Mark iv: 28. FIRST THE BLADE, THEN THE EAR, AFTER THAT THE FELL CORN IN THE EAR. The content and thankfulness of New England are committed every spring to her soil by the hands of farmers, who find it again spreading the color of California gold over their autumn fields. And what an alchemist is a farmer, to get that color out of land so poor and climate so harsh; where, what with the prices of labor, the expense of implements, of draining, manuring, keeping of stock and buildings, and a comfortable life through a tedious winter, not a great deal of that color finds its way into his pocket, however much he may store in his bins or send to market. And wherever a plough runs, from the Kennebec to the Mississippi, turning fat or meagre soils to the sun of a temperate summer, there springs the beautiful thanksgiving harvest of New England and of the North. Manufactures, shoe and leather dealing, all the trades and inventions, eat the pumpkins and the corn of the farmer. And the pursuits which are closely allied to agriculture, such as the breeding of cattle and the growing of wool, help the farmer to create and feed a North. Lawrence and Lowell can consume all the cotton they get, when the farmer of the East and West dumps his potatoes at the factory door. When the great arm of the engine vibrates, and a million spindles and the hearts of those who tend them sing, see how the slender thread goes up from the ball, carrying all the crops of the year with it to spin them into Wamsutta or Merrimac, or other famous brands. The morning tattoo which the Lynn shoemakers beat on their lap-stones is the echo of flails in a thousand barns. Genesis says, that the Lord God took a little earth to make the first man ; now man
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