THE DIGNITY OF THE FARMER'S LIFE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 82, 23 March 1876, Page 4

THE DIGNITY OF THE FARMER'S LIFE.

{Elihu Burrett ) , There is a higher dignity tban that of poetry or painting that attaches to the farmer's profession — a dignity which should make him walk erect, and look the blue heavens as proudly in the face as any man who treads the earth. No industry, to which human hands were set since tbe first pair were made; is deserving of higher estimation than his, for of all the toilers of the earth he stand 8 in the closet co-partnership with Divine Providence in the realm of nature. See now the conditions of this co-partnership, the capital which invests in - one summer's crop. Here for example, is a cultivated farm of one hundred acres of land. The Creator might have made that land bear stout crops of wheat and other corn all of itself, withont man's help; but He did not, and would not. He condescended to admit man to a partnership with Him, in variegating the verdure of those acres, in covering, tbem with waving , grain and yellow harvests. He would not let nature produce any crops for human sustenance without the co-work-ing of human sinew. The wheel of seasons might turn on for ever scattering rain, dew, light, and heat, and every germinating influence; but unless it was belted on to man's industry it would not turn out a sheaf or a loaf of bread;, r But se#;what comes of the. con- ; nection when a pair or two of hands and hoping hearts join their activities to the revolutions ol that wheel' — generously nature divides with man the honour and joy of tbe crop. How she works with all the sublime mute economonies of the seasons in this partner' ship of toil. The very shape of tbe earth's orbit, and all its million railed many stages around the sun, as well as the dew distillery of the evening's eky, are brought to bear upon the production of the fields. See bow the light and heat are gaduated to the growth of these acres of Indian corn. See the temperature that nursed it into the blade, then into the stalk, then into the silken setting of the ear. See what purple curtains are hung around the horizon— what drying, jocund, full winds b,ow ' whafc * r wddy faced hue fclofri! ipon j*J c ri P eniD S ears, redden-

ing them to ludian Bummer liuts, as thjey pepr from the white lace drapery that enfolded tbem 1 Look a?, the sight, arid never let a murmur of discontent ■stir your lips when you talk of nierohants, manufacturer-, or joint stock companies, or any. .occupation, or profession whatever. Joint' stock companies, indeed What 'company of that 1 sort ever formed on earth can compare with the joint stock -.. company. .-that... carries on tbe smallest farm ? What a diversity of capital is invested in the . enterprise. What sympathy and coworking.; Where falls one drop from the moistened brow of the farmer, there fall a thousand of germinating dews from heaven ; and the combination tquches the life of every plant and . blade with a new vitality and verdure.. A bill for abolishing verdicts of felo de se has passed through committee in the New South Wales Assembly. |In the last ten years 214 criminals have been sentenced to death in Eng- . land and Wales, but only 102, or less than half the number were in fact executed. In the yerr 1874 as many as 26 were sentenced to death, and 16 of them were exeouted. In tbe thirtynine yeara 1836-74 there haye been 432 criminals executed in England and Wales, or 11 a year upon an average. Tbe largest number in that period was 22 in 1863 ; (the smallest was 4 in .1871. There were 111 executions in the first ten years, and there were 103 in the last ten. If we go farther back, than. 1836, we find very different figures ; in the three years 1833-35, the executions were n« less than 101, averaging 34 a year. .'i ' 1 i a— i i ii i ——————. i.