118 COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
is no dignity for man in such mere mechanical and muscular 
efforts. There is one glory of bodies celestial and another of 
* terrestial bodies. The glory of the brute is one, and the glory 
of man is another. Man consists of body and mind, and the 
creator intended that both should labor—that both should labor 
together—and the labor of man is dignified as it is intelligent 
and adapted to bring about the ends designed by God. That 
labor is dignified that makes two blades of grass grow where 
one grew before. 
The labor that creates is dignified ; the labor that destroys 
is of another kind. 
See the ship builder, George Steers. He reasoned and plan¬ 
ned and perfected his plans—then came the execution—and 
-chip by chip was shapen, and plank by plank was built up that 
pride of our navy the Niagara —fit to contend with sea and 
storm—fit to bear the banner of our country in triumph over 
ocean, in war; and greater still in peace, in that she was found 
fit to bear to its destined place the electric way over which the 
lightning is to carry messages of peace between the old world 
and the new. What is more worthy than such labor ? 
In some parts of our country, degraded, though hard labor, 
has already impoverished the soil, so that, year by year, the 
country becomes less able to afford the means of civilized life ; 
the population becomes, year by year, more poverty stricken 
and ignorant. Such labor, certainly, is not worthy of high 
praise. 
Now this is emphatically an age of improvement and advance¬ 
ment in the arts of war and in the arts of peace. The Me¬ 
chanic and the Manufacturer are making wonderful strides ; 
the Chemist, the Electrician, and the Engineer astonish us 
continually—all is progress. It will not do for the Farmer to 
lag behind or remain stationary. He too must bring all the 
energies of his mind to bear on the inprovement of the science 
and practice of farming. 
Yes, labor is dignified as it becomes intelligent. The labor 
the world expects of you is not that kind which will leave our 
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