1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



61 



scythe too hard. He sets his wits at work, and 

 the mowing machine is invented, and his horses, 

 with a tenth his own former toil, perform his 

 daily task. And so of all other labor-performing 

 machines. They merely illustrate how much 

 better is the mind than the body — how much 

 better educated labor than mere brute force. 



For the New Enf^land Farmer. 



COUKTHY FAEMEES AND CITY 

 MECHANICS. 



HEALTH. 



"How's your health?" is one of our first salu- 

 tatory expressions as we meet our friends ; though 

 I hardly know why it should be so, when so few 

 of us seem to care for health so long as we are 

 getting rich. If money can be made rapidly in 

 any business or place, few stop to inquire into 

 its healthiness. If large wages are offered by the 

 factory or shop, who cares for the poisonous dust 

 that may ulcerate the lungs, for the cramped po- 

 sition that may inflame the liver, or for the 

 heated atmosphere tliat must debilitate the whole 

 system ? The love of life is said to be one of the 

 strongest instincts of human nature, but the 

 preservation of health seems to be one of the 

 last objects of our concern. We follow fashion 

 in dress and diet, and run the race for wealth 

 utterly reckless of the dangers to which we ex 

 posa our health. 



It is, therefore, with faint hopes of doing good 

 that I commence this article. When I was at- 

 tempting to show that, notwithstanding all the 

 glitter of large wages in the city, mechanics here 

 in the long run actually come out poorer than 

 farmers in tlic country, I expected to be heard. 

 But no«- that my subject refers to the compara- 

 tive health of the two classes, who will read? 

 Besides this general indiiference, there is no chance 

 for argument. There is no body to dispute with. 

 Every body that thinks at all admits farming to 

 be "rather" the most healthy — every body knows 

 that in-door confinement is less favorable to the 

 development of the physical man, and to long 

 life, than out-door exercise ; that caged men and 

 caged birds are inferior to those who enjoy the 

 open fields ; that men who work in the shade, 

 like potatoes which grow in the cellar, have a 

 sickly, unnatural look, and arc in fact sickly, 

 unnatural things. The flict, then, being admit- 

 ted, we have only to consider the magnitude or 

 degree of tlii» difTerencc : — How much more healthy 

 is the farmer than the mechanic') 



Fortunately we have the means for a reliable 

 answer to this important question. The Secre- 

 tary of the State of ^Massachusetts compiles an 

 abstract of the returns, which by law are re- 

 quired to bo made to him, by each town in the 

 State, of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. This 

 abstract is published annually. These statistics 

 are probably collected and arranged with greater 

 care and accuracy than any others of the kind 

 in this country. The Twelfth Annual Report, or 

 that for 1S53, is before us. We make a few ex- 

 tracts from "Table X.," which gives the result 

 for nine years and eight months, of persons wlio 

 have died over twenty years of age — those dying 

 younger are not included. From something over 



seventy occupations into which "mechanics" are 

 divided, I have selected the following from among 

 the leading kinds as to numbers. 



No. of Deaths Average Age At 20 yrs. old, 

 Occupations. reported. at Death. may expect 



to live — 



Agriculturists 7.735 64.03 44.03 



Carpenters 1.127 49.41 29 41 



Shoemakers 1.839 43.10 23.10 



Bl;iol<sniiths 541 51.62 31.62 



Painters 275 42.00 22 00 



Masons 273 48.32. . . 



Machinists 268 37.15 



Tailors 192 43.S7 



Operatives 173 33.17. ... 



Printers 91 36.40 



Hatters 88 53.87 



Tinsmiths 52 41.44 ... 



.28.32 

 .17.15 

 .23.87 

 .13.17 

 .16.40 

 .33.87 



21.44 



In the table from which the above is extracted, 

 the deaths of 7,781 mechanics of all occupations 

 are reported, (forty-six more than of farmers,) 

 whose average age is exactly forty-six years, 

 while that of farmers. is a fraction over .sixty-four 

 years — or a difference of eighteen years in favor 

 of agriculture. Accordingly, at twenty years 

 of age, a farmer may expect to live forty-four 

 years ; a mechanic only twenty-six. But there 

 appears to be a great difference in the health of 

 the various occupations. Carpenters and masons 

 who work much in the open air, live nearly 50 

 years, while machinists, operatives and printers 

 fall considerably short of 40 years. 



But it is not my intention to go into the de- 

 tails of this subject. iMy object is simply to urge 

 the many farmer's boys Avho are seriously think- 

 ing of leaving the farm for a trade, to take into 

 account the subject of health, as well as that of 

 wages. I judge you, boys, by myself Avhen I say 

 that you do not do this. When I was makino- 

 up my mind to be a mechanic, I compared the 

 ten dollars a month of the firmer with the ten 

 dollars a week of the mechanic — the hard work 

 and exposure to heat and cold, to dust and mud, 

 of the one, with light work and comfortable shel- 

 ter of the other, without looking the fact in tlie 

 face that, 



Farmers at 20 years of age may expect to live 44 yrs. longer. 

 Machinists " " " " 17 " 



Printers " " " " 16 " 



Yet such is the fact, as appears from the pub- 

 lished returns of deaths in Massachusetts for the 

 last ten years. 



Nor is this all. Short life is not the only 

 penalty for violating the laws of health ; but all 

 the ills "that flesh is heir to" when abused, fol- 

 low close upon the heels of the transo-ressor. 

 To wear out in twenty years a constitution that 

 was made to last forty, requires no small amount 

 of headaches and foul stomachs, of darting pains 

 and twitching nerves. The full-I)Iooded, stalwart 

 country boy is not transformed into the pale, de- 

 bilitated, city mechanic, without admonitory 

 remonstrances of his physical .s^'stem, l)y pains 

 and lassitude, that ought to be lieeiled as "warn- 

 ings," but which ho too often attempts to allay 

 by stimulants. And here, by the way, Ave find 

 perhaps the reason of a fact that has excited some 

 wonder, viz : that the more unhealthy and short- 

 lived any class of mechanics, the more dissipated 

 they are. Th(i causes which shorten life produce 

 a condition of the nervous system that can scarcely 

 be endured, but which stimulants will for the 

 time being greatly relievo, (.ila.^s-blowcrs, prin- 

 ters of morning papers, and others Avho work 



