Charles Josiah Galpin
Rural Social Problems
(1924)
[240] And there was George Bull, farmer, financier, musician, hunter, trusted citizen. Can a man farm the land, soil his clothes, be weary with labor, and maintain a refinement of mind like that of the artist? George Bull did. Shall I ever forget the long room in his farmhouse dedicated to music, where on occasions neighbors and friends would gather and listen to the musical re-
[241]
cital given by the Bull family, each member taught to play some instrument of music.
Do you say, "This is a freak?"
No, not a freak, for you must remember that for sixty years the Academy had provided a music department. Music was a commonplace among the thousand farm homes. Again you will note the likeness to the folk schools of Scandanavia. How can I entertain, after this deep experience in community life, the idea that culture cannot step over the farm threshold?
...
[22] The farmer is...our original naïve teleologist; and the worker in iron is our original untutored materialist.
[emailed to self, 21 October 2020]
