A HIGHER STANDARD FOR THE FARMER. 



known, would warrant. Only an individual s own actions can affect his character; it is what 

 the man really is that enstamps that, and not what men say he is. It should be the aim of 

 every one to establish a good reputation, for no one should be indifferent to public opinion, 

 yet the desire of possessing a good reputation should never conflict with our ideas of right, 

 our moral principle, and cause us to sacrifice the latter to obtain the former. Conscience and 

 duty to God and man should be the standard of guidance in life, rather than public opinion. 

 Whoever pursues such a course quietly and persistently will generally be appreciated and 

 respected among his fellow-men; but if not, he will have the satisfaction of an approving 

 conscience in doing right as far as he understands his duty. 



A truly noble nature will generally be recognized as such by those of a similar character; 

 and eventually, if not speedily, will the sincere endeavor to do right be fully recognized and 

 appreciated in every one. In order to secure a good reputation, a person must be honest in 

 intent and deed. &quot; Honesty &quot; will ever be found &quot; the best policy &quot; in every department in 

 life, yet the truly honest course should be followed because it is right, and not from motives 

 of policy, or for the hope of the reward it may bring. The farmer who always furnishes a 

 good article to the market, and never practices the many petty devices frequently resorted to 

 for making products appear to be of better quality or of larger quantity than they really are, 

 will soon establish a reputation for honesty and fair dealing that will be a great aid in 

 securing good prices and custom for his products. The financial advantage to be derived 

 from strictly fair dealing, and a good reputation, may, however, be regarded as incidental, and 

 are not to be considered at all in the light of a motive. Deceit and trickery may prove 

 successful for a time, but eventually they will be detected, and will result in failure of success 

 in the end. A strictly honest man will be honest in every department in life, and his 

 character be free from all stain. An immoral man cannot be justly regarded as an honest 

 man, and should never be trusted as such in business transactions, for if he would prove false 

 and recreant to the most sacred relations in life, and by his influence, debase rather than 

 elevate humanity, he is not to be safely trusted in minor matters involving financial interests; 

 while he whose life is guided by strictly moral principle, and what is better, Christian 

 principle as well, will be universally respected and trusted when his true character is known, 

 and has in his possession one of the highest elements of success. 



Peillirioiisness and Extravagance. It has become somewhat proverbial that 

 penuriousness is the common fault of farmers. Whether this may be true in a general 

 sense, it is certainly a fact, that too many farmers carry what they regard as a necessary 

 economy to excess, and which in the farmer himself, his wife, and his children, amounts 

 almost to the sacrifice of martyrdom, every dollar and cent that can be saved from the bare 

 necessities of maintaining an existence being hoarded up and put in the savings bank, gov 

 ernment bonds, or expended in the purchase of new land, while every waking hour is spent 

 in the hardest kind of drudgery in order to eke out, if possible, a few more dollars to add 

 to the hoarded treasure. In such a household we see none of the pleasant adornments that 

 add so much to the beauty and attractiveness of the home ; there are few, if any, books and 

 papers; only the bare necessary articles of food are found upon the table, while the furnish 

 ings of the house and the clothing of the inmates are of the most meagre character, all the 

 common comforts and enjoyments of the home being sacrificed for the purpose of laying up 

 a few more dollars. It is no wonder that children leave such a home as soon as they are 

 old enough, and do not remember it in after life with pleasure. Such penuriousness will be 

 found the poorest economy in the end. 



. The opposite extreme will be found in extravagance and wastefulness, which are some 

 times very improperly regarded as liberality and true generosity, both of which extremes 

 should be equally avoided. True economy may not be incompatible with the gratification of 

 necessary and specific wants, but the spending of money for unnecessary things which we 

 may want, but cannot afford to purchase, is extravagance. 



Temperance. In the economy of life, the temperate use of things is the safest, and, 

 therefore, the wisest method of procedure. The practice of drinking spirituous liquors as a 

 beverage is a great evil, one of the greatest with which our country, as well as the other 

 nations of the world, are cursed, and if young men realized as they should the fatal snare into 

 which they enter when they commence forming this habit, they would shrink from it with 

 abhorrence. We believe in the use of alcoholic liquors as a medicine when no equivalent can 

 be found to answer the purpose, but that they should be used sparingly and only when necessary, 

 the same as all medicinal drugs. Even a moderate use of liquors is injurious, not only because 



