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ularly the scythe. I know not how a farmer can dis- 

 play greater inhumanity and improvidence, than by 

 setting a boy to learn to mow with one of his worn 

 out and cast off scythes ; if, with the man's greater 

 strength and many seasons' practice, the tool cannot 

 be made to cut, what can be expected from it in the 

 feebler and inexperienced hands of the beginner ! 

 But what I wish to present most distinctly here, is, 

 the importance of disclosing to boys the reasons for 

 nearly all the operations upon the farm. This 

 method will give them a greater interest in their la- 

 bors ; will furnish occupation for their minds ; will 

 make them observers of the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of different modes of cultivation. It will 

 lead them to study Agriculture in that period of life 

 when the senses are the most active in noticing the 

 various natural phenomena, and when the mind forms 

 its most abiding habits. 



Moral and religious character may be formed and 

 nurtured as readily and successfully by one who is 

 devoted to this most natural of all pursuits as in any 

 other of the many employments of man. None I 

 believe will doubt that virtue and holiness are as 

 often found in the farmer's home as beneath the roofs 

 of any other class of our citizens. The volume of 

 inspiration may be and is as reverently studied there 

 as any where; and the husbandman must be con- 

 stantly receiving salutary lessons from that " elder 

 scripture," nature. In its moral tendencies, this pur- 

 suit commends itself to all who estimate virtue and 

 piety at their proper worth. 



But how does it speak to him who inquires for its 



