512 Address before the R. I. Horticultural Society. 



admirably adapted for depositing any thing that should be kept dry. Finally 

 he begins 1o suspect that he himself is the most verdant thing on the place, 

 and that for the purpose of carrying out the Duke's improvements it would 

 be rather a convenience to have the Duke's income. How uncertain are 

 hu-.ran expectations ! An advertisement proclaims that a valuable and 

 highly finished estate is for sale, ihe red flag denotes the locality, and the 

 auctioneer knocks it off at the cost of the additions, generously throwing in 

 the original property. This picture is not intended to dishearten the aspirant 

 for rural life; it is merely an endeavor to impress upon him the conviction, 

 that in this, as in all other pursuits, it is not only necessary to be in earnest, 

 but to take that interest which is not overcome by opposition and petty 

 annoyances. It would be bad policy to keep those away who pioneer 

 improvement, and aid a good cause even by their failure. In storming a 

 fortress, it is poor generalship to discourage the forlorn hope. 



One more extract and we must close : — 



There is a custom, on the increase, in our country or suburban residences, 

 to leave every tiling to others, and m humble but mistaken imitation of the 

 supposed indifference in the lordly establishments of Europe, to glory in an 

 ignorance in which there is no affectation, b'ut which sits naturally, and 

 requires little effort to reveal itself. The means by which order and harmo- 

 ny are created, are considered too menial for the etherealized respectability 

 of the parlor, and even the results are disowned in public, as too trivial for 

 direct acknowledgment. The periodical exhibitions of horticultural socie- 

 ties, in presenting the products of the garden and greenhouse, indicate that 

 the proprietor, in the day of battle, is either ashamed to head his own 

 regiment, or is desirous to proclaim to the world that he can afford to do so 

 by procuration. He is satisfied that his name appears in connection with, 

 and secondary to, his gardener. It is an evidence of wealth and patronage, 

 and his pride is gratified in the reflected lustre. The firm has the natural 

 consequence of such associations, the sleeping partner taking what he ia 

 permitted to receive, and the active manager usually monopolizing both the 

 reputation and the profits. 



In this practical country, no man should be above any occupation. We 

 are eminently a working people, and he who professes to follow what he 

 will not take pains to understand, or treats as beneath his notice, had better 

 give up the business. He has not been preordained for the calling, and 

 should leave the field to more worthy laborers. There are vexations and 

 hindrances in all pursuits. If "the course of true love never did run 

 smooth," neither did the course of any thing else, under the sun, that was 

 worth running. The instrumentalities which work out results, either of 

 beauty or utility, must be grasped boldly and cheerfully. The effect will 

 come in its good time, but the longing for it should not disturb the operations 

 which influence it. Nor should they repel, because there may seem to be 

 no affinity between tlie wearisome and homely details, and the perfection 

 which they produce. The beautiful fabrications of the loom, born amidst 



