PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. XIX 



say.&quot; This homely anecdote illustrates a striking element in the human char 

 acter, and shows how much our judgments, and consequently our actions to 

 a certain extent, depend upon the rank which most things hold in public 

 estimation. 



I wish to see an agricultural life, much more than it is, the choice of men of 

 fortune, of influence, of talents, occupying the higher positions in society; and 

 this, not as mere dilettanti or amateurs, but as plain, active, practical husband 

 men ; men, not merely to come on deck in some fine sunshiny day, to admire 

 the ship with all her canvass filled, and all her streamers flying, as a beautiful 

 object of art, and, in a spasm of poetical frenzy, to enjoy the deep green of the 

 ocean, and its graceful undulations, and its ruffled waves ; but who understand 

 perfectly the art of navigation, who &quot; know every rope in the ship,&quot; the nature 

 and stowage of the cargo, and the place and duties of every man in the 

 company. 



I have devoted weeks, and months, and years, in my humble way, to recom 

 mend this noble art, to vindicate its claims to the attention of those who have 

 at heart their own and the welfare of the community, to show that it is a source, 

 if not of large, yet of reasonable profits ; that as an occupation it is as honorable 

 as it is useful ; that it conduces to health of body and peace of mind ; that rural 

 pleasures are, to a well-disciplined mind, among the last to cloy and exhaust it, 

 and wholly pure and innocent ; but especially, that a strictly agricultural life, 

 under those reasonable limitations which apply to every other pursuit, is not 

 incompatible with the pursuit of science and the cultivation of a refined taste ; 

 so that men of fortune, talents, and liberal education, who now sacrifice their 

 fortunes in the idle pastimes and frivolities of city life, and their health and peace 

 of mind in its feverish excitements, and the competitions of a diseased vanity 

 and ambition, would find in the simple and hospitable habits of rural life, health 

 and vigor of body and mind, and that independence of money and of time, and 

 opportunities for general reading, or the prosecution of any favorite science, 

 which it is almost impossible to find in the crowded haunts and the eternal and 

 ever-varying round of city engagements and pleasures. The most gifted minds 

 accomplish comparatively little, and fall far short of what might be hoped and 

 expected. The most humble contributions may not be without avail in affecting 

 the mass of public opinion and sentiment. I am happy in thinking that I have 

 sometimes struck a sympathetic chord in some generous minds ; and under any 

 and every discouragement, I console myself with the perfect and serene con 

 sciousness of having labored at a purpose wholly disinterested, innocent, and 

 useful. 



What governments should do in the case, is a most important question. A 



