2l6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



my own, but rather to get ideas of yours. I got a few of them 

 this morning that are quite good, and they will help me in my 

 work. It is a tendency among school teachers more than any 

 other class of people to become exceedingly dogmatic in their 

 manner of thinking, or in their ways of thinking. We are not 

 accustomed to have people come and say to us, You ought to 

 do this, You ought to do that, because ordinarily people do not 

 come up to us and question the facts in the case when we are 

 speaking about them. Therefore, I say there is a strong ten- 

 dency for us to come to believe that the things that we say 

 are just a little better than those of anybody else, or better than 

 the opinion that anybody else holds. I want you then, as 

 farmers, as people interested in agricultural interests, and also 

 as people who must have and who surely do have an interest 

 in the public schools, to keep in mind the fact that you ought 

 to help us as a class, as school teachers, to keep away from 

 dogmatism, and to help lis to learn to be open-minded. To 

 this end let us call ourselves into council this afternoon for a 

 little while, by way of an address and discussion. Let us find 

 out about these things, whether they really be things that we 

 ought to pay serious attention to, and whether they really are 

 true. Now it will be impossible for me to inaugurate or even 

 to attempt to outline in detail a course of study to be followed 

 out in the public schools if I wanted to do it, but that is not my 

 business here. It is for me to speak concerning the things 

 that are being done in the public schools, by way of agricul- 

 tural study, nature study, or to speak of it under any name 

 which you choose. It has been suggested that, if possible, I 

 speak upon some things that seem to me to be important and 

 that ought to be done, and which our interest in this great 

 subject-matter should prompt us as needing to be done. 



Now suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and for- 

 tunes of every one of us were some day or another to depend 

 upon his winning or losing a game of chess. Don't you think 

 that we should all start rather promptly to learn at least the 

 names and moves of the pieces, and then to think of the means 

 of giving and getting out of check? If that were so do you 

 not think we should look with aversion, amounting to scorn, 

 upon a father who allowed his son to grow up without know- 

 ing a pawn from a knight? Yet it is a very plain and 

 elementary fact that the life and fortunes and happiness of 



