Year: 1879

tlloti, tiii CCUil VIC Dtit 5>iiO" hAo iL'N'S
resting place we would make o pilgrim
age thither and drop tear upon the
grave of the first honest farmer the world
ever saw.


Since Adams day, Ladies and gentle
men, yes within the last 80 years, there
has been great improvement in the sci
ence of Agriculture. The farmer Of 90
years ago even had all up hill work COM
pared with what he has to-day. Then he
truly and literally earned his bread by
the sweat of his brow. Every thing per-
tanning to his occupation had to be ac-
complished by hari., tiresome manual Ia
Dor. By hand the seed was scattered
upon the bosom of mother earth; by
hand it was harvested, the operator using
tiny sickle patterned somewhat after a
horse shoe with which he could, were he
a dextrous hand, cut ! of an acre between
sunrise and sunset. BY hand it was
threshed and by hand aided greatly by
breeze from heaven WAS it winnowed.
Truly the farmer of those days had a
tough time of it; had many perplexing
difficulties to surmount. These difficult
ties no longer present themselves to the
wide awake tiller of the soil. Excellent
and ingenious machinery adapted to all
kinds of work are now in his possession,
and by them the labor of the farm is i'm
mcnsely Hghtened. More labor saving
machines have been invented during the
last 80 years than during the thousands
that preceded them, and to the credit Of
the United States be it said, that nearly
all of them originated within their bor
ders. The cotton gin, the sewing ma
chine, the seeder, the reaper, the self
binder, the perfect thresher and countless
other valuable and useful machines are
the products Of American genius. There
seems to be something in the very atmos-
phere of America that makes men smart
and progressive. They do not believe
III following the customs and jostiing IN
the ruts of their ancestors. They believe
in progress, in improvement, and are
constantly on the lookout for new and
better methods. They are not at all like
the old country gentleman who on
bright September morning in the long
ago vas sending his son to mill. 1t was
the custom in those days to send the grist
upon horses backs. 1t was placed in a
sack or rather in one end of it. the other
end being tied and filed with an equal
weight Of stones to produce the proper
equilibrium. A string was tied in the
center, the s'grist" then thrown across
the animals back, the blissful granger
straddled himself in the rear and went
on his way rejoicing. AS I said before,
the old man ordered his son to mill on
bright September morning. The boy
was smart lad and in all probability
was made up of the stuff which goes to
form great inventors. Instead of placing
the customary stones in the sack he dis
carded them entirely. With great care
he divided the grist, placing half in each
end of the sack, tied cord in the middle,
threw it across tie horses back and was
about starting to ascertain the result of
his invention when the old man appeared
upon the scene. His eagle eye caught
sight of the stones which had been used
for the self same purpose for generations,
and in laundering tones he demanded of
the boy what he was doing or whittier he
was going. The boy meekly replied that
he was going to the mill as ordered, but
did not see the necessity of carrying
stones for ballast when little ingenuity
enabled him to cause the grist to perform
the self same purpose. Then the old
man waxed wrath while he said: young
man [ want none of your new tangled
notions about me! My father took his
grist to the mill with stones in one end
of the sack, before 1 was born; your
father has done the self same thing for
more than 80 years, and what was good
enough for your father and mine ought
to be good enough for youl So young
man do as bid you and go to mill in
the same manner as your ancestors for
hundreds of years went before YOU" The
boy obeyed and The fire of genius was
smothered at its birth. He WAS ashamed
to go back upon the time -honored Gus
toms of his forefathers, and he died,
never revealing his important discovery,
but contentedly plodding on in the well
worn paths of his ancestors.


But had this boy been born upon
American soil he would not have given
up so easily. He would have discovered
some means to continue the good work
until success would crown his efforts. As
I said before there is q certain something
in the American atmosphere that makes
men smart and progressive. The late
lamented Horace Greeley went even fur
ther than this, and said that even the in
sects of America were smarter and better
educated than those of any other country
under the sun. The old philosopher and
sage did not make this broad assertion
without abundant cause. He had been
travelling on lecture tour and put up at
rural hotel in western n. Y. The
register was handed him by the clerk of
the establishment into which Horace
proceeded to write his well known name
The writing finished, he WAS about
dropping the pen, when from one of the
creases of the book there stepped forth a
majestic looking bed bug. Horace view
ed him intentiy for moment to ascer-
tain, if possible, the object of his bug
ship. That he discovered it, the excla-
nation which he suddenly made will
plainly show. "By Jove," said the sage,
ssI boya haap hittaD nv lba ;ptaJI;ra,t