The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-11-01
DIGNITY OF FARMING.
In All the World There Is No NObIer or
More lie irned Calling,

Within recent years it has come
to be acknowledged that the vocation
of the farmer is the most dignified of
all the sciences and as an art it is ex-
celled only by those of painting and
architecture. In its highest forms it
is the most learned of all professions.
A knowledge of geology and chemis-
try and their relations to the soils lies
at the very foundation of scientific
agriculture. The problems that arise
from the complex nature of the soils
and their origin require the best
| thought of the best minds to solve.
More educated young men should be
farmers. Agriculture opens a wide
! held leading to influence and power,
| one, too, that is not filled to repletion,
! 1t holds forth the most splendid pro-
misses to young men of ambition. 1t
is filed with liberalizing tendencies, a
noble conservation and the most
healthful and invigorating influences.
The day is not far distant when agri-
, culture will attract men of the largest
capacity and the highest executive
ability, and be regarded as the great
est OF all the professions Let anyone
who is familiar with what agriculture
was a hundred years ago compare it's
condition then with what it is today
and he will search in vain for the
/ same proportionate elevation and pro-
! grses among its followers in any other
branch OF human industry. Many of
those engaged in agriculture now are
men of high elevation and broad read
ing. Many of them have extensive and
valuable libraries and take numerous
; journals devoted to their business.
Agriculture moves along in its own
quiet, dignifed, but irresistible way.
/ 1t has no booms, so to speak, but it
gathers strength with each decade
and with every accession of knowl-
edge, and will forever be the most i'm
! portant branch of human industry and
/ the greatest nece ssity for the human
race.
If the young men who are measur-
ing tape and laces would surrender
| their work to the young girls who are
seeking employment and turn their
attention to the pursuits of agricul-
ture there would be less misery and
more contentment in the land there
would be more independence and less
servility; more men and fewer crea-
lures more happy wives with COM
I Portable homes, healthful children and
cheerful tempers. A woman sur
rounded by all the active agencies of a
well-kept farm and living in a beauti-
full country home with foundations
and flowers and sweet evergreens, :"
has those environments that develop
/ the sweetest graces and highest i'm
| pulses of her nature and make her vir-
/ tues shine resplendent above the world
of frivolity and fashion. She becomes
true woman, the happiest of wives
and the best of mothers. Such home
and such wife realize our highest
ideals of human happiness. 1t is
home where intelligence reins and en-
mobiles work and work crowns intelli-
gence with honor and profit.
A young man who is in search of
an easy place, with no responsibility,
will never be master and will never
control others. He who selects
vocation because it is easy is already
effeminate Southern Farm Magazine.