Who gives respect and veneration to persons, to books, to great men?

Who but opinion ?

How

utterly insufficient are all the riches of the world without her

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fame of release from toil and anxiety-and, above all, in the homage supposed to be paid to all in the elevated stations of society. This is all natural, but it is, after all, rather a delusion than a reality. All these scenes are presented to their young and ardent imaginations through glasses of the highest magnifying power. Their ecstatic visions have been solely engrossed with the bright, and not at all with the dark spots in the picture. They simply glanced at the gilded trappings of wealth, without stopping to consider the multitudes constantly sinking in the agonies of despair, before half reaching the object of their aspirations. They simply heard the shouts and the huzzas floating over their heads, to the conquerors of fleets and armies, without inquiring how many thousands and tens of thousands perished in the conflicts, their names now forgotten, and as little regarded as the dust under our feet.

Now, my young friends, when brooding with seeming discontent over the monotonous destinies of rural life, and aspiring after something more stirring-more dazzling-more satisfying, let me entreat you to look upon the hitherto neglected portions of the picture you have drawn. Among the aspirants for political elevation, only a few reach the summit which they desired; and, when reached, it was so encumbered with the jealousy and the envy of disappointed rivals, it was barely worth having, and certainly not worth the cost paid for it. Among the votaries of literary distinction, only a few become known, and are recog nized in the republic of letters; and of these, not one, perhaps, in a thousand will be remembered by posterity. And also, among the adventurers for fortune, where one obtains a permanent competency, a hundred, it has been calculated, sink in poverty; it may be with broken spirits, and ruined in health; and, it may be asserted with confidence, not one in ten thousand becomes really rich. Besides, a literary life is by no means a life of indolence-there is in it an increasing application to study-a wasting of spirit and physical energy far greater than in the labor on a farm; and, in the search after wealth, there is usually an anxiety, and care, and vexation, and disappointmore incompatible with real happiness than the fatigues and privations incident to agriculture.

The scenes, ordinarily impressed on the imaginations of ardent youth, will be found much like the bubbles that float so gracefully in the atmosphere, reflecting with prismatic accuracy the sun's rays, but burst and vanish the moment they are touched. There is certainly no intention of making you disgusted with the world; but to caution you against its false appearances.

Look

at the world as it is; examine it in its true aspect; imagine not Modesty is not only an ornament, but a guard to virtue.

Who confers reputation

approbation! Opinion settles everything. She constitutes beauty, justice, happiness, which is, as it were, the whole of this world.

The family of Charles was ruined; that of Cromwell was established; and had it not been for a small grain of sand, which entered

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the urethra, even Rome would have trembled before him; but when

ADVICE TO THE SONS OF FARMERS.

that to be gold which is merely gilded brass; imagine not that to be rest and dignified leisure, when corroding care and solicitude, like a canker, are eating up the soul; nor imagine that a bed of roses is spread within reach for your repose, when a few hours of experience would tell you that it consisted of thorns.

It is not denied but what there are situations in society more desirable than that of a day-laborer on a farm. But, it is affirmed, that the difference between them is by no means as great as generally supposed. And, then, the chances for obtaining them are so small, the experiment to be made is not unlike that of obtaining a fortune in a lottery; casting in our money, though there be ten thousand blanks to one prize. Walter Scott, in writing to a son, says, "I cannot too much impress upon your mind that labor is the condition which God has imposed on us in every station of life. There is nothing worth having that can be had without it, from the bread which the peasant wins with the sweat of his brow, to the sports by which the rich man gets rid of his ennui. The only difference betwixt them is, that the poor man labors to get his dinner-the rich man to get an appetite for his." As for knowledge, it can no more be planted in the human mind without labor, than the field of wheat can be produced without the previous use of the plough. There is this difference, that chance or circumstances may so cause it, that another shall reap what the farmer sows! but no man can be deprived, whether by accident or misfortune, of the fruits of his own studies; and the liberal and extended acquisitions of knowledge which he makes, are all for his The presumption, indeed, is, that not a few of the sons of farmers will occupy stations in other departments of enterprise and labor. It is well known, that in no inconsiderable degree they are now filled with them. The physical energy, and the no less latent intellect, produced under rural influences, enable their possessors advantageously to compete with persons with mental culture, in all the great enterprises of the age. must be apparent to every body that in what are considered the higher grades of social life, there is frequently, and indeed usually, a tendency to inactivity, to effeminacy, and even to inefficiency, which will ordinarily prevent the sons from becoming equal to their fathers. Hence, when the fathers die, whether in the high places of the church, or legislative halls-in the marts of exchange, or the courts of law-most of the vacancies will be filled only by persons possessing the energy and the indomitable perseverance engendered by the influences of agricultural life. But while some of your number will be called Mend your manners, and that will mend your fortune.

