The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-01-31


profession as applied to the farmers
business means something. The Old
saying that "any fool ian be a farmer
"a true, but there Is a great and in
creaslng force OF truth In the modern
maxim that "a fool cannot be a good
farmer" Any fool can be a lawyer,
and large percentage OF the idiots
that cumber the earth have undoubled-
~ reached out In that direction, but
the close. hard work Of the profession
requires well trained brain IN a
sound body. The lawyer destitute OF
energy or sense goes 10 the wall ana
il laid 20 a financial rest In the same
last ditch with the incompetent farm-
or and the same blanket OF debt covers
their unfortunate remains. Farms
are no more properly asylums Tor hui
man failures than law Offices, dissect-
ing rooms. or the throngod halls OF
commerce and trade. Farming has be-
come an occupation for brains ma well
as muscle. Inventive genius has
turned the business bottom upward ahd
inside out during the laft ATTY years
The true philosophio spirit which tiret
saw day In Lord Bacon Is turning a
food OF light upon every principle ana
detail OF the farmers vocation from
the processes OF plant life to the kill
ing OF potato bugs That spirit OF IN
Qulry. Of research. Of painsiaking IN
yestigatlon IL constantly at work un-
derminlng and blowing up popular
humbugs. laying firmly and deeply m
right reason and sound eense the foun-
dations Of agricultural science, ana
running leads In every direction Tor
the golden grains OF truth that may
enrich and beautlfy the farmers pro-
/ fession. For farming Is a profession.
II was not In the middle ages when
tillers Of the soil were looked upon
as human yermin and christcndom np-
plauded ignorance and knighily butch
cry. Il Is not to-day Ia Mexico. where a
forked stick serves as a pillow and where
Il Is almost a sin against the HOLY
Ghost TO have q new idea. But Ia this
country. where intelligent labor -
honorod. and where Laboratories ana
colleges and experiment stations aad
newspapers and the active brains Of the
farmers themselves are constantly
moving the business 20 a higher ana
broader plan Il is profession OF sneh
Importance and such possibilities that
no man should take o. name lightly.
Il requires health. energy. knowledge.
sense and grit TO be good farmer.
do not believe that natural taste Tor
the business Is absolutely necessary Tor
the successful farmer. a man can be
good minister. or book agent, or poll
tlcian. or woman's rights man even u
he doesn't like a. There may be lit
tie waste OF talent perhaps Ia the
clash OF sentiment. but grit can nli
that gap and the man succeed. Poets
may be born TO their inheritance OF
imagery and song. but the farmer who
IL horn into the requirements Of his
business IL as scarce % angels among
the business men OF Chicago, A bust
ness like farming. which gives play TO
taste. fancy. invention. originality IN
thinking and working can safely be
called profession. The man who
pounds stone upon the highway has
no profession. There Is nothing 10 the
business 10 call into play his mental
powers. and but few OF his physical.
The workers In the mills and factories
Of the country move IN the deepest
and narrowest ruts Of mechanical mo-
notony. Numberless farmers drifting
around In the hackwaters OF by-gone
practices and ideas have no profession.
but the active, progressive, thinking
man who finds In the accumulated
knowledge Of agriculture food for his
memory. and In the changing seasons
and luctuating markets. the ups and
downs OF the commercial barometer.
subjects for his reason. and In the un-
explored mysteries Of the soil subjects
for enthusiastic research, has a pro-
fesslon for which no abilities are too
great. and no mental culture can be
too thorough. The farmers profession
has the same inherent nobility that any
, other respectable occupation has ana
, no more. Honest labor In any calling
/. whether In making shoes. selling calf
co. editing newspapers, preaching the
, go~el counting a girl, driving mules
! or running a great railroad corpora
ton has the same stamp Of divine ap'
, proyal.s-H. c. Adams.
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