VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 311 



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covered, who ])rocl;iiin themselves to he the i-epresentative men. and 

 farmers, unlike almost every other class, not only fail to denounce 

 them as frauds, hut l)y theiV silence give tacit consent, and the peo- 

 ple at large often misjudge them and their o]iinions in consequence. 

 Farnun-s. for the lack of that peculiar disci])liue which trade and 

 the professions enforce, have nu>re of the mercurial tem[)eraiuent 

 than almost any other class. In other callings reverses and successes 

 come and go and make no sign: a rigid reticence in all their matters, 

 guarded expression and carefulness of action, are all assiduously cul- 

 tivated. But this is not the case with the average farmer. His loss 

 or his gain can be read upon his face. He is at times all depressed, 

 all elated. The same temperament is carried into his political ami 

 his social life. He is apt to go to one extreme, then to the other, 

 then again (and that by far the greater part of the time) take the 

 safer wiser path, the middle road. Others read the record of such 

 men as they read the mercury in the thermometer. The few days 

 marking tlie extremes of heat and cold are carefully noted, and often 

 told; while the many days for business and pleasure are never men- 

 tioned. 



In Longfellow's prayer. "Let us learn to labor and to wait." a 

 great truth is implied, which farmers, more than others, have failed 

 to learn. They are too impatient — too unwilling to wait. 



A student starts out to predict an eclipse of the sun. He first 

 studies the different motions, speeds and courses of the heavenly 

 l)odies. finding first one factin- then another, bearing (Ui that still 

 another contingent, upon that still another and another, and know- 

 ing that he cannot ignore or dodge one of them, begins arranging 

 factor aftt'r factor. ]>atiently traces his way through the long laby- 

 rinth of the abtruse analysis, waiting and willing to wait for the end. 

 and when he does reach the solution he knows he is right. The 

 farmer is more apt to say "we had an eclipse last year," and rather 

 than wait to trace altered comliticms of the ])rol)lem, conclude at once 

 that we will have an eclipse the same time this year, and nearly every 

 body else will know he is wrong. In nearly all of the political and 

 social (piestions of the day farmers have too often in this way jumjied 

 at conclusions, ami have suffered in reputation then'l)y. 



.\gain. we farmers are too apt to fire our arguments through 

 smooth bore guns, which scatter altogether too much to biing down 

 mucli game. Other classes have been wiser in firing a coiiccutratt'd 

 shot at a single gri<'vance, and when that is despatched take another, 

 instead of trying to bring down a whole legion at one shot 



Having thus kindly pointed out some of the causes of the i-e- 

 y>roach resting upon us, let nie turn to the jdeasanter task of point- 

 in<>" out remeilies. Let us try and make our homes jileasant: do in 

 the house what we are so eager to do on the farm, introduce all the 

 labor-saving machir.ery we can, relieving as far as we can. our wives 

 and dau"^hters from the drudgerv of the kit(dien: hire, when you can. 



