1C6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



great risk in going West or South with the expectation of im- 

 proving his condition. So to my brother farmers of Essex, I 

 say, what though 



" The Southland boasts its teeming cane, 

 The prairied West its heavy grain, 

 While sunset's radiaut gates unfold 

 On rising marts and fields of gold," 



still let us remain in these hills ; and as our fathers drew from 

 them bread, and as from this State have gone forth those who 

 have in all the walks of life honored their birthplace, let us 

 maintain a sturdy independence, endeavoring to make our farms 

 better than when we took them, — to make ourselves better 

 farmers and wiser men than any generation that has gone be- 

 fore, and so uniting in ourselves qualities which distinguished 

 Lowell's hero, in his poem of " The Courtin'," than whom 



" None couldn't quicker pitch a ton, 

 Nor draw a furrow straighter," 



with those which Whittier has embodied in his young farmer, 

 in "Among the Hills," of whom at an interesting period of his 

 life he says, — 



" Framed in its damp, dark locks, his face 

 Had nothing mean nor common ; 

 Strong, manly, true, the tenderness 

 And pride beloved of woman. 



" He has his own free, bookless lore, 

 The lesson nature taught him; 

 The wisdom which the woods, and hills, 

 And toiling men, have brought him." 



Let us produce in real life the ideals of the poets, and so hold 

 an honorable position in the community, discharging all the 

 duties that come to our lot with the faithfulness with which 

 nature rewards our labor. And thus our beloved county shall 

 be as widely known in the future, as she has been in the past, 

 for the valor and enterprise of her sons, chief among whom shall 

 stand the tillers of the soil, for we may ever remember 



" Honor waits o'er all the earth, 

 Through endless generations, 

 The art that calls the harvest forth, 

 And feeds expectant nations." 



