NEW ENGLAND FARMING. 49 



memories the cheerful associations of their childhood's home. 

 For I know that in the rural population of New England there 

 is always in every household a chosen spot adorned with appro- 

 priate taste. A few books upon the table, the mother's handi- 

 work done in her girlhood, when she was a farmer's daughter, 

 and before she had assumed the cares of a farmer's wife, 

 hanging on the wall, the cherished pictures of those who have 

 gone forth into active life, the substantial furniture which has 

 known more than one generation, the musical instrument to 

 whose keys the chords of the village psalmody are all familiar 

 — these and more, make up the interior of our rural homes. 

 Go with me, you who believe in the sketch of farming life 

 which I have quoted, to the village church, and having learned 

 there the appearance of the assembled worshippers, return with 

 them to the domestic circles and know of what the families of 

 our farmers are composed. You will find there, as in no other 

 country, ample information upon the current topics of the day ; 

 an intelligent understanding of those doctrines which divide 

 men into sects and parties ; decorum, neatness, and almost uni- 

 versally a profusion of whatever is necessary for physical 

 comfort and existence. In these homes a hardy race of sons 

 tells of careful and hardy mothers. Witness the welcome 

 extended to neighbors and friends, and judge whether the 

 farmer there is unsocial. I can take you to a farmer's home 

 on the very confines of New England civilization, where 

 you may learn the best methods of practical agriculture, 

 the choicest crops for the latitude, the last expedient of 

 political aspirants, the latest pulpit controversy, and if your 

 appetite is palled by a surfeit of city luxuries, you may restore 

 its tone at the simple and well-filled board. I have been sur- 

 prised to see how the New England farmer carries with him 

 even to the very verge of the wilderness, that intelligence, and 

 thrift, and skill, which in other countries cluster about cities 

 and villages, and which mark him above all farmers on earth, as 

 a free, enlightened, responsible citizen. 



If New England agriculture is on the decline, as we are told, 

 it is not because our farming population is ignorant, and unso- 

 cial, and " angular," and ungainly, and wanting in physical 

 strength and energy. It is just the reverse. Our farming 

 interests have been neglected because the intelligence, and 

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