The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-01-04
EARNEK AND PLANTER.


This question il often asked, ana
most frequently answered in the neg
ative. Yet while it can not be denied
that there is little prospect of the
farmer merging into millionaire by
the pure tlling of the soil. on the
other hand he is not, with moderate
economy ana industry, liable to be
forced into the condition of the
tramp. But it is not the purpose OF
this article to discuss the financial
aspect of the question; there is one
still broader too frequently over
looked.
In what other occupation has one
more liberty? In what can he, with
the same amount invested, enjoy more
luxuries. True, he must make hay
while the sun shines; but If he wants
day off to go fishing he is at liber-
ty to go without consulting anyone.
Even milking time" is no more ex-
acting Fad certainly not SO prolonged
as the office hours of professional life.
This idea or independence came to me
with peculiar force recently as the re-
suit of a mechanics observations. He
had for a time under his employ
band of farmers, neighbors, bent on
working in their normal manner.
This man had all his life been accus-
toned to the steady grinding OF COM
rades in the trade, men who knew
their business and attended to 1t
strictly during working hours. To
him these farmers were "the greatest
story tellers he ever metz" yet they
were not accustomed to the servitude
accompanying a trade and simply
worked as they had worked all their
lives, interspersing sociability with
the labor, and not fully approaching
the fact that for the time they were
or should be under master.
A common plea against farming is
the lack of social and literary adj
vantages. The horses at the farmers
! disposal would tickle the townsman
receiving goodly salary; and the
steady trend toward system OF good
roads for both beast and bicycle
promises in the near future to reduce
this objection to minimum. The
farm telephone and rural delivery Of
mail are rich in possibilities. And as
for the literary advantages, those
who have left the farm for the town
too often regret that they have less
time for reading than when perform
ing the manifold duties of which we
hear so much.
On every side there is the whole
some stimulus toward improvement.
The buildings, grounds, fences. fertili-
ty of soil, these are but few of the
many ways that point to improve
ment. But still more advantageous
to those who realize the true nobility
of farming are the opportunities for
procuring, maintaining, and improv-
ing the best of whatever is raised, be
it poultry, bees, fruit, cattle or horses.
Strip the enthusiast on any subject
of his hobby and you have materially
curtailed his enjoyment. In it be
lives; and through it, if he be of the
genuine stuff, he is oftimes public
benefactor. The personal satisfaction
of having raised the best of some.
thing is too great to be measured by
mere dollars and cents. The incentive
to higher, nobler living, to developing
the best at hand finds it's highest op
portunity for exemplifcation in the
life of the farmer; and more and
more each year is he being educated
to grasp his opportunity Bessie L
| Putnam, in Agricultural Epitomist.