FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 577 



they find pleasure in carrying on their ordinary work, not as drudgery, not 

 for the purpose of hoarding money, but simply for the purpose of prolong- 

 ing life and enjoying it. 



Herein lies the great objection against retiring or moving to town. The 

 retired farmer in town is a fish out of water. He is usually greviously 

 disappointed. When he was in the country the groceryman and the mer- 

 chant were anxious for his patronage. They were glad to see him and glad- 

 der still to see his wife and daughters come into the store. A candidate for 

 office would frequently run out on the street to shake hands with him, ask 

 how things were going in his township, inquire after his crops, his live stock 

 and his wife's health, and in various ways give him to understand that he 

 was a good deal of a man in the county — a man of influence and power. 

 When he moves to town these classes of people all drop him out of their 

 thoughts. He is no longer an influential man in the township. They know 

 that he is disappointed in the cost of living in town; therefore, that he is 

 disposed to economize. They regard him usually as a hindrance in the way 

 of securing public improvements, and, in fact, as a rather undesirable citi- 

 zen. His life training has been different from theirs and he is driven to 

 associate with other retired farthers. Nearly every one of them has his own 

 disappointment, if he will confess it, which disappointment does not 

 decrease by comparing notes. There is constant danger of drifting into the 

 habit of sitting on store boxes and discussing finance, declaiming about the 

 shortcomings of tenants, telling about the things they did when they were 

 boys, and about the big crops they grew on the farm, none of which tends 

 either to lengthening days or substantial comfort. 



There are cases when the removal to town is a wise one and about the 

 only thing in fact left for a man to do. The man's own health sometimes de- 

 mands it; oftener the health of the family. What we wish to impress upon 

 the minds of our readers who think of moving to town is this, that it is one 

 of the most important moves that a man can make in his entire life, and that 

 it should only be made as a last resort, and only then after a thorough in- 

 vestigation of the effects which retirement will have upon his old friends and 

 neighbors with whom he can talk freely and fully. 



We confess that our own opinions of this matter have changed with years ; 

 We once advised a very dear friend of ours to sell his farm and move to 

 town. Two or three years afterwards he told us that he believed that we 

 were entirelyihonest in our judgment in considering his best interests, but 

 that he was satisfied that it had shortened his days, and in this we are firmly 

 convinced that he was entirely correct. We do not advise our readers who 

 are contemplating][this movement not to move to town, but we do say that it 

 is a stepjthat should be taken only after the most serious and careful con- 

 sideration. 



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