FARMERS AND THEIR HOLIDAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 14

FARMERS AND THEIR HOLIDAYS.

We are constantly reminded that this is the holiday season by the discussions which are overheard in reference to various mysteries of the commissariat department, but in the office there is no change. The dust is as thick as ever, and quite as penetrating as hitherto. Good clothes do not remain respectable for more than three months, and tne accumulation of microbes impels the conclusion that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made to -withstand their united attacks so bravely. Visions of country residences and seaside resorts present themselves ; but only to the mind's eye, and a little of the fresh air in which the farmer lives, but only partially appreciates, would be heavenly. Some of the rarefied air of the mountain track which fills the lungs, and makes the exertion of mountain climbing a pleasure instead of hard graft, would help to brush away the cobwebs and clear the brain for another term. Everyone except the farmer takes at least a week's holiday somewhere, and enjoys himself as fully as his nature will permit him. But the cows must be milked morning and evening, Sunday and Saturday, and they must also be fed. Some hazy philosopher has said that change of work is recreation, and, if that is so, the farmer gets plenty of recreation, for his task is continually changing, and he, therefore, does not need a holiday! Our minister told us last week that going to church was rest, and that is the only "rest many farmers allow themselves. ' The round of their occupation is a continuous one the year through. There are no vacant spaces to fill in with recreation. One thing the farmer is always assured of—viz., plenty of exercise. He "does not sit down to digest his dinner immediately after he has devoured it, and develop a liver ; but the farmer's mental anxieties are just as trying as those of any profession. He has his rent to pay, and sometimes finds that a difficult matter; interest on his mortgage will not wait; hie rates and taxes, which are rapidly mounting, must also be met. And, after them, a living to provide for his family and himself. In addition there is the ceaseless change of the seasons, and the provision of remunerative work for his men with every change of the day. Who will G ay that the farmer has no need of his rest-time — that holiday-time in which he can forget all about his daily grind, and turn his

back on his farm to secure a respite for a short time from his labours. There is not much room for sentiment about the farmer's life, yet they honour the traditions of Christmas and New Year most carefully. They gather their families round them and in the time-honoured fashion they feast and make merry with thankful hearts. It has been said "that in no calling is the interest in the capital invested so easily made. Is there any other calling in which the day is begun as daylight breaks, and is ended at bedtime. The writer has known good farmers who, for the last five years, have not received 1 per cent, for the capital they had invested in land. For that time they had practically wasted their strength, and lost the use of their money. Had they been parasites, and stuck out for their 6 or 7 per cent, on the security of a first mortgage they would probably have got it, but, because they applied their capital and brains and met with adverse seasons, neither they nor anyone connected with them have any hope "of Christmas or any other holidays. It is not suggested that such cases are the rule, but they have been common enough during the last spell of drought. Farmers are not great travellers as a rule, but there is nothing like a run away from home, and, occasionly, to see what neighbouring farmers are doing, and the observant man -will not be so conservative and wedded to his own hide-bound methods as to fail to pick up some "wrinkles which would be useful to him in his work.