CULTURE AND SOCIAL POSITION. 43 



CULTURE AND SOCIAL POSITION. 



From an Address before the Berkshire Agricultural Society. 



BY ALEXANDER HYDE. 



In conversation with an aged farmer recently, he complained 

 that his sons had all left the homestead and gone into the neigh- 

 boring villages and to distant cities to improve their social posi- 

 tion, and despondingly asked, " What can be done to render 

 agriculture more popular, so that our youth may remain at 

 home and feel that they are as much respected while handling 

 the plough as though measuring tape and ribbons ? Unless 

 something is done to elevate the occupation of farming, the soil 

 of New England will soon pass into the hands of aliens, and 

 Yankee yeomanry will be counted among the things of the 

 past." This conversation gave the key-note to the following 

 strain of thought : — 



We sometimes hear the complaint that farmers are not appre- 

 ciated ; that they do not hold that social position to which they 

 are entitled by their merits and numbers ; that they are a 

 minority in the halls of State legislation, and congressional 

 honors are entirely beyond their reach. An indefinite feeling 

 seems to prevail that society is wrongly organized ; that it has 

 an upper and an under crust, between which there is an impas- 

 sible barrier ; that some are destined to labor, and others to 

 enjoy the fruit of their labors. This is a superficial view of 

 society. The truth is, all men, both individually and collec- 

 tively, are appreciated in the long run according to real worth. 

 Outside of the conscience there is no tribunal before which a 

 more accurate estimate of men is made than that of the com- 

 munity at large after an acquaintance of years. For a time 

 individuals, like Dedalus, may make for themselves wings of 

 wax and soar towards the sun ; but like their prototype, they 

 are sure finally to be plunged into a sea of confusion and 



