24 MR. braman's address. 



not high. The processes of vegetation are so gradual as to make 

 growth imperceptible, so silent that they emit no sound to the 

 acutest ear. How difterent in their character and effects on 

 those with whose pursuits they are connected, from the water- 

 fall and the propelling wind, and the steam engine, and the swift 

 revolving wheels, and the whirling spindles, and the unceas- 

 ing din which turn the very brain into a locomotive, and strain 

 the nerves to as high a tension, as the thread is twisted into 

 strong and tenacious fibre, from the loose filaments of cotton. 



There is a difference between agriculture and some other 

 employments, derived from the diverse situation in which they 

 are pursued. A large portion of manufacturing operations, is 

 conducted in places of compact population, where men living 

 ill close connection, act powerfully on each other's sympa- 

 thies, and those principles of imitafion and emulation, which 

 hold such sway in the human breast, and impart such great 

 energy to intellect and character. These observations have a 

 close application to trading and mercantile pursuits. They 

 are necessarily carried on to a great extent in large and crowd- 

 ed places, where human passions communicate themselves 

 with great rapidity ; where enterprise, and skill, and talent are 

 awakened into vigor by contact, and stimulated by the keen- 

 est competition of selfishness. The trading establishments in 

 small villages, and rural districts, bring their superintendants 

 into constant communication with men of all varieties of dis- 

 position and intelligence, from places more or less remote ; 

 where subjects are discussed, ideas are exchanged, information 

 communicated, and the mind is kept in a state of excitement 

 and activity. 



The political affairs of the nation are discussed in these 

 places of village resort, with more good sense than they are 

 sometimes treated in higher places, and the business which it 

 has taken a whole session of Congress to discuss, and another 

 to decide, is there completed in one evening's debate, quite as 

 well in some cases, if not so authoritatively as in the spot where 

 the supreme power of the nation resides. 



But the operations of husbandry require an open space, are 

 conducted in a more sparsely settled region, without the limits 



