State Convention—Our eoys. 
249 
of old age. Give him an education and dress him respectably. 
Give him recreation for both mind and body. Convince him 
with facts—arguments so easily understood—that the farm is not 
only a pleasant, healthful, noble place to live on, but that it pays, 
and he will not leave you , but will be to your declining years a 
pillar of strength. 
Besides adorning our home3, is there not a large field of heart 
adornment open before us. We have constantly above and around 
us the most gorgeous scenery in the world,—the scenery of cloud- 
land. Nature’s mysteries are hid from us by only the thinnest of 
coverings, and if young hearts are taught to study into the deep re¬ 
cesses, they will not long for the husks of frivolous pleasure. Edu¬ 
cation is its own reward, and by properly storing the minds of our 
children with the knowledge of animals and plants—and how they 
grow, we shall find them contented and happy in its vast labora¬ 
tory. Uneducated toil is like machinery without the lubricating 
influence of oil. The weary routine of incessant labor must be 
brightened by thoughts of the wonders contained in the great 
storehouse beneath and around us. The world moves on, and our 
boys move with it. Because our grandfathers and great grand 
fathers toiled on without thought (if they did, which I doubt), the 
generation of the present day will not, and have we not a labor be¬ 
fore us to teach those thoughts the right channels in which to find 
healthy food to sustain a vigorous, mental growth. In reading 
the history of great men, we are astonished at the frequent record, 
“ he was the son of a farmer.” With pride we scan these lines— 
and our thoughts seek out the mothers of these men, and with 
them we review deeds of self-sacrificing honor and years of am¬ 
bitious labor. And in the annals of crime and shame we are sad¬ 
dened to find the same words occasionally before us, “ he was the 
son of a farmer ; ” and again thought takes a backward flight and 
we realize the heart aching 'til it breaks the weary hours of pain, 
and finally the rest that knows no waking, of her who gave life to 
one whose conduct has saddened and blighted hers. Had the er¬ 
ring son been kept upon the farm his feet had not found the paths 
of vice. In the brightest walks of life there is room for the sturdy 
integrity born and reared in nature’s arms. And it is not grudg¬ 
ingly that we send out men to fill legislative halls, council cham - 
