28 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 



money besides hoarding it ; that a merchant may be just 

 as much Sir Oracle on Change, and that a lawyer may 

 hold fully as able an argument before a Supreme Court, 

 though he be able to read a French novel, to enjoy 

 an Italian Opera, or to have an opinion of his own con- 

 cerning the merits of Maud or Hiawatha ; that a native 

 poet is not, necessarily, an idle fellow, fit for nothing 

 rational or useful; nor a profound historian a sad misap- 

 plier of his time and talents ; though still, be it said with 

 all humility, the last-named laborers in the vineyard are 

 far from holding the same place in society here, which 

 they do, and ought to do, every where else. 



Still, while it must be admitted that some species of 

 mental culture and improvement, which were, but a few 

 years since, held to disqualify a man for success and 

 usefulness in life, are now tolerated, and even admitted, 

 if they do not prevent the main end of money-making ; it 

 cannot be denied, that all bodily recreations, all athletic 

 relaxations of the mind by alternation of physical efforts, 

 all tastes and tendencies toward field-sports are as much or 

 more discountenanced by the grave men of cities, and less 

 practised by the gay young men of society, than they have 

 been at any time before. 



With the former, it is regarded as pretty much the 

 same, whether the young man, who has his way to make 

 in the world by a trade, an art, or a profession, borrow a 

 few hours or days from the counter, the studio, or the 

 closet, to unbend the overstretched bow of his intellect by 

 that needful exercise of the body, without which the mind 

 cannot be preserved sound ; or to waste them in morning 



