The man who cannot get a living upon Illinois soil without rising before
daylight ought to starve. Eight hours a day is enough for any farmer to
work except in harvest time. When you rise at four and work till dark
what is life worth? Of what use are all the improvements in farming?
Of what use is all the improved machinery unless it tends to give the
farmer a little more leisure? What is harvesting now, compared with what
it was in the old time? Think of the days of reaping, of cradling, of
raking and binding and mowing. Think of threshing with the flail and
winnowing with the wind. And now think of the reapers and mowers, the
binders and threshing machines, the plows and cultivators, upon which
the farmer rides protected from the sun. If, with all these advantages,
you cannot get a living without rising in the middle of the night, go
into some other business.