REV. MR. STONE'S ADDRESS. 139 



These statements may seem strange, bat they are true, and, 

 therefore, should be exhibited. Shakespeare makes one of his 

 characters say, 



" So many hours must I tend my flock ; 

 So many hours must I take my rest ; 

 So many hours must I contemplate ; 

 So many hours must I sport myself." 



The soundness of the principles unfolded in this quotation is 

 self-evident. In man's present state, labor is necessary. It is 

 an axiom of inspired authority, that if any will not work, neither 

 shall they eat. Under the restraints which Christianity im- 

 poses, the eating of one's bread in the sweat of his brow is a 

 blessing. But man needs time to wind up the machinery of 

 animal life, to regather the dissipated energies. His higher 

 nature needs the indulgence of intellectual pursuits. Toil, rest, 

 recreation and reading or meditation, in proper combination, 

 are essential to healthy and happy living, to the perfect devel- 

 opment of the true man. 



But where, at the present day, do we see any approximation 

 to this division of time, among what are technically denomi- 

 nated the laboring classes " 1 If we examine the condition of 

 the thousands of unmarried females and widowed mothers, who 

 ply their needles in our cities and large towns for a livelihood, 

 we find it is 



" Work — work — work ! 

 Till the brain begins to swim ; 



Work — work — work ! 

 Till the eyes are heavy and dim ! 



Seam and gusset and band, 

 Band, and gusset and seam, 



Till over the buttons they fall asleep, 

 And sow them on in a dream." 



And how is it with the agricultural population? A large 

 proportion of this class toil sixteen hours out of the twenty- 

 four, a longer period of continuous exertion than is required of 

 the slave, with whose brutalized condition we so justly sympa- 

 thize, leaving not a single hour (if eight be given to repose) 

 for recreation, social intercourse, or self-culture. Even the 

 winter, nature's restorative, no longer, as formerly, brings 



