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our fanning comminiities, with the new generations rising 

 up ill our midst. And so there is a stronger tendency 

 than ever before to avoid labor, to get rid of toil, to shift 

 the burden of work on to the shoulders of other people ; 

 to shirk and fold the useless hands and act the gentleman 

 in gloves. Our young men seem too anxious to leave the 

 healthful, manly farm, as well as the forgo and workbench, 

 to measure out ribbons and sell muslins in the lazy shops ; 

 and young women, from the same cause, are growing up 

 about us, fearful of staining their hands with toil, ashamed 

 of cheese-press and churn, wash tub and moulding board, 

 and preferring the life of a useless, gilded sporting butter- 

 fly to that of a more industrious, worthy and noble type. 

 And so the God appointed sweat, and clean dirt of honest 

 labor is becoming more and more despised, and the earnest 

 toil of life is looked upon as degrading ; while the base 

 tinsel of luxury and idleness, which deck a life of sense- 

 less frivolity, is growing every where to be admired and 

 envied. And yet " work," my friends, in some depart- 

 ment of duty and action, is the great business of life. 

 This calls out and developes all the various faculties and 

 energies of the nature, that make the man ; and all things 

 that are worth having, whether in the physical, mental 

 or moral world, are gained by labor, — by this hard work. 

 From labor springs all capital, all art, science, and cul- 

 ture. The grand cities, the splendid temples and monu- 

 ments of art, the broods of busy commerce, whose wings 

 whiten the seas ; the civilization that like the verdure of 

 early spring, is gradually stealing over the earth and 

 clothing it with a living robe of joy and beauty ; the 

 comforts, the luxuries, the various elegancies and delica- 

 cies of refined society ; — these are all the ofCspring of 

 bright-eyed, hard-handed labor. So, too, the breathing 

 marbles of the sculptor, the glowing canvas of the painter, 

 the inspired creations of the poet, — the great thoughts. 



