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California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



A geutleman traveliug iu Europe copied the 

 following lines from a tombstone in a grave- 

 yard in Lluugollcu, North Wales: 



" Our life in but b Winter day — 

 Snme ouly bruakfaHt and away; 

 Others to ditincr stav, anil lue well fed; 

 The oiliest man but HiipB and RoeK to bed; 

 Who Koee the aooucBt has the leaat to pay." 



In Luton Church-yard, Bedfordshire, an 

 nncourtly voice from the dead to the living 

 sj^eaks as follows: 



" Reader, I have left a world 



In which I liad much to do, 

 Swciitinti and fretting to get rich— 



JuHt such a fool as you." 



San Jose, March, 1875. 



|ii0U0cIioltl fvCiidittg, 



m 



A Farmer's Wife I'll Be. 



[[. I nm a wild and laughing giri, just turned of 

 ' Bweet sixteen, 



IIL Ab full of fim aud mischief as any you have 

 seen. 

 And wiien I aril a woman grown no city beaux 

 for nie. 

 If e'er I marry in my life, a farmer's wife I'll be. 



I love a country life : I Irive a joyous breeze ; 



I love to hear the singing birds among the lofty trees. 



The lowing herds, thu bleating flocks make music 



sweet for nje. 

 If e'er I marry iu my life, a farmer's wife I'll bo. 



I love to feed the chicltelis. I love to feed the cow;- 

 I love to hear the farmer's boy whistling at his jdow : 

 And fields of corn and waving griun are pleasing 



sights for mc. 

 If e'er I marry iu my life, a farmer's wife I'll be. 

 I love to see the orchards where the golden apples 



grow ; 

 I love to walk in meadows where sparkling streanrlets 



How. 

 The fliiwery banks and shady nooks have many charms 



for me. 

 If e'er 1 marry in my life, a farmer's wife I'll be. 



Let other girls who Jove it best, enjoy the gloomy 



town. 

 And dusty streets and dirty walks to ramble up and 



clown ; 

 But flowery fields, and shady woods, and starry skies 



for Hie. 

 If e'er I marry in my life, a farmer's wife I'll be. 



— [K. V. R. M. 



Beautiful maidens— aye, nature's fair queens, 

 Some in your twenties and some in your teens, 

 Seeking accomplishluents wurtliy your aim, 

 Htriviug for learning, thirsting for fame. 

 Taking such pains with the style of yoiir hair, 

 Keepingyour lily complexions so fair, 

 Miss not this iteni in all your gay lives — 

 Learn to keep house, you may one day be wives. 



Chats With Farmers' Wives and 

 Daughters — No. 5. 



BY "JEWELL." 



Now, girls, I want you to feel, that iu re- 

 couiitiDg the experiences of this pet farmer's 

 wife of mine, I am simply showing what any 

 one of you may do when you marry a farmer, 

 provided you only begin right. But to ex- 

 pect the present farmer's wife to change her 

 mode of life, or to suppose the old farmer 

 willing to allow of such a change, is not to 

 be thought of ; and yet it could be done, pro- 

 vided the icill was strong enough to do it. 

 This is the story she told me of her experi- 

 ence in farm Itfe : 



When my husband concluded to go to 

 farming I opposed it — had never lived on a 

 farm and knew nothing of it save its hard- 

 ships as I had seen them. So we compro- 

 mised by saying I should have only one hired 

 man to cook for, and only as many cows and 

 chickens as I cared to see to myself. I have 

 a fine lot of fowls and make butter from half 

 a dozen good cows, and always get the best 

 prices ; making more money than many who 

 keep twice the number. It is now four years 



since we started, and if we don't grow rich as 

 fast as some of our neighbors, neither of us 

 are broken down and life baa not been robbed 

 of all of its joys. 



In haying time and harvesting the grain, 

 we let the work out by contract some years, 

 we putting uiJ a tent and the men feeding 

 themselves. Once we hired the men and fur- 

 nished rations for them to cook, but it did 

 not work so well' Two years in succession 

 we had the same men come to us. We have 

 two meals a day the year round — breakfast at 

 eight and dinner at two. In summer there 

 was a good two hours work before breakfast 

 and no complaint from any good man. Also, 

 there is always plenty of cooked food in the 

 puntry for a supper if any one wants ; but I 

 felt it a duty to myself and children, and 

 would not sacrifice all for money. A living 

 we are sure of. Our expenses are light, 

 though we subscribe for as many books and 

 liapers as we can read ; but I buy few fine 

 clothes — we don't need them, aud I don't as- 

 j)ire to dress as city ladies do, biit ouly for 

 my work and comfort — one suit a year to go 

 to town in is enough. 



Such is the substance of her experience, 

 which I thought good at the time, and the 

 older I grow the more practical I believe it to 

 be. The idea that a farmer or his wife should 

 be obliged to work earlier and laWr than any 

 other laborer is simply absurd. I know they 

 do, but does that make it right ? I also know 

 that if they would put the night into work 

 as well as the day they would accomplish 

 more srill. Why don't they do it ? They say 

 plants set out at night flourish best. Their 

 answer and mine is, that nature requires rest. 

