The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1876-02-03
DIR. Creigh's sDeech.

turcr:
DR., CREIGH: In offering these reso-
lutions beg leave to say, that hay
ing filled some political Offices in the
State Of Virginia, some years ago,
and being an honorary member Of
several Medical and Surgical Socie-
ties Of Philadelphia, and President of
the Medical Society of Greenbrier for
years, ! feel prouder of being a mem
Der and an officer Of this Grange than
any position in which | have ever
been placed in my life.
see around me the solid, substan-
tial producing men of the county,
the hardy yeomanrY of the country
the proud men who travel on horse
back-who do their trading not in
the dark and dusky rooms Of count
ing and banking houses, but on
horseback, on their own lands, with
the green grass beneath them, and
the blue sky above them, and the
bright sunlight all around them
see these land-holders, agricultural
men, who have so long been "hewegs
Of wood and drawers Of water" to all
= other interests in the community, ri
sing up in their majesty, as a giant,
refreshed with wine, to assert their
long lost rights, to vindicate their
position, and place themselves first
and foremost in elevating and exalt-
ing the highest and most honorable
of all pursuits. Sir, it reminds one
of the time when the Barons of old
extracted from an unwilling King
the great Magma Charta of English
liberty, or the period after the dark
ages when discoveries-the discovery
of the printing press, the making Of
paper, and the telescope, and a thou
sand other Notwithstanding
the remembrance of another day
when the utterance went forth: "Let
there be light and there was light"
the human intellect freed from its
letters, and mankind waking up to
q life of activity and bold adventure.
Yes, sir, see these Patrons of Hus-
bandry rising up and throwing off
from their fostering limbs the grave
clothes and death shade which have
so long enshrouded them, and strug-
Cling for that ascendency which slim
ulates and excites the energies and
activities of all other professions.
| congratulate YOU on this new era
of yours, the harbinger of a fullness
time, when the peerless form of your
virtues and intellect shall dissipate
the darkness of years, break the
marble tomb of ignorance and error,
and usher in, with triumphant step
thousand glorious events and dis
coveries which will augment the
wealth and happiness Of the COM
munity.
In advocating these resolutions l
will simply remark that no educa-
tional institution, where the farmer
of ordinary means can send his sons
and daughters to be trained in the di-
rection of that practical scientific
education which will fit them for the
elevated duties of farmers and farm
er's wives. We have no regular
course of study for q knowledge of
the science of agriculture. If you
desire to fit a student forthe study Of
medicine or surgery, you supplement
his scientific training with a practi-
cal course of study bearing directly
on and calculated to fit him for tie
special work If law is the chosen
field of labor, there is special prep
aration; if the ministry, the student
is required to become acquainted with
sacred and profane history, together
with that Of his own church and its
own peculiar system of divinity. A
civil engineer and a master mechan-
ic have to undergo a special course of
study and training to become famil-
lar with their profession, or an eX-
pert at their trade.
The question then arises, is it not
just as essential, both to the prosper
ity of the country and the individual
and the agriculturist-thc man who
makes husbandry his chosen calling
should be fitted for that calling by
a carefully prepared course of study
and training in this specified direct
tion as in other professions or call
ings?
Yes, sir, the science Of agriculture
demands the fostering care of the
State-the highest of all sciences,
because it includes all others-thc
air we breathe, the water we drink,
the earth we tread, the bread we eat,
the animal we use, the bird and flow
er, as well as man, the strangcst,
most mysterious of all, are objects as
the subjects of his high investiga-
ton and study.
The following are the resolutions,
above referred TO:
Believing that agriculture is the
great source of social, individual and
national wealth, and the paramount
interest Of every community, and de-
mands the earnest fostering care and
protection of the State; therefore
Resolved, That the Richards
Grange, No 76, request the State