Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1919-05-14
Continued from last week.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Home and Social Life,

The Home and Social Life.
The old-time farmer was an indi-
vidualist-he lived by himself upon
his farm, and the little village with
its store, mill and the church was
the whole of his world. With the
coming of the railroad much of this
was changed, more and more he be-
gan to depend upon the manufactur-
ing plants of the cities, until today
the farm home cannot be found
where conditions are radically diff
ferent from those Of the village home
with the same income. Nearly every
home in the rural districts has daily
delivery of the mail and many, es-
pecially in the more prosperous dis
tricts, have q daily paper as well as
one or more weeklies- Literary and
farm magazines are each year be-
coming more common, though the
farmers as q whole do little reading
after their too long hours of labor.
Modern lighting systems are being
Installed. more particularly electric
lights from private plants with stor-
age batteries or from transmission
lines that extend out from the vlllag-
IS Recently a man at Barton has
built lines from that village to GLOW
ar. West Glover. South Albany, 1ras-
GA4 S1-AA -2-DG~44S- SAEtg-s ----- ---~~--
farms on the way while the Hardwick
system has been extended to the two
villages in Greensboro and the four
villages in Craftsbury. Practically
every farm has telephone and fire.
quent neighborly visits occur over the
party lines where everyone listens as
matter of course. In 1913 the
New England subsidiary company
bought the independent lines and the
people at once became so enraged
over the existence OF monopoly
that they cooperated successfully for
once and subscribed heavily TO an
independent company that is now
giving very poor service to about
half the southern part of the coun-
" and has so successfully divided the
service that only g part of the peo-
pie can be reached by either system
at present.
One of the serious drawbacks TO
the country life is the inability Of
the people TO meet each other and TO
get away from the farm as freely
and as often as they should. The
women in particular are often kept
at home by the fact that the driving
horse Is needed in the farm work and
II Is 2 rare farmer that always has
an extra horse for driving use only.
Automobiles are increasing IN num-
Der among the farmers rapidly and
add greatly 10 the amount of recrea-
ton the farm people can get. There
i. II IS true, the temptation TO ne
glect the farm work in the pleasure
Of driving the car. and his church at
tendance may fall of, but on the
whole II is q great factor IN improv-
ing the life of the country dweller
and il brings him quickly to the fair,
the village shows, and TO the chau-
tauuua. which has become such q
prominent feature in the small Yer
mont villages during the past years.
Within the home modern convent
ences have not been adopted as rap
idly as outside. Bathrooms, sewer
age disposal systems, and hot and
cold water are found occasionally,
though they are not universal Prac-
tically all the homes have running
water and these present-day neces-
sites could be added at small ex-
pense Inventions for Tightening
Homework are all too rare and should
be introduced into many more homes
Furnaces are more common than
bathrooms and indoor toilets.
Social diversions are not varied
The grange. the fraternal lodges, the
ladies' societies Of the churches, and
the culture clubs of the villages hold
regular meetings. Occasionally So
Gals are held and in many communi-
ties. dances assist, while the accepted
thing to do on moonlight nights Is TO
drive with the young lady 70 the band
concert in the villages. The larger
villages have movies" several times
2 week. There are few annual events
OF consequence, the occasional Sun
day school picnics, the fair, Fourth Of
July celebrations and family reunions
add to the activities
The greatest social event of the
year IN a large part of the county Is
the Orleans County Fair, which has
been held at Barton since 1868. This
fair has long ranked as one OF the
best in the state and has z very
good euuipment for its work. 4 few
years ago Mr. T. T. Holder Of Yon-
kers, y. Y. became interested II Its
work and improved the grounds and
built new buildings. The plant Is
now owned BY the association, q stock
company. with many shareholders
among the farmers
There Is 2 healthful though not
varied line of activities open 70 the
youth of the country districts The
dances are generally, though not al
ways. of good moral tone, and the
other events are clean and inspiring
on the whole The most serious de-
iciency in planning and carrying out
such activities is that of adequate
and efficient leadership.