I 



38 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



who have not been " able to levy conti-ibutions upon the com- 

 munity," or, if they did, people would not pay them, and 

 they have been obliged to turn aside to other pursuits. I 

 know a man, perfectly fitted by education and training for a • 

 lawyer, who is selling coal in Middletown. I could name a 

 good many instances, that have come within my own limited 

 observation, where college graduates have not found their 

 places fixed for them, by any means. The great majority of 

 young people who grow up cannot take any position they please 

 by simply going through college or a medical school. They 

 have got to work for a living, and the common sense Amer- 

 ican recognizes that fact. Are they going to work at an 

 advantage or a disadvantage ? That is the practical problem 

 before us all. And what the Storrs school aims to do is to 

 give them the means, the ability, and the opportunity to work 

 at an advantage, rather than a disadvantage. There must be 

 a great many farmers. The great mass of people have got 

 to dirty their hands and soil their boots, and be out in the 

 dew and mud, and live a life of hard labor. We recognize 

 that fact; we are not particularly afraid of it; do not object 

 to it ; but what we want to do is to so equip them for their 

 work that when they have undergone these hardships, per- 

 formed this hard work, it shall be effective. That is practi- 

 cally what the Storrs school aims to fit its pupils to do. 



Now I wish to add a suggestion in regard to this matter, 

 which some one ought to make. Every farmer in Connecti- 

 cut can aid this institution. I think every one here is well 

 convinced of the fact that what we want is the very best 

 material in the state to work upon. Somewhere in the state 

 there are twenty-five or thirty young men who need and want 

 the benefits that this institution can give. We want to bring 

 the material and the school together. If any one of you 

 knows a good, bright boy anywhere, aiming to be a farmer 

 (if he is aiming to be anything else, I think he better go 

 somewhere else) — but if you know a bright, intelligent, ac- 

 tive, energetic boy, aiming to be a farmer, bring this matter 

 to his mind, and assure him that the hours spent there will 



