Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-08-27
SPENDING DAYS IN EASE
COUNTY FARM OF REFUGE CAR
ING FOR DEPENDENTS.
Greater Number There Are Aged
Bachelors, Who Fitted Life's
Opportunities Away.

For nearly twenty years Polk coun
ty has supported farm for her in
digeni citizens, get today very few
people in the county know of the ex
istence of such place. Although the
farm is not owned by the county al
public charges are sent there and fur
nish the chief means Of support by
The owner. The poor farm is on the
county road between Monmouth ant
Independence and is operated by
Charles Huntley, who has been enter.
tanning the poor through many admin.
istrations Of county affairs aud
through many conditions of wealth
and panic. There has been someone
always at the farm since the first in
habitant was sent there many years
ago. The population ranges from one
to a score, and now there are perhaps
ten living there, according to Judge
Teal. Two of the residents died with
in the past month and last week two
others were sent to the farm. There
are no women there at the present
time, and there are seldom any. Mos.
of the poor-farm residents are old
bachelors who have gone selfish.y
through life without families, caring
only for their own existence and nat
urally careless of their savings bank
accounts. AS result, when old age
creeps up they find themselves friend
less, alone and penniless. Judge Teal
usually has good deal to say to such
fellows when they come before him,
seeking county aid in old age and
infrmity. The two old fellows who
made the trip "over the hill to the
poor house" last week submitted to
a lecture from the judge that will
direct them into more bountiful and
more beautiful paths if they ever
tread life's stepping stones hereafter.
Hope is gone in man when he takes
up life in poor farm, but Judge
Teal IS lectures will make them regret
to their dying day the egotistic, self
satisfying and vainglorious course
that brought them to indigency. A
man who brings no family into the
world, who cares for no more in life
than personal satisfaction, comes Of
ten to the sad end Of the county
charge. Seventy-fve years is the av-
erage age of those who are at the
Polk county farm. They are resting
contentedly and easily awaiting f.
nal summons, meanwhile chewing dill
igently on tobacco, bought with the
few dimes they can earn in the sum-
mer time at picking an occasional box
of hops, or putting in wood for some
one when they manage to get to town.
The popular diversion is solitaire,
spiced with gossip, and the popular
occupation is eating the good food
by the Huntleys. Now and
then the old codgers muster up suf-
ficient energy to carry them to Inde-
pendence or Monmouth, and they
there take in the delights that their
own selfishness has denied them in
their old age.
Years ago the Huntleys farmed the
county charges for 81, but that was
before She day of "the high cost of
living" Now the monthly cost
amounts to about $13. The residents
occupy tents or houses, as they
choose. The accommodations are com
Portable and the food is plentiful and
well-prepared. The surroundings are
pleasant as is fitting for the culmina-
ton of lives that have brought
nothing to the world, but are loved
and respected none the less for the
mere fact that they are human lives.