No. 9. 



Work— Read— Think. 



283 



With fingers weary and worn, 

 With eyelids heavy and red, 

 A woman sat'in unwomanly rags, 

 Plying her needle and thread- 

 Stitch! stitch! stitch! 

 In poverty, hunger, and dirt, 

 And still with a voice of dolorous pitch- 

 Would that its tone could reach the rich- 

 She sang this " Song of the Shirt !" 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 Work— Read~Think. 



The winter is past, and the vernal sun is 

 again shedding his influence over the hill, 

 the valley and the lawn. The feathered 

 songsters are now cheering us with their 

 notes, and soon will the groves become re 

 dolent with the foliage and flowers, which 

 aje already bursting into life. 



Thus pass the seasons away; calm follows 

 the hurricane, and sunshine succeeds the 

 blackened sky. This is the order of nature, 

 and so ordered by nature's God ; hence it 

 must be right. 



Nor is this order confined to the works of 

 the divine Architect, as applied to the ma 

 terial world ; for he must be an inattentive 

 observer of the times, who does not see the 

 same vicissitude in the affairs of man : for 

 awhile the smiles of fortune seem to attend 

 his every movement; does he invest his 

 money in houses and lands'! — they rapidly 

 increase in value ; — does he engage in mer- 

 chandize! — his business is equally prosper- 

 ous ; — and even should he purchase stocks, 

 they shortly double his investment. When, 

 Nebuchadnezzar like, he exclaims, " See 

 vphat my skill and wisdom have produced !" 



But the top of the ladder is reached ; 

 many of his stocks become worthless, and 

 the balance yield him little interest; his 

 ships are lost at sea, and those who purchased 

 his goods, either cannot or will not meet 

 their engagements; and even, his reaZ estate, 

 after paying the increased taxes, with dimin- 

 ished rents, affords him but a scanty income. 



But this is all right; and man in his free 

 agency is permitted to work out his own 

 cure : he now sees that every good and per- 

 fect gift Cometh from above ; that his ingrati- 

 tude is justly punished ; and even they who 

 have innocently been duped by the specu- 

 lators of the times, readily acknowledge 

 that all is right. For while they would be 

 unwilling that any of the human family 

 sliould suffer for the necessaries of life, they 

 are quite free that many of the luxuries 

 should be withdrawn ; while they wish none 

 to pxert themselves beyond their ability, 

 they believe it right for all to be actively 

 employed ; and they feel fully assured, that 

 by exercising what the Germans call the 



vier haupt Tugenden, or four cardinal 

 virtues, viz., temperance, justice, prudence, 

 and fortitude, with a perfect reliance on an 

 overruling Providence, all things needful 

 will be added. 



While I have briefly glanced at the 

 thickly populated portion of the community, 

 there is a class, the very bone and sinew of 

 every country, who, moving in an humble 

 sphere, have passed on unscathed by the 

 whirlwinds which have prostrated so many 

 in the higher walks of life. 



This class consists of the cultivators of 

 the soil. While the world is indebted to us, 

 under Providence, for the principal part of 

 the food which sustains all, let us not boast 

 our independence of others, for they also 

 furnish us with many of the comforts of life; 

 a reciprocity of favours therefore contributes 

 to the happiness of the whole. 



But let us not rest satisfied with our pro- 

 fession as we find it; let each one endeavour 

 to add something to its improvement. For 

 while we must feel grateful to our fore- 

 fathers for what they have accomplished, 

 we are confident that much remains yet 

 to be done, to secure the greatest in- 

 come from the smallest outlay upon our 

 lands : and to effect this important result, 

 we must first be convinced that knowledge 

 is power; that science is as necessary in 

 the successful prosecution of our profession, 

 as in those which have heretofore been con- 

 sidered "the learned." Then let the fol- 

 lowing be our motto, "Read, think, and 

 work." I hear some one say, what time 

 have we to read ] our daily avocations con- 

 tinue till night, and then we want rest in 

 sleep. But stop my friend ; he who labours 

 from five till eleven, and from one till seven 

 in summer, can very well spare himself two 

 hours at noon for reading and for rest, unless 

 some emergency press him ; and the winter 

 affords much valuable leisure for improving 

 the mind. 



" But books are expensive." True, it 

 would require a considerable sum to buy all 

 the books that might be wanted to employ 

 our leisure time for the year : but to avoid 

 this, let us establish libraries of well select- 

 ed works, in every neighbourhood, — a part 

 of these should be on geology, mineralogy, 

 chemistry, agriculture, and horticulture, to- 

 gether with a few of the best periodicals of 

 the day, as the Albany Cultivator, the Balti- 

 more Farmer, and the Philadelphia Cabinet, 

 which would give us all the improvements 

 that are daily being made : one at least of 

 which ought to be taken by every practical 

 farmer or gardener. 



As to the strange prejudice which 

 exists in some sections of the country. 



