268 THE GHOtJNDSWELL. 



to check this dangerous and growing evil, absolute serfdom would be 

 the result. 



In casting about for some means of relief, various plans were de 

 vised. We, from time to time, heard of the Laborers Unions of 

 Europe, of the Internationals of France, and of late years we have 

 been [studying the old system of the freehold cities of Germany, 

 with their perfect system of guilds and associations of labor, which 

 all finally went down under the iron heel of despotism. While look 

 ing for light, while casting about for relief, there were rumors of a 

 new organization, peculiarly American in its character, and one 

 which was designed to unite together, in one common bond of broth 

 erhood, the laboring and producing classes. This new organization 

 was called the Patrons of Husbandry. Born of a great and almost 

 terrible need, in obedience to the divine law of supply and demand, in 

 our day and hour of need, this organization came to strengthen our 

 hands, and to form a united interest from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 slope. I remember very distinctly the first time I read the preamble 

 to the National Constitution of the National Grange. Volumes 

 might be written and not more clearly express man s relation to his 

 brother man, and to the Father. 



I have sometimes been pained at the tenacity with which some 

 members of our Order cling, with an absorbing purpose, to simply 

 the pecuniary aspect of our work. Brothers, this is commendable, 

 but it is not all. Our sons and daughters must be educated. Edu 

 cated, not only in books, but in that broader education which takes 

 in all of the human character. Nowhere can this be so well done 

 as in the Grange room. Here the highest and broadest moral senti 

 ments are taught, line upon line, and precept upon precept. The 

 highest attributes of human character are here brought forward. 

 Meanness and bitterness are rebuked, and the mind is expanded. 

 Not alone, however, are our children educated in the Grange room. 

 We ourselves are benefited. How many men and women are learn 

 ing how business men do business, and the relations all sustain to 

 the government and to commerce. When our Order has passed the 

 elementary stages, and has become, so to speak, solidified, no class 

 of people in our land will be as learned, as broad in their views, as 



