between his consumption and production. If society would apply Paul's theory, "that he who does not work should not eat," it is believed that the number of nonproducers would materially decrease, if not disappear altogether.

An Irishman was showing a tourist over Ireland and expatiating on the beauty of hill and glen and moor, and closed by saying that there were 100,000 men ready at a moment's notice to take up arms and free Ireland from the British yoke. The tourist ventured to ask, "why don't they do it then"? "Be Jabers," said Pat, "the police won't let them."

For a much less persuasive reason many men are not producers, but are drones in the world's busy hive, and should be treated as heroically as the bee treats the drones of its colony.

Then there is the duce and the dudee or the dudess, or what is the feminine of dude. Come to think of it, they are both neuter gender. It produces nothing but canes and mustaches and curls and bows, etc. Wears out the streets and its pants. and its mother, and finally evaporates and is heard of no more forever.

THE OLD DECANTER.

There was an old decanter,
and its mouth was gaping
wide; the rosy wine had
ebbed away and left its
crystal side; and the
wind went hum-
ming, humming; up
and down the sides it
flew, and through its reed-
like hollow neck, the wildest

notes it blew. I placed it in the
window where the blast was blow-
ing free, and fancied that its pale
mouth sang the queerest strains to me.
"They tell me - puny conquerors! the
plague has slain his ten, and war his hun-
dred thousand of the very best of men; but
I," 'twas thus the bottle spoke, "but I have con-
quered more than all your famous conquerors, so
feared and famed of yore. Then come ye youths
and maidens all, come drink from out my cup,
the beverage that dulls the brains and burns
the spirits up; that puts to shame your con-
querors that slay their scores below, for
this has deluged millions with the lava
tide of woe. Though in the path of
battle darkest waves of blood may
roll; yet while I killed the body,
I have damned the very soul.
The cholera, the plagues, the
sword, such ruin never wrought,
as I in mirth or malice on the
innocent have brought, and still I
breathe upon them and they shrink
before my breath, and year by year my
thousands tread the dismal road of death."

The saloon is a non-producer of any thing good, and a prolific producer of all that is bad and useless. It is the great American simoon that is constantly sweeping over this fair land of ours, withering the hopes, blighting the prospects, and blasting the happiness of untold millions. It is a parasite on the body-politic, and sucks the blood of every producer. The $900,000,000 annually spent for intoxicants are wasted,. and worse than wasted. It not only draws millions from profitable production, but it destroys the profitable productions of other millions. And what is worse, we are partners to this waste. Our country and State, for a paltry sum, give men the legal. right to produce this waste, and thus we are silent partners in the saloon.

The whole world revolted a few centuries ago at the church for selling indulgences to sin, and the reason given was that the heart was so perverse that it would sin any how, and the church might as well have some profit on it as not; and to quiet conscience they used the money in extending missions and building cathedrals, etc. For a much lower reason is the indulgence granted the saloon. It should be abolished as a con-producer. If you ask me for a remedy, I frankly confess I can not give one that will change the condition or be practically better. I state the condition as I see it; you should seek the remedy.

All kinds of gambling and all games of chance are non-producers. This is true of the many, but, by the country boy for the first time on the County Agricultural "horse trot" and the fortune whee, and games of chance all along up to the stock gambling of the Board of Trade, where they sell 100 possible bushels of grain for each actual bushel sold, and the giant Louisiana Lottery Company, now being strangled to death by an all powerful public sentiment. The striker, the nihilist, the anarchist, the communist, are all non-producers and worse, they destroy the productions of honest producers. You are a producer of something useful and you save your productions. These classes say in effect to you, "I produce very little, and what I do produce I spend in sin, but you must stand up and divide with me."

For cool impudence and supreme arrogance these classes take the prize. With all these non-producers abolished and every worthless novel changed to a seed catalogue, and every street loafer to a profitable producer, the earth will bloom like the "rose of Sharon" and be fragrant as the "lily of the valley."

SUCCESS VS. FAILURE-WHY SOME SUCCEED WHILE OTHERS FAIL.

BY GEORGE W. WHIP, CENTReville, O.

The same general principles that attend success or failure in other avenues of life are applicable to the farmer.

The merchant, mechanic or farmer if he would succeed must make use of methods and habits that insure success; and that all may succeed there is no question.

In the old Grecian races one only by any possible means could win the prize, but in the race of human life there is no limiting of the prizes to be won. All may succeed, providing, however, the right methods are used.

