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You are living lives that are dignified. You can look about on 

 broad acres and feel your face glow with the pride of possession. 

 You can remember what barrenness once existed where these fertile 

 fields now lie, and know that to your industry and perseverance the 

 change is due, and whilst you can point out this and that great 

 improvement and say boldly, yet reverentially, " I did it," — what fur- 

 ther need is there for me to dwell on the dignity of agriculture. 



And now there is another point I want to touch briefly upon— a 

 point which presents quite as grave aspects as does that involved in 

 the labor question. I see I am speaking to two generations, and it is 

 from the younger that I would ask a little attention. It seems an 

 instinct of nature that young birds should leave the parent nest; but 

 all instincts cannot be classed as eminently desirable. This one 

 needs modification. If the old home is so overcrowded that there 

 is no room to grow; so mismanaged that there is no chance of setting 

 it right; or so uncomfortable that any change would be for the bet- 

 ter, then striking out for themselves is the best and only course of 

 action for the children. 



Immigration, like death and marriage, makes great changes 

 amongsfus, and is mighty in its effects on the smooth working of 

 the world's machinery- Action and movement are necessary, or we 

 shall have rust and mildew. But regular action is needed, too, or we 

 shall have confusion and jumble ; and of the two I question whether 

 it would not be better to let an engine rust rather than turn it adrift 

 to run amuck on a crowded line, and to let a pool lie under a green 

 mantle rather than have its waters caught up in the wild arms of a 

 destructive whirlwind. 



Now, the pith of the whole matter is this : Boys, don't be in a 

 hurry to leave your fathers' homesteads. 



The reasons that actuated your parents in moving away from home 

 cannot be applied to you. It was their duty to found a new country ; 

 it is yours to build if up. They have set up roofs for you ; now set up 

 others of the same pattern, or, if you like, improve on the original 

 to the best of your ability, always being sure that your ability is 

 ahead of your fathers'. The old people have made a fortune on the 

 ground where you were brought up or born ; try to show you value 

 the honest getting of that fortune by following in their footsteps ; 

 that is, follow them as closely as needs be at first,and_then stride on 

 with seven-league boots, only keeping the same direction. 



The direction I advise you against is that of drifting townwards. 

 Steer clear of the quicksands and shoals of city life; be content to 

 look at the stretch of blue sky that lies over the open fields, rather 

 than craning your neck to get a glimpse of it between two rows of 

 houses. It is hard to say that the ambition to become a lawyer or a 

 doctor is not a laudable one, and God forbid that I should advocate 

 the total repression of such aims. Just as I spoke of certain instincts 

 needing modification, however, so I believe certain aims need it. 

 Study the law of supply and demand. Take a look at the hosts of 

 struggling doctors without practice, and lawyers without fees, that 

 swell the city's census returns, and don't be over-confident that you 

 have better chances of success than they. I can tell you, young men, 

 that with half the City of San Francisco sick, and the other half 

 engaged in litigation, the legal lights and medicos of the city would 

 not find their hands full. How^in this world of pleading and pills 

 they ever manage to get along as it is passes me. You will not be 



