The Portland daily press., 1878-09-19

|
dividual should be drawn to whatever plac
! affords the fullest scope and most profitabl
| field to his energies and talents. 1t would b
discredtable reflection upon them If the!
were not represented in the great marts AM
| commercial centres which owe their import
ance to the country at large, and did not ente
into the grand competitions which the Uniol
| On kes free to all.
On the other hand there is firm ground TO
| the belief that considerable number of thos
who have chosen to seek their fortunes else
| where, did not choose wisely that they under
rated, to their owa Disappointment and injury
| the attractions and possibilities of the old HON,
| by comparing them with au ideal which they
have found not to exist, or yielded without re-
| Election to the coptagion OF nomadic inn
| pulse Duty to our fellow citizsns as well al
| to the State demands that every effort should
be put forth to check the Outfowing tide an6
| substitute the instinct of home for that o
wanderings. For the first time in thirty years
| there now seems to be an opportunity for the
State of Maine to obtain a fair hearing. From
| the time when California beguiled with It'll
| promises of swiftly acquired wealth, down
| through the years following the war; when q
| superintendent and deprecated currency fos
| tered and prolonged the restless and specula'
| tive spirit engendered by the contest there was
period when the promise and even the car.
tainty Of slow gains and steady and substan-
| tial prosperity had little power to attract and
! influence the multitude. Through that period
nothing was left for Maine but to submit with
a good grace to the inevitable and wait with
patience until visionary schemes of life should
be succeeded by just views and reasonable am.
bilious The increase in wealth, the new and
growing industries, and the stout heart which
it shows after so long a duration of adverse
Influences speak volumes for the State and
people.
The long-looked-for opportunity is in sight if
not already with US. The day of illusions has
vanished. The lessons of experience are Needed
They teach that competition nowhere permits
fortunes to be easily won; that the law of com.
psnsation prevails everywhere and that no sec
ton OF the country, and no business or pursuit
has all the advantages and none of the disad-
vantages; and they convince also Of the truth
that lies in the wise old Roman saying that
they who cross the sea change the skies over
their heads but not the nature within them
that mans fortunes depend on his faculties
and dispositions rather than upon his surround.
ings. Necessity in these days enforces the die
tatas of reason and experience and compels a
disposition to stand in the ancient ways once
more, to be content with small beginnings and
a gradual accumulation, and to live in the en-
joyment of to-day rather than for the delights
OF tomorrow.
Maine may now reasonably expect to retain
more of her sons than heretofore, for their good
as wall as for her own; and, in order that she
may Keep Them, resort must be had to her
farming lands because they afford an immedi-
ate and sure means Of livelihood, while manu-
featuring and the occupations that depend upon
production are at present at deadlock with an
uncertain future before them; at least there is
small reason to expect that those industries
will have an increase of activity and any con-
siderable expansion at an early day. The
pressure of the times tends to restore an equi-
librium and to give to agriculture that proper
ton OF the people which it is fairly entitled to,
and which its inducements ought to attract
even if all other occup atoms were in SO health
full condition as to afford full liberty of choice
1t ls natural and RICH that special talents and
aptitude should be consulted in the selection of
profession or field of labor; but in very many
cases the character of the profession influences
the choice far more than the qualifications of
the individual. In years past, farming has
not been ranked among the pursuits popularity
held to be desirable. The Determinations
against it have been mistaken and uudesarved.
Poets and philosophers have been wont with
good reason to make the charms of rural life a
theme for praise aud admiration; and indeed,
it is life of su sh independence, is so compare.
lively free from the haunting cares that attend
the feverish competitions in other avocatons,
aud is passed In so constant an enjoyment of
the:worsk and influences with which nature
breathes health and strength to body and spirit
alike, that it presents strong and pleasing
contrast to the life of thu counting room, office
and crowded workshop In this aspect, as a
healthfal, enjoyable and embarrassed life, the
farmer calling com me nds itself, a though the
In another vein it appears as a vocation which
requires and affords broad scope to the best
qualities, attachments aud habits of mind, and
gives room and verge for the full exercise of
the most restless energies. 1t is one thing to
be an unpr0gressive farmer, to till the soil &C.
cordng to the traditions that have come down
from the time when other conditions in all re-
spects prevailed, aud to accept without ques-
tioning whatever results may follow. 1t is
quite a different thing to bs farmer of the
funn nf fO-No Of he nIa - to- Co.,
our State includes 80 large number of the oc-
cupants of its soil. He must be something of
geoloslst in order that he may trace his soil to
their parent rocks and understand their nature;
bo:anist acquainted with the structure and
growth of plants and the conditions essential
to their thrift; chemist to ascertain the com
position aud needs of the earth he cultvates,
and to properly prepare the plant food he ap-
plies to it, In short, no knowledge of tho ways
OF nature, no PHYSICAL science, is superhuous to
him. The intelligent and observing farmer is
constantly being challenged to find reasons for
facts that come to his notice, and is thus led in
to the region of experiment and discovery where
in his own fields he may add as much to profita-
BILE kno Wedge as the professor in his laborato-
~, the astronomer In his tower, or the voyager
to ice-barred seas. The labor attended by sue
spirit of inquiry ceases to be monotonous
drudgery aud becomes source of intel &C.
tuai delight. The re wards of your calling are
seen In the samples OF your products which you
have here assembled. They are more fully
displayed by the comfortable and attractive
homesteads, well-flled graneries, the f1ocks aud
herds and the fair acres which abound in every
section of the State. He who runs may read
the story Of your success. The passer-by can
tell at glance how it fares with you.
Oae of the nobest human instincts is the
desire man has to do something that shall out
live his own brief day and recall his memory.
Rufus Choate, the distinguished advocate,
lamented in his last years that he had not
written book to keep his name alive after the
fame of his forensic triumpbs had persisted
with his contemporaries. L have seen in the
most recently settled section of our State men
point with becoming pride and enthusiasm
to their broad, smooth fields while they told
of the hard and and patient labor of their
own hands that feled the trees, uprooted the
stumps, and famed the virgin soil, and felt
dence OF their labors, and in the memorial of
themselves they would leave for all time to
come.
The farmers of Maine By their example and
influence nobly recommend their department
of industry. 1t is encouraging to believe that
the signs of the times are not fallacious, and
that their number will increase. new channels
be opsned to their enterprise, and that an en-
th1siastIc interest 10 the primal and chief en-
ployment of mantle cultivation of the soil
will be kindled in the near future and our State
be made Fatherland indeed.
At the close of tho Governors able and elo-
quent address, Hon. Alonzo Garcelon of Lew
iston was introduced as worthy old-fashioned
farmer, as we'll as an eminent physician, who
remarked in opening that such compliments
ry introduction was too much for ooe who had
passed through political campaign and came
out Of the "lIttle end of the horn He then
enlarged upon an idea suggested BY the Cover
nor's remarks, that the population and the ill.,
dustrial interests have been waning for many
years past in our state. The agricultural inter-
ests were also referred to as bang on the
decrease and some of the obstacles in the way
of their advancement were enumerated. The
reason why young men leave the farm and
enter other pursuits lies not in the fact that
labor in this direction does not receive sufficient
compensation in our state, for Maine compares
favorably in the fertility of its soil with any
state in the Union. The cause of the difficulty
should rather he attributed to thu Influence in
home circles where the youth are encouraged
to engage 10 other pursuits that bestow livel;-
hood without manual labor. Our educational
system is ia great measure responsible for the
unfav0rable manner in which farming is re-
garded. Another difficulty with which our
farmers have to contend, is the taxation which