Community Civics and Rural Life | Page 8

Arthur W. Dunn
had a
share in providing for you the food you had for breakfast or dinner.
Mention all the workers that occur to you who have been employed in
producing the clothing you wear; the book you are reading; the
materials of which your house is built.
Show how the people who produce these things are dependent upon
your wants for their livelihood.
Show that you are dependent upon other people for your education; for
recreation. Are other people dependent upon your education for their
welfare? Are others dependent on you for their recreation?
INDEPENDENCE OF THE PIONEER
The farmer's life is often spoken of as an independent life. His
independence was certainly much more complete in pioneer days than
it is now. In regard to the early days of Indiana, it has been said:
Give the pioneer farmer an axe and an auger, or in place of the last a

burning iron, and he could make almost any machine that he was wont
to work with. With his sharp axe he could not only cut the logs for his
cabin and notch them down, but he could make a close-fitting door and
supply it with wooden hinges and a neat latch. From the roots of an oak
or ash he could fashion his hames and sled runners; he could make an
axle-tree for his wagon, a rake, a flax brake, a barrow, a scythe-snath, a
grain cradle a pitchfork, a loom, a reel, a washboard, a stool, a chair, a
table, a bedstead, a dresser, and a cradle in which to rock the baby. If he
was more than ordinarily clever, he repaired his own cooperage, and
adding a drawing knife to his kit of tools, he even went so far as to
make his own casks, tubs, and buckets. He made and mended his own
shoes. [Footnote: Quoted in Pioneer Indianapolis, by Ida Stearns
Stickney, p. 11 (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis).]
We also read that in early New England:
Every farmhouse was a manufactory, not of one kind of goods, but of
many. All day long in the chamber or attic the sound of the
spinning-wheel and loom could be heard. Carpets, shawls, bedspreads,
tablecovers, towels, and cloth for garments were made from materials
made on the farm. The kitchen of the house was a baker's shop, a
confectioner's establishment, and a chemist's laboratory. Every kind of
food for immediate use was prepared there daily; and on special
occasions sausages, head cheese, pickles, apple butter, and preserves
were made. It was also the place where soap, candles, and vinegar were
manufactured. Agricultural implements were then few and simple, and
farmers made as many of them as they could. Every farmhouse was a
creamery and cheese factory. As there were no sewing machines, the
farmer's wife and daughters had to ply the hand needle most of the time
when they were not engaged in more laborious pursuits. During the
long evenings they generally knit socks and mittens or made rag
carpets. [Footnote: Nourse, Agricultural Economics, p 64, from "The
Farmer's Changed Conditions," by Rodney Welsh, in the Forum, x,
689-92 (Feb., 1891).]
THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE
But even under such conditions as those described, the farmer and his

family were not wholly independent. Even Robinson Crusoe on his
lonely island was dependent upon the tools and equipment that he
saved from shipwrecks, and that were the product of other men's labor.
So, also, the pioneer farmer had to maintain some kind of relation,
however infrequent and slight, with the outside world. Moreover, he
had to pay for his comparative independence by many privations. He
had all the wants described in the preceding chapter, but he had to
provide for them in the simplest way possible, and often they were
hardly provided for at all.
THE GROWTH OF INTERDEPENDENCE
As soon as a number of people come to live together, even in a pioneer
community, it is likely that some members will have a knack for doing
certain things of use to the community better than others can do them.
Thus one man may be especially skillful in making axe handles. In time,
the entire community comes to depend upon him for its axe handles. In
addition, he probably makes other tools and does repair work of all
kinds. This requires so much of his time that he does little or no
farming, and depends upon others for his food supply. So in a course of
time the community has its blacksmiths, carpenters, shoe-makers,
teachers, storekeepers and doctors upon whom it depends for their
special kinds of service, while each of them depends upon others to
supply the wants that he has neither the time nor the skill to supply for
himself. Thus interdependence develops in the simplest communities.
THE DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS OF
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