own use.

For it

only this atom of gravel was placed in that particular spot, behold, the Protector dies, his family is degraded, and the king is restored.

Charcoal destroys the taste, color, and smell of many substances.

Vinegar boiled with it becomes limpid, and it destroys the

color and flavor of rum and other liquors; it also restores

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59

away from the scenes of your childhood-from the houses and farms of your fathers-it may be one from the granite hills of New Hampshire-one from the verdant elevations of Vermont one from the wheat-fields of the Empire State-one from the iron caverns of Jersey-and another from the rich intervales of old Berkshire, so renowned for men of genius-the most of you will remain to perpetuate, where you were born, your ances tral names. Your lot, in my judgment, is the more enviable; and by your own efforts it may be made equally reputable, and surely not less useful.

It is in your power to exert on the community an influence that will materially change the great features of society in the American Union. Educate yourselves thoroughly in the mys teries of agriculture, and then, incidentally, as you have leisure and opportunity, in the various departments of learning. The first will enable you to make the cultivation of the ground fir more productive than it has hitherto been; and consequently, in the estimation of the world, far more honorable. Let there be among the sons of farmers, in cultivating the land, the same enlightened enterprise and perseverance that is necessary to raise one to eminence in the learned professions-or to wealth in merchandise-or to distinction in literature; and incredible would be the change. Rough places would be made smooth. Barren ones would become fertile. The wilderness would become fruitful. And, in anticipation of prophetic times, the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose. The profits, moreover, of agriculture, would be so increased, that there would be, throughout the country, an appearance of thrift and independence. There would be no prostrate fences, no weeds and thistles by the roadside; no shattered barns and outhouses; no broken ploughs, and wagons, and harrows, and sleds, to attract the notice of passing strangers; and, in fine, no want of paint, or court-yard fences, or whole glass about the family mansion, Most young men, living on a farm, if they would be as frugal of their time, as students must be, and mechanics usually are, till eleven or twelve o'clock at night with their books, and the latter at their trades, would, by the middle of life, acquire as good an education as can be obtained at college. Not, indeed, the same in kind, but for the business relations of life better in quality. Not, indeed, unless they choose it, Latin, and Greek, and Hebrew; but the sciences and arts having relation to agricultare. The best kind of political economy, also-as much better than the crudities of theoretic and scheming politicians, falsely called political economy, as the navigation acquired in carrying a ship across the ocean is superior to the lessons taken on Moderate your appetite, so that with little you may be content.

putrid water and tainted meat. Charcoal fires are dangerous in close apartments, for the oxygen is combined or fixed by it.

Gold is the heaviest of all known bodies, platina only excepted; and it is a little more than nineteen times

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heavier than distilled water. Its ductility is such, that sixteen

ADVICE TO THE SONS OF FARMERS.

shore. To this would be added, as a matter of course, a familiar acquaintance with general and particular history. Here would be seen, on the one hand, the progress of the useful arts, the irradiations of science, and the developments of national wealth and prosperity; and, on the other hand, the intrigues and the corruption of unprincipled rulers, and the misery entailed on the people by their profligacy. To a knowledge of history would succeed the knowledge of biography, to the reading of which no one of the least good taste and mental culture should be disinclined. This would be, to young men, like a mirror, reflecting the virtue and the vice-the patriotism and the knavery-the social loveliness and the social profligacy of all past times. This would be to them better than all the schoolmasters of Christendom.

