Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life
A Little Mind Boggling
By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist
In his June column, Phil Retberg offered, “The number of dairy farms in Maine has dropped from 5,100 in 1945 to 145 in 2023,” with the recommendation, “Ponder that.”
That is good advice.
Coincidentally, I’ve been exploring “The Grange: Friend of the Farmer, 1867 -1947” by Charles M. Gardner. It’s a difficult book to describe in a few sentences. I wouldn’t call it a “page turner,” because nearly every page offers something to ponder. Gardner offers insights not only into the organization but also encourages us to get inside the heads of early leaders. It truly qualifies as a “first-hand report” and includes information not often known by present-day members and leaders. Did you know, for example, that the order suffered a “near collapse in the late seventies?” (By the way, that refers to the 1870s. One of the errors of the founders was an over-estimation of the support the organization would receive.) An interesting theme develops around surviving and recovering from the near collapse. In a word, the Grange became about “usefulness.”
In that discussion, it is worth noting that the Grange “…proposed a way of life for the rural population (my bold), of unexplored but tremendous possibilities.”* (So now you know where the title of my book came from.)
One could conclude that the Grange achieved an apex in the mid-1940s, when this book was written. Since then, the number of dairy farms in Maine has “collapsed” substantially. In pondering that, it’s important to consider cause versus correlation. The tempting conclusion that the Grange’s decline is caused by the changes in agriculture and farming might be set aside to ponder “a way of life for the rural population.” How has rural life changed? And, perhaps more importantly, how has the Grange changed?
These are not easy questions to answer, but they are important. As an organization, we might do well to develop a better understanding of “the way of life” that the Grange has and continues to propose.
Another bit of trivia is found in “Friend of the Farmer” when you catch the fact that the Degrees are often referred to as “classes.” I have proposed membership with some orientation or catechism more than once. We have become too obsessed with the ritual, to the extent that we even claim it is a deterrent to membership. Creating an alternative “obligation ceremony” has made it easier and more convenient to join, but in so doing, we may have tossed out the baby with the bath water. We may be neglecting the proposed way of life and the tremendous opportunities it offers.
“Wise indeed were the Grange Founders who designed their new fraternity to meet this extreme need; with other objectives added in rapid succession, in response to the fast-changing demands of the times: some objectives no doubt undreamed of by that early band of wholehearted pioneers.
“Grange leaders may have partially missed this point, which appears to need firm implanting in the minds of all truly anxious to see the Order in its many-sided possibilities; certainly among those charged with present-day guidance of its affairs. The purposes of the Grange have not always been well expressed by its spokesmen; even at times maliciously misinterpreted by its enemies”*
We have plenty to ponder.
*Gardner, Charles M. Friend of the Farmer 1867-1947. National Grange. Kindle Edition.
The Kindle Edition of “Friend of the Farmer” is available from Amazon, currently priced at $2.99.
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.