REV. MR. STONE'S ADDRESS. 141 



Why, then, should not this truth be kept constantly in view 1 

 Why should not every farmer, and every farmer's wife, have 

 time for moral and intellectual improvement 1 Why should 

 they not have a choice collection of books, small though it may 

 be, and time to peruse them 1 Why should not the one be fa- . 

 miliar with the best works on Agriculture and Political Econ- 

 omy, and the other with the productions of Moore, Edgeworth, 

 Sigourney and Beecher 1 Nay, why should not the great truths 

 of Revelation, those that unveil eternity, and impart lustre to 

 the soul's destiny, occupy an occasional hour of undistracted 

 meditation, of inspection as anxious as was ever devoted to 

 " the contents of a rich man's last will and testament?" 



Industry and enterprise I profoundly venerate, and feel my- 

 self bound to say and do what I can to give them a healthy 

 stimulus. But I cannot close my eyes to the evils of their abuse. 

 All excess is hurtful, and to be deplored. And when I hear men 

 say, as I frequently do, that they should be glad to read, but 

 cannot find time, when I hear mothers speak with deep feel- 

 ing of maternal responsibilities, and mourn that they are de- 

 barred, by the stern demands of toil, the aids of deliberate read- 

 ing and calm thinking, in discharging the noblest and holiest 

 duties of life, my heart is pained, and I cannot escape the con- 

 viction that something wrong is mingled with the present order 

 of things. And when I see both sexes deeply and prematurely 

 marked with the lines of excessive care, debasing their better 

 natures with the grossness of earth, — when, in all parts of our 

 glorious Commonwealth, I see men, and women too, neglecting 

 the Sabbath, absenting themselves from the house of worship, 

 because, as they say, they are prostrated by the toils of the 

 week, — my soul is grieved beyond expression. I tremble in view 

 of the consequences they are accumulating to themselves, the 

 injurious influence of their example on their offspring, and the 

 disease they are engendering in the morals of the community. 



The causes of this condition of things have been variously 

 assigned. The evil is attributed to avarice, an excessive haste 

 to be rich, a finical love of show, a passion for dress that 

 ordinary labor cannot support, extravagant indulgence of arti- 

 ficial wants, envious emulation of the rich, ignoble competi- 



