No. 7. 



Quincy*s Address. 



205 



owed his succes?, his happiness, and his 

 reputation. He did what he could to testify 

 how sensible lie was of these oblinations. Ilo 

 be(]ueathed liberally to his native city, the 

 means of inducing the young to improve 

 their advantages, and to enable the industri- 

 ous to succeed in their callings. And he 

 erected a monument over his father, to tell 

 his virtues to another age. But the glory of 

 the father was in the child. His son's cha- 

 racter was his noblest monument. The ex- 

 amples that son set, of industry, perseverance 

 and economy, have excited and are exciting 

 many to imitate them. And thousands, yet 

 unborn, may owe their success and happiness 

 to the manner in which a text was enlbrced, 

 by a poor tallow-chandler, upon Benjamin 

 Franklin. 



But, being useful and profitable to others, 

 is not the only advantage of a flirmer's life 

 He who is wise may be profitable to himself. 

 In the most busy agricultural life, there are 

 hours that can be devoted to intellectual im- 

 provement. And I confess, in my ideal ot 

 the American farmer, much more is included 

 than the regular systematic performance oi 

 the routine of ploughing and sowing, reaping 

 and gathering into barns. 



I cannot satisfy my imagination with the 

 hard-working man, who, after toiling through 

 the day, has no thought at its close, but to 

 satisfy his animal nature and to sleep. No, 

 the man who cannot find some time for the 

 cultivation of his intellect, is in a wrong po- 

 sition ; and does not improve as he might the 

 situation in which he is placed. This it is, 

 that spiritualizes his labour and raises him 

 above the brute that labours for him. I do 

 not expect him to be learned on subjects for 

 which he has no occasion ; but if he enjoys 

 the priceless boon of health, let him knov>- 

 something of that most wonderful instru- 

 ment, his own body, — that if that " harp ot 

 a thousand strings" should fail, he may with 

 some intelligence repair the evil. Let him 

 know something of the physiology of the ve- 

 getable world : and every blade of grass and 

 ear of corn will speak to him of the benevo- 

 lence and skill of the Great Contriver. Let 

 him not enjoy the sunshine without some 

 knowledge of the laws of light, or see his 

 field drinking in the dew, without under- 

 standing its adaptation to the purposes ot 

 nutrition. It is in the power of every man 

 to reserve some portion of his time for these 

 pursuits; and he will find that every addition 

 to his stock of knowledge will make hi^ 

 walks the pleasanter, the flowers the sweeter, 

 and everything more full of interest and 

 meaning. 



But there is something superior to intel- 

 lectual pleasure ; and can a sphere be better 



adapted to a progress in the moral qualities 

 than the one he occupies? Every situation 

 must be a scene of trial. Yet different states 

 lave different temptations. The difTiculty 

 of entering the narrow path, is not, in every 

 case, likened to the passing of a camel 

 through a needle's eye. Agricultural life 

 has few temptations — no risks are run in its 

 pursuit — no deception is used in its progress 

 — no concealment is required for its success 

 — it is open, manly, straight-forward. It de- 

 pends on no one's favour ; it rests on no one's 

 promise, excepting His, who has said, that 

 " while the world endureth, seed time and 

 harvest, summer and winter, shall notecase." 

 And while free from teniptation, such a life 

 gives ample scope for the exercise of all 

 those duties that elevate man, while bene- 

 fiting his race. It is not required of many 

 men in a generation, to do some great thing 

 for themselves or for their country. It is 

 the little every-day duties and habits that 

 mark the character. It was not in the shouts 

 of multitudes, that the old patriarchal farmer 

 delighted. But it was " when the eye saw 

 him, then it blessed him ; and when the ear 

 heard him, then it bore witness of him." 

 The opportunities of exercising the elevated 

 virtues are ever present to the independent 

 farmer. Like the patriarchs of old, he stands 

 at the head of his family. Like them, he 

 should rule his household after him, — in- 

 structing, consoling, supporting. 



And there are others dependent upon him, 

 who owe their comfort and well-being to his 

 care ; and whose dependence may be the 

 means of awakening sentiments, that even 

 eligion has not overlooked. When the great 

 lawgiver of the Jews led them from the 

 house of bondage, and by divine command 

 established them as an agricultural people, 

 his laws recognized the advantages of such 

 a life for the tbrmation of character. To re- 

 member and love the Giver, and rejoice be- 

 fore Him, in the spring-time and in the har- 

 vest, on the anniversary of their deliverance 

 and on festal days, was the first and great 

 commandment, and the second was like unto 

 it. Love and kindness to the neighbour, to 

 the stranger, to the widow, to the fatherless, 

 were enjoined as congenial duties. But the 

 directions stopped not here. The brute crea- 

 tion of every kind shared in his remembrance. 

 The Sabbath was to be observed, "that thy 

 ox and thy ass may rest." An.i when the 

 harvest was gathered in, the mute and pa- 

 tient labourer was not to be forgotten: he 

 should share the grain for which he had 

 toiled, and the command, "thou shalt not 

 muzzle thy ox when he treadeth out the 

 corn," secured to him at least a portion. 

 But freedom from many temptations, and 



