The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-01-25
Some UnpalatabIe Truths.

The man who succeeds in making
farming among the masses more intel
lectual work and less physical will ben
eft his fellows more than did Columbus,
Washin yton or Lincoln. We are asked
Whv do not farmers more frequently Oc-
cupy seats in Congress and in other leg
iglative halls? Why do not profession
IL men look up to the farming class
With greater respect? Why do farmers
DOys leave the farm? l answer for the
reason that farming, as managed at
present, does not exercise, stimulate and
develop the intellect as it might, and as
the professions do. 1t is useless to point
to the usefulness Of the farmers vOca-
ton alone as a reason for their advance
ment. What matters it if a man does
some little good to his fellows if he
neglects that better part, that God
given spark OF divinity, the mind, until
he is untitled for the greater good, the
greater influence that he might WELD!
Heads win in this life. Not he who
violates the hours of sleep by early ris-
ing; not he who tolls increasingly, and
scrimps and saves. MOI heads win in
the battle, though hands are worn, bis
tered, knOtty and calloused. l know of
men who have succeeded at farming
whose success | would not take for my
sell OF my c1lluIGu Us Il 2llI, ditt az
cept what these men have lost in in
telligence, in knowledge of the ways
of the world, of the arts, and of lit
erature. They are dwarfed men in
this respect-have CONTRACTED narrow
ness of view, narrOwness of feeling,
narrOwness of the highest endOWment5.
Not that there are not farmers who are
intellectual, and who make farming in
tellectual work. There are many such.
But with the masses the mind is not de-
velOped, and, whatever they gain in
gold, they are becoming poorer daily
in the true sense. Some people do not
dare tell the truth about these matters
through fears of hurting others feel
ings or injuring the great cause they
visa to advance. Al a mistake! Let
the truth QUIT will hurt no one. You
can advance a cause in no other way.
One cause of the feebleness of the in
fuence of the agricultural press to-day is
the fear of presenting imp .easant facts -
facts that are realized, without the cOur-
age to advance them.
If man studies law. and is able, he
may receive thousands of dollars for
single opinion. What man is there on
earth whose opinion IS so valuable IN
agriculture? None No for the reason
that we have no men whose opinions are
valuable, but for the reason that rs a
class, farmers do no value their Opin-
ions. They are satished-cOntented
with their inferior methods and the pO-
sitiOn which they occupy. Scientific
men are to-day making herculean efforts
to help agricultural interests, but the
prospect IS not fattering. How shall
we doctor sick men if they will not take
medicine?
will ask the reader if he is satisfied
with the class Of men that the present
methods of farming build up. Now, l
am farmer-was born and bred
farmer. I love farming and farm life,
/ admire some Of the grand characters
of the farmers know, yet, when look
| over a cOngre cation of farmers at fairs
or other gatherings, and gaze into their
| faces and study them in body am
not satisfied to have my boys follow the
same methods. No, the man who so
/ conducts his farming as to make him
self and his family drudges, dwarfng
intellectual endowments and growth,
is burving himself and them in living
grave Do not wonder that the boy try
to - dig OUT
But how shall farming be made more
! Intellectual work? Simply by thinking
more. planning more, and working less.
/ Work is we'll but WORK alone viii not
accomplish much The farmer whose
| time is not worth more in planning and
/ experimenting than the wages OF his
hired men-yes, five times mO-e-is not
making his business intellectual. There
| is enough about farming to engage
the deepest thinker perpetually. If the
! farmer studies his farm and his farming
as men study astronomy and geology,
he will become intellectual He cannot
/ help it. l hope l have not stirred up a
/ hornets nest. / shall believe / have
/ not, for nv motive is good. l would
/ give a new impetus to rural life-the
! granlest and nOblest of all lives if we
| knew how to get the sweetness out OF
/ it Charles 4. Green, IN Rural Nel0