72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



cherished — longings, and sorrows, and memories, which are all 

 to be put aside and forgotten. 



But in the country you are surrounded with wonder, and 

 mystery, and beauty ; you cannot escape them — they follow 

 you into the dark shadows of the wood — they are beneath your 

 feet, although you trample upon them, they cluster around 

 you as you stop to rest. A very learned friend was speaking 

 to me lately of the modern skepticism as to miracles, and the 

 ingenious doubts and speculations of science, which disturb the 

 ancient faith of so many minds. I plucked the white clover 

 blossom at my feet, and replied, "I need no higher miracle than 

 that." Yes, that is the only miracle we need ; tell us how, 

 century after century, this humble flower has perpetuated its 

 mysterious birth and growth; — tell us why the seed has kept its 

 plighted faith to the Spring, and year after year has blossomed 

 always the same ; — tell us who taught it to seek out in the dark 

 ground, or in the invisible air, that subtle food which it turns 

 into its own substance ; — tell us how this plant, which, we call 

 lifeless and inanimate, can produce from its own being that 

 mysterious seed which man's wonderful brain not only cannot 

 imitate, but cannot even understand in its laws, its structure, 

 or its creation, and we will then talk of other miracles, and 

 discuss probabilities. Until then we need no higher miracles. 

 How true is it that this world is full of miracles, full of teach- 

 ers, who arc all inspired ; and when the sweet season of Pen- 

 tecost comes, in its green beauty, they speak as of old, with 

 tongues of fire. 



Listen then to these voices ; learn these psalms of life ; let 

 them instruct you in the dignity of labor and the duties of 

 living : let them teach you by the serene, silent influences of 

 beauty : let them steal gently into your hearts, and shape your 

 lives by their sweetness and by their sympathy ; for those voices 

 of life and nature arc not given without purpose nor in vain. 

 They are the angel songs, which arc sung 1 on earth and in the 

 sky ; they are the sacred oracles of heaven. 



Will you go higher than the farm — its uses, its thrift, its 

 laws of labor — or than the home, with its affections, its duties? 

 The way is easy, and the path is open ; the landscape widens 

 as wo climb the hill, the air is purer, and the vision more clear. 

 This great book which we call rural life, country, nature, is a 



