wished to take no part in the pending war, and urg- | ate interest, appeared in the northwestern part of ing the immediate withdrawal of the United States the State, and pushed forward a party as far as Mulforces, organizing and encamped within the State. draugh's Hill, about 45 miles from Louisville. They President Lincoln replied that these forces were fell back from this position to Bowling Green, an composed wholly of Kentuckians; that he did not important strategic position at the junction of the believe that it was the wish of the people of the two railways which enter Tennessee, from which State that they should be withdrawn. He there- place he issued a proclamation, dated September 18, fore declined to comply with the request of the Gov- stating that he had come at the head of a force "to ernor. The reply of the President closes with a re- aid the Government of Kentucky in carrying out the gret that he can not find in the letter of Governor strict neutrality desired by the people." A large Magoffin any intimation that he desires the preser- portion of the Southern part of the State now apvation of the Federal Union.-The Legislature of pears to be in full possession of the Confederate Kentucky assembled at Frankfort on the 2d of Sep- forces. Meanwhile the Union men are active. The tember. By a vote of 77 to 20, in the House, the Legislature have passed bills calling out the miliUnited States flag was ordered to be displayed over tary force of the State, and raising a war loan of the Capitol. This vote was an index to the senti- $2,000,000. Arrests of a number of prominent men ment of the Legislature. From the outset there was have been made; among these are James B. Clay, a a conflict between the Governor and the Legislature. son of Henry Clay, and Ex-Governor Morehead, the Governor Magoffin, in his Message, asserts the right latter having been sent to Fort Lafayette. A bill of the State to maintain a neutral position; Ken- passed the Senate, requesting Senators Breckinridge tucky had not sympathized, he said, with either and Powell to resign. Mr. Breckinridge is said to party, while both had violated her neutrality. The have joined the Confederates in Virginia. The health State should raise all the military force that was of General Anderson unfitting him for active service, needed. On the 4th of September, almost simul- the military district under his command has been taneously with the meeting of the Legislature, the assigned to General Sherman. Every thing indiConfederate forces from Tennessee, commanded by cates that Kentucky will soon be the scene of active General Leonidas Polk, formerly Bishop, advanced military operations. into Kentucky, and took possession of Columbus. In Missouri the battle of Springfield, and the reOn the 9th General Polk dispatched a message to treat of the Union forces to Rolla-about 125 miles, Governor Magoffin, justifying this measure on the instead of 50, as stated in our last Record-left the ground that he had been assured that the Federal southwestern part of the State open to the Confedtroops were about to take possession of the place, erate forces under Price and M'Cullough. General which would seriously endanger West Tennessee. Price advanced northward upon Lexington, where a His action had been submitted to the President of body of National troops under Colonel Mulligan were the Confederate States, and had been approved on intrenched. The attack commenced on the 12th of the ground of military necessity. But he would September, and continued until the 22d, when, findwithdraw his troops from Kentucky, provided that ing himself surrounded by greatly superior forces, the Federal forces should also be withdrawn at the and cut off from water, Colonel Mulligan surrensame time. The Legislature then passed a series of dered. His forces numbered about 3500 men. Our resolutions declaring that the neutrality of the State loss in killed and wounded is stated at about 130, had been "grossly infringed by the so-called Con- while that of the enemy is reported to have been federate forces;" that the Governor be requested to much greater. General Price, however, in his ofcall out the military force to repel invasion; that ficial report, says, "Our entire loss in this series of the United States be invoked to aid the State; that engagements amounts to 25 killed and 72 wounded. General Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter, be The enemy's loss was much greater. The visible requested to enter at once upon the discharge of his fruits of this almost bloodless victory are great. duties in this military district; and that the people About 3500 prisoners, among whom are Colonels of Kentucky be called upon to aid in "repelling and Mulligan, Marshall, Peabody, and 120 other comdriving out the wanton violators of our peace and neu-missioned officers, five pieces of artillery, and two trality, the lawless invaders of our soil." These reso-mortars; over 33,000 stand of infantry arms, a large lutions having been vetoed by the Governor, were passed over his veto. He was also directed to issue a proclamation ordering the Confederate troops to evacuate Kentucky; a resolution ordering the National forces also to leave the State was negatived. Governor Magoffin thereupon issued a proclamation in the following terms: "The Government of the Confederate States, the State of Tennessee, and all oth-proper custodian, and about $900,000 in money, of ers concerned, are hereby informed that Kentucky expects the Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil unconditionally." Meanwhile Confederate troops were poured into the State in large numbers. On the west, Generals Polk and Pillow concentrated large forces at Columbus; on the east, General Zollicoffer took possession of Cumberland, near the