XVIII 



FARMERS AND FIELD SPORTS 



" Happy the man whose only care 



A few paternal acres bound, 

 Content to breathe his native air 

 On his own ground." 



HAPPIER still is such a one who has a 

 love for the rod and gun, and with them 

 finds now and then a day's freedom from 

 all cares by the side of the stream that 

 borders his own acres and in the woods 

 that crest his knolls or shade his swamp. 



As a rule none of our people take so 

 few days of recreation as the farmer. 

 Excepting Sundays, two or three days at 

 the county fair, and perhaps as many 

 more spent in the crowd and discomfort 

 of a cheap railroad excursion, are all that 

 are given by the ordinary farmer to any- 

 thing but the affairs of the farm. It is 

 true that his outdoor life makes it less 

 necessary for him than for the man 

 whose office or shop work keeps him 

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