 If so, then take it — don't overwork if you 

 don't get rich so fast ; better be poor aud ro- 

 bust than rich and broken down — unable to 

 enjoy life. 



And right here let me answer " M. E. O. 

 W." who, I see, takes me up on the "two- 

 meal" question, she believing that farmers 

 need to eat oftener than other people. I will 

 reply by saying that what has been done can 

 be done again. I know of a farmer in New 

 York State who for years has practised the 

 two-meal system with perfect success — ■ 

 cooking no meat either, aud the same gang of 

 men would return three or four years to har- 

 vest, liking the plan and food, saying they 

 worked easier and accomplished more than 

 under the old system. 1 do not give my own 

 experience simply because I am a looker-on, 

 and know no more about the success or fail- 

 ure of either plan than "M. E. O. W." her- 

 self, who only tries one way and condemns 

 the other. I do know from observation, how- 

 ever, that most farmers practise the three- 

 meal system and believe it the only way to 

 do. Under the two-meal system, with a sim- 

 ple, light lunch in the evening when needed, 

 the necessary number of hours' labor can be 

 done in the field during the day with less 

 trouble. More rest for limbs and stomach 

 can be taken and enjoyed. Under the three- 

 meal system how about the wives 1 Where 

 does the rest come in to them I I dined with 

 one the other day, and took notes. The wife 

 had been busy and on her feet since early 

 daylight, and besides getting dinner over the 

 hot stove, waited on the family and helped 



the children, never sitting down till the men- 

 folks had finished eating and left, when she 

 sat down at the table a few minutes, ate a 

 little cold potato and fried bacon, bread and 

 butter, drank a cup of tea and was ready to 

 clear the dishes off aud begin work again. 

 This woman has China help provided too ; 

 but then there is plenty for all to do, she 

 says, with dairying, cooking, etc. 



No wonder the nursing baby gets fed with 

 bread and milk while mother is busy getting 

 dinner ; no wonder the child thrives better 

 on rested cow's milk than on the iired moth- 

 er's milk ; and no wonder that so many of 

 our farmers' wives bring their babies up on 

 the bottle nowadays. Amongst the , wives in 

 one Grange that I know of, out of seven 

 babies born during the past six or eight 

 months, five are being brought up on the 

 bottle. The mothers are unable to nourish 

 their babies after birth. Query — Can they be 

 perfectly nourished before ? How is this for 

 blooded stock, Farmers ? What would you 

 say to a breed of cows that could bear but 

 not suckle their young ? I do not say a word 

 against the labor of man 'or woman. All is 

 ennobling, provided they do not do too much 

 of it. Dish-washing is as truly necessary 

 and as fine as any other duty when it is well 

 done. The kitchen is, or should be, as truly 

 genteel as the parlor, aud every room in the 

 house should be a part of a perfect home. 

 I have seen ladies in the jjarlor whose dis- 

 cords on a piano wrung my heart, and a poor 

 excuse in the kitchen is just as bad. But 

 bringing the matter to a practical point — sure- 

 ly ,by bad management or something wrong 

 in theory, our farming population are not 

 generally the most healthful, the best pro- 

 vided for, the most intelligent nor the hap- 

 piest, indoors or out. They snould be, and 

 may be, too, it the best system of labor, eat- 

 ing, rest, recreation, etc., are adopted aud in- 

 telligently lived, in accordance ^^•ith reason 

 and right. 



Hints upon the Subject of Training 

 Children. 



What to Teach. — The child should be 

 taught that his eyes, ears, hands, all the or- 

 gans of his body, all the faculties of bis mind 

 are his servants, anil that it is his business to 

 see to it that they serve him faithluUy, that 

 they report accurately what is passing about 

 him aud respond promptly and fully to his 

 demands. Such sentences as "I didn't no- 

 tice," " I heard but I don't remembta-, " have 

 no business in a child's vocabulary. He 

 should be taught to apprehend clearly, that _ 

 to say "I forgot" is ouly another way of 

 saying " I did not care enough to remember." 

 Educate the faculties to prompt action, teach 

 the senses to respond fully to every impres- 

 sion made upon them. When you give a 

 command or communicate a thought to a 

 child, secure his attention, use the simplest 

 and most direct terms and do not repeat Ihem. 

 Supi'i tluous words are deiin>rali/ing uiul reiter- 

 ation a bid for iuattentiuu. Some uf us are 

 born clods ; more of us become so through 

 vi<'ious training. Jliike the child sell-con- 

 scous and you have established an enduring 

 feud bi'tween him and his ^capabilities. 

 Henceforth his feet are an embarrassment to 

 him, aud no nuuiber of pockets is adequate 

 to the satisfactory bestowid of his hands. 

 He fancies all i^yes are tipon him, and his very 

 blood tmns mutinous and Hies in his face 

 without just cause or provocation. It is his 

 right to be unconscious ; to develop from 

 within outward as sweetly and unostcuta- 



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