tion with nature and his "noble" occupation.

The conditions of Eastern farming and of Eastern farm life are the true
index, as they are the true cause, of the character of the Eastern
farmer. These conditions are constantly varying, and their effect is
always modified by individual qualities.

It may be possible to strike such an average as shall afford a tolerably
good suggestion of the real character and condition of the farmer, and a
hint as to his future; that is to say, certain prevalent influences tend
to mark the type, and certain modifications of these influences may lead
to its improvement. Any attempt to portray the class as a whole would
be met by such a list of exceptions as would seriously affect the
result; but the following may be considered true in a large number of
cases, and applicable, with minor changes, to many more.

Let us take the case of an outlying farm in New England, of one hundred
acres,--a farm that has been in cultivation from the earlier settlement
of the country, and which is of the average degree of improvement, with
the usual division into arable, mowing, pasture, and wood land. It lies
two or three miles away from a considerable town or village, and its
chief industry is the selling of milk in the town. With an allowance of
two acres per cow for summer pasture, and of one and a half acres of
mowing-land for winter feeding, the cows it keeps number about a dozen.
For team-work on the farm and for road-work and pleasure-driving, there
are kept two horses and two oxen. In addition to these there will be a
greater or less amount of young stock and the usual swine and poultry,
and perhaps a few sheep. The farmer himself is the chief workman on the
place, and he has the regular help of a hired man or a grown son. An
extra hand during the working season is usual; but in winter the farmer
and his one assistant will do all of the work of feeding, milking,
delivering the milk, hauling out manure, etc.

A few years ago the housework was done almost entirely by the mother of
the family and her daughters, or by a girl taken to "bring up;" but
latterly the more troublesome element of an Irish girl in the kitchen
has become general, for the daughter of the farmer has aspirations and
tastes which disqualify her for efficient household drudgery. In spite
of all modern appliances, much of the work of the farmer's household
must be so characterized. The life of American farm women is, however,
not n