The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-08-30
The Coming Farmer.

Inc industry OF agriculture is OF Sucn
vast Importance that it is interesting to
consider the probable future condition
of those engaged in it. The life of the
farmer is so quietly passed and his con-
tributions to the wealth of the Nation
so unostentatiously made that he and
his important pursuit are often for
gotten or unappreciated in the buster
walks of life. Yet it is to the farmer
that we owe our National prosperity
and the existence of our hope that
America will achieve a success as a
Nation unparalleled in the history of
the world. Our magnificent cities,
which rear their spires and monumental
grandeur from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific and from the lakes to the Flcridas,
look to the hills and the plains for sus-
tenance and grow vigorous upon the
sweat of the farmers brow. 1t is the
music of the reaper and thrcshing ma
chine that attracts the immigrant to our
shores and soothes him into content
ment. When the husbandman folds his
arms and the soil sleeps, the proudest
city starves, the shipping weighs anchor
and seeks other harbors, the iron rail OF
the road rusts out for want of use, the
immigrant turns back and postpones
his coming to more favorable time,
the mechanic locks up his tools and
waits for the waving of the harvest to
,beckon him again to work, and desola-
Ition like funeral pail spreads over the
iearth. 1t is of the utmost importance,
therefore, that the fields be kept in
blossom, that the pillow be kept bright
and the cultivator kept active. But it
it can readily be perceived that the
farmer can be reduced to a condition
that will make him less efficient and
that in consequence the bramble may
flourish where grain now waves and
commerce sicken for want of vigorous
nourishment from the fields. Such a
condition, however, must be the result
of his own Iethargy. The American
farmer is master of the situation, he
must be the architect of his own fortune.
He can permit of legislation being
turned into committee-rooms for schem-
ing against his interests or ne can
permit monopolies to devour his
substance and reduce him to serfdom,
or he may not. He may dis
able himself by neglecting to
svail himself of the abundant
educational facilities which surround
him, and plod on in the darkness Of
ignorance, or he may exhibit the
strength which comes of knowledge and
culture. Will he permit the visitation
of such misfOrtunes while he can so
easily prevent it? Probably not. At
least the patriot cannot breathe kind
lier wish for his country than that the
farmer may grow in independence. In
all probability the coming farmer will
be a recognized power in every sphere
of usefulness. Commerce will give him
the credit which is due; politics will
shape from his judgment and will; So
ciety will confess his worth and ac-
knowledge his title to nobility-at least
the only nobility that should ever exist
in this Republic-and he who to day
occupies a comparatively obscure posi-
ton, will be an American leader. When
the true men-the tillers of the soil
become the legislators and lawmakers
of the land, just and equitable laws will
be the rule and the tendency to aris-
tocracy will be discontinued. As a
matter of course, the husbandman Of
the country must be the first to demon
strate his own merits, and he must
aspire to the position which belongs to
him if he would have it, and he must
strive to fit himself by study, culture
and thought to fill the place that surely
awaits him. When the farmer shall
have demanded the position which be-
longs to him, and by energy and perse-
verance secured it, every farmhouse in
the land will wear an air of cheerful
ness that will excite the envy of those
who think and often rightly that life
on a farm is cherries drudgery. Neat
ness and taste will mark everything
about the house; the garden will pour
forth its fragrance from its roses: the
vine will creep over the neatly made
trellis, and nature will be compelled to
spread her richest mantle upon every
path and pour out her choicest offerings
on every field. Music will resound
through the rooms and halls of the
farmhouse, and the library will look
out from the walls with as much APP
pearance of being at home as if it were
in q city mansion. Then the boys and
the girls of our farms will not hasten to
turn from the hills and dales and
streams of their country homes and
atmosphere Of the great cities. For the
good of our country and the good Of
humanity, may the time be not far dis
tant when the Nation shall greet the
coming. farmer. - San Fyancisco CAroad-
sls.