370 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



Do our farmers desire a settlement in a land already highly 

 cultivated, abounding in smiling fields, in bending orchards, 

 and fragrant gardens ? The horticulture of Brighton, of New- 

 ton, of Watertown, of Cambridge, and of Waltham ; the luxu- 

 riant fields and pastures of Marlborough, and Framingham, and 

 Groton and Westford, stand unrivalled. And there is a growing 

 disposition, all around, to increase the beauty and attractions of 

 home, of our public streets and walks, and of our cemeteries, 

 by the cultivation of ornamental trees, of shrubbery, and 

 flowers. 



With such high privileges and advantages, what are the 

 duties and obligations of the Middlesex farmer ? He should 

 encourage, more than ever he has yet done, his sons and his 

 daughters to remain, a larger proportion of them, in their native 

 fields. Our young men should be exhorted to place a higher 

 estimate upon the profession of agriculture. There is a grow- 

 ing propensity among our young men, to live without manual 

 labor, or with the least possible quantity. Hence, we see mul- 

 titudes of them, despising the vocation of their ancestors, seek- 

 ing for clerkships, and secretaryships, and agencies ; or dashing, 

 without capital or talent, into trade or manufactures, and ob- 

 taining from the credulity of others, the borrowed means of 

 sporting a carriage, and arraying their persons in the extreme of 

 fashion. These young people should be instructed, that, of the 

 whole population, nature designs but a small proportion for mer- 

 chants and master mechanics, for fine gentlemen and ladies ; 

 that the great mass of mankind must, of course, be laborers, — 

 not necessarily slaves and serfs, but independent laborers. The 

 operations of nature are designed and guided by an omniscient 

 mind ; and the same intelligence which gives but one queen 

 bee to a legion of working bees, exercises the same wise care 

 over the affairs of men. Hence we find, that while a great 

 majority of mankind are born with similar intellects, here and 

 there superior minds appear, to meet the emergencies that arise ; 

 master spirits spring up, just enough to lead the vast multitude 

 on ; one is a mechanic, like Franklin, or Fulton ; and another 

 a merchant, like Gray, Girard, or Astor. 



Let the sun of science but concentrate its rays upon agricul- 