Virginia line, announcing to the Governor of Kentucky that the safety of Tennessee demanded the occupation of that place, and that he should retain possession of it until the Union forces were withdrawn and the Union camps broken up. General Buckner, formerly commander of the State Guard, with a large body of forces in the Confeder number of sabres, about 750 horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, teams, ammunition, more than $100,000 worth of commissary stores, and a large amount of other property, have fallen into our hands. In addition to this I obtained the restoration of the Great Seal of the State, and the Public Records, which had been stolen from their which the bank at this place had been robbed, and which I have caused to be returned to it." At the latest intelligence, General Price is said to have evacuated Lexington, and General Frémont, with the entire force under his command, to be advancing in that direction with the purpose of offering battle. President Lincoln has addressed a letter to General Frémont in relation to his proclamation enfranchising the slaves of the insurgents. He says: "Assured that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of August 30 I perceived no general objection to it; the particular clause, however, in relation to the con ing upon the questions which divide the United States, the Emperor gives assurance that in any event the American nation may count upon his cordial sympathy during the important crisis through which it is now passing. A The Legislature of Maryland was to have assembled on the 17th of September, at Frederick. large majority of the members were known to be in favor of Secession, and the passage of an ordinance to that effect was anticipated. The meeting of the Legislature was prevented by the Baltimore police, who arrested the clerks of the Houses and a large number of the members; these were detained for twenty-four hours. Meanwhile the Union members met in caucus, and resolved not to meet in Assembly. There being no quorum left, most of the other members, who had been released on tak fiscation of property and the liberation of slaves appeared to me to be objectionable in its non-conformity to the act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon the same subjects, and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer just received expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held, and construed as to conform with and not to transcend the provisions on the same subject contained in the act of Congress entitled 'An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and that said act be published at length with this order."- -The Secretary of State has issued a circular explaining and defining the confiscating act of Congress. He says: "No prop-ing the oath of allegiance, left the place, and no erty is confiscated or subject to forfeiture except such as is in transit, or provided for transit to or from insurrectionary States, or used for the promotion of the insurrection. Real estate, bonds, promissory notes, moneys on deposit, and the like, are therefore not subject to seizure or confiscation in the absence of evidence of such unlawful acts. All officers, while vigilant in the prevention of the conveyance of prop-questrate the revenue accruing from customs, retainerty to or from the insurrectionary States, or the use of it for insurrectionary purposes, are expected to be careful in avoiding unnecessary vexation and cost by seizures not warranted by law." formal opening of the Legislature was attempted: EUROPE. A combined English, French, and Spanish naval expedition is to be fitted out against Mexico. By the terms of the treaty entered into between these Powers, their combined naval forces will occupy the principal Mexican ports on the Gulf, and will se ing one half to be applied to the payment of Mexican indebtedness, and making over the other half to the Mexican Government. Absolute war is not contemplated; but in case any opposition is attemptNaval preparations on a large scale are pushed ed, an effectual blockade will be established.—M. forward with great vigor, with the presumed object Rouher, the French Minister of Agriculture and of making a formidable expedition to some promi- Commerce, has issued a circular clearly defining nent point on the Southern coast.—Several valuable the position of his Government on the subject of prizes have been taken by our blockading squadron. blockade. He says that the right can not be denied -On the 13th of September the Southern privateer to one belligerent, recognized as such, to injure the Judith, lying at Pensacola opposite Fort Pickens, other by all direct and legitimate means, such as was cut out by a boat expedition from the United "seizing upon its possessions, besieging its cities, or States steamer Colorado, and burned at the wharf. blockading its ports. The exercise of the right of -The steamer Bermuda, which appears to have been blockade involves the natural consequence of interpurchased in England and loaded with arms and mu- dicting access to the blockaded places by other nitions by the Confederate Commissioners, succeeded Powers. It is incontestable that the latter are sufin running the blockade at Savannah. It is said ferers by this interruption of their habitual comthat she is to be fitted out as a privateer.