1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



503 



of premiums. In our opinion there is little prac- 

 tical good resulting from such management. The 

 mere fact that 90 bushels of corn, a big ox, a grand 

 cow for milk, a large pumpkin, or any other veg- 

 etable, animal or implement, were exhibited and 

 took premiums on a certain day, is very unsatis- 

 factory to most minds. They wish to know not 

 only what the best farmers produce, but how they 

 do it. 



For such information our Canadian neighbors 

 offer handsome premiums ; and we hope the man- 

 agers of our own societies will continue their ef- 

 forts to give to their yearly transactions greater 

 practical value. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A FAEMBE'S DAUGHTER OW FAKMIWG. 



Mr. Brown : — I have had the pleasure to-night 

 of reading the able production of your friend 

 "Anna," entitled "Farmers' Wives and Daugh- 

 ters." My youth and insufficient education might 

 present a reasonable barrier to discussion, yet per- 

 mit me, through your gallantry, to break silence 

 for once, even at the expense of exposure. Anna 

 saj'S, she may safely say, that, "it is not a well es- 

 tablished fact that farmers' wives are the most 

 hard-working class in existence." This is contra- 

 diction, and in good humor I beg leave to return 

 the same compliment. There are exceptions, to 

 be sure, and 'tis possible I am not prepared to 

 judge of farming in Massachusetts, but I am pre- 

 pared to judge of farming in New Hampshire. 



She asks, — "Is there not as much intelligence 

 and refinement in a farmer's family, as in a me- 

 chanic's ?" 



Naturally, there is, but if farming is so very 

 profitable as some of the Fanner correspondents 

 contend it is, it would afford the means of pre- 

 senting to the world a class of people paramount 

 in the cultivation of intellect to that of mechanics. 

 If a larger proportion of our present teachers are 

 from farmers' families, it is only in the country, 

 and there a larger proportion of the inhabitants 

 are farmers, a fact which shows they are not ele- 

 vated above toil, (as they surely ought not to be,) 

 but are compelled to depend upon their own re- 

 sources, while their mother or sister is obliged to 

 preside in the kitchen. 



If any courageous girl can acquire a good edu- 

 cation independent of public institutions, there are 

 few who can unlock the deep mysteries of science 

 in solitude, and without the aid of teachers. The 

 rudiments of science, necessary though they be, 

 are not sufficient for a gifted mind. No, we want 

 woman educated, thoroughly educated, in all that 

 can enlighten and eternalize the mighty mind. 



Committing Latin lessons while "turning a 

 churn crank or frying pancakes," seems to me a 

 difficult and dry task, and I should prefer to make 

 the butter and pancakes at one time, and have the 

 profits of the farm augment father's purse enough 

 to secure assistance while I learned my Latin les- 

 son at another time. Suppose there is "less real 

 poverty among farmers than among mechanics ;" 

 all the world are not mechanics, and how many 

 men of wealth are there among farmers who have 

 acquii-ed affluence by simply farming ? No per- 



son of ordinary abilities, with health, need suffer 

 in this age for the necessities of life, let him be in 

 whatever occupation he may. 



The question in regard to the young lady men- 

 tioned was not asked, Mr. Editor, expecting you 

 to decide her fate, for she is one who decides her 

 own fate, and has already done so by very recent- 

 ly marrying, neither a farmer nor a fourth-rate 

 lawyer. The question was asked, as Young 

 America said, "To see what you would say," re- 

 garding your opinion of consequence, of course. 



My friend seems of the opinion that we should 

 be content without pictures upon the walls. If 

 we can be, that is well, but I think she cannot de- , 

 ny but what pictures are useful, and render a home 

 pleasant. Visit the palaces of the Old World, its 

 picture galleries, its long corridors ornamented 

 with paintings, the productions of the richest ge- 

 nius, and one cannot but be awed in admiration. 

 Visit them in imagination, if no more, and you 

 cannot fail to admire. But in our homes, the sa- 

 cred centre of our affections, there place the works 

 of art. Irving says : in America, literature and the 

 elegant arts must grow up side by side with the 

 coarser plants of daily necessity. For instance, 

 suspend upon your wall Christ on the Cross, and 

 think you not, that fair-haired boy will discern a 

 living reality which cannot be painted in words ? 

 Yes, as the Son of man, with agonized features, 

 looks upon him so beseechingly, it must pen- 

 etrate his little heart, and with flowing tears and 

 generous sympathy, it will plant a principle to 

 blossom in manhood. 



My Massachusetts sister has a view from her 

 window, "such as no human artists could form." 

 True, and I have a view from my window, too. 

 Below, the Mascoma valley, lovely in the extreme, 

 sprinkled with thriving villages, giving evidence 

 that here are intelligent mechanics and merchants 

 as well as farmers. Beyond, lie the Mascoma 

 and Crystal lakes, their polished surfaces a mir- 

 ror of Heaven's own beauty ; while all around in 

 their terrible grandeur and sublimity, rise the 

 eternal hills and mountains from the Green, the 

 boast of Vermont, to Mount Washington, the 

 pride of the old Granite State. 'Tis a picturesque 

 scenery, glorious to behold, beautiful beyond ex- 

 pression. And I want time to admire its loveli- 

 ness, time to foi'get the world, and care, and pro- 

 fit, in the dreamland of nature. Does a farmer's 

 wife possess this time ? The daughter may — but 

 does the mother ? 



In summer, we boast of all that is beautiful in 

 the "Switzerland of America." In winter, though 

 we miss the multitudes, music, and the drama, 

 yet there is a magic in the huge snow drifts that 

 gather about our doors, a romance in the impen- 

 etrable fort which old Boreas stations between us 

 and our next neighbor. Often, too, wher. favored 

 with a north-easter, the subsequent sunshine is 

 duly appreciated, and as the naked trees are man- 

 tled in their transparent verdure of ice, and they 

 dance and glitter and tremble in the sunlight and 

 breeze, it seems as if the sepulchre of the seasons 

 proclaims both great and living truths infinitely 

 real. Indeed, Anna made a great mistake when 

 she thought we found not sunshine in rural life, 

 for there is sunshine in any spot when not over- 

 tasked with care. If she will visit mo in my moun- 

 tain home I will assure her I can romp with her 

 as well as any farmer's daughter, climb stone 



