200 "^E^T OXFORD SOCIETY. 



ment of his muscular system, will commence at the age of eighteen, 

 to obtain an educatioa, graduate in our colleges, study a profession, 

 and find at the age of forty, that his chances will be fur greater for 

 influence, wealth and usefulness, than without such early training. 

 I am led to this, in examining the characters of our most eminent 

 statesmen, who had manly bodies, and within them, strong and noble 

 minds. Fast young men, and fast to ruin is a good logic. To such 

 of you as are anxious to engage in extensive business in our cities, 

 let me state to you what a New York merchant of twenty-five years' 

 experience related to me during the present year, that he scarcely 

 ever knew a young man who entered as a clerk in a store where a 

 large amount of business was transacted, that ever succeeded in busi- 

 ness himself. Pardon me, young men, for being frank with you. 

 It is my candid opinion that there is no occupation that opens so fair 

 prospects for an intelligent and industrious young man as that of a 

 fa)mer. I do not know how it is with the solid men of tliis vicinity 

 who have acquired their property by their own exertion, but most of 

 the men whose history I have been able to trace who have acquired 

 wealth, have labored early and late, have had hardy looking hands 

 and faces, and have been compelled to study and practice economy. 

 It costs very many thousand dollars for a man to carry a white hand 

 all the way through life. 



I know of no trade or profession that brings so many leisure days 

 as that of the farmer. "Your clergyman must labor seven days in a 

 week, your physician fourteen^ and your lawyer and schoolmaster I 

 don't know how long, to secure an honest livelihood. If there is a 

 holiday, your merchant, your miller, and your blacksmith, must be on 

 band early and late to wait on customers, while the farmer can enjoy 

 it as no other can. There is a wrong impression on this point among 

 farmers themselves, and especially among young men. 



I would not advise a young man without a good constitution, nor 

 unless he possesses a tolerable share of common sense, to be a farmer. 

 Nor would I flatter you with the vain expectation of succeeding as a 

 farmer without industry and economy, nor would I have it different 

 if I could. 



" Life is real, life ia earnest," 

 whether you believe it or not, and the earlier in life you learn the 

 fact, the greater your chances of success. 



