238 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



erature, a new and important discovery in mechanics or in trade. 

 Were there the same, or similar competition, in the agricultural 

 pursuits, we might, perhaps, witness similar results. But such 

 competition will seldom or ever be seen. And yet the vast re- 

 sources of the earth are scarcely known. 



While the fertile and virgin soils of the West pour forth annu- 

 ally their thousands of bushels of wheat, and of other grain, the 

 agricultural interests of the country lend chiefly there. The 

 facility of transportation brings to our doors the cereal riches of 

 distant regions, and makes the market a cheaper resource than 

 the corn-field: but whether the more profitable one to the farm- 

 er, remains a doubt. What new tracts of land, or what yet 

 unreclaimed forests, are destined to the plough and the harrow, 

 we know not. There is a curse attendant on rich and exuberant 

 soils, viz., the habits of thriftlessness which they engender — a 

 few weeks, or a few months of labor, and the rest of the year 

 tempting to idleness or laziness. Your occupation verifies and 

 yet reverses — anomalous as it may seem — the primitive curse, 

 "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." It sweetens the 

 food, and gives a keener relish to the viands that it procures. 

 In an oriental country, nothing could have been truer, and no 

 more dreaded ill could have been threatened. Indolence and 

 ease are the envied and the almost essential condition of life in a 

 primitive state, or under the languid air of the tropics. The most 

 manly and noble developments are witnessed under bleaker 

 skies, and in colder, or at least more temperate regions. Nature 

 there calls forth new energies, and awakens exertion. A more bril- 

 liant or a clearer atmosphere seems to invigorate the physical 

 frame. Men, like the plants and the animals of such regions, are 

 capable of great endurance. Life is better enjoyed in all its varied 

 functions. Observance of sobriety, and of temperance in all 

 things, induces longevity and soundness of constitution. The 

 tables of mortality show conclusively from what classes the dis- 

 eases which ravage the population, mostly originate. The trades, 

 the professions, the mechanic arts, shorten human life. On the 

 contrary, your occupation seems the surety of physical and men- 

 tal vigor. Nothing appears to be needed but a more intellectual 

 grade, to invite more co-laborers into your fields. 



