The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-11-11
A d D IF E s s.,

Delivered at the Annual Fair Of tile Addiso
County Agricult,~d Society, Oct 7, 1874
By PRoF. j. MEACHAM, Of IIddleJm
t College.
Mn. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF TIL
SOCIETY
Custom makes it necessary for man ad
dressing Agriculturists, first to show hmsel
a farmer. Every speaker, -whether from
the legal, clerical, medical, or political pro
teSslon,- is anxious to put on the livery O
caste. bow to the salntary custom. If buy
ing small parcel OF land with promises tc
pay if maintaining an old brush fence be
tween myself and the unruly cattle of neigh
Dor, for eighteen months, without spelling
the temper and morals Of both; if manuring
and ploughing and plasteling that land tc
feed the lean and hungry grasshoppers Of
Addison County for the year eighteen hun
drcd and torty-seven, will constitute me q
farmer, then may take my place among the
fraternity, and proceed to give you little
brotherly advice.
1t was Il matter Of regret that I was called
to address you on this barren year From
the rumors that came from different parts of
the county, feared we might meet here to
look gloomily on our lean kline and blasted
cars; that we should here harness our cara
vans to 90 down from this Canaan to buy
corn in Egypt for ourselves and cattle, and
our little ones that we perish not. I am
greatly and happily disappointed. If Pha-
raoh should look on this exhibition, on the
well-fayorcd and fat heshcd, on the seven
ears coming up from one stock rank and
good, | should have no fears that his slumbers
by night would be disturbed by dreams Of
famine ahead.
Nevertheless it is true that, in parts of the
county we have suffered severely from the
drouth and the locust. We have lost a LARGE
portion Of the substantial products of the
year. We have cause for thanksgiving to
God that, while the food for beasts is curtai!-
cd the food for man is abundant By this
we are shown our dependence. We should
learn something from this event. for VIC arc
under the direction of power that regulates
the small as well as the great things Of the
world, that clothes the grass and flowers Of
the field, and "whlc riding on the hurricane
is pilot to the bubble on the breaker" l do
not deem it rash or impious to say that it is
designed to teach just what we are com2c}lo9
to learn, tEat VIC shall make thorough win
moving Of our 1locks and herds, and rive the
empty and useless chaff to the winds of hea-
ven, that we shall not waste the fruits OF our
labor and our land upon the coarse, the ugly
and shabby tenants OF the fold and the stall.
| have no doubt that, a few years hence,
looking back TO this time, we shall acknowl-
edge that this seeming calamity has borne a
rich blessing under its wings.
One thing necessary to the success of the
farmer is TO understand and to follow the laws
of nature so far as they pertain to his calling
BY the laws Of nature / mean the laws of
God. Without this, every step, out of the
old beaten way, is q step in the dark, every
trial viii be defeated, or succeed by chance
or by binder. Why are those laws so deep
" hidden? Perhaps to stimulate to activity
Of mind, for wherever spontaneous produce
supports the population Of land, the mind
becomes as torpid and INDECENT as the body
But when means are discovered to increase
produce, or machines in"entcd to save labor,
the awakened intellect moves to other pur-
suits, with increased power and rapidly.
In the old system Of astronomy, one error
at the foundation called for a thousand lies to
keep it in countcnance. The whole was a
piece Of imaginary patchwork. 1t did not
cause great evils, because the Sun and Moon
Needless Of sublunAry scandal kept on their
business, giving light and heat notwithstGnd-
ing the whole foolish world taxed them as
such arrant gadabous. When the laws of
the heavenly bodies are understood, all is
clear, simple and consistent. In other things
error has not been as harmless. Before the
circulation Of blood was known, medical men
looked on the arteries Of the human system
as filed with air, and hence the name artery
means an air prcscrvcr. They judged thus
because these channels were found empty af-
ter death, every thing in practice must con-
form to that theory. Once the treatment of
small pox was a warming and heating process.
Every appliancc-feather beds, scarlet cur
tains and administered to that end. When
the laws Of the system, and The nature of the
disease is known, the whole process is revcrs,
ed. or those ancient doctors 1t might truly
be said,
While they shut up their turap.!los, their patients
could 60,
The old roundabout road to the regions below"
Once Sit was believed that flesh wounds
could heal only after suppuration by second
incison. Now 1t is known that nature de-
mands 20 close the lips OF the wound and it
will take care Of itself. There WAS u prac-
tee, | presume limited, do not charge it
upon the faculty, Of anointiag the instrument
by which the wound was made, whether a
knife, or scyjhe, Or an axe, The wound it.
self was barely pinched together, and perhaps
honorcd with some stray rag, while the wick
ed axe hal all the sympathy and all the salvc :;
perfectly in keeping with the treatment Of
nr,r,ioo ola n, thngn DAYS