NEW ENGLAND HO:VIE-LIFE. 59- 



life ; so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a 

 man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself 

 in making the point of a pint or the head of a nail. Now it 

 is a good and desirable thmg, truly, to make many pins in a 

 day ; but if we could only see with what crystal sand their 

 points were polished, — sand of a human soul, much magnified 

 before it can be discerned for what it is, — we should think 

 there might be some loss in it also. And the great cry that 

 rises from all our manufacturing cities, louder than their fur- 

 nace-blast, is all in very deed for this, — that we manufiicture 

 everything there except men ; we blanch cotton and strengthen 

 steel and refine sugar and shape pottery ; but to brighten, to 

 strengthen, to refine or to form a single living spirit never 

 enters into our estimate of advantages." 



Fortunate it is for society that there are employments like 

 agriculture, in which division of labor can never be pressed 

 to such an extent as to dwarf or weaken the powers of the 

 laborer. And more fortunate still is it, that there is one 

 institution of social life that can be brought in, in all places 

 and in connection with all employments, to cultivate the com- 

 mon manhood of the race — to develop the higher sympathies, 

 — to present, every day, questions of difl'erent interest and of 

 varied relations to the world, and thus counteract the isolation 

 of the man and partial culture of his powers, which the modern 

 division of labor is constantly demanding. This conserving 

 institution is the family. 



The family, and the home for the family, is the real unit of 

 society. And when machinery and commerce and science 

 have done all they can do to lighten labor and perfect it, 

 even by division of labor, in the model family there will be 

 found a practical employment of all the faculties and powers 

 of our nature. While we are pushing our improvements in 

 every department of thought and industry, what we want 

 brought to perfection to correct the defects of our civilization, 

 is the family. What Massachusetts and every other State 

 wants, is more homes — homes for the people — homes for every 

 family — homes surrounded with all that civilized man needs 

 for his enjoyment ; and the nearer these homes are alike in 

 the abundance of their comforts, the better for every member 

 of the community. 



