LETTER FROM GENERAL DEARBORN. 



193 



LETTER FROM GENERAL DEARBORN. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT. AND THE POLITI- 

 CAL AND MORAL INFLUENCE OF RURAL LIFE. 



Hawthorn Cottage, I 

 RoxBUKV, Mass. Aug. 21), 1845. > 



Dear Sir — I am extremely gratified with 

 the first number of your Farmers' Library. I 

 have read it with deep interest and great pleas- 

 ure. Glad am I to find that you have again as- 

 sumed a position which you so early, long, and 

 honorably occupied, for the purpose of accumu- 

 lating facts, truths, and principles, on all the nu- 

 merous branches of rural economy, and reflect- 

 ing back their concentrated radiance, for the 

 benefit of that immense portion of the popula- 

 tion of these United States who are practically 

 engaged in tilling the eaith, or delight to dwell 

 in the midst of the naturally grand, as well as 

 the artificially embellished scenery »f the coun- 

 try. 



Within this century, more has been done for 

 the advancement of cultivation, from the hum- 

 ble cottager's rood of ground to the broad do- 

 main of the opulent, than in all preceding time, 

 since the decadence of the most flourishing em- 

 pires of antiquity. Science has come down 

 from her lofty throne, and united the powers of 

 Genius and Erudition with the physical energies 

 of Art ; while the Agriculturist, Mechanic and 

 Manufacturer have discovered that they must 

 be instructed by the lessons of Philosophy and 

 the facts of Experiment, to ensure favorable re- 

 sults from laborious enterprise. 



In this country, the occupation of the husband- 

 man, and a residence in the country, have not 

 been sufficiently appreciated ; but, with the ad- 

 vancement of intelligence and the augmentation 

 of v^'ealth, we shall, like the Egyptians, Israel- 

 ites, Persians and Romans, in olden time, and 

 the British in modem, go out from the thronged 

 and uncongenial cities, to find rational employ- 

 ment, real independence and substantial happi- 

 ness in the healthful and agreeable quietude of 

 a rustic villa. 



How great and admirable is the moral influ- 

 ence of a Home in the country ! What pleas- 

 ing as.sociations are connected with that most 

 significant Saxon word ! — what thrilling remi- 

 niscences does it call up ! — how comprehen.sive 

 the terms ! for it includes place, time, kindred, 

 friends, and every event of the most interesting 

 and never-forgotten period of our existence. It 

 is within the sacred precincts of such a dwell- 

 ing-place that the most exalted virtues are best 

 (397) 1.3 



inculcated and established ; there is patriotiffln 

 the most perfectly developed ; there is piety the 

 earliest and most certainly induced, and pure 

 religion made manifest, by being good and doing 

 good ; there the most ardent and enduring pa- 

 rental and filial affections are'' implanted ; there 

 Letters, Science and the Arts have their altars , 

 there sentiment, and profound thought, and all 

 the endearing qualities of the heart, and the 

 most lofty attributes of the mind, are evolved. — 

 From the countrj', in all ages of the world, have 

 gone up to the capitals of empires, the eminent 

 statesmen, legislators, orators, jurists, and those 

 mighty men who have commanded victorious 

 fleets and armies, or guided the destinies of na- 

 tions. From thence have come the great her- 

 alds of everj- science, the distinguished profi- 

 cients in the Arts, and the illustrious disciples 

 in the vast and various departments of Litera- 

 ture. It was in gardens, the umbrageousness 

 of forests, and on the mountain-tops, that God 

 and His revelations were made known to man ; 

 while the temples of Plutus have been reared 

 in cities. Those great emporiums of commerce 

 must be regarded only as immense ware-houses, 

 where the products of the whole earth are to be 

 received, bought, sold, and distributed ; places 

 where wealth may be accumulated, but not ra- 

 tionally expended ; and therefore it i.? that the 

 home of the nobles and affluent in England is in 

 the country. In that nation, the intelligent, en- 

 terprising and ingenious, in every branch of hu- 

 man industry other than the tillage of land, seek 

 fortunes in cities for the express purpose of ulti- 

 mately being enabled to become proprietors of 

 estates, and live in the country. It is that 

 uuiverai passion which has converted the island 

 of Great Britain into a garden. 



It is in cities, notwithstanding their external 

 magnificence, that ignorance, vice and crime 

 have their location. In their dark and endless 

 labyrinths, misery, in its direst aspect, is en- 

 dured ; for the unfortunate and wretched have 

 no home in cities — strangers are they in the 

 midst of multitudes of strangers, where individ- 

 uality is lost ; they are left as entirely desolate, 

 unregarded and hopeless, as if abandoned to de- 

 struction in the interior of a wilderness. There- 

 fore, let the poor avoid cities, and become the 

 happy inmates of a cottage ; while the success- 

 ful in the career of fortune should emulate the 



