640 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



and the thinking mind, of the strong arm and the intelligent 

 soul, in the same human frame. This has been the glorious 

 result of our common school system, the cost of which, great 

 as it has been and still is, has been remunerated a thousand 

 fold, even in a mere pecuniary way, by the improvements, in- 

 ventions, discoveries, and savings of all sorts, which have been 

 made by educated labor in all the varied departments of human 

 industry. It is now everywhere seen and admitted, that the 

 most expensive labor which can be employed is ignorant labor ; 

 and, fortunately, there is very little of it left in the American 

 market. 



But, while the great substratum of all education for all pur- 

 suits is abundantly and admirably supplied by our common 

 schools, no one can fail to perceive, or hesitate to admit, the 

 advantages which may accrue from something of a more 

 specific and supplementary instruction for those to whom the 

 care and culture of the American soil is to be committed. The 

 earth beneath us has been too long regarded and treated as 

 something incapable of being injured by anything short of a 

 natural convulsion, or a providential cataclysm. We have 

 been so long accustomed to dig it, and ditch it, and drain it, 

 and hoe it, and rake it, and harrow it, and trample it under our 

 feet, and plough long furrows in its back ; and have so long 

 found it repaying such treatment by larger and larger measures 

 of endurance, generosity, and beneficence, — that we have been 

 ready to regard it as absolutely insensible to injury. Because 

 our chains and stakes have exhibited from year to year the 

 same superficial measurements, we have flattered ourselves 

 that our farms were undergoing no detriment or diminution. 

 We have remembered the maxim of the law, " He who owns 

 the soil owns it to the sky," and have been careful to let noth- 

 ing interfere with our air or daylight ; but we have omitted to 

 look below the surface, and to discover and provide against the 

 robbery which has been annually perpetrated, by day^and by 

 night, upon its most valuable ingredients and elements.^ 



The discovery has at last been made, the danger has been 

 revealed, the alarm has been sounded ; and if government can 

 provide bounties for the destruction of the wolves and bears 

 and foxes, which threaten our flocks, our herds, and oS^r hen- 

 roosts, I see not how it can withhold some seasonable pro- 



