MR. SALTONfsTALL's ADDRESS. 17 



of laborers. Formerly, wholesome food was not deemed 

 sufficient to support, nor sound sleep to restore man's 

 strength, without the habitual use of stimulating drinks 

 — as if the all-wise and beneficent creator had so imper- 

 fectly made man, and was so hard a task-master, that al- 

 though he had destined him to labor, he could not per- 

 form the work assigned him, without the aid of artificial 

 stimulants. The effect was too often seen in dilapidated 

 buildings, broken down walls, feeble and ill-treated ani- 

 mals, neglected and barren fields, the mortgage which 

 consumed the farmer's substance, and at last, the sher- 

 iff's levy or sale. Alas, the effect was often felt, too, 

 by broken hearted wives and neglected children. Bless- 

 ed are our eyes, for they see, and our ears, for they 

 hear, what marvellous things have been wrought in our 

 day by the Angel, Temperance. She comes with the 

 blessings of a new dispensation of peace and mercy from 

 heaven. 



The consequence of this improvement in agriculture 

 is the elevation of the character of the profession, which 

 in its turn becomes the most efficient cause of still fur- 

 ther progress. Until the French revolutionary wars, 

 New-England, except a narrow strip along the coast, 

 was almost exclusively, an agricultural community — but 

 after the excitement, and the impetus given to our com- 

 merce by that event, which led to a rapid accumulation 

 of wealth, our young men were not satisfied with the 

 slow thrift of old fashioned industry. They were not 

 content to "speed the plough," and they rushed to the 

 cities and to the ocean, to make haste to be rich. But 

 the reverses and embarrassments of the last few years 

 have taught them, that time and chance, which happen 

 to all, do so emphatically to the mercantile class — that 

 there are many blanks to a prize in that lottery, and that 

 a high prize, suddenly won, is not seldom as quickly 

 lost. They find that practical agriculture diligently pur- 

 sued, yields a fair return, and many now wisely take 

 their lot in life in the cultivation of the soil, instead of 

 rushing into the hot pursuit of wealth by desperate 

 adventures, or plunging into speculations, or chasing in 



