Xn. (5. DEPARTMENT OF AORICULTURE. 333 



TIJK MAKli\(i OF A FARMER. 



Bv J. 11. Peachy, BHWcHh, Pa. 



Jacob liiis, ill liis iuiiuiiable and cJuiiacieristic iiiauuer most beau- 

 tifully portrays ''The Making of an American." It is the simple 

 story of a European boy, transplanted to American soil, struggling 

 manfully to secure the blessings and privileges accorded to Ameri- 

 can citizenship. During the various stages of advancement, en- 

 couraged by the smile of j^rosperity, strengthened by the stern 

 realities of active life, there appears that steady under-current of 

 concentration so necessary for the promulgation of thought, or the 

 development of an idea. 



Though his idea of "The Making of an American'' may differ some- 

 what from "The Milking of a Farmer,'' the voices of history bear 

 testimony to the thought that the American farmer has ever been 

 the best American. Best, because he pursues the highest calling 

 within the category of man's usefulness, the first and only one 

 given directl}' by the Creator; best, because of his natural environ- 

 ments, coming in close and daily contact with Nature and nature's 

 liiws; best, because his business is productive, not merely distribu- 

 tive, and the basis of all other industries; best, because of the 

 natural life he lives, blest by the energizing sunshine and invigor- 

 ating air, there conies from the rural home that indomitable spirit, 

 that pure manhood and womanhood, that noble character, that tire- 

 less energy, that bundle of possibilities, that has adorned and ele- 

 vated every profession in life, and without which the great arterial 

 system of the commercial world would soon clog for want of pure 

 blood. 



'Tis said that poets are born; not made. And yet poetry is the 

 pi-oduct of labor. The thought that shall endure the test of time 

 has onl}' been obtained by persistent effort. 



Grey's Elegy embraces years of patient toil. Hawthorne's Scar- 

 let Letter, that great American ronmnce, was not written in a day. 

 Daniel Webster, the great constitutional lawyer, after that un- 

 answerable reply to Senator Hayne, was asked how long it took him 

 to prepare that speech, said "thirty years.'' 



