farmers'*' Institutes. 43 



know nothing about men, and nothing about practical affairs. We hear much of 

 the success of poor boys who, like Garfield, had to work their way through 

 college. The secret is that in so doing they had some contact with practical life. 

 But it is not desirable that a man should have to work his way through college, 

 for he will either lose the full benefit of the course, or he will overwork and under- 

 mind his constitution. The plan of education should be so arranged as to give 

 him the necessary contact with practical life without breaking in upon study. 



Now the United States has aimed to found a college which shall so connect 

 education with practical life. It does not exclude languages, nor anything that 

 can be taught, but the leading ideas are agriculture, mechanic arts, and military 

 science. Instruction in the mechanic arts is provided for in the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology at Boston. To Amherst has been left agriculture, general 

 education, and military training. It may be asked why an agricultural college ? 

 Because there are constantly arising new difficulties and new processes. Because 

 the greatest number of people not only now are, but in the nature of things must 

 always be, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and these ought therefore to give the 

 best conditions for health, for life, for happiness, and for a fair competence. We 

 must secure to this largest number all these things. 



How much will one acre of land produce ? Try the experiment and you will 

 be astonished. Instead of taking care of a cow on four acres, four cows can be 

 kept a year on one acre. One great defect of the farmer's life is isolation. But 

 this seeing what an acre will do tends to small farms, and small farms tend to 

 density of population. Another defect is the fact that too many farmer's homes 

 are not attractive to the educated child. When farmers are educated they will 

 make their homes attractive. The business of the farmer is greatly misunder- 

 stood by professional men. When I accepted the presidency of the Agricultural 

 College, a well-known judge asked me if I was insane. He seemed to think this 

 whole matter of educating farmers all moonshine. But there is no business that 

 requires more mind, and when it comes to opportunities the farmer has more 

 leisure for education and culture than any other man. In old times there was 

 much logging and heavy work to be done in the winter, but now work is crowded 

 into the summer leaving much leisure in the winter months. You have not yet 

 learned how to use it, but I believe the time is coming when farmers will be the 

 best students, the best writers, the best speakers in the community. 



The Agricultural College takes pupils from the grammar schools. Its standard 

 of admission is not high. It is asked how can you take a scholar with no prepara- 

 tion and in four years educate him ? The true preparation for college is character. 

 We require six hours for manual labor every week, and we don't want any men 

 who won't take hold and work. Give us young men with a purpose, who will 

 work, and I'll guarantee to educate them in four years so far as they can be 

 educated in an institution. I wouldn't raise the standard if I could. We want it 

 to lap right on to the common schools. 



When I first went to Amherst I was prejudiced against the Military feature ; 

 now I see it in an entirely new light. The idea of the United States was that 

 these students trained at the public expense should be qualified for the public 

 defense. Everyone when he graduates is competent to take a position in the 

 regular army. But more important than that, he learns the first and most im- 

 portant duty of the true citizen, implicit obedience to rightly constituted authority. 

 The officers are appointed from among the students. In the ranks they are per- 

 fectly obeyed, when they break ranks all associate as equals ; that is the true 

 American idea. Each student receives his gun bright as silver. When he sur- 

 renders it at the end of four years it must be bright as silver and in perfect order. 

 Every Saturday morning the rooms and halls are inspected by officers ; everything 

 must be in its place, the room in perfect and wholesome condition. What a train- 

 ing all this is, in habit of orderliness and care taking. 



But it is said you will educate these boys off from the farms. Yes, off from 

 the old farms but not off from the new farms that they will make. We want a new 

 order of farmers and we want your help. We want each Agricultural Saciety to 

 send us at least one young man ; that will make all the students we can take care 

 of. We must stop implying that ignorance and farming must go together. If I 



