WESr OXFORD SOCIETY. ]^99 



But while I have reversed the natural order of thincrs in touchins: 

 apon old age, yet perhaps not in real importance, if I allude to our 

 young men. 



I have had my serious fears that our young men were not laying 

 that solid foundation for a more elevated condition in life which was 

 formerly charateristic of the young men of this county. Too many 

 it is to be feared are mere slaves in boyhood to some trade, when 

 they should be at school, or engaged in some out of door employ- 

 ment. The ancient order of things seems fast becoming reversed. 

 The daughters must be educated, while the boys are enticed away 

 by the excitements of the day into the employment of some wealthy 

 corporation. I fear that the young ladies who now hear me, will be 

 compelled to go out of this county to secure a husband suited to their 

 condition ; and you may rest assured, young gentlemen that they 

 will go a great ways until they find one satisfactory to themselves. 

 There is no class of persons that understand better how to say no 

 with an emphasis, than the young ladies of Oxford county. Such of 

 you as have not already found this out will do well to be very cau- 

 tious in your movements. I know of no better argument to young 

 men than this gentle hint, that they secure to themselves solidity of 

 character in early life. Devoted attention to a whiskered face does 

 not make a man, nor a beauty. There is a certain kind of discipline 

 that must be acquired somewhere before you can succeed well in dis- 

 charging the stern duties of life, and perhaps there is no better place 

 to secure it than while engaged on the farm under the direction of a 

 prudent father. 



That boy bids fair to make the successful man who earliest learns 

 to exercise his judgment. Learn then to guess the number of feet 

 in a load of wood, or the weight of a load of hay, or of an animal. 

 Avoid the trashy stories found in so many of our newspapers, and 

 spend your winter evenings in solving some question in arithmetic, 

 or grammer, natural philosophy, or chemistry. Every evening spent 

 in this way will make a different being of you from what you was in 

 the morning. You could not, if you would, rid yourselves of its 

 good influence. 



I have come to the conclusion, after not a little observation, that 

 the young man who labors on the farm, or learns a trade as a house 

 carpenter, or a blacksmith, or another trade requiring the devel:p- 



