The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-03-01

The following worthy tribute to the
farmer is from the pen Of Ralph Waldo
Emerson:
The glory of the farmer is, that in the d.
vision OF labor, it is his part TO create; all
trade rests at last on his primitive activity.
He stands close to nature; he obtains from
the earth the bread and meat; the food
which was not he causes to be. The first
farmer was the first man, and all historic
nobility rests on possession and use Of land.
The farmers Office is precise and impor-
tant, but you must not try to paint him in
rose colors. You can not make pretty
compliments 10 fate and gravitation, whose
minister he is. He represents the neces.
sites. It is the beauty Of the great ecno.
my oil the world that makes his comeliness.
He bends to the order of the seasons, the
weather, the soil, and crops, as the sails Of
the ship bend to the wind. He represents
continuous labor year in and year out, with
small gains. He takes the pace Of seasons,
plants, and chemistry, Nature never
hurries; atom by atom, little by little, she
achieves her work. The farmer ties him;
self to nature, and acquires that lifelong
patience which belongs to her; he must
wait for his crop to grow
His entertainments, his liberties and his
spending must be on farmers scale, not
a merchants. It were as false for farmers
10 use a wholesale and massy expense as
for states to use minute economy.
He has great trusts confided to him. In
the great household OF nature the farmer
stands at the door OF his bed room and
weighs each loaf 1t is for him to say II
men shall marry or not, Early marriages
and the number OF births are indissolubly
connected with an abundance OF food.
The farmer is boarded capital OF health,
as the farm is Of wealth, and it is from him
that the health and power, moral and in
tellectual, Of the cities come. The city is
always recruited from the country. The
men in cities who are centers OF energy.
and driving wheels OF trade, and the
women OF beauty and genius, are the chill.
dren and grandchildren OF the farmer, and
are spending the energy which theirjathers'
hardy, silent life accumulated in frosty fur.
rows.
He is continuous beneiactor. He who
digs well constructs stone foundation,
plants m orchard, builds durable house,
reclaims swamp, or so much as puts q
stone seat by the wayside, makes a fortune
which he cannot carry away with him, but
which is useful to his country long alter.
wards,
Who are the farmers servants2 Geology
and chemistry, the quarry Of the air, the
water Of the brook, the lightning Of the
clouds, the casting Of the worms, the pillow
OF the frost. Long before he was born the
sun OF ages decomposed the rocks, mellow
ed his land, soaked It with light and heat,
covered it with vegetable film, then with
forests, and accumulated tho sphagrum
whose decays made the peat Of his mead.
ow.
There is no more energetic, intelligent OF
thrifty class than that OF the American far.
mcr. But he is apt to forget that "man
does not live by bread alone," and to slight
in his daily surrounding the beauty and Fe.
fnement which Ia necessary food for his
better self. God makes the crops to grow
and fills the the hills with useful coal and
and ironi but It is not without meaning
that he covers them over with the glory q
forest, wild vine and blushing flower. He
has surely "made everything beautiful II
/ it's timef for real purpose: which VIZ
should interpret in our own lives and fol
our own improvement.