1 1 



mind fresh and ready for instruction. Many a lesson on 

 political economy is given by that fireside. There the 

 youthful hearts learn of loyalty to the country. There 

 the mind grows in adherence to the one or the other 

 political party ; and there, too, from the gentler voice of 

 her who reigns as queen in her ample realm, are learned 

 those sweeter lessons of love and virtue, which make 

 life more dutiful and more beautiful as the years go on. 

 So the farmer's sons and daughters grow into strength 

 and beauty, in this early school. But more than this is 

 true. We owe our intellectual power to the soil ; that is 

 to say, our intellectual force depends, on the health which 

 is gained by a proper use of the gifts of nature. The 

 time has passed when men think without eating. The 

 monk lived in the desert, and starved himself as a relig- 

 ious duty. But his religion was as meagre as his dish. 

 The scholastic sometimes did the same thing; but thought 

 was fettered by hunger. His genius was spoiled by the 

 want he suffered. He tried to get away from sense, and 

 gain spiritual ideas ; but God has ordained that we 

 should do our work in our realm of sense, and the best 

 trained intellect will not ignore this, and the most im- 

 portant endowment a man can have is common sense. 

 With that as a conscious possession he will never starve 

 his body to make his mind broader, or break the laws of 

 health in order to enlarge the spiritual faculties. Take 

 away food from a man, and his whole being suffers. 

 Good food, pure air, honest labor, and a clear conscience 

 will do more than all else to restore that man who has 

 broken the laws of his being and desires to regain the 

 lost joy. The breaking of the laws of health brings a 

 cloud over the mind. The wit and wisdom fail, and the 

 grasp and grip of every faculty is lost. 



