84 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of hope, and the impulse of self-confidence, and the love of 

 chance, and the excitement of trade, gather a restless and 

 uneasy crowd into the market place and the exchange, where 

 fortune smiles upon the few, as the great mass pass from the 

 glowing morning of their early aspirations and promises, down 

 to the gloomy night of disappointment and ruin, the constant 

 and even prosperity of agriculture blesses all its faithful follow- 

 ers according to their deserts. It is no game of hazard. Its 

 rewards are not large — but its independence is great. There 

 is an even-handed justice in its dispensations, which scatters its 

 favors with an equal hand, and relieves mankind of poverty on 

 the one hand, and of the burdens of excessive wealth on the 

 other. The world has learned to envy the rich and the 

 powerful, through an indiscriminate admiration of every kind 

 of success. But if you would learn where the most independent 

 happiness and prosperity are to be found, go with me to that 

 farming pioneer who makes himself a home where necessity 

 compels him to clear his own farm, feed and clothe and educate 

 his own family, until he becomes one of a community of farmers 

 like himself, safely removed from the toils and temptations of 

 what is called a prosperous world. He may be deprived of some 

 of the elegances and refinements of life, but he loses none 

 of his manhood, none of his robust self-reliance, none of his 

 strong and rugged individuality ; and if you desire to estimate 

 his influence upon his day and generation, you may remember 

 that from such a father and from such a farm sprang the great 

 statesman of New England, whose wisdom is the glory of the 

 American people, whose love of the soil is the pride of American 

 agriculture, and whose high career stands as a monument to 

 the name of Webster, and to the farm at Franklin, as enduring 

 as that Constitution and that Union to which he devoted his 

 mighty powers. 



In assigning this high social position to agriculture, I by no 

 means desire to disparage commerce, manufactures, and the 

 mechanic arts. I only wish to give them their proper places. 

 I recognize their vast benefits to the interests of agriculture. 

 I am not unmindful of the stimulus they have given our calling 

 by improving our implements of husbandry, and by creating 

 markets at home, and opening those abroad for tlie consumption 

 of our products. I estimate the full value of this compensation 