-On the mercial relations; but they are not justified in mak1st of October the steam transport Fanny, dispatched ing complaint, for they are only indirectly comprofrom Fort Monroe to Chickamacomico Inlet, with mised thereby.....The effectiveness of a blockade stores and supplies, and having on board twenty-five is now admitted to be the essential condition of its soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Indiana Regiment, was validity. From the moment that there are upon cut out by three Confederate steamers. The crew the spot to which a belligerent means to interdict escaped to the shore in boats; but the soldiers were access sufficient forces to prevent approach without taken prisoners, and the vessel and cargo were cap- exposure to certain danger, the neutral is constrained, tured.The Emperor of Russia has addressed a whatever injury he may experience, to respect the letter to his Minister at Washington, which has blockade. If he violate it, he exposes himself to be been communicated to our Government. He says treated as an enemy....It is an error to suppose that that for eighty years the Union has exhibited to the a blockade exists only when notice of it has been world a prosperity without example in the annals given diplomatically, and that it is not binding upon of history; and it would be deplorable if the com- neutral ships which have left their country previouspact which has made the strength of the country ly to this notification. A blockade is binding the should now be broken up. United, the different in- moment it is effectively established; the material reterests of the country perfect themselves; isolated, sult of a material fact, it does not require to be otherthey are paralyzed. The struggle, he says, can not wise constituted.....That neutrals ignore the facts be indefinitely prolonged, nor lead to the total de- imports but little. If one of their vessels presents struction of either party; sooner or later there must itself for the purpose of entering a blockaded port, be some settlement; and he trusts that it may be the belligerent has the right to signify its prohibireached before a useless effusion of blood and squan- tion. It is undoubtedly the general usage for a dering of strength shall have brought about the ruin Government to inform others of the measures of a of the commercial and political power of the country. blockade to which it has recourse. But this notice, Russia and the United States, he adds, placed at the which is not an absolute rule, has no value of itself. extremities of two worlds, and both in the ascending....An agreement has now been made to the effect period of their development, have a natural commu- that the neutral shall only be considered duly warned nity of interests and sympathies, of which they have of the existence of a blockade, when the warning is already given proofs to each other. Without touch- given on the spot." OUR Editor's Cable. UR FARMERS.-In these dark and stormy times, when so many fair hopes have been rudely dashed, and so many great fortunes are utterly wrecked, we turn for relief to the solid ground, and look with wistful eyes to the men who live upon their own land and win a constant livelihood, however frugal or homely, from their own farms. Never, perhaps, in the history of our country, has there been so wide and severe a shock to our mercantile prosperity, and so good an occasion for reviewing seriously our ways of living, especially in our cities and large towns, and of asking whether we may not take as well as give some wholesome lessons in the conduct of life by a little more intimacy with our farmers. We propose now to treat of them in our usual colloquial and practical way; and at this season, when the harvests are gathered in and the light of the harvest-moon shines on so many rural fairs and merry-makings, we may be allowed to join for a while the robust and cheerful company, and be sure of being forgiven a little grave moralizing, if we only leave the dust and starch of the city behind us, and chat with the farmers as one of them, and try to look with a knowing eye upon their potatoes, and grain, and fruits, and cattle. We propose to speak especially of the farmer himself, and to consider his character and pursuits from our point of view. It is vain to try to cheat him by pretending to know more about his business than he knows himself, or to enlighten him upon soils, manures, seedlings, and breeds. It is better to leave him to guess how much we know about his affairs, and to win his favorable opinion by being inclined to appreciate him and his position fairly. We are disposed to be very good-natured in dealing with a party to whom we are indebted for the very bread that we put into our mouths; and we shall pay the debt all the more by throwing in, now and then, a bit of wholesome advice, that may show that man does not live by bread alone. And let us begin by considering the farmer especially in his work, or as a workman. A workman he certainly is, and no man can be accused with less justice of being an idle cumberer of the ground than he. Yet it requires some little thought to state accurately what his work is; for farming seems at first to include all kinds of work, and to be more marked by its being a union of all trades, than by having a distinct specialty of its own. The farmer is certainly, in some respects, a mechanic, manufacturer, and merchant, and sometimes he is not a little of a lawyer, doctor, and minister. He is a mechanic, because he uses tools and is constantly contriving ingenious expedients to apply means to ends. So, too, he is a manufacturer, and his farm is the great factory in which he makes the raw material, the earth and the seed, the rain and the sunshine, into roots, and grain, and fruits. He is a merchant, moreover, for he generally buys and sells largely on his own account, and sometimes his expenses and sales mount to very high figures and give him a conspicuous name in the market. He must be physician enough to prescribe for infirm soils, trees, and cattle, if not for his own children; lawyer he readily becomes, so far as is necessary to verify titles or fulfill the duties of justice of peace; and in cases without number, where the sound of the