ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION, 97 



from ten to fifty thousand dollars. Among my acquaint- 

 ances are such individuals ; men whose annual income 

 would be ample to provide for every want, even if they 

 should refuse henceforth to perform physical labor. They 

 have enough, as the saying is, " to carry them through ; " 

 and then there would be sufficient lett for the heirs, to ruin 

 a family of six children after giving the lawyers half! In 

 their homes you will find no libraries, no pictures, no 

 musical instruments, few carpets. They seldom attend 

 lectures, or concerts, or even dairymen's conventions. 

 They ci^n't afford it. They are saving their money — for 

 what ? to buy more hogs ! They have never heard of 

 Whittier, or Longfellow, or Herbert Spencer, or Huxley. 

 They don't knov/ whether Shakespeare is living or dead. 

 They are interested in European wars, because these raise 

 the price of hogs. Almost their only enjoyments are eat- 

 ing drinking, sleeping, and accumulating. 



What will education do for such ? 



I repeat, it will increase their capacity for enjoyments, 

 and will check them in their avaricious, inordinate accumu- 

 lations. 



This latter is desirable. The accumulation of exces- 

 sively large fortunes is oftener a curse to the heirs, and to a 

 community than a blessing. To borrow a figure : The 

 snow, when evenly distributed over the land, becomes a 

 source of pleasure and profit; but when piled in drifts 

 mountain high, it impedes travel and becomes a source of 

 great annoyance. So with wealth ; when evenly distrib- 

 uted, its benefits can scarcely be over-estimated ; but when 

 it " drifts " it becomes a hindrance rather than a help in the 

 onward march of civilization. The Creator evidently so 

 understands it ; for he seldom fails to give to avaricious, 

 grasping parents, spendthrift children who quickly scatter 

 (with the help of the lawyers) what has been' so injudi- 

 ciously piled up. Indeed, I sometimes think this is why 

 God permits lawyers to exist. (If you have a fortune 

 which you want leveled off, for the good of humanity, em- 

 ploy a lawyer.) 



What will education do for the farmer ? It will enable 

 him to spend more money for his own real enjoyment and 

 for the promotion of the genuine happiness of his family 

 and friends. It will convert hovels with bare walls and 

 bare floors into beautiful homes with pictures and carpets 



