EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART X. 733 



only trees, only clods in fields, only labor for which we expect a recom- 

 pense. For through those schools the student not only receives a knowl- 

 edge of the laws of nature but also a practical knowledge of the appli- 

 cation of science in relation to life thereby fitting himself to be useful 

 to mankind. 



The present and the future, demand men prepared to solve the great- 

 est of problems, the problems which concern the living natural features 

 of our time. Tillers of the soil have too low an estimate of the standard 

 of their work, they lack a manly pride, they are not proud of being agri- 

 culturists the oldest of occupations imbedded in the very structure of 

 the earth. 



For a time we have favored the people who work chiefly with the brain, 

 the lawyer is an interpreter of some laws that men behind him have made. 

 A banker is an interpreter of financial laws that men behind him have 

 made, a farmer is an interpreter of the laws of nature a force before 

 which all men bow in subgujation. 'Tis true his work may not be what 

 we consider clean, but all matter is clean when in its proper sphere, and 

 the soiled clothes and marked hands have always been and always will be, 

 the genuine badges of creative toil. 



We are told that farmers are today our leisure class, not our idle 

 class, but our liesure class. The awful competition, the swift pace at 

 which the professional man and the business man lives is out of the 

 range of the farmer, for he can still control his time to a certain extent. 

 But our development is incomplete if we ignore our hours of leisure and 

 demand activity of muscle as the highest of ideals, leisure is beneficial 

 to all when used wisely, it broadens our ideas, it quickens our thoughts, 

 it brings us in contact with new principles and with many classes who 

 in various ways are working for the benefit of humanity. 



"A certain merchant placed a blackboard in his store, and asked 

 his customers to write their names upon it, and after the name to write 

 what they were doing for humanity. First came a lawyer and he wrote, 

 "I plead for all." Next came a doctor who wrote, "I prescribe for all." 

 The third was a minister and he said, "I pray for all." Then came a 

 farmer who after writing his name, thought awhile, then put down, 

 "I pay for all." 



Well, that may be the farmer's especial gift, and he is given plenty of 

 chance to cultivate it, still we call the farmers the independent class, 

 but after all no class is wholly independent. 



Do not hold up before young eyes the almighty dollar as a scale by 

 which to measure the length and breadth of labor but rather, teach the 

 results of conscientious thought and toil, will daily gain in force and 

 Influence, while the minted coin diminishes in value by constant circu- 

 lation. 



Life presents varied demands. You cannot make the best kind of a 

 citizen out of a man who thinks his calling the only one worthy of 

 consideration, so there is need of studies dealing with topics of general 

 interest. When we add to the knowledge of these, training in some es- 

 pecial line, we may feel well equipped for some position. Educate for 

 the fulfilling of some vocation, not for the getting of vacations. 



