22 QUART KIILY JOURNAL. 



in the promotion of the happiness of his fellow men. In the 

 vegetation of the seed he has committed, in confidence of a harvest, 

 to the ground— in the blade of grass that springs up at his feet- 

 in the flower that smilingly meets his eye along his pathway— ic 

 the birds of the field and forest that welcome him to his dailj 

 toil— in the cattle grazing upon his hills, he recognizes a wisdon 

 and a care for which nothing is too high or too minute. " N( 

 occupation is nearer heaven. The social angel, when he descende. 

 to converse with men, broke bread with the husbandman beneatl 



the tree." 



And on the farmer the country relies for assistance and safet 

 in times of public danger and calamity. He it is who furnishe 

 the means of defence— who supplies the sinews of war— whos 

 strong right arm guards the hearths and homes of the country, an 

 whose reliable patriotism shines brightest when patriotism is pi 

 to the severest test. The farmers of our Revolution were men . 

 no common honesty, of great intelligence, and of more than R. 

 man virtue ; and in no small degree to them it is that we owe tl 

 achievement of our liberties. "Not a blade of grass sprmgS' 

 Saratoga, but takes to itself a tongue to proclaim the success 

 valor of patriot husbandmen." And in every crisis of our d 

 tion's existence it has been the farmers who have stood by the- 

 of our safety and carried it triumphantly through the storm. 



Jefferson was a close observer and discreet judge of men, a 

 his opinion of this important and honorable class of our comraui 

 ty is entitled to great weight. " Those who labor in the eartl 

 he early declared, " are the chosen people of God, if ever he ha. 

 chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar depositc 

 for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus m which 

 keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape fir. 

 the surface of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of c 

 tivators, is a phenomenon in which no age nor nation has foundi 

 example. It is the mark set on these, who not looking up 

 heaven, but to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandm. 

 for their substance, depend on the casualties and caprice of c 

 tomers. Dependence begets subservience and venality, suftoca)! 

 the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of am 

 tion Thus the natural progress and consequence of the arts, . 

 sometimes, perhaps, been retarded by accidental circumstanc- 



