DEBT AND SUCCESS. 5 



a fixed sura ; the increase in the vahie of his farm shows his 

 gains. It is certain!}^ wiser to add to the value of tlie estate 

 than to diminish the incumbrance, while the owner has not all 

 the means in his business that he desires. 



I have said that everybody speaks well of common sense, 

 and that nobody understands exactly what it is ; and I may 

 now add that everybody speaks well of practical agriculture, 

 and nearly everybody shuns it who can. 



I fancy that mankind speak well of practical agriculture 

 because they think it a useful pursuit, and not because they 

 think it an agreeable or profitable one. 



It is true that agriculture ofi'ers no temptation to those who 

 seek large fortunes ; its returns are constant and certain, but 

 they are moderate. 



It is also true that a j^oung man who desires to become a 

 farmer may often, perhaps generally, gain the means of doing 

 so more rapidly in some other vocation. Let him take the 

 best course that is open before him. Nor ought we to be 

 disturbed by the fact that young men abandon the farms for 

 other pursuits. If it be an evil, it is temporary, and tends to 

 elevate agriculture by advancing the price of labor and the 

 price of the products of labor. 



Moreover, many of these men will return to the land in a 

 few years with fresh interest and the means needed for its 

 skilful and successful culture. 



Practical agriculture is agreeable or otherwise as it is intel- 

 lectual or otherwise. This is the rule of all pursuits. There 

 are two classes of farmers, those who look on and those 

 who work, and a few who both work and look on. Those 

 who look on, whether workuig with their hands occasionally 

 or not, find nothing disagreeable in farming. For them it 

 compares favorably with similar situations in mills, mines 

 and shops. 



We have not 3'^et reached the point in civilization and social 

 equality when there are not persons compelled by their cir- 

 cumstances to work for wages — some on farms, some in mills, 

 some in shops, and some in the mines. Farm laborers usually 

 receive less wages than others, and their hours of labor are 

 more ; but the labor on a farm is varied and less exacting as 

 to the time of execution, and also as to the force of mind and 



