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VOL. XXV. SO. T. 
WHOLE NO. 1145. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ JAN. 6, 1873. 
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j price eight cents. 
! $9.50 PER YEAR. 
Jndufjtrml ®o|ics. 
TYPES OF THE PRESENT. 
YVhat we realize to-day in tlie home life 
of the industrial men of America ; in their 
tickler. The dignity of labor depend* upon 
the accomplishments of the laborer. Labor 
does not necessarily dignify any one; but it is 
always honorable if honorably performed 
with an honest purpose. Upon the man de¬ 
pends the dignity and honor of the work he 
does. And to-day Agriculture is more hon¬ 
ored because agriculturists are more intelli- 
cessary to the man who drains land; but it 
does not follow that men who have no land 
to drain are the less Intelligent than those 
who do, because they do not keep ditching 
shovels. 
Life to-day in the Rural Homes and on 
American Farms means and is moi’e to our 
people than ever before. Culture and re- 
We cuunot help congratulating the young 
men upon the farms and in the gardens of 
to-day, upon their better opportunities, and 
t he young women upon the rapid deci’ease of 
the social chasm which separates them from 
those who occupy the highest positions in 
American Homes. 
We started, to say that on this page we 
yjXT*ES OF THIC PRESENT—WHAT I.S, FOR COMPARISON WITH WHAI WA.H. 
methods and in their vekuions to each 
other ; in their independence, thrift, cul¬ 
ture and intelligence, is so different Horn 
that of twenty years ago that to close our 
eyes and strive to recall the past and then 
open them upon the present, is like waking 
from a Rip Van Winkle slumber. The then 
and now are connected with a chain of in¬ 
dustrial events, too long to be catalogued, 
that have brought to the working people of 
this country elements of power and pros¬ 
perity which they have not been slow to 
mold for their own use. Then it was com¬ 
mon to talk of the dignity of labor—to 
preach that it was honorable, as if it were 
doubted ; and it was doubted then. But 
now the politician does not use that palate- 
gent, cultivated, and better business men 
than they were twenty years ago. 
Contrast the condition of American agri¬ 
culturists, and their homes, and home com¬ 
forts with those of other countries — of 
France for instance, which claims to be the 
most enlightened nation on the globe. The 
truth is, their labor is not diguified with 
brains; here it is; also in England, though 
oven England, with her more exact, com¬ 
plete, thorough agricultural system, Is not 
far, if any, In advance of us in the average 
intelligence and accomplishments of her 
agricultural population. Her system id 
more complex and thorough of necessity— 
j that is all; and the science she uses is a ne- 
! cessary tool just gs a djtching shovel is ne- 
fiuement are rapidly taking the place of 
ignorance and boorishnosu. Our school sys¬ 
tem and the cosmopolitan character of our 
life innovate upon the old-time traditions 
and habits and break up the trammels 
which, within our memory, bound men 
down to a plodding, dreary, and almost 
hopeless life of toil. There are brighter 
homes and happier faces in the country to¬ 
day. Social life lias assumed new phases 
and we begin to see the dawn of what is 
to be in the future —a higher and better 
type for the American Farmer. 
There are too few thinkers, too few calcu¬ 
lators, too few disciplined minds among 
agriculturists, although th« necessities of 
modem busiuess are fast begetting them. 
have attempted to give a picture typical, in 
a small sense, of the present, and let our 
readers make their own comparison with 
the past. Wo have aimed not to exaggerate 
in any sense; in our judgment we have not 
even selected the highest types, but simply 
representative ones. We have no words of 
buncombe to say. Our readers do not need 
advice nor encouragement in general terms, 
Speoitic aid in specific industries it is our 
duty to furnish so far as we may; and the 
aim with us is to be to “improve the gen¬ 
eral average," aud so labor to perfect the 
typical man and agriculturist of 1872 that 
at the close of the New Year wo (all of us) 
can look back upon our work and note 
“Progress and Improvement.” 
