The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-08-20
The grange as AN Educator.

There are abundant indications
that the Grange has passed through
the several stages of immaturity,
and reached that condition in which
it is capable Of exerting definite
inf1uence and welding substantial
power. There were grave apPre-
hensions, at one period of its exiss
lance, that in certain sections of-the
county Il might yieldto the anisgui-
dance OF the wrong class of men,
who sought alliance with it for sell
fish political ends: but the innate
vigor of the Organization was such
that recovery from d misforrunate OF
this kind was almost Inevitable, and
we soon saw with energy It extrica-
ted itself from all false Surround
ings and moved forward in the
coarse suggested by its origin.sx
j aItshas at the present. time devel-
oped into social and moral power
in the great agricultural community,
against which no other power can
make successful Ieadway. 1t is a
silent and efficient educator, and in
tellectuaIly as we'll as otherwise.
AS it is frequently said that the
young man who has. lived amid fu-
raj surroundings until he is twenty
years of age, and then launches his
bark on the heady current of the
world, forever after draws. on the
resources stored up during his early
DAYS, and in fact fassimilates his
youthful with that of'his
surrounding life,-so may 1t be said
that the Grange gathers up for its
members all the stores of their az
ricultural life and associations, and
works it over continually in a mass
that finally makes of it complete
and acknowledgements
1t presides over the past as well
as the present, classifying its vari-
Gus acquisitions, clarifying the un-
settled elements of the agricultural
mind, solidifying all the attainments,
expanding and elevating the -pur-
poses, and bringing both morals and
manners under the unconscious sub
lection of desirable training. It's
an educator in as real a sense as the
college and the university, for it
stimulates, improves, elevateS and
enlarges in every way that the col
lege and university can. More and
better than all, it is everywhere a
home institution, established in evey
town in which farmers are to be
found; and home Institution, too, in
the completer sense of introducing
in its organization both sexes, thus
exercising social influence as no
other existing organization can.
1t takes up the varied and unclas-
sifed body of tie farmers expert
ence which has generally been per-
mitted to run to waste and show no
results, and silently moulds it into
shape, SO that he is able to repose
on it as an enduring part of his
character. What farming has in
grained in ones life and made an
essential part of it, almost without
knowing when or how, the Grange
teaches him to cherish as treasury
of individual resources, with which
he may strengthen all his purposes
and enrich his future. Under its
welcome instruction and influence,
nothing is lost, but all becomes a
part of the living character. If
there is any class in the wide com.
munity that had patiently waited
waited some adequate agent to arrive
and perform such an office, it was
the agricultural class. which had al
ways wrought for others than ieself.
-Dirigo Rural. 5o.g - as.so