Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-01-02

| ing community, the club, the beard of
trade, the organized channel through
which the great agricultural interests
can make its wants known and its pawe-
! felt. 1t has rendered lasting benefit 10
these In whose interest it sprung into
existence. Il has still greater WORK To
perform.
| l know you will pardon me ii do not
| assume 10 speak upon the science CT
agriculture, of which you know that
know nothing, and you will also pardon
me if point out what may be the great
work which the order can take up and
carry to successful result.
Where the heart Is there the mind will
be also First of all, the farmers must
believe in their calling. They must be
| in love with their vocation. They must
exhibit the same intensity OF interest that
the merchant does In trade; that the
commercial man does III the commerce Ii
which he is engaged; that the manufact-
urer does in hts great industrial interests
that the professional MAN does in his
chosen profession In life; that the great
railroad manager does in the transporta-
ton question. which he is trying TO solve
ana TO master. We must believe in the
work in which we are engaged If we wish
success to attend our efforts. Agricul-
ture has been, since the commencement OF
the world, the conservative force in civil
lization, and it is the basis OF stability in
any form eff government.
| In the early days of the Roman Repub-
lie, in its days Of purity and prosperity,
one of it's greatest orators and statesmen
exclaimed: Il come now to the pleasures
of husbandry, in which I vastly delight.
They are not intercepted by old age, and
they seem to me to be pursuits in which
a wise mans life should be spent. The
earth does not rebel against authority: 1t
never gives back but with usury what it
receives In my opinion there can be no
happier life, not only because the tiliage
OF the earth is salutary to all, but from
the pleasures it yields. The whole cstab
lishment OF a good and asslduous hus-
| bandman is stored with wealth. Nothing
can be more profitable, nothing more
beautiful. than well cultivated farm.
| All men cannot be farmers. We must
| have u diversity of interests, and each in
tsrest presents attractions and charms to
i different minds But those who elect TO
make agriculture their work in life, must
| in order to be successful, have faith in
| their work. They must believe that it
| is the best field of operations, that it rem
| ders the highest enjoyment, and greatest
return and reward
The cities attract many. Here in the
great circles of trade and commerce and
manufacture are accumulated rapid for
tunes. but they are accompanied with
corresponding evils. The great cities are
the fostering sores in a body polite
Here comes disappointment. defeat, ruin
and disgrace. No where is true, pure
home life found to the degree tha5 it is
found in rural community. We must
not forget that after ALL all that is worth
living in this life all the trucst enjoy
ment, and the highest benefits derived
from life, are in the cultivation of the
sweetening, refining and righteous in
fluences Of home.
The pure influences of the home life of
the husbandman more than compensates
for the glitter and temporary dazzle Of
public place, of great wealth, Of COM
manding influence There is no enjoy
ment in this life that can equal the
enjoyments Of true home The home
influences of early life mould and make
character. 1t is this pure influence of
home rural life that has made the leaders
in the professions. in trade, in manufao-
tories, in politics, in craftsmanship,
country bred boys.
We must also have faith in the location |
selected for our work. 1t was my good
fortune in the year that has just closed to
travel in many foreign lands, and by the
benefits which come from observation and
travel, to contrast them with our own
country. travelled through the agricul |
tural districts of Italy, Austria, Germany,
Belgium, France, England, Scotland and
Ireland. / saw everywhere, In some
countries to greater degree than in
others, that the agricultural population
was, as q whole, not the most Intelligent |
and cultivated portions of their respective
countries. l found everywhere women |
working side by side with men, under the |
hot sun, upon the mountain sides and in |
the valleys, cultivating the fields and tae
farms; holding the pillow, sowing the seed
and gathering the crops; in some in
stances yoked to carts with dogs, hauling |
the dressing on to the fields, and the
crops of. What contrast to our favored |
land |
Later in the year I Travelled across our
continent and visited the boundless agri- |
cultural regions Of the West and South. |
Whoever is favored with trip like this |
cannot but receive fresh inspiration of
love of bis country and offer a blessing to |
Almighty God that he is a citizen Of thc1
United States rather than of any other
nation in the world. Other countries |
may be favored with warmer suns, with |
softer and milder climes, with more fertile |
soil, but all these attractions and benefits |
cannot compensate for the purer and
higher civilization which makes truer
and better men and women. the blessings I
of a free republic This great country OF
ours, with its diversified interests and its
wonderful variety of climate has sections |
which may captivate and delight the eye:
it may produce the vcr6ure. the fruits
and the flowers Of the tropics; 1t may
grow the sugar cane, the cotton and the
rice but just as the United States is far
above every other nation in the world, SO
I believe that New England, taken all in
all, is far and away thu better and the
best portion of this country.
The great tides OF business and cf
u n - ~ q ~ ~