AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 53 



of virtue and uprightness. Tlic mind acts freely and leisurely. 

 It has employment enouo-h to discipline its powers. AVe have 

 not the evils here to contend with, to such an extent, at least, 

 as are connected with manufacturing life. The pure atmos- 

 phere of heaven is freely breathed. The healthy fragrance of 

 the ploughed field, and the sweet smell of flowers, in appear- 

 ance wrought in a beautiful ground work of green of every 

 pleasing shade, the cheering prospect of growing and ripening 

 grain, the music of the harvest song, and the joyful plenty of 

 dreary winter days, all combine to produce a happy impression 

 upon the mind. In the shop, men are confined within dirty 

 walls, but in the field, they have a view of the universe itself. 

 The floor beneath them is the beautiful earth, and the ceiling 

 above and around them is the blue dome of heaven, frescoed 

 with sunlight and cloudy shades of every variety of form and 

 beauty. The sounds which they hear are not those of the anvil 

 and the loom, but the lowing of the herds, the sweet carols of 

 the birds, and the murmuring of winds and waters. Not only 

 is such a situation of the laborer more conducive to his bodily 

 health, but also to the healthy moral tone of his character. 

 There is not that inclination to lustful and convivial })leasures, 

 which we find in those who are confined within walls, and in 

 persons of sedentary habits. Besides this, it is a fact, that the 

 health of the body affects the mind and the character, in the 

 most favorable manner. We not only notice the fact, that 

 young men who are educated upon a farm, have stronger 

 physical powers, but that they also have stronger moral princi- 

 ples, and a more active intelligence. 



I need not step aside much from the matter now before us, 

 to state, that the intelligence of an agricultural district, is more 

 genuine and active than we find elsewhere. In cities and vil- 

 lages, where professional, mercantile and manufacturing pur- 

 suits are followed exclusiv'ely, there may be a nnjre refined and 

 artistic taste, but not more general intelligence and enlarged 

 conceptions. President Edwards once said to a class of theo- 

 logical students who were in the habit sometimes during their 

 course of study, of occupying vacant pulpits : '^ If you go into 

 the city, take your best coat ; if you go into the country, take 

 your best sermon." The best, pliysical and moral education 

 which one can have before entering upon a course of liberal 



