VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 81 



needs a co-operative effort to drive it away and to help each 

 citizen to personal attainment and distinct individuality. I 

 may add that pride of locality is a strong aid toward accom- 

 plishing- this result. 



I know I will be pardoned if I digress at this point to re- 

 mark, as a side thought, that the present dwellers of our 

 townships are not characterized by the strong, distinct indi- 

 vidualism that was once so conspicuous ; an individualism of 

 men and women, an originality of thought and method that 

 made these men and women stand out among their fellow 

 beings like gigantic pines upon the mountain side. These 

 grand old people had thoughts of their own and did not wait 

 for an expression from others ; they never stratified into the 

 indistinguishable average, but each could do and dare for 

 himself ; hence that sturdy intelligence that made, moulded 

 and advanced localities, the far reaching influence which we 

 cannot too strongly admire. Imitation, modified by the 

 progress of the times, would not lessen our value as citizens 

 nor restrict the possibilities of making our lives tell in the 

 bettering of home and neighborhood. 



One of the things that prevents the realization of all that 

 is desirable in township improvement is the conception that 

 the farmer's citizenship is builded on lower levels than that 

 of other classes, and that if a farmer cannot attain to great 

 things at a single bound they are not to be sought for in a 

 lesser degree, for only great possibilities should be attempted; 

 another, that all which goes for better home adornment and 

 town prosperity costs money, when the facts are that there are 

 a thousand and one things that can be inexpensively done by 

 hand, and influences set afloat by tongue which, in the ag- 

 gregate, if put in execution would revolutionize the social and 

 domestic life of our nation and make our roads and their 

 appointments rivals in their rural beauty of Euclid avenue. 

 Did you ever realize that the chief adornments of that fam- 

 ous thoroughfare were made up of four things — grass, trees, 

 flowers and labor— with small stones laid in order for ballast? 



It is not half so beneficial for a farmer to originate some- 

 thing great which would sound around the world as to start by 

 example some small reform which would prove epidemic 



! among his townsmen, such as picking up the litter about his 

 house and barns and beautifying his lawn to the point of 

 making it safe to visit him after dark without the precaution 



i of carrying a lantern and a life insurance policy. Well kept 

 homes and tidy appointments about them and well ordered 



; i farms mean well kept towns, and when the t .;wns - e well 

 taken care of there will be a well looked * fter state and na- 



