1847.] Duty of Educated Men. 331 



biu unnecessary. " Knowledge is power," quotes your writer; 

 and what but the want of it, was that weakness which " kept 

 down and made to be regarded little better than bondmen and 

 serfs, the tillers of the soil who have clothed and fed the whole 

 human race." And what but education is " breaking the chains" 

 and rendering " the dignity of their calling fully acknowledged 

 and appreciated V 



But were the increase of wealth the only object to be accom- 

 plished, I should not wish the farmer to " know anything." " The 

 love of money is the root of all evil." The farmer as well as 

 the clergymen has a mind and a heart. It is not only his privi- 

 lege, but his duty, to improve and cultivate them. These he 

 carries with him throughout all eternity; they constitute him and 

 the circumstances in which he is placed, requiring labor, are only 

 intended to make him, in the true sense of the word, a MAN, to 

 draw out and expand his faculties. 



Had I the secret which could throw unbounded luxuriance 

 over the wide world, and obviate the necessity for toil, I would 

 banish it from my memory and resist the impulse to unbosom it, 

 as I w^ould oppose the tide of inebriacy and licentiousness. Could 

 not the labor that I w^ould wish to be bestowed upon the educa- 

 tional interests of the farming community, react to enlarge the 

 boundaries of knowledge, and make the world more sensible of 

 the amazing superiority of mind over matter, and bring the cur- 

 rent of human energy to bear upon intellectual salvation; rather 

 than have it only minister to man's baser passions, I would wish 

 the channels of thought forever dried up. All that constitutes 

 the vast difference between the brute and human-kind is the 

 mental being. It is destined for eternal endurance; and all our 

 efforts should be directed to its enlargement and cultivation. We 

 should toil to support our bodies, to preserve health, to beautify 

 the earth, only as subservient to the mental and moral develop- 

 ment of our fellow beings and ourselves. The grand object of 

 our labors and experiments in agriculture, or any other art, should 

 be making the mind industrious, energetic, strong, and healthful; 

 the supplying of bodily necessities should be a secondary consid- 

 eration. Says Linna3us, "That existence is surely contemptible, 

 which regards only the gratification of instinctive wants and the 

 preservation of a body made to perish." 



Therefore, while we heartily respond to the sentiments of Ag- 

 ricola in relation to the "duty of educated men;" while we 

 would remind them of their influence and their power, let us call 

 up the farmers to behold and rightly estimate the blessings they 

 may derive from education; and demonstrate to the world their 

 ability and intention, if necessary, to stand independent of the 

 clergyman and the physician, (in agricultural matters) trusting in 



