e the husband hates his wife--where the wife hates
the husband; where children hate their parents and each other--there is
a hell upon earth.

There is no reason why farmers should not be the kindest and most
cultivated of men. There is nothing in plowing the fields to make men
cross, cruel and crabbed. To look upon the sunny slopes covered with
daisies does not tend to make men unjust. Whoever labors for the
happiness of those he loves, elevates himself, no matter whether he
works in the dark and dreary shops, or in the perfumed fields. To work
for others is, in reality, the only way in which a man can work for
himself. Selfishness is ignorance. Speculators cannot make unless
somebody loses. In the realm of speculation, every success has at least
one victim. The harvest reaped by the farmer benefits all and injures
none. For him to succeed, it is not necessary that some one should fail.
The same is true of all producers--of all laborers.

I can imagine no condition that carries with it it such a promise of joy
as that of the farmer in the early winter. He has his cellar filled--he
has made every preparation for the days of snow and storm--he
looks forward to three months of ease and rest; to three months of
fireside-content; three months with wife and children; three months of
long, delightful evenings; three months of home; three months of solid
comfort.

When the life of the farmer is such as I have described, the cities and
towns will not be filled with want--the streets will not be crowded with
wrecked rogues, broken bankers, and bankrupt speculators. The fields
will be tilled, and country villages, almost hidden by trees and vines
and flowers, filled with industrious and happy people, will nestle in
every vale and gleam like gems on every plain.

The idea must be done away with that there is something intellectually
degrading in cultivating the soil. Nothing can be nobler than to be
useful. Idleness should not be respectable.

If farmers will cultivate well, and without waste; if they will so build
that their houses will be warm in winter and cool in summer; if they
will plant trees and beautify their homes; if they will occupy their
leisure in reading, in thinking, in improving their minds and in
devising ways and means to make their business profitable and pleasant;
if they will live nearer together and cultivate sociability; if they
will come together often; if they will have reading rooms and cultivate
m