No. 199.] 343 



ercise of man's best faculties, and calculated to improve both his mind 

 and heart. It has been by many considered the most exalted and 

 praiseworthy of human pursuits. It must be remembered, however, 

 that Agriculture, like everything else, is dependent upon the Mechanic 

 for the very implements that are essential to its existence. Without the 

 Mechanic, we should never hear of the Farmer. If the earth were at 

 all cultivated, it would be with the rude tools of the semi-barbarian or 

 the savage, and as a science or an art, husbandry would be unknown. 

 To the Mechanic we are indebted from the very outset, for the beau- 

 tiful and variegated gardens and fields which captivate the eye, delight 

 the senses, and supply our wants. He constructs the neat and pleasant 

 cottage, the rich and elegant villa, and the magnificent and costly 

 mansion. He builds the Farmer's barns, he furnishes his house with 

 the necessary utensils ; he manufactures the different fabrics for which 

 he and his family find use ; and who, but mechanics, have founded 

 and established villages and cities, whose glittering spires look aloft 

 towards heaven, and whose spacious halls, and splendid edifices, and 

 gorgeous temples, are the wonder and admiration of the world 1 Who 

 but they have the intellect to design, and the perseverance and skill 

 to execute those monuments of art, which, for solidity, and grandeur, 

 and beauty, seem almost to rival the works of the Great Architect 

 himself? Who but a Mechanic can bring to his aid the different ele- 

 ments, and reduce them, in subjection to his will, to perform more, a 

 thousand times, than could be achived by human labor 1 Mechanics 

 make our steam engines, our mills and manufactories, our canals, our 

 railroads, our merchant vessels, and our telegraphs, and furnish us 

 with every necessary and useful implement, whether of peace or war. 

 It is through their instrumentality we enjoy the luxuries and comforts 

 of every distant clime, and, as a consequence of their industry, and 

 the result of their skill and labor, we can send even the winged 

 lightning to do our bidding, and execute our errands at will. " We 

 make our ministers flames of fire." 



We know that it has been with some of the fashion, to undervalue 

 and look with indifference and even a sort of contempt upon the 

 working man and Mechanic. But if there be a profession requiring 

 a high order of intellect, an unusual degree of moral courage, and a 

 full proportion of muscular and physical strength, it is that of the Me- 



