472 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



opened than that which was made at the time of 

 La Fayette's tour, in liopes that he would he able 

 to ascend, whicli however he did not undertake. 

 Ladies and feeble gentlemen may now nearly or 

 quite reacli the summit on Iiorseback. 



The beautiful summer day which we commenc- 

 ed in the vicinity of Boston, was fading into night 

 as we reached Brownsville, some six or seven miles 

 from Windsor, without counting about as many 

 more miles tliat we had walked in ascending and 

 descending the mountain — having accomplished 

 this day what would have required, when we 

 were a boy, at least one-half of our week's fur- 

 lough. Starting the next morning at day-light, 

 we soon reached the out-posts of our "friends and 

 connections.'' 



And here we must comply with the reader's 

 desire to "be excused," while we do up our coua- 

 ioing- Had we the ability to take him with us 

 over the hills and through the valle3'8 of these 

 Green Mountains, — to show him the prospects, — 

 the homes, the fields, the "butteries" we are 

 about to visit, surely he would ask nc such thing. 

 But as we have little skill in this line, we will let 

 him pass over the few days we spent in Reading, 

 Plymouth, Woodstock, Ludlow and Bridgewater, 

 in which latter town, unless we are mistaken in 

 our application of the initial letter, we passed the 

 fine farm and residence of your correspondent 

 "J.," wiio, although living but a short distance 

 from the gold diggings which a New York compa- 

 ny is making great preparations to open in this 

 town, was pointed out to us contentedly "dress- 

 ing" his garden. 



We returned by v^-ay of Brattleboro', where we 

 istopped over one train, and where in our rambles 

 fchi'ough the village, we saw a mowin* machine, 

 that somehow reminded us of your editorial asso- 

 ciate who lives in this town, and raised a regret 

 that we had not time, nor any right that we could 

 think of, to give him a call; for we stopped here 

 to visit mechanics, not farmers. From Brattle- 

 boro' we passed down the river, for the first time 

 to Greenfield, and can say we believe the Connec- 

 ticut valley to be richly entitled to all the eulogies 

 it receives from travellers. We saw more broom- 

 oorn this afternoon than in all our life before, and 

 at this season it checkers the fields beautiful- 

 ly. Taking the cars on the Vermont and Massa- 

 chusetts road, we thought the irreverent problem 

 of two hills without a valley was about to be solv- 

 ed- For some miles we passed one part of the dis- 

 tance on the roofs of bridges, and another through 

 deep cuts in the ragged spurs of the mountains 

 that seemed interlocked purposely to make it im- 

 possible to build a railroad there. No wonder 

 that road don't pay ! Asa matter of curiosity, I 

 would advise travellers who can do so, to take this 

 road in the course of their tour. 



Thus muph as to the incidents of a journey that 

 afforded us much gratification. 



As to thequestionof the relative profits of me- 

 chanical and agricultural pursuits, so far as it can 

 be indicated by the respective circumstances of 

 some half-a-dozen families of each profession 

 among my connections, I have no hesitation in 

 .saying that the farming portion are decidedly bet- 

 ter off than the mechanical — especially is this the 

 case with those of tliem v/ho have large families. 

 As journeymen, our farming friends envied us our 

 larger wages ; as heads of families, we may well 



envy tlieir comparative independence. They 

 speak of the superiority of the schools our chil- 

 dren enjoy ; we feel more and more sensil)ly as 

 our boys, in particular, grow older, the superior- 

 ity of the training of the farm over that of the 

 street, for our children. But throwing aside all 

 considerations of this kind, — overlooking the 

 ominous fact that the successful business men of 

 cities and villages are composed almost entirely of 

 boys raised upon country farms, and confining 

 ourselves entirely to dollars and cents, the advan- 

 tage is clearly with farmers, so far as my friends 

 are concerned ; and, I may add also, so far as the 

 acquaintances of my boyhood are concerned. Sell 

 them off at auction to-day, and the farmers will 

 realize the most money. But that is not all. — 

 They are incomparably better circumstanced for 

 sickness and old age than we. Their homes may 

 be humble, but they are their own ; while, with 

 few exceptions, though our flooi's may be carpeted, 

 the roof that shelters us is owned by another 

 man. 



I might easily, and with perfect truthfulness, 

 draw still stronger contrasts in favor of the profit 

 of agriculture from the actual circumstances of 

 my friends at this time, but I have no disposition 

 to particularize, where general inferences may seem 

 almost to exceed the limits of propriety. 



But if there be general truth in the adage, that 

 "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," I do 

 not see why we may not apply it to the condition 

 of the families of farmers and mechanics, in de- 

 termining which profession is preferable in the 

 long run? Perhaps the following incident, which 

 occurred on the evening of my arrival in the city, 

 may have first excited my curiosity to know more of 

 the actual condition of the families of city me- 

 chanics. My little ones, fatigued by a day's jour- 

 ney, were somewhat worrisome, as we took seats 

 in an omnibus, and they immediately attracted 

 the notice and sym^jathy of an aged woman seated 

 near us, and who soon became sufficiently fiimiliar 

 to inquire my business. I told her what it was. 

 Raising up both hands, she exclaimed, "Poor 

 man, 1 pity you, and your wife, too ! W^hy, my 



poor husband was a too, and it killed him ; 



he used to work all day, and take on all night in 

 such misery, that it is not wicked to say, I was 

 glad when he was dead. And these children, 

 pretty little dears, to be turned into the streets of 



this wicked city ." Iler remarks were cut 



short by our ari'ival at our lodgings. Such an 

 earnest greeting by the widow of a city mechanic, 

 as we were crossing the threshold of city life, was 

 not to be forgotten by myself or family. Would 

 a sti-anger-family that should enter any agricul- 

 tural neighborhood in the country be met with 

 such doleful admonitions? 



Were county people as careful to ascertain the 

 condition of aged city mechanics, or even that of 

 those with large families, as they are to know 

 how many dollars can possibly be earned in a sin- 

 gle week ; or did they inquire why it ii that me- 

 chanics so often keep poor on their large wages, 

 while farmers grow rich on their very small pay, 

 many a young man who is now lianging about our 

 intelligence offices, would have staid upon the 

 farm contentedly. 



I must allude to one complaint that I heard 

 made by my agricultural friends, and which 

 sounded very novel to me. They said it was 



