COUNTEY MEETING. 13 



-ests of (ill industries arc so intertwined and so mutually 

 dependent that wc welcome any and ;dl to the full benefits 

 in store for us. It has been said that in the old world the 

 more necessary the work the more the producer of it was 

 enslaved and ignored. INIany winters ago, Avhen the roads 

 in our mountain towns were almost impassable, the young 

 men of one of these towns forced their way every Sunday 

 to church and were well repaid in a series of sermons ex- 

 pressly for them. In one of these, the Rev. J. H. Bisbee, 

 then of Worthingon, said, " Every occupation that is nec- 

 essary and usefid is an honorable calling and ought so to bo 

 considered. Situation and circumstances may be favorable 

 or unfavorable for the development of one's energies, still 

 it is true worth that makes the man and secures our hom- 

 age." 



Our late lamented Sumner, in the days of his vigor and 

 his power, standing on the platform of old Hampden Hall, 

 in this city, gave utterance to this glorious prediction, which 

 happily he lived to see fulfilled: "There arc no political 

 Joshuas who can bid the sun of progress stand still, and 

 it will go on till its rays have reached the farthest plan 

 tation and melted the chains from the most dcOTaded 

 slave." 



So let us, though we may not live to see all our prophetic 

 hopes fulfilled, lift our standard so high that not only we 

 shall be benefited but that those around us and those who 

 shall come after us shall recognize more surely the first 

 principles of our existence. Let us believe that there is in 

 store for those in our calling a greater freedom than we 

 have yet known, which shall come of greater knowlediie to 

 be gained of the needs of soils and animals and plants ; of 

 the nature and habits of destructive insects ; of the many 

 conditions with which we need to comply, and of skill to 

 use this knowledge aright. May we not thus hope that 

 much now waste may be made valuable, that materials noAV 

 locked within our hills may be set free and turned to wise 

 account, so that while we rest in the promise, " Seed time 

 and harvest shall never fail," we may see our harvests in- 

 crease from year to year ? 



