FAKMEKS' INSTITUTES. 207 



every kind of labor in the scale of human industry. He cannot isolate himself 

 and declare himself independent of every other. Each is dependent on the 

 other, and all are calculated to fill a niche in the temple of human progress. 



We shall proljably find work laid out for a lifetime ; but ^vhat is life for, if 

 not to improve the powers which God has so graciously bestowed upon us ? If 

 I mistake not, there Avill be much satisfaction exjierienced in this work of indi- 

 vidual development, which will repay us fully for all the time and money spent 

 in the task. Living means activity ; otherwise it is mere existence. As Emer- 

 son says : "We live by desire to live; we live by choice; by will, by thought, 

 by virtue, by the vivacity of the laws which we obey, and obeying share their 

 life ; or we die bv sloth, by disobedience, by losing hold of life, which ebbs out 

 of us." 



Ought we not, then, with sacred ardor, firmly to determine that we will con- 

 centrate our energies upon this task of development, "nor," in the language of 

 another, "pause to waste a coward thought on life?" This individual develop- 

 ment has two objective points toward which the j^erson will find he will be called 

 upon to exercise all the knowledge, the wisdom, and skill which he may possess. 

 These are, first, the growth and elevation of the family; and second, the 

 progress of society. These two propositions we shall now endeavor to consider. 



I have often felt that, as men and women, wo do not recognize the full 

 importance and the solemnity of the family relation. The evidence of this 

 fact is found too often upon our court records, and is read in almost every city 

 daily. In making men fathers, John Calvin said that God had bestowed upon 

 them Ilis own title ; and with it came responsibities which, if properly met, 

 yield a grand and noble return ; or, if their importance is slighted, will yield a 

 return which brings tears and premature sorrow. Were it in my power, I 

 would impress this responsibility upon every man Avho is the means of bringing 

 into life an immortal soul. Not ojily is he accountable for its existence, but 

 also for the training which must follow to raise this human being to the rank 

 of intelligence, reason, and judgment. 



The family is only society on a small scale. It was the heroism of Roman 

 mothers that made the successful generals of that period. It was the training of 

 the minds and hearts of the Roman youth under the direction of the most learned 

 and skillful teachers, philosoj^hers, and lawyers, together with the pride of Roman 

 citizenship, that made the patriots and statesmen and orators that adorned the 

 Senate and the Forum. And within the confines of our own nation we shall 

 find the Jeffersons, the Adamses, the Monroes, the Jays, the Franklins, the 

 Clintons, the Websters, the Morses ; and every one of them is the product of 

 thorough training and severe discijiline. ' And to his dying day, although his 

 life went out under financial disaster, brought on by lending his credit to a 

 friend, Thomas Jefi'erson enjoyed the quiet of his rural home up among the 

 mountains of Virginia, and often seriously thought of withdrawing from public life 

 to the retirement of his farm, and give his attention to the care of his estates. 

 Most of the prominent men of Revolutionary times, while being trained in a 

 knowledge of science, law and politics, were owners of large tracts of land, from 

 which they received most of their livelihood. Their fathers before them were 

 farmers, and they thought no profession so independent and honorable. To-day, 

 in England, that man is of little account in the political movements of that 

 country who cannot boast of his finely-cultivated fields and extensive hunting 

 grounds. 



AVhy is it then that in this land and in this time, where and when the ner- 



