QIQ PISCATAQUIS CENTRAL SOCIETY. 



hj Avhich it is wisely ordained that he shall make his ascent toward 

 heaven, that kingdom of useful activities. Let him then stand 

 boldly and bravely up to his duties. He who will not labor in some 

 useful employment, is a traitor to God and man and has no right on 

 this earth. 



Idleness, fashion, extravagance, dissipation — are they not crimes 

 a<Tainst the Most Hiwh ? And will not the Righteous Judore of all 

 earth deal with this criminality as he always has done in past ages? 

 In the eye of heaven, man's exaltation is measured by his real 

 usefulness. And in true labor — a judicious exercise and application 

 of the various powers of his being to useful purposes — is man at- 

 taining to the perfection of true manhood, and exalting himself, 

 through higher and still higher conditions, toward the Infinite Per- 

 fection. 



" We must be here to work ; 

 And men who work can only work for men, 

 And not to work in vain must comprehend 

 Humanity, and so work humanly, 

 And raise men's bodies still by raising souls, 



As God did first." 

 * # * » * 



In the department of labor which you represent, there is an ample 

 sphere for active, useful industry. To dress and keep this fair gar- 

 den, beautiful as Eden of old, that it may yield its increase, and be 

 comely and attractive to the eye, and thus be fruitful in uses of 

 comfort and convenience and minister gratification to the sense of 

 the beautiTul, is a work that admits of no idleness. 



It does not comport with my design to give a history of agricul- 

 ture, or to dwell at length upon its advantages. "This art is the 

 basis of all other arts, and in all countries co-eval with the first 

 dawn of civilization. AVithout agriculture, mankind would be sav- 

 ages, thinly scattered through interminable forests, with no other 

 habitations than caverns, hollow trees or huts, more rude and incon- 

 venient than the most ordinary hovel or cattle-shed of the modern 

 cultivator. It is the most universal as well as the most ancient of 

 the arts, and requires the greatest number of operators, employing 

 three-fourths of the population of almost every civilized community. 

 Agriculture is not only indispensable to national prosperity, but is 

 eminently conducive to the welfare of those who are engaged in it. 



