23 S Wisconsin state Agricultural society. 
FARM LIFE—ITS HARDSHIPS AND PLEASURES, 
BY MBS. HELEN M. BRITELL HUNTLEY, APPLETON. 
Incident to every business pursuit, there are pleasures to enjoy, 
difficulties to be overcome and hardships to be endured. The 
merchant will talk of bad debts and constant confinement to his 
store; the physician of exposure to cold and storms; the mechanic 
will tell you of no opportunity for his labor ; men of salary fear 
another day will find them without employment, and all these 
will talk of the constant claims of society, that they have none 
of the quiet and independence of farm life. The farmer, with a 
different experience, finds the chief objection to his calling is, too 
much work, no society, and that he cannot support his family 
handsomely. 
Somewhere there must be a cause and a remedy for this bad 
state of things. Much of the hardship of farm life is in no sense 
the legitimate result of farming. Often it is the neglect of the 
farm for some other pursuit, which proving disastrous, brings 
debts and privations, and to farming is attributed the cause. Too 
many are the instances, particularly in our western villages, where 
men of more or less property make farming an experiment. They 
are only half in earnest about it; perhaps have kept some cby 
property to return to in case of failure. If they can make money 
they will remain on the farm, but the money comes slowly and 
does not come at all without labor, and they go backward in the 
path of life, to the city or the town where they can enjoy pleas¬ 
ures and privileges they have done nothing to create. 
Others will plan to have hardships, and it may be the only 
thing they have any plan about. They will say “ we expect to 
have a hard time of it on the larm.” These will surely realize 
all their expectations. Hardships and privations will grow with¬ 
out culture, and a wonderful crop may be obtained without care 
or rotation. It should be remembered that failure exists in this 
class of persons and not in the calling. To be a successful farmer, 
there must be a love for the calling that will not be satisfied with 
