10 The Farmsfniil 



But these results of the labors of the farmer 

 as set forth in figures, tell but half the story, 

 for nothing is said in these census reports of 

 an empire redeemed, of the thousands upon 

 thousands of miles of road constructed, of rivers 

 spanned, of the school house by every roadside, 

 or of the church spires which mark the progress 

 of agriculture and civilization in countryside, in 

 village and in hamlet. The census report does 

 not give the number or value of the great men 

 and noble women which the rural homes have 

 produced, though they are the most valuable 

 product of the farms. It says nothing about 

 the perennial rural springs from which flow, in 

 a never-ending stream, statesmen, divines, mis- 

 sionaries, teachers, students and business men. 

 Although more than half of these life-giving 

 energies of the nation and civilization come 

 directly from the rural homes, the census report 

 gives no clue by which the value of these, the 

 nation's wealth and power, can be ascertained. 



Looking over all the trades and professions 

 which are followed by civilized and barbarous 

 peoples, none give opportunity for rearing 

 the family under so nearly ideal conditions 

 as does the profession of agriculture : none 

 furnish such good conditions for rearing children 

 and for developing them into strong, natural 

 and useful men and women. Here, then, on 