Sabbath bell is not heard, the log-house or the grove is his temple, and as in old, patriarchal times, the father is the priest, and declares the word to his own household and his neighbors. Yet, various as is the farmer's work, and closely as it may trench upon other callings, it has a decided specialty of its own; and this depends so directly upon a positive law of nature as to distinguish his from that of others. He is by eminence a grower, and the law of vegetative growth is the power which he in the main uses. It is not enough to say that he works upon the soil, for so does the miner or the brick-maker. He works upon it solely with an eye to its yielding crops, and when he raises cattle and sheep he does this mainly by providing them with pasture, as the name for this business, grazing, denotes. The manufacturer may also busy himself with the workings of organic nature; but his processes are chemical not vital, and he aims to produce new combinations of atoms, as in making salts or acids, or to transform commodities into more available shapes, as in carding or weaving. The merchant deals in all commodities; but as merchant he does not grow them, and this work belongs exclusively to the farmer. To make our distinction more philosophical, we may say that there are three aspects in which nature is known to us--the mechanical, the chemical, and the organic-relating severally to things viewed in the mass, or in atoms, or in the life. Now while the mechanic deals with things in the mass and gives them new shapes, and the chemist deals with atoms and gives them new combinations, the farmer deals with things as having life; and while he is a raiser of animals his chief business is in growing the products of vegetative life. Other things are incidental, but this is the main business of his calling. And as the main use of the growth of the soil is food, we regard the farmer's as first of all distinguished by providing food for man and beast. He provides clothing also, by raising fibril plants, such as flax, hemp, and cotton, that give materials for the weaver; but these require so much labor and skill from the manufacturers before they can be useful, as much to divide with others his service; and, moreover, in their relative amount and value, the products that are made into clothing bear a small proportion to the crops that supply food. We say, then, that the business of the farmer is to feed and incidentally to clothe the human race, by studying and applying the law of vegetative growth. He puts the seed into the soil wisely, and carefully tends the plant which yields the harvest. All the arrangements of his farm, however few or many, simple or stately-all of his broad acres, whether meadow, garden, vineyard, orchard, wood—all his fences, walls, drains, barns, dairies, tools, machines, vehicles, cattle, and servants, are but so many different interpretations of the ancient scripture: "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." The farmer's work, of course, begins with the soil, and his first task is to prepare the ground for the seed. Now this seems to be a very simple matter; and as in our petty pride we tread upon the brown and common earth, we may think that we know all about it; and if we are inclined to bow the knee at all to its rude majesty, it is because of the gold and silver and gems that may be hidden in its depths. | and which most tends to renew the tissues of the Yet its great mysteries and richest treasures are near the surface, within reach of the farmer's plow and spade, without need of the miner's shaft, windlass, and safety-lamp. The substances upon which the potato, turnip, wheat, maize, flax, and cotton live give us our greatest wealth, and the yield of the mines of California shrink into insignificance before the two thousand millions of dollars that our soil in the best years bears to us from its surface. What more and better products it may bear we do not know; for we are but just beginning to study its nature and to dismiss the childish dream that we must take it as it is, and that its wild state is its true or best condition. The soil, like the soul, needs culture to show what it is and to yield its best fruits; for it may be said without question that the growths most valuable to mankind are only the fruit of careful tillage, and do not come to us by magic, or by the spontaneous movement of earths of native fatness, or climates of tropical luxuriance. Too much richness may be as fatal as too little; and Nature, like man, thrives best in the temperate zone, with its moderated elements and its healthy and laborious habits. In the temperate zone, where man best educates himself, he best educates the ground, and there the science and the art of agriculture have been developed. A man's brain is ready to swim as he tries to conceive of the vastness of the territory open to the American farmer-the extent of the fields that call for his subduing hand. We have three millions of square miles, according to the latest returns, in our national domain, and of this immense region not more than one-twelfth part is under cultivation, and only about double that portion, or one-sixth, is occupied. Try to imagine the labor required to cultivate a single square mile of ground-as in the Central Park, which is a little more than a square mile in size and multiply this by three millions, or by two and a half millions, and we have some idea of the extent of our country. Yet one-twelfth of that amount, or two hundred and fifty thousand square miles, which is near the extent actually cultivated, is more than we can have any definite conception of. Now try to estimate the amount of labor, skill, and cost needed to keep this land in cultivation. Remember, in the first place, that the whole of it must be in some way prepared mechanically for producing -as by plowing, harrowing, draining, etc.