lO 



many a case begun with wild nature, but foes worse than 

 the Indians were encountered — malaria, with fever and 

 ague ; wood or coal dearer than corn for fuel ; abundant 

 harvests but markets so distant that speculators got all or 

 the major share of the profits ; longing for a sight of the 

 old hills, and irrepressible homesickness and chronic heart- 

 ache, — these, and such as these, are the enemies that have 

 won the battle against many a farmer beginning in a new 

 country. Some men have fled from New England canker- 

 worms and potato-bugs, and have found themselves in the 

 West so beset with grasshoppers that they would be giad, 

 if they could get back to their old home, to apologize to 

 the easily-mastered canker-worms and potato-bugs for 

 reckoning: them enemies. 



Farming as a means of livelihood can hardly be mere 

 pleasure seeking. East or West, North or South ; but as a 

 life-work I believe that it can be fulfilled under as favorable 

 .circumstances by the farmers of Essex County who remain 

 in their old homes, as by those who become the pioneers in 

 distant lands. 



A striking testimony was given to the real prosperity of 

 the farmers of Essex County seven years ago, by the poet 

 Whittier, in a letter which he wrote to this society. *•' I 

 have lived," he said, to see a great and favorable change 

 in the farming populatioii of Essex County. The curse 

 of intemperance is now almost unknown among them ; the 

 rumseller has no mortgage on their lands. As a rule they 

 are intelligent, well-informed and heartily interested in 

 jjublic affairs, self-respectful and respected, independent 

 landholders, fully entitled, if any class is, to the name of 

 gentlemen." 



Upper and under classes are found in every profession 

 and calling ; and nowhere are upper and under classes more 

 notable tlran among farmers. When a farmer mortgages 

 his farm in favor of laziness or drink, and loses his credit,^ 

 and stuffs old hats into broken window panes, you may be 



