The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-09-20
THE WORK CIRCUMSCRIBED.

The sons of Sirach, three thousand years
ago, ask ed. the question, GLOW can he have
wisdom who followeth after the pillow;
who taketh pleasure in the good, and
whose talk is of the bullock" In other
words. the isolation of farm life tends to
contracted views, and if the farmers round
of friends be limited to few, engrossed
with the same labors and duties, or mar
rowed, it may be to his own family, the
tendency will unavoidably be to run in
the same olds ruts from year to year, and
the thought and talk are concerning the
daily toll We are too apt to think that
work in the fields is only dull routine
that agriculture indeed, at its best estate
is only an art. A little thought and lit
tie knowledge soon dispel the illusion.
The physical sciences are all allied to
higher and successful farming. The far
mer of the future must be man of culture
and of varied practical knowledge. We
are already beginning to see its impor
lance. Within ten years agriculture has
made an advance greater than was made
during the previous twenty-five. Within
this time the Grange was instituted. 1t
has not only brought farmers together in
friendly intercourse, who previously had
we'll nigh ignored each others existence
but it has, with this intercourse, taught
that the farmer must be a man of broader
views and knowledge than he had con-
ceived necessary. 1t need hardly be sta
| ted that association for this purpose is
equally valuable or essential as in other
respects. The interchange of opinions
the stimulus of two minds brought in con
tact-the pleasure of acquiring and COM
municating knowledge, find their best
| field in the united effort. In this, outside
the universities and colleges of learning,
the Grange is unrivalled. The mistake
usually made is that its educational pur-
poses is limited to agricultural matters.
| While this may be made the first leading
purpose it need not and does not become
the only one. The Grange is progress
i've school. There NAV be and undoubt
eddy are Subordinate Oranges, unprepar-
ed 10 receive a scientific paper on agricul-
ture, or to appreciate literary effort, but
it does not follow that therefore both
science and literature should be forever
excluded, and they plod along satisfied to
be and remain in the same condition.
With them it is only question of time.
The average farmer is a thinking man,
and number meeting from time to time,
stimulate thought and research. To what
extent science is allied to agriculture, or
how far literature and art shall be culti-
waited, are questions which every Grange
must determine for ITSELF The manner,
too, in which these shall be brought be-
fore the Subordinate Grange as matters
for investigation, comparison and study,
or for mental excitement and gratifica-
ton, is also within the province of each.
The tastes of the most cultured will be no
fair test. There must be just enough of
this not to weary but to arouse curios
lty for more. The result will be a marked
progress. That this progress has been
made is fact too patent to be denied.
Nor will the influences then exerted be
confined simply to the Grange. but as
time runs on, will be felt through the
farming community with the most salu-
tary results, just as the spirit of social in
tercourse has spread from the organiza-
ton to the surrounding neighborho 3d.
Grange Bullefin.