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the cause of this, but I can say that no -well balanced and Ingenuous mind, be 

 •it merchant, lawyer, or statesman, — no man who has the real interest and happi- 

 ness and glory of his country at heart, can look with inditVerence or contempt 

 upon a calling which has constituted the truest happiness of the noblest men 

 that ever lived, — men who have embalmed themselves in the memory of their 

 posterity, the mention of Avhom is the talisman to fire the heart with patriotism^ 

 the Washingtons of the Revolution, the Websters of the present age ! 



It has always seemed to me. Sir, that the great want of New England was to 

 make farming attractive. And here I can only echo the beautiful words of 

 your orator to-day. If we would have our children follow farming as a pursuit, 

 we must interest them in it, and fit them to pursue it intelligently. If the 

 mind is not engaged, the toils of the hand are irksome and tasteless. If the 

 mind is interested, if every thought, every feeling, every passion is aroused to 

 improve and excel, no labor is wearisome, no exertion too severe. To make 

 forming attractive to the young, they should be educated for it. And since 

 life is short and knowledge infinite, they need not, perhaps, spend years of the 

 best part of their lives in such studies as are necessary only to success in the 

 law or in divinity. The time will come when the farmer will have more 

 ample facilities for educating himself and his children. In the meantime a 

 thousand objects, if properly observed and brought to notice, will begin the 

 work, and that in the very points of greatest practical importance. 



Suppose the young are taught to observe the character of soils and their 

 adaptation to different crops, the structure and nature of plants, the habits 

 of insects injurious to vegetation, the habits of the beautiful birds so often ac- 

 cused of theft, the great striking peculiarities in the different breeds of animals, 

 and the means of improving them, — will they not have subjects enough to in- 

 terest them in farming ? They will find means of cultivating the finest fruits 

 and ornamental trees, to beautify the house, and give it an air of neatness and 

 comfort. A little taste in arrangement of trees and plants, added to a cultivated 

 mind, soon finds within itself untold resources of living well and happily. 



But the young, it is said, are ambitious, and cannot be satisfied with the 

 reputation of good and successful farmers. They must go into the countinif 

 room to make money, and be known as men of wealth, or they must embark 

 in the intricate studies of the law, and through that upon the greater uncer- 

 tainties of politics, and achieve distinction, and, as they think, honor, (they 

 don't always go together) in the eyes of the world. They forget the brighter 

 and purer reputation of conferring some permanent benefit on their country 

 in the improvement of its agriculture. They forget that the very men who 

 fail at farming are men who would fail at anything else, and that their chances 

 of success are equal in farming to what they would be in other pursuits, per- 

 haps even greater, since the field Is wider and nobler. I would rather have 

 the reputation of doing something to improve the agriculture of my country 

 than to have the reputation of Napoleon. 



Mr. President, I have not overlooked to-day the beautiful handiwork of the 

 ladies. I have a right to look with some Interest both at their work, and I 

 hope, at themselves, and I assure them that both are objects most gratifying to 

 an Old Bachelor's heart ! I give you, Sir, in accordance with custom : 



