MR. HUNTINGTON S ADDRESS. 5 



But these are general remarks, and however just 

 or true in themselves, have no particular application 

 to the agriculture or yeomanry of this county, and 

 thus tend to no practical results. We live in a dis- 

 trict of the State eminently commercial and manu- 

 facturing in its pursuits and character. Our soil, 

 as a general fact, is not remarkable for its fertility 

 or productions. Agriculture is not regarded as the 

 chief or main interest of the county, and is very gen- 

 erally held, as a pursuit, in secondary estimation. 

 Trade and commerce, on the one hand, hold out 

 their enticing and splendid rewards, and on the 

 other, manufactures fill the youthful mind, and often 

 the chastened and sobered imagination of manhood 

 with golden dreams, and excited expectations. But if 

 the youthful aspirant for riches or distinction find the 

 avenues in what are deemed the more lucrative pursuits 

 closed against him here, and feels that he is doomed 

 to be a farmer, his imagination kindles at the descrip- 

 tions of that fairy land, the west, and he determines 

 to seek his fortune in the teeming and fertile soil of 

 the great valley. Of all the mistakes, which an Es- 

 sex young man can commit, this is the greatest, and 

 oftentimes, the most fatal. In executing this deter- 

 mination, he sacrifices a fortune, in the outset. He 

 gives up his home with all its endearing and hallow- 

 ed associations, and his New England birthright, 

 which is itself the richest treasure to one who enter- 

 tains any just notions of the real ends and aims of 

 life. And is it nothing to make such a sacrifice ? Is 

 it nothing to surrender this rich inheritance of bless- 

 ings and enjoyments for the fancied good of a more 

 exuberant soil in the distant prairies of the west ? 

 What if we have a less fertile natural soil, have we 

 not also a far deeper and richer moral soil, laid down 

 and imbedded by the labors and sacrifices of succes- 

 sive generations of a good and glorious ancestry, and 

 producing fruits that gladden and rejoice the hearts 

 of their descendants, giving stability to their pur- 

 poses and strength to their character, and adorning 



