The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-04-18

Nov, Az any advantage 70 have aud ,sss
hrains2 Can 4 man with brains eet il filling
The soil. fair compensation for their use
Can brain work Be employed on ,he farm and
return 70 the owner as much Of comfort,
wealth, happiness, honor, and general pross
peri,y ssin other branches Of business at the
present times This is knoiiy question, but
il isone we have got 10 meet, and meet It
now. There is no use in attempting 10 evade
or ignore this great alternative. II there IS
anything in agriculture ihA necessarily dwaris
the mind and makes Il secondary TO mere
physical exertion, ihenlit is disgrace to be q
farmer, and common honesty requires that we
cease talking about the honorableness Of the
noble yeomanry. But on the contrary, if ag-
rieulture viii give scope TO thought and re-
search; if il viii cause man 10 think while
he works and study while he has leisure IL
his business is such that talent and tact will
sranaform his soil to gold and his house into
a beautiful and happy home if the same
amount Of bodily and mental labor on the
farm will produce as much pleasure, wealth,
and happiness as in the shops, counting room,
and mines, then we may conseiensiously rec
ommend agriculture as one Of the desirable
employments. Can this DO done?
Brother Patrons of Husbandry, our Order
has been formed to assist in answering this
great question in the affirmative. How shall
We proceedf
do not underrate the importance Of max
ing an effort buy our reapers q, few dollars
cheaper and sell our wheat few cents higher
and get our freights little lower. What is
gained in this way is certainly added to the
profits ofthe farm, but very much fear that
many members of the Order place too high a
value upon the matter Of purchase and sale.
This is not what ails us. II does not reach
the root Of the difficulty at all. Itonly prunes
away few slender twigs which grow again in
4 single night. We can never accomplish
what we want, and make agriculture respect
able, remunerative, and desirable farmers
intelligent, contented, and honored; farmers
wives envied and respected, and farmers sons
and daughters eagerly sought by the wise,
good, learned, and beautiful of the land for
husbands and wives we cannot make beAuti-
full homes, fertile farms, and improving aocks
by saving Eve dollars on pillow and Eve cents
bushel on wheat mol Never When We
build ike that We must dig deeper, lay the
foundations broader, and use brains as the
chief stone Of the corner. An OK excels US
in strength, horse in speed. The eagle has
keener sight, the hare q quicker ear, the deer
finer sense Of smell; but man excels them
all in mind and rules above them all. So
among men It is not the strong, the swift, the
keen-sighted, the quick-eared or scented
who rules the world, but the clear headed
Human beings are like the pebbles on the sea
shore: by rubbing against each other they
become rounded, smooth, polished, symmet.
| rieali alone, they are rough, uncouth, repul
sive.
| Farmers are too much alone. We need to
meet together to rub of the rough corners
and polish down into symmetry. wewant to
exchange views, and above all we want TO
learn to think. A man who has performed
fourteen hours of severe physical labor is in
no condition to think, and we may as well de-
eide at once that any class Of men which start
out in life By working at severe labor fourteen
hours Of the twenty-four, and faithfully ad.
heres to the practice, win fll forever the posi-.
ton Of hewers of wood and drawers of water
for men who use the God-given m ind, nour.
ish the soul with liberal and abundant mental
food.
have already tired your patience, and in
closing will only say that in my opinion the
coming farmer viii not toll with his hands
fourteen hours out Of the twenty-four and
compel wife and children to the same slavery.
But he will give liberal share of his time to
thought, study, and recreation. He will know
| Of what his soil is composed, in what it
abounds, in what il is deficient He will know
what elements of earth and air are needed for
plant growth, and under wha, conditions they
can be most readily assimilated. He will I'M
derstand the laws of plant and animal life,
that he may more successfully tire ut them.
His house will be abundantly supplied with
books and papers on agricultural aud matters
Of general interest Pictures and abundant
amusements viii make his home attractive.
A beautiful lawn and flower beds, a fruit and
vegetable garden, an orchard, groves, and
evergreens and deciduous trees for ornament,
shelter, and use, win make his home so lovely
and homelike that his daughters will not be
so disguised with fasm life as to marry vii
lage dolt, or the son so worn, weary and dis.
pirited as to leave the farm at the first oppor.
tunisy and open barber shop in some country
village. Can this be done, and can the farm 4
really be happy homes Of refined, intelligent,
honored men and women, instead of the
abodes Of overworked slavesf Yes emphat.
ically yes But not by negleciing to rust the
God-given mind, but by ronsing it up and
making il the compass, the sail, and the rud-
der in the voyage Of life. The body is but the
hulk. Then set your sails, stand by the rud-
| der, steer by the compass, and start out boldly
on the great journey, whose passage Is pleas.