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expended upon other pursuits. And this idea so acted upon, 

 while it tends to draw many of our best young men from the 

 farm, has also this bad result, that it depresses and discourages 

 those who are left, and leads them to believe that farming is 

 mere drudgery, — that they must work harder, fare poorer, be 

 worse paid, and pass less pleasant and happy lives than their 

 fellows who pursue other employments. Now, do you believe 

 that God put man in the Garden of Eden, " to dress it and to 

 keep it " — that from thence he was sent forth " to till the 

 ground," and was told, " in the sweat of thy face shalt thou 

 eat bread till thou return unto the ground " — that in his provi- 

 dence it was ordered that the great majority of mankind should 

 cultivate the soil, while the whole race should thus be fed — 

 that to the moral, political and social elevation of man, as well 

 as to the full and healthy development of his physical powers, 

 agriculture should be necessary and essential, and yet that it 

 should give no scope for the exercise of his intellectual facul- 

 ties, of that " living soul " which he became when God 

 ** breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ?" No — here, as 

 everywhere else, " wisdom is strength and knowledge is 

 power." Why is there such a difference — what causes the 

 disparity in the condition of farmers ? Why are not all 

 alike prosperous ? , Why is it that this farm is fertile and pro- 

 ductive, and its owner prosperous and happy, while the one 

 which adjoins it is sterile and unfruitful, and its owner an un- 

 successful and disappointed man ? There is no naiural or ir- 

 remediable difference in soil or climate. There is the same 

 health and strength and muscle in the men. The sun shines 

 as genially, the rain descends as seasonably, the dew falls as 

 gratefully for one as for the other. It is because in addition 

 to more diligence and economy, and perhaps to more industry, 

 one brings to his work more judgment, more intelligence, more 

 mind, than the other. 



The farmer should be the last man to have inadequate con- 

 ceptions of his mission, the last to disparage it. As a man 

 thinketh so he is, and so will he do. " Possmms, quia posse 



