The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-02-21
More Farmer. Manted.

In the French Chamber, NJ. Thiers recent
ly said, Sod, in making man, neither
made him idle nor Indifferent He opened
before him vast career, but profoundly la
boiious." True enough his career is @labo1i-
oas' and in that is found his true happiness.
Constituted as man is, he can find no real en-
joyment in idleness nor in indifference. He
must work ii he would be happy, Tor such is
the memorable law Of his life. "Slaves may
indulge In sloth, but ii is a most royal thing
to labor" Thus spoke Alexander the Great,
when master of the world And Thomas
Carlyle has said, All true labor is sacred,
and blessed Is he who has found his work.
II was sentiment among the ancients Deem
ed worthy to be inscribed in letters of gold
above the doors Of their halls of learning
that There is no excellence without labor"
And what is the first and most noble on the
list of human industries? What lays the
foundation, deep, broad and strong, for all
other useful labors? What was the first and
most necessary employment given to manP
We answer tilling the soil, or, in other phrase
farming.
Never in the history of the world has there
been louder call upon men to become farm
ers than at the present time. And never was
food in ths world more scarce than now.
The producing classes have not kept even
pace with the consumers and hence tie
scarcity Of food. The only remedy for suth
an evil is an increase in the number Of those
who devote their time and apply all their
enegies to cultivate the earth. In view OF
all over Europe, it win readily be seen that
Agriculture must be for years TO come a very
profitable business. The promise of seed
time and harvest has been made from q Pow
er that never tails. We have good lands
enough within our borders to sustain a vast
population, II It is properly cultivated. We
could almost feed the world and fare sump-
tuously every day ourselves. Our recent
war has wrought many changes and taken
fom our farms hosts of laborers whose work
is now needed to supply the hungry stomachs
which are SO loudly crying for food in
every portion OF tle globe. And how shall
these increasing cries have their Guietus? 1t
must not be done with the "bare bodkin," Tut
our young men must take vigorous hold
upon the plowhandles and devote their enc
gies to the honorable and profitable cultiva-
ton Of the earth.
1t is strange-passing strange, that so many
stalwart young men from the country viii
flock to the cities in search Of employment
when our cities are full and running ever
with so many who can fnd none. Does any
young man suppose it is more honorable to
measure tape behind a counter, or draw mo-
lasses in a grocery, or handle barrels of -four
or pile up salt fish than to work on farm
Ii so, he is most egregiously mistaken. Does
he fondly imagine that such city employ
ments are generally more profitable than
farming? Ii so, he is reckoning without his
host. True, some young men have become
rich in mercantile pursuits, but where one has
succeeded hundred have failed. And many
of these young men who have succeeded have
gone through the process OF failing IN pus'-
ness several times perhaps, before they couid
reach the goal OF their ambition.
Such life must suffer in comparison WIN
the aericulturist's,w who pursues asteady course
oets an honest living, sometimes gains wealth
and always respectability and is never SUD-
;pcted TO mercantile entanglementS. Spring
i near AT hand, and now is the time for
,o,,nc men who can find no respectable and
nroitable work in our cities to flee to the
country and engage in cultivating the earth,
and add TO their own happiness and the
wealth of the nation. LeS them become pro-
| ducers instead OF consumers and so benefit
| the world as we'll as themselves.