118 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of his fathers, regarding lamps and kerosene, I suppose, as 

 an invention of the devil. And the farms are not few among 

 the hills, where all the appliances look like relics from Noah's 

 ark, and the farmer, like the patriarch himself at the end of 

 his long imprisonment on board. But more especially out of 

 New England, in this country and in other countries, do we 

 find evidence of this extreme conservatism in the agricul- 

 tural class. Nor is its influence limited to the bounds of the 

 farm, but spreads itself more widely, giving tone to political 

 and religious opinion, and leaving its impress on the entire 

 character. It is this spirit that makes the landed class in 

 England to so large an extent the bulwark of Toryism, and 

 that has led the farmers of Pennsylvania to vote regularly 

 for Andrew Jackson at every presidential election for the 

 last fifty years. The fact of this conservatism in farmers as 

 a class, I think few will question. Is it not equally evident 

 that it stands in the way of their best welfare? 



NARROW UTILITARIANISM AND DISREGARD FOR BEAUTY. 



A third trait of the typical farmer's character that must 

 not be overlooked is a tendency to a narrow and shallow 

 utilitarianism. The limitations and stress of his life incline 

 him to measure every thing by purely material standards. 

 His constant question is, "Will it pay?" and by pay he 

 means exclusively dollars and cents, or their equivalent, too 

 seldom taking into account any of the higher and remoter 

 returns from outlay in the way of character and refinement. 

 The result is a kind of barrenness in the life of many of the 

 thriftiest farmers to be expected only in the lot of poverty. 

 How many farmers who seem to care more for the fattening 

 of their pigs, and the training of their colts, than for the 

 welfare of their families ! How often does the barn engross 

 attention to the neglect of the house, tlie horses and cows 

 having the benefit of more modern improvements than the 

 wife and children ! But more especially does this utilitarian 

 spirit shoAv itself in utter disregard of the element of beauty. 

 Said a Vermont farmer recently, born and bred amid the 

 most beautiful scenery of the Green Mountains, " Where is 

 all that wonderful Vermont scenery that I hear people rave 

 about so much? I have lived here all my days, and never 

 have seen it." I wonder if some of these Berkshire farmers 



