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AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



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• PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. ItARUETT, NO. 52, NORTH JIAUKET STREET, (Aouicui.tuiial Warkhousk,)— T. G. I Ks.SENDEN, EDITOR. 



.IJOSTON, writoNESDAY EVENING, JULY 29i'l835. 



M»*3. 



BE»-EFrrS OP INDUSTRY. 



The follow ngftitracts i'rom Benrfts of Indvslrij, an 

 Address dc i vered before tlie Inhabitants of Jamaica 

 Plain, by S. Cr. Goodrich, Esq., July 4t!i, lS3r>, aro not 

 only well conceivedand happily expressed but precisely 

 adapted to Farmer's Journal 



Iiink you r;iii sou, in this sliirlit sketch, the 

 main causes of tlint eluiracti'r which I have .it- 

 tributcd to the inhahitauts of our ^11132:0. Circiiiii- 

 stances early induceil a life of iticlustry. They 

 oould not got rich ia a day, by the rise of stocks, 

 or the success of a voyaf^c. No — they must toil 

 today, tomorrow and throiifrh the year. Toil, 

 then, became their destioy — hut was it not a lia;)- 

 py destiny ? Wlnii th.' s ntence was pronotai- 

 ced npou tlic exil.d inh.ili.uuitsk of Eden — tJiou 

 0iult eat thy bread with the sweat of thy brow, 

 there setjnis to liave b^en relenting f);race in the 

 avery inafedictioB. 



When man from Paradise was driven. 

 And thorns around his pathway sprung. 



Sweet llercy, wandering there from heaven, 

 • Upon those thorns bright roses flung. 

 Ay, and a.s Justice cursed tlie ground, 

 She stole behind, unheard, unseen. 



And, as the curses fell around. 

 She scattered seeds of joy between. 

 And when the evils sprung to light, 

 tl And spread like weeds their poison wide, 



Fresh healing plants came blooming bright. 

 And stood to check them, side by side. 

 And now, though Eden blooms afar. 

 And man is exiled from its bowers, 

 Still Mercy steals through bolt and bar, 

 ' And brings away its choice.'st flowers. 

 The very toil, the thorns oj 

 Which Heaven in wrath for sin imposes. 



By Mercy changed, no curses are — 

 ©ne brings us rest — the other, roses.* 



"Toil, then — bodily toil-^is no curse; it is a 

 iblessing. It is alike salutary to tlie body and the 

 «oul. It is ordained of Heaven, as giving vigor 

 ito one, and wholesome discipline to the other. 

 ILet no man spurn it — let no man deem liimself 

 degraded by it — let no man feci elevated, by 

 being in a situation which does not require it. 

 No one is injured by toil — but thousands perish, 

 and tens of thousands drag out lives of misery, 

 for the want of it. Some of the greatest and 

 best men who have lived, were then of toil. 

 Hfr^ashington was a farmer — Greene, a black- 

 ismith — and Sherman a shoemaker. The fathers 

 of this village were men of toil — they practised 

 it habitually — and industry became with them a 

 prominent virtue. Industry, then — plain home- 

 spun industry — practised as mucli from principle 

 as necessity, is the source of that honorable char- 

 acter which I have attributed to this village, i 

 do not mean that accessory causes may not have 



* These lines are part of a poem, which was written 

 at the request of the author of " Pencil Sketches," for 

 an annual, which will soon appear under her auspices. 



lent their influence to secure the happy result ; I 

 oidy mean that industry is the main cause. The 

 pursuits of the people, from the earliest time, have 

 been such as to impress industrious habits upon 

 them. This, at leftst has been the case with the 

 greater number. If there have been any disposed 

 to liv3 without industry, ths example of those 

 around has brought them into unison with the 

 rest. An idler among the busy soon feels himself 

 out of fashion ; and he is felt by others to be a 

 note out of tune. He ceases therefore to lie an 

 idler, and the leaven of industry leavens the 

 whole njass. Here, then, is the entire secret. 

 Vv'e need not resort to tlio phrenologist. The 

 ])eople of .Jamaica Plain are an industrious people. 

 They are, therefore, sober, peaceful, independent, 

 ifnited. 



Do not say, that T attribute too much impor- 

 tance to industry. If it were a proper occasion, 

 it would be easy to shew the connexion between 

 this hardy virtue, and sobriety, peace, indepen- 

 dence, and union. I must however, content myself 

 with the belief, that this intelligent audience, 

 themselves examples of industry, are well appris- 

 ed of the benefits which flow from a virtue they 

 practise so well. Competence and wealth, the 

 common results of industry, are by no irieans the 

 greatest good which flows from it. The protec- 

 tion which it affords from temptation to vice— - 

 the calmness and contentinent of mind which it 

 begets — the spirit of imion which it tends to dif- 

 fuse over society, are among- the higher gifts of 

 this benefiictor of the human race. 



