FAKMERS' INSTITUTES. 85 



Many a power within her bosom, 



Noiseless hidden works beneatii, 

 Hence are seed, and leaf, and blossom, 



Golden ear and clustered wreath. 



These to swell with strength and beauty 



Is the royal task of man. 

 Man's a king, his throne is duty. 



Since his work on earth began. 



Mrs. J. A. Uptoa then read a paper on 



POLLY AND THE KETTLE. 



I am glad to be a dweller together with you in this northern county of 

 our good Peninsular State. 



Here where once the solemn forests brooded, spreading a billowy ocean of 

 leaves to meet the flooding light of the down-looking sun and moon as they 

 came and went on their ceaseless course. The forests ! what years of quiet 

 had they seen ; whispering and waving, waving and whispering, nursing the 

 beauties of each season in uninterrupted peace. But the lumberman has been 

 here, of whom our Whittier has sung : the trees are felled, and 



"When, with sounds of smothered thunder, 

 On some night of rain. 

 Lake and river break asunder 



Winter's weakened chain. 

 Down the wild March flood has borne them 



To the saw-mill's wheel, 

 Or where steam, the slave, shall tear them 

 With his teeth of steel. 



The brisk call of industry has been obeyed. 



" Cheerily, on the axe of labor, 



Let tlie sunbeam dance, 

 Better than the flash of sabre 



Or the gleam of lance! 

 Strike! With every blow is given 



Freer sun and sky. 

 And the long-hid earth to heaven 



Looks, with wondering eye! 



" Loud behind us grow the murmurs 



Of the age to come; 

 Clang of smiths, and tread of farmers, 



Bearing harvest home! 

 Here her virgin lap with treasures 



Shall the green earth fill; 

 Waving wheat and golden maize-ear 



Crown each smiling hill. 



We are living in the early days of the fnlfilhnent of this cheerful prophesy 

 and we are laboring to restore the Eden which our horticultural ancestors, 

 Adam and Eve, lost to us. With the garden went much of the knowledge and 

 ability to ''dress and to keep" it. 



To "dress and to keep it" required careful observation and skillful labor, 

 and we may well appreciate the helpfulness of those who devote their lives 

 to the study of sciences that tlirow light upon these labors; chemistry in its 

 subtle, ever-present, powerful effects, insect life as friend or foe, the wonder- 

 ful workings of vegetable life, and thereby help to (ind the clew that will lead 

 back through the winding ways of ignorance and difficulty to a blessed and 



