250 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



to a cultivated and inquisitive mind ; and by showing that its 

 successful pursuit, either as matter of business or recreation, 

 where a moderate fortune is possessed or a moderate profes 

 sional income is secured, is not incompatible with the highest 

 improvement of taste, and even a vigorous and successful pursuit 

 of learning ; and that, where so pursued, under favorable circum 

 stances, it affords as fair a chance of rational enjoyment and 

 quiet usefulness as any situation which the most lucrative trade, 

 or the most successful political ambition, or even the highest pro 

 fessional eminence, can command. 



But I fear, how much soever I may satisfy the sober and 

 reflecting minds on this point, my opinions and persuasions will 

 scarcely be heard, and far less heeded, in that rush for wealth, 

 for office, and for notoriety, which, like a torrent sweeping over 

 the country, carries every movable object in its course. It 

 seems, however, not less my duty to record my strong convic 

 tions, which the experience of a life not short has served only 

 to confirm. I see in my own country every where proffered to 

 an honest industry, a wise frugality, and a wholesome self- 

 government, the most ample rewards : I see a wide extent of 

 rich and beautiful territory waiting the improving hand of skill 

 and labor, to be had in many cases almost for asking, with every 

 man free to choose where he will pitch his tent, not only with 

 out injury, but to the advantage of his neighbor : I see the 

 means of education, of competence, and of substantial inde 

 pendence, held out to all who will avail themselves of them. 

 In the midst of all this, I see thousands and thousands of young 

 men, blest with education and fortunes adequate to supply all 

 reasonable wants in the country, rushing into cities, exhausting 

 their small means in the extravagances and dissipations of fash 

 ionable life ; crowding all the professions to repletion ; pressing 

 on, with vexation and disappointment heaped upon vexation and 

 disappointment, into all the avenues of political office and dis 

 tinction, and into all the bitter strifes of political controversy ; 

 forcing their way into the pursuits of trade without talents for 

 their prosecution, and almost sure to involve themselves in bank 

 ruptcy and ruin ; and, in one form and another, dragging on 

 through life without satisfaction to themselves and without 

 usefulness to others, and too often a ruinous burden upon those 

 whom it is now their turn to succor and relieve. I cannot, 



