72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



determining power of the will holds their mental faculties to 

 constant action towards some definite point. 



I would not have the reading and thinking of the farmer con- 

 fined to his particular avocation. To be a man is more than to 

 be a husbandman, and our aim should be to develop true man- 

 hood. Our first business should be to understand the theory and 

 practice of agriculture ; but we must remember that there are 

 other duties devolving upon us besides ploughing and sowing, 

 raising grain and getting gain. We are citizens of a great coun- 

 try, in which the power is in the hands of the people, and it is 

 absolutely essential for the perpetuation of the republic that we 

 should understand the theory of government and vote intelli- 

 gently. To become a voter it is necessary that we should have 

 some other qualification than that of being twenty-one years of 

 age. The constitutional privilege that we have of voting when 

 we become of this age is open to the same sarcasm which Philip 

 of Macedon uttered against the Athenians when he heard that 

 they had elected a hundred generals to oppose him on the 

 battle-field. " Electing a man to be a general does not make 

 him one. They might as well have voted that a jackass is a 

 hero." Voting is a cheap privilege in this country, and we who 

 enjoy the right should see to it that we use the privilege as not 

 abusing it. 



Besides the duties we owe to our fellow-citizens and our gov- 

 ernment, we hold relations to a higher Sovereign, the King of 

 kings, the first great cause of all things ; and the character of 

 this Sovereign, the nature of His government, and the duties 

 we owe Him, should be our chief study. Pope says " tlie proper 

 study of mankind is man." He made a great mistake. The 

 proper, highest and most ennobling study of mankind is God. 

 Man is but the creature, God is the Creator. In comparison 

 with theology, the science of God, agriculture is but the dust 

 of the balance. Our minds can be expanded by nothing so 

 miuch as in the contemplation of the Infinite. 



To become accurate thinkers, it is not enough that we should 

 be readers. We must learn to impart knowledge as well as 

 receive it. All the rivers run into the sea, and why does not 

 the sea overflow ? Simply because it gives back to the land, in 

 the form of rain, all that it receives in the form of water. 

 Were it otherwise, the land would be exhausted, and the ocean 



