PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY. 



PEET, HARVEY P. 



627 



of American independence, and to advocate the con- 

 trary is unworthy of the sons and daughters of 

 an American republic. We cheriah the belief that 

 sectionalism is, and of right should be, dead and 

 buried with the past. Our work is for the present 

 and the future. In our agricultural brotherhood and 

 its purposes, we shall recognize no North, no South, 

 no East, no West. It is reserved by every Patron, 

 as the right of a freeman, to affiliate with any party 

 that will best carry out his principles. 



6. Ours being peculiarly a farmers' institution, we 

 cannot admit all to our ranks. Many are excluded 

 by the nature of our organization, not because they 

 are professional men, or artisans, or laborers, but be- 

 cause they have not a sufficient direct interest in till- 

 ing or pasturing the soil, or may have some interest 

 in conflict with our purposes. But we appeal to all 

 good citizens for their cordial cooperation to assist in 

 our efforts toward reform, that we may eventually 

 remove from our midst the last vestijje of tvranny 

 and corruption. We hail the general desire for fra- 

 ternal harmony, equitable compromise, and earnest 

 cooperation, as an omen of our future success. 



7. It shall be an abiding principle with us, to re- 

 lieve any of our suffering brotherhood by any means 

 at our command. La8t,T>ut not least, wo proclaim it 

 among our purposes to inculcate a proper apprecia- 

 tion of the abilities and sphere of woman, as is indi- 

 cated by admitting her to membership and position in 

 our order. Imploring the continued assistance of our 

 Divine Master to guide us in our work, we here 

 pledge ourselves to faithful and harmonious labor for 

 all future time to return by our united efforts to the 

 wisdom, justice, fraternity, and political purity of 

 our forefathers. 



Two or three points alluded to both in this 

 declaration, and in the preamble to the consti- 

 tution, may require a little further elucidation. 

 The Order of " Patrons of Husbandry " is, we 

 believe, the first of the secret societies which 

 has admitted women into full and equal mem- 

 bership in all its organizations with the other 

 sex ; it is certainly the first which has given 

 them a share of the official positions in such 

 organizations. This has not been done in any 

 concession to what is known as the " Woman's 

 Rights" movement; but for two reasons: 1. 

 That in the farmer's life, the woman, be she 

 mother, wife, sister, or daughter, has her full 

 share of the severe and often trying labor, not 

 so much in the field as in the house; and, 

 consequently, that in an institution, one of 

 whose cardinal principles is to make home 

 more attractive and happy, she has as much 

 right to participate as man; and if, as is the 

 case in every well-conducted grange, there are 

 opportunities and methods of intellectual and 

 social culture, her right to a share in them is 

 as strong as that of the man. Political dis- 

 cussion being prohibited in the grange, there 

 is no danger of her being instructed in politics 

 there. 2. That thereby the attraction, purity, 

 and elevated character of the grange, is sup- 

 posed to be secured. There is no man who 

 would be fit for membership in such an organi- 

 zation, who would not feel that it was a place 

 of greater attraction for him, if his mother, 

 wife, sister, or daughter, were to be present, 

 and have a share in the exercises. This was a 

 wise provision of the founders of the order, 

 and one which will do much toward insuring 

 its perpetuity. The social exercises, festivals, 



picnics, and family-days, the singing, and the 

 provision of musical instruments and libraries, 

 for the granges, which have grown out of this 

 admission of women to a participation in it, 

 are not only very pleasant features of its life, 

 but exert a powerful influence in refining and 

 educating its members. 



Cooperation is not an unmeaning word in 

 the Order of " Patrons of Husbandry." All 

 purchases and sales made through the officers 

 of the State, or subordinate granges, being 

 made for cash only, the order affords the finest 

 field iu the world for the successful working 

 of the principles of cooperation ; and this has 

 already been inaugurated on a large scale, and 

 will be greatly extended during the coming 

 year. 



PECKHAM, RUFIIS W., an American jurist, 

 horn in Rensselaerville, Albany County, N. Y., 

 December 20, 1809 ; lost at sea at the sinking 

 of the Ville du Havre, November 22, 1873. In 

 1830 he became a resident of Albany, where 

 he at once took a leading position at the bar. 

 In 1837 he was elected District Attorney of 

 Albany County. He was elected to Congress 

 in 1852 on the Democratic ticket, and served 

 one term, at the expiration of which he re- 

 sumed the practice of law in parnership with 

 Judge Tremain. In 1859 he was elected Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, and served eight 

 years. In 1867 he was reelected without op- 

 position, being the candidate of both parties. 

 While still holding this position he was, in 

 1870, elected to the Court of Appeals, of which 

 he was a member at the time of his sudden 

 death. His health had been so impaired by 

 the hard work imposed upon the court during 

 its earlier sessions that the physicians advised 

 him to take a vacation. He expressed a prefer- 

 ence for Florida, but at the suggestion of his 

 brethren on the bench concluded to try the 

 effect of the air of Southern France. In every 

 position to which he was called he sustained a 

 high reputation for integrity and fidelity to 

 trust, and held the entire confidence of his as- 

 sociates. 



PEET, HARVEY PKIUDLE, LL. D., an emi- 

 nent instructor of deaf-mutes, and author, 

 born in Bethlem, Conn., November 19,1794; 

 died in New York City, January 1, 1873. He 

 was brought qp on his father's farm, and with 

 limited advantages, doing farm-work in the 

 summer and attending a district school in the 

 winter. At the age of sixteen he tauglit a dis- 

 trict school, and subsequently other schools of 

 higher order, until he' had earned the means 

 for a two years' course at Phillips Academy, 

 Andover. In 1818 he entered Yale College, 

 from which he graduated in 1822, taking rank 

 with the first ten in his class. It had been his 

 intention to enter the ministry, but an invita- 

 tion to teach in the American Asylum for the 

 Deaf and Dumb, at Hartford, Conn., gave him 

 the opportunity to develop his rare fitness for 

 what was then a new profession. His life 

 was thenceforward devoted to tho cause of 



