32 AGRICULTURE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



itself within narrow limits by an almost universal, practical 

 education, and the dignity accorded to the pursuit of agri 

 culture. The organization of the national intellect is as com 

 plete, and far more rational than that of China. That gov 

 ernment may be considered as having builded &quot;better than 

 it knew&quot; which discriminated in favor of the agriculturists in 

 respect to educational privileges; for these classes are neces 

 sarily the most averse to changes in government. Political 

 disturbances and agitations, like war, are a constant threat to 

 the prosperity of the farmer, and to him, sooner than the repre 

 sentative of any other class, may new ideas be intrusted with 

 safety to the nation. 



Japan gives us the highest example of national thrift, if the 

 density of population in proportion to extent and original 

 excellence of territory is the test. The surface is broken by 

 ranges of mountains, the coast by bays and inlets which render 

 navigation dangerous, and the variations of temperature are ex 

 cessive. Yet she feeds, cluthes, shelters and instructs a larger 

 population than that of Great Britain. The perfection of cult 

 ure which has enabled her to accomplish this, unassisted by 

 foreign commerce, must be studied in detail to be understood. 

 She has done it mainly by the most wonderful economy of fer 

 tilizing materials, and the preservation of her forests. 



Eural life in Greece is presented in a charming book which 

 has woven the facts of the nation s life into a prose poem. 

 President Felton says: &quot;If the Greeks were preeminently a na 

 tion of poets and artists, they were no less preeminently a nation 

 of farmers.&quot; Here for the first time we find the rural home. 

 The pictures which Homer gives of the scenes of rustic toil are 

 fresh and enchanting as those in the pages of Whittier. Nor 

 were the Hellenes unlike our New England forefathers in the 

 virtues of thrift and temperance, in their proverbial philosophy, 

 the wit which goes &quot;like bullet to its mark,&quot; or their weather- 

 wisdom. Like the American Indian, they knew the time of day 

 by the turning of leaves and the opening and shutting of flow 

 ers. The charm of Homer to the English mind is in the famil 

 iarity of scenes which are depicted in his immortal lines. The 

 Greek mind absorbed beauty as the Greek body took in health 

 and wholeness (another word for holiness) from the earth it 

 loved. &quot;The love of rural life was one of the deepest passions 



