The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1873-10-17

pay.
The young men of New England left
the farms on which they were born and
which in early life they helped to till,
not because they would not yield them
vast wealth, but because they
would not yield them that reasonable
amount of wealth which every man
needs for his own development and the
support of those who would in the course
Of nature look to them for needed pro-
vision. 1t was not because farming did
not mean riches, but because farming
meant poverty, that our young men in
so many instances have refused to be
farmers.
Looking upon poverty as a curse,
as it has always been and is to-day
the world over, that form of industry
which made rightfnlly, hateful to them.
Their rebellion was not against the soil,
but against that narrow and painful
condition Of life which under its then
method of cultivation was in separably
connected with it. This, as I feel and
understand it, is the true analysis and
proper statement of the case.
Another reason of this desertion, on
the part Of our young men, of agricul-
tural pursuits, is to be found in the fact
that agriculture as conducted in the past
has not supplied them with ei,i.er the
intellectual opportunity or stimulus
which they craved, and craved too with
reason.
The last forty years in this country
have been years Of intense mental ap-
plication. doubt if any future gener-
alton Of Americans will ever be born
that shall equal the two represented
by this audience in intellectual energy.
They will excel us in culture, but not
mental activity. For forty years the
American intellect has been driven at
express speed. Like the chariot of fire
in ancient story, the flame that illumi-
mated the path Of its progress has been
generated by the rapid revolutions Of its
own wheels. Look at what it has
achieved in the way Of subjugating and
directing physical forces and shaping
material forms! Its inventions are the
marvel Of the world. 1t would seem
that the American mechanic and ma
chinist never slept. The opposition Of
nature has been so gigantic that moth
ing less than ineessant application to-day
could clear the path tomorrow.
Under such conditions, no wonder that
the brain force of the nation has been,
in the aggregate, astonishingly develop
ed
The branch of industry that has shar-
ed least in this general mental activity
is beyond doubt the agricultural. Tn
der the old method of farming there
was little necessity or provocation TO
think. 1t was life and pursuit in
which the hand played the most import
ant part and the brain was left in the
back ground. In that old order horti-
culture, arboriculture, Horticulture, sci
entifc breeding Of the domestic animals,
and those other branches of agriculture
that call for ingenuity and enterprise
and result in culture, were nearly un.
known. Farming was only dull rou-
tine of planting potatoes and corn, hoe
ing and haying, and reaping and gath.
ering the crops in the autumn. This
with the handling of the winters wood
and repairing fences, composed the an.
nual round. Now in all this the brain
played no part The hands did it all
and were able to do it all. There was nc
recreation, no culture; and almost no re-
ward. The arms and legs did all the
work, and got all the profit. The MIND
did nothing, and gained nothing bu
rusted through ignoble disuse.
From such life every active minded
young man naturally broke away. j
was a life in which labor was only {
kind of base physical toll. There wa
) no spring, no elasticity to it. Their
was no chance to rise or grow. Th
great, wide, stirring, progressive work
was only few miles away, with it
splendid opportunities to amass ant
J achieve. Even its lower grades of in
dustry were instructive and expansive
How could he stay on the ancestral patch
and be content? He could not, and
claim he had no right 20 remain. NJ
industry is worthy young mans fol
lowing, unless it ministers to the highe
and diviner side OF his nature. 4 pur
suit that merely takes the body and sup
ports the body is base, and should be de
spised. This was one cause why farm
ing was despised by the young Of tn
= land. 1t was a mere manual toll. In
the hand was Of higher use than tn
, head. Muscle was absolutely wort
more than brain. A man with one ide
was as valuable as he whose mind wa
t quick with suggestion. A fool Of Wei
ster's size was as good man on the farr
: as Webster
While the mechanic of the nation wer
perfecting themselves in their sewers
trades, and the maehinists Of the natio
r betting the globe with their ships an
D the manufacturers bringing the skill {
r the Old World to our shores, and ever
9 other form Of industry was racing alon
: with emulation, the New England fai
e mer continued to plod ON in the pat
which led him year by year into deep'
: discomfort sand poverty. In this wa
: ambition and enterprise, wealth and Gu
e ture were alienated from the soil
4 which they should be most warmly a
= tached, and in the cultivation Of whic
I whatever is best in mans mind and hea
G can and should find its highest exereii
e and most enduring pleasure.
d Riches as means Of benehccRce
ones self and othera ara doairad but ,