Year: 1873

BY REV W. II. II. MURRAY, AT THE STATE


FAIR AT RUTLAND.


Ladies and Gentlemen


1t cannot be denied that agriculture
in its relation to the young men Of New
England has not held and is not now
holding its own against other callings
and pursuits. Even in this audience are
hundreds of men who deserted the indus
try that their fathers followed and d.
rected their efforts in other directions.
And while this would naturally be the
case to certain extent, still it must be
admitted that it has been true in so many
instances as to almost form rule so
much so that it is said that The agricul-
tural interests are passing out of the
hands of the native into those of an i'm
ported population. The subject chal-
lenges investigation, and the question
which clamors for an answer is, "Why
is agriculture deserted cf our young
men?"


One reason why the young men of
New England have deserted agriculture
to learn other trades and follow other
professions, is because agriculture did
not pay.


do not agree with those who think
that this is the prime reason, for in youth
especially purely monetary considerations
seldom sway the judgment or shape the
inclinations, and the boys Of New Eng
land-and l speak as one of them-are
not mercenary beyond the average of
human kind. We who are now in mid
die age are not conscious that we were
especially sordid or base in our desires
when young. The pleasures which come
to the heart from freedom and health,
from home associations and the compan-
ionship of kindred, were as real and
dearly loved by us as they might be to
any class of people. The lust for gold
was not in our hearts as the ruling mo-
tive of our life Our fathers were not
misers, nor was Mammon our god. We
were not reasonable in our desires for
wealth, and if we have gained wealth it
has come almost surprise to us-the re-
suit of the favorable condition of the
age and country in which we live, rather
than because of deliberate purpose and
overwhelming desire. The young men of
New England left the farms on which
they were born and which in early life
they helped TO till, not because they
would not yield them vast wealth, butbe
cause they would not yield them that
reasonable amount of weslth which ev-
cry man needs for his own development
and the support of those who would in
the course of nature look to them for
needed provision. 1t was not because
farming did not mean riches, but because
men in SO many instances have refused
to be farmers. Looking upon poverty
as curse, as it has always been and is
to-day the world over, that form of in
dustry which made it inevitable became,
naturally, and rightfully, hateful to
them Their rebellion was not against
the soil but against the narrow and pain
ful condition of life which under its
then method of cultivation was insepara-
bly, connected with it. This as / feel it
and understand it, is the true analysis
and proper statement of the case.


Another reason of this desertion, on
the part of your young men, of agricul-
tural pursuits is to be found in the fact
that agriculture as conducted in the past
has not supplied them with either the in
tellectual opportunity or stimulus which
they craved, and craved teo with reason.


The last forty years in this country
have been years of intense mental appli-
cation. / doubt if any future generation
of Americans will ever be born that
shall exceed us in culture butnot in men,
tai activity. For forty years the Amer
lean intellect has been driven at express
speed. Like the chariot of Jove in an
cient story, the flame that Illuminated
the path of its progress has been gener-
ated by the rapid revolutions of its own
wheels. Look at what it has achieved
in the way of su5jugating and directing
physical forces and shaping material
forms. Its inventions are the marvel .oi
the world. 1t would seem that the Amer.
lean mechanic and machinist never slept.
The opposition of nature has been so gi'
gantic that nothing less than incessant
application to-day clears the path for to-
morrow. Under such conditions, nc
wonder that the brain force of the nation
has been in the aggregate astonishingly
developed.


The fact is, then, that wide and deeT
intellectual development, independent Of
letters, has been going on for the last fif
ty years of the nations life. American
literature by no means represents Amer
lean thought. Over against Whittier