G 



ADDRESS 



Industry — the Cultivation of the Soil — we find the 

 New Englander the inheritor of a land, resting on a 

 sure foundation indeed, but one that out-crops somewhat 

 overmuch for purposes of tillage, — of mountains and 

 hillsides around which the pure air of Freedom must 

 ever play, and that more readily than plow or reaper, 

 — of streams quite as favorable often for mill* sites as for 

 meadows,— of a season devoting almost as long a period, 

 to the great delight of young people certainly, to 

 sleigh-riding, as it includes from the sowing of spring 

 grain to the gathering in of harvest — in fine, that he 

 has ample scope for all the perseverance of his Puritan 

 descent, in the effort to transform this unwilling 

 heritage into civilized farming land and deep-soiled 

 gardens. River valleys there are, rich enough it is 

 true, and as beautiful to the eye of the agriculturist as 

 to that of the artist. But the sea beats on ruder cliffs, 

 and the waters of the rivers come down from less fer- 

 tile highlands. How many brave men and frugal 

 matrons, what lives of toil and patience and abiding 

 faith, these have nourished — farmers, whose brains were 

 in their work — farmers' wives, who clothed, as well as 

 fed, husband and sons — families brought up in the fear 

 of God, schooled, and started with this double capital 

 of honesty and the rudiments of practical knowledge, 

 to re-enact their fathers' parts, or to take parts of their 

 own, as strong arm and active mind might guide the 

 I way — filling counting house and pulpit and legislative 

 hall, planting cities, influencing the destinies and 

 brightening the hopes of Nations ! No vine trembles 

 under its purple clusters, just ready for the wine press, 

 in this clear Autumn sun : under your Summer breeze, 

 no broad levels have waved, mile after mile, their bil- 



