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l>ead our liappy tliouj^hts and li\' es ; they are the delightful things of 

 nature on which you operate, and nature co-operates with you in all 

 your labors and sweetens them to your contented .spirits. Kest upon 

 this as the j;raud secret of your constant attachment to agricidtural 

 pursuits. You work with nature and only modulate and beneht by her 

 functions, as she takes up and quickens and comi)letes the work of your 

 hands. 



There is a moving, living', acting principle in your labors which dis- 

 tinguishes them from other pursuits. The earth yields its strength and 

 increase to the seeds you cast upon it, to the cattle that walk upon it 5 

 the winds seem to blow, the rains to fall,.and the waters to run for you ; 

 the very frosts and snows of winter give salutary checks to the rank- 

 ness of vegetation, lighten the soil, and destroy what is noxious; aiul 

 every principle of animal and vegetable organization and existence co- 

 operates to support and enrich you. There is a charm in this which 

 must last while the spirit of man feels and acknowledges the strivings 

 of his own mind and the power of God around him. 



We do not reason thus, but y^efcel it; and it is this mysterious and 

 acting charm which has infused its sweetness into the hearts of all rural 

 people in all ages of the world. 



That you are not as intelligent and well-informed as a parallel grade 

 of society in towns we must allow ; that you are as truly aware of and 

 united to support your interelSts we do not mean to assert. Your scat- 

 tered and isolated mode of life weighs against you on these points ; but 

 that you have more sincere hearts and a sounder morality is as indis- 

 putable ; you have a i:)ureness of purpose, a simplicity of mind, as well 

 as manners, that are more than equivalent for the polish and conven- 

 tional customs of society, and with all a cordiality which is only to be 

 found in the good, homely, hearty hospitality of a country house. 



I have thus endeavored to make the impression that, while you have 

 much to learn, yours is a happy condition of life, and that your x)ursuit 

 is so essential, and its improvement so important to yourselves and the 

 world at large, as to claim for it a high place in the estimation of man- 

 kind ; and it is for you to make that claim, for the world never respects 

 the man who does not respect himself. 



We must take our i)lace, then, in that race of honorable competition 

 into which all the trades and occupations of life have entered, and whose 

 goal is the honor and glory of exalting their own profession and addipg 

 tio much to the sum of human happiness. 



WTio possess advantages superior to yours ? With every quality of 

 soil, and with a climate which breathes into all the essential vegetables 

 the breath of life and into man the atmosphere of health, what do you 

 want but to call into action the native strength of your own minds and 

 the energies of your own hands ? But that mind which gives direction 

 to the hands must be a cultivated mind, for we should never cease to 

 remember that intellect is'that " talent" which the goodness of God be- 

 stowed upon His own image; not that it should be buried in the earth, 

 and restored upon the return of its Lord and Master in its original sim- 

 plicity, but that it should be cultivated, enlarged, and appropfiated to 

 His great design. It is demanded of us that we should put eur hand 

 to the noble work of education, and especially that we should direct that 

 education to a course of study which will fit the mind and adapt the 

 energies of the body to that expansive, interesting, and delightful sub • 

 iect in which you are engaged and for which the Avorld has yet done so 

 little. * * * 



It is for you, then, at all times and under all circumstauceSj to 



