38 [Assembly 



of the priest, who, when called upon in a period of scarcity to 

 pray from iBeld to field in pursuance of the custom of the country, 

 observing one that bore evidences of neglect, passed it with the 

 remark, that it was useless to pray where the owner would not 

 manure. 



General prosperity, or that of classes is the result wrought out 

 by the efforts of the people directed by an intelligent public senti- 

 ment. Yet we all influence this sentiment, and the workings of 

 each individual mind constitute a part of its volume. It has 

 frequently been changed by one man's efforts. It is constantly 

 influenced by those who boldly and manfully address themselves 

 to the duty of advocating truth or combating errors. Engaged in 

 designs of usefulness or benevolence, we may all by the exercise 

 of energy and perseverance, wield it as an instrument to effect our 

 ends. Would you render your beautiful hills and valleys still more 

 attractive and productive, clothing them with a richer verdure and 

 ornamenting them with tasteful abodes and sylvan adornments of 

 shrubs and trees, animate your agriculturist by holding his man- 

 ly and noble pursuit in proper estimation. 



Would you become a w^ealthy community, and do you desire 

 to introduce among you the products of mechanical skill? Arouse 

 the public interest and put forfh the efforts, and the living streams 

 of your hills, converted to man's service, will, in the morning 

 leap forth to their labors, and in the evening glide on to their rest. 

 Does a more lofty ambition influence you ? Would you diffuse 

 around you the blessings of education 1 Would you till the mind 

 of man with constant objects of thought and reflection; would you 

 give a new interest' to everything round him, (for when you ed- 

 ucate a man you open the eyes of the blind,) by calling his attention 

 to all the wonders and beauties of the vegetable world, and teaching 

 him to investigate and ponder over nature's endless variety and pro- 

 cesses; or arouse his faculties to the utmost stretch of their powers 

 by calling upon him to measure the orbits of other worlds; to com- 

 pute their distances and to conceive their sizes ; or startle him by 

 pointing out the traces in your hills and mountains enclosed within 

 the strata of enduring rocks as within the leaves of a mighty record 

 showing the former convulsions of the earth ; that it has been 

 molten with raging fires, swept with great floods and has been the 



