FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 95 



There are many, of whom the farmers have their full share, who will deuounce 

 the railroads without stint, tiiough they bring wealth and comfort to their doors. 

 Tliey would have consigned all the middle men, so-called, to oblivion, though 

 they are among the most important and useful members of society. Unfor- 

 tunately there is no occupation but that contains its drones; no creed but that 

 contains its hypocrites; no party but tliat suffers from selfishness of its own 

 members; no government without its traitors. But compare the farmers, as a 

 whole, with other classes, in perseverance, industry, intelligence, wealth, and 

 good citizenship, and we do not believe they will suffer by the comparison. As 

 a moral power, their weight is felt and heeded. They are aggressive. The 

 improvements for their benefit have kept pace with the improvements of the 

 age. The rugged schooling, the solitary thoughtfulness, and the habits of 

 industry, inculcated in the farmer boy, have given to other professions a large 

 share of the most successful business men, of the best writers, of the soundest 

 thinkers, of the ablest statesmen, of whicli any age can boast. 



But we wish more especially to speak of a few certain classes of farmers, and 

 while we see fit to criticise, we by no means claim exemption from that criti- 

 cism ourself. On the contrary, we feel a considerable degree of guilt, hoping 

 that in the discussion of habits which may be common, we may be mutually 

 benefited. You will doubtless understand that those certain chisscs are not 

 confined to farmers altogether, but it is sufficient for our purpose to confine 

 our remarks to those within our ranks. It has been said by some one that 

 the first thing that an Englishman does when he comes into the world is to 

 grumble. Tiiere are a good many farmers who seem to be like the Englishman, 

 born grumblers. One particular object of their wrath is the Aveather. We 

 doubt if it could be made to suit even if it were made to order. They are 

 like the old deacon who in time of droutii prayed for an old fashioned drizzle- 

 drousle, and when it came was considerably emphatic in saying that he didn't 

 mean to have it rain forever. He is the same chap who annually discovers 

 that all the peaches have the yellows; that the moths have blasted what little 

 hope there was left of a crop of fruit after the frosts of winter. He will tell 

 us that the insects have destroyed half the wheat, that the winter has killed 

 another half, that another half has been destroyed by wind and hail, and that 

 what there was left didn't half fill, and then he'll go to work with a quiet con- 

 science and harvest thirty bushels to the acre. His next failure he announces 

 is from its enormous growth. He never lost a cow or a horse but that it was 

 the best he ever had. If he sells an article and the price goes up, he is mad 

 because the other party to the trade has made something out of a risk he dare 

 not assume ; if the price goes down, he is nearly as mad because he has lived 

 80 long and hasn't learned how to do busiiless before. If his neighbor lends 

 him a little money and then wants it back when he agreed to pay it, he feels 

 offended, and is apt to think that all men who receive interest are pirates. 

 His disposition is such that it makes him envious. His prosperous neighbor, 

 who perhaps is more economical, more industrious, more temperate, or it may 

 be, by better judgment, has outstripped him iii the race for competency, he 

 looks upon with feelings that are not altogether friendly. He believes that all 

 financial success in life is the result of luck, or extortion, the former of which 

 never smiled upon him, but he is always the victim of the latter. He cannot 

 understand that success, in its true sense, is only achieved through a reasona- 

 ble economy, strict devotion to business, and a liberal exercise of brains. His 

 grievances seem so hard that ho believes all occupations are arrayed against 

 his, though tiie prosperity of both theirs and his is one and inseparable. Now 



