308 WISCONSIN STATE AORIGULTURAL SOCIETY. 
sanctuary. It is his holy of holies. Having the great possession, 
what shall he do with it? On the answer to this question, rests all 
that shall make him useful, and great, and good, or make him a 
curse to himself and mankind. If he answers this question wrongly, 
it were better for him had he never been born; and the answer rests 
largely with himself. In childhood and youth, the answer is mainly 
with others. In after life, he alone can answer it. The advantage 
flowing from a high appreciation and use of this great possession, 
all will admit. The evils following a bad use of them, all will ad¬ 
mit. But to the evils consequent upon a disuse of this great gift, 
our eyes are only half open. It is safe to affirm that a large propor¬ 
tion of the ills of life come from a disuse, or misuse of this power; 
and yet every man holds in fee, what, if well employed, will make 
him richer than gold and happier than diamonds. Why has he not 
discovered and mined his own possessions? Because state-craft, 
and priest-craft, and caste-craft, and gold-craft would not have it 
so. An educated brain is a bad tool. It cuts the hand of him who 
attempts to wield it. 
Civilization of necessity brings with it a certain amount of men¬ 
tal activity, but does not of necessity give large intellectual devel¬ 
opment. Unfortunately it puts within easy reach of the unedu¬ 
cated its vices; and the less the brain is developed the more allur¬ 
ing are those vices. The mental activity is generally carried into 
the vices to give them pungency and zest. The vice of intemper¬ 
ance would lose its relish, if its good-fellowship, its song and jest 
were eliminated from it. Take the social element out of drinking; 
compel a man to buy his own drink, as he would buy a box of 
matches, and go home; and in two years the evil will be nine- 
tenths cured. And it may be said generally, that a certain amount 
of intellectual activity enters into all of those social gatherings, 
which eventuate in worse than a waste of time. Mental activities 
once developed, clamor for food, and will have it; and if they are 
of a baser sort, will fun on and on to the end. The same is true of 
all ignoble aptitudes and passions, unless met and checked by some 
sudden and powerful moral impulse. 
Civilization li^s up her head in triumph, in the midst of her 
great achievements in science and art and literature, and glories 
chiefly in her noble charities, wherein science and humanity meet 
together and kiss each other; but bows her head in sorrow and 
