MENTAL ACTIVITY. 347 



technology, natural history societies, literary and scientific 

 associations, a State Board of Agriculture, farmer's clubs, agri- 

 cultural fairs, and, above all, the pulsations of the heart of a 

 civilized, cultivated, religious and patriotic people, beating in 

 unison for the prosperous maintenance of all these institutions ; 

 and a State government, upholding, aiding and improving not 

 only these, but all our humane, charitable, correctional and 

 reformatory institutions. We ought, then, to be stimulated to 

 increased mental action, and awakened to a just sense of the 

 responsibilities that are resting upon us. We should feel indi- 

 vidually, that we are liable to be outstripped by the industry, 

 ambition and perseverance of others. We should none of us 

 say or imagine that Providence has dealt hardly with us, or 

 that our occupation is not blessed with His favor. The avenues 

 to knowledge, wealth and distinction are open to all, and " he 

 who strives may win." 



Agriculture has furnished its share of the great men of every 

 nation. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 

 Jackson, Harrison, and Lincoln were farmers. But the farmer 

 should not be ambitious of public preferment or popular favor. 

 They who have sought the highest gifts in the nation's power, 

 have often gone to their graves in disappointment and chagrin. 

 Laboring for worldly preferment, another may reap what we 

 have sown. But in agriculture, every one reaps the fruit of 

 his own labors. And the thrifty farmer, who has the respect 

 and esteem of the community of which he is a member, has no 

 cause to envy the happiness of those who seek and gain the 

 popular favor. 



The farmer has constant, intimate and sensible relationship 

 with Heaven. Living in close connection with nature, " he 

 looks, through nature, up to nature's God." He stands, as it 

 were, in the continual presence of a visible Creator. He knows 

 that every effect must proceed from an adequate cause ; and he 

 turns his thoughts, from the works of nature, upward to the 

 supreme, intelligent Originator of all. He enjoys a freedom 

 from those selfish passions, which are so rife in crowded cities. 

 Reason, reflection, conscience and a living charity, tranquillize 

 all his feelings. His soul expands with noble emotions ; and 

 he stands erect in the conscious dignity of a man. His home is 

 the abode of purity and peace. Religion hallows the very 



