68 ILLmOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



minded that the anticipated length of this article has already been reached, 

 although the subject has hardly been touched; still do not let so noble a 

 cause as that of literature suffer in your judgments by its having had a poor 

 advocate ; for I fancy that the v^^ork of the greatest geniuses here is but 

 patch work woven from the golden fringes of truth that hang over the bat- 

 tlements while the great crimson-flowered web lies within to be admired by 

 us, let us hope at some time. 



With such a home atmosphere would so many farmers' sons become dis- 

 gusted with farm life and drift to the city to find mediocrity or luin, leaving 

 disappointed and crushed hearts behind them? Those parents must be wise 

 early and they will not blame Providence for their own neglect when it is 

 too late. One quarter of an acre of potatoes might in twenty years have 

 given him a library of 600 volumes; given his children a refinement and pu- 

 rity of soul that they do not now possess; given himself and wife a life long 

 source of intelligent pleasure, increased, ennobled and purified their mutual 

 affections, broadened their manhood and womanhood, kept the freshness 

 and youth of their souls through even the decrepitude and gray hairs of age; 

 furnished them with an honest self respect and the deserved reverence of 

 worthy children— a benediction only true lives receive. 



In the name of true economy and business succea all chat Is noble and 

 pure in life, will not the farmer be paid by a good library ? 



AGEICULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



PROF. FRANK H. HALL, SUGAR GROVE, ILL. 



He who says that the schools of the olden time were superior to the 

 schools of to-day is either ignorant or pessimistic. There is a derangement 

 in his brain or in his liver. He is misinformed, disingenuous or bilious. And 

 lest I shall be classed with the chronic grumblers for twice venturing to 

 criticise before this convention so beneficent and progressive an institution 

 as our public school system, permit me at the outset to disclaim all sympathy 

 with those antiquated croakers who forever magnify the old and distrust the 

 new. The schools of to-day are more excellent than those of the boyhood 

 time of your grandfathers. The comparison between them is as the stage- 

 coach to the locomotive ; as the sailing vessel of a hundred years ago to the 

 magnificent floating palace that bears its passengers wrapped in luxury 

 across the broad Atlantic in seven days. 



To say that in matters of public education we have not kept even pace 

 with the wonderful progress in material things is to slander as faithful and 

 competent a body of men and women as ever put shoulder to the wheel in 

 the interest of humanity. 



We are not opposed to high schools, nor to what is sometimes termed 

 " higher education in the public schools." We believe with ever.vbody that 

 in our public school system is public safety. We only echo that which has 

 been repeated ten thousand times before, when we say that our free institu- 

 tions can be safe only in the hands of the enlightened masses. Free educa- 

 tion is our bulwark; the ballot in the hands of ignorance our menace. 



