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an honorable position in society and to the honors that come in 

 civil life, to a place among the educated and influential men of his 

 town or his State. And to this, the farmer — the young farmer — 

 has a right, and it is his duty to expect to be called. 



I think it will be agreed that there has been, in the last fifteen 

 years, a large increase in the number of intelligent, well-educated 

 young farmers in our county and in the Commonwealth, and as 

 they grow older, and as the number increases, as I doubt not it 

 will, they will surely come to be recognized, as they ought to be, 

 as important forces and factors in all lhat goes to make the best 



society, the noblest state, in education, in legislation, in morals. 



********** 



The best farmer does not cling to, nor discard, old ways and 

 appliances because they are old ; nor sneer at a thing because it 

 is new, nor lose his head and run wild over every new invention, 

 or new seed, or new fertilizer. He carries on his farm, not for 

 the poetry or romance of the thing — as a mere sentiment — but 

 as a profession, a business, from which to get a living and some- 

 thing more ; but he is not therefore insensible to the charms of 

 nature — neither his ears or his eyes are closed to her beauties or 

 to her voices. 



The best farmer will recognize, always, the wisdom and good- 

 ness of an All-wise Providence, and will see in the returning sea- 

 sons, in the heavens above him and in the earth beneath his feet, 

 in the gently falling dew, in the snow and the rain, in the heat of 

 summer and the cold of winter, in the fiercest rays of a summer 

 sun and in the drizzly, foggy dog-days, in the quiet beauty of the 

 Indian summer and the harvest moon, and no less in the melan- 

 choly days of chill November, — 



" The saddest of the year, — 

 Of wailing winds, and naked woods 

 And meadows brown and sere," 



the same Divine Father, who, it is said, " left not himself without 

 witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and 

 fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness ; " and 

 " without whose notice not even a sparrow falleth to the ground." 

 With more trials, vexations and annoyances, and more frequent 

 temptations to complain of his lot, and more unexpected losses — 

 here and there — than a man in almost any other calling, he will 

 still, remembering the great compensations of his life, possess his 

 soul in patience, and learn from daily experience and observation 

 how best to provide against avoidable accidents; at least, will 

 make it sure they do not come from his own carelessness and 

 neglect. 



