Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-09-13
FARMERANDpLANTER
ABOUT THE FARM GIRL.
4 Few Timely words ON "A snsi.nt
that III Usually sadly Neg
lected.

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, who
thinks or cares for her?
But it is a serious matter we have
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 l do not blame him for doing;
il 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
Clovcr-leaf farm and asks: DO you
know where l can find good girl to
work for me? My wife is sick, and
we need some one to help us for few
weeks" And j do not know where to
send him. 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 |
started. / do not know of a 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 we'll 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 n clerk in the store
these are all honorable professions.
| But so is farming. / wonder if it 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 farmsP do not quite
think so. What then?
/ believe it is because the girls are
| dissatisfied with the life on the farm
1t is not simply because they can earn
little more money in town than they
can on the farm, although, no doubt,
ONE 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 / 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 if their home surroundings
were just what they should be. That
may hurt some fond father or mothef
who has helped Mollie pack her trunk
| tc go away to town. ! 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 she has educated heI
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
not exciting enough. Nothing ever
happens in the country. Life is dul
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. Dc
you think If the home were as beau
tiful as it should und might be with
the outlay of little care and not Q
great deal of money; if the girls life
were full of bright, CHEEKY and help
full things, as every farmer girls lif'
might be; il all that is said and done
in the home should be such as to deep
en- the girls love for the country ant
the country home; il, in short, thu
farm were allowed toweave its mystic
spell around the farm girl, that SHE
would be so anxious to get away from
il all and shut herself up in the hot
dusty, lonely city? ! do not.
And fee, all the more sorry to Sc,
our girls go away when ] think of tn,
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. LIES duties
press hard upon MS as we grow older
and the thing we would like to dc
and which. we wish we had done W.
can not possibly do now. The hear
may grow weary thinking about thu
home back in the country, where al
was so free and pure; duty says: mo
here is your place; stay in it,"
Well, this, then, is plea for thu
country girl, a direct appeal to thu
fathers and mothers who have girl
vet untouched by the spell of othe
kinds of life. What do | ask? Onl.
that you shall do or say nothing
which will tend to wean the girl
away from the farm home. ] know
how life presses in upon us some
times, Weary in body, we can not he'll
thinking how good it would be If W
could find some place where we nigh
throw off care and rest. The word
we are apt to speak at such times ar
the words upon which our boys an
girls seize to foster the spirit of TN
easiness, which ends in the determine
ton to go away and see for them
selves what the city is like. If W
were to stop when these words ris
within us, and rest awhile, the incl
nation to speak them would soon pas
away, and we would see that, afte
all, every spot and place in all thi
world has its hard days and its heav