A LITTLE LAND 54 



AND A LIVING 



supplied with tender young pork, which, if necessary, he 

 can divide with his neighbors, and in thus taking turn about 

 and dividing with each other, they are able to have fresh 

 meat throughout the year, to say nothing of the delicious 

 hams and sides of bacon that are put in the smokehouse to 

 contribute to his comfort throughout the winter. His 

 orchard supplies him with the finest apples of many 

 varieties and in the late fall when he has tucked them 

 away in barrels in his cellar, along with a barrel or two of 

 sweet cider, a few rows of golden pumpkins, Hubbard 

 squash, and large piles of potatoes and turnips; when the 

 contributions of the boys and girls the popcorn from the 

 fields and the nuts from the woods, which every farmer's 

 child takes pride in supplying have been deposited along 

 with the rest; when the good wife and mother looks upon 

 the long shelves swinging from the cellar rafters and sees 

 the rows and rows of fruit jars containing the delicious 

 preserves, jellies, canned fruits, and vegetables which bear 

 such eloquent testimony to the loving thoughtfulness and 

 preserving foresight of herself and her girls; when the 

 farmer and his family, I say, sit together in the late fall 

 and contemplate these many blessings ; when the buzz of 

 industry and contentment from the poultry yard, the stable, 

 and the pen is adrift in the air and permeates everything; 

 then with the thoughts of the Thanksgiving and Christmas 

 approaching, the long winter evenings with their comple- 

 ment of cider, nuts, popcorn, and apples, the sleigh-rides 

 and jolly gatherings at each others' homes then the farmer 

 and his family can indeed count themselves among the 

 princes of this earth, secure in the conviction that the real 

 blessings of life have been dealt out to them in generous 

 measure. 



