Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1911-05-20

up their stalks, almost ready to de-
velop on the ends of their strange
flowers Just a little further ON 1
know of still another marvellous lit
tie spring, coming clearly out of the
mountain side, never showing the least
sign of increase in spring freshets or
of decrease in summer droughts, bub-
bling up under a flint rock, which
marks the beginning of a real flint
dixie" through limestone. It's where
the Indians, centuries ago, used to get
the material for their arrow heads
and their stone knives. etc So
could go on for pages, numbering over
the secrets of the mountains and fields
which Nature and 1 have hunted out
together and which belongs to me
every time 1 lift my eyes from my
work.
Now what were those Automobiles
getting of all thiS2 They were do
ing their fifty or their hundred miles
of road-one mile about the same as
any otter mile: more or less rutty
and stony; more or less dusty or mud
dy; more CT less hilly and crooked;
bordered by more or less dilapidated
fences and punctuated with more OF.
less motor trouble They didn't
know the little bank against the fence
beyond the old apple tree which is to-
day blue with big violets; nor the
swampy bit beside the trout brook
which IS golden yellow with cowslips.
They were more interested in the kind
of gravel the road was made of, and
the doubt whether their gasoline would
hole out to the next garage. and til I
question of how their hair looked.
1t isn't specially pleasant to set
tence posts and the like But l don't
Think, after all. would have snapped
my yesterdays job-with it's compeu-
sations-fer their job with its com
pensations- 1t takes all kinds to make
a. world, and perhaps they were suited
with their fun But it really wouldn' t
seem much pleasure to me to be
bounced through a strange country in
the face of an endless thirty miles an
hour wind and dust storm, just be-
cause that happens to be the thing
to do in our set There is rec lily
to me-nore pleasure to be got from
knowing two square miles of Gods
great garden which lies right around
ne-from knowing it lengthwise and
croSswise and cornerwise and up and
down, than from experiencing o hun
drcd miles of narrow and mono tonous
highway, without ever coming really
to know a single acre of the beauty
and glory which Turk hidden to right
and left
It's our own fault if we farmers
make our lives dull grinds and sordid
to work and work hard. But don't you
suppose these fellows who tootle about
in automobiles have had to work, too,
and work hard? They surely have-if
they haven't stolen their money or had
it given them by someone else who
earned it hardly. The appearance Of
that old man in that automobile hauntS
me even yet. He was better dressed
than L; he undoubtedly had a better
front" but, if there is any meaning
in the drawn lines of the face and the
listless hang of the hands and gen
eral worn-out look. they indicated that
he had been through some hard mills
in his life. He had probably worked
as hard if not harder and at more
grinding tasks than my fence making.
He scanned to have lost the capacity
for earning real enjoyment, and was
now trying to buy (which can never
be done in this world.
No, call me Pharisee if you please,
sheer at my rurality of mind if you
feel that way: but the fact remains
that | don'c want to change places
with that old man He may keep MS
touring car and I'll stick to my fences
ana my gardens He may make his
hundred miles day of fresh road over
the established automobile route. and
I'll take my hale day off now and then
to gloat over the pinxters flushing the
rocks by the Wildcat den, or hunt
down the elusive orchid SpectabiIis
which grows-I know where but I'm
not going to tell. It's one of the Sc
crets I'm keeping for my own sake
as we'll as the sake of the orchid. If
l read him Alright. he has spent his life
working like a Steyedore at slavish
labor which paid him nothing bit
money, in order at last to be able to
give UP work for pleasure. He mas
kept at it so long that he has atrophied
his capacity for enjoyment. He has
denied himself the pleasure which he
might have taken in driblets as he
went along, for the sake of getting
whole hogsheads of happiness. later on.
And now his stomach for happiness,
so long denied and starved, is too dys-
peptically shrivelled and Incompatent
to lake care of the viands he is trying
to shovel into it.
Money is a rigkty handy thinq-to
get better things with But Its a
mighty poor sort of stuff to give bet
ter things for. Such as youth And
hope. And love. And loyalty And
neishboriiness. And life itself There
such thing as paying too high price
for even gold and diamonds. Things
that CO.'S much less are often worth
much mere. We farmers have the OPP
portuniIy, If we choose to accept it to
live more fruitful and useful and really
happier lives than almost any other
class of workers in the world Why
not live UP to our opportunities while
we have them-stop considering our
selves as slaves. give a goodbye to all
our groUcheS, and take the IA Dpiness SEES
which come TO us. az they come with
out Sldpping them in the face TODAY
because We are SO busy getting read =
for them on some tomorrow?