Part IV                 Error Correction            ( 15 minutes)
     Traditionally,  the  American  farmer  has  always  been
independent  and hard-working.  In the eighteenth  century
farmers were quite self-sufficient.  The farm family grew
and  made  almost  nothing  it  needed.  The  surplus  crop       71.
would be sold to buy a few items in the local general store.
      In  1860,  because  some  of  the  farm  population  had       72.
moved  to  the  city,  yet  eighty  percent  of  the  American
population was  still  in the  country.  In  the  late  nineteen       73.
century,  farm work and life were not much changed from
that they had been in the old days.  The farmer aroused at       74.
dawn or before and had much work to do,  with his own        75.
muscles  like  his  chief  source  of  power.  He  used  axes,        76.
spades and other complicated tools.  In his house cooking       77.
was done in wood-burning stoves,  and the kerosene lamp
was  the only  improvement  on  the  candle.  The  family's
recreation and  social  life chiefly consisted a  drive  in  the       78.
wagon to the nearby small town or village to transact some
business as well as to chat with neighbors who had also
come  to town.  The children attended a small elementary
school (often of just one room) to that they had to walk       79.
every day,  possibly for a few miles.  The school term was
short so that the children could not help on the farm.                    80.
     Although  the whole family worked,  and life was not
easy , farmers as a class were self - reliant and independent .