The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-05-14

TTOW strange it is, and yet how
- true, that the conventional
idea of country life pictures
it as a place where one may
dream ones life away in the simple
pursuit of pleasure; where one has only
to sip Natures sweet nectar, listening
the while to singing birds and hum
ming bees; looking at the blue sky, the
swaying trees, the gurgling brook and
the green fields. But how different it
all is to the initiated!
Usually those who write about the
country are city bred idealists, gifted
with poetical nature and whose ideals
are those things with which they are
unfamiliar. The chances are that were
they placed upon a farm to sink or
swim, the rugged strenuous life of the
farm would soon pail upon them and
they would early tuIn back to the city;
back to the place of their birth, where
from six to ten hours constitute days
work; back to the home of culture and
refinement, where an education may be
had by the poor as well as the rich;
back to the place where good music,
good sermons and good lectures may he
enjoyed by all; back to the place with
its fine arts, grand operas and magnifi-
cent theatrical productions; back to
the enchanting parks where beauty and
comfort are combined; yes, back to
where the hurly-burly mass of human
ity wage incessant war for the posses
sion of the all absorbing dollar of our
daddies.
Let us for moment look at farm
life as it is and see what there is to lure
us to its embrace. In considering this
[ do not propose to take the ideal farm
as an example, nor yet to picture a
place where, as is too often the case,
poverty reigns supreme, and where the
mortgage is the sword of Damocles
threatening to fall at any moment. l
shall try to strike medium, perhaps
not happy one; but one nevertheless
as happy as the conditions warrant.
1t is about 4 a. M, and 1 seem to have
just got into bed and settled down to
comfortable snooze when the old alarm
clock warns me that it is time to get
up and do chores. I tumble out of bed
in a semi-dazed condition, hustle into
my overalls and jacket, light lantern
grab up half dozen milk cans and
hurry to the barn. After cleaning the
barn, grooming and Harvesting my
team of four horses, milking, stopping
and turning out eleven cows, feeding
the hogs and calves; I repair to tht
house for breakfast. Breakfast being
bolted in haste, I hurry out the team
and get into the field where remain
steadfastly tramping after drill, plov
or drag until the dinner hour. Aftel
putting up and feeding my horses, ant
swallowing a hasty dinner, take
much needed relaxation from thu
arduous labors of the morning by split
ting wood, feeding the hogs and calves
and perhaps mending some farm i'm
plement while the horses eat; for horses
are not so constituted that they cal
bolt a meal in fifteen minutes,-or per
haps they lack the inclination.
Oae-thirty finds me again in the fielt
where continue until the setting o
the sun warns me that it is time t.
drag my weary. earth-burdened fee
homeward, and altho have only beel
able to put in twelve hours labor in tn
field, must needs be satisfied. pu
up my team, feed them hay and the
60 in to supper. Much as l should lik
to remain with the family and exchang
mutual condolences, l cannot forge
that I still have little work to do i
caring for my horses, unharnessin.
feeding and rubbing them down. Ther
also remain the eleven cows to mil
and the calves and pigs to feed. So
take up the milk pals and "tiding
taste of a song" just to keep my cou
age up, 1 hike for the barn. | ha7
taken care of the horses, calves an
hogs, and for sometime have been bu
lily engaged in directing two strenuou