Poor Richard’s Almanac

God speed the plough. February 10, 2009

Our friend Ben and Silence Dogood were doing a bit of recreational antiquing this past weekend. We were exploring a local antiques mall with the priceless (and true) sign out front “Go Green, Buy Vintage” when our friend Ben came upon an extraordinary plate. Well, not really a plate, one of those Victorian soup bowls with the wide, flat rim and comparatively shallow, flat bowl.

Mind you, our friend Ben was not looking for bowls, plates, or any form of dishware, nor would I normally have given it a glance. But this particular dish displayed an Eighteenth-Century farm scene, with the farmwife churning butter, the farmer holding some old implement, and between them, all the old hand tools, from scythes and flails to sieves and hay forks, that were an essential part of daily farm life. Underneath them was a farmyard scene with cows, pigs, horses, chickens, geese, a barn, and a wheelbarrow full of what our friend Ben presumes to be manure. And between the farmer and his wife and the barnyard scene was a ribbon with the legend “God speed the plough.” The flat edge of the bowl was bordered with grains and grasses.

The whole thing was colorful, primitive, and charming, and Silence and our friend Ben were captivated. We thought it would make a delightful addition to our own little homestead, Hawk’s Haven, located in the precise middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. But it was when we turned the bowl over and saw what was on the back that our friend Ben realized that I just had to share our find with you.

There’s a verse on the back that would make our hero and blog mentor, Benjamin Franklin, proud. Let it be an inspiration to all of us who strive not just for a more self-sufficient lifestyle, but for everyday contentment. Between the heading “B&L Farmers Arms England” and a ribbon bearing the slogan “Industry Produceth Wealth,” and flanked on both sides by sheaves of wheat, is this:

“Let the wealthy and great

Roll in splendour and state

I envy them not, I declare it

I eat my own lamb

My own chickens and ham

I shear my own fleece and I wear it

I have lawns, I have bowers

I have fruits, I have flowers

The lark is my morning alarmer

So jolly boys now

Heres God speed the plough

Long life and success to the farmer.”