Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-10-08

d autlquity,
The Bible tells US that the patriarohs
q ancient times were farmers, and cult
waited tho soil.
Abraham, it 10 said, was vastly rich in
cattle in gold and in silver Patient,
afflicted, Christian old job, farmed ON a
very extensive scale. and counted upon
his broad acres, 1000 sheep, 5000 camcls,
500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses.
In Greece the various improvements in
the introduction of the nutri'
tive grains, and the invention OF conve-
nient instruments for tilling the soil,
were regarded as the immediate bouuties
Of the gods,
Among tho Romans also, agriculture
was still more respected than among the
Greeks.
In the best and purest times of the Re
public, the most distinguished citizens
tho bravest generals, the greatest orators,
the most learned philosophers and the
proudest patricians, lived on their farms
and laborcd with their own hands.
Cato, tho wise and prudent censor, was
both a practical and scientific farmer, and
wrote an excellent treatise on the art OF
agriculture.
When the Sabiues had advanced, with
superior army. to tho worry walls OF the
Imperial City, the people, although they
hated and despised the Patricians, de
manded that Cincinnatus, one of that dcs
pissed and unpopular class, should be ere
ated dictator; that is, that all the laws
and the powor of al the magistrates
should be suspended, and absolute ant
despotic authority vested in his hands,
This same Cincinnatus, who was tn
hope Of his country in that hour of hel
extremity and peril, was, at the time
quietly cultivating his little farm beyond
the Tiber, which bears his name to thi
day, and which consisted of four acres o
land. There he was found by the mes
sengers who were sent TO hail him a
dictator, leaning his spade, or holding hi
plow
Willingly ho obeycd the voice Of hi
county, and after having raised an arm!
and defeated the enemy, he laid down il
sixteen days the dictatorship which h
was authorized to hold for six months
and on the 18th day returned in triumph
to his farm.
Again, Adam, the newly created father
Of mankind, as soon rs he was created
was placed by the Supreme Author of hi
being in beautiful garden, which tn,
hand of Omnipotence itself had planted
" 10 dress and 10 keep It,"
Thus we SEQ that before the heavin
bellows had urged the furnace, before
hummer had struck upon an anvil, befor
the cleaning waters had flashed from a
oar, before trade had hung up its scale
or guaged its measures, the culture of th
soil hogan
80 dress lie garden and to keep it," wa
the divine command to our first parents
this was the keynote struck by the han
of God himself in that long, joyo~S, wal
ing, triumphant, troubled, pensive strai
of life music, which sounds through Il
generations and ages of our race.
Banished from the Garden of EdeI
mans merciful sentence, at once his doom
his roprieve and his livelihood, was, "t0h
| The ground from ar'ich he todS taken y an
this in its original primitive simplicit
was the first calling and occupation
the gathering societies of men.
To this wholesome discipline 4
mighty East, in the days of her ascenda
cy was trained and so rapid was h
; progress that long before the dawn of hi
tory broke upon the world she had tam'
the domestic animals, had saddled q
horse, and yokcd the OK, and MIXED t
: COW, and sheared the patient sheep, al
T. possessed herself OF all the cereal grail
which at the present feeds the multitud
of men which people the wide earth.
Agriculture, | say, was the great a
lea,ling pursuit of the primcval East
fore the intellectual supremacy of Gree
was developed, while the Macedoni
" sword slept in its scabbard, before t
II genius OF military domination was inca
u nate IN the Roman legions, while t
warlike North yet wandered in her pat
less SHOWS, the Persian had travelled
on the road 70 universal conquest and e
pirc.
= From the Iuuan Gulf to the Indl
from the Iruair to the sources of the Nj
~. STRAPS, III the name of the gre
c king. administered that law Of the Med
d and persi,ns, which changed not "a,
10 throUg hout this mighty monarchy-o
q OF the most extensive that ever obey
Il ono ruler next 20 war, agriculture "
S the most honored pursuit among her p
= Pile. On this subject the Greek historic
Il Nenophon, has preserved and hand
. down 10 US "a most charming anecdotc.
: On certain occasion, one Of those h,
q mythical Persian sovereigns, into who
personal history the philosophers of Gree
1t delighted 10 weave their highest conct
Re tons OF royal polity, Cyrus, the young
r received Lysandcr, the envoy Of the G
Is elan allies, at Sardis, and conducting h
into the royal grounds, pointed out I
Sc beauty of the plantations, the straig
Il avenues OF trees, their rectangular dis
<, sition, and the fragrant shrubbery Il
k shaded the walks Truly" cried (
Spartan warrior, unused to these deligl
@ ful but manly refnements, Il admire t
Il be iutiful scene, bat much more SHOULD
II admire the artist lay whose skill it "
Is created" Cyrus, pleased with this co
e incubation, exclaimed, 1T was all laid c
, and measured by myself, and n portion