Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-12-12
MODERN FARMING
THE OlD.TIME FARMER AND HIS
MODERN PROTOTYPE.
Twentieth Century Convsniences Make Farm
Life Worth Living. Trolley Cars. Tele.
phones and Rural Mail Delivery Have
Changed Ways OF Living on the Farm.


Let Us cast parting glance at the
typical old-iime farmer. Two or three
months in each year, there being pracii-
/ cally nothing TO do on the farm, he sent
bis childr n 10 the little one-room school
house. There the pupils recited mechani-
ideas and city ideals-books in which
the beauties and wonders OF agriculture
and nature study found no place. The
city sllured the more am bi.ious pupils /;
the others turned indy and stciidly 10
tasks whose deeper meaning was never
10 be revealed TO them. Ancient and
costly farming methods remained un.
/ changed. Tor tie MAN with the Hoe"
was content with the ways OF the fathers.
Four or five days in each year. this
! farmer helped to fill up the larger iuts
in the roads. but there was no permanent
/ highway improvement. Season after
/ season had roads kept him from profit.
able trips 10 market: times innumerable
they kept his isolated family from needed
visits TO friends and relatives. Once a
week. possibly twice, some one went to
the little crossroads postoffice to get the
letters and papers-if perchance there
should be any; these trips were not
regular or frequent. because each one
meant the loss OF hal: day from work.
With such a slow and costly system, that
the farmer wrote few letters and took
few papers is not surprising. Then, too,
If he wished 10 summon a doctor. speak
to a neigh Dor, or order from his mer.
chant, a slow horseback trip over bad
roads was the only available means OF
communication the rural telephone was
not dreamed Of. But the tragedy Of this
mans life was that he was Drudge,
mechanical "slave to the wheel Of lspor."
He was blind to the beauty OF rural life
and ignorant Of the wonderful natural
forces with which he had to deal.
How different the progressive farmer
of to-day! Five months in each year his
children 60 TO school, and the teaching
has given them a new interest in their
environment and in their daily work.
The old one.room schoolhouse has given
way 70 an attractive modern structure.
Instead of an occasional book bought
from the itinerant agent or borrowed
from a neiehbor, the school library puts
the choicest Of literary treasures at the
disposal OF the whole family. The old
quilted highway Is gone and we'll grad.
ed road sweeps BY the farmers honse |
Instead of the weekly paper and the &C.
casional letter brought from the old post.
Office the rural mail-carrier brings city
daily each morning. and letters and !
magazines in refreshing abundance. TO |
confer with a neighbor no longer means |
a ride OF an hour or two; one or two |
minutes al the telephone sufices. Other !
advantages have followed. With better |
school methods have come more regular
attendance and more enthusiastic pupils;
better roads and increased travel have |
developed new pride in the appearance
of grounds and buildings; with better
facilities there is more thought as to the
quality OF the periodical literature. And |
on this mans farm there is no drudgery.
knowledge has ennobled every task,
and to him every common hush is atire
with God" His are the advantage Of |
both town and country. Pan still pipes |
BIZ the riverside. while the ring OF the !
telephone and the distant shrek OF the
locomotive mingle with the music Of I is
flute.
Do not understand me to say that the |
new farmer here portrayed is as yet the
typical ruraiis' Heis not by any means. |
The old-tme farmer is as yet many |
times as humorous. But the future is !
with the new farmer. The modern |
leaven will vet leaven the whole Jump
From the Remaking OF a rural Common.
wealth." by Clarence H. Poe, in the !
American Monthly Review OF Reviews
for Decem Der.