The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-01-14
The Farmer.
BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

| BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
The glory of the farmer is, that in the
division of labor, it is his part to create
All trade rests at last on his primitive
authority. He stands close to nature; he
obtains from the earth the bread and the
meat. The food which was not he causes
| to be. The first farmer was the first man,
and all historic nobility rests OH possession
and use of land. Men do not like hard
work, but every man has an exceptional
respect for tillage, and the feeling that this
is the original calling of his race, that he
himself is only excused from it by some
circumstances which made him delegated
for time to other hands. If he had not
some skill which recommends him to the
farmer, some product for which the farmer
will give him corn, he must himself return
into his due place among the planters
And the profession has in all eyes it's ancient
charm AS standing nearest God, the first
cause. Then the beauty of nature, the
tranquility and innocence of the country
man, his independence, and his pleasing
arts-the care of bees, of poultry, of sheep,
of COWS; the dairy, the care of hay, of
fruits, of orchards and forests, and the
reaction of these on the workman in CIV
ing him strength and plain dignity, like
the face and manners of nature-all men
acknowledge. All men keep the farm in
reserve as an asylum, where, in case of mis-
chance, to hide their property, or solitude
if they do not succeed in society. And
who knows how many glances of remorse
are turned this way from the bankrupts of
trade, from mortified pleaders in senates,
or from the victims of idleness and pleasure!
Poisoned by town life and town vices, the
sufferer resolves: Well, my children,
whom l have injured, shall go back to the
land, to be recruited and cured by that
which should have been my nursery, and
now shall be their hospital
The farmer has grave trusts confided to
him. In the great household of nature,
the farmer stands at the door of the bread
room and weighs to each his load. 1t is
for him to say whether men shall marry OF
not. Every marriage and the number of
births are indissolubly connected with the
abundance of food or, as Burke said, "man
breeds at the MOUTH Then he is the
Board of Quarantine. The farmer is the
boarded capital of health, as he is also the
capital of wealth, and it is from him that
the health and the power, moral and intel
lectual of the cities come. The city is
always recruited from the country. The
men in cities who are the centres of energy,
the driving wheels of trade, politics, or
practical arts, and the women of beauty
and genious, are the children and grand
children of farmers. and are spending the
energies which their fathers hardy, silent
life accumulated in frosty burrows, in pow
erty, necessity. and darkness. In English
factories, the boy who watches the loom,
to tie the threads when the wheel stops, to
indicate that the thread is broken, is called
Jfnder. And in this great factory of our
Copernican globe, shifting its slides, rotat-
ing its consultations, times and tides; bring
ing now the day Of planting, then of water
ing, then of wedding. then reaping, then
of curing and storing-the farmer is the
Minder. His machine is Of colossal pro-
portions; the diameter of the water-wheel,
the arms Of the levers, the power of the
battery, are out Of all mechanic measure;
aud it takes him long to understand it's
parts and its working. This pump never
"sucks;" these screws are never loose;
this machine is never ont of gear; the vat
and piston-wheels and tires never wear out,
but are self-repairng. We see the farmer
with pleasure and respect, when we think
what powers and utilities are so meekly
worn. He knows every secret of labor
lie changes the face of the landscape
Put him on new planet, and he would
know where to begin; yet there is no AFRO
gance in his bearing but perfect gentle
ness. The farmer stands we'll on the world.
Plain in manners as in dress, he would not
shine as in palaces he is absolutely I'M
known and inadmisable therin. Living or
dying, he shall never he heard Of in them.
Yet the drawing-room heroes put down
beside MIN would shrivel in his presence
the solid and INEXPENSIVE, they expressed
to rold-leaf But he stands well on the
world, as Adam did, as an Indian does, as
Homers heroes, Agamemnon and Achilles,
do He is person whom poet of any
clime-Milton or CervanteS-would appre-
ciate as being really piece of the old
nature, comparable to sun and moon, rain
bow and flood; because he is, as all natural
persons are, representative of nature as
much as these. That interrupted behavior
which we admire in animals and in young
children belongs to him, to the hunter, the
sailor-the man who lives in the presence
of nature. Cities force growth, and make
men laxative and entertaining, but they
make them artificial. What possesses in
terest for us is the natural part of each,
its constitutional excellence. This is for
ever surprise, engaging and lovely; we
cannot be satiated with knowing it, and
about it, and it is this which the converse
ton with nature cherishcs and guards.
A green grocer.-One who trusts.
-Seasonable advice.-Have your census
about you.