6 



spirit of pleasantry and exaggeration. A.nd yet it embodies a truth. I find in uiy 

 own experience that any bodily exercise or labor approaching severity is fatal to 

 mental activity for the rest of the day. And so I have the inestmiable privilege 

 of being lazy for conscience' sake I Everj' man has a certain maximum of ener- 

 gy ; if he puts it all into his muscles, of course he has none left for his brain. If 

 the labor is necessary, there is nothing to be said, and no doubt to the mass of 

 farmei-s, whatever ameliorations the future maj' bring, it always will be necessary 

 to a degree that will constitute a special obstacle in the direction of higher cul- 

 ture, I have dwelt thus long upon it, because to my mind it is one of the most 

 obstinate facts with which we have to deal in estimating the possibility of a more 

 satisfactory intellectual and social life for farmers as a class. 



IMPRESS ON THE FABMER's CHARACTER. • 



Such to my mind are the leading obstacles that farmers must meet and sur- 

 mount in their struggle upward to a higher plane of character and hving. That 

 they are formidable is evident enough, and all the more so because not accidental 

 but inherent, bound up in fact with the very nature of the occupation. Then- 

 entire removal is, therefore, not to be expected. The most to be hoped for is 

 that their depressing influence may be in a measure counteracted. But before 

 proceeding to suggest some means by which this may be done, it is well to in- 

 quire whether the limitations of which I have spoken are after all to be regarded 

 as serious evils. Is any marked impress for the worse left by them on the farm- 

 er's character ? I think such an impress is left, some of the points of which I 

 will briefly state. And if the picture shall seem less flattering than you could wish, 

 you will not resent the criticism even if you cannot accept it. You are not here, 

 gentlemen, I take it to be complimented and coddled, but to receive in a manly 

 way such hints as may be helpful to you in the conduct of life. If I were study- 

 ing any other occupation, my own not excepted, I should doubtless find influen- 

 ces unfavorable to the best development of mind and character. 



SLOWNESS OF MIND. 



This impress is seen, in the first place, in a characteristic slowness of mental 

 movement. Emerson says of the farmer, ''He is a slow person, timed to nature, 

 and not to city watches. He takes the pace of seasons, plants and chemistry. 

 Nature never hurries : atom by atom, Uttle by little, she achieves her work." ''The 

 farmer times himself to nature, and acquires that lifelong patience which belongs 

 to her." But it is not the influence of nature alone. I imagine, but of nature com- 

 bined with solitude that makes the farmer so characteristically slow in his move- 

 ments. Such is the constitution of mind that it can be quickened to its highest 

 activity only by contact with other minds. Solitude doubtless tends to cultivate 

 individuality and independence and dejjth of thought, and where there is great 

 native force there may alsol^e a good degree of mental activity in a hfe compara- 

 tively solitary. But for most men society is indispensable to the completest men- 

 tal developiuent. Especially is it needful to that quickness of mind demanded in 

 the stress and hurry of our modern life. An hour of hand to hand tight in argu- 

 ment will do more for most men in exciting the mental faculties, and in striking 

 out new thoughts than would days of private meditation. Here, it seems to me, 

 we have the capital deficiency of the farmer's intellectual life ; not in soundness 

 of thought, but in alertness of thought. I should have as much confidence in the 

 average farmer's judgment on ordinary subjects, when arrived at, as in that of 

 most other men. but if I ware in a hurry I should not like to stay until he had 



