CURSE OF HUMAN PARASITES. 



387 



able to speak " Of the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, 

 even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; also of 

 beasts and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. " 

 (1 Kings, 4:33.) 



The lesson taught in the command to Adam has never been 

 heeded by the laborer. He is, and always has been, ignorant, not 

 only of the names, but the nature of things. This profound 

 ignorance of the laboring classes is the reason why they do net 

 enjoy the honors and exemptions which other classes have appro- 

 priated. Hear what a practical writer says: "We cannot but 

 consider the general tendency, becoming yet more common, to 

 bring up children without regular, thorough mechanical employ- 

 ment, and without regular, thorough agricultural training, as one 

 of the mistakes of the times. Our hearers will naturally inquire 

 what we would recommend as the most perfect safeguard against 

 so lamentable a state of affairs. Unhesitatingly we respond, 

 scientific agriculture ; for there is not a quality of the mind which 

 in its far Teachings it will not wake up and energize ; for, to be 

 properly and profitably pursued, it makes almost every other 

 science subservient to it. Thus followed, it is the most ennobling 

 of human pursuits, because it perfects the body and refines the 

 mind. The healthiest of all callings, and which, when intelli- 

 gently prosecuted, involves a large share of bodily vigor and 

 activities, with a wide range of intellectual and scientific enquiry, 

 deserves more attention than the present age accords it. One of 

 the greatest mistakes of the times is, that anybody has sense 

 enough to be a farmer ; that it is a pursuit which can be taken up 

 and successfully prosecuted without pre-culture." ■ 



There is medicine enough in the above to exterminate the last 

 parasite and to cure the complaint. It is safe to handle and bene- 

 ficial to everything it touches. It is cheap and effectual. Let every 

 young man and woman who expects to live by labor, get a botany, 

 chemistry, a natural history, and geology. Let them begin by 

 taking small doses of each, increasing as they may be able to 

 bear, each day and regularly, at home evenings and all spare 

 moments. Let them experiment with well considered prescrip- 

 tions upon themselves and others, anointing and being anointed, 

 till they have become wide awake to beauty and dignity of labor, 

 and of life in this world. It is lost time to wait for agricultural 

 colleges. This is the way to get them, to aid them, and to per- 

 manently establish them. These preparatory studies should be 



