American Agriculturist, January 6, 1923 
a 
The Vision of the Stars 
By Mrs. Cola L. Fountain 
S ILENT he toils on the homestead farm where his father 
lived and died, * 
I Keeping his feet in his father’s paths with a secret, holy- 
pride, 
Alround him the hills lie soft and blue and they gently shut 
him in. 
Afar without is the world’s fierce rush and its money-mad¬ 
dened din, 
And he lives in the quiet of the vale and ’tis pleasant, too, to be 
A little King in a little State in his own autocracy. 
He knows there are problems to be solved where the hearts of 
men beat high, 
He knows heavy burdens must be borne, but above him curves 
the sky, 
And the bees in the clover drowsily hum, and the fragrant air 
is warm, 
And his work lies here in the sunny fields away from the 
stress and storm. 
Narrow? Yes, true, and content to be as the seasons change 
and blend, 
Busy enlarging his golden hoard—^too busy to be a friend. 
Yet sometimes there comes—he can’t tell how—when the wind 
sweeps gently along. 
Rippling the heads of the hillside wheat—or the birds burst 
into song. 
Something that lifts for a breath his heart and his mind to 
higher things 
Giving him just a fleeting glimpse that even his soul has wings. 
And he feels, but he wouldn’t tell you so—that something his 
life has lost, 
Quiet and peace and comfort he has, but a trifle too high the cost. 
And at night when the valley mists close in and he stands at 
his pasture bars. 
He realizes that he has missed youth’s vision of the stars. 
She stands *at her kitchen door, his wife, whom he married 
long ago, 
Quicker in thought and action, she, than the man who toils 
below. 
Keeping her home serene and fair, upholding a standard high 
To the children God has given her, while their golden youth 
slips by. 
Knowing full well that the hills that seem a barrier fast to be, 
Would open and welcome the best of life, if only she had the key. 
Something, somewhere there surely is, to sweeten the country 
life, 
To broaden the mind, quell jealous griefs, and to bring peace 
out of strife. 
Something to show men the way to work in community of 
soul, 
Something to bring them achievement as onward the 
swift years roll, 
And she holds the thought—as she keeps her soul- 
through all of life’s frets and jars. 
That the country woman must not lose her vision of the 
stars. 
^ ^4. 
There has risen an army in later years to come to the yeo¬ 
man’s aid, 
With wornout soil and .with pest and drought it fights on 
unafraid, 
It is followed close by a fine array of women with purpose 
true, 
With courage and loyalty they work—unmeasured the good 
they do; 
They are teaching us how to rear the child to a strength 
and health complete. 
And to household efficiency and skill they are pointing our 
eager feet. 
There’s a College that stands on a fair, green hill and it 
cares for the rural need, 
And it offers us sane and helpful thought, worked out in 
word and deed. 
There are men who are working in every line to bring to 
the farm its due. 
With “Cooperate” as their watchword they will strive for a 
freedom true. 
But back of them still in the kitchen door, stands the wife 
with her face to the hills, 
Who waits for the key to unlock the pass to the higher life 
that thrills; 
She wishes her hearthstone to have the best that the wide 
world gives to-day. 
She wishes the countryside to live in harmony by the \Vay, 
She longs for the day when her child may learn in the school- 
house down the road. 
The things that will fit him when a man to shoulder his 
share of the load, 
She waits for the time when the church will throw its narrow 
doors apart, 
And teach to all the creed of love and the understanding heart. 
She is willing through service to guard and keep her com¬ 
munity from harm. 
And she asks your aid for these greater tasks—this woman 
on the farm. 
You are working to gain for the farmer the share that is his 
by right. 
And only his voice—united through you—will bring him his 
power and might; 
So toil—for the farmer knows ’tis true that without you he 
would fall. 
So work, for the nation rests on you who have heard the coun¬ 
try’s call. 
And keep, so vivid and clear and keen that 
nothing its brightness mars. 
For the sake of the farmer and his home, 
your vision of the stars. 
fWMy 
^ J' . ' 4 
^ ^ s < > 
-v:-./iK' 
• -^ V ' ’ ' < ’ 
^‘And his work lies here in the sunny fields away from the stress and storm.” 
riS 
liijiilsj 
