402 RURAL LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND. 



eloquence, and without any substantial truth. Indeed, I 

 believe our people have generally set it aside as a senti- 

 mental fiction, and regard the worship of Plutus as far 

 more rational than the quiet service of the rustic Pan. 

 Yet of all occupations that of a farmer seems to me the 

 most delightful and the most promotive of health and 

 happiness. Men will not accept this theory, because they 

 cannot divest their minds of a prejudice, which has be- 

 come in the American mind almost an instinct, that no 

 man can be happy who does not feel that he is rapidly 

 growing rich. 



The farmer, above all other men, enjoys daily inter- 

 course with pleasant rural objects. The feast of the gods 

 is constantly before him ; and though he may seem indif- 

 ferent to its pleasures, his happiness is materially im- 

 proved by it. Though he may profess to care nothing 

 for the songs of birds, or the beauty of trees and flowers, 

 he derives from them more enjoyment than he is capable 

 of estimating. He may not know how much happiness 

 he owes to robust health, to active exercise, to fresh air 

 and bright sunshine ; but he does not, on account of his 

 ignorance, derive any less benefit or less pleasure from 

 the air he breathes, from the health that renders him 

 buoyant and cheerful, and from the sunshine that warms 

 and enlightens him ; neither does the man who gives no 

 heed to the songs of the birds and the beauties of land- 

 scape consequently derive no pleasure from these objects 

 when they surround his home and mingle with his pur- 

 suits. 



The simplicity of a farmer's life is one of its principal 

 charms. His pleasures and his toils are equally rational 

 and delightful. He goes out to freedom under an open 

 sky, and he returns to a home unincumbered with fashion 

 and absurd conventionalities. There are duties to be per- 

 formed at certain hours ; but there is seldom a day which 