-in order that it may be duly opened to the light, and warmth, and rain, and the various ingredients of the soil may be so disintegrated as to act freely upon the growing plant. Consider, in the second place, how often the soil is to be mechanically changed by admixture with other earths and substances than it naturally contains, and whether clayey, sandy, gravelly, loamy, or peaty, its excesses may be corrected. Then, lastly, think of the great matter of fertilizing the soil, mainly by chemical changes through manures, natural and artificial, which look as carefully and scientifically to feeding the ground with precisely what it wants as we look to the feeding of our children. We may write volumes on the subject of manures, or may put it into a nut-shell, and state the whole matter simply thus: As the plant lives mainly out of the earth, the earth must be supplied with the materials which the plant takes away; and as these materials are of three principal kinds minerals, or salts, such as lime, potash, and soda; carbon, such as charcoal and other woody fibre; and nitrogen, such as is most readily found in ammonia, body-that is the best manure which affords these three materials in the proportions fitted to the wants of the plants to be cultivated, and in the form most easily assimilated by them. The form of the manure is as important as the substance; for as plants do not through their roots absorb any element which is not dissolved in water, or do not eat their beef or potato until made into broth, the chemist asks carefully for the best solvents of his nutritive materials: and hence, in great part, the importance of acids in his combinations, and the great emphasis given to phosphates, carbonates, sulphates, etc., in the modern methods of fertilization. Now every practical farmer is to understand this philosophy of manures as he values his pocket, his fields, and his barn-yard; and without this knowledge he will make sad mistakes alike by doing what he had better leave undone, as by putting mineral manures upon limestone soil, or emptying his dung-heap upon soil fat with vegetable mould. He must learn that his soil has a temper of its own, and needs to be regulated as much as his horse. It seems to be ascertained that mineral manures give bottom without speed, and nitrogenous manures give speed without bottom, and of themselves may stimulate too much; while those that are mainly carbonaceous are especially warming and fattening, and bear something of the same relation to the mineral salts that fuel bears to water, while the nitrogen brings the two together, and sets the steam-engine a going. This subject of fertilizers may seem too abstruse to be applied to common practice; but we defy any man nowadays to manage a single acre of ground wisely and profitably without some knowledge of it, and most men are likely to part with much money and not a little patience before they consent to study and apply the first principles of agricultural science to the soil. After the soil is ready the seed is to be sown, or the plant or tree is to be set out. What a world here opens upon us in the choice of the seed or plant! Our America has become now one of the great gardens of the earth, and every desirable farm, with a good variety of soils, levels, and exposures, can bear most of the growths that are known to man, and almost all such as are of chief value to our civilization. What shall the farmer try to raise? is the question; and he must settle the question by considering what quantity he needs, what quality he can produce, and what uses he has most in mind. No little judgment and enterprise are evidently needed to choose the proper growths for a large farm; for, like a large family, it embraces a broad variety of aptitudes, and our fields, like our children, can not always do the same thing; and, moreover, they need rotation of crops, as children need rotation of studies. Our fields too, like our children, undoubtedly suffer much from being put upon the wrong work-as when the orchard is planted in a damp meadow, and the meadow is expected to appear upon the dry hill-side. Every sensible farmer will insist upon having every great department of vegetation represented upon his soil, and will think himself poor indeed without a due portion of garden and orchard, forest and field, hillside and meadow. Not caring now to discuss the due proportion in which the great staple crops should be cultivated, we may say that there is no excuse for his neglecting the finer fruits, and making his table a stranger to the best pears and apples, grapes, cherries, and berries. These have great market value, and are, moreover, refiners of the taste, and means of kindly fellowship and elevating competi- ing the gold of the old world to our treasury, and more than keeping the balance of trade in our favor. We can not contemplate this state of things, and the series of movements and ideas that have led to our agricultural prosperity, without owning the benign hand of Providence in the result, and giving glory to Him who is Ruler of nations and Lord of the harvest. Think of the time when a civilized man first put his spade to the virgin soil of our America, and try to follow him through all the difficulties and misgivings of that first day's work, whether near the bleak rock of Plymouth, by the rich banks of James River, or on the sandy island of Manhattan; then look now upon the harvest before us here in this great city, then along these bays and rivers, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific; follow the harvestmoon as she sheds her pale and mystical light upon a broad domain larger by far than all Europe as But the farmer's work does not close with planting