I04 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN S ASSOCIATION. 



education which he might use in his chosen occupation, and 

 you have increased his expenditures and diminished his 

 receipts. You have made him of all beings the most mis- 

 erable. Hungry and thirsty, you tantalize him by showing 

 him luscious fruit and sparkling wine just beyond his reach. 

 Ignorance to him would, indeed, be bliss. 



What will education do for the farmer ? If it be that 

 kind of education, that its results, in part, at least, may 

 appear in his well-filled corn-cribs, in his heaped up potato 

 bins, in better shelter for his cattle, in a more judicious 

 selection of animals for breeding purposes, in the more 

 perfect adaptation of food to the necessities of the animal, in 

 better butter and more of it, — such an education he may be 

 induced to acquire; and, having thus built a substantial 

 educational edifice — an edifice of which the foundation stone 

 and the frame are the "common English branches ; " the 

 siding, the roof-boards and the shingles — those branches 

 that are especially adapted to the necessities of a farmer, he 

 will then desire to put on a cornice of poetry, with musical 

 modiUions ; an astronomical cupola, with philosophic mina- 

 rets; historic balconies and fanciful arcades. Let him do it. 

 Induce him to do it. He is as much entitled to an educa- 

 tional palace as the lawyer. These palaces may be equally 

 attractive, equally spacious, but not alike. The foundation 

 stones and frames may be similar, but Latin roof-boards and 

 Greek shingles zvill hardly keep out the rain over the head of 

 the farmer. 



To the lawyer and minister great skill in the use of 

 language is a necessity ; to the farmer it is, at most, only a 

 convenience. To the farmer, a knowledge of the chemistry 

 of soils and foods and manures is a necessity; to the lawyer 

 it is secondary in importance. Poetry and history are suit- 

 able ornaments for the farmer's educational palace — lor the 

 minister's they are substantial covering. In conclusion, 

 permit me to say to any who may be connected with our 

 educational system, either as teachers or school directors, 

 if you really desire to see the industrial classes of this 

 country brought to a higher intellectual plane, yfr^"^, give to 

 them these branches of study, a knowledge of which will 

 have, to them, a money value ; knowledge that they can 

 make the *' basis for action ; " knowledge that will enable 

 them to succeed financially in their chosen vocation, that 

 they may not be burdens upon society, but that they may 



