RELATION OF AGRICULTURE TO THE STATE. 41 



mcnt of the old post coaches of learning for railroad speed on 

 the highway of knowledge, and telegraphic communication with 

 the inhabitants of the stars ; and even the celestial journey, in- 

 stead of being slow and painful, yet sure, through a narrow way 

 like that of Bunyan's pilgrim, would be like that of Hawthorne's, 

 on a steam-carriage, with Beelzebub for a conductor ! 



Were these classes the only representatives of our people, we 

 might well despair of the Republic. But happily, pervading all 

 portions of the country, is a body of citizens, outnumbering all 

 others combined, trained to simple habits of laborious and rural 

 life, satisfied with what that affords them, measuring their pros- 

 perity not so much by its representatives, gold and silver, as by 

 the produce of their labor and the simple luxuries and comforts 

 of life, possessed of the inestimable blessings of health, home 

 and family. Like the disciplined soldier of a regiment, the Old 

 Guard of Napoleon, the Continentals of our revolutionary army, 

 or the " regulars" of our recent formidable array, they are ready 

 to breast the shock of temporary discomfiture caused by the 

 haste, the recklessness, or the avarice of their ill-assorted and 

 too eager fellow-soldiers, and restore the battle and save their 

 country by the courage and persistence of their warfare. 



It is the fast work that kills in beast or man, and we should 

 remember, though our life is short, " art is long," according to 

 the ancient saying, and that we are but building our portion of 

 the edifice, and it is important that every part of the structure 

 should be of equal strength. "Being," as Lord Bacon says, 

 " without well being is a curse," and this " incessant and Sab- 

 bathless" pursuit of pleasure and fortune by the masses in our 

 crowded marts of commerce and manufactures, leaveth not the 

 tribute which we owe to God or ourselves for our time. 



There is neither time nor need to dilate upon the advantages 

 of agricultural life. The wisest of mankind have attested to it 

 as eminently calculated for human happiness and human virtue. 

 " Give me neither poverty or riches" was the prayer of one of 

 the sages of antiquity, and generally the farmer has that prayer 

 ansivered to him. His independence is such that he could well 

 emulate the reply of the Roman general to the ambassador of 

 the king of Persia, who came to bribe him with great wealth, 

 and found him washing the vegetables that were to constitute 

 his dinner, with his own hands. " Tell your master that all the 

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