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village store. His mind need not be ill furnished. And lie 

 may gain, if" he will, a solid and even an elegant culture. 



Whether, therefore, we look at the general average of mental 

 power as actually existing among our agricultural men, or at 

 the possibilities that are open for higher attainment, we must 

 conclude that the farm does well in this respect by the farmer. 



And the business thus, as we have seen, supports him, 

 planted permanently and centrally with regard to men of 

 other pursuits, with variety in his work, with s])ace in it for 

 mental culture and Avith many special occasions throughout for 

 growth .in strength and wisdom. 



It is evident that you farmers ought to be and are remark- 

 able men ! And I hope you know it. 



It follows that you ought to put yourselves forth tvith power 

 upon the society in which you live. Let me press upon you this 

 practical conclusion. It may be that as a class you lack some- 

 thing in this particular. You are to be depended upon 

 generally to stand in your places, and to stand, mostly, for 

 what is sound and true. But you do not always move quickly 

 enough to go out and attack what is false and evil. You are 

 conservative and cautious ; it comes in part of your occupa- 

 tion, and you bear sometimes too much. It is not in your 

 profession to make a noise, and you make sometimes too little. 



Open then your lips more freely to denounce the follies and 

 wrongs you yourselves despise. Put forth your hands more 

 frequently and strongly to control the destinies of the nation of 

 which you form so important a part. 



You need to have some care to do this. Your life is more 

 quiet. You are on your farms. You are less frequently than 

 some others in the places of public resort. Your habits of 

 mind have come somewhat to correspond. Other more bustling 

 and noisy men, if you do not mind, will appear to be shaping 

 public sentiment and directing public affairs, and shortly to be 

 thinking themselves to be the public. 



It should be with you a perpetual concern to maintain that 

 weight in the community to which you are fairly entitled, and 



