490 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



It is sometimes thought that if the farmer is encouraged to give time and 

 strength to the elevation of his mind that productive interests will suffer. 

 As has already been intimated, it is not to mere muscular force so much as 

 to intellect, skill and applied science that men owe their mastery over the 

 world. It is mind that conquers matter, and in proportion as the intellect- 

 ual and moral forces of a community are developed, the productive and 

 material interests will be advanced. 



Science is one of the greatest benefactors of modern times. It has revolu- 

 tionized the processes of manufacture in almost every department, so that 

 what were once the luxuries of life, enjoyed only by the privileged classes, 

 have become the common property of all. Scientific education has given the 

 farmer improved machinery, improved domestic animals, more desirable fruits, 

 vegetables and grains, and has raised the calling from one of common drudg- 

 ery to dignity. 



But the acme has not yet been reached. Let us have more education and 

 thus improve the intellectual standard of the farmers. Education will make 

 the calling more attractive and thus retain talent there. It will make it more 

 profitable materially and will increase the comforts of humanity. Let us 

 increase the effectiveness of our public schools by greater care in the selec- 

 tion of teachers, longer tenure of office, more months of school in each year, 

 better salaries, and by regular attendance on the part of pupils. Show your 

 interest in these schools by personal visits and by words of encouragement 

 when they are deserved. Let us have a generation of farmers who are fitted 

 for positions among men. 



We believe in the working out of the principle of ''cause and effect,'* 

 which is so universally accepted, and that if the farmer fails to receive 

 proper recognition, politically or otherwise, it is because other classes 

 of men are better prepared for such positions. 



But there is improvement. New forces are at work. The Grange, the 

 great school for farmers, is being sustained and good results are apparent ; 

 but this is not enough. Give the rising generation more science, more sys- 

 tematic culture, more respect for honest industry, and let us advance until 

 what Dr. Franklin called "The most useful, the most healthful and the most 

 noble occupation of man " shall assume its proper position, and that which 

 God intended among the activities of life.^ 



DISCUSSION. 



President Willits: I was for two years connected with the Normal 

 School, and one of my duties was to seek out situations for our graduates, 

 and as far as we could do so, we tried to place them in the towns and cities. 

 Why? Because they could get better pay there. You cannot, as a rule, pay 

 a cheap price and get a valuable article, either in teaching or anything else. 

 I remember my father's insisting on engaging a University student to 

 teach our school, and have always felt grateful to him ever since for doing 



60. 



I don't know why school -houses are so often located in such dreary spots. 

 I would make them places of beauty. Your children are to grow up there, 

 and their minds will be affected by the inflaences around them. The differ- 

 ence between a dreary school yard and a beautiful one is a matter of so little 

 expense that I cannot understand its neglect. A row of trees set along a 



