PISCATAQUIS CENTRAL SOCIETY. 313 



breathe. It is not our employment, but the fidelity, zeal and perse- 

 verance we bring to it, which is the subject of praise or censure. 



" Honor and shame from no conditiona rise, 

 Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 



Honesty and fidelity, capacity and efficiency, dignify the humblest 

 station, and success in labor is certain if it is pursued with alacrity 

 and temperance ; while prodigality and intemperance degrade the 

 noblest station, and are the harbinger of failure in any undertaking. 



Mental labor is no less profitable than physical labor ; indeed, it 

 must precede it as a safe guide, or go hand in hand with it, in order 

 to such an intelligent and practical application of the latter as shall 

 be efficient in worthy results, and elevate it above brute force, or the 

 operation of blind working automata, to the dignity of an intellect- 

 ual pursuit. The ignorant who have become rich, sometimes look 

 with contempt on men of reading and science, deeming no employ- 

 ment useful which is not directly conducive to wealth. Bat the 

 industrious student, who treasures up principles of practical wisdom, 

 may be the most valuable member of society. 



Mental labor enriches the understanding with valuable knoiol- 

 cdge. Nature has so set in motion our desire of knowledge that it 

 stimulates us to inquiry, and arouses our mental powers into -activity, 

 as hunger urges us to seek food. The world of cause and effect 

 around us, is a constant incentive to intellectual effort ; and whoever 

 allows himself to become indifferent to the appeals of nature, and 

 neglects the vast sources of wisdom that lie constantly about us, — 

 an inspiration and perpetual delight, — sadly perverts his intellectual 

 powers, dwarfs his mental capacities, and reaps corruption, inanity 

 and death, as the reward of his stupid inactivity and stolid indolence. 



Tlie various branches of science and literature are the means of 

 gratifying this mental appetite. By proper study, the inquirer be- 

 comes acquainted with the phenomena of the natural world, their 

 existence, properties and designs. He scans the inanimate, vegeta- 

 ble, animal and rational creations, tracing effects to their causes, 

 and making the improvements of all ages add to the progress of the 

 present. While he knows there is a labor that is little better than 

 laborious idleness, he intends that his mind shall be furnished with 

 rich and practical knowledge. 



Mental labor enlarges the comprehension of the mind. The 



