INFLUENCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 393 



And let us work together for elevation and progress toward 

 that bappy " Coming Time," 



"When men forget their love of gold, 



And love their honor more; 

 When truth is only current coin, 



And counted o'er and o'er; 

 "When men love freedom for its sake — 



For all as well as one — 

 And, for the greatest good, their work, 



From day to day, is done : 

 When men throw self aside and live 



For some just purpose high, 

 Then will the glorious era come 



When parasites shall die." 



Mr. S. L. Boardman, a member at large, also editor of the Maine 

 Farmer, read the following on 



1 



Power and Influence op the Agricultural Press. 



I am accustomed to speak to a larger audience than I see before 

 me this evening, — but it is an audience that I have never seen, and 

 that has never heard my voice. Week after week for years, it has 

 been my pleasure and my task as well, to hold direct but silent 

 communication with a very large proportion of the farmers of our 

 State. And, as week after week in one continuous round, I see 

 go out from our office the thousands upon thousands of copies of 

 the Maine Parmer, I not unfrequently amuse myself by watching 

 in imagination these sheets of printed paper as they come fresh 

 and bright from the press and go out through the numberless 

 avenues of transportation into every nook and corner of the land. 

 On publication days the mail cars of the trains are burdened with 

 this freight of thought — and all along the main line of travel smaller 

 parcels are sent out by stage coach and mail wagon, and over the 

 narrow, grassy roads in the far off corners of the State, among 

 hills and woods, small villages and quiet farms — the freshly printed 

 paper with its seasonable advice and latest prices current is hur- 

 ried along to its destination. And the farmer who has some erraud 

 at the corner post office or the village store, always goes on the 

 day his paper comes, that he may keep up with the latest commu- 

 nications from the outside world, and know the highest quotation 

 for eggs and beans. This errand is never forgotten — for what 

 would the children and good wife at home do if the paper did not 



