FRANKLIN SOCIETY. 67 



his demeanor, resolute and firm in his step, bold, intelligent and 

 amiable in his visage, — when we beheld twain after twain of 

 those sturdy animals, marching up through our streets, with 

 their slow and measured tread, obedient to the "haw" and 

 "gee" of their xiri vers, as the soldier to the command of his 

 officer, — we could not but reflect, that really there is the bone 

 and muscle of our country. They deserve to rank among the 

 yeomanry of the soil ; and they are up Jiiiher to report them- 

 selves of their labors and achievements in the fields of the hus- 

 bandman. 



To the New England farmer, the ox is the sine qua -non of 

 husbandry. With the exception of interval lands formed by 

 the deposits of our rivers and streams, the soil of our country 

 is extremely hard, intractable, rocky and rugged. To the Pil- 

 grim Fathers, it seemed a barren region, a desert tract, so lately 

 redeemed from the dominion of the ocean, that it was scarcely 

 fit for the cultivation or the habitation of civilized man. The 

 ox was a pioneer with the Pilgrim in the first traces of civiliza- 

 tion in the western world. What with the axe, the hoe, the 

 spade and the pick-axe, could not be made to yield in this sturdy 

 soil of an arid and stony tongue of land, now rejoicing in the 

 name of New England, the rude " breaking-up" plough must 

 supply. And what could impotent man do, to drive the iron 

 share through the tough sward, to disturb the tenacious roots, 

 to drag to light the hidden stone, and thus lay open the bosom 

 of mother earth to the genial rays of the sun ] It were a vain 

 effort. The ox must become a co-laborer with man ; his neck 

 must be brought to the yoke, the yoke to the chain, the chain to 

 the beam, and with a man "to hold," and a boy "to drive," 

 the ridge and the range, the hill and the valley, are turned into 

 furrows. 



Patient of cold and of heat, enduring the rigor of winter 

 and the fervor of summer, with an equanimity of temper and 

 strength, which Providence has bestowed on no other dumb 

 animal save the camel of the desert, he has been, in all times 

 and in all climates, the most faithful and indispensable ally of 

 man, in subduing and bringing under cultivation the rugged- 

 ness of the earth. 



