MARTHA'S VINEYARD, 395 



the farmer realize that primeval malediction — ' ' Cursed 

 is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of 

 it all the days of thy life ; thorns and thistles shall it 

 bring forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 

 bread." 



To make farming profitable to the old and endurable to the 

 young, as it may be, not only hard manual labor and thoughtful 

 brain work are needed, but every mechanical appliance for 

 lightening labor, hastening work, and easing the team, the 

 boys and the men outside, and that of the women within, 

 should be brought into operation, so far as is .possible, on 

 every farm in the Commonwealth. 



I know these remarks are not germane to a report on the 

 Vineyard Fair, but I cannot lose this opportunity to iterate 

 what has been often forcibly said, that the farmer wh.o 

 scrimps his beasts, his family and himself, pinching their 

 stomachs, and depriving himself and his household of every- 

 thing but the bare necessities of living, toiling early and late 

 in all weathers, risking his health, often inducing sickness, 

 and generally induing himself with a full and permanent suit 

 of rheumatism, all to scrape together day by day small driblets 

 with which, when they amount to a hundred dollars, he 

 hastens to the nearest savings bank, burying it for the small 

 returns of three and a half per cent, a year, — does not 

 have the same happiness in his family, does not accomplish 

 the same good for his neighbors and the community around 

 him, and finally does not, with all his savings-bank invest- 

 ments, leave his family in as respectable and comfortable 

 condition as if he had turned his money back on the farm, in 

 bettering his buildings within and without, making the waste 

 places a fruitful spot, by clearing, ditching and reclaiming land,, 

 in buying improved animals for increased products, and im- 

 proved implements and machines which should ease the 

 unceasing work in his declining years ; by liberal manage- 

 ment and generous treatment attracting and retaining: around 

 him, in one or more comfortable farmer's homes, those chil- 

 dren who, repelled by the hardships and unloveliness of the 

 cheerless farm, have sought more congenial situations, and 

 have found sympathy and appreciation in other occupations 

 and in other parts of the country. 



