“It is so applicable,” said Howard, “to our present conversation, that I almost think it is an impromptu for my benefit.”
“Not for yours,” said she; “you do not want it. But now tell me a little about your fanning seasons. Spring, I understand, must be a very busy one; but when you have ploughed and planted, what have you to do but sit down and wait?”
“My dear sister,” said Howard, “you, who know so much better than I do how to carry out your comparisons, can well understand that there is no time given us for idleness; while we wait the result of one part of our labors, we have other works to accomplish. Spring-time and harvest follow each other rapidly;
we have to prepare our barns and granaries. Our mowing season is always one of our busiest. We have our anxieties, too;—we watch the clouds as they pass over us, and our spirits depend much on sunshine and rain; for an unexpected shower may destroy all our labors. When the grass is cut, we must make it into hay; and, when it is properly prepared, store it in the barns. After haying-time, there are usually roads, fences, and stone walls to repair, apples to gather in, and butter to pack down. Though autumn has come, and the harvest is gathered in, you must not suppose our ploughing is over. We turn up the ground, and leave it rough, as a preparation for the spring. A good farmer never allows the winter to take him by surprise. The cellars are to be banked up, the barns to be tightened, the cattle looked to,—the apples carefully barrelled, and the produce sent to market. We have long evenings for assorting our seeds, and for fireside enjoyment. Winter is the season for adjusting the accounts of the past year, and finding out whether we
are thriving farmers. Depend upon it, we have no idle time.”
“How curiously we may follow out the cultivation of the earth with the striking analogy it bears to the human mind,” said Mrs. Draper, “in sowing the seeds, in carefully plucking up the weeds without disturbing what ought to be preserved, in doing all we can by our own labors, and trusting to Heaven for a blessing on our endeavors! A reflecting farmer must be a wise man.”
“I am afraid,” said Howard, “there are not many wise men amongst us, according to your estimation. In all employments we find hurry and engrossment; we do not stop to reason and meditate; many good agricultural men are as destitute of moral reflection as the soil they cultivate.”
“At least,” said Mrs. Draper, “they have not the same temptation to become absorbed by business as merchants.”
“I believe we shall find human nature much the same in all situations,” said Howard. “There is one great advantage, however, in farming—that is, its comparative security:—we are satisfied
with moderate gains; we have none of those tremendous anxieties that come with sudden failures, the fall of stocks, and obstructed currency.”