272 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
cept, till the popular mind is stirred up and educated to some prac¬ 
tical and common point. 
But in the outset of the discussion, there are so many prelimin¬ 
ary and modifying questions, that we may well despair of arriv¬ 
ing at anything like an invariable rule of action to be adopted 
and used without discretion. Let it be admitted that the av¬ 
erage farmer sees and feels the importance of educating his family, 
not only in a general way, but with reference to his own particu¬ 
lar calling; here at once comes in the question of his ability to do 
so. He must reflect whether the family exchequer will honor the 
drafts that will, from time to time, and for a long, indefinite time, 
be drawn upon it to pay expenses. There must be access to good 
schools, somewhere in his neighborhood; the terms of admission 
to xhese schools must be such as he can meet. Then comes up a 
more perplexing question, and one much harder to determine. 
How many of his sons, if any, led by his own success in his call¬ 
ing, or disheartened by his failure, are going to follow in his foot¬ 
steps, and choose farming as their life-work ? Or, what calling or 
profession will they finally adopt and pursue ? And here let me 
say, parenthetically, that no son of wealthy or of poor parents; of 
farmer, artisan, doctor or divine, should be suffered to reach the 
years of manhood without a knowledge of some kind of trade, 
profession or calling, by which he can start out into the busy 
world, independent, self-reliant and without further parental aid, 
and if need be, become at the moment of his majority, a self-sup¬ 
porter—a master of the situation. Fortune is too fickle and 
worldly circumstances are too fluctuating for anybody to become 
entirely dependent upon the savings of the past. Those who can 
live without work of some kind, either of body or brain, are the 
mere exceptions in society, not worth considering in any philo¬ 
sophical view of life. How many young and middle aged men, 
and women too, are to-day bitterly lamenting as they seek access 
to the pitifully paid but over-crowded clerkships or more beggarly 
political places, that their younger days were not spent in learning 
some trade or studying some profession by which they could win 
an honorable living in spite of the reverses of fortune or the de¬ 
feats or success of political parties. 
Considering all preliminary questions settled; that the farmer 
