The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-07-25
THE FARM MOTHER SPEAKS.

THE FARM MOTHER SPEAKS.
The Farmers Wife, publication for farm
women, recently undertook poll OF its read
ers on the question: IF you had daughter
OF manageable age would you, in the light
of your own experience, want her to marry
farmer?" The poll was undertaken because
of the conviction of the Farmers Wife that
the popular conception of the farm woman is
herroneous The farm woman, as everyone
knows, has been pictured as a drudge and
slave, enjoying few of the comforts and pleas
ures possible to city people, unhappy in her
lot and anxious that her children shall eS-
cape the life that has been hers The result
of the poll is as conclusive it is interesting.
A total of 1000 letters was received in an
swer to the question, all written by farm
women-mothers Ninety-four per cent OF the
answers were in the affirmative and only a
mere per cent in the negative. The Farm
er's Wife has condensed into brief form the
reasons given by those replying in the affirm
alive, but requirements of space permit the
publication of only few OF these, as fol-
lows:
Influence Of natures nearness on char
aCter.
A living for family always sure.
Farm family is unit in its work and
pleasures.
To the devout heart divinity seems
closer in the country.
Family has fresh and abundant food all
the year.
Children learn laws OF reproduction nat
urally and clearly.
Farm life gives a woman opportunity
for constructive occupation.
Children early learn the deep value OF
honest labor.
Divorce and crime in the country at
minimum.
Real neighbors found in the country
and true neighboring develops best sort
of character.
Country life offers the widest door for
the grace OF service.
Good roads, conveyances, education,
have made the farm the only place on
earth to make a home.
Farm bred men make better husbands
than city bred men, as a rule.
For health, charm, happiness and sue
cess no place equal to the farm.
The other affirmative reason included in
the summary are equally interesting and posi-
tive Commenting on the letters received, the
Farmers Wife says:
The splendid courage sanity, whole
someness and clean cut understanding
that pervades rural thought, as here
shown, is a priceless antidote to doubt
and gloom. The past year OF depression
has been a trying one for farm people
They have borne up under adversely un-
speakably we'll and are now looking for
ward constructively toward the future.
Back of this attitude on the part OF WO-
men is the type of real AmeriCanism that
in the past has made this nation great
and the type that holds out the greatest
hope for the future. The farm home has
been the balance wheel in times when
modern city life has threatened to throw
our civilization out of balance. The farm
home has furnished to the nation many
Of our greatest men and women The
strong and healthy stream that flows from
the country to the city will continue to
revive and stimulate and purify American
life so long as that sane contented, intel
ligent country wife and mother believes
that the farm is the place to live and
rear her children.
Little more remains to be said. The YER
dict of the farm mothers is emphatic and I'M
and the reasoning OF the Farmers
Wife is scarcely less debatable. Farm life in
America is sane wholesome and uplifting. 1t
is on the farm that true Americanism is bred.
No mother should be unwilling to have her
daughter marry farmer. 1t is time to dis
card the ancient and erroneous conception OF
farm life that so strangely persists. There
was time, perhaps, when woman's lot on
the farm was hard and when drudgery was
her portion That time however, has passed
never to return Today she has almost ev
erything in the way of comfort and conven-
fence that the town woman owns, and much
more in addition that the town woman does
not have. The farm mother has spoken for
herself, and her word is to be accepted.