SAGADAHOC COUNTY SOCIETY. HI 



of this large sum of nearly $300,000,000, will ever be paid, conse- 

 quently there will be a loss to somebody of about $150,000,000. 

 How many of these five thousand bankrupts suppose you were 

 farmers, those making agriculture their business, and what amount 

 of this vast bankrupt debt of near $300,000,000, is due from them ? 

 Although nearly one half of our population are engaged in agricul- 

 tural pursuits, I think it would be entirely safe to say that not one 

 in twenty of these 5,000 bankrupts was a farmer, and not one dol- 

 lar in forty of their liabilities was due from farmers. 



Another statement sets this view in a still stronger light. It has 

 frequently been said, on the authority of bank and insurance offi- 

 cers, old mercantile firms and other reliable sources of information 

 in several of our leading cities, that nine in ten of all traders and 

 merchants fail at some period of their career, many of whom again 

 commence their business lives anew. No such extreme embarrass- 

 ment and danger attends the business of agriculture. The farmer 

 can pursue the even tenor of his way without the distressing 

 thought that to-morrow may bring him a list of protested notes 

 and drafts, with an injured credit. He fears no disasters by sea, 

 and does not watch with trembling anxiety the barometer of trade 

 to see what changes may take from or add to his means, or fear 

 some desperate speculation may turn out disastrously. Whatever 

 may be his anxieties they are not for fear of ruined fortunes, or 

 that want may sit a ghastly companion at his generous table. The 

 farmer then has every reason to be content with his calling — it is 

 a safe and noble one. 



To the young men, the sons of farmers who are about to choose 

 their occupation and commence the serious business of life, permit 

 me to say in all earnestness, think seriously, weigh well all the 

 chances of success before you decide to abandon the pursuit of 

 your fathers. It is a pursuit worthy of man's highest aim. If the 

 long summer days ai^e sometimes weary, they are not attended by 

 harrassing and distracting thoughts, and night brings its social 

 joys and calm repose, not sleepless hours, an aching brow and 

 dread apprehensions of the morrow. If the advantages, the excite- 

 ment, the empty show and fashionable follies or dissipations of city 

 life tempt you from the industiy, peace and virtue of your rural 

 homes, think how much of extreme poverty, agonizing misery and 

 revolting- vice is contained within the limits of cities, creeping 

 along their dark allies and crouching in the shadow of their marble 

 palaces. Think of how many disappointed expectations, blighted 



