No. 4.] NEW ENGLAND AGKICl^LTURE. 99 



iiiako the civilization of the i)ivs('iit luoinont, tiii.s strong, 

 positive, enthusiastic spirit of entcrj)i-ise for New England 

 agriculture must be pressed earnestly and steadily by every 

 friend of the State. 



"We are burdened by a system of education which ramities 

 out from our cities and towns through all the rural sections 

 to our lower gnxdes of primary schools, colored by city life 

 and city thought and shaped by the higher universities and 

 colleges, naturally conservative, always dogmatic, firmly 

 intrenched in long-established ruts, and yet we face the fact 

 that the education of the future is to be industrial. 



First of all, there must be planted, firm and deep in the 

 mind of the 3'oung, the foundation upon those fundamentals 

 which alone can endure ; and, following this, that training 

 which shall best equip the student for the life he is to enter. 



To see thini>s, to know thino's and to do things makes the 

 educated man. Simple knowledge of books can never insure 

 this result ; and when this thought of education takes root, 

 the stud}'^ of nature will begin to receive that attention which 

 alone can open the e3^es to the marvellous story to be read 

 upon the surface of Mother Earth. 



The present system of education minimizes rural life and 

 the worth and work of agriculture. The education of the 

 future must exalt the one industry Nvliich exalts a nation. 

 He who is the most thorouoh student of nature, who reaches 

 most directly the throbbing heart of tree or animal, who 

 hears the song of the birds and sees the beauty of the flowers, 

 will be the one who will drink deepest draughts from the 

 great storehouse of the libraries ; will be the one who will 

 hear most of the harmonies of life and find richest compensa- 

 tion in the studies of the great masters. Not a smattering 

 of this and that, not a little insight into many things, but 

 a well-balanced judgment, the result of calm deliberation 

 upon a few great problems, makes the educated man. 



We must never forget that there is a vast distinction 

 between knowledjje and education. One is the storing of 

 facts, the other the utilizing of ideas in active life, the weav- 

 ing of thought and purpose into the warp and woof of every- 

 day living. 



