7 



been a period of deep and earnest thought, when the foundation of 

 things had been somewhat touched. The theories of human rights 

 had been thought out, and the battle was being fought. The tram- 

 mels of thought and investigation had been broken and cast off, Gal- 

 ileo had risen from his recantation, saying iu an undertone : " The 

 world does move:' In that undertone was the faith that drew the 

 veil from the heavens and revealed a new universe. The world moves. 

 That mighty period of theoretic thinking resulted in the practical. 

 Thought began to be applied to the wants of man in every depart- 

 ment of life, and the overwhelming majority of the fruits have ap- 

 peared since I was a boy. 



How immense, for instance, are the discoveries in light ! Taken 

 as a science, how wonderful ! But taken in its artificial form, as ap- 

 plied to human wants, we find invention and progress most striking 

 and interesting. The imperious demand is light. By studied com- 

 binations and practical applications, we have brought, since I was a 

 boy, the line of radiance, or illumination, up through the wick of the 

 candle dip, the whale oil wick, the gas jet, the incandescent lime 

 ball, to the blazing electric splendor. Royal flotillas once got their 

 splendor from the faint twinkle of lanterns with which the sides of 

 the vessels were hung. Beacons at the beginning of this century 

 were kindled on hill-tops by wood fires, as was done on the marble 

 tower of Pharos in the time of the Ptolemies, in the harbor of Alex- 

 andria. So, near the beginning of this century, tallow candles were 

 stuck in a hoop for the light of the famous Eddystone Lighthouse of 

 England. We still build our lighthouses, and we hang our lamps 

 aloft ; but we send our light away in a sustained lightning flash and 

 illuminate the darkened way of the sailor " far, far at sea." By the 

 rockets colored glare we warn of coming danger; or the admiral 

 directs the movements of his fleet ; or you frame a picture of dazzling 

 beauty by your pyrotechnics. Now a city saloon is decked with a 

 more splendid illumination than a royal palace, on a fete-day, in olden 

 times. By the intensity and glory of your light you turn night into 

 day, and give the thief and murderer less chance to escape from 

 the pursuit of justice. 



But what has all this to do with farming ? Why, it has all come 

 since I saw my mother dipping candles, made from the tallow taken 

 from the sheep, or the steer, or the heifer which had been killed on 

 the farm. I see her now — bending over the pot of melted tallow, 

 humming an old melody, while she takes up the rod on which is 

 twisted the wicking, and lowers it into the hot tallow, then raising it 



