CHAPTER XXXIV. 



NOT ALL WORK. 



O not get the impression, friends, that we live just to 

 work. I would not blame you much if you did 

 think so from reading the preceding chapters only, 



but you must take the k ok as a whole. It is a 

 p ar t o f my religion to do what I do do thoroughly 

 well ; in fact, I love to do my best at any kind of 

 work I may have on hand. But I do not believe in living just to 

 work. Working may be carried to excess. I know farmers who 

 get almost no pleasure out of life. It is justwork from one year's 

 end to another. In some cases this seems to be necessary, when 

 one is in debt, or just starting, and I fear sometimes farmers get 

 so in the habit of driving and pushing, thinking they will take a 

 rest by and by when they get every thing all right, that it be- 

 comes a second nature to them, and they continue to drive when 

 it is no longer necessary. Work is a glorious thing. Rest loses 

 its charms unless balanced by active work ; but in this age, with 

 all our machinery and inventions, man should no longer be a 

 slave to work. We ought to be able to have a good slice of rec- 

 reation and pleasure as we go along through life. I have tried 

 persistently to live in this way. This was one reason why I quit 

 trying to do a little of everything on my farm and undertook to 

 do two or three things well. I thought there would be not only 

 more profit, but more time to enjoy life from day to day. I 

 was not mistaken. I branched off into strawberry growing, 

 raising half an acre. It paid, but I was too much driven during 

 the picking season. I undertook to write this book, but it has 

 interfered sadly with our enjoyment of life this summer. Rest 

 assured, if I did not hope it would do some readers real good, it 

 would never have been written just for the pecuniary benefit to 

 myself. My income was ample and I had enough work to do. 

 I am figuring now to cut down on my work next year decidedly. 

 A man can live on a farm and have a real good time. Wife and 

 I have worked hard for many years, and although we have en- 

 joyed life and got a good deal of pleasure out of it in the past, we 

 mean to get more in the future. 



For many years we have began work at 7 A. M. and quit at 

 6 P. M., and if there was nothing pressing we have drawn in on 

 the ten hours at both ends. I am quite inclined to reduce the 

 working hours to eight in the future, except, perhaps, for a short 

 time in harvest. I like greatly to have time to take a ride most 



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