Fisrt Car

Today I was finally able to go into town to do some shopping. While there I saw something I have never seen before, a car! The rich man that live in the center of town was riding down the street. It was unbelievable. I cannot believe how far technology has come in just a few short years. First the telephone and now cars. These new inventions seem to be making life so much easier. People can communicate faster and now drive to the store in only a few minutes. I wish we were able to afford all of these new devices. I would be able to leave the house and go to town more often and be able to talk to my friends. I would be far less lonely here on the farm.

Life on the farm

Living out here can be very lonely. The houses are not close together so I do not get to see my friends that often. We are all housewives so we never get the opportunity to go out. I work all day doing chores such as, homeschooling the children, cooking, cleaning, and feeding of the animals. Also, I have a baby girl to take care of and have to make sure that my boys complete all of their chores. It is hard work and I never get a break. I focus so much on the family and chores that I never get anytime to myself. I don't have any way of talking to my friends so a lot of the time I am lonely. My husband is always working and even if he was around, he would not understand.
Don't get me wrong, I love my family and this farm, but sometimes I just wish we were closer to the city and not so isolated out here. I think I would have had an easier time adjusting to the farm if I wanted to move here in the first place. However, it was not my decision. My husband's dream was to live on a farm, not work in a factory.

Ford's automobile Factory

I have just recieved news that my brother was able to get a new job working at Ford's automobile facory. He saw the add in the paper that was advertising a wadge of 5 dollars a day. He was convinced he would recieve that from the day he started, but as I tried to tell him it sounded too good to be true. He found out when he was hired that he would have to be trained for six months before he would recieve that kind of money. He says the job is hard work but he likes the challenge. Every day they are required to do more tasks on the assembly line than the day before. I am really glad he got this job because he has been stuggling to support his wife and new baby and the five dollars a day will certainly help.

Andrew Carnegie Steel Plant

Well, they just finished building the steel plant in the city. It is set to open tomorrow. I am quite excited for plant because that means when we have a broken tool or plow here on the farm we will be able to get a replacement quicker. Living in the middle of know where does not allow easy access to have new products and it costs more because we have to have them shipped from all over the nation. We do not have that much money so we are very limited on what we can buy. However, with the plant more local, we heard that the prices will go down because there will be now shipping cost anymore.

My husband is just as excited as me! He has been saving money for years to get a new steel plow so hopefully it will be easier now that there is a more local plant.

News about the telegraph

Well, my husband just informed me that they just sent a message from city to city via a telegraph. This amazes me that someone would be able to come up with this invention. It must have took a few long years to figure out how to construct something like that. From what I understand, it will help people send messages to others in different cities. The messages are sent through an electrical wires and come out on the other end as a code. This seems like it would be very helpful for large business owners. I do not believe that it will affect me out here on the farm.

Erie Canal

Well, we have just received the news about the new Erie canal. Unfortunately, I do not think it will really affect us out here. My husband grows crops and sells them locally. He does not ship them anywhere far because we do not live on a huge farm so we do not produce massive amounts of crops.Plus,we are not really close to new york or any major water ways so if we did decide to ship our products we would use the railroad system. However, I hear that it will lower the cost of shipping goods. Maybe it will lower the prices enough that the local merchants will be able to sell their products for less.

About me

My name is Alison and I live on a farm on the frontier. I am married to my husband John and we have five children, four boys and a baby girl. They range in age from 9 to just 6 months old. I am 28 years old and did not live on the frontier my entire life. We moved out here after we got married. I am a housewife who does all of the cooking/cleaning and small chores around the farm. I spend all of my time doing chores or homeschooling my kids while my husband is out working on the farm. It is important to me that they all get educated, however, we are pretty isolated out here so there is no schools near by. We teach our kids that in order to survive in the world, you need to be willing to work hard. Everyone in our family contributes to running the farm. We have taught our boys from a young how feed the animals or do other small chores. While our family lives a comfortable life, we are certainly not rich!