688 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Do«. 



farmrr must not thiuk he is a slave to hard work, for men work hard 

 in all trades and professions. James A. Garfield, Abraham Lincoln, 

 and nearly all our great men were hard workers and be it under- 

 stood that it is only the hard workers, men of toil and sacrifice of 

 the present and past generations who sueceod in their callings and 

 rise to the pinnacles of fame. Talk with doctors, school teachers, 

 institute workers, law^yers, contractors and all successful business 

 men, and they will tell you how hard they have worked and how they 

 have burned the midnight oil in order to make life a success. 



Work is honorable, noble and right. Don't ever think of apologiz- 

 ing that you are a farmer. Honor your calling as farmer, although 

 it may call for the free exercise of all the muscles, yet it will honor 

 you, for the farmer is the ''Bone and sinew of our country." 



Elihu Burrit was the greatest scholar of his ag^e, and yet he 

 wanted to be called just what he was and that was a blacksmith. 



"How pure is the air we breathe, my friends 

 What beauties open to our sight 

 Although tired we may be from toil, my friends, 

 But how sweet is our rest at night." 



''The man behind the plow" must be a sociable man, for sociability 

 has a brightening effect upon the farmer's life. Brood not over the 

 ills of life. Every profession, trade and business of all pursuits 

 has its discouraging features, and while the farmer is not exempt 

 from discouragement, yet, the health that generally comes to the 

 tiller of the soil, can be taken as so much wealth, remembering that 

 with "Godliness and contentment there is great gain and that there 

 never was a cloud so dark, but what had its silver lining, tinted with 

 some glittering rays of good cheer." To the honor of the sturdy 

 men behind the plow, let it be said, with all reverence, that from 

 their ranks, among the hills and valleys of our country, came most of 

 our great men, who became leaders among the civilized nations of 

 the world. Statistics tell us that nine-tenths of our men of high 

 position in life came from the farm. 



The farmer is one of the greatest of miners, although upon the 

 surface of the earth, for it is said that between the months of April 

 and November, the corn crop raised in one year was valued at |952,- 

 000,000. The digging of gold is a slow business compared with the 

 work and achievements of the "man behind the plow." 



The man we are discussing must be a thinking man, rather giving 

 more time to thinking out and planning his business and less to 

 working. All successful undertakings have been, in their beginning, 

 carefully thought over and well-planned. So it is with the farmer, 

 who must plan his w^ork and then work out his plans. "The ideal 

 man behind th(^ plow," is a lover of Nature and feasts upon that 

 which has been created by the Father of Light. 



