21 



a little plain, round-about common sense in any and 

 every thing, — one who has some steadiness and bal- 

 ance of mind, — who is not dazzled by the glare of flilse 

 rhetoric, — not to be led astray by " sounding brass," — 

 he is too much a man of realities, too much accustomed 

 to deal with sturdy facts for that, — not a man to be 

 conducted blindfold by empty theorists, — not a slave 

 to the frivolities of fashion, — not a changeling, — he 

 must see a reason for what he does, — see firm footing 

 on the solid earth. He is a working man, but not a 

 mere instrument, — a piece of mechanism ; he is intel- 

 ligent, he observes, he reasons, his head is not idle or 

 unfurnished ; all his faculties are brought into sound 

 and healthful exercise. He is no puny sentimentalist ; 

 he is a man of robust principles, and throughout prac- 

 tical; he has faith in well-doing as well as in well- 

 being, — is a believer in God, in truth, in honor and 

 right, a lover of order, a friend to his country, and a 

 friend to humanity. In one marked by such quali- 

 ties, we recognize the true ty2De of a man, — dignity 

 and elevation of soul. It matters not what is his ex- 

 ternal position, or what his occupation is ; he may be 

 a tiller of the soil or anything else, — he is still one of 

 God's noblemen. He is not a mere conventional 

 man, — he is a man in his own and nature's right, — not 

 an imitation of humanity, but the embodiment of 

 humanity itself. 



" He walks in glory and in joy, 

 Following his plough along the mountain side." 



Do I exaggerate ? Am I uttering words of mere 

 rhetoric ? The final purpose of all the arrangements 

 of Providence in this lower w^orld, as I conceive, is to 

 perfect man himself. It is not merely to multi})ly the 

 comforts oi' his physical condition, — to call forth mate- 



