72 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



farmers received from the movement was probably 

 even more important than any direct political or 

 economic results. It is difficult for the present 

 generation to form any conception of the dreari- 

 ness and dullness of farm life half a century ago. 

 Especially in the West, where farms were large, op- 

 portunities for social intercourse were few, and 

 weeks might pass without the farmer seeing any 

 but his nearest neighbors. For his wife existence 

 was even more drear. She went to the market 

 town less often than he and the routine of her life 

 on the farm kept her close to the farmhouse and 

 prevented visits even to her neighbors' dwellings. 

 The difficulty of getting domestic servants made 

 the work of the farmer's wife extremely laborious; 

 and at that time there were none of the modern 

 conveniences which lighten work such as power 

 churns, cream separators, and washing-machines. 

 Even more than the husband, the wife was likely to 

 degenerate into a drudge without the hope and 

 eventually without the desire of anything better. 

 The church formed, to be sure, a means of social 

 intercourse; but according to prevailing religious 

 notions the churchyard was not the place nor the 

 Sabbath the time for that healthy but unrestrained 

 hilarity which is essential to the well-being of man. 



