246 [Assembly 



He would say nothing here of those rural scenes the poets 

 pen loved to picture; nor would he dwell upon Cincinnatus^ 

 called from the plow to the helm of State, for we had all heard 

 of him repeatedly in other ways ; but he did glory in the farmer 

 as presented in this practical view ; the main dependance of so- 

 ciety as a whole. He gloried in his character ; his self reliance. 

 He was the sheet anchor of our institutions. 



That well known New England poet, Oliver Wendell 

 Holmes, had described the true and noble farmer, in the follow- 

 ing beautiful manner. He quoted it as an elevated and faithful 

 picture. 



Clear the brown path to meet his coulter's gleam ; 

 Lo ! on he comes, behind his smoking team ; 

 With toil's bright dew-drops on his sunburnt brow, 

 The lord of earth, the hero of the plow. 

 First in the field before the reddening sun. 

 Last in the shadows when the day is done ; 

 Line after line along the bursting sod, 

 Marks the broad acres where his feet have trod. 



These are the hands whose sturdy labor brings 

 The peasants' food, the golden pomp of kings ; 

 This is the page whose letters shall be seen. 

 Changed by the sun to words of living green ; 

 This is the scholar whose immortal pen 

 Spells the first lesson hunger taught to men ; 

 These are the lines. Oh Hea,ven- commanded toil f 

 That fill thy deed, the charter of the soil. 



True to their homes these faithful arms shall toil. 

 To crown with peace their own untainted soil. 

 And true to God, to freedom, to mankind. 

 If her chained ban-dogs faction shall unbind. 

 These stately forms, that bending even now 

 Bowed their strong manhood to the humble plow. 

 Shall rise erect, the guardians of the land. 

 The same stern iron in the same right hand. 

 Till Graylock thunders to the parting sun, 

 The sword hath rescued,rwhat the plowshare won. 



Does the farmer now occupy the position his importance 

 demands? No! And why not? Because as a class they are 

 not as well prepared for their business, as are men of other pro- 



