492 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



How then, shall the farmer who realizes the need of a wider acquaintance- 

 with those laws of nature, and the methods of operation most in harmony 

 with them, upon which his success depends, gain that knowledge ? It is no 

 help to him to be told that the Agricultural College or other schools give 

 just the instruction which he needs. The cares and responsibilities of life 

 are upon him. Others are dependent upon his efforts for the necessaries of 

 life and the comforts of home. As a citizen, he must exert himself in behalf 

 of all that aids the welfare of the community in which he lives. 



His children must be educated, that the mistake or misfortune of his life 

 may not be repeated in theirs. 



With all these demands upon him, whatever his desires, attendance at 

 school is an impossibility. Is he therefore doomed to ignorance ? 



Evidently, all that can be done is what he can do for himself. Books, 

 papers and the experience of others may aid him. But with these helps is 

 self-education practicable ? 



We have given to schools and colleges a monopoly of the business of edu- 

 cation. 



A writer upon self-culture says : " What is within reach of the unaided 

 student few have inquired, and he has been left to be something or nothing 

 as chance might direct, for all agreed he could never be a scholar." 



But what has already been repeatedly accomplished must be admitted as 

 possible. Many of the world's most noted scholars, some in every department 

 of learning, have been self-taught. Who can read the life of Franklin, be- 

 coming by his own exertions the leading man of his day in science, philoso- 

 phy and statesmanship; of Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," who 

 while following his trade and supporting his family, masters nearly every 

 known language, studying with his book upon the forge ; of Hugh Miller, 

 the Scotch scientist and author, who, from the age of 17 to 34 worked as a 

 common stone mason, filling his leisure time with the study of literature and 

 natural history ; of Edison, the greatest electrician of this age, who had 

 scarcely eight weeks' schooling, and is entirely self-taught — who can follow 

 the career of these and many more we might name, and doubt that self-edu- 

 cation is practicable ? 



Of course, no one will choose to educate himself if school education is pos- 

 sible for him. You do not walk to a distant city when you can take the ex- 

 press. But if you have nothing with which to pay your fare, or the last train 

 be gone, rather than fail of reaching your destination, you will make the at- 

 tempt. True, it is hard work, and much time is lost. You use this means 

 because it is your only method of gaining your object. 



So of self-education. It is not an easy task. Knowledge cannot be gained 

 by wishing. To obtain it you must pay the price. 



The student at college spends years in hard study, though aided by a 

 teacher, and every means of illustration. 



The unaided student can find no short cut. There is no royal road but 

 through persevering, unremitting, self-dependent exertion. Along this road 

 have traveled many whom to-day the world loves to honor. It bears the foot- 

 prints of every inventor whose crystallized thought now lessens the burden of 

 human toil ; and of every discoverer who, passing beyond the boundary of 

 the known has followed out the thought of God in creation, and brought 

 to light the hidden mystery of Nature's workings. All such are of necessity 

 self-taught. 



