ILLINOIS DAIRTMEK'S ASSOCIATIOK. . 53 



homes where this is a custom. They are already blessed and are shower- 

 ing blessings on all the homes about them. 



PLAIN TALKING ABOUT FARMERS. 



While I have every reason to respect the farmer, I hope to be excused if 

 I point out wh§t seems to me to be some of his weak points, and even sug- 

 gest means of improvement. The poetical view of his occupation, is that it 

 is in such close contact and sympathy with nature, as to lead naturally to 

 her Author. But the practical fact seems to be, that he becomes so absorbed 

 in securing a competence — looking after his horses, his cows, his sheep and 

 his crops— that apparently, at least, he forgets Him who holds in His hands 

 the winds, the seasons and the sunshine, that are to produce his income. He 

 seems to be looking so constantly and intently down at the yield of his crops, 

 that he does not think to look up at the light of the stars. Not that other 

 clsases of men do not have their peculiarities and serious faults, but we are 

 now considering the especial characteristics— harness marks— of the 

 farmer. 



He usually seems to think that his mission is especially one of hard work, 

 and not unfrequently feels that men of other callings do uot work as hard 

 as he does, JHe must wrench his support from the world by main force. The 

 practical reflex of this belief is, to give his energies more completely to the 

 physical effort of getting a living, and to make him feel, perhaps unconciously, 

 that the measure of a man is the amount of bodily work he can do. As his 

 fingers are hardened by toil, too commonly his mental and moral touch be- 

 come less delicate, his sympathies with the trials of others less sensitive, his 

 appreciation of the pure, the noble, the true, less intense. Art, and music, 

 and literature, are to liim mere sentiment— stuff. In short, as his muscles 

 become harder and more rigid, so does his character. He is so taxed physi- 

 cally, that he stagnates mentally; for a man with his body "fagged," has 

 neither the power nor the inclination to think to any purpose. - 



Not unfrequently too, he comes to feel that he is made a kind of martyr 

 to furnish luxuries to others. Softer hands and better clothes than his, 

 awaken only bitter reflections, and as a business man, makes him suspicious 

 of others, and not always the most pleasant man with whom to get a settle- 

 ment. He thinks other men live on porterhouse, while he eats bacon. He 

 the producer must be content with "cornbread and common doins,"whlle 

 others have "wheat bread and chicken fixins." Have my experience and 

 observation been unfortunate, or have you, too, seen this kind of man? 



Now is not this result at least unfortunate and dissappointing? To be a 

 successful farmer, must he become so engrossed? Has he no time to lecall 

 the hopes, the aspirations, the inspirations and the ideals of his early years? 

 Has he not time for even sentiment, which I've no doubt, not his wife only, 

 but he himself once thought no "stuff"? 



My theme readily suggests what, to my mind, may furnish a means which 



if wisely used will bring about a very different and happier conclusion. In 



the first place, no greater mistake can be made, than for any one to give all 



his energies to the physical demands of his calling, whatever it may be. No 



; man ever did succeed, or ever will, who did not by himself or proxy, first 



I 



