174 Bureau of Fakaieks' Institutes. 



berg presented it to the world. The defeat of the heroic band 

 of Spartans at the pass of ThermopjUx?, 480 B. C, m\<r\\t have 

 telegraphed to Sparta, only that the possibility of sending a 

 message over an electrified wire was unseen until 1844, when 

 Prof. S. F. B. Morse sent the first message which marked a new 

 era in the histotry of civilization. Our forefathers might have 

 had the moving machine, the threasher and cleaner, the sulky 

 plow, the graindrill, and a hundred other convenient farming 

 utensils. They had wood and iron and knew how to work in 

 these, but they failed to see how to put these together as men 

 of later date have discovered. 



Not only in invention have men failed to see their opportuni- 

 ties, but in every vocation and calling of life there have been 

 golden opportunities which had we seen and improved would 

 have resulted to our great advantage. Some of these may be 

 beyond the penetrating power of our vision, but hundreds are 

 lying all about us which may be seen, and which if improved 

 will improve the condition of any preacher, lawyer, merchant 

 or tiller of the soil. 



In this age of multi-millionaires, there is a widespread desire 

 among men to become rich. Wealth honestly gotten and rightly 

 used is a blessing, and this rule applies to man whether he has 

 twenty thousands or twenty millions of dollars. It is not money 

 that is the root of all evil, but " the love of money is the root 

 of all evil." The desire for a large competency has found a 

 resting place in the bosom of many a tiller of the soil, but in the 

 process of hie way of farming and the hardness of the times he 

 has not realized his fond hope of wealth. Perhaps to-day in his 

 despondency he has concluded that if he ever is going to be rich, 

 or does not desire to end his career in the county almshouse, he 

 must get off the farm, for there is no money in farming. But 

 before any man leaves his farm to make a larger competency in 

 the world, it will be wise to sit down and count the cost. Many 

 a farmer who left the farm to gain wealth in the world has years 

 afterward discovered that he and his fortune separated when he 

 moved off the farm. I have known some remarkable instances 



