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rial beauty and fragrance, — to adorn the earth, but to 

 elevate man as man, — to develope his nobler faculties, 

 his intellect, his affections, his tastes, his capacity for 

 the enjoyments of a nature formed but a " little lower 

 than the angels." This is the purpose of all. In the 

 shop of the artisan, the great marts of trade, and on 

 the farm, man is to educate himself, — his reason, his 

 human sensibilities, his reverence for truth and right, — 

 and this is the noblest husbandry, — this work, the 

 crowning Avork, — not incompatible, I contend, with 

 labor of the hands, but of which well organized and 

 well directed, intelligent and free labor is one of the 

 heavenly ordained instrumentalities. 



The elevatino; influence of knowledge and Intel- 

 lectual culture is not all. They enhance the enjoy- 

 ments of life, especially among an agricultural popula- 

 tion, because they teach one to read and interpret 

 nature, — prepare him to observe and think, — and so 

 many-sided is nature, — so marvellous, if one will look 

 beneath the surface, — so full of mystery, so wonderful 

 are the phenomena which, in the country, daily fall 

 under the eye, connected with the processes of animal 

 and vegetable life, growth and decay, the expansion of 

 the flower and ripening of the fruit, with the vicissi- 

 tudes of the seasons, — budding spring and myriad- 

 tinted autumn, with the rising and setting sun, with 

 air, and clouds, and dew, with light and shade, varying 

 with the varying hours, that materials for a pleasing 

 occupation of the thoughts can never be wanting, if 

 only the powers of observation and reflection have 

 been once awakened. Nowhere and in no situation 

 will a cultivated intellect contribute more, in Lord 

 Bacon's phrase, to the " relief of man's estate," or 

 more enlarge the sphere of sober, calm delights. The 

 country is barren of pleasures to those who bring to 



