32 



Avlmt Ji pity it is to see the youth Irom the coun- 

 try, the stren<;th and hope of tlie State, tlockin<^ 

 into the cities to intensify, as I have already 

 said, the competition that even now is, in many 

 cases, overdone. As to the making of a fortune, 

 if by this is meant the securing of a competence 

 after an honest, industrious business life, agricul- 

 ture holds out inducements generally, when in- 

 telligently pursued, equal at least to those of 

 commerce or the professions. It may be a some- 

 what slower way of making money, and devoid 

 of the few dazzling prizes belonging to the lot- 

 tery of trade, but its gains, if smaller and slower, 

 are in the long run ^urer. I have a strong mis- 

 giving that our modern systems of education, 

 vastly improved and enlarged as they have been 

 of late, are yet in some important things much 

 wanting; and that they indispose our youth to 

 enter with hearty good will on those particular 

 pursuits which necessarily involve the perform- 

 ance of manual labor — pursuits, we should re- 

 member, that constitute the very foundation and 

 framework of society. Now, this ]3ernicious ob- 

 jection can only be removed by enli^>;htening 

 public opinion and reforming educational sys- 

 tems, so that youth will be taught, not merely 

 in theory, but in practice also, to compreliend 



