STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 311 



the market, money quotations, and the price of corn, pork or wool, be 

 sufficient to absorb and entertain you, then your intellect ma}' as well 

 speak for its shroud. Cultivated thought emancipates one from the nar- 

 row and restricted sphere of his calling and profession. No man should 

 allow his business to measure his intellectual growth. No matter how 

 useful or elevated it may be, you cannot afford to bury all your powers 

 in it. The universe is around you; eternity is before you. All these 

 stars are but the foot-lights of a mightier drama than any that can be 

 enacted on the stage of time. And shall we who are destined so soon to 

 take part in that endless scene, content ourselves in merely crawling 

 over sacks of grain and bales of merchandise ? And yet how many there 

 are whose geography consists in running a section line, whose astronomy 

 an occasional glance at the stars over the chimney tops, whose geology 

 is all piled up in a stone fence, and whose botany is the dimension of a 

 vegetable garden. It is all well enough to talk of fine apples and pears, 

 splendid trotters and sleek Devons, but we must not forget that the fer- 

 tility and productiveness of mind takes precedence to every thing else. 



A well stored mind is the most substantial of our possessions. It 

 cannot take fire or run away. It needs no lock and key, nor insurance 

 policy. Even death cannot eject you from such a heritage. And now 

 it is the common impression that rural life and industry is not quite so 

 propitious a school for intellectual health and strength as it is for physi- 

 cal development. This may be true, but I am sure that it is richer in 

 resources for thought and mental vigor than many are accustomed to 

 think. If the cultivator of the soil has no higher ambition than merely 

 to excel in his special calling and wear off the honors and premiums of 

 the fair, he will need the vigorous exercise of his reflective powers. 

 Skilled labor pays better than plodding routine, and dull stolid content- 

 ment with the old methods. And what if any bumpkin that can yoke a 

 pair of steers and deftly twist a whip-cracker, can raise fine fields of 

 wheat and barley, mealy potatoes and fat beeves; can any one, who has 

 ever felt the pulsation of Divinity within him, be content to graduate the 

 capacity of his intelligence to this standard ? Then agricultural colleges, 

 journals, fairs, and the many able works written on chemistry in relation 

 to the soil, pomology, horticulture, the different breeds of horses, cattle 

 and sheep, are fast elevating the pursuit of husbandry into a science, and 

 no wakeful mind can willingly consent to live in ignorance of the litera- 

 ture of its special vocation. Every one should, up to his measure of 

 ability, keep step with the age in which he lives. He should know some- 

 thing of its material developments, the progress of science, art, litera- 

 ture, politics and religion. And who has a deeper interest in these things 

 than the farmer ? In some degree all these avenues of knowledge and 

 elevating enjoyment lie open to his exploring curiosity. The farmer 

 who economizes his time, and who does not allow his business to make 

 a drudge of him, may in rural quietude find more leisure for reading 

 and meditation than the merchant or mechanic in the city, living 

 in the midst of the excitement of trade, and hotly driven by sharp 

 competition. 



Another element of true manhood is a love and appreciation of the 

 beautiful. All those material objects which give us pleasure in the 

 simple contemplation of their outward qualities belong, more or less, to 

 the realm of the beautiful. We are made to admire, to be pleased, 

 attracted and thrilled with joy, as well as to think, reason and analyze, 

 and certain forms, sounds and actions are endowed with the mysterious 

 power of producing pleasurable emotions. A good taste is the capacity 



