eachment, and having charge also of the secret work of the order.
All officers are chosen by ballot--those of the National Grange
for three years, of State granges for two years, and of subordinate
granges for one year. The names of the first four degrees are
respectively, for men and women, Laborer and Maid, Cultivator and
Shepherdess, Harvester and Gleaner, Husbandman and Matron; and the
initiations are not only exceedingly impressive and beautiful, but
really instructive. It may also be added that they are never tedious,
which will be agreeable information to those who, in entering secret
societies, have been dragged through long, meaningless rigmaroles,
conscious of being made a spectacle of, and preserving their temper
only by the most strenuous efforts.

Into the initiations of the order of the Patrons there enter as
machinery or symbols music and song, the expression of exalted
sentiments, ceremonies replete, without exception, with significance
and instruction, together with fruits and grains and flowers and
simple feasts. Two fundamental objects of the organization are social
and intellectual culture. The widespread realization of the importance
of these among the people is the first great step toward securing
them, and the first unmistakable sign that such step has already been
taken is the rebelling against pure drudgery. Said the Master of the
National Grange, Mr. Dudley W. Adams, in a late address: "It will
doubtless be a matter of surprise to them" (editors, lawyers,
politicians, etc.) "to learn that farmers may possibly entertain
some wish to enjoy life, and have some other object in living besides
everlasting hard work and accumulating a few paltry dollars by coining
them from their own life-blood and stamping them with the sighs of
weary children and worn wives. What we want in agriculture is a
new Declaration of Independence. We must do something to dispel old
prejudices and beat down old notions. That the farmer is a mere animal
to labor from morning till eve, and into the night, is an ancient but
abominable heresy."... "We have heard enough, ten times enough, about
the 'hardened hand of honest toil,' the supreme glory of 'the sweating
brow,' and how magnificent the suit of coarse homespun which covers
a form bent with overwork."... "I tell you, my brother-workers of the
soil, there is something worth living for besides hard work. We have
heard enough of this professional blarney. Toil in itself is no