The greatest mistake is that young men start out without any course marked out to pursue, but commit themselves blindly to circumstances. Is it any wonder then that those who aim at nothing accomplish nothing in life? They all expect to succeed, but they put forth little effort, living for the day only, consequently reap a reward accordingly.

These who do succeed are credited with luck, but there is no luck about it-it is almost as certain as the rule of three. The young man who succeeds is he who matsers his business, who lives within his income, who saves his spare money, who preserves

his reputation, and who devotes his leisure hours in acquiring knowledge pertaining to his business.

Carlyle says, "Man, know thy work, then do it." Circumstances don't make the man. Whether a man is conditioned high or low, in the city or on the farm, "If he will, he will." "They can who think they can." "Wishes fail, wills prevail." Labor is luck.

Some are like sticks drifted whither the tide takes them. Any one can drift, but it takes a man to stem an unfavorable current. We are what we make ourselves. A little boy was asked who made him. His reply was, "God made me so long and I growed the rest."

Garfield once said, "If the power to do hard work is not talent it is the best possible substitute for it." Things don't turn up in this world until some one turns them up. A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. Luck is a false light; you may follow it to ruin but never to success.

Another essential requisite to success is concentration of power. Do we not find Michael Angelo neglecting school to copy drawings? Henry Clay learning pieces to recite in the barn or cornfield?

The man who would know one thing well must have the courage to be ignorant of a thousand other things, no matter how attractive they may be. Stick to the farm, young man, and rest assured the farm will stick to you. It is this directing your whole mind and energies at one point that brings success.

When one enters upon his calling he must work at it, if needs be, day and night, early and late, never deferring for a single hour that which can now be done.

Another essential requisite is self reliance, determination to be one's own helper, and not to look to others for support.

God never intended that strong beings should be supported by clinging to others like the ivy to the oak. God helps those who help themselves. Every young man should feel that his success depends upon himself; the exercise of his own energies rather than the patronage of others. We are born with powers and faculties capable of almost every thing, but it is the exercise of these powers and faculties that give us ability in any thing. The best capital with which a young man can start in life, is robust health, good morals, fair, ability and an iron will.

A vast majority of our great men started life with these qualifications, and none other.

The greatest heroes in battle, the greatest orators, ancient or modern, were sons of obscure parents.

The most signal success ever attained on earth was the result of self effort. The oak that stands alone to contend with the tempest's blast only takes root deeper and stands the firmer for ensuing conflicts.

Another essential requisite is economy of time. Franklin said, "Dost thou love life?" "Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." We know how Franklin used his time. Born the son of a soap boiler; lived to become one of our most noted philosophers; died worth thousands. Advice from such men as Franklin carries conviction.

Gladstone, Engl-nd's most noted Premier says: "Believe me when I tell you that thrift of time will repay you in after life with usury, but the waste of it will make you dwindle away until you fairly sink out of existence unknown and unmourned."

Elihu Burritt says: "It is not genius that wins, but hard work and a pure life." At sixty-eight he died honored by two hemispheres.

Study the lives of such men as Douglass, Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, Blaine and Cleveland, and you will find that by the use of every available minute, they have been enabled to rise to influence and power. An hour every day for ten years will transform any one of ordinary ability from ignorance to learning.

Lost wealth can be replaced by industry, lost health by hygiene, but lost time is gone forever. It is easier for an over-worked man to do a little more than for a lazy

one to get up steam. The busy man succeeds while others are yawning and stretching, getting their eyes open. He will see the opportunity and improve it.

Complain not that you have no leisure, rather be thankful that you are not cursed with it. Think of the young man lounging or going to some vile place of amusement to kill time, then think of that young man utilizing that hour every night in the acquisition of knowledge which will fit him for life. Leisure is too often like a two-edged sword, it cuts both ways.

We have success as the result of concentration of effort, celf reliance, economy of time and money.

Among the causes of failure we find: The excessive haste to become rich is the most frequent cause of failure, as this leads to speculati. utside our legitimate calling.

I have in mind a gentleman of Southern Illinois, whom I met some time since, a most successful farmer, and because of his success on the farm, supposed he would be equally successful in any venture. He therefore dealt largely in futures, and came off short $100,000. This cooled him, as indeed it would the average farmer.

We certainly would not oppose making ventures in our own line of business on the farm, but avoid all outside speculation.

Another source of failure is indorsing, without being in some way secured. How many farms are sold by the sheriff because the owner indorsed his neighbor's paper! How many homes that are now broken up, that once were happy and knew no want, because the husband lost all through security debts! All this can be avoided by saying no. You will not only save yourself, your family and your home, but probably will keep your neighbor from entering some disastrous speculation and save him.

