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Traditionally, the American farmer has always been
independent and hard-working. In the eighteenth century farmers
were quite self-sufficient. The farm family grew and made almost
nothing it needed. The surplus crop would be sold to buy a new --71.
items in the local general store.
In 1860, because some of the farm population had moved to --72.
the city, yet eighty percent of the American population was still in
the country. In the late nineteen century, farm work and life --73.
were not much changed from that they had been in old days. The --74.
farmer aroused at dawn or before and had much work to do, with --75.
his own muscles like his chief source of power. He used axes, --76.
spades and other complicated tools. In his house cooking was done --77.
in wood-burning stoves, and the kerosene lamp was the only
improvement on the candle. The family's recreation and social life
chiefly consisted a drive in the wagon to the nearby small town or --78.
village to transact some business as well as to chat with neighbors
who had also come to town.
The children attended a small elementary school (often of
just one room) to that they had to walk every day, possibly for a --79.
few miles. The school term was short so that the children could
not help on the farm. Although the whole family worked, and life --80.
was not easy, farmers as a class were self-reliant and independent.
