CHAPTER 11. 



THE FARMER AXD HIS FELLOWS. 



THE fault with farm life is the lack of social intercourse. 

 Where farms are large this is hard to overcome. The 

 natural time for social intercourse is the evening, but 

 when the farmer, his wife, and his team are tired, and tlie 

 time for rising five o'clock the next morning, there is not 

 much inclination to start out. These conditions must be 

 overcome. Man is a social animal. He must mingle with 

 his fellows or deteriorate. Where farms are small the diffi- 

 culty is less serious. Modern improvements are doing much 

 for the farmer in this respect. The country roads are improv- 

 ing and the trolley and the bicycle are never tired. 



It seems to me that farmers must systematically attend to 

 these social duties if they are to be happy. I am not speaking 

 of social intercourse for ''improvement" but for recreation. 

 If circumstances forbid it of evenings, the time must be taken 

 from the day. Tlie American farmer is among the least social 

 of men. Such social gatherings as occur are mostly left to 

 the young people, who, unrestrained by the presence of their 

 elders, are not always decorous. The country "ball," held 

 upon holidays in some public hall, and open to all comers 

 who will pay the fee, is not always a desirable place. 



This rather questionable mode of recreation has grown up 

 as the result of rural conditions in this country, and can be 

 exterminated only by a change of those conditions. Young 

 people will certainly meet for social enjoyment, and if the 

 way is made difficult to rational methods, they will take other 

 ways. The amusements which from time immemorial have 

 had chief place among the people of all nations, have been 

 the card table for the elders and the dance for the young. I 

 am not aware that either-of these amusements was ever con- 

 sidered questionable until the rise of the great Puritan move- 

 (96) 



