PRACTICAL CO-OPERATION. 81 



happiness of our families and ourselves, a competence from which, 

 without suffering, we can contribute to the necessities of others. 

 And this, I believe, is the condition of a great majorit}' of our 

 farmers to-day. 



The farmers of Maine are not poor, nor are the\' rich ; but they 

 are in just that condition when all the necessities and comtorts and, it 

 may be added, many of the luxuries of an easy living are within their 

 reach. And you ma}' go this wide world over, and you will find no 

 class of men so industrious, so independent, so honest and so happy 

 as New England farmers. 



PRACTICAL CO-OPERATIOX. 

 By J. W. Lang, Bowdoinliam. 



Read at Institute at Chesterville. 



That nation ojrows where every class unites 

 For common interests and common rio^hts; 

 Where no caste barrier stays the poor man's son, 

 Till step by step the topmost height is won ; 

 Where every hand subscribes to every rule. 

 And free as air are voice, and vote, and scliool. 



— John Boyle O'Reilly. 



On the 28th da}' of October, 1886, occurred the ceremonies of 

 presentation, unveiling, and acceptance of Bartholdi's colossal 

 statue of ''Liberty Enlightening the World," on Bedloe's Island, 

 New York harbor. The 28th of October will ever be memorable on 

 this account. The statue is a monument to the tie that binds this 

 nation to her sister republic across the water, and an expression of 

 the deep and lasting feelings of love and friendship that lie behind 

 the whole. On this international occasion, the chief executive of 

 the United States in his speech of acceptance, among other things, 

 said : "We are not here to-day to bow before the representation of 

 a fierce and warlike god, filled with wrath and vengeance, but we 

 joyousU' contemplate instead our own deity keeping watch and ward 

 before the open gates of America, and greater than all that have been 

 celebrated in ancient song. Instead of grasping in her hand 

 thunderbolts of terror and of death, she holds aloft the light which 

 illumines the way to man's enfranchisement." These are noble 

 words and lofty truths. So we, too, are here to-day, not to raise 

 the red flag of the Commune, or the black flag of the Nihilist, but 



