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627 



'bl^ necessary, to all our mental, physical, intellectual, and moral enjoy- 

 ments. There is ten thousand times more true and substantial happi- 

 ness flowing to us, while we partake of the humble meal prepared by the 

 labor of our own hands, the fruit raised by our own industry, or any of the 

 ielicacies of life, purchased by our own labor, than we can possibly re- 

 ceive from any of these gifts obtained in any other manner. 



Time was when there were many all over this wide world, who look- 

 ed upon professional life as much more honorable, and much more cer- 

 tain of securing to themselves wealth, the means of their support iu 

 declining years, than labor bestowed ujx>n a farm, or in the work- 

 shop. 



But thanks be to Heaven, among the masses in our own country, and 

 especially in our own State and County, such an idea is becoming obso- 

 lete. Visit, if you please, a State, a County, or a World's Fair — and 

 will you find none there but the farmer, mechanic and the manufactur- 

 er, enjoying the pleasure to which such exhibitions give rise ? Wlio, in 

 all these exhibitions, exert themselves to the utmost to bring hither the 

 best specimens of every kind exhibited ? I will not pretend to draw in- 

 vidious distinctions. 



But I do say, and that with all due deference to the opinions o^ 

 others, professional men think as much of the honor of producing the 

 best article as the result of their own labor, as do the farmers them- 

 selves. So of the wives of these once so-called " silk stocking gen- 

 try." In this respect I can see no difference. All meet here upon a 

 common level, for a common purpose, and all are equally anxious for 

 the common prosperity of this Society, and that our labors as such need 

 not be in vain. The promotion of the interest of the farmer, the man- 

 ufacturer, and the mechanic, is certainly a most laudable object, and it 

 is equallv proper here to inquire what we should do most effectually to 

 accomplish so desirable an end. 



Something less than three years ago, at a Semi-Annual Meeting of 

 this Association, having the honor to be the speaker on that occasion, 

 I urged, as one of the most important considerations for this Associa- 

 tion, and for the people of this County, the absolute necessity, if we 

 would be prosperous, of ridding ourselves of the heavy load of debt 

 under which we were then struggling. At that time this Association 

 had just emerged into existence. Our County at that time owed a 



