VALUE OF INDUSTRY. O 



The tillage of the soil has been the destined lot of 

 man from the beginning of the world. In a state of 

 innocence Adam was placed in the garden of Eden " to 

 dress it and to keep it." (Gen. ii. 15.) And after the 

 fall it was declared to him, " In the sweat of thy face 

 thou shalt eat bread till thou return unto the ground." 

 (Gen. iii. 19.) There is great mercy in this appoint- 

 ment, for it may truly be said in the words of an old 

 writer, " The true handmaide of Virtue is Labour, and 

 the only foe to them both is Idleness." 



When people were few on the earth and widely scat- 

 tered, we may naturally suppose that they cultivated 

 only such spots of ground as they found to yield a good 

 return, and to require the least amount of tillage. Their 

 labour may have been much lighter than ours, and 

 their tools and implements were much simpler, as their 

 wants were also fewer or more easily satisfied. Yet 

 with them as with us, Industry alone could secure them 

 from want, and Sloth would most certainly be their 

 ruin. " Therefore to thee whom virtue hath taught to 

 thrive, and honest labor made capable of honest profit, 

 embrace diligence, and with a thousand eyes watch, 

 least that ougly monster sloth, distill the juice of his 

 hemlocke into thy braine, bla.sting the happy fruit of 

 thy better labor." 



The use of the plough was known at a very early 

 time in the history of mankind ; but it was a much 

 simpler implement than ours. At first it was little 

 more than a stout branch of a tree, from which pro- 

 jected another limb, shortened and pointed ; this being 

 turned into the ground, made the furrows, while at the 

 further end of the larger branch was fastened a trans- 

 verse yoke, to which the oxen were harnessed. After- 

 wards a handle to guide the plough was added. 



The Syrian plough was light enough for a man to 

 carry with one hand : it was drawn by oxen, which were 

 sometimes urged by a scourge, but oftener by a long 

 staff with a flat piece of metal at one end, for cleaning 



