NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE. 71 



him as a child, and make him feel as much of the freedom of 

 manhood as he would do had he gone to town to live by him- 

 self. Let us exercise the control of companionship, not of 

 authority, and let us try and make the boy a good fellow, by 

 being a good fellow with him. Take away the " stern parient " 

 element and give him at home — within reasonable limits — the 

 same sort of freedom he would have abroad. 



There is another branch of our subject that is not less impor- 

 tant than the one we have just considered. "We must do all 

 in our power to keep the young men in our ranks, but we must 

 not forget to keep our ranks worthy of them. We must waken 

 ourselves up, set our eyes to the front, and march on. We have 

 lolled on long enough in the easy-going way. It is time, now, 

 for us to take up the pace of the other arts and to manage our 

 farms more skilfully and more effectually. Progress enough 

 has been made, in the introduction of the new harvesting 

 machinery, to show that a most radical change is possible, and 

 it is a radical change that we need. It is difficult to define in 

 fixed terms just what the change should be. It depends on 

 circumstances; but whatever it is, it must reach the bottom. 

 Farming must be made a business in which the same educated 

 intelligence shall find employment, that is now engaged in the 

 more attractive pursuits, and it must furnish the same means 

 for refined and elegant living that they furnish. With this 

 change it will become the most attractive of all pursuits, for 

 the simple reason that while it will be as profitable as any 

 other safe business, its prosecution will involve an amount of 

 mental activity and scientific speculation that cannot fail to 

 delight an intelligent man. 



We must work for refinement, and elegance, and luxury. It 

 is balderdash to say that we like " plain living and hard work." 

 If we do, it is because we are too poor or too mean to pay for 

 something better, and because we make it a rule to like what is 

 allotted to us. Our children don't like it, and if they can help 

 themselves they won't stand it. Preach to them as you may, 

 they will seek the easiest and most comfortable life that is open 

 to them, as naturally as sparks fly upward. 



All this implies not only a radical change, but a radical 

 reform. It is a reform that can be sought by no royal road. 

 It is too radical and too far reaching in its effects pn human 



