82 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



culture and reading in the farmer. Whether or not they increase 

 his harvests, they add dignity and worth to his cliaracter. 

 Connected with moral elevation, — right principle, honor, integ- 

 rity, they crown a country life, and render the cultivator of the 

 soil one of the real lords of the earth, — not the slave of toil, but 

 a ruler, fulfilling the original command to " subdue " and " have 

 dominion." 



These qualities it is, — qualities strictly personal, not any 

 outside show — a kid glove or French boot, — which make a 

 man, a free, independent, thinking man, a man who is some- 

 thing in and of himself, — something he can himself respect, and 

 which commands respect from others. A man of simple tastes 

 and habits, your good and well-educated farmer will be — this 

 is to his praise. No enemy to the exercise of a little plain, 

 round-about common sense in any and every thing, — one who 

 has some steadiness and balance of mind, — who is not dazzled 

 by the glare of false rhetoric, — not to be led astray by " sounding 

 brass," he is too much a man of realities, too much accustomed 

 to deal with sturdy facts for that, — not a man to be conducted 

 blindfold by empty theorists, — not a slave to the frivolities of 

 fashion, — not a changeling, — he must see a reason for what he 

 does, — -^ee firm footing on the solid earth. He is a working 

 man, but not a mere instrument — a piece of mechanism ; he is 

 intelligent, he observes, he reasons, his head is not idle or 

 unfurnished ; all his faculties are brought into sound and 

 healthful exercise. He is no puny sentimentalist ; he is a man 

 of robust principles, and throughout practical ; he has faith in 

 well-doing as well as in well-being, — is a believer in God, in 

 truth, in honor and right, a lover of order, a friend to his 

 country, and a friend to humanity. In one marked by such 

 qualities, we recognize the true type of a man, — dignity and 

 elevation of soul. It matters not what is his external position, 

 or what his occupation is; he may be a tiller of the soil or 

 any thing else, — he is still one of God's noblemen. Pic is not a 

 mere conventional man, — he is a man in his own and nature's 

 right, not an imitation of humanity, but the embodiment of 

 humanity itself. 



" He walks in fjlory and in joy, 

 Following bis plough along the mountain side." 



