32 MR. stone'saddress. 



But where, at the present day, do we see any approximation 

 to this division of time, among wha tare technically denomina- 

 ted " the laboring classes '?" If we examine the condition of 

 the thousands of unmarried females and widowed mothers, 

 who ply their needles in our cities and large towns for a liveli- 

 hood, we find it is 



•' Work — work — work! 

 Till the brain begins to swim; 



Work — work — work ! 

 Till the eyes are heavy and dim ! 



Seam and gusset and band, 

 Band, and gusset and seam. 



Till over the buttons they fall asleep. 

 And sew them on in a dream." 



And how is it with the agricultural population 7 A large 

 proportion of this class toil sixteen hours out of the twenty- 

 four — a longer period of continuous exertion than is required of 

 the slave, with whose brutalized condition we so justly sympa- 

 thize, leaving not a single hour, (if eight be given to repose) 

 for recreation, social intercourse, or self-culture. Even the 

 Avinter, — nature's restorative, — no longer, as formerly, brings 

 relaxation to the farmer. " He works," it has been said, " as 

 hard as he can in the summer, and in the winter, a great deal 

 harder." And the good old fashioned neighborhood parties of 

 our childhood, so promotive of fraternal sympathies, have been 

 banished from the circle of rural life, and find a place only in 

 the " pleasant memories" of other days. 



But more than this. We "laboring people" of New Eng- 

 land, do not take time even to eat. We are the only people, I 

 believe, on the face of the earth, blessed with a sufiiciency of 

 food, that are so parsimonious of minutes in this respect. Our 

 food is bolted^ not masticated, to the manifest injury of the di- 

 gestive organs,' — and when we have thus replenished the stom- 

 ach, we hasten to our toil, to recover, if possible, the moments 

 wasted in this exercise. And what is the result of these and 

 collateral abuses of the compound nature ? An enfeebled race 

 of men and women. We look in vain, among the rising gen- 

 eration, for the robust constitutions, and promise of the health 

 and long life that blessed our ancestors ; and we shall con- 



