1 868] Farm Environment 



cause of poverty was either feeble-mindedness or 

 intemperance. At home, the household was friendly, 

 helpful, and happy, not missing what it had never 

 had. I know of no better environment for a child 

 than simple contentment in such an atmosphere. 

 Too much spending money brings its perils, and in 

 America lack of money is the easiest of all obstacles 

 to surmount and remove. 



The chief real drawback of farm life in those days Chief 

 lay in the prevalence of infectious diseases, against draw ~ 

 which parents had no way of guarding the children. 

 Mary and I went through diphtheria together, after- 

 ward scarlet fever, and later measles. No one then 

 knew how to treat these maladies and many children 

 died, as we came near doing. Fortunately, however, 

 we were attended by a capable physician of the old 

 school, Dr. Zurhorst, 1 a bluff Englishman of kind 

 heart and crusty manner, but ignorant, like every 

 one else, as to the real nature of the plagues which 

 ravaged our country communities, for bacteria were 

 at that time still undiscovered. 



Outside the house things were not always to my Farm 

 taste, and for some phases of farm work I had a work 

 distinct dislike. My father at sixty, as I once 

 remarked, "could still do a bigger day's work than 

 he ever got out of me." I never loved to stow away 

 hay, hoe potatoes, milk cows, or pile up stones. 

 Nevertheless, I did enjoy using the cradle to cut a 

 good field of wheat, I liked clearing up brushy land, 

 and I was intensely interested in the care and 

 breeding of sheep. 



1 Pronounced "Zirst." Similar eccentricities were universal among our 

 English neighbors; thus Kershaw was "Cassia," Sherwood "Shuard," Gillespie 

 "Glasby." 



n 41 3 



