FARMERS.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 6, 20 November 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARMERS.

tbe Cornhill Magazine J^^Avfait.) , " pursuit of farming has extended so much amengfuU classes ,o( that farmers have to be divided distinct «lanes^«o%he of corresponds with any exactness traditional agriculturist. »When talk of Hiey ha^re x very vague idea of what, they the word. Sometimes they any man who far ma -at rii; someany man who makes "aiivelihood ; .ometrmes only the Tegular 'farmer who worlds tipon the land and in no way aspires to Wa It is, however, to the 'last these classes. that tlie, term pro* belongs, and more : properly to the to the second. n v That "is. to would always be 1 an, adequate of * tenant farmer to.say that -a former^ hut, it, would not be in the case qfany man 'by 'farming. T instance, good birth and university 'have <o£ -late years taken to as a trade. ~tfit if one w«nre auch, a man was, and replied was a farmer,' we -should convey a 'Vfery "'-errcneous. of 'him to 'the* "inquirer's ___F* Hr would it -always 'be sufficient that sudh a one was a gen-, former. " 'Iu many parts of it is true, - this title denotes, the gentleman who hap-' to farm. But elsewhere it is the modern Substitute for the' an > signifying a mrni who has 'land own, and is wealthier -nnd more than the majority «df> teii- ' Dismissing, therefore,^alf that persons who, if they farm at,a4l, So it either as an amusement pt a l^° experiment, or whose pVoper* ' n e > dt '^ events, is not' that off auch as the', nobility, squireend <elergy of these "remain, upon the 'whole, three ; 'first, the gentleman farwho is ao called because he is a eman < secondly, the gentleman who -is so 'called to distinguish the tenant'farmer ; and thirdly, 'farmer 'himself/ the most unspecimen of the genus. All of course, 'have a greats deal in farmers. But they are wide as the poles asunder, in eduand intelligence.; so that -when' Kt London' -clubmen speak glibly of bucolic mind,"they-shouldVecol-H^-of <what very various ingredients mind is now composed^; , and > that Hmd deal of refinement and literature H general 'Culture -is 'mixed -up with leavens the mass, and 'renders 1 worthy of reverence than ' they , H^too frequently (disposed to think it. Hrhe gentleman Tarmer number one -lways a capital kind of man Hknow* With the tastes and 'per-, Hal habits df the -most refined classes ■ often 'unites a -kind of jolly sim-' Hity that one does not always "find in, Hirear; ""He feels that he is to some Bent roughing it, that he is, as it Hre, "in the bush." He is conscious Ht not a very few years ago he must He been either >a barrister, a' soldier, Hi cletgyman,' struggling perhaps on ■short allowance or^a j)Oor living.Bar -he 'has shaken, ofi these -*ocial . Hers^ leads a*healthier and freer life, Hn he could , have done then ; has Bbsemenrs and luxuries which, in a' Bfession, 'he could perhaps only have , ■hed 'for-; and,, whit is more, can Bry without inconvenience, vas soon Bhe <fated pair of eyes happen to look - B> his own. He has also thisTadvanHe over the^aregular^viliage squire, B^ although his social circle is a limited, B» i 8 not 'so limited 'as his.- He Ha greater variety of human^beings ; B aflsoc i dte9 more with his fellowB&tures. He goes to market, .and rubs B against cattle-dealers and cornBors. On the other hand, he has, of B rße ' 'he beneLtYof,,' aU the ' good Biety which hts own neighborhood Brds. 'Thus he becomes more a man t; Bthe world, easier 'to get' «n With, and, B fewer prejudices than his ostensible" Bial superior. The fam'Hy -of such* ■n are pretty -niuch we .can supBe the family a welMfr-'do Be, if we eliminate «the clericararoma. B daughters are apt to be-very,<jharni-B-: accomplished, and refined, withja. Het subdued ah- of' country* Kfe about' Bm, like the fragrance of-aheanfield BJone^ great at 'croquet, picnics^ and B lunch<e:on"to shooting Bties <en a hacy hot. September day. i B' e i 8 y (mT *^ ne • Ben there-are lots of birds! B^he gentiemanßfarmer number two B -far less desirable kind of man. In Bifirst pl^ce, he is not a gentleman, ; B the second places fee is sure to be Bly educated': in the third place, he ■ very likely' tciA.Jbe both purseBud and , vulgar-* < lie is, "nine ■ses out of ten, " much fatter^ lan' either, of the ' other two trades. - Et fatness, with him, does not always 1 Kan" good -humour^ He is usually , JV BwevVr,*f a jovial* turn^ and is fondgiving ,^Hi»~r ( partwy/whlcti * <©om- 1 ise "the doctor, 'the ; is<jbire'B steward,lorney irom" the next market town, ' id a brace of farmers 'like himself.' ley, driiik l^eady "after pner ;. then playiat whist or 100, and ' fve some final branHy-andt-Water before ey disperse.^ 'JPhe v women of ' his roily, 'have, of. eoutiieY no" pretension^ l^be ladies. Here again, however, let ' be supposed 'that there are no iceptions .to the rule. There ate 1 any. Bat we mus t^ hurry on' to imber three, the party we lo\e best .an. j „_^^. „ -"» This is the farmer,- *'^pure \and, mple •'— =may he forgive* us for cdupDg his honest name with any such out* indish phrase; who rents his two, free; or five-hundred acres, as the case lay be, attends exclusively to his busimb, and aims at being nothing but

