RUKAL LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND. 403 



he may not appropriate to other purposes, and enjoy it in 

 such a way as he chooses. The machinery of nature does 

 not require the constant watching and minute punctu- 

 ality which are required by the operations of trade or 

 manufactures. Though governed by the seasons, he is not 

 obliged to regulate his movements by a clock. 



From my earliest days I have coveted the life of a 

 tiller of the soil ; but fortune has opposed the fulfilment 

 of my desires. Still, whenever I see men employed in 

 the labors of the field, I look upon them as realizing in 

 these occupations, and in the circumstances attending 

 them, the greatest amount of happiness that can be en- 

 joyed in this world. But the farmer must be a man of 

 simplicity in his desires, his ambition, and his habits. He 

 cannot be happy if he covets a life of luxury and inglorious 

 ease, nor if he is ambitious for grandeur in the style of 

 his house and of his grounds. It is a vain ambition that 

 leads any man to strive after honors that do not appertain 

 to his situation in life. 



Most of the inhabitants of our cities can feel the pleas- 

 ures attending a short residence in the country during 

 the summer and autumn. How happy are they who are 

 all the year surrounded by these enjoyments and by the 

 pleasures that flow from this close communication with 

 nature. In the morning they are awakened to the labors 

 of the day by the songs of the earliest birds ; at the day's 

 close they are soothed of their weariness by a renewal 

 of the same songs. The farmer sees the pleasures of all the 

 seasons spread out before him. The citizen goes to market 

 and feels thankful that his money will buy a small portion 

 of those fruits which the farmer receives almost as the 

 gratuitous bounties of nature. Though he may not culti- 

 vate the choice fruits of the market, the wild fruits are 

 all a,round him. Raspberries in rustic profusion present 

 him a feast without price. Whortleberries hang their 



