Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1908-05-13

that Is the best sense to employ at all
times. Do the boys OF to-day always use
it? Did we when we were boys? Do we
now?
Now, even in Maine, the farmer does not
have to wait for stumps to rot out. Inven-
ton has given him a tool with which he
extracts teeth, and do it without pain to
Madame Nature.
With the introduction Of the OK and
wooden pillow, and later the steel plow,
farming was made easier, but the boy OF
these times could tell you of his impa-
thence and weary limbs; but you do not
need to be told. Most OF you men OF old
Maine hare experienced the feeling; for
no doubt you followed the plough and
harrow behind old Buck and Broad when
you were boys, as did.
But boys have a better and easier time
now; they can ride the sulky pillow behind
a span Of bays; and there is greater de-
light in handling the reins in the new po-
sition than there was in swinging the CAD
stick in the old. The old farmer used the
sickle and the scythe then came the
CEhuic, tucH tuc lbUW CT Auu tuc IGnpcE.
The old way was threshing with fails;
the flooring was arranged between two
bulkheads in the barn, and the boys
pounded out the grain during cool
autumn, and the music Of it hoated upon
the ear from every quarter OF the neigh
borhood. The boys of the neighborhood
used to change work sometimes in thresh-
ing time, and think they rather enjoyed
the work, for then they were planning to
expand their sphere Of action which, il
carried out, would take them away from
the farm.
There was a time when it seemed that
most Of the boys were leaving the farms
of Maine, taking Greeley's advice and 60
ing West. Many crowded into cities.
Farming was drudgery to them, and they
could see no profit in it. But conditions
in farming in Maine have changed some
what for the better. of late years, brought
about in large measure, presume, by the
good work done in the agricultural col
lege at Orono, for the young farmer, and
for the old, too, for that matter, for l
have been told that some of the fathers
farmers avail themselves of the few weeks
of free tuition each year, at this great
school, with profit.
have been told also that many OF the
sons of the sons who left the farms are
now the possessors of the old wornout
and neglected acres, and are equipping
them with the latest implements and en-
riching them with fertilizers suited to the
soils and products they desire to raise.
In other words, they are farming with an
intelligence that their fathers did not pos
sess because they were born little too
soon.
We are to-day living in new era, in an
age of wonders, in grand and awful
time; and he who can keep step with the
pace of to-day will succeed better than
his father did. / have been told that these
new farmers have learned how to make
the old farms profitable and that they
pendent life occupying them.
l am one of those who skipped the
Maine farm. never cared much for the
farm, and don't think ! ever should, work
as did on it. would like to be a gentle /
man farmer. / would like to tell the |
other fellow how to farm. think would |
enjoy this kind of farming very much |
b ecause | am fond of country life. As to |
Maine, l could not enjoy her severe win |
tiers any more; but | like her summer |
time. her rugged nllls, ner tOch-rluDcu |
coast and her scenery.
The opportunity for schooling in the |
early day, outside of the turning of the |
leaves OF the book of nature before |
the wondering eyes OF the growing |
boy, was very limited indeed. Some |
of the more fortunate, I imagine, |
may have received private lessons |
from the local preacher; and later the |
preacher was the public schoolmaster. We |
lind him in the log schoolhouse, which I
was warmed by fire in rude fire place. I,
and even in the little red schoolhouse of |
your day and mine; end we can vouch for |
it that he was handy with the yellow !
birch.
Instruction was mostly in reading, writ |
ing, spelling and arithmetic; geography |
aud grammar not very essential. l pre-
sumo some of you can remember the old |
HEnglish Reader, the american Precep- |
tori, sThe National Reader" "Mande- |
ville's Reader "Webster's Spelling |
Book )" ssWalch's Arithmetic;" can. You |
had read "Esop's Fables" and "Mother |
Goose.
The schools of Maine to-day are far in |
advance of what they were, and, like every
thing else, are in line of progression. The |
boy and the girl of old Maine to-day are |
living in a better period than did their |
forefathers and foremothers. And we are |