Independent Statesman

FARM. GARDEN & HOUSEHOLD
Original and Selected Articles.

[For this Department brief suggestions, facts, and experiences are solicited from housekeepers, farmers, and gardeners. Address Agricultural Editor, STATESMAN office, Concord, N. H.]

THE FARMER.

[Written by T. G. Fessenden, who was the pioneer agricultural editor, as well as the foremost agricultural poet, of New England. He issued the first number of an agricultural publication in August, 1822, and he published this poem in August, 1823.]

Let renovated blockheads roll in wealth.
Let proud fools strut in state,
My lands, my homestead and my health
Place me above the great.

I never fawn nor fib nor feign,
To please old Mammon's fry;
But independence still maintain
On all beneath the sky.

Thus Cincinnatus, at his plow,
With more true glory shone
Than Caesar, with his laurell'd brow.
His palace and his throne.

Tumult, perplexity and care
Are bold ambition's lot;
But those intruders never dare
Disturb my peaceful cot.

Blest with bare competence, I find
What monarchs never can,
Health and tranquility of mind,
Heaven's choicest gifts to man.

The toil with which I till the ground
For exercise is meet.
Is mere amusement which is crowned
With slumber sound and sweet.

But those who toil in pleasure's rounds.
Sweet slumber soon destroy;
Soon find on dissipation's grounds
A grave for every joy.