Poem - Down On The Farm

 Here is another poem that I have found in some of my mom's stuff and since it is farm related, I feel that it is the perfect post for today. This is said to be from a speech from State Representative, Louis Ludlow of Indianapolis, Indiana in favor of a farm relief bill. It was delivered to the House of Representatives on April 25, but we don't know the year. 

Down On The Farm

Down on the farm; 'bout half past four,

I slip on my pants and sneak out of the door;

Out of the yard I run like the dickens

To milk 10 cows and feed the chickens,

Clean out the barn, curry Nancy and Jiggs, 

Separate the cream, and slop all the pigs,

Work two hours, then eat like a Turk,

Any, by heck, I'm ready for full day's work. 

Then I grease the wagon and put on the rack, 

Throw a jug of water in an old grain sack, 

Hitch up the horses, hustle down the lane.

Must get the hay in, for it looks like rain. 

Look over yonder! Sure as I'm born,

Cattle on the rampage and cows in the corn!

Start across the medder, run a mile or two, 

Heaving like I'm wind-broke, get wet clear through, 

Get back to the horses, then for recompense

Nancy gets straddle the barbed-wire fence,

Joints all a-aching and muscles in a jerk,

I'm fit as a fiddle for a full day's work. 

Work all summer till winter is nigh,

Then figure up the books and heave a big sigh.

Worked all year, didn't make a thingh;

Got less cash now than I had alast spring,

Now, some people tell us that there ain't no hell,

But they never farmed, so they can't tell.

When spring rolls 'round I take another chance, 

While the fringe grows longer on my old gray pants.

Give my s'penders a hitch, my belt another jerk,

Any, by heck, I'm ready for a full year's work.

This is supposed to be funny, but as many farm families are aware, it is closer to the truth. Many family farms are being sold to housing projects here because the money is not in farming anymore. It is sad to see multi-generational farming families lose what so many older folks- grandparents and great-grandparents have worked hard for. The work was hard and hours long, but the rewards were worth the work. 

It seems that the generations of today want their food from a greenhouse or factory these days and we have forgotten what our country was built on- hard work, family, and faith.