Another frequent cause of failure is the neglect of the farm. We see this demonstrated by riding through the country. Farm machinery all out in the weather, barns leaking, and every thing in a tumbie-down condition, weeds growing where grain or grass should grow.

A man will attend to the farm in proportion to the amount of interest he has in farming.

AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS.

BY J. R. WOODWARD, OF MILTON.

By agricultural progress we mean the advancement in agricultural knowledge to a state of proficiency in that science; and also the enjoyment of all the emoluments that pertain to a higher state of agricultural existence. To obtain that desideratum, and to treat of some of the hindrances that stand in the pathway to success, is the object of this paper.

This is an age of progress. All departments of the scientific world as well as the trades and professions are alert and watchful, yes, ready to take hold of any opportunity that may exist to advance their intellectual, social and pecuniary interests. Why then should the farmer stand idly by and not seize the opportunities that present themselves to him, that he may enjoy the full fruition of his labor commensurate with the investments he makes and the ability he bestows upon them?

Let us look at these professions: A young man, say of moderate means, of no particular scholarship, without any record for brilliancy, concludes to enter the medical profession. He enters some medical college and in a score of months takes his degree, has M. D. attached to his name, hangs out his shingle and in a majority of

cases is in possession of a lucrative practice, enjoying an income far in excess of his more intelligent brother on the farm. In his medical development he has had access to all the medical authorities from the most remote times. Surgical skill has been imparted to him by the most learned experts, thereby making his knowledge of the intricacies of the human system comparatively easy to obtain. An outlay of probably five hundred to one thousand dollars has been sufficient to set this young man up in practice with an income before mentioned. Nor is it to the medical profession alone that we wish to refer. As with it, so is it with the legal and ministerial. A short time devoted to study by apt scholars with the advantages that colleges, universities and libraries endow, makes it comparatively easy for any one who may choose either. Nor is the practice of any of the professions so laborious, either in a physical or intellectual sense. The doctor works by rule. The laws of diagnosis are well nigh immutable, and point as indexes to certain specifics, and medical etiquette and jurisprudence are rigidly adhered to.

The lawyer is aided in his work by the decisions of the courts back to the time of the Norman conquest, covering innumerable cases of every description, compiled and indexed. He is aided largely by blank forms, provided to avoid the mistakes and technicalities in law; and so on through all the category of the professions we find them aided by the successes or mistakes of predecessors.

Now let us look at the brother on the farm. Let us suppose him to possess a mind equally as brilliant as the brothers in the professions; let us suppose his scholarly attainments the same. He chooses to become a farmer. If he buys a farm of half the average size it will cost him double what his brother has spent fitting himself for a profession. Unfortunately for him there is no set law for him to follow to success; the conditions that confront him at one time are not the conditions that obtain at another. The climatic influences that surround him this year may be far different next. Just what to plant and how to plant it can not be determined accurately from the experience of others. The location, the variety of soils, the condition of the weather, all combine to draw upon him for the exercise of good judg ment, combined with a knowledge of the habits of both plants and beasts. Confronted then with the many obstacles that lie across his pathway to success, upon which he has to exercise his mental powers, he also finds entertainment for all his physical powers. For

"If by the plow one should thrive,
Himself either must hold or drive."

This trite saying of Franklin has lost none of its potency since the author's death, one hundred years ago, and if a farmer of to-day wishes to be successful, even in a measure, he must draw upon himself for an endless amount of toil.

We have made these comparisons thus far with the professions only. Let us now look at the trades. Our carpenters and masons, and, indeed, all skilled labor, is finding ready employment at a higher round of wages than was ever obtained before. Masons are asking and getting 40 cents per hour; carpenters are receiving $2.75 per diem, even if their knowledge of the trade be confined to hammer and saw. Skilled labor in all departments of manufactures is receiving from $2.00 to $20.00 per day. In fact, a prominent manufacturer of Youngstown stated to the writer a few days ago that in all his experience of fifty years he had never known wages of all kinds to be so high and agricultural products so low. It is evident, then, with the wages just mentioned, that the gross income these artizans receive is greater than the average farmer's, with an investment of $5,000 in land.

We might go on and make these comparisons further, but only to the end that the proof to be adduced would convince any reasonable person that the remunera tion a farmer receives is the poorest in all the occupations of life. Then, when he shall have gotten out of the conditions that now surround him and stands upon a plane with those who have invested in other enterprises, and receives a just recom