AIDS TO FARMING. 19 



of State and national legislation, and of current political events, 

 and then he is qualified to become a good farmer and a good 

 citizen. This is what your association is attempting to do. 



Let him remember that " he who makes agriculture not 

 merely productive but honorable ; who surrounds his farm with 

 images of the most attractive happiness ; who dwells in a neat 

 abode, such as a republican might build and republican simplic- 

 ity ought to desire ; who, in addition to the song of the robin, 

 can make the music of contentment flow around his calm dwell- 

 ing ; can unite it with the intelligence of a citizen who knows 

 his rights, and is determined to defend them ; who shows that 

 this business is favorable to mental culture, and as fair a road 

 as any to political eminence ; — such a man does more to encour- 

 age the profession than all other causes combined. He touches 

 the springs of action in their centre, and blesses his country 

 and mankind. He plants the laurel beside the plough, and 

 allures thousands to come ; and, after having toiled within its 

 fragrance, to sit beneath its shade." 



And now, if I have excited you to consider more carefully 

 the enviable position which you occupy as cultivators of the 

 soil ; your exemption from corroding mercantile responsibilities 

 and cares ; your freedom from the surging slough of political 

 turmoil, and from the risks and losses which attend the manu- 

 facturing portion of our population, I shall have gained the 

 point at which T aimed. 



If a word has been said to induce you to temper the labor 

 and recreation of your children so as to make the young life 

 harmonious and healthful, or to induce them to regard the 

 paternal home as the spot on earth where the most cherished 

 feelings of the heart are clustered, and to which the memory 

 will fondly return through all the later years of life, then, 

 indeed, will my labor be abundantly blest. 



To accomplish this let me invoke all who hear me, and espec- 

 ially the gentler sex, upon whom our domestic felicities so 

 greatly depend, to 



" Make home beautiful — gather the roses 



That hoard up the sunshine with exquisite art ; 

 Perchance they may pour, as your dread darkness closes, 

 That soft summer sunshine down into your heart ; 



