The Ideal, and Real in Life. 229 



In forms and fashions and artificialities they may be lacking, 

 but in respect to good solid knowledge the successful practical 

 farmer of to-day becomes a sort of encyclopedia. He is practi- 

 cally a " physiologist, a veterinarian, a botanist, an entomologist, 

 even a chemist;" at the same time he is a mechanic, learning the 

 care and use of machinerv. Trulv there is no class that needs or 

 possesses such varied and practical knowledge as agriculturists. 

 By many they are underestimated, but Longfellow very sagely 

 says: " I do not pity the misery of a man underplaced, that will 

 right itself presently; but I pity the man overplaced." 



Farm homes are preeminently places where self-culture may 

 receive its highest incentives. The primary reason for this is 

 the fact that there are fewer outside influences to distract the 

 mind. Many complain of the isolation, and say farm life is lonely 

 and out of the world. This is certainly true to those who make 

 no effort to form a " Home out of a Household," but to the men 

 and women who provide their families with the best newspapers 

 and books which can now be purchased at comparatively small 

 expense; to those who provide home entertainment for their chil- 

 dren, who in short live at their best, the farm home offers ex- 

 cellent advantages for the early training of good citizens. When 

 we learn from statistics that nine-tenths of the crimes in the 

 world are committed between sunset and sunrise, we need be 

 thankful that our farm children are away from the proximity 

 of associations which draw them from home. 



Some complain that it is too hard, involving too much care and 

 labor; now this reminds me of a little advice given many years 

 ago. A young man wrote to Henry Clay, I think it was, asking 

 his advice in regard to the choice of a profession. " I want some- 

 thing that will be easy," wrote the young man. The answer 

 that he received was very much like this : " My young friend, 

 don't choose the law; some of our hardest worked men are law- 

 yers. Don't choose medicine; there is a great amount of labor 

 involved there. Don't choose the ministry; a successful pastor 

 is a very busy man. Don't be an editor or an author; many work 

 hard for years before they are fairly recognized. Don't be a 

 scientist or explorer, there is nothing easy about that. Alas, 

 my boy, in this busy work-a-day world there is small chance for 

 the young man who makes his ease first in consideration. History 



