was shown in seizing upon a plausible pretext for a foregone conclusion;
but so far as the question was of principle and not of repartee, the
clergyman was right and the farmer was wrong. We may exalt democracy,
and abase aristocracy, and cajole people with specious phrases.
Ignorance and uncouthness may put on the garb of modest merit, and
worthlessness seek to veil itself by an unattractive exterior; but under
never so many layers the truth remains intact. "Only a farmer" expresses
with all-sufficient accuracy the relative position of farmers,--not
their necessary, but their actual position. The occupation which should
be a liberal profession is a most illiberal labor. The eloquence of
Demosthenes cannot change facts. Farming is honorable, just as any other
business is honorable, according to the amount of mind and heart brought
to bear on it. Shoemaking will always be an inferior craft to
statesmanship, because the amount of intellect required is less in the
former than in the latter. The man who aims at the highest culture, both
of his farm and himself, is aiming, whether consciously or not, at the
highest rank, and he shall not stand among mean men; but he who simply
delves in the dirt will find no laurels there. Fine-sounding phrases
cannot give dignity to that which is in itself undignified. No amount of
complaint can elevate prejudice, obstinacy, and routine into
intelligence, generosity, magnanimity. Farmers themselves act upon this
principle with entire unanimity, because it is a law of Nature, and not
an effort of the will. The man upon whose experiments they look with
utter distrust, ill-concealed contempt, and covert ridicule, whose
science seems to them mere nonsense, extravagance, and recklessness,
they at the same time regard with reverence, admiration, and confidence.
They look down upon him as a farmer, but they look up to him as a man.
They have a consciousness that he lives on another plane than theirs.
They are proud and pleased to have his family visit and receive theirs.
They feel that he is of a different order from themselves. And if
farmers persist in keeping education and science away from their farms,
if they will bring only their hard hands to the work, and will leave
their brains to shrivel in their skulls, this state of things must go
on. The best of materials is of no use without will and skill to work
it. Matter is a sorry substance until mind lays hold of it. The world
was not made with t