Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-14
RURAL PROGRESS.
What the Telephone Does For the
Farmer.

What the Telephone Does For th'
Farmer.
Wherever the wires Of the telephone
have been spread in backward rura
communities there has been a striking
change in the living conditions Of the
people.
The little instrument hanging on the
wall has brought these semiexiles back
into touch with their kind. The father
the mother and the children all share
in the awakening from the mental tor
Dor induced by isolation. All are now
in immediate touch with true commu'
nal life.
To the mother, perhaps, the change
means most No longer will the coun-
ty asylums record as a fact that the
greater number Of their inmates are
farmers wives-poor, pale, discomfort
ed women, who for years managed to
live through the drudgery Of their
lonely lives only from a sense OF duty
and who at last succumbed to the mel
ancholy Of isolation. A few moments
taken from her work and spent in gos-
sip with some Of her neighbors, maybe
in the big city, and Phyllis returns to
her duties in another and happier
frame Of mind.
The motives that impelled the chill
dren to the city are losing their power
The children on the farms, particularly
in the west, where the farms are large
used to dread their isolation. They
had to help in the farm work and there
were few papers and books for them ir
the evening. The travelling library and
rural free delivery bring the news and
stores Of literature and the telephone
the use Of the most priced Of human
possessions-speech with our neigh
bors.
The farmer himself has broadened;
his senses and emotions answer with
new activity-he installs modern meth
DDS in all departments. Through mod
ern machinery he escapes much OF the
terrible backbreaking routine Of his
early days.
After the telephone is installed moth
ing of importance happens in the world
which is not known to him. Keeping
in close touch with the markets, he is
able to sell at the right time and to
the best advantage. His mind is now
pleasantly active, his time Is more full
ly occupied, but better distributed and
to better advantage.
He works more with his head and
less with his hands.
In a hundred ways the telephone
helps him. Does he break an import
ant part of one Of his machines? IN
stead of having to take a twenty OF
thirty mile drive he instructs the hard
ware store by telephone to send 1t by
the driver of the rural free delivery
The wife no more has to wait for re-
pairs to washing machine or stove un-
til the farmer drives to the county
seat. Talking through the hole In the
wall, she gets them the next day.
Think of the reduction Of time and
suffering when the doctor can be sum-
moned over the wire. Oftentimes life
itself is saved.
A forecast of storms Is often made
sufficient time ahead to enable the far
mer to care for his stock and save
them from destruction.
The telephone is thus an all-import-
ant factor in the life Of those on the
farm, an invaluable contribution to
their safety, prosperity and happiness
The rush from the farms to large
cities to escape hardships and isola-
ton will probably cease to a large de-
gree. Indeed, the tide may turn and
run the other way, as people realize
that the city saps strength and vitality
and that these can best be regained by
living in the open air and in close com
munion with nature And this back
o-the-farm movement will be accel-
Grated in no small degree through the
knowledge Of what the telephone IL
contributing to rural life in the shape
of intellectual stimulus and materia
we'll ell-being.-Farmers and Drovers
Journal.