The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-08-23

81 tnat long FRIDAY afternoon without
food, to earn few cents to feed, as he
! thought, his starving family. And how
his heart must have rejoiced and his fam.
1shed body gained strength when he found
his wife and little ones had been SO kindly
cared for and placed beyond the reach Of
hunger and want, and his sick child well
provided for.-Kansas CITY (Mo.) Journal
knowledge is Power.
In one of our exchanges we find the
following condensed sermon:
Arternus Martin, of Erie Pa, on whom the do
gree OF A. M was conferred by Yale College at the
sells vegetables in the streets of Erie twice a week
He is regular contributor to foreign and Ameri
can educational ,ss publications, and has mathe
is eelf-educated.
How far its moral may be apparent to
the general reader cannot, of course, be
estimated; but, to our mind, 1t contains a
history as well as sermon The market
gardener or vegetable peddler, combined
with the occupation of writer upon educa-
tional subjects of foreign and American
magazines. would, at first blush, seem to
be somewhat incongruous; yet a little
further consideration of the matter will
show, at once, the entire consistency of
it. In the light of the explanation, !" He
is self-educated," we can easily see how
the two occupations can be combined so
gradually that the interference of the one
with the other shall not exist Here is a
market gardener with an ambition above
a cabbage and will above the tritling
Obsta acles that are thrown in the path Of
the knowledge-seeker. We say trifling
obstacles advisedly, and not without full
knowledge of its enormous import to
,xeak-minded and lazy people. Beginning
as a market gardener, Mr.. Martin has
occupied those leisure hours which the
majority of our young men use for
amusement, in storing his mind with the
special knowledge by which he is now en-
abled to make his contribution to educa-
tional literature His time being fully
occupied in this pursuit of knowledge,
the little expenses, which fritter away the
small change of the ordinary young men
of the day, did not exist, and the money
was ready at all times with which to
make such additions to his mathematical
library as nave now amounted to several
hundred volumes. Constantly learning
to economize his time, he has used his
original business of market gardening
simply for his support, and the real work
OF MS life mas ueen mis- pleasure. ATJer
advancing in the knowledge of his spe-
cialty, he was undoubtedly seized with the
very natural desire to give the world at
large any benefit to be derived from it,
hence his contributions to the educational
literature of the day. This brings him
to the notice of learned men, who recog-
nize his ability and confer upon him the
Yale degree OF Master of Arts-a reward
far greater to such man than all the
wealth of the Indies. Such an honor,
however, has not puffed up his cOnceit
nor caused him to look with contempt
upon the day of small things; has not
caused him to change his original opin-
ion, that the occupation of market garden
er and that of professor of mathematics
are perfectly consistent with each other
and equally honorable. For the con-
densed sermon says, he sells vegetables
in the streets of Erie twice week"
What Mr.. Martin has done, each young
farmer and mechanic in this country can
do, if he only thinks so. Begin with a
will, and make up your mind to occupy
your leisure hours in some study suited to
your tastes, and one half the battle is won.
Perhaps you will say, II have no leis-
ure." If that thought were to occur to
YOU, dismiss it at once, for you are de-
ceiving yourself. One half hour each day
would be 156 hours each year and 1.50O
hours in ten years-during which time an
immense amount OF learning can be ac-
quired upon any subject and wonderful
progress be made in any art or science by
a person who has decided to learn. Be,
side this, increased interest will induce
increased hours of study. The objection
may be raised that no books are handy or
for the purpose, by reason of
the distance from public libraries. Here,
too, you would be deceiving yourself.
Two or three dollars will purchase for
you the primary works for the beginning
of almost any study you may choose to
engage in, and the money saved from
amusements while you are en-
gagged in your studies, will soon amount
to more than enough to purchase all the
books you can read with care and profit.
In addition to this, there is hardly COM
munity in which some owner of a library
cannot be found who would take pleasure
in encouraging, by the loan of books and
in every other way, the honest efforts OF
any young man to acquire knowledge
upon particular subject
As an example, we will suppose a
Young farmer desires TO take up the study
Of botany, which bears a very close rela-
tion to his everyday occupation. The
works, Of which there are
many, can be procured at very small
cost, and by dropping postal card to
your weekly newspaper Office, you can get
the information as to what books to pur-
chase and their price, upon the arrival OF
which you can start at once upon your
studies and make practical observations
and demonstrations of the science every
day right on your own farm. Many young
farmers learn by seeing before them the
results Of natural laws in vegetation; but
how few of them know these laws and the
application of them to ether and more
profitable results which they have not yet
seen?
We are fully aware of the prejadice
(and it Is pure prejMdics) against what is
called book farming" but there is no
earthly reason why man who knows the
laws Of Nature and the reasons for certain
results, should not have quite as much
practical knowledge Of farming matters
as the boor who produces his crops exact
ly as his father did. without desire to
know more.
Nor need young man take his half
hour OF study from his labor. 1t should
be q pleasure, and should be taken from
his leisure. The advanced knowledge Of
agriculture to-day Is due 10 the labors Of
men like Mr.. Martin; and we win ven
turc 70 assert, without knowing more Of
him than is contained in the foregoing
sermon, that he y : happier and better
man while peddling bis vegetables
through the streets Of Eric, than the
s-so>JxEs IL avn1 {~<<..k s,,.<<3sx