Page:The education of the farmer.djvu/40



That none, the meanest of created things, Of forms created the most vile and brute, The dullest or most noxious, should exist Divorced from good—a spirit and pulse of good, A life and soul, to every mode of being Inseparably linked. While from door to door This old man creeps, the villagers in him Behold a record which together binds Past deeds and offices of charity, Else unremembered; and so keeps alive The kindly mood in hearts, which lapse of years, And that half- wisdom, half-experience gives. Make slow to feel, and by sure steps resign To selfishness and cold oblivious cares. Among the farms and solitary huts, Hamlets and thinly-scattered villages. Where'er the aged beggar takes his rounds, The mild necessity of use compels To acts of love, and habit does the work Of reason; yet prepares that after-joy Which reason cherishes. And thus the soul. By that sweet taste of pleasure unpursued, Doth find herself invariably disposed To virtue and true goodness. Yet further.—Many, I believe, there are Who live a life of virtuous decency; Men who can hear the Decalogue, and feel No self-reproach; who of the moral law Established in the land where they abide Are strict observers; and not negligent In acts of love to those with whom they dwell. Their kindred, and the children of their blood: Praise be to such, and to their slumbers peace! But of the poor man ask, the abject poor— Go and demand of him, if there be here In this cold abstinence from evil deeds. And these inevitable charities. Wherewith to satisfy the human soul? No—man is dear to man."

Enough has, I trust, been said to justify the value which I have attached to poetry, and to books which embody thoughts common to mankind at large, as distinguished from books supplying the special information required by particular classes as the materials for their respective departments of work.

But the mere perusal of literature cannot confer much benefit without an attentive study of language. Is that language to be English alone, or any other?—and if another language is to be learnt, is it to be ancient or modern?

I have not the least doubt in my own mind, that if only a reasonable period be allowed for education, there will be an