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farmer, then, begin life aright. Remembering the well estab- 

 lished fact of physiology, " that hard labor, followed from day 

 to day and year to year, absorbing every thought and every 

 energy, has the direct tendency to depress the intellect, blunt 

 the sensibilities, and animalize the man," let him be sure to cul- 

 tivate the mental, moral and social nature. Let him feel that 

 ** his farm has higher uses for him than those of feeding his 

 person or his purse." As he looks out upon his green meadows 

 and waving fields, as he plants the brown seed and gathers in 

 the golden harvest, as he listens to the song of birds, the lowing 

 of herds, the sweet hum of animated nature, as he sees the 

 morning sun rise to gild and gladden the earth, and the evening 

 shadows falling longer from the hills, 



*' And then the moon, like to a silver bow 

 New-bent in heaven," 



and the 



" Earth-treading stars, that make dark heaven light," 



coming out to rule and glorify the night, as in the spring-time 

 he watches the ever-recurring but ever great mystery of na- 

 ture, and when the winds of autumn wail in mournful cadence, 

 muses upon the decay of nature, less mysterious but more 

 solemn than its bursting life, let him remember that he is one 

 of God's creatures, but created for glory and honor, entrusted 

 with an earthly mission, but required hereafter to render an 

 account of his stewardship. Let him think of his family and 

 his home — of his wife and children, — she, the choice of his 

 youth and the solace of his manhood, who, in travail and pain 

 has borne iliem to him, and they, who are to cheer and support 

 his old age, and transmit and bring honor to his name. Let 

 him make his and their home pleasant and cheerful. Without, 

 let it be grateful to the sight, and delightful to the memory. 

 Let there be the smooth, green sward upon which the shadows 

 come and go, the clean-swept walk, the neat, white paling, the 

 blooming and fragrant flowers, the climbing vine upon the 



