There is a quiet about the life of a farmer, and the hope of a
serene old age, that no other business or profession can promise.
A professional man is doomed some time to find that his powers are
wanting. He is doomed to see younger and stronger men pass him in the
race of life. He looks forward to an old age of intellectual mediocrity.
He will be last where once he was the first. But the farmer goes as it
were into partnership, with nature--he lives with trees and flowers--he
breathes the sweet air of the fields. There is no constant and frightful
strain upon his mind. His nights are filled with sleep and rest. He
watches his flocks and herds as they feed upon the green and sunny
slopes. He hears the pleasant rain falling upon the waving corn, and the
trees he planted in youth rustle above him as he plants others for the
children yet to be.