The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1878-12-11
Address OF Judge Il. S. Brown,
before the State Grange. al
Point Pleasant, West Virginia,
November o, 1878.

Patrons and Eellow.citizen& That
am here before so respectable anC
enlightened an audience, represent
ling u pursuit on which my owl
heart is fixed, pursuit in which my
ancestors were engaged as far bacl
as we can trace their history, and il
which my children are employed
| gives me solid satisfaction; but tha
am expected to address you, fills mt
with concern; for | know / must fai
to meet your just expectations, or Il
do justice to the great subject before
me; for in the pressure of other cares
and duties, could make no prepara
tion for this occasion, and can only
speak Of such topics as may occur tt
me to-day,
To our contemplation, of all TEN
poral objects, the earth is the mos
interesting and sublime. 1t is the
origin, the abode, and the final rest.
ing place of man, from its dust he
sprang, aud to it all must return.
''rhe hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the
sun,
Wales, stretching in pensiye quietude be,
tween;
Rivers that move in majesty, and the
Complaining brooks that make the mead.
Ows green;
And poured around all old oceans gray
And melancholy waste, are but
The solemn decorations all,
OF the great tomb OF man"
Our race was doomed to toll, not
only for its own support, but also,
for the sustenance of the inferior
animals, under mans dominion; and
agricultural is the art of cultivating
the earth for the production of the
means to support animal life. 1t
was not good for man to be alone; he
is a social creature; he comes naked
into the world, and must be fed, and
clothed, and cared for by his fellows;
and throughout life's pilgrimage, his
chief happiness flows from the aid
and sympathy he receives from his
fellow creatures. Convenience and
necessity suggest the division of la
Dor; that some men raise food, whilst
others make clothing, and the yari-
Gus articles useful and necessary 10
civilized life; and still others engage
in the traffic and exchange of such
commodities at home aud abroad
All the necessary employments of
life must be alike honorable, Civil
government is necessary to protect
the weak from the aggrcs,ions of the
strong; ours is a government of law,
and the diversified wants and inter
ests Of man in society, multiply the
rulers ofciyil cQndnctintothousands
Of volumes of law books, requiring
the studyofa life time to digest them,
We must have ministers Of justice,
and of religion, as well as teachers,
and physicians; hence society is nat
uralIy divided into classes. Now, in
the race of life, each of these classes
prompted by self love and self inter
est, is found TO be striving to pro-
mote its own advancement by such
course Of conduct as will have that
effect. They have boards of trade
among merchants; bar associations
among lawyers, and medical associa.
tions among physicians; and why not
have like associations and assemblies
among the farmers and laborcrs of
our country? There can be no life,
natural or social, without organiza-
ton. Harmony and concert of ac-
tion give power, and powers com.
mand respect; and to aid each other,
and to elevate and advance the class
of people of whom we are, and with
whom it has pleased kind heaven to
cast our lot, we are associated us
"Patrons of Husbandry." We wage
war on no honest man nor set of men,
but assert and claim for ourselves a
free course in the race of life, un-
trameled by caste or prejudice, to-
ward success and honorable position.
We assert that heaven has not crea-
ted material to make better men and
women than those of our own class,
and we demand that the unjust and
unhealthy public opinion engender-
ed by the institution of slavery,
which flung its dark mantle over
the employments of the laboring
classes Of our people, and darkened
and hedged up their social pathway
shall be corrected and reformed,
Ours isthc first temporal organiza.
tion since the first Grange was insti-
tuted in Paradise, before the fall Of
man, to admit women to its member
ship on terms of entire equality. Ad.
am when he got into trouble with
the Master, ungallantly blamed "the
lady assistant steward" and from
that day, in all nations, women were
treated as slaves, until the blessed
advent Of the son of Mary, restored
the daughter of men to their right
full sphere of social equality with
their fathers, husbands and brothers,
| We are tho creatures of limitations
youth folloys the examples of age,
andone farmer adopts the suggestions
of another; this practice results from
our social being. What human in
..f t..