18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jus. 



acquisition and possession of money fairly won and 

 judiciously expended ; and when we look around 

 us and see what has hecn done among us by the 

 union of opulence and benevolence, we have' rea- 

 son to speak with gratitude and respect of the gen- 

 erous men who, having once built up a name and 

 fortune, have left behind them lasting memorials 

 that "the good teas 7U)/interred with their bones.*' 

 But it is one thing to amass for the sake of liber- 

 ality and humanity, and quite another to grind, 

 atid haggle, and shave, to feed inordinate avarice 

 or to gratify a foolish ostentation, which manifests 

 vanity without taste, and extravagance without el- 

 egance, proving that there may be a vulgarity in 

 riches wiiich cannot be concealed by all their 

 agencies and appUances. Overgrown fortunes, 

 with us while they are evidences both of public 

 prosperity and individual sagacity, are of very 

 temporary influence whether for good or evil. 

 Where entailed estates arc happily unknown, the 

 divisions and subdivisions of an inheritance, how- 

 ever large, soon reduce it to inconsiderable frac- 

 tions ; and at the end of a generatioiror two, the 

 descendants of the rich man must work for their 

 daily bread. Other names arise to go through the 

 same unvaried process, live their little hour, and 

 be swept away to be known no more. Such is the 

 unfailing doom of wealth ; and as time bears up 

 new names and consigns the old ones to oblivion, 

 there is doulitless many a righteous retribution in- 

 scribed on liis revolving circle. 



NOT TO RIDICULE OR DESPISE NEW TUING3. 



The world's history is full of the persecution of 

 great men, who stepped forward in advance of 

 their age, warning us to look kindly on honest 

 purposes, and to judge with charity what we do 

 not comprehend. Let us not ridicule or despise 

 new things, because they conflict with our obser- 

 vation or seem to be impracticable. There is hiird- 

 ly a discovery or invention in art that has not had 

 its day of trial and discouragement. Many a man 

 has gone heart-broken to his grave, in whom the 

 fire of genius has burned, unseen and unappreci- 

 ated, when adverse circumstances, or shrinking 

 timidity, or cold neglect, or the want of a kind 

 word, have come like a mountain upon him and 

 kept his secret buried forever. Prison bars have 

 been pressed by throbbing brows which would have 

 redeemed the world. The records of the world are 

 full of the neglect of merit, and yet nothing has 

 been told. Perhaps there is scarcely a man living 

 who has not during some portion of his life, known 

 some one who pined unheeded, wanting the genial 

 air and sunshine which never came. Men get mis- 

 placed, and do not meet the magnet to draw out 

 the metal within them. Mediocrity writes verses 

 when it should be holding the plow, and the true 

 poet does the drudgery of life, not dreaming why 

 the lire torments him. The flint and steel aro>cold 

 and cheerless until struck together, and they may 

 never come in contact. 



ICE AND GRANITE, CUIEF TRODUCTS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Ice and Granite, it is said, are the chief prod- 

 ucts of New England ; and they fitly symbolize the 

 hardy character of her sons. It seems to be a uni- 

 -yersal law, that in those regions where Nature 

 sparingly gives forth her bounties, and the coy 

 earth reluctantly responds to the attentions of the 

 husbandman, moral worth increases and manly 

 virtues find more room for development. Blessed 



is the land whose children must work to live. Tho 

 luxury that heralds decay finds no congenial rest- 

 ing place where toil is both necessary and honora- 

 ble ; and the surest pledge of enduring prosperity 

 is found where industry is the ruling influence. 

 Labor is the magic talisman that transmutes our 

 rocks into gold, and sends our rivers to temper the 

 sun in his own dominions. It converts our barren 

 hills to grain fields, covers the wilderness with its 

 foot-prints, and raises factories, and villages, and 

 cities, with a celerity which seems tlie result of 

 mere volition rather than tlio agency of human 

 hands. It has made us what we are ; and if we 

 care for the preservation of our patrimony, and feel 

 a generous pride in our distinctive character, we 

 must acknowledge and honor it. 



THE FARMER. 



Some one has truly remarked that "the true 

 flirmer is always a philanthropist." Not only does 

 he toil for the provision of his own wants, but fn 

 all his efforts, aims and undertakings, he is per- 

 petually stimulated by the benevolent desire to 

 leave the world better and more happy than ho 

 found it. Says an elegant author — "We con- 

 template Agriculture as subsidiary not only to 

 abundance, industry, comfort, health, but to good 

 morals, and ultimately to religion. VA'e regard 

 the farmer, stript to his employment, and cultiva- 

 ting his lands, as belonging to the first order of 

 noblemen." In the language ufChanning — "Real 

 greatness has nothing to do with a man's sphere. 

 It does not lay in tho magnitude of his outward 

 agency, but in the extent of the effect which he 

 produces." 



Every student of history is undoubtedly aware 

 that a very great majority of the distinguished 

 men of our Revolution — its war lions and states- 

 men, wore from the producing classes. Wash- 

 ington, Jefferson, andStark, were farmers; Frank- 

 lin a printer, and so with hundreds of others thai 

 might be mentioned. 



The following description of the fiirmer is by 

 Phineas Fletcher, and will apply to thousands of 

 the class. 



Hia certain life that never can deceive him 

 h full of thousand sweets and rich content | 



The smooth broiid beeches in the field receive him 

 With coolest shade till noontide htat be spent. 



His life is neither lost in boisierous seas. 



Or the vexatious world; or lost in slothful ease. 



Pleased and full bleet he lives when he his God can please. 



WiNDUAM Co. Society, Vt. — The following gentle- 

 men were recently elected officers of the Wind- 

 ham County Agricultural Society of Vermont, for 

 the ensuing year, viz: — . 



Mark Crawford, President. 



L. GBuss, K.j^gpj,pgj^^^jg 

 John Iui-'ts, ^ 

 Henry Kellogg, Secretary. 

 Chas. K. Field, Treasurer. 



