Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-10-06
The Higher Work of the Patrons.

BY the higher work OF the order is meant
all that is not commercial, all that has not
money.making for its immediate object. II
is educational and the purdoso of it is to
make farmers more scientific in their agri.
culture, to refine their taste, to broaden their
sympathies and to extend their knowledge.
The accomplishment of this purpose will en-.
able farmers to labor intelligently and so in
crease their power of production. Their Of
forts will be made more wisely, and will be
less frequently f'uitless. Their exertions
will be more uniformly and, and on the
whole, more largely rewarded. Hence,
while the higher work of thoorder is not d.
rectly concerned in money-making, it is one
of its remote objects.
SO tho accomplishment of the higher work
will, by making them more productive make
them wealthier.
Another indirect purpose of the higher
work Of the order is the wise spending of
money Ii that intellectual and moral im.
provemeut, the effecting Of which is the high
or work, ever takes place, farmers as a class
will have, broader views regarding the use of
money. They will get more, and better
KIND Of enjoyment, than they do now, from
such portions of their wealth as they dc.
vote to pleasure. They will realize more
fully than do now, that recreation and idle.
ness are not synonymous terms, and that
money spent in pleasure is not necessarily
wasted. Their highest amusement will not
then be n county fair or n visit to neigh
Dor. They will then have learned to enjoy
the reading of good book and the contem-
platon of fine picture and they will APP
preciate the wisdom of purchasing books and
pictures. A profitable investment and the
test Of a profitable investment will not so
frequently be the per cent. per aunum il
yields.
In one of its indirect purposes, the in.
crease Of the farmers wealth, the educatio
al is the same as the commercially in the
other il is supplementary. Moreover the
successful accomplishment Of the one is de-.
pendent on the successful accomplishment
of the others. To extend aud carry out tho
business work of the order as we expect to,
there will have to be some education and
to succeed in this educational work as large
ly as We hope TO do, Patrons will need to
make more money.
The two branches Of the work of the or.
dor being thus closely related and thus mu-
tually dependent, we cannot safely neglect
either. Both must be prosecuted vigorous
ly. There is, however. tendency in some
quarters to allow the commercial to over
ride the educational work. Too much at.
tention is paid to the business feature. Ii
either must receive more attention than the
other, it should be the educational, for it is
much more difficult of accomplishment. 1t
is easy enough to preach good doctrines, but
to get people to practice them, is always a
SLOW and, oltentime, hopeless task. For
this reason we cannot be to perseveriDg in
the educational work Of the order Some
critics sheer at the idea that an organization
could, by intoxicating moral precepts, make
farmers us a class more honest aud Just in their
dealings with others and among themselves,
could make them readers and thinkers, could
lead them to surround themselves with COM
forts, and could induce them to be more
systematic and thorough in their farming.
Ii we devote ourselves to both branches Of
the work. neglecting neither educational nor
the commercial, there can be but one result
If We do not allow our energy, in the organ
ization and running Of cooperative stores,
and in the carrying out Of our other business
ente rprises, to abate, and if we display an
equal amount of energy in keeping up our
grange meetings and in making them a
source of improvement to mind and heart
the noble order Of Patrons will DO abund
autly successful, educationaly and CONNER
cially; and more successful in both respects
than it could have been in either, if ono had
been eglected.-Erchamge.