238 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



homes of their own. This leaves a farmer s wife with no 

 family but her own to attend to, which is much more 

 pleasant. 



Then I guess a man has to do something to himself as 

 well as to his house, to make every thing go smooth with 

 his wife. She bargained for a man when she got married, 

 and she has a right to be disappointed, if she finds she has 

 nothing but a working animal always jaded and unfit for 

 social life. I know of some farmers who rarely go any 

 where but to meeting and to market. They feel that they 

 can not afford the time to dress up and go and see their 

 friends, and dine or take a cup of tea. They have so slid 

 out of society that their friends rarely come to see them. 

 They are so hurried with work that they do not make 

 friends very welcome. They seem to have no appreciation 

 of life, but as an opportunity to make money. They prize 

 work for this end, and time that isn t turned into money 

 is lost to them. Their muscles not only become hard, but 

 their hearts grow hard and unsympathizing. They lose 

 their taste for reading, if they ever had it, and very soon 

 fall asleep if they attempt to read or hear reading. If 

 they are active in the field, they are stupid and dull in the 

 house, like tired animals in their stalls. There is no men 

 tal growth, no development of manhood in their lives. 

 This discovery I think makes a woman more uncomfort 

 able than green wood and smoky fires. She married a 

 man a creature of intelligence and affections and she 

 has the right to the companionship of a man while she 

 remains a faithful wife. No man has a right to prostitute 

 himself to mere money getting, no matter how honestly, 

 or to turn all the energies of his being to muscular exer 

 tion. Manhood is the most precious product of his farm, 

 and whatever else suffers, that ought to be kept strong 

 and vigorous. That article has become mighty scarce on 

 Jake Frink s premises, and it is this fact that makes the 

 green wood so very green, and the smoke so trying to 



