THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



353 



any man in spirit ; but I do not need either a narcotic 

 nor an opiate to lull or to cheer me, and I am not pre- 

 pared to fall down to that public opinion which makes 

 venial the seed-bed of vice. Intemperance is the source 

 of more than one-half of Eny;land's sorrows ; and I 

 warn the risii.g generation to flee her enticing calls. 

 Safety here, and a young man of sense is proof against 

 the foolish spree, secure from a youth-time of folly, and 

 an old age of physical debility and mental repining. 

 Some young men appear to consider the fast life a life 

 of heroism, and a life wherein to glory. It leads to a 

 life-time of shame ; and how is society strewed with 

 the wrecks of youthful intemperance, vice, and folly ! 

 No scriptural axiom is more true than the one em- 

 bodying the fact, "That the world will speak well of 

 thee so long as thou doest well unto thyself." I have 

 said much upon temperance as a preventive to folly ; 

 but the only true safeguard is true Christian piinciple. 

 Christianity is the fundamental basis of security ; and 

 shall I, who feel that I owe all that I have, all I am, and 

 all I ever shall be, to its influence — I say, shall I lack 

 the moral courage to assert its power ? Shall I pass it 

 by as a subject which has nothini^ to do with the busi- 

 ness of life ? shall I bow to the popular notion afloat 

 in the world, that it is only fit for Sundays, and for 

 elders when the fire of life has abated ? Shall I admit 

 that it has nothing to do with the discipline and the 

 success of life? I came to tell you my experience; 

 and, as a young man, I tell the young men of England 

 plainly, I have found Christian principle as a thousand- 

 horse power within a man, to cheer and to urge him 

 onward in the path of duty. I hate the hypocritical 

 cant and the Jesuitical humbug which abounds. There 

 always will be impostors in any age ; but I know of no 

 body of young men more imposed upon than those who 

 wilfully determine to have nothing to do with true 

 Christian principle upon any terms. True Christian 

 principle is the highway to success in life ; for while it 

 prevents indolence, sloth, and extravagance, a waste of 

 time and a waste of money, it excites to industry and 

 economy, to uprightness of character, and rectitude of 

 conduct. Are not those thus imbued — the men who 

 prove Havelocks in their sphere ? — men armed with 

 moderation, patience, and endurance — men possessing 

 promptitude and perseverance ? Are not those the men 

 who neither rack their bodies by excesses, or their 

 minds by fear and feverish anxiety ? Are not those the 

 men intellectually strong in tranquillity, and physically 

 strong from temperance ? Are not those the men who 

 are kind-hearted, courteous, considerate, and unpre- 

 tending ? Are not those the men who can control their 

 tempers and their passions, and live above the jealousies, 

 animosities, and envies which mar the happiness and 

 peace of most men ? They are ; and, if such are the 

 fruits of true Christian principle, are not such qualities 

 and such fruits the essentials for success in life ? are 

 they not the essentials to secure a peaceful and a happy 

 home ? are they not the essentials to constitute a cheer- 

 ful and a happy manhood ? They are ; and to every 

 young man I recommend the bible as his chart, and, 

 when Christian precept has become his practice, may it 



be his good fortune'fo possess a sharer of his joys, to 

 possess a helpmeet, amiable in temper, and kind in dis- 

 position ; to possess a wife adorned with the ornament 

 of a meek and quiet spirit, adorned with the beauty of 

 love and the jewel of sinse ; and thus may they be mu- 

 tually blessed, and prove blessings to all around them. 

 In conclusion, a good education, thorough training and 

 discipline, are the groundworks of success in life. 

 Agriculturally those groundworks have been, and are at 

 the present time, much neglected; and, though parental 

 and social influence generally may do much to mould 

 the character of youth, yet it is only by national com- 

 bination and national exertion that the intellectual 

 development, the scientific culture, and the mental 

 discipline of the agricultural youths of England can be 

 secured. And most strongly do I urge upon you, gentle- 

 men, upon parents generally, and upon the kingdom at 

 large, the necessity for action, the necessity for a well- 

 developed plan of agricultural educational examinations ; 

 and such public examinations, I am convinced, would 

 prevent the present waste of thousands of pounds an- 

 nually in indolent and wrongly-direct d efforts of in- 

 struction, and at the same time put aside the present 

 incalculable loss of many of the most precious years of 

 a young man's existence, extending from the age of 16 

 to 21 years — a loss, too, which cannot be estimated even 

 by tens of thousands of pounds annually. And I 

 long to see England made more great, more glorious, 

 and more free by the improved intellectual culture and 

 the improved mental discipline of the rising and future 

 generations of Englishmen. 



The Rev. C. T. James, having been repeatedly called 

 upon, said : His reason for responding was, that he 

 desired as a clergyman to express his hearty assent to 

 the Christian sentiments contained in Mr. Bond's in- 

 troduction. If he were asked what kind of education 

 were best, he should reply — that whicb taught a man to 

 think best ; and therefore he rejoiced that within a few 

 months a resolution had been passed in that room to the 

 effect that the advance of the arts and sciences in re- 

 lation to farming had rendered improved education 

 essential to the British farmer no less than to the British 

 labourer. If, indeed, the education of farmers were not 

 improved, what would soon be the position of the 

 country? Agriculture was the chief source of the 

 wealth and stability of the nation. They were essentially 

 a corn-consuming people ; and, although everyone must 

 bid God-speed to commerce, manufactures, and trade, it 

 was manifest that the community at large were mainly 

 dependent on the advancement and prosperity of agri- 

 culture. Ti)ere were 189,820 fa^ms in England, com- 

 prising 78,000,000 acres, the rental of which was 

 i'127, 000,000 per annum; and there were 800,000 

 families which were directly interested in agricultural 

 pursuits. It was, therefore, manifestly of the utmost 

 importance, in every point of view, that farmers should 

 be educated in the truest sense of the word. It must be 

 confessed, and he thought the clergymen were in some 

 degree to blame for the fact, that in past times the 

 education of farmers generally had been very inadequate 

 to the requirements of their position. The middle-class 



