1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



399 



THE SKY-LARK 



Bird of the wilderness, 

 Blithesome and cumlierless, 



Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea ! 

 Emblem of happiness, 

 Blest be thy dwelling-place, 



O, to abiile in the desert with thee I 

 Wild is thy lay, and loud. 

 Far in the downy cloud. 



Lore gives it energy-, love gave it birth. 

 Where, on thy dewy wing. 

 Where art thou journeying ? 



Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. 



O'er fell and fountain sheeti. 



O'er moor and mountjiin green, 

 O'er the red streamer that heralds the day, 



Over the cloudlet dim, 



Over the rainbow's rim, 

 Musical cherub, soar, singing away ! 



Then when the gloaming comes, 



Low in the heather blooms. 

 Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be ! 



Emblem of happiness ; 



Blest is thy dwelling-place, 

 O, to abide in the desert with thee. 



THE FARM SUPPORTS ALL. 



People may reason and theorize about the com- 

 parative usef'uhicss of different pursuits and occu- 

 pations. 'We will not quarrel with any man, be- 

 cause he insists that a trader or broker is as useful 

 a man as the farmer, but we loUl quarrel with any 

 man in a gentlemanly way, who will not admit that 

 the former's life does possess as much true di<>:- 

 nity and utility as any other. We will, for ci\ili- 

 ty's sake, admit equality, but can acknowledge no 

 superiority. 



Agriculture is the basis of all national prosperity. 

 A child may see that if the earfh is not cultivated, 

 the whole population in a single year, or at most, 

 in two years, Mhen the cattle are consumed, must 

 literally sttirve, while society could exist to an in- 

 definite extent, were the la])ors of any other inter- 

 est to cease at once. Observe the course of trade, 

 and inquire of the merchants even in our own 

 country, and we shall find, that upon the products 

 of the soil does all the prosperity of trade depend. 

 If the cotton crop is short, the southern trader can- 

 not order goods from the North, or having or- 

 dered, fails, and cannot pay for them. He foils bo- 

 cause the jjlanter having fed to his negroes all liis 

 corn and l)acon, has notliing left wherewith to ])ay 

 for his fomily su])])lies. If the wheat croj) fails, 

 the Boston and New York merchants at once feel 

 the effect of the failure, for the Western merchant 

 cannot meet his liabiHties, nor incm- others. 



When all things are prosjierous, the farmer is 

 almost forgotten. lie lal)ors hard and brings the 

 product of lus labor to a full market. lie is met 

 by sharp sjjeculators with the cr}-, that the market 

 is glutted and his supplies are not wanted, and is 

 compelled, because he cannot enter into combina- 

 tions to meet the banded monopoHzers, to sell at a 

 price which gives him but scanty pay for his indus- 



try. He feels that all the world is prosperous ex- 

 cept himself, and the trading public, forgetful or 

 careless that the farmer maintains and even pro- 

 duces all this prosperity by his quiet pursuits, look 

 down upon him perhaps with contemjjt. 



To be sure, he has at such times, in common 

 with others, enough of food and clothing. He 

 does not want, but his abundance and success seem 

 to jirofit others more than himself. Indeed, he 

 hardly i)articipates in the general prosperity which 

 his own hard work and watchful care has created. 



But by-and-bye the scene changes. The crops 

 are short in some sections of the countrv. Suj)- 

 plies are not forwarded to the great marts of trade 

 for the adequate supply of the inhabitants of the 

 cities themselves, or to meet the demands of com- 

 merce. Business is deranged, merchants fail, the 

 country traders are discouraged, the whole country 

 languishes, and there is a general cry of hard times. 

 But the former does not foil. He raises his own 

 food in abundance still. What he can spare brings 

 him an increased price in the market. The tra- 

 ders and speculators come to his very doors, and 

 entreat him to sell them at any price enough to 

 meet the present necessities of their business. And 

 so, when the earth is laid waste and labor diverted 

 from its legitimate pursuits, by want. Then the 

 farmer increases his exertions. He sows more 

 [broadly, he labors more earnestly. He feels that 

 men in foreign lands, who are di'agged by hard 

 masters from their homes to engage in bloody bat- 

 tles, are dependent on him for tlieir daily bread. 

 Still liis own supply is abundant, and others de- 

 mand a share, and offer him a generous reward for 

 his labor. The world, stupid as it often is, in times 

 of general peace and prosjierity, now ajijjreciates 

 the farmer's useful life. What then is the true 

 position of the cultivation of the land ? Is it one 

 of hard work and ser\-ile labor only, or is it one of 

 dignity and importance, indis2)ensable at all times ? 

 Farming is doubtless hard work, in the general ac- 

 ceptation of the term, but it is a great mistake to 

 call that only hard work, which is performed with 

 the hands. The lawyer, confined to the stifling 

 and cramj)t air of a court-room for days and M-eeks, 

 with the j)ropcrty and Hves of his clients at sti\ke, 

 and dependent on his watcliful, coiistiuit care ; the 

 minister, bound to his stated jireaching, whether in 

 health, or feehng himself sinking already under his 

 harassing and never-ceasing responsibility ; the doc- 

 tor, called out at midnight to prescribe in an in- 

 stant, in a new and doubtful case, — these have all 

 their labor, harder work tlian any performed by the 

 hands alone. Many farmers labor too severely, 

 more so tlian there is any need of; but still, we 

 think, their hardships are not so great as those in- 

 cident to the i)rofessions we have named. They 

 have, besides, what traders and sj)eculators, and 

 even mechanics, can never have, what is really a 



