J90 NOrlTH KENXEBEC SOCIETY. 



and wlio is ashamed to work, or cares only to avoid the tasks 

 which his neighbor so cheerfully performs. He takes that 

 course "which, to his superficial or inferior thought, seems the 

 easiest, even though it leads to infamy and *uin. He shirks 

 the higher responsibilities of life, he sinks lower and lower in 

 the depths of sin, he shocks the moral sense of the good, he 

 tramples upon all -wholesome rules, he becomes an Ishmaelite, 

 the meanest and miserablest of men, rather than turn his mind 

 or his hand to some useful employment. Here, is a common- 

 wealth, impoverished in every part, poor in soil, and low in 

 moral character, because labor is not respected, and the vices 

 of indolence and luxury grow and rage unchecked. There, is a 

 different realm, rich in soil, and lofty in moral character, because 

 labor is honored, and the virtues of industry and temperance 

 multiply and increase in strength, perpetually. 



There are cases, I know, in connection with which, these dis- 

 tinctions arc not seen, — or, in connection with wliich, as to out- 

 ward condition, the fair show is on the side of those who 

 despise labor. In such cases, the deep, black mark of indo- 

 lence, or injustice, is on the soul. In all cases, indeed, the 

 worst result of this sin, as of every other, is found here. So, 

 though a man in this pride of wealth, or indolence, hold himself 

 aloof from toil forever, and though his riches increase till he 

 become an Astor, or a Gerard, he will not be a nobleman; he 

 will be one of the lowest forms of humanity. 



No man who works with high conceptions, or noble motives, 

 no man, busy and faithful in any honorable calling, no honest, 

 useful toiler, farmer, mechanic, or what not, ever feels that he 

 is degraded by his employment^ whether his task is to plow 

 the earth, to smite the heated iron, or to sail the ship, he is 

 conscious of the importance and the dignity of liis life, and all 

 the tyrants in the world could not make him cower, or drive 

 him from his ground of independenQC. 



If I am thankful for any thing, it is for this : that I was born 

 in New England, or that I live where men attain eminence and 

 influence, not through birth or inherited wealth, but through 

 their own effort or labor, — where the taunt of the plantation 

 lord, that his slaves occupy a condition better and happier than 

 theirs, is answered in the presence of the ^vorld with noble dig- 



