No. 112.] 521 



those hours and days of sad depression will be but incentives to 

 wake his soul to the noblest action. 



Such has been and such ever will be the progress of talent, and 

 the reasons are obvious. Man was made for action, his powers 

 gain strength by use, they crumble and decay beneath disuse. 

 Now in the rural districts few men comparitively speaking are 

 rich ; property is generally much more evenly divided than in 

 cities and to those pursuing rural occupations labor is the law of 

 life from which few can escape. From the earliest dawning of 

 the mind, the boys and girls of our rural districts begin to learn 

 something of the useful and practical of life : and they learn too 

 that most useful and practical of all things to wait on themselves. 

 No retinue of servants stand ready at their bidding, no nurse fol- 

 lows them to watch over their footsteps. In the days of their in« 

 fancy, a mother's love watches over them and amid her thousand 

 household cares, she finds time to attend to the wants of her lit- 

 tle ones. But no sooner are those little ones able to totter about 

 than they begin to take care of themselves, so that at the age of 

 six, the little inhabitant of the rural district knows more of the 

 actual and practical of life than the city boy at nine. Thus early 

 does character begin to develope itself and often times when the 

 youth of the city is yet in the leading strings of the nuise and 

 dependant upon his parents for supplying every want, the little 

 country boy is thinking of earning his own bread by the laCor of 

 his hand. Onward, ever onward is his watchword,, and erelong 

 w^e find him toiling to obtain the means of giving himself a more 

 liberal education than his parents are able to give or the district 

 school can bestow. Numerous are these instance. 



Let us now for a moment trace out tlie tendencies of rnral and 

 city life, first however let me say that I wish to draw no invid- 

 ious comparisons between the two : they both have their ad van- 

 tastes and disadvantages, and are lx>th parts of the i^rrat allotment 

 of Providence to man. I only wish to speak of tendencies c^jm- 

 mon to both and to present a few fact*, which I tliiuk will be al- 

 lowed to be such by all candid seekers after truth. But to return ; 

 this country boy we left had educated himself, he has grown to 

 manhood, he has souglit the srreat city to find scope for his talents 

 and he has made himself a name. The principles of thrift ccono- 



