Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-03-04
MORE HAPPINESS NOW.
The Tendency 10 to Make Farm Life
Desirable.


population from the farm to the city
has been marked. 1t has challenged,
says the Dallas (Tex) News, the
thought OF the most eminent sociolJ-
gists and economists, and the Govern
ment has had the subject investigated
and studied by experts. In some Geo
tons the removal of farmers, and par
ticularly farmer boys, from their coun-
try homes to the cities. has been so
great as to be actually alarming. The
alarm is justified for the reason that
everyone knows that in country
which is essentially agricultural, the
deserving of the farms by the farmers
is an unfailing indication Of the de.
cadence of that industry upon which
rests the prosperity Of all other indus
tries and the country generally.
Many and diverse have been the
causes assigned for the removal of the
rural population cityward, and equally
numerous have been the suggestions
intended to check this tendency and
reverse the movement. Among the
former are the excitement attendant
upon life in a city, better facilities for
education; for as rule the children
Of the farmer are always anxious to
get an education. Added to these, is
the idea which it is asserted prevails
among the farmer boys to a great ex-
tent that they cannot attain promi-
hence or be Of great service to their
country and people unless they take
up residence in a city.
All these and other causes have
doubtless been potential in this shift
ing of the population. But it occurs
to The News that there are other very
potent reasons that have not so far
been considered with the seriousness
that their importance demands. The
one most prominent and the one
which has been most neglected, so far
as remedial effort has been exercised,
life. All people naturally crave COM
partnership; they are DESTROYS of so
cial entertainments, and when this is
not attainable to deree commensu-
rate with their wishes, discomfort is
aroused, and they intuitively begin to
look around in an effort to make it so.
1t has not been many years since the
possibilities In social ~ay Of COM
munity in which the population was
comparatively scant were very mea-
ger. Such conditions have been vastly
improved recently, and the monontony
which was once characteristic of life
on the farm no longer exists by ne
cessity, as it did. Indeed, SO rapid
have been the changes in these con-
ditions that it is doubtful if the farm
er himself has realized to the full the
opportunities now afforded to wonder
fully improve the social life of him
self, his family and his neighbors. The
creation. of beautiful home life in
connection with community of IN
terest in industrial and business af-
fairs will go long way in this direc-
ton.
Among the Improvements that are
now helpful socially as well as in
business way are the telephone, rural
free delivery of mails, improvement
of public highways, better methods Of
cultivation of crops, improved farm
machinery, diversification of crops, ex-
traordinary cheapness of newspapers,
and general literature; the
organization of associations, such as
unions, institutes, etc.. in which the
principle of cooperation is used in
business way, and there is certainly
no reason why it should not be used
in social way.
BY use of the telephone it is posi-
Bile for one to call up a neighbor and
chat about business or social affairs,
and by its use, also. it is easy to pro-
ject social entertainments and get the
assistance of neighbors and friends in
them successful The rural
free delivery of mails brings promptly
to those in the country their mail, in
Guiding newspapers and other publ
cations. Better roads make travel to
and from places of entertainment easy
in all kinds of weather. Better meth
DDS in the cultivation of crops make it
possible to get more from a given
of land, therebyiincreasing the
profits of the farm. lmproevd machin-
cry renders their cultivation cheaper,
less laborious and more remunerative
at the same time requiring less time
and giving the farmer greater oppor
tunity for social recreation. Diversi-
fication of crops renders it possible
for him to have chances for pleasure
throughout the year. The
cheapness of newspapers, magazines,
books, ETC., puts them within reach of
every one, and they give hints and
helps useful In the promotion of social
life among the people engaged in all
avocations. The various farmers or
CARNATIONS will prove of vast assist
ance in the promotion of social pleas
ures; for they are of themselves Of q
social and fraternal nature.
The News calls attention to these
things with the. hope that they may be
given the thought they deserve.
1t is astonishing to a good farming
cnnnHnIInftv IN notipo hho nunnhov. ~