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162 *^ 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMER. 



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gate may have a hinge or some device 

 for opening or shutting ; the puddle 

 that the hog wallows in may not be at 

 the front of the house ; some mathe- 

 matical precision, or squareness may 

 exist in the general fixtures and arange- 

 ments ; things may have a place and be 

 kept in their places ("order is heaven's 

 first law,") and all this -without extra 

 price or exertion, after a beginning 

 is made and the system is followed up. 



It is useless to argue the value of 

 these practical virtues ; they pay well. 

 A few trees are desirable near every 

 man's dwelling ; they adorn the scene ; 

 bear fruit ; protect the house, the herds ; 

 invite the birds ; encourage rain ; re- 

 tain moisture — a condition more need 

 ed generally on the prairies than 

 drainage. Were the proper elevation 

 of farming life attained, it would hold 

 the superior rank assigned it in the 

 imaginations of men — for from the earth 

 we came, and to the earth we must go ; 

 from the earth the most that we derive 

 springs, and in its cultivation we shall 

 realize the simplest habits, the best im- 

 provement, the highest happiness possi- 

 ble to the race. And it is in this eleva- 

 tion, so prominently forced upon the 

 imagination, and sanctioned by the in- 

 creasing attention of the times, that the 

 world may look for its best progress. 



When the great of the nation consider 

 it an honor to' eulogize agriculture, to 

 frame addresses for it, to step forward 

 in its defence, to labor for it and in it, 

 we may well believe that the vision of 

 its admirers will be realized. It is in- 

 deed a shame that the world requires 

 the names of Cincinnatus, and Washing- 

 ton, and Webster, and their like, to bol- 

 ster up an interest to which mankind 

 must return as in primitive ages, before 

 they can acquire a simple and durable 

 civilization. Of business life, entirely 

 necessary in its place, the uncertainties 

 and hazards are very great ; not one in 

 a hundred who embarks in it ever suc- 

 ceeds, says a writer in the Scientific 

 American^ and those that succeed do it 

 through an incessant toil that farming 

 life is not exposed to. The truth is 

 there are far too many pressing into bu- 

 siness avocations. Witness the great 

 army that comes into New York and 

 other kindred cities from the country, 

 as clerks to mercantile establishments, 



and read the memorial on their tomb- 

 stones, if they have one, and it would 

 show an amount of perverted faculties, 

 short-sightedness, and intensity of suffer- 

 ing, that few would imagine as possible ; 

 and yet our country yoath, the superior 

 ones generally, from the absence of those 

 more exalting elements of farming life, 

 desert their homes for the cities. They 

 do not dream that the elevation and no- 

 bleness which they crave, exists around 

 them in far greater intensity, is evolved 

 from their own circumstances, from the 

 very ground, whose dust they shake from 

 their feet, as they wend their way into 

 those vortices of destruction- 

 Many will say they have no education 

 and alledge this as an excuse for their 

 inferiority. We say then, if your position 

 on the score of instruction is so unfortu- 

 nate, spend the indolent hour before you 

 go to bed, if you have no winter leisure 

 or other odd time at your command, 

 over a spelling book or a slate or a 

 reader, and it will shortly open to you 

 all the avenues of knowledge. If you 

 confer with farmer's books, periodicals 

 and papers, with science and philosophy 

 brought to bear upon the subject of your 

 calling, it will brighten up every duty 

 you engage in. There are books wholly 

 devoted to farming subjects, covering the 

 entire ground now known ; and there arc 

 books of a more general character that 

 foster an interest in nature and her pro- 

 ductions. Of other books we think a 

 few standard works better than many 

 ephemeral ones. Scott's novels, in the 

 department of high reading, happily and 

 truthfully portray the manners of the 

 times of which they treat, without the 

 usual drawbacks attached to such works. 

 Shakspeare is a remarkable book, and 

 pruned as most of the editions are of the 

 license of former times, is not to be 

 gainsayed; it opens the intricacies of the 

 human heart beyond that of all other 

 productions ; has a quaintness and orig- 

 inality, uttered by all sorts of persons, 

 under all kinds of circumstances, that 

 challenges constant and unvarying 

 pleasure, admiration and astonishment. 

 The great work of Paleywill embrace 

 the whole train of thought required on 

 the subject of natural theology, and 

 "Butler's Analogy" is scarcely inferior. 

 The Sacred Volume is too necessary 

 now in every family to invite it upon 



tbem ; the Proverbs, the Psalms, the 

 sayings of the old prophets ; the insight 

 into man as he emerged from the flood, 

 may be made too tenapting to be neglec- 

 ted, aside from the practical wisdom 

 which it unfolds, and that other wisdom 

 which none can do without. Of news- 

 papers, no family should be without one; 

 the local news, the distant news, brought 

 with the speed of lightning, are indis- 

 pensible to a right understanding of 

 prices, the markets, the labor of our 

 own hand and its reward, as well as 

 other matters that concern our well- 

 being. 



Since writing the above the sugges- 

 tion has met our eye that farmers live 

 too unsociably — do not mingle together 

 enough with their families — that there 

 are too few gatherings among them^tea- 

 parties, meetings, to bring out their 

 mutual affections and dependencies, that 

 are the spice of life. It is supposed 

 also that the employments of farmers 

 are not varied enough, that there is too 

 much of undeviating routine in their 

 duties; but not so, if they are active, 

 observing, intelligent men, who find 

 something new each year in each de- 

 partment of their labor. 



«•»— 



TBc True Wife of the Farmer. 



"Yes, the farmer's true wife — for what 

 class of wives is more worthy the appel- 

 lation of true ? or what class of men 

 more deserving the warm love and ten- 

 der affections of a true-hearted companion 

 than the faithful agriculturalist, who, by 

 honest toil and steady application, sup- 

 plies not only the wants of his own 

 household, but places the staff of life 

 within the reach of all classes of man- 

 kind throughout the world? But, in 

 speaking of true wives, we do not wish 

 to be understood that the farmer alone 

 is capable of giving comfort and happi- 

 ness to the better half — on the contrary, 

 we heartily congratulate all, in whatever 

 profession or calling they may be labor- 

 ing, because of their good fortune in ob- 

 taining loving and cherishable wives. 

 From the daily vicissitudes of farm la- 

 bor, and the anxiety and fatigue of the 

 field, there is something within the far- 

 mer's bosom that seems to demand a 

 cordial response from the heart of the 

 one who has sworn to love, cherish, and 

 obey. And, as we contemplate her wil- 

 lingness, and the pleasure she experien- 

 ces as she engages in the routine of 

 household duties, how genial seems the 

 chord of love that binds two mutual 

 hearts in one. 



Much depends on the energy and per- 



