20G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



criminals liave not already been caught, the officers are on the lookout, takes 

 what spare time a person has, until one will exclaim with disgust : It is all 

 right to read something nice if one only had the time, and I might add, dis- 

 position. When everything goes with a rush, there is a time for everything that 

 has will power to push. This will once aroused is a fierce antagonist and 

 will save time by improving it, and giving much raw material a chance for 

 thought and reiiectiou to weave into garlands of strength and beauty. Think- 

 ing makes what we read ours, yet we necessarily read much that we can't 

 remember, and why shouldn't we? We can't remember what we had for 

 breakfast a year ago, or a month ago, still it satisfied the system and did its 

 allotted work. We want memory to be our servant, carefully looking after 

 our best interests. 



Good works are not only pleasant companions, but are the true levelers, giv- 

 ing to all who desire the society of the best and greatest of our race. 



William Channing says: "If writers will enter and take up their abode 

 under my roof, if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise, 

 and Shakespeare to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings 

 of the human heart, and Franklin to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I 

 shall not pine for want of intellectual companionship, and I may become a 

 cultivated man, though excluded from the best society in the place where I 

 live." 



Yet in order to have any book an accessory to true culture there must be 

 personal enthusiasm, personal worJc, and at most, the friendly adviser can only 

 stimulate or suggest wise and just decisions. Ruskin divides all books into two 

 classes, books of the hour and books for all time, and warns us not to allow 

 the books of the hour to take the place of true books. They partake too 

 much of the spoken language of conversation, while the book is written with an 

 idea of permanance rather than communication. 



A good library will not only arouse but strengthen the thirst for knowledge, 

 and adds much to the comfort of the home circle ; possession adds to appreci- 

 ation, and in this day of literature, when standard works can be purchased at 

 reasonable prices, there is little excuse for not having a library unless the will 

 be lacking. A few volumes a year will make a collection well worthy of praise 

 in time, yet how many of those here to-day have annually averaged the pur- 

 chase of two good books for general culture during the past ten years? 



When we hear dealers talk about books being used as furniture, or selling 

 them by the yard or car load, or receiving orders for a library of such and 

 such dimensions, so many feet of shelves to be filled with elegant volumes, 

 then are we more than ever convinced that a library needs to grow with the 

 owner's mind, one at a time perhaps, yet that one thoroughly mastered. 



There is one commandment that if faithfully observed would help much 

 toward general education. It was Bishop E. 0. llaven who said 'MVhen the 

 religion of Christ shall become the religion of the world, when all mankind 

 shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, I believe there will not be a 

 knave nor a fool on the face of the earth." If you have enjoyed 21 years of 

 life, you have had three whole years of Sabbaths; if 50, seven. How much 

 of the time given us for self discipline, comparatively free from the worry, 

 cares, and troubles of what we shall eat, or wherewithal shall we be clothed, 

 has either been snoozed away in a good Sunday afternoon nap, or otherwise 

 allowed to pass idly by; and one of poor Richard's maxims was, "As we must 

 account for every idle word, so we must for every idle silence." A notable 

 example of what a wise use of the Sabbath can accomplish, was given a few 



