MAINE BTATE SOCIETY. 39 



ESSAY 



•On the Intellectual Wants of Farmers, and the best means of supplying them< 



BY MRS. GEO. W. INGERSOLL, BANGOR. 



If we consider the occupation of the farmer, in itself, we shall 

 find nothing in it at war, but every thing favorable, to moral, spir- 

 itual and intellectual culture. The works and methods of Nature, 

 ever before him, invite to thought, and favor contemplation. Sep- 

 arated from the crowd of men, his vocation daily leads him out 

 beneath the open sky, and he pursues his tasks under influences 

 which should tend to make him more than other men, refined, 

 thoughtful, and wise. The first man, pure and unfiillen, from the 

 hands of the Creator, was appointed to " till the garden," and to 

 draw fresh from the bosom of Nature, a reward which gave dignity 

 to his work. In that most ancient and honorable occupation, he 

 stood, proudly, the "Lord of Creation" — undoubted member of the 

 truest aristocracy, and first order of nobility ! But the world has 

 changed since then ; and at the present day, the farmer falls below, 

 rather than towers above, the average of men, in other vocations, in 

 mental culture ; and this Maine Agricultural Society desires essays 

 upon the best means of supplying his intellectual wants. Some 

 thoughts therefore upon this topic, we propose to offer, for the con- 

 sideration of the society. 



When we would effectually remedy an evil, we must discern its 

 cause. Now, if we look for the cause of the non- intellectual culture 

 ■of farmers, we shall find it, we believe, all in one word, and that 

 word is overwork; and the desirable thing is, to find a way to 

 make a good living by farming without excessive labor ; labor which 

 wearies the body too much to make intellectual effort welcome, or 

 which leaves no leisure for its exercise. To get a good living by 

 farming, without working too hard for i,t, is the very problem which 

 this society in all its departments is endeavoring to solve. For this 



