20 



the ability we have to make the task take the place of 

 a servant, rather than allow it to become our master. 



There are but few days in New England, when absti- 

 nence from labor is a physical necessity ; and three hun- 

 dred days service would be no more of a burden here 

 than two hundred and fifty would be in some parts of 

 the West, north even of the river Ohio. 1 say, then, 

 with great confidence, that a man should not leave New 

 England to avoid the burden of labor. Idle men should 

 be where tlie necessity for labor presses the hardest. 

 But it is not to be denied that a young man of small 

 means in money, but of fixed habits of industry, may 

 wisely emigrate to the West in search of a home. Every 

 man very properly desires to possess land and secure a 

 home. This may be done even in New England ; but 

 it often requires several years of labor and economical 

 life. A man of energy need not despair ; yet he can 

 advance to that position more readily in the West than 

 here. 



But ought farmers to emigrate who have land, homes, 

 fixed habits of industry, and the opportunity to render 

 their labor year by year more and more intelligent and 

 productive ? And would it not be well for many of our 

 young men of moderate means to accept the position 

 of independent, though small, proprietors in the valleys 

 or on the hill-sides of New England ? 



It may well be doubted whether, for a life of labor, 

 any part of the world offers a better return than Massa- 

 chusetts. And there are ^c\n States less likely to dete- 

 riorate in character. The ocean, the hills, the moun- 

 tains, the climate, the soil, all contribute to produce a 

 hardy race of men. The presence and keen sagacity 

 of an extensive and constantly, increasing commerce, 



