1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



547 



the bracing air, and had the free range of the 

 hills of New England ? Would he seek them by 

 gas light, in the narrow lanes, the dark avenues, 

 or the crowded streets of the city? Where do 

 our city merchants find the healthful, blooming 

 women, whom they transport to the city, and to 

 whom they render the "homage of their hearts," 

 and who may '-introduce a new element into the 

 blood of their children ?" Were it not for the 

 constant infusion of this "new element," the city 

 children would be compelled to "go back to tlie 

 farm" to recruit their feeble frames and decaying 

 energies, more frequently than they do now. 

 Where were the Hawleys, the Knoxes, the Put- 

 naras, the Starks, the Greens, the SuUivans, and 

 even Washington, raised ? Did Cromwell and 

 Napoleon have their root in the pavement ? And 

 where did Clay, and Webster, and Calhoun, and 

 Corwin, and Cass, first see the light ? Do their 

 mothers afford instances in which "Heaven mer- 

 cifully interfered with the operation of its own 

 laws ?" Will the "hands" and "faces" and "bowed 

 and clumsy forms" of their mothers compare with 

 those of city dames ? Are there no bowed frames 

 and angular forms and "features that are not 

 particularly intellectual" to be seen in the 

 "streets ?" We know that such "comparisons 

 are invidious." There are men and women in 

 both city and country, whose forms are angular, 

 whose features are stolid, and whose fram-es are 

 bowed by disease, by care and by labor. But we 

 contend that the country exhibits its fu'U propor- 

 tion of health and beauty, intelligence and grace. 

 If the farmer's wife, discharging her appropriate 

 duties in the kitchen, is clothed in a garb appro- 

 priate to her work, if the farmer himself does.not 

 go to market clothed in broadcloth, if his face is 

 browned by the weather, and his hands are 

 hardened by toil, does this prove that they belong 

 to an inferior grade of humanity ? Apply to them 

 the test of womanhood or manhood. Appeal to 

 their hearts, to their conscience, their integrity, 

 their love of honest independence, their intelli- 

 gence, to all the virtues that constitute the true 

 men, or the true women, and will they be found 

 inferior to those who toil in the counting-room, 

 or in the dust and smoke of the mechanic's shop ? 

 But "the farmers home," the "sketch." In what 

 part of the country did he draw this "sketch ?" 

 In what remote corner of New England, where 

 the hum of the factory or the whistle of the en- 

 gine was never heard, did he find this home ? 

 We do not deny that there are relics of the olden 

 time, venerable for their antiquity, which bear 

 some resemblance, in their external appearance, 

 to the "sketch." But are they the types and re- 

 presentatives of the homes of the living New 

 England farmers of to-day ? We would as soon 

 think of calling the "one boss shay," built by the 

 logical deacon, a hundred years ago, adorned in 

 front and sU around by rows of burnished brass 

 nails, a type of the vehicles of the present time. 

 As to the internal arrangement and style of life 

 which are said to present themselves, when "we 

 enter by the back door," we think we should look 

 in vain for them anywhere except in the "sketch," 

 even in a "square brown house," unless it were 

 occupied by "Irish peasantry." It is true that 

 there is much room for improvement in many of 

 the "farm homes" of New England. Many of 

 them exhibit a sad want of taste in their sur- 



roundings. But a want of taste is not a want of 

 truth, and we ask in all soberness, is this a truth- 

 ful "sketch" of the farm houses of New England? 

 In what "lodge in some vast wilderness" does 

 this man dwell ? Go through the length and 

 breadth of the land, visit the hills and valleys of 

 New England. Ask our county officers — the 

 committees of our agricultural societies, on farms 

 and orchards, who visit the farms, and are enter- 

 tained at the homes of tiie farmers. Some of 

 these men have been in the city. Some of them 

 reside there a part of the year, and are partici- 

 pants of Ijoth city and country life. Ask them if 

 the farmers "receive their friends" in the kitchen, 

 where "a kettle of soap-grease is standing upon 

 the stove, and its fumes are mingling with the 

 boiling cabbage, and other smells, anything but 

 agreeable ?" Ask them if "the men and women, 

 the sons and daughters" which they have met in 

 their ani.ual visits, "go so far into essential self- 

 debasement, as to condemn beauty, and those 

 who love it, and to glory above all things, in 

 brute strength, and brute endurance ?" Where 

 do they find more intelligent, high-minded and 

 honorable men ? Where do they find women of 

 more beautiful forms, and "look upon faces" 

 more fair ? Where have they mingled in con- 

 versation more agreeable and more intellectual ? 

 Where have they been entertained at tables more 

 bountifully, not to say more tastefully spread ? 

 And more, where have they "looked upon hands" 

 that have wrought more beautiful specimens of 

 needle work or painting ? Vv'here have they 

 heard sweeter voices, or more delightful strains 

 of music ? Where have they found, in most gen- 

 erous abundance, the comforts and conveniences 

 of home, and added to these, an ample store of 

 the elegancies and luxuries of life ? Now we do 

 not say that this is a pictiire of farm life, as it is 

 commonly found in New England. But we do 

 say that the picture is more truthful, and more 

 frequent at the present day, than the "sketch," 

 which is held up as a type of farm life. 



The tendency of the present time is to copy 

 and multiply the picture which we have drawn, 

 and many of its features are found in almost every 

 farm home, while the "sketch," if it were ever 

 true to life, has been a relic of antiquity for half 

 a century. We would recommend to the artist 

 to present his study of ancient ruins to the State 

 Antiquarian Society. We think the gift should 

 entitle him to membership. 



But "the real reason for the deterioration of 

 agriculture in New England." The "deteriora- 

 tion of agriculture" again. Now we wholly and 

 absolutely deny that any such "deterioration" ex- 

 ists. It is a false assumption without any proof. 

 Let us look a little into the detail. In the State 

 of New York there are 58,000 fewer cows than 

 there were fifteen years ago. And yet the increase 

 in cheese is 12,991,437 pounds, and of butter 

 264,361 pounds, worth together $1,202,580. Now 

 if the farmers can sell 58,000 cows, and pocket the 

 money and save the keeping of the cows, and 

 fyet their dairy products be increased by more 

 than $1,200,000, is there a deterioration in stock 

 husbandry ? Throughout New England quite as 

 great a change has taken place in this department 

 of farming. Owing to the introduction of the 

 "pick and pride of foreign herds," and to more 

 skilful management, the value of cov/s and oxen 



