26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



husbands and fathers from being faithful readers of the news- 

 'paper, — a regular visitor, I trust, in the home of every Berk- 

 shire farmer. It is a good government which has come down 

 to us from the fathers. Let the sterling good sense and 

 sober judgment of the farmers be employed for the welfare 

 of the nation, and many of the dangers now threatening us 

 will be averted. 



We need, too, to retain tried and faitliful servants in the 

 service of the State. Why should not this lesson which the 

 farm teaches be of service to us in the affairs of govern- 

 ment? Shall the wisdom and efficiency which come from 

 experience go for nothing ? We do not act upon this princi- 

 ple in our private enterprises ; how much greater its impor- 

 tance when the far-reaching interests of government are at 

 stake ! Our county has furnished a notable example of one 

 who for many years has faithfully performed the duties of a 

 responsible public position. You have but lately followed 

 him to his last resting-place. Fortunate Berkshire, if an- 

 other can be found in whose veins courses the same faithful 

 and honest blood ! And I need but remind you of that other 

 citizen of Berkshire, who for so many years graced the chair 

 of the governor of tliis Commonwealth. He wore no collar ; 

 but he wore the ornament of an honest and faithful devotion 

 to the duties of that position to which he was so heartily 

 and so frequently called. With such examples before us we 

 ought not to doubt the wisdom of retaining faithful public 

 servants in the service of the State. 



The lesson pf economy, also, should be carefully applied to 

 the affairs of government. Why does Nature so plainly 

 utter her teaching upon this point, unless it be that we are 

 to apply these lessons, not only in the management of our 

 private business, but also in the wider sphere of goA^ern- 

 mental policy? In times like these, when the burdens of 

 taxation are pressing so heavily upon all classes of our citi- 

 zens, and when men are studying carefully the means by 

 which private expenses may be lessened, there surel}^ ought 

 to be equal care in securing the strictest economy of force 

 and material in carrying out all public enterprises. Our 

 individual influence may seem feeble ; but the thousands are 

 made up of the units, and no farmer should allow his voice 

 or his vote to be silent upon questions involving expenditure 



