Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-01-02
Faith and Education.
EACH SEASON BRINGS NEW LESSONS
AND RESULTS.

There have been so many ''needs'
shown up in the recent letters to the
New England Farmer, that their name
is legion: That there are exceptions tC
these needs in very many cases we can
not dispute, yet the majority of oul
farmers perhaps are of the NEEDY
class. Two words will express the
"Chief Needs" in boiled down sense
viz: Faith and education. BY faith
mean belief that we have the best and
surest means of not only obtaining
livelihood but of enjoying the comforts
of life, and If that faith is strong, VIZ
shall bend every energy to get the most
of life for ourselves and our dependent
ones. BY education l do not NEAR
merely school or book education, but
the education that fits us to do things
and do them right.
As the farmer needs a broader edu
cation than one of any other profession
he must have bright and active mind
ever ready to accept new facts as they
appear and incorporate them into hi'
business.
There is a great cry of scarcity OF farm
help in every section of New England
Until this condition is changed and
laborers see more inducement to go out
ON the farms for employment we must
substitute more improved machinery
and adapt ourselves to branches wherein
we can use the same to advantage ano
profit. 1t is surprising how little farm
ing machinery is to be found on some
farms and still the proprietor calls him
self farmer. Sometime ago l met
farmer (?) and in talking with him try
ing to induce him to purchase new
piece of machinery, he said, II am
pretty well stocked up now with tools.
| have paid out over $40 in the last ten
wears for TOOLS" 1t is this class OF
farmer who needs to be awakened, bu'
probably never will be.
The object lesson of good progress
i've farmer in a neighborhood can dc
much to stimulate the slower ones tC
more intelligent effort. Each season
brings new lessons and results to the
farmer and he must be able to trace the
causes of defeat or failure in expected
results so as to remedy his attempt the
next season. The educated farmer il
skillful not only in directing the efforts
of others but he must be an artist IN
handling all kinds of machinery and
caring for the same. Too many times
we see two men required in plowine
where one should hold pillow and drive
This is also an example of many other
kinds of employment on the farm.
Perhaps it is too late to make over
some of our farmers that are past mid
die life, but we can do much to improve
conditions by educating the rising
generation to the importance of agri
culture and the rewards to be derived
therefrom. Don't drive them from the
homestead farm by keeping them in the
old ruts and educating them to the false
idea that farming is tho hardest work in
the world, and doesn't pay. 1t is just
the reverse. Farming is the healthiest
aud far from the hardest work a young
man may attempt, and instead of the
monotony that has been charged, life
ON the farm has more variety and things
of interest to the thoughtful mind than
any other profession.
The order of Patrons of HuSbandry
has been of inestimable value to agri-
culture in the 3S years of its existence,
bringing the calling up to high level
and showing to the world that brains
and good citizenship are as common
among farmers and their wives as in the
other walks of life.
The grange is one of the needs OF
those who are still out of the gates and
is means of development and the dis
covering of the latent ability of its
members.
Among the teachings of the grange is
the love of natural life.
"To love the country is to take in
terest in all that belongs to tits occu-
pations, it's sports, its culture and its
improvements, to gather the hocks
around us and feed them from our own
hands, to make the birds our friends,
and call them all by their names-to
rove over the verdant fields with a
higher pleasure than We should have in
carpeted halls of regal courts-to inhale
the fresh air of the morning as if it were
the sweet breath of infancy-to brush
the dew from the glittering fields, as II
our paths were strewed with diamonds
to perceive this glorious temple all in,
stinct with the presence of the Divinity
and to feel amidst all this the heart
swelling with alteration and a holy JOY
absolutely incapable of utterance. This
is to love the country, and to make II
not the home of the body only, but Of
the soul"
The teachings of the grange would
make the farmers home the brightest
apI banniaSt nlace on earth.