THE COURSE OF CULTURE. 



BY G. T. FESSENDEN. 



Sting at the Second Anniversary of the Massachusetts^ Horticultural Society, 

 to the tune— ' Jluld Lang Syne: 



Survey the world, through every zone, 



From Lima to Japan, 

 In lineaments of light 't is shown 



That CULTURE makes the man. 

 By manual culture one attains 



What Industry may claim, 

 Another's mental toil and pains 



Attenuate his frame. 



Some plough and plant the teeming soil. 



Some cultivate the arts ; 

 And some devote a life of toil 



To tilling heads and hearts. 

 Some train the adolescent mind. 



While buds of promise blow, 

 And see each nascent twig inclined 



The way the tree should grow. 



The first man, and the first of men, 



Were tillers of the soil ; 

 And that was Mercy's mandate then, 



Which destined man to moil. 

 Indulgence preludes fell attacks 



Of merciless disease. 

 And Sloth extends on fiery racks 



Her listless devotees. 



Hail Horticulture! Heaven-ordained, 



Of every art the source, 

 Which man has polished, life sustained, 



Since time commenced his course. 



