220 ANDROSCOGGIN COUNT? SOCIETY. 



and unbroken forests — with her deep mines of inexhaustible wealth 

 and thundering cataracts of foaming power : — rearing on her queenly 

 bosom, cities of worldly commerce and villages of architectural 

 beauty as adorning jewels, — Earth, with all these, is his empire. 

 In his hand, hard and bronzed and calloused with toil, he holds the 

 world's life and comfort. Courts and camps, armies and navies, are 

 dependent upon him. He founds large cities and erects palatial 

 palaces, consecrates temples of worship and institutions of learning, 

 by the fruits of his manly toil. His plow and sickle are the foster- 

 parents of commerce and art. Lord of the land, and to whom all 

 things are given in dominion, his is the only true title of nobility. 

 There can be no Church without a bishop — neither can there be a 

 State without the farmer. In point of actual necessity and worth, 

 emperors must bow before him, and kings do him homage, and con- 

 querors follow in his train. The earth is his servant. — he smites it 

 as Moses did in the wilderness, and behold ! — a golden harvest flows 

 at his feet. The implements of his toil chant music sweeter to his 

 ear, and more in harmony with his contemplations of nature, and 

 his adorations to Deity, than that of dulcimer and harp, drawn forth 

 by fingers of jewelled beauty. "For him are broadest fields of 

 study, and fairest themes of delight. For him are hours linked to 

 beauties and wisdoms — for him are periods of communion and rap- 

 ture, of which the birds, the flowers, the streams, the woods, the 

 stars, and all wondrous things of the universe, may bear witness." 



All this would I say of the farmer, but more especially of such 

 as wed intellect with industry, — not to exalt him above his true 

 position, but to assist him in attaining to that commanding dignity 

 with which he is by nature endowed. And when I say this, I would 

 say naught against thee, thou noble and brave man, wielder of the 

 sledge and plane — or thou, skillful w^orker among spindles and 

 looms — or thee, thou well-known artificer, and cunning worker of 

 metals. But your vocation among the music of saws, the resounding 

 of hammers, and the din of machinery, is second to him who holds 

 the plow and tends the flock, that he may give thee bread for thy 

 strength, and comforts for thy skill. His is the most needful of all 

 toils : his the most serviceable of all products. He can live without 

 thee, but thou canst not live without him. In honor, ye stand side 

 by side, for honor belongs to all honest toil ; and from toil only, 



