10 



Our farmers, to be sure, are not fixed in their places of 

 living, so but that there is much of removal among them. But 

 there is less of change than with any other class of our 

 population ; and more of probability in the case of any individ- 

 ual that he will spend his life where he now is, and that his 

 children after him will occupy the same homestead. And it is 

 more likely, also, looking towards the past, that he himself is 

 occupying the seat of his fathers. There is a value for him in 

 such memories and prospects. The sentiments awakened by 

 these associations with place are among the most refined of 

 any of which our nature is susceptible. They remove us from 

 ourselves. They connect us by ties of interest and thoughtful- 

 ness with those that have gone before, and with those that are 

 coming after us. They are not narrow but broad in their 

 reaching over space, though they l)egin upon a single spot. 

 From the love of home and of neighborhood we pass to the 

 love of country, and to some afiectionate concern for all that 

 belongs to the earth itself, the common home of our race. 



It is not a small thing for the farmer that his business itself 

 may bring directly upon him the culturing power of these 

 associations. They ought to be much thought of and cher- 

 ished. A man should thus put upon his farm some marks of 

 himself that may remain upon it. A substantial and well 

 planned building, or a work of fencing or drainage, may thus 

 become a memorial of his ownership ; or the setting out of a 

 group of trees in some well chosen spot, adding to the attrac- 

 tiveness and perhaps also to the comfort of the place. Every 

 one ought thus to aim to leave, if he can, some outward sign of 

 good upon the earth for his living in it. 



But setting aside sentiment, if any one wishes to do so, there 

 is an advantage the farmer has from his permanent dwelling 

 place in that he can see what he has done. This, at all events, 

 is distinct and commonplace. If he works a little harder than 

 usual one season and clears the rocks thoroughly out of one of 

 his ploughed fields and lays them into a solid wall, his work is 

 before him, and he can always see what he has done. The 

 craftsman, on the other hand, or the trader, or the clerk, if he 



