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among fruits and flowers, — amid the waving fields, em- 

 bowering trees, and the fair glories of the landscape that 

 have sprung up and arranged themselves into new beauty 

 at the magic of his touch, till we feel that among men of 

 greatest power and noblest intellect, none have a diviner 

 mission to their country and their race than he. For his 

 office is to restore again to man the banished Eden, and 

 to make tliis outward world of ours a Paradise of beauty 

 and delight. Richer and greener grow the fields at his 

 coming. New fruits hang their shining clusters filled 

 with delicious juices lovingly over his head ; new flowers 

 open to him in grateful joy their dewy, sparkling eyes, 

 and for him " the wilderness and solitary place shall be 

 glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 

 rose." Need I mention, in illustration, the loved and 

 lamented Downing ! Need I turn here, my brothers ! to 

 the illustrious head, that crowns with a living grace and 

 glory the Norfolk County Agricultural Society ; — a grace 

 and a glory every way to the annals of American culture, 

 an honor and a blessing to our advancing New England. 

 It is this noble fervor, this love and devotion to a pursuit 

 that soothes its cares, that lightens its labors, and makes 

 the severest effort seem easy — and a love of work, of 

 hard work, is absolutely essential in the true fiirmer. 

 He must be a laborer, both with his head, and with his 

 hands. All his senses must be on the alert, all his ener- 

 gies aroused to persevering, laborious action. And this 

 is another reason why there are so few good farmers, and 

 so many who only live on a farm, and are glad to get off 

 of it when and as they can. They don't love their work, 

 and so 'won't work. The boys leave the laborious country 

 for the specious and showy city ; they forsake the busy, 

 toilsome fields for the idle streets. It is getting to be 

 too much the custom among us, to despise labor, to be 

 ashamed of work, and this, especially with the young in 



