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Still less would I be open to the charge of advocating a lower grade 

 of education for the country lads. Get all the schooling you can; it 

 will not be thrown away because you prefer to be what your fathers 

 were. Knowledge is as much power in the country as in town. You 

 have such opportunities as your parents never dreamed of possessing. 

 You can study agricultural chemistry in a College of Agriculture, and 

 then as a farmer put to practical use the information gained as a col- 

 legian. The age when " new-fangled notions " were looked upon 

 with suspicion is dead and buried, and in its place has arisen one 

 of clear-headed belief in every branch of advancement. 



There is in each family, I believe, a somebody who is known as 

 the genius. He is a touch above the other members, has aspirations, 

 bears about with him the promise of doing all sorts of things, is full 

 of hope and airs, writes poetry for the newspapers, is scrupulous 

 about his hands, and is looked upon as certain to make his mark. 

 If any of your parents are blessed with a genius, by all means let 

 him follow his bent, let him have his fling. I have known one or 

 two Georges the Geniuses who were glad to come back and follow 

 the example of Peter the Plodder. 



All this is spoken in the kindest spirit, and with the best intention — 

 the spirit of one who takes a deep interest in those who are growing 

 up to fill the places of those who are going clown hill — and the inten- 

 tion of earnestly assuring you that you will be acting a good part by 

 doing all you can towards sustaining the dignity of agriculture. One 

 reason alone, and the last, should be all potential : it is, that in elect- 

 ing to gain a living as your parents do or did, you honor them whilst 

 with you, and show a spirit of reverence for their memory. 



Notwithstanding my Republican faith, I am next about to trans- 

 gress one of its first tenets and invade the sancity of your homes. 

 1 purpose paying a domiciliary visit, and yet, squarely opposed to 

 your opinions as such a proceeding must be, I am in the hope that 

 you will excuse the intrusion, and extend an invitation to the 

 intruder. The exercise of faith, and a consequent effort to get up 

 and walk, have perhaps as much to do with the healing of a patient 

 as the application of a magic ointment, and so I might uphold the 

 comfort and dignity of country life with every art of argument and 

 persuasion at my command, with but one tithe the effect caused by 

 faith in its dignity and comfort on your part, and a consequent effort 

 to promote the one and uphold the other. I have spoken to the 

 laborer, to the sons, and now I have a word or two for those who 

 have the management of home in their hands. Excuse me if I ques- 

 tion whether there is enough attention paid to the comfort of country 

 homes. I don't mean that there is any actual neglect of the actual 

 means of living substantially, but I am led to doubt if the many 

 nameless aids to making home elegant, aids that cost little and are 

 worth much, whether they are not overlooked. Don't let the walls 

 be bare, keep a cosy parlor, have a few bright flowers around the 

 house, let your children learn music, keep up with the spirit of the 

 times, look out for the new novels (they're cheap enough now), 

 encourage habits of neatness in dress, make some change of costume 

 for dinner and evening — these are a few of the aids I mean. They 

 exist of course in hundreds of farmers' houses, but there are hun- 

 dreds where they do not. I know places where you can study a 

 favorite breed of hogs from the front door-step, where there is no 

 parlor, w r here labor is made paramount, where the children are 



