EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 695 



what goes on in the great world around him, who living in the Twentieth 

 century uses implements of the Nineteenth and the methods of the Middle 

 Ages? Is that man a success who, working early and late, without 

 taking time to enjoy life as he goes along, becomes so overpowered with 

 greed for gain that never a kind word is spoken or a gracious act per- 

 formed unless he can see a dollar in it? Or could you call that man 

 a success who, by fair means and foul, has added acre to acre, farm to 

 farm, until he owns a vast tract of land? Is he who makes a simple 

 living only or he who acquires wealth always a success? The questions 

 are a sufficient answer. 



Whom then can we call a successful farmer? He is the best farmer, 

 as he is the best citizen and the best man, who can make the best use 

 of every opportunity that presents itself, who uses his brain to save 

 his back, who is interested in and is kind and helpful to his fellow-man; 

 who makes a cheerful home where wife and children are contented and 

 happy, enjoying to the full the many good things Providence has placed 

 within his grasp. What things are required of a successful farmer? The 

 demands today are varied and numerous, and to prepare for them 

 requires an education of no mean type. The competition of the times 

 and the scarcity of help require that the farmer should be able to use 

 the latest and most improved machinery in all branches of farm work. 

 Most trades today are specializing, each man is doing a small part of 

 the work in any industry, but with the farmer it is just the reverse. 

 There was a day when the mechanic in the shop was a man of varied 

 accomplishments. He could run any machine in the shop or do any kind 

 of work. Now he runs but one machine. The day was when a shoemaker 

 made shoes; now he only repairs them. The shoe is made by many 

 different hands, each doing but a small part of the work on each shoe. 

 From Monday morning till Saturday night the man at the last does 

 nofbing but drive pegs until it becomes second nature to him and requires 

 no mental effort on his part, but he moves like an automaton. The 

 watchmaker once made watches, cutting out every wheel, fashioning every 

 part, and the watch had some individuality, but now brass rods are fed 

 into a machine and at the other end come out wheels cut and polished, 

 ready to be assembled into a watch. Ten thousand of them, all alike, 

 interchangeable of course, therefore easy to repair. But in a thousand 

 no one could discover a difference except in the number stamped on 

 each. All character and individuality has gone not only in the watch 

 but in the watchmaker as well. The same has happened in nearly every 

 trade. The individual has become a machine or the machine has taken 

 his place. 



On the farm how different? While there has been a change it has 

 been in the opposite direction, to broaden the farmer's sphere of action 

 and make him a more all-round man. Fifty years ago the farmer alone, 

 or with the help of a blacksmith, could make most of the tools used oa 

 the farm. The plow, harrow and plank drag, the sickle, scythe, wagon 

 and home-made rake, and the fork and flail comprised the farmer's tools. 

 Things so simple required but little skill to keep them in repair. There- 

 fore it was supposed that anyone could be a farmer, and that he needed 

 no education. Then a little scratching brought abundant crops from a 



