The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-19

Why are we always lauding the
when nobody praises the amenities of
the merchants lot or the tinsmith's ca
reer? asks the Times Union. Is it be-
cause the farmer needs to be patted on
the back and hattered in order to re-
concile him to a harder destiny? Do
we think to cajole him with fustian
about bees and birds and flowers and
the independence of the rural career, to
try to induce him to go back contented
to the task of supporting the rest of
mankind?
The sunny side of farming? Well, it
is sometimes SO degrees in the shade
to say nothing of the temperature of
the bayfield, at noon in the open. That
Is work, but work is not an evil. Josh
Billings says: HE who win not sweat
at his brow will be made to sweat all
over"
Who has the greater manhood and
the greater real pleasure in his exist
ence; he who bravely takes the hay
field at the midsummer midday tenn
perature, with it's consequences in pers-
piration; or the lily-fingered youngsters
who stand on the street corners all day
in good clothes while their female rela-
tives are straining every nerve keeping
boarders or taking in sewing to keep
the family together?
But, really it is little singular that
we are always going to make the farm
er believe that he has one of the most
pleasant occupations in the world
Does the farmer read these opinions?
Does he care for them? 1t is not
highly probable that we indite Them
not out of our own experience, but
from a certain sense of personal envy?
Is it not fact that all our purest
noblest pleasures have the country,
the farmers home. as their objective
point? The picnic, the sugar boiling
the nutting, the berrying, the hunting,
the fishing-all repair to the country
Is 1t not because we all instinctiveIy
feel that the farmer has good things
around him, that he is free-handcd and
likes to entertain his city friends, that
he is, in short, a good fellow?
And, really, is it not worth something
to the farmer to be the center of such
sentiments, the source from which are
dispensed to women and little children.
and even men of all classes, some of
their purest and worthiest enjoyments I?
1t is one of the sacred recollections
of the writer's youth that a revered
ancestor knelt every morning and Of
fered up devout thanks to the Giver of
all good, in which invariably occurred
this phrase. For the bOundleSS wealth
and the enchanting beauty of this
great, green earth" The farmer carries
the keys to all outdoors this great and
beautiful world belongs to him, and
the jaded slaves of city life go hum
bly, out to Kim and ask permission to
hunt and swim and climb and pull his
flowers and throw UP their heels in the
happy freshness of a too fleeing hour
Yes, this world belongs to the farm
er, and If he will strongly seize it and
possess it, he may become a monarch
among men. The trifier who seizes a
pretext to hitch up his wagon every
day and drive to town with a sheetful
of cotton or a bushel of potatoes, mere
ly to get a chance to rub up against
city walls-that man, if he had his
place, would be ditching in the streets
But let him rather stay at home for
days and weeks, together. planning and
plunged in his busy and fruitful labors;
directing wisely the labors of his help
ers: happy in his leisure moments in
the society of his family; piling up sub
stance around him until 1t will take six
horse wagonloads to haul ii away Then
will he fell strong and rich in his pos
sessions. Then will he have hosts of
city friends, not only for his riches of
milk and strip and honey and his gold
en- orchards but also for fine landlord
ly character. Wealth brings culture.
Let him fill his barn to bursting with
forage and meat and cotton, with
horses and buggies, and his parlors
Will, by natural correlation, swim in
music and song and his verandas will
swing with the dance OF the neighbour