NORTH KENNEBEC SOCIETY. 197 



I draw tlic conclusion from your presence and your doings 

 here, that it is and will be one of your primal purposes, in your 

 course of toil and improvement, to conform to this example of 

 the great and benevolent Worker. 



You will observe this lesson in your labors upon and about 

 your buildings, your houses, your barns, your wood-slieds and 

 your pig-styes. I do not suppose that many of you own, or 

 will hereafter build, very costly houses, stables, &c. This is 

 not the end to be attained. Every man should be limited to 

 his means, and within this line, in style, convenience and adorn- 

 ment, he should plan and execute for comfort and taste. If a 

 man is worth enough to buy a farm, and to put up buildings 

 thereon, there is no reason why he should not put up good and 

 handsome buildings, or wliy he should not lay out and adorn the 

 grounds around them, in a style to meet the demands of conven- 

 ience and refinement. I can only think when I see a farmer's 

 buildings badly disposed, and showing the signs of neglect, or 

 the tokens of an indolent or a slovenly care, that there is no 

 excuse for the owner. Even poverty does not compel a man 

 to present a show like this. The poorest farmer can keep the 

 rules of order and neatness, can follow the leadings of a clear, 

 true, and cunning eye, in transplanting his maples and elms, in 

 training his grape vine, woodbine or honeysuckle, in planning 

 and cultivating his garden, in pruning and trimming his orchard, 

 and in preventing the accumulation of rubbish and T^aste about 

 his buildings. You sometimes see the staging loosely hanging 

 around the wealthy farmer's chimney, the brackets upon the 

 roofs of his house and barn, his wood-pile and chips covering 

 the ground before his door, his carriage, cart and hay-rack on 

 the road-side, exposed to the sun, and to the rain, and disorder 

 and waste all about his homestead. Such an exhibition, how- 

 ever, portends failure and ruin. No estate can hold up in value 

 under such laxity and slovenliness. Nobody will be attracted to 

 it. Nobody will wish to buy it. The lord of the manor may 

 not know it, but it is true, nevertheless, that the men who go 

 about with gold in their purses, hunting for country-seats, or 

 rural homes, have an eye for beauty, for the union of order and 

 comeliness, and pass by those places not agreeable to this, 

 vision. 



