382 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing from such sources and from such varied motives. Is 

 there truth in them? Is this the trend of the farm life of 

 to-da}'^? Let us seriously consider if there be any founda- 

 tion for these criticisms. If so, where is its cause? 



Is it in the political economy of our country ? 



The thriving industries and varied interests of the manu- 

 facturing village, — or yet more of tlie larger city, — stand out 

 more prominently and demand more strongly recognition of 

 their claims ; but let us not forget that the strength of the 

 hills has been our sure support in every emergency. In 

 the late war the country towns were the first to defend 

 the nation's life. And let the politician remember that the 

 country home is the germinating power of a nation's pros- 

 perity ; its decay is an infinite loss to the Commonwealth. 



" 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 

 When wealth accumulates and men decay." 



If it be in our educational and religious teachings, let the 

 teacher and the preacher both remember that any teaching 

 that leads to false standards of life is destructive to the 

 national weal ; that any teaching that takes from the unity 

 of our life, in its work for Grod, is barren in producing 

 character, — that plant of eternal growth. A divided life- 

 service is a complete loss. 



If it be in our callinsi; — but that cannot be. In God's 

 sweet sunshine, in the song of the birds, in the loveliness of 

 Nature, in her ever-varying hues, in the promise of the har- 

 vest and its fruitions, is everything to enlarge the heart, and 

 refine the instincts that teach the amenities of life and lead 

 to them. No ! No ! Give God the praise ; it was never 

 intended that the first employment given to man should be a 

 bondage or should dwarf and enslave his noblest faculties. 

 In all past history its success has been the foundation of the 

 nation's prosperity ; its decadence the sure precursor of a 

 nation's downfall. 



Is it in our homes — our rural homes? Before the 

 preacher or the teacher, and far above them in its formative 

 power, is the early moulding influence of the home. The 

 common school is a little thing compared with the influ- 

 ence, to the young, from the home life. Here must 



