LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 333 



succeeded in arousing in any of you a livelier interest in the management and 

 success of your own schools. 



HOW SHALL FAKMERS EDUCATE THEIR BOYS? 



BY WM. B. HAMILTOX, M. D. 

 [Read at Lapeer Institute.! 



I have chosen to put the caption of this essay into the form of a question, 

 because I mean that what I shall say may be taken only as suggestions and 

 inquiries by one in search of the truth, rather than as the positive conclusions 

 of one who has put his ideas to the test of actual experience. Yet, a life spent 

 to early manhood on a farm and most of the remainder in working among a 

 farming community, certainly leaves me in a position not altogether out of har- 

 mony with my subject. But, before attempting a direct answer, it would be 

 well to inquire why such a question should be asked at all? Is there any 

 necessity for discriminating between the sons of farmers and those of other men 

 in the matter of education? The fact that the question is often asked and has 

 often engaged the attention of thoughtful men, goes far to show that there is 

 a deep conviction among intelligent farmers that matters in this regard are not 

 as they should be. In other words, that there has been practically such a dis- 

 crimination to the disadvantage of the farming class, yet without just grounds. 



The reasons for this conviction seem to lie in the following facts : — 1st. 

 That the farmer does not wield his due share of political influence. It is a 

 notable fact that while in this country the farmers outnumber all other trades 

 and professions, yet more than uineteen-twentieths of the higher offices of gov- 

 ernment, both State and National, fall to the share of the non-farming com- 

 munity. 2d. There seems to be an overgreat and increasing tendency on the 

 part of farmers' sons, to desert the occupation of their fathers and try their 

 fortunes in other trades or professions, thus depriving the farming guild of 

 much of its very best material. 3d. There is a general feeling that farmers, 

 as a body, stand very nearly at the bottom of the social scale. For even here, 

 with all our boasted equality, we find some remains of caste sentiment, and 

 society almost spontaneously divides itself into classes. And, while it is a fact 

 that many of the first families of the land are farmers, and by their intelli- 

 gence, culture and business success have made their own position in society, 

 it must be acknowledged that the majority of the farming population are 

 obliged at present to occupy a somewhat obscure position, owing to the fact 

 that either from misfortune or lack of enterprise, they fail to procure the 

 means of culture, or having the means they lack the necessary appreciation, or 

 taste, or energy to apply them in the right direction. So they may well say 

 in the words of Cassius, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but our- 

 selves, that we are underlings." 



Now, we are ready to take the ground and maintain it, that there is nothing 

 in the nature of farming as a business to account for all these short-comings. 

 If farmers do not hold their share of t\\e public offices, it is simply because 

 they have not found a sufficient number of educated minds in their own ranks 

 to fill these places well, and have chosen, of their own accord, men from pro- 