whit bis Tdth^ have ever I>een before" him... Ijfh ;ifc tf^cl^g^miges of' the old 'farmer $n*araciet£ -shadows and faint echoes of" Mr Poyser, may still i be 'triced. Tliese ave ithe -men who still have faith in old ale, which they ( | drink by sips-; whe like standing *out- | side thechurch door after service with I their hands in the pockets of their drab J knee-breeched, to compare 'notes onj crops and <prices, and pay thei* duty to , She vicar- 'These are they who, if you i call aponrhem while out shooting; have I the natural, politeness $o^ 'offer youpnly | what they know te he good, namely, a j jug of home-breWed;' Whereas the more I genteel party insists upon " a glass of eherry," sSven among tenant farmers, however, this particular kind of man is grdwing scarcer ancl scarcer.,, ,We can remember one or two in whose sons hunting was a high crime-*nd misdemeanor, 'and - whose daughters plied their fancy-woik in r \fear>and secrecy. When one of these r old gentlemen ' wished to be^especially bitter, he would address the son as "" my -iord," and tlie sister as "my lady," the latter, a pretty and lady-like girl enough,' being occasionally .^goaded by his ,sarCasras into tuckingmp'her sleeves and.petticoats and' scrubbing the floor till' she' was crimson. Heaven in its mercy -removed the worthy man te a better sphere ere crinoline invaded -his home z" -id rebtts defufranum. That wow/rfjliave brought his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. .Still almost aH 'these •men belong to a past generation. and there, indeed, a man under forty ['may still befound who belongs to this class. But tbat 'is orfly in sequestered districts,, where very primitive 'manners still linger among all rafks of the population. f He is then -rather a touching spectacle--! a short of Smike among farmers ; v the old-fashioned" dress, the manner, and the simplicity of ideas^ which sit pleasingly on the grey- haired * sire, Trot "appearing to ecfttal' "advantage in the stalwart offspring. Generally the, tenant farmer, though his manners and cust >ms have altered of late years, is not intellectually much more advanced than his grandfathers. They differ, of; course, very greatly amongthemsfelves ; but the representative man is -still guiltless of literature, little given to reflec-, tion, and. slow -to take an -interest in f novelties. There is, usually speaking, butt little affectation m liim. He is civil,' homely and hospitable. The ancient man -> ner smacking as it did of, the old feudal ' s relation between a lord and his retainers, ( has disappeared-simply 'because the re- J lation has itself" disappeared, though the shadow lingered long after the substance had departed. But still it has left behind it many of the old sterling virtues which we .commonly associate with agriculture. [ The farmer's connection with h|s > landlord is now, however, almost wholly^ i a commercial one-; and since the repeal of the corn laws there is not even any one great interest which they share in' common. Thus a certain r reserve is frequently to be observed among the younger race of farmers, -as of men, who still desire to be per-tectly courteous and accommodating, but who feel no' longer quite that sympathy with, and', attachment towatds, the gentleman, as such, which their fathers felt, They t seem to wish you to comprehend that * they stand upon their own bottom, and are obliged to f "nobody for' i anything. This' makes intercourse ! with them less genial than it used to be ; but it is part of the inevitable change wliich time has brought with it to all "English society, and considering it from a^tffely rational point, there is no ground, pterha'ps;- for grumbling. The change, however, has doubtless robbed the idea of the English farmer of much of its pic'turesqueriess. , Tweed trousers are not nearly so,- effective in point of. color as~<yellewt loggings ; nor ' is an increased rental and scietific agriculture a -romantic 'excli«iige«¥or that personal service which it was always supposed^that the tenant would willingly ' have Tendered. Not hut what- we thidk it Very probable that, on many' large estates to this day, the tenants would i arm and fight under their landlord's, > banner in a r c&use whidh approved itself to their reason. But tbey ri would no, longer, accept .their view of public affairs implicitly from him, u 'cn^o out .merely because he asked them. ; The wives and daughters of these men, wheTe,theydo*'notiaspire to be fine ladies, are often very nice. But as a general rifle we"fear.new-a-days that the^«ld«fashioned ideia of rustic beauty is seldom to 'be realised^ a really pretty farmer's daughter of the •class we are" describing being, quite as rare a bird as thaft , creation^ of the poets, the lovely milkmaid. A\V e expect to see a lovelymermaid quite as soon as this latter, wotk of art, though we were brought* up in a dairy county. ' Whether it is that*; these nymphs have 1 all become ex*tinet^becaUße*t^re"^l*!;finest»gentlel«reh,' from London, ito whose a hundredyears ago, they wtere nece'sary in ,the x x country^ hecome extinct also, and' tbat ia /this way the' supply rhas followed the demand* .. we cannot Undertake to say.. But" they are not to he. found now by "gentle or simple. Stifl, a farmer's daughter, wke<* pretty, is of tea very - pretty indeed^ ." Perhaps the' nature of her occupations, 'and 7 the aspect of the people around, 'about her,' afford atmore than usually, favorable contrast with' a 'delicate skin; a'clear pale complexion-rr^ << - » > , ' Like privet when it flowera— — a softly sweUing^phtuur' and a lissome figure!,. * ,f i -, ... . '•- Suchtare the three ehief classes info which farthers may be divided.