252 [Assembly 



differently men are placed from what they were, when I first knew 

 them. The thrift and industry of })ast years have Jed to present af- 

 fluence and splendor. Let not the children of the rich be ashamtd to 

 hear of the early employment of their fathers; let their only pride be in 

 their own characters, their present personal worth and power. If there 

 be a sight on earlh that is preposterously ridiculous, it is the son of a 

 rich man, who bt came such by daily honest labor, and who is now 

 ashamed to hear of hard work or business. Here a man ought to 

 be valued only for what he is; and how absurd is the affectation of 

 family pride, where very few can look back more thun fifty years without 

 falling over a blacksmith's forge, or stumbling into a cobbler's or green- 

 grocer's stall. It is an ordinance of Heaven, that man must be em- 

 ployed, or be unhappy. Mental or corporeal labor is the destination of 

 his nature, and when he ceases to be active, he ceases to be useful, and 

 falls to the level of mere vegetable life. If there be any truth at 

 this moment which it behoves the people of the United States to 

 ponder deeply, it is, that the wealth ann gorgeous splendor of a few 

 men who more than emulate the luxury of European nobles, does 

 not constitute the prosperity of our land; it is the labor, the employ- 

 ment of all classes, the recompensed efforts of the masses, in town 

 and country. The luxury of the few contributes very little to the 

 general welfare of the Union. Had I a voice which could be heard 

 by all the dwellers in the land, I would say, let our rising generation 

 from north to south be taught the dignity of labor, the very bless- 

 edness of toil, and the misery of those who live without employ- 

 ment. I would say, let the fallacy be at once exposed, that colleges 

 and universities are only to be regarded as avenues to the learned 

 professions, and are good for nothing but to make lawyers, doctors 

 and clergymen. They must give us men, working men; they must 

 accomplish the education of mechanics, architects, agriculturists and 

 chemists, men who can make life's labors go on quicker, easier, 

 more surely; they must learn to di9;nify the aiivil and the plow, or 

 they will fail to accomplish their mission. Of colleges and univer- 

 sities, as they now exist, we have a large sufficiency, and perhaps 

 more than enough. It is the common school, the school improved to 

 the highest degree, and teaching the rich and strong sense of the 

 language, and the science of the age, and blessing alike every fa- 

 mily of the land, that sheds its genial light upon the people, and 

 vivifies the germs of genius, and gives energy and equality of pow- 

 er to the immortal mind, and raises a rampart against the encroach- 

 ments of arbitrary power, and a fortress which the selfish demagogue 

 can never capture. Wherever liberty is established, educatio.i must 

 be its companion or it will perish. Education includes moral as well 



