72 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



There will be a complexity of national affairs ; there will be dis- 

 turbing social elements ; there will be powerful religious disturbances, of 

 which we have never dreamed. We would not, 1 know, have our chil- 

 dren led unarmed into these contests for liberty, truth and right. 

 Especially can libraries be introduced successfully into oar village 

 schools under the guidance of our teachers. I congratulate you here 

 in this respect. Never grow weary ; never give up. Some sow, others 

 reap. 



Ambitious people find a way or make one out of these desponding 

 places. God pity the village or the neighborhood where there is no 

 true soul to advocate the cause of the children or open up for them a 

 better way. Our best advantages are poor enough. Let them have 

 everything along the line of education that it is possible for us to give. 

 When we do the best we know how, we will be rewarded by young 

 men and women coming to the front who will battle for American insti- 

 tutions with all their grandeur and worth. 



FACTOR THE THIRD. 



T shall now ask for opportunities for growth of thought among the 

 business men — the men occupied in merchandise, the trades and pro- 

 fessions, and also the young farmers. They are the strength and vital 

 force of the country village. Upon their shoulders rests the success 

 of every enterprise of any consequence. Every force for the advance- 

 ment of the town should be ready to serve their wishes. If their 

 plans fail, alas for the result. They are usually orderly and courageous, 

 and have positive but conservative beliefs. 



It appears to me that the most fruitful sources of intellectual 

 strength and pleasure to them are the best political, scientific, reli- 

 gious and literary journals and magazines of our country and Europe. 

 The town that will support a reading-room where our best journals 

 can be read or gotten to read, is opening up the way to the best 

 thought for them. To ask this is to ask little enough, and no one of 

 them may be able to have these advantages without the aid of all. 

 The business men and farmers have not time or disposition to study 

 books ; but a stream of intellectual light is being flashed weekly and 

 monthly all over this country by these magazines and journals, and 

 it is just suited to the wants of our business men and farmers. Eead- 

 ing-rooms of this nature are very scarce, however, but wherever they 

 are they meet a want, and supply a demand to know concerning the 

 discussions of the living, vital questions of the day, and business men 

 want to know of these things. This knowledge from experts enables 

 them to plan for the good of all, and this is a sacred duty which they 

 have to perform. 



