22 ADDRESS TO THE FAEltlEKS OF TEXAS. 



the very fields that fed the armies of Saxon Harold and William 

 the Conqueror. Rotation has preserved these, as the lack of it 

 ruined those. 



VI. Wisdovi is never dear, provided the article he genuine. T 

 have known tarmers who toiled constantly from daybreak to dark, 

 yet died poor, because, through ignorance, they wrought of disad- 

 vantage. If every farmer would devote two houi-s of each day to 

 reading and reflection, there would be fewer failures in farming 

 than there are. 



VII. 27ie best investment a farmer can make for his children is 

 that "which surrounds their youth with the rational delights of a 

 beauteous, attractive home. The dwelling may be small and rude, 

 yet a few flowers will embellish, as choice fruit-trees will enrich and 

 gladden it ; while grass and shade are within the reach of the hum- 

 blest. Hardly any labor done on a farm is so profitable as that 

 which makes the wife and children fond and proud of their home. 



VIII. A good, jyractical Education, including a good trade, is a 

 better outfit for a yo^ith than a grand estate with the drawback of an 

 empty mind. Many parents have slaved and pinched to leave their 

 children rich, when half the sum thus lavished would have profited 

 them far more had it been devoted to the cultivation of their 

 minds, the enlargement of their capacity to think, observe, and 

 work. The one structure that no neighboihood can aflbrd to do 

 without is the school-house. 



IX. A small library of well-selected books in his home has saved 

 many a youth from wandering into the baleful ways of the Prodi- 

 gal Son. Where paternal strictnesci and severity would have bred 

 nothing but dislike and a fixed resolve to abscond at the first oppor- 

 tunity, good books and pleasant surroundings have weaned many a 

 youth from his first wild impulse to go to sea or cross the continent, 

 and made him a docile, contented, obedient, happy lingerer by the 

 parental fire-side. In a family, however rich or poor, no other good 

 is so cheap or so precioiis as thoughtful, watchful love. 



X. 3Iost men are born poor ^ but no man, who has average capaci- 

 ties and tolerable luck, need remain so. And the farmer's calling, 

 though profiering no sudden leaps, no ready short-cuts to opulence, 

 is the surest of all ways from poverty and want to comfort and 

 independence. Other men must climb ; the temperate, frugal, dili- 

 gent, jirovident farmer may grow into competence and every exter- 

 nal accessory to happiness. Each year of his devotion to his home- 



