The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-01-24
FARMER LIFE IDEAL.

in the city, imagining that life III the
city is more desirable than theirs,
easier and filled with plenty of leisure
to enjoy all the pleasures with which
the rustic Imagination gilds and glo-
rifles those distant scenes and activi
ties, they need only try to find out
their mistake. "Far fields are green"
and lose much of their attractiveness
upon nearer view.
To the city man of ordinary means
and opportunities, who, like the or
dinary farmer, has no bank account
to fall back upon in case of emergen-
cy, life is one "demnition grind" and
without the soothing influences of
nature that surround the farmer to
quiet the fever and unrest with which
the struggle, competition and turmoil
around him keep his nerves on the
rack day after day. AS rule, such
men are not their own masters, but
must order their speech, demeanor
and inclinations to please the powers
that have control over their daily
doings in order to keep bread in the
mouths and clothes on the backs of
both themselves and their families.
The farmer, if he does not feel
we'll, can rise in the morning at what
ever hour it pleases him so to do, for
an hour or so or day or two does
not make much difference in his af-
fairs, except at the most critical
periods of planting and havesting.
He can have his own opinions, and
voice them, too, on politics and re-
ligion and all the stirring questions
of the day without fear of antagoniz-
ing the powers that be, who can
"sack" him if his views and opinions
do not happen to coincide with those
of his masters or overload" (the
boss.
That the farmer is hard worker
nobody can deny. Tilling the soil is
not easy work. Since God gave the
command to man to learn his bread
by the sweat of his face the farmers
life has been a life of toll. 1t takes
some strength and effort to dig liv-
ing out of the ground. It's not easy
to earn living, much less fortune,
without effort, and the farmer is not
the only one who "sweats. Brain
workers have no sinecure, although
some persons imagine that all they
have to do is to sit at desk and add
up figures or to twiddle pen in their
fingers. The life of salesman be-
hind the counter is most wearisome
and monotonous. The beautiful days
of spring go by, the birds are singing
as they build their nests, the flowers
are blooming in the valleys and on
the hillsides, and the grass is growing
greener and greener in the meadows,
yet never a glimpse does he get of the
beauty of the bright world except
when he can take a car ride of an
evening or on Sunday or holiday.
A grocer's clerk works more hours
and harder than the average country
boy, who can go to the corner" and
pitch quoits and gossip with his cro-
nies when the city young man is just
getting from work, and, as for the
man who delivers milk in the city, he
has even harder work and longer
hours. At 4 in the morning and even
earlier his wagon is heard on the
streets and himself racing from top to
bottom of the high apartment build
ings in the cold and sleet of a mid
winters morning or in the enervating
heat of summer. At breakneck speed
he goes, and one could almost imagine
that his life depended upon getting
through his rounds in due season.
Competition is so great that he must
neglect nothing and always be pleas
ant and obliging to the most unrea-
sonable of customers for fear of losing
one. There are the icemen, carrying
fifty pounds and often 100 pounds of
ice up four flights of stairs, which is
no easy task, and as it is not skilled
labor the pay is probably not more
than it should be, considering the
amount of strength expended. Hard
as the work is and moderate as is the
pay, no man can afford to lose his
job, so he has to be very careful not
to antagonize his employers.
The man who does business on a
small scale and is his own boss prob
ably finds it no easier to make liv-
ing, for he has to do the greater part
of his own work, and in the case of
bad or Improbable season is some
times not SO we'll off as his hireling,
who is sure of his wages at least.
That man who owns his land and
has good health is poor farmer who
cannot make at least living for him
self and family. 1t may not be
sumptuous living, but it may be a
comparatively comfortable one. This
cannot be said of all sorts of occupa-
tiOnS.
There is another hope ahead for the
farmer. If he doesn't have good
luck this year, he may the next.
There is always chance that there
will be better yield in crops and
better price in the market. The ele-
ment of uncertainty adds zest to life
which settled amount of wages from
month to month and from year to
year cannot give, and he is always
sure Of enough to eat on the farm of
some sort or another.
The time is coming and is not far
distant when the farmers life will be
looked upon as the ideal life by many
of the world weary toilers of the
crowded cities. Even now the one
bright dream of many a drudger in
the stores and offices is of happy
time coming when he will have a
farm, home all his own in the
country, where he can rest his tired
brain and nerves as he sits beneath
his own vine and fg-or apple-tree.
Whoever despises farmers life is a
fool it is the most independent life
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