13 



land. Go where yon will, and more especially in the vicin- 

 ity of her cities and large villages, and you will Hnd numer- 

 ous rural homes, owned generally 1)}- the occupants, and 

 surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers and tastefid gar- 

 dens. These are not the houses of the rich alone : a major- 

 ity, a large majority, belong to the middle and even i)oorer 

 classes. 



There is not a spot on the continent where the people are 

 so well fed and so comfortal)ly housed as in the "Old Bay 

 State. " There is no spot on this beautiful earth where the 

 poorer classes are so well fed, so well clothed and so well 

 to do, in all that confers comfort and happiness upon the in- 

 dividual. There is no place where the laborer receives 

 greater reward for his toil, where he can enjoy so many 

 blessings, free as the air he breathes, as here in our own 

 New England. Our schools are free to all, ignorance has 

 no excuse, and the poor shall not want. 



The character of a people may always be correctly judged 

 by their surroundings ; and it is these influences that have 

 made us what we are, — the most moral and the liest educated, 

 as a whole, in the world. The spirit of our institutions 

 being against large landed proprietors, brings the diflerent 

 classes more closely into connnunion of tastes and habits ; 

 and a correct taste once formed in a conmnmit}' becomes dif- 

 fused through the whole, thus elevating the whole mass. 

 Let the political hucksters who are prowling up and down 

 the land, striving to create an antagonism between the la- 

 borer and his employer, turn their attention to the bettering 

 the condition of the honest poor in their home surroundings, 

 and they would confer a real l)lessing upon the whole com- 

 munity. Let them associate with others having capital ; let 

 them secure lands in healthy locations, lay out streets and 

 ornament them with trees and shrul)s, and I)uild neat and 

 comfortable dwellings ; then let them take these men by 

 the hand, and say to them, "One of these hoiues can be 

 yours if you will ; industry, economy and sobriety Avill make 



