I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



409 



Mistake of Young Men. 



It is a great mistake into whicli many 

 American youth fall, that manual labour 

 is not honourable. To be a merchant, a 

 Liwyer, a doctor, an 'engineer, a military or 

 naval officer, or a shipmaster, is, in their es- 

 teem, much more honourable than it is to 

 be a mechanic or fiirmer. It cannot be de- 

 nied that all these other occupations require 

 exertion. The doctor is often quite as 

 weary when his day's work is done, as the 

 farmer or blacksmith can be, but he is not 

 half so sure of a quiet night's sleep as they 

 are; and we all know to what hardships en- 

 gineers are exposed, as well as persons who 

 follow the seas. 



We often see vigorous young men seek- 

 ing places as clerks in stores. They all 

 hope, and generally expect, some favourable 

 tide in the affairs of life, which " will lead 

 them on to fortune.'^ Other men have ac- 

 cumulated vast sums in buying and selling 

 goods, why not I ? is the language they 

 use. They rarely consider that but a small 

 number of these who embark, ever com- 

 plete their voyage. Where fifty succeed, 

 perhaps a hundred fail. 



But an industrious, thrifty farmer, sel- 

 dom fails to secure for himself and family 

 the comforts of life. The skilful and prac- 

 tical meclianic, too, is generally sure of a 

 remuneration for his labour, and with 

 common prudence he can provide a compe- 

 tence for the future. ' That a princely for- 

 tune can be heaped up by the plow, the 

 jack-plane, or the sledge, we' do not say ; 

 nor is it pretended that men are as likely to 

 acquire fame on a farm, as at the bar. 



But the history of the world will show, 

 that the men who have done most for the 

 v/elfare of the race, and whose memories 

 are cherished with the most respect, came 

 from the hard-working ranks. Princely 

 fortunes are more easily wasted than won, 

 and while the moderate possessions of the 

 farmer or mechanic supply all the comforts 

 of life, they are attended with few temp- 

 tations to luxury, or extravagance, and 

 still fewer risks from the folly or fraud of 

 orhci's. 



There can be no doubt that agricultural 

 employments are the most natural to man, 

 and there is no country on the globe in 

 whicli the facilities for pursuing these em- 

 ployments are so great as in the United 

 States, re^iuiring but a very snuiU outlay of 

 money to obtain a respectable farm to begin 



with. A good knowledge of the methods 

 of husbandry can be easily acquired. The 

 implements of labour are as good and cheap 

 as can be found the world over. The title 

 of land is well secured ; the large monopo- 

 lies, such as some of the countries of the Old 

 World are burthened with, can never exist 

 here. What greater encouragement could 

 be asked by one who only desires to live 

 comfortably and independently ? The far- 

 mer, that honest, goodly farmer, is one of 

 the most independent men in the wide 

 world. He has the promise that seed time 

 and harvest will not fail. He may always 

 plow in hope, and reap with joy. To till 

 the earth, then, is real-ly an honourable 

 calling. 



]>ut it does not require that a man should 

 be enslaved to the plow, nor that he should 

 make companions of his sheep and oxen. 

 The shrewdest and most intelligent men, 

 who sit on our juries and help make our 

 laws, come from their farms and return to 

 them as soon as their duties terminate. 

 The good sense, sobriety, contentment, in- 

 dustry, and love of order which character- 

 ize our American farmers, are among the 

 most important safeguards of public peace 

 and prosperity. 



American Banner aiid Leader. 



The Law of Life. 



There is," says Guyot, " a law of life 

 and growth, which, if taken in its most gen- 

 eral formula, in its rliytkm, is applicable to 

 all that undergoes the process of develop- 

 ment. 



" All life, as we have said, in its most 

 simple formula, may be defined in a mutual 

 exchange of relations. 



" An exchange supposes at least two ele- 

 ments, two bodies, two individuals, a duality 

 and a difference, an equality between them, 

 in virtue of which the exchange is estab- 

 lished. 



" There is, then, at the foundation of all 

 the phenomena of life, a difference between 

 two or more individuals, calling out an ac- 

 tion and reaction of one upon another, the 

 incessant alternation of which constitutes the 

 movement we call life, and which gives birth 

 to all the phenomena we consider as its man- 

 ifestation. 



" Let us endeavor, first, to detect this law 

 in inorganic nature. 



" The lanjp that gives us light, the gas 

 that burns before our eyes, wliat else is it 



