16 JIAIXE STATE SOCIETY. 



ADDRESS 



Delivered before the Maine State Agricultural Society, at Eangor, October 1st, 1S57, 



by Rev. II. C. Leonard, 



Gentlemen : — I have been called to this platform to speak to 

 some of the farmers of Maine. I confess to you that I come before 

 you cheerfully, and with a profound love for your vocation, and an 

 earnest desire to say a word of encouragement to those of you who 

 aim for improvement in the several pursuits of agriculture, and thus 

 to augment the wealth, and elevate the moral power of our nohle 

 State. I feel no repugnance towards what the situation, or the 

 labor, or the life of the farmer ought to he. If I envy any man's 

 worldly condition, it is that of the farmer who owns a reasonable 

 number of acres within the boundaries of Maine, is satisfied with 

 the capabilities of his realm, believes in the purity of our northern 

 skicS; and our northern atmosphere, and works, year after year, with 

 a patriotic and enthusiastic spirit; a loving, happy, courageous 

 heart ; a comprehensive and cheerful faith ; a growing and glowing 

 hope. The older I grow, the more clearly do I see the grandeur 

 and beauty of our vast territory ; the more warmly does my affection 

 turn towards our mountains, hills and valleys; our lakes, and 

 rivers, and brooks ; and the more deeply am I moved and led by 

 the wish to have a home of my own, somewhere in the midst of these 

 familiar scenes where I may say, This is my kingdom ; these build- 

 ings are mine ; that hill in the background is mine ; that wood-lot 

 on the slope, is mine ; those fields in the foreground, are mine ; those 

 pastures, extending from the fields to the lake, are mine. And here 

 my ownership and my authority are acknowledged. I meet the look 

 of love, the smile of welcome in other men's possessions. I, in one 

 sense, hold as my property, what thousands of other men have titles 

 for, in the eye of the law ; hold them as mine to survey, mine to 

 admire, mine to bless and praise, without robbing them of a foot of 

 ground, or of a feature, or a shade of the landscape. But here, in 



