My Farm, My House, My Barn, Presented To My
Imagination Objects From Which I Adduced Quite New Ideas; They Were
More Forcible Than Before.
Why should not I find myself happy, said
I, where my father was before?
He left me no good books it is true,
he gave me no other education than the art of reading and writing;
but he left me a good farm, and his experience; he left me free from
debts, and no kind of difficulties to struggle with. - I married, and
this perfectly reconciled me to my situation; my wife rendered my
house all at once cheerful and pleasing; it no longer appeared
gloomy and solitary as before; when I went to work in my fields I
worked with more alacrity and sprightliness; I felt that I did not
work for myself alone, and this encouraged me much. My wife would
often come with her knitting in her hand, and sit under the shady
trees, praising the straightness of my furrows, and the docility of
my horses; this swelled my heart and made everything light and
pleasant, and I regretted that I had not married before.
I felt myself happy in my new situation, and where is that station
which can confer a more substantial system of felicity than that of
an American farmer, possessing freedom of action, freedom of
thoughts, ruled by a mode of government which requires but little
from us? I owe nothing, but a pepper corn to my country, a small
tribute to my king, with loyalty and due respect; I know no other
landlord than the lord of all land, to whom I owe the most sincere
gratitude. My father left me three hundred and seventy-one acres of
land, forty-seven of which are good timothy meadow, an excellent
orchard, a good house, and a substantial barn. It is my duty to
think how happy I am that he lived to build and to pay for all these
improvements; what are the labours which I have to undergo, what are
my fatigues when compared to his, who had everything to do, from the
first tree he felled to the finishing of his house? Every year I
kill from 1500 to 2000 weight of pork, 1200 of beef, half a dozen of
good wethers in harvest: of fowls my wife has always a great stock:
what can I wish more? My negroes are tolerably faithful and healthy;
by a long series of industry and honest dealings, my father left
behind him the name of a good man; I have but to tread his paths to
be happy and a good man like him. I know enough of the law to
regulate my little concerns with propriety, nor do I dread its
power; these are the grand outlines of my situation, but as I can
feel much more than I am able to express, I hardly know how to
proceed.
When my first son was born, the whole train of my ideas were
suddenly altered; never was there a charm that acted so quickly and
powerfully; I ceased to ramble in imagination through the wide
world; my excursions since have not exceeded the bounds of my farm,
and all my principal pleasures are now centred within its scanty
limits:
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