558 [Assembly 



It is a fine characteristic of our nature, that we intuitively venerate 

 the early creation of our hands, which fancy may suggest, or inge- 

 nuity may supply. We are gratified with it, and we find an attach- 

 ment towards it almost fraternal; and the original inventor of a prin- 

 ciple, however imperfect, will readily recognize our meaning. Such, 

 then, are the feelings of the builder of the first log cabin, which am- 

 bition guides him in perfecting and making comfortable, so far as a 

 state of rudeness will permit. 



In the course of time, as the products of his industry produce him 

 their reward, man begins to realize that he is the possessor of some- 

 thing more than a primitive habitation, and that the solitary wilds of 

 his chosen seat, (now grown familiar) are gradually wasting away, 

 and a clearing is again opened for the accommodation of a neighbor, 

 when both find it to their comfort to promote their mutual concerns 

 in the advancement of a prospective settlement, and in improving the 

 reason consigned to their keeping. 



The practical advantages of agriculture, in course of time, grow 

 familiar, and become a matter of habit and of necessity, and as re- 

 sources are developed and the love of freedom predominates, abun- 

 dance springs up throughout the land, and the machinery is put in 

 motion which fills the storehouse with wheat and fine linen. 



We are aware that it is comparatively a few years since our coun- 

 try dissolved her allegiance with the government of Great Britain, 

 and first breathed the breath of empire. Since then our progress has 

 been upward and onward. Excelsior is proclaimed from the heights 

 of every hill, and the darkness of the savage state has been brought 

 to the light of a luxurious civilization. Our fathers seemed to have 

 waited for the guarantee of freedom, to move with a rushing impetus 

 towards every species of internal and agricultural improvement. 



Soon after the contest of the revolution was ended, before the camp- 

 tent had been struck, and the smoke of the battle-field had passed 

 away, we find little Delaware among the first in the States in de- 

 voting itself to agricultural interests. As early as the year 1789 she 

 boasted of a district between the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, 

 which yielded the finest wheat in ihe world. Wheat from Pennsyl- 

 vania and New-York was condemned as hard and flinty, and it was 

 only by a mixture with the Delaware that it was found at all planta- 

 ble. Fortunately, however, for the Empire and the Keystone, they 

 did not suflfer for good bread, as their citizens were supplied by their 



