the splendor and glory of his kin'gdom, and the wonder and 

 admiration of all succeeding time. But time would fail me 

 to tell of the silver shod shepherds of the Arabian plains, the 

 gorgeously apparelled cattle breeders of Mesopotamia, or the 

 princeh^ husbandmen in the market gardens of Goshen, who, all 

 down the centuries, have come treading the dewy meadows with 

 their flocks, ranging with their herds through the ancient moun- 

 tains, and bearing the fruit of the everlasting hills, and who still 

 increase and multiply in the olive groves of the East, the vineyards 

 of the South, the wheat fields of the West, and the apple orchards 

 of the North. And so you have come of the brightest, wealthiest, 

 noblest of all industries, from the Garden of Eden to the Garden 

 of Berkshire, — the God-created, the God-sustained, and the God- 

 crowned tillers of the soil. 



I come, therefore, with great pleasure to speak, this morning, 

 on " The Attractions of the Farm." And the first attraction I 

 notice is your congenial situation. Your dwelling place, ladies- 

 and gentlemen, is the freest, freshest, grandest bit of all outdoors. 

 The noblest sentiment ever uttered of this old world describes it as- 

 ' ' The Garden of the Lord. ' ' How substantially He laid its foun- 

 dations with stones of fair colors, whose seams are threaded with 

 silver and gold. How delightfulh^ He formed it by the mellow 

 clods of the valley, and the sparkling granite of the hills. How 

 beautifully He banked it with His cedars, and belted it with His 

 pines, studding its glades with His oaks, and capping its summits 

 with His firs. How charming He mottled the birds of the air, 

 the fish of the brooks and the beasts of the field. With what 

 pleasing splendors hath He embossed its vales with flowers, bap- 

 tizing its lilies in the whiteness of His throne, bathing its violets- 

 in the azures of heaven, and dipping its roses in setting suns, 

 surely it was such an entertaining view as this that fired the 

 Israelitish bard when he sang, " The earth is the Lord's and the 

 fullness thereof. " " Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of 

 God. Thou blessed the springing thereof. The pastures are 

 clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered with corn, and the 

 little hills rejoice on every side." 



It is beside one of these " hills," at its base, or on its top, that 

 the farmer's homestead stands. Nestling on the sunny side of 

 the old orchard whose fruitful variety betokens liberal importa- 

 tion, pruning and care. In the front is the well-kept lawn, taste- 

 fully bordered with choice flowers, and adorned with bits of rare 

 shrubbery. In the rear is the garden, not all gone to weeds, but 

 set out and planted methodically and plentifully with seeds and 

 roots and vines of the finest quality and richest ^delding. Back of 

 the orchard stretches the pasture where the ninety-and-nine are 

 watched and folded with a tender shepherd's care, while beyond 

 white harvests wave in fields of oats and wheat and barley and 

 rye. On the right is the meadow with colts and cattle, and on 

 the left the upland wood lot with its graceful chestnut, quivering 

 beach, majestic elm, and knotted oak, and from which flows the 



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