THE HOME AND THE HOUSEHOLD. 973 



pertaining to farm life, as relates to the male portion of the community, and to domestic or 

 indoor life, as relates to the female sex. The question, then, at once arises, Is farming health 

 ful ? It would seem to be the height of folly to attempt to disprove, or even criticise, this 

 almost universally accepted belief. Let it be granted that the principle is true, yet there 

 remain certain aspects of it through which the lover of honest criticism can easily penetrate. 

 Farm life possesses three beneficial elements: constant physical development, abundance of 

 pure air, absence of excess and simplicity of life. Against this must be set three elements 

 of danger: constant physical and mental strain, irregularity of life, exposure to the inclemency 

 of the weather. That it is possible for the farmer to so conduct his affairs as in a great 

 measure to reap these benefits, and not expose himself to the dangers, cannot be denied; but 

 practically he does not often do so. A sketch of a farmer s life will make this apparent. 

 A young farmer sets out in life, ambitious of a competency. He rises early, and goes at once 

 to his toil. After a hasty breakfast, the regular labor of the day is begun, and continued till 

 noon, when he gives himself a short dinner hour, then resumes his labor and continues it 

 through the day, till, worn and weary, he seeks his home at night. Completely exhausted, 

 too tired for recreation, he is obliged to spend his evening in quiet to recuperate himself for 

 his next day s work. Often he rises in the night-time and takes a long journey to the 

 neighboring market, exposing himself to the chilly night air, and careless as to his clothing; 

 and if he returns before the day is done, takes up some unfinished task and continues his 

 labors again till night, devoting but scant time to rest and food. This course of life is con 

 tinued day after day, and year by year. In the meantime he is economical, and laying up a 

 competency; but is steadily breaking down his physical health, as his weakening constitution 

 and stiff joints so often testify. 



This surely is a picture of excess, and one in which the good elements of farm life r.re 

 sadly perverted and misused. It is not only a physical wear and tear, but what is more, the 

 mind often sympathizes and becomes broken or enfeebled in its operations. The records of 

 the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, for instance, show this with startling emphasis. An 

 inspection of them shows, that of the whole number of males admitted from the beginning, 

 of the various occupations 170 are farmers, the total number being 773. 



Farmers Wives. We pass now to speak of farmers wives. The same records show 

 that, of the whole number of females admitted to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane 

 from the beginning, which is 558, 215 are housewives, and of course for the most part the 

 wives of farmers. When one considers the method of life of this class of persons, it does not 

 seem so surprising. Take for illustration a young farmer s wife, the companion of him who 

 has served as our previous example. She may not be very strong physically at the outset; 

 but be that as it may, she enters into all the plans of her husband with alacrity, she assumes 

 the entire control of the house and does her own work; this is well enough at the outset; but 

 soon she enters upon the maternal state, and a young and increasing family becomes a part of 

 her care, and draws upon her in a twofold way; she bears not only the physical strain of child- 

 bearing, but also continues to perform her own household duties; her husband s business still 

 increases, adding more yet to her already multiplied duties; but still she presses on, and so 

 continues, till her pale, anxious face and weary step tell of a constitution broken at once 

 mentally and physically. This is no imaginary picture, but one enacted continually among 

 our farming people to-day. The average farmer s wife is one of the most patient and over 

 worked women of the time. One has only to attend one of our village churches on some 

 Sunday in the summer to obtain a critical view of our overtaxed farmers and their wives; a 

 glance over such an assembly reveals a set of faces whose very lineaments are drawn and 

 wrinkled from overwork; they tell of lives of constant, unremitted toil, the signs of which 

 even a Sabbath day s rest cannot at all efface. It may not be necessary to speak of the occupa 

 tion of the children, yet there are one or two points not to be overlooked. It has passed into 

 a truism, that farm life is the right kind of life for a pale, sickly boy, but true as this may be 

 in a general sense, there are yet many exceptions which should not be overlooked. Take, for 

 instance, the younger child of this pair above described. He is, perhaps, a weak, frail child, 

 and when he reaches the age of six or eight years he begins to labor on the farm, doing such 

 light work as he is supposed to be able to bear. As he grows older his tasks increase; at the 

 same time he is pursuing his course of study at the district school ; but gradually he acquires 

 the same habits as his father, and his growing body is subjected to a strain which it is ill able 

 to bear, and he grows up weak in body and mind, an old man at twenty, or it may be dies of 

 phthisis, while engaged in the very occupation which popular opinion calls the most healthful. 

 It would not have been so in his case, had his life been properly guarded, and he would have 



