66 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Wisconsin in which an education was imparted bearing specifi¬ 
cally upon the life vocation of this vast number of producers. 
Since then, provision to a slight extent has been made in some of 
our higher institutions of learning, and to a larger extent in the 
State University of Wisconsin. Still, comparatively but a few 
are reached. 
Wm. Pitt, when Prime Minister of England at twenty-two 
years ol age, visited the University of Oxford, which had been 
bitterly opposed to him. But, as “ nothing succeeds like success,” 
when he came to those ancient halls, the young men crowded 
round him to do him honor. The chancellor of the University, 
not liking the sudden conversion, when he ascended the pulpit to 
preach the sermon before Mr. Pitt and the University, took for 
his text, “There is a lad among you with fi?e barley loaves and 
two small fishes, but ” (looking around very significantly) “ What 
are they among so many ? ” What are these educational agencies 
among so many of you? Unless they can be multiplied, you will 
go hungry for the bread of knowledge, eager though you may be 
to gain it. 
I lay it down as a fundamental rule, that the education of a peo¬ 
ple to a great degree ought to have reference to their professions 
and pursuits. 
This rule does not bind us to make mere specialists ; it does not 
sink the man in the pursuit, but it does say to him, “ the thing 
you have to do in life, whereby you and yours are to be benefited, 
whereby society at large is to be the gainer, ought to be done in 
the best 'possible manner. Do as many other things as you decently 
can. Be as much of a cosmopolitan as you can. But be master 
in your own field. Unless this is the case, the manhood is want¬ 
ing. It is the concentration of a man in a backbone, straight up 
and down, that makes him what he ought to be, and not its diffu¬ 
sion in gristle or gelatinous jelly. 
Where shall this education be imparted ? How many of this 
great army of workers find their way to our colleges and univer¬ 
sities? How many of the 8,287,043 engaged in different pursuits 
in the United States trod the halls of these higher institutions of 
learning? How many of the 3,219,574 farmers of the country? 
How many of the 125,331 farmers of the state ? Four-fifths of 
