240 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



And yet so pinched, and bare, and comfortless, 

 The veriest straggler limping on his rounds, 

 The sun and air his sole inheritance, 

 Laughed at a poverty that paid its taxes, 

 And hugged his rags in self-complacency ! 

 Not such should be the homesteads of a land 

 Where whoso wisely wills and acts may dwell 

 As king and lawgiver, in broad-acred state, 

 With beauty, art, taste, culture, books, to make 

 His hour of leisure richer than a life 

 Of fourscore to the barons of old time. 

 Our yeoman should be equal to his home 

 Set in the fair, green valleys, purple walled 

 A man to match his mountains, not to creep 

 Dwarfed and abased below them. 



RESULTS OF THE DISCUSSION. 



One of the most important features of the Kewanee Con 

 vention was, that, though it was called a Convention of 

 Farmers Clubs, it was attended by many influential mem 

 bers of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Up to this 

 time there had been, or was supposed, to have been, a degree 

 of jealousy existing between the two forms of association. 

 These differences had been fomented and magnified by de 

 signing persons who wished to see the associations antagon 

 istic, in the hope that the agitation would prove a failure. 

 The unanimity which marked this meeting showed that no 

 ill-feeling existed between the two organizations. 



This Convention, upon the whole, may be characterized as 

 the most important meeting held up to that time, as far as 

 Western farmers are concerned. An immense stride was 

 there taken toward effecting the organizations that have 

 since developed into a power before which their foes, at first 

 derisive, now tremble. Not the least good effected was that 



