for the country and
the country home; if, in short, the
farm were allowed toweave its mystic
spell around the farm girl, that she
would be so anxious to get away from
it all and shut herself up in the hot,
dusty, lonely city? I do not.
And I feel all the more sorry to see
our girls go away when think of the
time to come-and it surely will come
when she will long to get back home
to the farm. And it may not be pos
sible to do so them. Life's duties
press hard upon us as we grow older,
and the thing we would like to do
and which we wish we had done we
can not possibly do now. The heart
may grow weary thinking about the
home back in the country, where all
was so free and pure; duty says: mo,
here is your place; stay in it,
Well, this, then, is a plea for the
country girl, a direct appeal to the
fathers and mothers who have girls
vet untouched by the spell of other
kinds of life. What do I ask? Only
that you shall do or say nothing
which will tend to wean the girls
away from the farm home. know
how life presses in upon us some
times. Weary in body, we can not help