Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1904-10-06
GETTING GOOD OUT OF LIpE


VI 'iie hloSb nxed and unalter-
a"le iactS Of life," said the professor
W niS class In psychology, "ls the es-
Sential impermanency Of sensation. >,
rut that in plain farmer language.
"nat ooes 1t mean? Sensation is feel.
ing that includes pleasure, pain, love,
nate, Joy misery. Impermanency
means that thing does not endure.
a ilrSt mosquito bite is an annoying
cning; men in mosquito countries al.
low the eager insects to fill themselves
with blood, undisturbed; they do not
'eei them any more, The child loses
its ball or breaks its doll and life ia
desolate to it, but the child laughs at
real calamities in later years.
Farming is only an Incident in life:
1t is not life itself. Men farm to live.
rlty the man whose aim is 50 low that
he lives to farm. The workhouse does
that and gets small joy out Of IL
rhere is SO much to farm life besides
Tue growing OF corr and the fattening
of beeyes and swine. Dwellers In cit
les come to the countay and are intox.
lcated with the joy of the land. TIC
them the fields tell stories OF rest and
peace, the woods whisper of paradise,
The brooks tell stories OF sins washed
away, the cool evenings when only the
birds call conhdingly to each other
bring a message of forgiveness and
hope and the dewy mornings bring
fresh assurance and newborn desires.
1t is wonder to these half-strangers
to country life that men who dwell
always amid such scenes should be
sordid or diScontented or guilty Of low
aims. They forget that truth Of ''the
essential impermanency Of sensation, -
that country dweilers lose the very
best gifts of the country through over.
much familiarity.
And what is the remedy? 1t Is not
easy to suggest, yet here is a hint.
once we happened on camp where
farmers were assembled, their harvests
gathered, their corn rlpening, no ur-
gent duties requiring them at home.
There was a cluster Of a dozen tents
pitched in leafy grove Of naples.
Each tent sheltered family and one
large open canvass sheltered the sit
ting room, the assembly. A short dis
tance away the spring broke out from
the mossy bank and there a placid
stream reflected the sycamores. These
people camp each year a week or SO.
They have a telephone at the camp SO
they are within call Of home should
they be needed. They rest, become
acquainted with each other, read, take
morning dips In the cool water The
whole current Of their thought is
changed and rested. And when they
go back to their homes 1t is to see all
things new, to feel once more thrill
Of JOY In the beauty and goodness Of
home scenes, to see things that they
had forgot to see at all. And the cost
Of this is not more than to live at
home. 1t is travel and adventure with
the misery of baking cindery railway
journeying left out-though that in
deed would make one love his home
when he got back to it.
Country dwellers get too little out
of country life. A saddle horse is
cheaply kept. A western pony may
not have style but he has go. A can
ter to the village will make the blood
circulate better and the man feel
younger. A half day from the grind
of farm work now and then will open
a new perspective and enable the
farmer to see his way more clearly,
besides getting him in touch with the
ioy of the world. And the women
most of all need the new outlook, the
new sensation, so that the old ones,
most blessed of all, may be again re-
newed.