HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



all who may have a rural life in prospect, or 

 who may to-day be idling or planning, or toil- 

 ing under the shadow of their own trees. 



There are no grand rules by which we may 

 lay down the proportions of a life, or the wis- 

 dom of this or that pursuit; every man is 

 linked to his world of duties by capacities, 

 opportunities, weaknesses, which will more or 

 less constrain his choice. And I am slow to 

 believe that a man who brings cultivation, re- 

 finement, and even scientific attainment, may 

 not find fit office for all of them in country 

 life, and so dignify that great pursuit in which, 

 by the necessity of the case, the majority of 

 the world must be always engaged. He may 

 contribute to redeem it from those loose, im- 

 methodical, ignorant practices, which are, in a 

 large sense, due to the farmer's isolation, and 

 to the necessities of his condition. And al- 

 though careful investigation, study, and ex- 

 tended observation in connection with hus- 

 bandry, may fail of those pecuniary rewards, 

 which seem to be their due^ yet the cause in 

 some measure ennobles the sacrifice. The cul- 

 tivated farmer is leading a regiment in the 

 great army whose foraging success is feeding 

 the world; and if he put down within the 

 sphere of his influence — riotous pillage — 



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