1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



11 



For the Nets England Farmer. 



MENTAL AND MORAL IMPROVEMENT. 



It is a well-known fact, that the physical, men- 

 tal and moral powers of man are increased by 

 proper exercise ; and, that they are, from a want 

 of it, diminished, and sometimes almost totally 

 destroyed. It is also known, that when we thus 

 exercise and improve tliese powers, we are perform- 

 ing a duty which is incumbent upon every account- 

 able being ; and, that by so doing, we greatly en- 

 hance, not only our happiness, but also the hajjpi- 

 ness of all over whom we exert our influence. Sel- 

 dom do we meet with an individual who is igno- 

 rant of these facts, or who will attempt, in word, 

 to deny them, and yet how generally are they de- 

 nied in practice. 



Some persons discipline and improve their minds, 

 but neglect their physical wants ; others satisfy all 

 the wants of their physical natures, but neglect 

 those of the mind ; and there are others by whom 

 the whole duty is disregarded. But a very few, 

 comparatively, exercise and improve all their fac- 

 ulties, — moral, mental, and physical, — but whoever 

 faithfully performs this divinely appointed duty, re- 

 ceives within himself, and is capable of imparting 

 to others, an almost infinitely greater amount of 

 happiness than could have been received or impart- 

 ed by him if he had, either wholly or in part, neg- 

 lected it. 



It is quite obvious that the part of this duty which 

 relates to our physical natures is more generally 

 performed by thegreat mass of mankind, than that 

 part is which relates to our intellects and morals. 

 Now if it is important that we should nourish and 

 enlarge our physical strength and capacities, which 

 we shall possess but a very short time, of how much 

 greater importance it certainly mu«t be, that we 

 should improve that part of our being which serves 

 not merely to distinguish us from the brutes, but 

 which unites us to a future and spiritual world, and 

 makes us almost equal to the angels. 



While there are, as before mentioned, some per- 

 sons, or classes of persons, who discipline, improve 

 and enlarge their intellects, but who disregard the 

 wants of the physical man, there is a much larger 

 class who go to the other extreme, and while their 

 physical powers are tasked to the utmost, those of 

 the mind are almost wholly neglected. Of a par- 

 ticular portion of this latter class I wish to speak, 

 and it is a large and very important portion — the 

 tillers of the soil. 



In a former communication I mentioned that the 

 farmer "has time to observe, think, read, and re- 

 flect," and I do not withdraw the assertion, but 

 think it should be modified by saying, if he will take 

 it. "But," says some hard-working farmer, "how 

 can I take time to read and study, when by work- 

 t ing every moment of the time from morning to 

 night, I can only keep square, or a little more than 

 square, with the world ?" This is true, without 

 doubt, but are you willing to own that you are 

 such a slave to your farm, that you cannot devote 

 an hour, or a couple of hours, each day, to the per- 

 formance of a duty which you owe to your Maker, 

 to yourself and fellow-creatures, and which is just 

 as binding upon you to perform as is the duty of 

 earning a living for yourself and family, and of 

 keeping square with the world ? You have phys- ! 

 ical wants, it is true, which it is highly important 

 and necessary for you to supply, but have you not, 



also, other wants, the supplying of which is of far 

 greater importance ? You have a mind which di- 

 rects and controls your physical powers — which el 

 evates you in the scale of being, far above the brute 

 creation — which, after your body has crumbled to 

 dust beneath the grassy mound, will continue to 

 exist, to observe, think, and remember, just as it 

 now does ; and the duration of this existence will 

 be forever and forever ! Are not the wants of the 

 mind, then, worthy of attention ? Should we not 

 earnestly desire, and strive to develop, enlarge, and 

 purify this part of our natures — this great gift — 

 the noblest, the richest which the Almighty Fath- 

 er has bestowed upon man ? You say you have no 

 time, but have you forgotten the long winter even- 

 ings at your disposal, and the many days of inclem- 

 ent weather, both in winter and summer, which 

 could not be spent in a better manner than in cul- 

 tivating your mind ? Besides, if you would, as a 

 part of your mental discipline, endeavor to acquire 

 a thorough knowledge of your profession, you 

 might, without doubt, make your lands more pro- 

 ductive than they now are, without working as hard 

 or as many hours as you now do, thereby gaining 

 time for mental improvement. 



Many farmers are already pursuing this course ; 

 and others are beginning to perceive, that without 

 a thorough knowledge, theoretical and practical, 

 of all the mysteries of the science of agriculture, 

 the farmer is in danger of making gi-eat mistakes, 

 and of meeting with losses from which he would 

 have gladly escaped. 



Although the farmer has more time to improve 

 his mind in winter than in summer, j'et he should 

 not let a day pass, without making some progress 

 in the noblest occupation in which man can be en- 

 gaged. He should not think, as many seem to do, 

 that his efibrts for mental improvement while a 

 schoolboy, however great they may have been, are 

 all that duty and the wants of the mind require ; 

 but he should consider that those efforts are only 

 a commencement of the great work of self-culture 

 — that he has only caught a glimpse of the bound- 

 less field of knowledge. 



It is the opinion of very many individuals of 

 learning and experience, that there is no profession 

 or pursuit in life which affords such good opportu- 

 nities for the development of man's whole nature, 

 as does the peaceful occupation of the farmer. And 

 yet how many farmers there are, who, instead of 

 improving these opportunities, are making perfect 

 slaves of themselves and those whom they employ 

 — slaves to hard work ! They work, work, work, 

 from early dawn until sleep closes their eyes, with- 

 out stopping scarcely for a moment, except to snatch 

 a hasty meal, and do not even afford themselves 

 — so far as their intellects are concerned — the lux- 

 ury of reading a newspaper ! Now a man who is 

 spending his days in this manner cannot be making 

 much progress in mental, if in moral improvement. 

 His physical labors are so constant and severe, that 

 to perform even a very small amount of mental 

 labor is, for him, an almost impossible task. Thus, 

 although he may be strong and vigorous, physical- 

 ly, yet he is, mentally — unless his mental powers 

 are, naturally, very great — weak and obtuse. 



Doubtless many young men are prevented from 

 becoming farmers by the false impression which 

 prevails in the community, that the farmer's life is, 

 from the nature of his employment, unfavorable to 

 mental improvement. But let me say to such as 



