22 MR. stone's address. 



ces, though the subject may engross much of childhood thought. 

 Nor can specific rules for selection be laid down, that may in- 

 variably be adopted. The circumstances, capacity and incli- 

 nation of each individual, will do something to determine the 

 choice. I may say, however, that while the learned profes- 

 sions, the mechanic arts and trade hold out many inducements 

 to the inventive and enterprising mind, the attractions of Agri- 

 culture are certainly not less substantial. 



If a young man of good understanding, industrious habits, 

 natural inclination for rural occupations, and capacity for a 

 good farmer, were to ask me why I advised him to till the 

 soil, I should answer, 



1. Because God has endowed you with talents to excel in 

 this business, and by following the indications of his Provi- 

 dence, you will best fulfil your mission. If you embark in 

 other enterprises, that seem to jiold out more flattering pecu- 

 niary emoluments, yet for which you have no decided pre- 

 dilection, you may fail, or meet with indifferent success, 

 and your disappointed hopes will embitter every enjoyment 

 of life. 



2. Because it is a safe business. There is none that in- 

 curs so little risk, or that yields more certain returns. If large 

 fortunes are not realized, a comfortable and honest living is at 

 least obtained, — income enough to support a family, pay taxes 

 and other necessary expenses, — and that is more than is ac- 

 complished by a majority of those who crowd into cities and 

 large towns, to engage in trade. An old and observing mer- 

 chant in Boston, remarked a few years ago, that he had, for 

 forty years, kept his eye on the young men who commenced 

 business in a certain street, and that to his knowledge, but one 

 in twenty succeeded. Nineteen out of twenty, or ninety five 

 out of a hundred, failed, and compounded with their creditors 

 for a few shillings on a dollar, making a total loss of capital in 

 the aggregate, sufficient, perhaps, to have purchased a snug 

 farm for each, on which they could have lived in competency. 



Gen. Dearborn, in a speech before an Agricultural meeting 

 in Boston, in 1840, said, " after a pretty extensive acquaint- 

 ance with business men, and no limited observation of the com- 