the soil with the seed. The culture but then begins; and who shall undertake to describe the judicious and faithful labor thus bestowed-whether to keep the ground open and free from weeds, or to protect the plant from drought, or blight, or insects, or too rank growth-to watch carefully its season of maturity, and gather duly the welcome harvest? What vigilance, what judgment, what nicety of touch, what skillful use of implements, and employ-known to our ancestors, and we need add no words ment of animal strength, and human labor, must be nor figures to exhibit to you the grandeur and the expended every season! The farmer has of late power of the American farmer's work. As yet, called in the new and gigantic powers of mechanism moreover, his task is but begun, and not only is but to his assistance; and while the chemist analyzes a fraction of our soil under improvement, but probfor him the soils, the mechanician supplies him with ably the richest lands are as yet untilled, and they vast motive powers more mighty and steadfast than await bolder enterprise, more skillful culture, and a squadron of horses, that come without complaining advanced civilization to develop their wealth. The to do his bidding; and steam, with its never-weary- work rises into dignity as well as spreads in grandeur ing pulse and never-fainting limbs, mows and reaps when we contemplate the great intellectual, moral, and plows for him as if the labor were sport, and it and spiritual results that spring out of it; and rewere no longer the sweat of the brow, but the sweat member that the wealth that comes out of the ground of the boiler, in which man is to eat his bread. supports our schools, colleges, and churches, and educates families for this world and for the world to come. Thus it is that, under God's providence, the seed that is sown bears fruit not of bread alone, and the farmer, like the true artist, finds himself working according to a divine pattern, and modeling the rude clay into the likeness of the image of God. His fields and gardens, orchards and brooks, sometimes bear in their very face the features of high humanity, and the broad landscape as well as the open Bible teaches the worship that has the beauty of holiness. But we need not try to describe at length the completion of the farmer's work, when the culture of the soil and the plant is crowned by the harvest. We look upon him at once as standing in closer and ennobling relations with nature, civilization, and God's own providence. As his fields are white or yellow with their more than gold and silver treasure, and the orchards bow under the weight of their ruddy fruit, he sees before his eyes the reward of his long labor, and needs no longer walk by faith alone, in the assurance that he who goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall come again rejoicing, bearing his sheaves with him. The intention of nature in the order of the seasons is written out clearly in the work of his hands, and he sees why it is that God calls us to patient toil, that all the more effectually, in the course of time, he may mature his gifts. Not only do the overflowing barns receive the treasure, but the cattle on the hills and in the stalls are living depositories of its wealth, walking granaries that not only preserve but transform the products of the ground into higher and more precious substances. The horse, the ox, and sheep are happy in their fullness, and he enjoys their happiness, and is like the hand of Providence itself to them. He finds himself bound by new ties to society by his returns, and as he buys and sells in the market, he finds himself anew a partner in the art, science, and wealth of the whole world; and in return for what he gives he chooses from the world's store-houses what most he needs for himself and his family, however frugal may be his habits, never failing in some way to take home with him some of the great products of civilized thought or ingenuity. His con- There is much, certainly, in a farmer's position tribution to the public welfare makes him a partner that should help his character. A certain manliin the wealth of the great nation; and it is out of ness of character goes with independence of circumsuch offerings as his that the country heaps up her stance, and we presume that no class of men are so riches, and we now see the astounding spectacle of a free from direct and invidious dependence upon others nation not a century old supplying the markets of as the farmers who live upon their own land. They Europe with food and clothing, and even in this are not free from anxiety, indeed, and may lose their time of our civil trouble and impoverishment draw-crops, and not always get their dues, and may be If such be the work of the farmer, thus large and exalted, what ought the man to be? Let us say a few words upon the kind of manhood that ought to be found among the lords of the soil. We need not tell our readers that we are not canvassing for votes in the rural districts, and bound to eulogize its population as being of necessity all perfect-Arcadians in their simplicity, Spartans in hardihood, and Swiss in independence. We are trying to state facts, and not talk sentiment or retail deceits. We must confess that we know farmers who are not model men; and we are tempted to say, of a certain portion of them, that they come nearer to worshiping the almighty dollar than any people we have known on earth. Yet, while we condemn the miserly farmer, we must remember that he may be tempted to covetousness in part because he sees so little money; and that sometimes the city lavishness, that seems generosity, is but a wholesale way of getting the most money, and exchanging the petty hand-press of small niggardliness for a gigantic hydraulic squeeze of gross extortion. |