117 
THE FARMER AND HIS HOME. 
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region some four or five hundred miles in diameter, having 
its centre somewhat south of Galena on the Mississippi River, 
and embracing considerable portions of the States of Wiscon¬ 
sin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. Here can be 
raised all the crops and fruits of the temperate zone in their 
perfection, and here the race of domestic animals and men 
flourish in full vigor. For though men can exist in climes 
where excessive heat and terrible cold prevail, it is only in 
temperate regions that they reach their finest and fullest devel 
opment, The mixture here, too, of the people of different 
States and foreign blood, is most favorable to the improvement 
of the race of men. And if we do not here, of all this conti¬ 
nent, produce the finest crops and the best stock, and the no¬ 
blest men—men sound in body and sound in mind—men devel¬ 
oped physically, morally and intellectually—we shall fail of our 
manifest destiny, and be a reproach to that great and good land 
in which Providence has planted us. 
Just about this time, all over the land, farmers and farming 
are being glorified by distinguised speakers at County and 
State Fairs, and lest you §hould become conceited by much 
adulation, I shall adopt a somewhat different course. The 
object of these Fairs is improvement. If you have reached a 
state of perfection, there is no need of improvement. I pro¬ 
pose to point out to you some of your short comings, and to 
show you how you fall short of the standard you ought to 
attain, as also how some steps may be made in advance. 
We hear a great deal said of the dignity of labor. Let us 
examine this matter a little, and see in what the dignity of 
labor consists. See the ox drawing the plow, the horse turn¬ 
ing the threshing machine—mere muscular exertion, without 
thought, without mind—on and on, round and round. Suppose 
men and women hitched to these machines instead—and there 
are countries where such spectacles have been seen, even a 
woman hitched beside a cow in the furrow. Is such labor dig¬ 
nified ? There may be dignity in it for the horse or the ox, for 
they are acting according to their gifts and power. But there 
