DIGNITY" OF MECHANIC ARTS. 3 



•'whereon to stand'''' of Archimedes ; they have a sufficient founda- 

 tion in themselves. 



What gives to civilized nations their superiority over the savage? 

 It is chiefly, mechanic arts. By them the beautiful and conve- 

 nient mansion is substituted for the rude and uncomfortable wig- 

 wam ; and " scarlet and fine-twined linen" supply the wardrobe, 

 in place of the skins of wild animals. They are the founda- 

 tion of nearly all the improvements and the comforts of life — and 

 further, we may say, of the glory and the grandeur of the world. 

 By them the farmer ploughs the land, and by them the mariner 

 ploughs the ocean ; by them the monarch is adorned with his 

 crown, and by them the peasant is clad in comfortable garments ; 

 by them the triumphl arch is raised to the hero, and by them the 

 temple ascends to the Deity ; by them the wealthy roll in chariots, 

 and loll on couches ; by them the sword is polished, and the axe is 

 tempered ; by them the table is spread, and the bed is decked, and 

 the parlor is furnished. To them the poet owes the perpetuation 

 of his fame, and the warrior the evergreen of his laurels ; by them 

 Homer sings and Caesar triumphs, in all ages. Through them we 

 are instructed by the wisdom of Plato, and charmed by the elo- 

 quence of Cicero ; through them we admire the justice of Aris- 

 tides, and the heroism of Jjconidas. 



And much of this owing to two single arts, that of printing 

 and the manufacture of paper. By the former, learning has been 

 rescued from the gloom of the dark ages ; but without the latter, 

 the benefits of printing would be circumscribed to very narrow 

 bounds. It is by means of the press, chiefly, that so much of 

 Christendom owes its escape from the thraldom of superstition ; 

 and it is to the same means that we, Americans, owe our free and 

 enlightened institutions. To these means, which originated in a 

 few rude types carved on a block of wood, is owing the present 

 wonderful diifusion of knowledge, which distinguishes this from 

 all former ages. But whether a book be printed on paper, and sold 

 for a single dollar, or laboriously written on parchment, and sold 

 for a thousand, it is still to a mechanic art that the world is, and 

 has been, indebted for the transmission and dilllision of light 

 through the means of books — whether the rays of that light shine 

 upon Cew persons or many. 



But in speaking of the dignity of mechanic arts, we would not 

 confine them to the mere hand that executes, without thinking of 

 the head that plans ; for, without the latter, but little more credit 

 would be due to the person who exercises these arts, than to the 

 automaton Turk who mechanically astonishes the woild at the 

 game of chess. To produce the great elfects we have mentioned 

 above, to do so much to enlighten, to beautify and improve the 

 world ; to labor for the glory and happiness of others, and yet be 

 ignorant of the springs by which these important movements are 

 carried on, would ill comport with the dignity of the mechanic. 

 He would be (" if we may compare small things with greaf') like 

 the sun in the heavens, which renders iiglit and warmth and com-, 

 fort to mankind, without itself being conscious wherefore. 



