190 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



nowhere questioned, but the rank it shall take in the list of callings will in the 

 future depend much upon the united efforts of those wlio follow ib. Nearly all 

 the great national questions of the day are those resting upon the farms of the 

 •country, and their ultimate good or evil will be for you to reap or suffer. 

 While this is true, there should be none more interested than the farmer him- 

 self iu the legislation and government under which he must live. And he who 

 drives with official reins, and forgets the man whose morning call is the break- 

 ing sunlight streaming over the eastern hills, whose hands are calloused by 

 the plow, and whose music is the song of the reaper and lowing herds, is he 

 who should be forgotten in the growth of his ambition, wheu his name appears 

 in caucus or at the polls. 



If farmers would elevate their calling as such, they must as farmers assert 

 their strength, prove their sovereignity by the power they can wield in church 

 and state, to advance their common ideas. 



The desire for wealth is no crime, and it is almost, if not quite, universal. 

 But when wealth becomes so richly attired that the farmer, iu his overalls and 

 blouse, is only noticed when the interest upou his mortgage is due. or just 

 before an election, it can be understood that the stony heart of that fortune at 

 least does not beat iu sympathy with the interests of the farmer, and when it 

 is better understood, as it soon will be by all political ])arties, that nominees 

 are not always to be chosen by the amount of campiiign boodle tliey can 

 furnish, just that soon, whether the lesson shall come from the farmers, from 

 the Knights of Labor, or from whatever source, will wealth be made to under- 

 stand that it must wear other than aristocracy spectacles upon weekdays as well 

 as upou Sundays. And Just so soon also will the farmers, or others who teach 

 the lesson, be raised collectively to the social rank which they in their power 

 have asserted. 



I would gladly carry these thoughts further did time permit, but I must stop 

 to touch lightly upon the social rank of farmers as individuals. 



Wealth as a single ingredient does not elevate socially among farmers as in 

 other vocations of life, though perhaps the one most potent factor. Let fathers 

 and mothers not toil so hard to acquire lands and money for their children. 

 But rather let them fill well the granaries of their children's minds with seeds 

 that may be sown in the soil of any business when lands and money have failed, 

 I believe the child should be encouraged in one or more terms at the village or 

 city school when it is possible. It gives better advantages for higher instruc- 

 tion. It gives more independence of character, less of undue reverence which 

 country children sometimes ascribe to village or city bred people, an association 

 with life in other phases, and a social criticism that after years may never 

 furnish. The table of every farmer should be supplied with one or more news- 

 papers, that both he and his family may breathe the fresh air of intelligence 

 which they will bring into his house. They should be wholesome, and if but a 

 single paper can be taken, it should be the local journal. The tastes of the 

 children should be considered in the selection. They should contain fiction 

 that is pure, but be free from the stories of blood, thunder, trainwreckers, and 

 Indians. 



Farmers should be cautious of large indebtedness in these days, if they expect 

 to pay it from the produce of their farm. Prices are too low, and interest is a 

 cancer eating too fasr, for the average man to encumber his farm for'half its 

 value and expect his land to raise the encumbrance, support him and family, 

 and pay the annual interest. The man who undertakes it usually fails in the 

 end, while he makes himself a slave in his long struggle. While thus walking 