This kind of education is within the reach of most young men having as much leisure as farmers have in certain seasons of the year. Twenty common-sized pages may be read in an hour; and not less than twenty volumes may thus be read every year. At this rate, quite a library would be used up in fifteen or twenty years. As lyceums and other public libraries are so plenty, this kind of education would cost but little. The hours devoted to it are what would be of no use for anything else. Moreover, this kind of employment will keep young men out of the way of loafing and unhealthy associates. In the winter season, especially, unless habitually occupied in some such way, almost of a certainty your minds will become inactive as are your hands-will lose their aptitude for thought and study; and, it may be, that in the want of good occupation, you will be enticed to a demoralizing one; the same as the ground, if not cultivated and made to produce the fruits needed for animal sustenance, will be overgrown with weeds. The mind is as easily made active and vigorous, leading its possessor to honor and competence, if not in all cases to affluence, as the earth is made verdant and productive; but if not properly attended to-if not properly nurtured, it will become a fountain of evil, leading its possessor to poverty and ruin.

The course here recommended to young men in rural life, will assuredly, too, give them a social position, equal to that given by other occupations. And having such a position, such is the numerical strength of agriculturists, from your numbers will be selected a majority of our legislators. This would lead to a political millennium; to a realization of all the Utopian dreams of happiness under new organizations of the social compact. Such rulers, not wanting office for themselves, nor its emoluments for their friends, would administer the government for the benefit of the people. Depending on the income of

Mean fortunes and proud spirits are like fuel and fire.

ounces are supposed sufficient to gild a silver wire equal in length to the whole circumference of the earth.

This proportion, however, varies according to the abunThe relative value of gold to that of silver was formerly as twelve to one.

dance or scarcity of the former metal. In the English coinage, the

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The

their farms for the support of their families, they would consider their time worth more than the salary paid them. great curses to the people, under our government, proceed from the putting men into office who know not how to procure so good a living elsewhere; thus being induced to sacrifice the welfare of the country to their own individual interests; seeking to perpetuate themselves in power, when they ought to be superseded by others.

If improvements are to be made in agriculture, they must generally be made by yourselves. Your fathers began their labors before science was so generally consulted on the subject. They naturally adopted the processes used by their fathers, who, from the newness of the country, had little or no occasion to use manures. It is well known that new lands are ordinarily so rich, that they will produce abundantly without the aid of additional fertilizing agents. Thus they were cultivated, but, year after year, becoming more and more exhausted of their native energies, till the crops became correspondingly deficient. The result was so gradual, that it excited no inquiry; and it was not, perhaps, thought possible to apply an adequate remedy. In some instances the lands were entirely abandoned, and others, either new, or less worn, were cultivated in their stead. In other instances, the owners still clung to them, becoming miserably poor, and without energy to remove. In the course of time, science, like a messenger from heaven, sent forth her counsels. The habits of the greater part of farmers were too much confirmed, and their minds were too little prepared for these illuminations, to admit of their adopting experiments, which the others were induced to try. The consequence is, that a very large portion of your fathers will never be inclined to hazard their labor and their money in experiments unknown to the usages of a past generation. Hence, as remarked, if the counsels of science are to be applied generally on worn-out lands, to the refertilizing of them, it must be done by yourselves They may permit you to do, especially in a limited way, what they would not do themselves. And when they become incontrovertible, you will doubtless be permitted to make an entire change. It is a point of wisdom, that persons possessing scanty means only, either adopt experiments that have been proved by others, to the making of them on their own account; or, if not favored by the example of those around, more wealthy or more ven turesome than themselves, to make them on a limited scale only. The adaptation to agriculture, of new processes, takes much time as well as money, and if found, in the end, not to No one pretends to hate an injury more than he who offers it.

value of fine gold is, to that of silver, as fifteen and a half to one. This is now generally about the estimated proportional value.