advancement. It is essential to the perfection of the arts of 

 life. The humblest occupations are important ; and, if useful 

 and honest, are respectable. He who labors with his mind, 

 equally as he who labors with his hands, is a working man. 

 The hardy ploughman who " jocund drives his team a'field," 

 and proudly strokes the smooth coats of his cattle, has no 

 reason to envy the pale and emaciated scholar, poring till 

 faint with exhaustion over the half formed progeny of his 

 wearied brain ; with eyes scarce open hunting for metaphors 

 by the expiring rays of his midnight lamp ; and waiting so 

 long with hope deferred for the gushes of inspiration, that 

 when at last the waters are troubled he has not strength 

 enough left to crawl to the fountain. In the crowded hive of 

 human life, they who build the cell, as well as they " who gather 

 the honey to store it well" are mutually useful arid essential. 

 But among the various occupations of society, agriculture ob- 

 viously holds a commanding rank. If the prince may proudly 

 say " I govern all," and the soldier " I fight for all," and the 

 merchant " I pay all ;" the farmer may hold up his head as 

 high as the rest, and with a noble self complacency may say, 

 " I feed all." What would become of the operatives, and of 

 what use would be the curious and exquisite machinery of the 

 largest establishment, if the power-wheel should cease its re- 

 volutions ? Manufactures and commerce, all of science and all 

 of art, all of intellectual as well as physical good, are depend- 

 ant on agriculture. The agricultural products of one year 

 are not more than sufficient for the consumption of the animal 

 creation until the succeeding harvest pours out its golden trea- 

 sures. If the husbandman should remit his labors for a single 

 season the human race must perish. What would philosophy 

 do without bread 1 Without agriculture the thundering wheels 

 and the buzzing spindles of the manufacturer must cease their 

 gyrations. She too loads the buoyant arks of commerce, and 

 bids them speed their flight to the remotest regions of the 

 earth, and return deeply freighted with the treasures of foreign 

 climes. 



