NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



549 



contribute to the increased happiness of millions of 

 the human race, and spread the elements of civili- 

 zation and refinement to the remotest ends of the 

 earth. We cannot even contemplate without as- 

 tonishment the rapid progress which has been 

 made in almost every branch of science and art, 

 within the short space of fifty or one hundred 

 years ; and it cannot be that human reason and 

 industry have yet achieved for us all of which they 

 are capable ; that the world has yet reached the 

 culminating point of its greatness, either in intel- 

 lectual, moral or social excellence. No, far other 

 wise. We believe, that in centuries to come they 

 will achieve yet mightier conquests, and bequeath 

 still greater blessings to the family of man. Young 

 men, be up and doing, then. Resolve humbly, 

 yet firmly, that through the blessing of God you 

 will be prepared to act your part in the world's 

 grand drama. t. d. w. 



Acton Centre. 



R. I. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We have received a beautifully printed pamphlet 

 containing the Address of George H. Russell, Esq., 

 of Roxbury, before the Rhode-Island Society for 

 the encouragement of Domestic Industry, and the 

 Rhode-Island Horticultural Society, at their third 

 Industrial Exhibition in Providence, on the 17th of 

 September last. We should be glad to lay every 

 lino of it before our readers, as we should be glad 

 to spread all this gentleman's writings on similar 

 topics broadcast over the land. But we are able 

 only to give a few extracts, beginning with 



A GLANCE AT BY-GONE AGES. 



The industry of by-gone ages, if it could be 

 faithfully delineated, would give a picture of na- 

 ti m.il and domestic life, which might be studied 

 with interest and instruction. It now comes to 

 us in fragments, garnered from crumbling tombs 

 and buried cities. It peers from the canopy of 

 sand wreathed over broken statue and fallen tem- 

 ple. It tells its tale of misery on idol and obelisk, 

 where its own hands have written, in the ever- 

 lasting granite, a memorial of its wrongs and 

 sufferings. It lies strewed on plain and hill-side, 

 to arrest the pilgrim, and point out for what it 

 toiled, and starved, and died. It shows how, at 

 the will of priest and despot, it carved out their 

 theology in black basalt, left the Sphinx to crouch, 

 with her unsolved riddle, by the eternal pyramids, 

 raised the chanting Memnon to salute the morn- 

 ing with his, now unstrung melody, and burthen- 

 ed the encumbered earth with huge, unmeaning 

 monuments, that unnamed kings might moulder 

 in forgotten graves. Poor humanity groaned out 

 its agonized existence, that at some distant day, 

 when the Arab should pitch his tent on mounds 

 covering regal palaces, the curious stranger should 

 unfold the long hidden customs of Assyrian life, 

 and laying open the abodes of Monarchs and the 

 altars of unknown rites, bear to far off lands the 

 symbols of old religions, and the ensigns of an- 

 cient sovereignty. 



The desolating wars which make up history, 

 leaving little to be told except the shock of armies 

 and the results of conquest, have been fatal to the 

 advancement of the human race. True progress 

 recedes from the clash of arms. Silence reigns in 



shop and factory at the flaunting of martial ban- 

 ners, and rural toil ceases when the drum beat 

 tells that men are to be harvested. "The thun- 

 der of the captains, and the shouting," are the 

 death knell of industy. It flourishes where they 

 are never known, and rejoices only in the songs of 

 peace. The farmer's frock and the mechanic's 

 apron are more honorable badges than the war- 

 rior's tinselled livery, and the horse is a more re- 

 spectable animal, tugging at the cart or the plow, 

 than in saying, "ha, ha ! among the trumpets." 

 Thirty-seven years of continued peace have done 

 more for the useful arts, and the general welfare 

 of the world, than all the patronage of conquerors, 

 in the rarely lucid intervals of their madness, 

 through all past time. War breeds war, not only 

 in perpetuating national hatred, but in creating a 

 tiger-taste for blood, and a love for the vagabond, 

 lawless, and exciting life of the soldier, disqualify- 

 ing for useful purposes. The pride of military 

 glory is a country's curse, wasting hor energies, 

 and demoralising her people. But a long period 

 of peace brings out a better ambition, and a more 

 civilized rivalry. Deeds of arms become matters 

 of anecdote and story, and are heard with lessen- 

 ing interest as the old actors drop off the stage. 

 New views of duty are generated, and activity is 

 turned to productive labor, and the promotion of 

 human happiness. 



REFORMATION AND BENEVOLENCE. 



There is a vital energy, which must find occu- 

 pation, and, in these "piping times of peace," an 

 abundant portion is claimed by reformation and 

 benevolence. There are those among us who 

 speak the wrongs they feel, and do not stop to 

 weigh and measure out indignation. And there 

 are those who are found wherever there is sin and 

 suffering, whose daily life is passed where vice 

 may be reclaimed or poverty succored, where 

 guilt awaits its doom, or, having completed its 

 years of silent penalty, re-enters the company of 

 men to be shunned and driven back on crime, un- 

 less some kindly word or deed of encouragement 

 may make it feel that there are those who can for- 

 give even as they hope to be forgiven. And there 

 is help for the orphan who needs a home ; and 

 charity, in every form that can minister to dis- 

 ease of mind or body, spreads its kind care over 

 error or misfortune. 



THE ENTERPRISING, WORKING YANKEE. 



Industry has never had such an unimpeded pro- 

 gress as in this country. Free from the military 

 exactions of Europe, where standing armies drain 

 the land of its best blood, and the liability to com- 

 pelled service disheartens the exertions of the 

 laborer, we are left to our own resources, without 

 interference or encumbrance. However little rea- 

 son we have to boast of the advance made in those 

 portions, where local causes keep down improve- 

 ment, and show no change, save exhausted fertili- 

 ty, and the return of the wild deer to the worn- 

 out and abandoned plantation, we can present our 

 New-England as an evidence of what may be ac- 

 complished by diligence, when allied with deter- 

 mined perseverance and temperate habits. The 

 stern necessity which brought the fathers, has 

 made the children what they are ; and the reso- 

 lute, dogmatic, conscientious, rigid Puritan, has 

 produced the pains-taking, money-making, enter- 

 prising, working Yankee. He is an original for- 



