9C STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



what is the use of iiiilaining our imaginations Avith trouble which does not 

 exist, or of mourning over that which we cannot possibly prevent. It destroys 

 hope, slackens energy, shortens life, and makes it burdensome. The trans- 

 position from this class to that of another is exceedingly easy. We mean the 

 class who, though rich, are exceedingly poor. They may own houses and lands, 

 and stock and tools, and yet they are poor. They may even possess money, 

 and bonds and mortgages, yet all only adds intensity to their poverty. There 

 is nothing in existence that is poorer, unless it be the man who owns nothing 

 but thirteen children and two dogs. Too poor to put a dollar into a public 

 benefit, whether it be a school, a church, a social gathering, a farmers' insti- 

 tute, or any public enterprise which is to benefit the health, morals, or intelli- 

 gence of the community in which they reside. Too poor to pay their just 

 portion of the public tax, and the supervisor who has taken a solemn oath to 

 perform his duty, out of sympathy for their poverty and affection for their 

 votes, is exceedingly careful to excuse them. Grim visages of want haunt 

 their manhood, and old age brings no remittance from their toils. With them, 

 to accumulate is the ruling passion, and you have heard that 



"One ruling passion in the human breast. 

 Like Aaron's rod, swallows up the rest." 



We cast no reflections upon economy, for it is one of the noblest of virtues. 

 It is the only thing which gives men competency, their families comfort, and 

 their old age ease. But there is a vast distinction between economy and stin- 

 giness. The one is the very strength and stability of a nation's life, the other is 

 the drag and hinderance to all public good. Economy fosters and supports, 

 by a judicious expenditure, whatever tends to fill the land with comfortable 

 homes, intelligent families and a contented yeomanry, and to establish laws 

 which regard the rights of life and property as a sacred trust. But stinginess 

 would refuse aid to the very means by which its own selfishness is satisfied. 

 Economy provides the means and the disposition to build institutions of char- 

 ity. Stinginess has no sympathy with their object, nor is willing to contribute 

 a dollar to their support. Those who belong to this class can see no reality in 

 the language of Pope, who exclaimed ; 



"Oh, Happiness! Our being's end and aim, 

 Good, pleasure, ease, content, what is thy name?" 



Sordid, selfish avarice has full possession to the last. Like the skeleton 

 that was exhumed at Pompeii, with clenched fingers around a bag of gold, 

 they are ever grasping, even though health, comfort, pleasure, all, are alike 

 sacrificed in the greedy race for more. How much better, it would seem, when 

 a sufficiency had been accumulated, and the vigor of manhood had passed, 

 should they surround their homes and firesides with the comforts which a life 

 of honorable industry had deserved. 



"How blest the man who crowns in shades like these 

 A youth of labor with an age of ease." 



Ambition, under the control of reason and a sense of right, is a valuable 

 possession, but it may become a cruel tyrant when it has obtained the mastery. 

 The ambition to add another farm to one already sufficiently large, by shoul- 

 dering an enormous debt, a debt which must be cancelled by excessive labor, 

 both manual and mental ; by a too rigid economy, by a manner of living which 

 will cause your sons and daughters to dislike the farm; in short, which makes 

 you nothing less than slaves, is an ambition we think not to be commended. 



