FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. - 539 



The farmers of this county have proven their faith in the value of 

 education to themselves and their children by supporting and having in 

 operation nearly one hundred rural schools, besides contributing more 

 or less to the\ support of the town schools. 



We believe the home, the common school, the church and the col- 

 lege are the soul gardens in which are grown immortal beings. They 

 are the chief educational forces. But the farm is pre-eminetly a home, 

 and the home is at the head of the educational institutions. The farmer 

 is a home builder, an educator. He is the producer of food and material 

 for clothing for the millions on earth. 



Surely education is not more necessary to any class of earth's toil- 

 ers than to the farmer. He has moral responsibilities equal to those 

 of any other class of men. When the moral standing of the rural popula- 

 tion of a nation is corrupt that nation's doom is near at hand; hence, as 

 a citizen and a patriot, he needs the intellectual and moral power that 

 comes thi-ough proper education. The farmer as a citizen is at present 

 the conservator of the nation's stability, and upon his action largely de- 

 pends the perpetuity of our free institutions. It is the tendency of the 

 worst element of society to congregate in the large cities, so much so 

 that they outvote the better elements and thus control the political ac- 

 tion of these large communities, the power of which drifts into hands of 

 men who, having received it at the hands of the enemies of good society, 

 are not overzealous in using it for the suppression of evil and the pro- 

 tection and support of the right. 



There is a floating class in the large cities that have but little per- 

 manent interest, and yet they handle the ballot like a two-edged sword, 

 and that, too, under the influence of prejudice, passion and ignorance. 



The farmer is permanent. He votes for his home, and when war 

 wages its wide desolation he fights for his home. How necessary that 

 he should have that breadth of culture and intelligence that he can 

 clearly understand the great questions of national importance and cast 

 his ballot knowing the trend it will give to the nation's destiny. 



Education is not only valuable to the farmer in every line of effort, 

 but the farm itself is a great educator. The farm is the best manual 

 training school in the world if the training is wisely conducted. From 

 the very nature of things each member of the family has something to 

 do. The children delight to do little errands and will take many a step 

 to relieve tired father or mother, if he is made to feel that he is helping. 

 The chief good in their doing is the training it gives. "He learns to do 

 by doing." He learns to observe, to see and to hear with a purpose, and 

 this is the beginning of all learning. This doing and increasing ability 

 to do, can be carried on through all the stages of the child's growth, un- 

 til a character for industry, stability and acuteness in correct and prac- 

 tical thinking is established. 



The grandest and most valuable products of our farms should ])?.. 

 and must be, now and in the years to come, the best type of manhood and 

 womanhood. Then we shall know that education is valuable to the 

 farmer, and that the farm has been one of his most valuable educators. 



