26 



Amid the agitations and excitements that occasionally 

 sweep over the country the farmers stick to the soil and 

 increase its value by their labor, giving it in fact by that 

 labor all the value it has. Their calm pursuits moderate 

 popular phrenzies, and fit them to fulfil the highest du- 

 ties to society. They may be slow, cautious, discrimi- 

 nating, averse to sudden movements, perhaps too conser- 

 vative, too timid in adopting ideas and plans, the impor- 

 tance of which others clearly discern ; but they are the 

 men to be relied on for substantial efforts, for the per- 

 formance of their social obligations. You know where 

 to find them. They are necessarily tied to their homes, 

 which are for them realities around which their affections 

 cluster. Others may lead the movements of the age as 

 light skirmishers, but the heavy masses that are to secure 

 the ultimate victory will be found among the cultivators 

 of the soil. Men who pay taxes, maintain schools and 

 churches and impress their character permanently upon 

 the country, can never be unfaithful to the great inter- 

 ests of social life. In their retired homes, with leisure 

 for the agricultural newspaper or the scientific treatise, 

 surrounded by the fruits of honest labor amid the grand 

 or lovely scenes of nature, the ever-freshly uttered words 

 of God, they may enjoy as large a share of earthly hap- 

 piness as falls to the lot of mortals. 



