The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-04-22
soc1ABrL1rY AMONG FARMERS.

There is great deal of complain
ing among farmers wives in some
localities because of the lack of socia-
bility among them. tits worth while
to consider this matter, and if it be
true that they are not so friendly as
they should be with one another,
some remedy ought to be suggested.
for the women of f.~tls farms need
companionship and entertainment.
The four walls of home that hem
them in from observations of the ac-
tivities of the world will not keep the
mind bright and the body healthy !;
and, let me add, bright, cheerful
mind goes long distance in promot-
ing a healthy body.
A man full of goings and comings
can scarcely realize how lonely a
woman must feel, if, perchance, she is
confined at home for weeks, maybe
months, and no new face comes to
give her change of thought, or tell
her Of the happenings around about
among the people she knows. If
husbands could be made to under
stand, / think some of them would be
more willing to devote more time to
their wives; would take them out
from home oftener, and talk to them
more of what they see and hear when
abroad. But we must take men as
they are, and society as we find it,
and ourselves as we happen to be,
and make up our minds that we have
a good deal of padding of our own
canoes to do; and, if we want socie-
ty, we must work for it-and some
times we have to work so hard for it
that we question whether it pays or
not.
Women cam t get time to be socia
BILE nowadays, said the Head of the
Sidneys, "on account of their sleeves.
If they are invited to go anywhere it
takes them a week, more or less, to
get the bulge on their sleeves in the
right place, and then, like as not, it
will be out of fashion before they get
there, if they don't drive FAST
Social matters are not conducted as
they once were among farmers. They
are following in the wake of other
people, and are putting more expense
and formality in entertainments than
of old. Our Industrious grandmoth-
ers would sometimes, after diner, set
back the spinning wheel and reel, tidy
themselves up, and with knitting in
hand (not fancy knitting go out to
some neighbor's to spend the after
noon and take tea and the husbands
would smell the supper from afar, and
arrive in time-you can trust them for
that-to take tea, too. Pleasant
afternoons were thus spent together,
and families came to know one an
others affairs, and to be deeply inter-
ested in each other. can remember
how dearly my mother loved her
neighbors; how sad she looked if
there was case of sickness or death,
or misfortune of any sort, among
them; how she went to help them by
day or by night in their needs, and they
were always ready to return these
loving services.
But the "neighbor woman has
gone back on her record. The doc
tor and hired nurse have come to take
her place. She doesn't know the
uses of sage tea and catnip, or of
camomile and tansy. She cannot
take one of her own family through a
billions attack, or spell of collie, as the
old-time mother with her garret full
of herbs which she knew how to ap-
ply, could. Nor can she save money
as the latter did, and knock the doc
tors business great deal hatter than
it is today. And why should profes-
sional men have so much more money
for their families than the farmers
have for theirs? say it without fear
of contradiction-they are not so use
full as the farmers. We could do
without pills, and without law, and
without Latin and Greek, but that
person has not yet lived who can do
without bread.
It takes more money to live now
that people are not so serviceable nor
so sociable. Farmers cannot afford
to be sociable as sociability is conduc-
ted nowadays. They cannot afford
to invite their friends once year to a
big spread of oysters and salads, of
ice cream and pound cake, &c. Peo-
pie who live beyond their means soon
lose their friends. / do not know of
any one who contracts debts he can
not pay who is held in high esteem ;
and many of these debts are incurred
for sociability's sake. People want
fine houses and furniture and expen-
sive lighting and heating appurte-
nances; they want clipped horses and
fine carriages, and they try to dress
as near like the elite as possible, and
to entertain their guests as sumptu-
ously as those do who have thrice
their wealth. All this is sociability
run wild-it will not endure to the
end. The real friend is the one who
all the time seeks your best interest.
He would sacrifice many things he
could we'll afford to have for the sake
of not setting bad example in the
community.
Who is my neighbor? You re-
member the story of the man who
went down to Jerusalem from Jericho,
and fell among thieves-and Jesus
pronounced that it was not those who
passed by on the other side, but, rath-
er, the kind. merciful man who bound
up his wounds and helped him on his
road, who was his neighbor. We
can do without the aristocratic neigh
bors, "who come after dark" I" as a
waggish friend of mine once said
dressed up in their best to spend
the afternoon. We can do without
formal calls and fashionable func-