Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-01-21
A Lesson for To-day.

1t always did. and probably always will,
because the only school in which men will
learn the lessons of life. is that of expert
ence; and notwithstanding the cost, the
story is repeated day after day. The peo-
pie of the State of Maine have during the
past few years, been using telescope of
tremendous power, bringing the attrac-
tions OF the far West and South, to our
view IN manner exceeding the fairy lands
OF imagination. After learning a severe
lesson at the hands of the sharpers and
wire-pullers of the commercial world, it
would seem as though men would begin to
| see what they have been stumbling over.
but the old, old story is being repeated and
| somewhere else the bright bov and girl of
Maine must look for the rainbow Of prom
ise. The experience of the past few years
| has been severe one to many more than
| the public will ever dream Of, vet the les
sons will be repeated, and the young will
continue to be driven from their homes by
the teachings and example Of their elders. ,
The present promises to be a season of
prosperity to those, at least, who for the
| past five years have had q hard struggle,
| but there Is danger that the returns prom
| ised will be used to swell the volume GO
| ing out of the State, instead Of devel-
| oping what is possible here. Some who
have posed as teachers, have taught that
Maine Is not an agricultural State yet the
output of farm products cannot possibly
| be conceived. simply because want Of
| faith has been instilled into the minds of
nearly every class. Columns might be
written descriptive of the manufacturing
interests all over the State. They have
| sprung up in every direction, and are
bringing wealth to their owners Hardly
| a stream In Maine but has its manufactur-
ing enterprise At the same time, the |
great water privileges of the State have
| hardly been approached. All along our
rivers there are opportunities as good as
have been opened, If the days of ship
building have gone, the city of Bath is
still playing a lively tune at the grave of a |
dead industry. What Is being done there
could just as well be done at mary other
places, II the inhabitants willed it so. The |
harbor facilities of Maine are not confined
TO single city. There are as good open
ings for cotton mills at Rumford as there |
were at Lewiston. Shoe factories would |
thrive as well in a hundred towns as In |
Auburn, If the citizens were ready to fol |
low the same business-like methods. Po- |
tatoes will grow outside of Aroostook |
when the farmers attend to the conditions |
governing the crop. Corn can be grown
here cheaper than 1t can be transported |
from Kansas.
The whole story is that when the peo-
pie of the State desire To see 1t blossom,
the buds will appear in every direction.
This has not been done, because we have |
been taught that the proper thing to do |
was to allow the State to return to its |
prlmeval condition, save, perhaps In some |
favored spot where some wide-awake man |
has seized upon the natural opportunities, |
and built city. In years to come, when |
the croakers are all dead and q generation |
has been grown on nourishing food, such |
as will inspire faith in the possibilities |
here, we shall ind that the State Of Maine |
Is one of the best agricultural States in |
the Union; that there are unlimited facii- |
ties for building prosperous cities through |
the manufacturing industries established |
here; that the rivers and harbors afford un- |
surpassed advantages tor shipbuildng, |
whether OF wood or iron; that quarries of |
granite abound, and are valuable and that |
there is not State in all the forty four Of
fering so many natural advantages as this |
same State Of Maine. The orchards alone |
might give this State place at the head, |
II the natural fruit soil should be covered |
with trees, and properly treated. These |
acres are worth more than the best lands |
of Florida or California and there is no |
surer crop grown than the fruit of Maine. |
, Talk about the attractions elsew here !
, They ca tot begin to stand fo- moment
I -sv-i---i % .-.,.% 'sl' p;.,~ w..
insteau Of crying down. we gin to see
what can DE done at our doors. To |
win any measure of this success, there |
Will be need of the Introduction of |
some different methods. The story told |
at the knee must not be of the hard |
ships of the home and the comforts else |
where; the lessons at school must breathe |
little more of the odor of nearby at |
fractions, and not SO much of the far-away |
visions of the outside world; the text |
books must tell the true story of the home |
life OF New Eng gland; the story books need |
to be changed so that all that is dull and |
forbidding, cold and cheerless, shall not |
cluster around the old hearth-stone, and
the illustrated sheet must picture rural
scenes with some slight approach to
truth. These are few lessons we, as
people should study, because, to-day. they |
all, directly aud indirectly lead away from |
and not toward the enduring and sub |
stantial opportunities to be found here at |
home.
When these reforms are introduced, as
| they surely Will be, when the citizens of |
Maine are ready to ask and insist upon |
| them, an altogether different atmosphere |
will sweep down from these hillside farms, |
and the cities will be refreshed. As q |
| well-known authority stated short time
ago, IAN that is wanted is for the people |
OF Maine to feel that there is no such word
as fail, and then they will make success"
| These Questionings about possible fu-
1 ture, for which all classes have been re-
sponsble, are what have driven away and
destroyed faith If there is any chance to
! win back it is surely the duty of all to
| take advantage of it. When found it will
I be at our vey doors, in giving attention
! to the seemingly little things 80 long over
looked. Men are day searching in some
distant spot for the opportunity they STUN
/ bled over when at home, because distance
| had enchantments which blinded the eye
to the possibilities here. 1t is too late to
| cry over the milk spilled at Cardiff, Deni-
son, Fort Payne, and the hundred other
! places in the West and South. What we
want now, is to go to work and save from
such waste in the future, by putting time
and energies where they can every day be
directed by the individual. A thousand
little industries. scattered all over the
State, will tell the story, and it will be a
pleasing one to read in years to come. A
Thousand farms opened all over the State,
and managed after the manner of the
needs of to-day, will fill our markets with
the choicest of home productions. and our
homes with additional comforts. In doing
all this, there will be no drain on the State,
because We are fast learning the lessons of
reciprocity, and giving oack that which
will make certain the productive power in
years to come-a lesson which will give
the East a decided advantage over the
West, because being now on the up grade,
with a good start, there will come call
for the products of our farms, orchards
| 10 nd hatH dc nnr mi ID nd foc
tories, which will swell the volume Of
trade and increase population. This is the
lesson to be studied IN order that the full
est advantage may be taken of the oppor
tunties as they present themselves
Maine Farmer.