If then, my friends, industry is a homely vir- 

 tue, it is still worthy of all praise. Experience, 

 religion, philosophy, alike inculcate it. Even na- 

 ture herself reads us a frequent lecture upon it. 

 Let us go, for a irioment, from the haunts of men 

 to the bosom of the quiet forest. Here we shall 

 find no noisy sound of the mill, the hammer, or 

 the saw. It is silent; but look around, and sec 

 what has been done, by the busy though still hand 

 of nature. See the rock — how artfully it is wov- 

 en over with moss, as if to hide its roughness ; 

 and how is an object, of itself uninteresting, thus 

 rendered beautifid ? Look at the ragged banks of 

 the brawling stream ! See the tufts of grass, the 

 spreading shrubs, and gaudy wild flowers that 

 cover it, and thus turn into beauty the very defor- 

 mity of the wilderness ! Look down upon the 

 valley, and see how the withered leaves, the moul- 

 dering branches of trees, the scattered stems, and 

 other objects, witnesses of decay and death, are 

 carpeted over by grasses and flowers I flow 

 beautiful, how ornamental, are the works of Na- 

 ture, even in the wilderness and the solitary 

 place ! She seems to decorate them all, as if each 

 spot was a garden, in which God might perchance 

 walk, as once in Eden ; and she would have it fit- 

 ly arrayed for bis inspection. 



And shall not man learn a homely lesson from 

 this lecture in the woods? Will you look at Na- 

 ture, and see her, with inilustrious fingers, weav- 

 ing flowers and plants, and grasses and trees, and 



shrubs, to ornairicnt every part of the earth, and 

 will you go home no wiser for the hint.' Will 

 you go homi: — to that dear spot upon which the 

 heart should shine, as the sun in spring time upon 

 the flowers — and i:ermit it lo be the scene of iille- 

 iiess, negligence and waste? .Will you jermit it 

 9> be a nal^.'d shelter fmni ihe weather, liki- ihe 

 (Jen of'a wild beast? Will y(Ui not rather ailorn 

 it by your industiy, as naturi^ adorns the field and 

 the foi;est? 



If yoti say, that this is somewhat fanciful, and 

 .should be regarded rather as illustration than ar- 

 gument, — let it be admitted. Still, my friends, 

 are not the works of nature ilcsigned to have an 

 iufliience of this kuid upon us ? Why do we 

 fee! their beauty, and oftrry their images in our 

 bosoms, but as a language in which our Creator 

 would speak to us, move us, educate us ? If the 

 trembling st^-ing that is set in the wind, yields mel- 

 ody to the ear, shail* we not listen to it? And if 

 nature would thus become a monitor, shall we not 

 learn of her? If she sejs us an example, shall 

 we not follow it? If she beautifies the dell, the 

 vale, the slope, .the hill — covering up whatever 

 may offend, and displaying in rich colors and 

 beautiful forms her fairy designs of leaves and 

 flowers — shall we not imitate her? It seems to 

 meAo violcjpt stretch of faith, to (leein all this as 

 meant for practical teaching to man. Nature i.-^ 

 industrious in adorning her dominions ; and man 

 to whom this beauty is addressed, should feel and 

 obey the lesson. Let him, too, bo industrious, in 

 adorning his domain — in making his home — the 

 dwelling of his wife and children — not only con- 

 venient ;md comfortable, but pleasant. Let him 

 as far as circumstances will jiermit, be industrious 

 in surrounding it with pleasing objects — in deco- 

 rating it, within and without, with things that 

 tend to make it agreeable and attractive. Let in- 

 <lustry make home the abode of neatness and or- 

 der — a p!;ice which brings satisfaction to every in- 

 mate, and which in .ibseuce draws back the heart, 

 by the fond associations of comfort and content. 

 Let this be done, and this sacred spot will become 

 more surely the scene of cheerfulness, kindness, 

 and peace. Ye parents, who woidd have your 

 children happy, be industrious to bring them up 

 in the midst of a pleasant, a cheerful, a happy 

 home. Waste not your time in accumulating 

 wealth for them ; but plant their minds and souls, 

 in the v/ay proposed, with the seeds of virtue and 

 true prosperity. 



The excellence of industry maybe illustrated by 

 contrasting it with indolence. There is no person 

 iTiore truly unhappy,tban one who is given up to 

 indolence. Whether rich or poor, be is a wretch, 

 who is wedded to indolence. It was the design of 

 Him who made us, that we should be active, and 

 he has always laid happiness in the paths of effort 

 and exertion. He then who travels in the ways of 

 indolence in search of happiness, always mis^s it. 

 He is like a lazy fellow, whom 1 once knew, who 

 sat wailing at a woodchuck's burrow a whole day 

 expecting the animal to come out and be caught ; 



