No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 427 



Whether in the feeding of ilocks, or on the teiileil liclds; in the 

 planting of the vine, or amid the hum of tlie spindle; in the gather- 

 ing of crops, or in the accumulation of wealth; in the clearing of the 

 forest, or in connecting the continent; in the building of houses, or 

 in the establishment of justice; in the elevation of the individual, or 

 in pleading the cause of the common people; in houising the unfortu- 

 nate, or in protecting the oppressed; in the dissemination of thought, 

 or in building educational institutions; in all these, and in many 

 more, the voices of histor}' are loud in their praises of the commend- 

 able performances of the farmer's boy. 



While we love to linger and learn of the past, the boy of the pres- 

 ent and future concerns us most. I am in sympathy with my subject, 

 only know of one better, and that is the farmer's girl. I am not so 

 familiar with that subject because I never was a girl. Inasmuch 

 as I cannot talk back, I am unprepared to speak for her. 



While these lines may relate more particularly to the boy, 1 mean 

 the girl also, especially when discussing their education. So long as 

 they are born together, let them be educated together. I do not have 

 a moments sympathy with that half-heathen idea of giving the boy 

 better educational advantages than the girl. It is unjust to discrim- 

 inate, unwise to claim a superiority, and uncharitable to withhold 

 those inestimable privileges for culture and refinement. The pos- 

 session of a God-given faculty carries with it the inherent right to 

 cultivate and use that faculty. 



The farmer's boy, however, possesses certain characteristics all 

 his own. He is generally found just where you want him. Like the 

 boy's definition for a lie, he is a very present help in time of trouble. 

 A little misunderstanding concerning the affairs of the home, can 

 never be satisfactorily adjusted without the presence of the boy. He 

 is generally responsible for many miscalculations in the home, of 

 which the majority of cases more justly belong to the children of a 

 larger growth. 



The boy under consideration is one who worked the first year for 

 his board and clothes, the second year for his clothes and board, and 

 the third year he got both. The boy who labored so faithfully, per- 

 forming his daily duties in such a meritorious manner. The boy who 

 expected to go to Heaven if he lived and kept his health. This boy 

 of concentration and hope, of lofty ambition and noble aspirations. 

 The boy who received a colt as a present from his father. It was 

 the boy's colt, but when it became a horse it was the father's horse. 

 Quite natural indeed. Did not he boy belong to the father? Was 

 not the horse his also? The boy was just charitable enough to sacri- 

 fice his only earthly possession to gratify his father's dcvS^ires. How 

 truly commendable. This boy then is one of ''faith, hope and charity, 

 and the greatest of these is charity." 



