44 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



shame. The talents and worth of others may for a time be 

 latent, but if the fire of truth is in them, it will follow the law 

 of caloric — diifuse itself and be felt. The mass of society is 

 like a mass of water — it will find its own level. It may be true 

 that farmers do not hold a share of the political offices of the 

 country in proportion to their numbers ; but political office is 

 not the criterion by which the valuation of man is to be decided. 

 We should be loth to believe that the highest office in the gift 

 of the people is always filled by the wisest and best of men. 

 This estimate of men by the offices they fill is too common even 

 in republics. There is no criterion more uncertain. 



" Pigmies are pigmies still though perched on Alps." 



We have had instances of men high in office, but low in char- 

 acter, and low in the estimation of their fellow-men, sufficient, 

 one would suppose, to dispel the illusion that office is the stan- 

 dard of the man. There is keen satire in the sentence of Dr. 

 Young, — 



" Has place or lessened or aggrandized thee ? 

 Then thou before wert something less than man." 



Place, however, does aggrandize us in that it gives an oppor- 

 tunity for the exercise of the powers that are in us. It creates 

 no new faculties, but it does give opportunity for the develop- 

 ment of those we already possess ; and if there is any truth, 

 (and we are inclined to think there is,) in the common com- 

 plaint that farmers do not have their share of the places of honor 

 and emolument, we desire to do all in our power to remedy the 

 injustice. But don't let us whine and complain that we are not 

 appreciated. We are appreciated. We pass for what we are 

 worth as well as any class in the community. When churches 

 and school-houses are to be built, the farmer is sure to be 

 remembered and to have his full share of the honor and expense 

 of their erection. When taxes are assessed for the support of 

 the government, the farm is not hid in a pocket-book, but stands 

 out in bold relief and is always levied upon. When the honor 

 of the country is to be maintained on the field of battle, the 

 yeomanry are sure to constitute the rank and file of the army. 

 It is not true, then, that farmers are not appreciated. They are 



