138 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



accomplished in any of the arts that constitute a polite educa- 

 tion. 



Mr. Colman, in his "European Agriculture," has described 

 an English lady of highly cultivated intellect and rare accom- 

 plishments, who, living in the midst of gilded halls and hosts of 

 liveried servants, was as familiar with the dairy and the entire 

 system of husbandry, as she was with the elegant luxuries of 

 life, and whose visits to the barn and piggery were as unre- 

 strained as to the library. Now this beautiful ideal may, to a 

 certain extent, be realized by every farmer's wife and daughter. 

 I maintain, there is entire congruity between a cultivated intel- 

 lect and polished manners, and the performance of the com- 

 monest duties of domestic life ; between, if you please, a know- 

 ledge of the Latin classics and making a cheese, of the piano 

 and the spinning wheel, of embroidery and making a pud- 

 ding, of algebra and darning a stocking. That woman is 

 worthy of admiration, as she will always command it, who 

 combines a thorough knowledge of the details of house-keeping 

 with the charm of intellectual and personal accomplishments. 

 It is these last that dignify labor, and impart to domestic life a 

 true zest, and where we see them in this combination, we are 

 prompted to apply the compliment paid by Dr. Johnson to Mrs. 

 M'Kenzie : " She is the most accomplished lady I found in the 

 Highlands; she knows French, music and drawing; sews neat- 

 ly; makes shell-work ; andean milk cows." 



There is one other topic kindred to this, which I should like 

 to treat at length, but to which my limits will permit only a 

 brief reference. I mean the more exact attention that is due to 

 the rights of the intellectual nature, and to the laws of physical 

 existence. The careful observer will not have failed to disco- 

 ver, that, even in New England, these points have not com- 

 manded the consideration they deserve. As a people, we are 

 every year more and more departing from a sound principle of 

 health and happiness, by overtaxing the physical powers, and 

 withholding what is justly due to the intellect. We push the 

 former to the extreme verge of ability, and leave the other to 

 amble on at leisure. Life is hurried and excited, and a con- 

 stant war is waged upon the restorative powers of nature. 



