1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



567 



why, if I think farming such a super-eminent 

 delight, 1 don't try my hand at it myself. 



I have serious thoughts of it, my friends, but 

 the fact is you don't seem to favor it your- 

 selves. A very respectable portion of you, it 

 is true, seem kindly enough disposed towards 

 my devoting the rest of my days to farming ; 

 but the majority are still so stubborn, or so 

 jealous lest I should beat them at it, that they 

 won't give me the chance. 



The Governor once "Worked on a Farm. 



But yet do not shut me wholly out from your 

 fellowship ; for during just one half the years 

 it has taken to bring me to the age of wisdom, 

 I suppose there was hardly any duty or func- 

 tion of a farmer's boy that I did not have a 

 hand in 



And I mind me of a certain twenty-acre lot, 

 where my father gave scope to my boyish am- 

 bition and I went at it single-handed, from 

 what time the axe was laid at the root of those 

 mighty trees, till it smiled in graceful harvest. 

 Yes, I have cleared a field ! and there is still 

 something within me that wants to do it again. 



Since that, my main work in life has been 

 different, and such little harvests as have 

 been vouchsafed to me, have been reaped 

 from other fields. But it is the truth to say 

 that in no work or achievement, have I felt a 

 purer or a prouder joy than when, in the calm 

 summer twilight I never forgot, I smoothed 

 the brooding earth over that last breadth of 

 grain, and knew how Paul felt when he saw in 

 this the emblem of the great resurrection. 



Do you wonder that the last time I went 

 home I walked out there with my little daugh- 

 ter, and sat down and sighed for something 

 I had not? — something that you, kind friends, 

 with all your honors could not give me — the 

 sweet rest, the calm mind, the sound body, 

 the heaven-lifted soul of those dear days of 

 old ? These are pleasing memories ; nor are 

 there brighter dreams of the future — if it is 

 permitted still to dream — than the peace, the 

 freedom, the breadth of view, all the lulling 

 sounds of field and forest, the breath of the 

 home-returning kine, the smell of the upturned 

 earth, the sight of waving harvests in green 

 and gold. Can you deem me over weak if I 

 long for these again to dispel the lingering 

 visions of the earth upturned by fiercer imple- 

 ments, and the thick-strewn harvests where 

 pitiless Death mowed down your strong and 

 brave ! 



Thus it is that when I yielded to the wishes 

 of your Executive Committee, the diffidence I 

 felt at speaking on these things before you 

 was overcome by the pride I felt in your hon- 

 orable record, and my interest in your calling. 

 Farmers give Cliaracter to the State, 



Distinguished as the State is for some spe- 

 cialties of business, it cannot be denied that 

 by far the greatest part of our productive in- 

 dustry is within the vocation of Agriculture, 

 and it is a fact of which you may well be 

 proud that our public character as a State in 



social, moral and political, and even military 

 affairs, takes its type and tone from our agri- 

 cultural population. It becomes, therefore, a 

 high official duty as well as a personal pleasure, 

 to appreciate the services, encourage the labors 

 and promote the prosperity of those who con- 

 tribute so largely to the public sustenance and 

 to the public character. It would also be un- 

 generous/ and untrue to say there is a lack of 

 interest here in Agriculture ; for all this boun- 

 tiful and magnificent array before us, these 

 fruits and fabrics, these finished implements 

 and curious inventions, these animals so per- 

 fect of their kind, — nay, this noble and beau- 

 tiful assembly of men and women — for these, 

 be it not forgotten, are representatives of the 

 farm ; all this I say, will put any doubter to 

 the blush. This interest is also attested by 

 the fact itself that you are holdir^g this fair, — 

 upon the unparalleled success of which I must 

 congratulate your Society — to be followed by 

 others in every county ; by all the Boards, 

 Associations, reports, published communica- 

 tions, as well as legislative acts, which show 

 that men feel that there is something in the 

 matter worth attending to. 



Effects of Grumbling. 



For all this, I think it fair to say that the 

 farmer in this State is not over enthusiastic. 

 All the public performances are jubilant, but 

 the individual farmer is apt to bo grumbling. 

 Our season is short ; the soil not so rich as 

 elsewhere ; the rocks plague him ; the midge 

 is after his wheat ; the rust his potatoes ; the 

 coons his corn ; the dogs his sheep ; the boys 

 his fruit ; — that is, if the drought hasn't got 

 everything before hand. He groans, being 

 burdened. Under such a rallying cry it is no 

 wonder that he doesn't go at his work with 

 much heart. His boys are not likely either to 

 be captivated by that strain. They hear of 

 broad prairies needing neither axe nor grub- 

 ber, stone-drag nor manure cart to force a liv- 

 ing from the soil, of magical cities where a 

 fortune is made in a night, or of distant terri- 

 tories where everything even to the mountains 

 is on "a gold basis," and they strike out for 

 themselves. Those who succeed, come back 

 with smooth hands and fine airs, and with 

 money enough perhaps to buy out their father 

 and all his neighbors. This of course works 

 powerfully on the imagination, and the neigh- 

 boring young people anxious and ambitious, 

 bid the old homestead adieu, which unfortu- 

 nately does't mean a Dieu — commending them 

 to God — but quite the reverse. 



And he who is best disposed — most earnest 

 and patient — finds that he can't succeed with- 

 out hard work, and that at the best, farming 

 requires a vast deal of prudence and care, 

 and even then its returns are somewhat pre- 

 carious and comparatively small. He is more 

 dependent on chances of the weather than the 

 saiior, and can't get his crop insured for the 

 season as the other can his ship lor the voy- 

 age. The worst is that his boys too, energetio 



