No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 99 



grows up by that fireside ? I am thoroughly convinced that 

 a good many of the young men are turned away from the 

 farm by the attitude of the farmer liimself toward tlie busi- 

 ness in whicli he is engaged. If any one needs to have 

 a i)ride of calling, it is the man who follows the plow. 



Then there is the question of the preacher. The old-time 

 preacher confined himself very largely to the sphere of 

 morals and religion ; he was a professional person, set aside. 

 At the present time the preacher is interesting himself not 

 only in matters of religion with his flock, but also in the 

 actual afiairs which are going forward in his pastorate ; he 

 is taking an interest in the business of his people. He knows 

 that, as the material welfare increases, their moral and spir- 

 itual horizon ought to widen ; so 3^ou will now^ find ministers 

 who are taking intelligent interest in the questions of the 

 farm and in the questions of the school. 



I received a letter a short time ago from a Massachusetts 

 country parson. In regard to nature-study taught in their 

 schools, he says: "I have four children, and can see the 

 influence of the study upon them. Altogether, I am more 

 and more convinced that nothing was ever put into our 

 public schools that is of greater value and farther-reaching 

 consequences." He says the children of his day were cruel, 

 but his own children and those of his neighbors are not 

 cruel. He says he attended a meeting at which the senti- 

 ment among the farmers and women was unanimous that 

 nature-study as it was taught w^as something of great value ; 

 and he also discusses agricultural questions. 



The teacher, as well as the i)reacher, has tremendous and 

 far-reaching influence on every child with whom she comes 

 in contact. I say "she," because nearly all the rural school 

 teachers in New York State, and I suppose also in Massa- 

 chusetts, are women, — a remarkable contrast, in this regard, 

 with the old world rural conditions. It was my privilege 

 this year to speak to a group of country school teachers in 

 England. There were seventy-two, as I recall, in the room. 

 Of these, but seven or eight, I think, were women, and 

 nearly all of the men were older than I am. In other 

 words, they had taken up the business of teaching country 



