22 [Senate 



fy his animal nature and to sleep. No, the man who cannot find 

 some time for the cultivation of his intellect, is in a wrong position j 

 and does not improve as he might the situation in which he is placed. 

 This it is, that spiritualizes his labor and raises him above the brute 

 ' that labors for him. I do not expect him to be learned on subjects 

 for which he has no occasion ; but if he enjoys the priceless boon of 

 health, let him know something of that n^st wonderful instrumenty 

 his own body, — that if that " harp of thousand strings " should fail, 

 he may with some intelligence repair the evil. Let him know some- 

 thing of the physiology of the vegetable wor'.d : and every blade of 

 grass and ear of corn will speak to him of the benevolence and skill 

 of the Great Contriver. Let him not enjoy the sunshine without some 

 knowledge of the laws of light, or see his field drinking in the dew, 

 without understanding its adaptation to the purposes of nutrition. It 

 is in the power of every man to reserve some portion of his time for 

 these pursuits ; and he will find that every addition to his stock of 

 knowledge will make his walks the pleasanter, the flowers the sweeter^ 

 and every thing more full of interest and meaning. 



But there is something superior to intellectual pleasure ; and can 

 a sphere be better adapted to a progress in the moral qualities than 

 the one he occupies 1 Every situation must be a scene of trial. Yet 

 different states have different temptations. The difficulty of enter- 

 ing the narrow path, is not, in every case, likened to the passing of 

 a camel through a needle's eye. Agricultural life has few tempta- 

 tions — no risks are run in its pursuit — ^no deception is used in its pro- 

 gress — no concealment is required for its success — it is open, manlyy 

 straight-forward. It depends on no one's favor ; it rests on no one's 

 promise, excepting His, who has said, that " while the world endu- 

 reth, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, shall not cease."' 

 And while free from temptation, such a life gives ample scope for the 

 exercise of all those duties that elevate man, while benefitting his 

 race. It is not required of many men in a generation to do some 

 great thing for themselves or for their country. It is the little every 

 day duties and habits that mark the character. It was not in the 

 shouts of multitudes, that the old patriarchal farmer delighted. But 

 it was " when the eye saw him, then it blessed him ; and when the 

 ear heard him, then it bore witness of him." The opportunities of 

 exercising the elevated virtues are ever present to the independent 

 farmer. Like the patriarchs of old he stands at the head of his 



