312 PISCATAQUIS CENTRAL SOCIETY. 



in moderate labor. The physical powers acquire strength and facil- 

 ity of action and adaptation by exercise. The limbs of the body 

 have been forcibly compared to the hinges of a door; if they are used 

 constantly they will move easy, but if allowed to remain unemployed 

 they will contract a rust and at length become useless. 



It is conducive to wealth. Labor is the best foundation of prop- 

 erty. Agriculture and manufactures demand the labor of the hands 

 as well as the contrivance of the head ; and most of our opulent citi- 

 zens have risen to independence by beginning with manual labor 

 and careful savings. 



Corporal labor is conducive to cheerfulness of mind. Good spirits 

 are the usual concomitants of good health ; and good health is not to 

 be insured without necessary exercise. 



It is conducive to reputation. Indolence enervates the mind, and 

 exposes the slothful man to contempt ; Avhile industry is always held 

 in honor by the wise and good. 



Labor is conducive to good morals. The ancients represented 

 labor as a guardian of the temple of virtue. Nothing is more in- 

 jurious to moral principle than indolence, especially in the young 

 whose minds are flexible and whose moral habits are not firmly fixed. 

 For a young man to be idle and at the same time virtuous, is a moral 

 impossibility. No excellence of education, no truth of principle, 

 no force of habit, can stand against the seductions of ease, the 

 temptations of indolence. But if young persons are fully employed 

 in occupations that are useful and honorable, and which engage their 

 whole time and attention, habits of virtue, industry and peace, Avill 

 be gradually and insensibly formed — or if they are already begun, 

 they will be improved, confirmed, and riveted for life. 



"In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," is no curse 

 upon man in general, as human nature is at present situated. There 

 is a labor which grinds, oppresses and overwhelms. But such labor 

 is not generally necessary in that wise economy which enjoins health- 

 ful activity and well-directed energies upon all, and in which every 

 one is culpaple who shirks his duties and responsibilities, and must 

 inevitably reap, sooner or later, the just retribution of his indolence. 



In general, the virtue of character is proportioned to its activity 

 and unremitting industry in some honorable and useful employment. 

 Some men are ashamed to labor; such men ought to be ashamed to- 



