MR. stone'saddress. 23 



moil course of things, he was satisfied that among one hundred 

 merchants and tradesmen, not more than three in the city ever 

 acquired independence. It was with great distrust that he 

 came to this conchision, but upon consultation with an expe- 

 rienced merchant, he fully admitted the truth." 



Do not understand, me, by these remarks, as undervaluing 

 trade. No one respects it more. It benefits the farmer, and 

 enriches the country, and I rejoice that there are those whose 

 tact and talent qualify them to succeed in it. But observation 

 has taught me something of its reverses as well as of its 

 charms ; and if a farmer's son prefers safe employ and moder- 

 ate compensation, to a business v/ith as many chances of bank- 

 ruptcy as there are snags and sawyers in the Mississippi, — if 

 he would escape the torment of professional " shoppers" — the 

 vexation of delinquent debtors — the incubus of fluctuating mar- 

 kets, and the horrible spectres of refused discounts, " two per 

 cent, a month," and protested paper, — let him accept his fa- 

 ther's proposition, and keep to the homestead, or invest his 

 first earnings in a small farm. 



But there are other and still more important reasons for 

 choosing agricultural pursuits. These are health, social en- 

 joyment, and the improvement of the moral afliections. I be- 

 lieve health is more general, and the average of life is longer, 

 in rural districts, where due attention is paid to the laws of 

 physiology, than is found elsewhere, owing, probably, to sim- 

 pler habits of living, comparative freedom from anxiety inci- 

 dental to trade, and the diversity of exercise, that gives more 

 uniform action to all the muscles. And as for rational enjoy- 

 ment, a farmer with a grateful heart, a generous soul, a 

 neighborly spirit, and a will to use life as his Creator intend- 

 ed, may have all that can be realized on earth. And 

 then, how suggestive of better thoughts, of filial reverence, 

 of holy aspirations, is his occupation ! At every step, and 

 in all the wide Universe aroimd, he beholds the traces 

 of a benignant Providence, the manifestations of a Merciful 

 Father. The corn that springs up to bless his toil, — the 

 verdure that yields to the pressure of his feet, — the flowers that 

 challenge his admiration, as they mingle their ambrosial fra- 



