Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-02-01
REAL HAPPINESS.
How Much Better the Conditions Are Than
in the City.

farm home:
Oregon farmers should be little
more content with their surroundings
after reading the news dispatches OF
the past week. While their city cou.
sins have been worrying over a short
supply of fuel, or trying to thaw out
frozen water pipes, or cooking on the
sitting room heater because they were
afraid of an explosion OF the coil in
the kitchen range, the farmers and
their families have enjoyed comfort
around warm freside and have had
their three square meals a day with.
out deviation from the domestic rou.
tine. Their fuel comes from the tim
ber down in the lower end of the
pasture. Whether water should be
charged for by the month or by meter
is of no consequence to them, for the
we'll OF clear, cold water yields supply
that is free and unfrozen. The plum.
Der won't be around the first of next
month with q bill.
Then the agriculturist has an addi-
tional reason for satisfaction when he
reads OF epidemics in some of the large
cities, due to infected milk supply.
The city resident who gets his quart OF
milk every morning or evening in a
bottle, that someone else has washed
or not washed, does not know what
food and care the dairy cows have re-
ceived, or how clean the dairy barns
are kept. When the farmer brings in
his ten.quart pail Of foamy milk both
morning and evening he knows the
COWS were fed clean, bright clover hay
and sweet juicy carrots. He knows
the milk pals and pans we're scalded
every time they were used. The thick
cream which he pours over The dish Of
mush Or baked apples contains no
germs OF disease.
The eggs which come to the farmers
table were not broken into a saucer to
see whether they were fresh before put.
ting them into the frying pan. OF
course they are fresh, for the children
look in the nests every day. Neither
his butter nor his jelly needs q Food
Commissioners stamp to vouch for its
purity. His bacon and ham were not
cured with questionable preservatives,
nor did they come from hogs that had
been fatigued with travel before kill
ing.
And the possibility of a street.car
strike does not worry him. He lives
four or five miles from town, but he
doesn't walk, cars or no cars. He goes
to the city, not in a stuffy car, in
which he must come in contact with
comon people, but sitting comfortably
in his own carriage or perched high on
the spring seat OF his own wagon.
Comparatively speaking, what an
affluent and independent gentleman
the farmer is. The city man is the
victim of the butcher, the baker and
tho poor.gas maker. He pays for
everything he gets except air, and
would be glad to pay for that if be
could get the country kind. He lives
on piece Of land fifty by one hundred
feet, and his next door neighbors can
look into the windows OF his sitting.
room. He doesn't know half the peo.
pie who live in the same block with
him, and doesn't want to know them.
He works hard enough for fifty weeks
in the year to wear himself out, aud
then spends his years savings on q
two weeks vacation. He buys his
provisions in little packages from the
grocerymap, and never has enough in
the house to supply the table for three
days if company should unexpectedly
arrive.
Not so the farmer. Though his
fields arc broad and bis fences high
and strong, he has . neighborly feel
ing for everyone who lives within ten
miles OF him. His pastures and poul.
try yards supply his meat and eggs;
his garden fills his vegetable cellar
every Fall and his fruithouse is stocked
with fresh, canned and cured fruits
in abundance. He works leisurely
through the Spring and early Summer,
rushes a little during harvest, and
then spends the Winter doing the
chores and cutting his years fuel. He
enjoys health, peace and plenty in .
degree unknown to his city cousin. II
he lacks one other requisite, content.
ment, he should acquire this upon
reading in the daily papers the &C.
counts of the troubles of the city man.
THE Times says that Gov. Mead in