Litchfield enquirer., 1842-11-03


 their presence-Who do not mi0gle with us indeed, in the walks of business, but who ex- ert more potent influence upon the affairs of men than wo are always willing to ack- nowIedge-whose empire is absolute over the world of fashion-whose appearance m the midst of disSensions is like the radiant bow that spans the storm. If their smiles do sometimes kindle dissension, they oftener al. lay it; und would invoke their gentle infiu- ence in the work of reforming the national manners. If they would bestow more of their kind regards upon those athletic and manly forms that make our hill sides and valleys laugh and sing with the wealth of golden harvests, and less upon those whis- kered and bedizzened apes that infest the drawingroom, we should love them better, and our country would indeed regard them as her jewels. Therc is one duty more, of the highest im- portance, to which, in conclusion. invite your atttention-the duty of holding in just estimation all the occupations in which men are engaged.
 What honest vocation can be named that does not contribute, in greater or less de- gree, to the enjoyment ot man! It may be humble, indeed, but it goes to swell the mighty aggregate it may be the Till that trickles from the mountain side, but it diffu-
 
 its drops at last with the ocean. The true American motto is and must be-marked upon our foreheads, written upon our door, posts, channelled in the earth, and waited upon the aves-INDusTRY-LABoR IS HON. oRABLE, and idleness is dishonorable,-and care not if it be labor, whether it be of the head or the hands.
 Away with the miserable jargon of the political economists, who write so compla- gently about the producing and non-produ- cing classes. It has no foundation in nature or in experience. Whitney, whose cotton gin doubled the value of every acre of land in the South, raised more cotton with his head than any other man ever raised with his hands.
 Let me exhort those of you who are devo- ted to intellectual pursuits, to cherish, on your part, an exalted and just idea Of the dignity and value of manual labor, and to make that opinion known i., your words and seen in the earnest of your actions. The la boring men of t.ils country are vast in num- Der and rtspectable in character. We owe to them, under Providence, the most glad s.orne spectacle the sun beholds in its course "a land of cultivated and fertile fields, ar ocean white with canvass. We owe to them under Providence, the annual spectacle oi golden harvests, which carries plenty a nd happiness alike to the palace and the cottage We owe to them the fortresses that guard our coasts-the ships that have borne our flag to every cline, and carried the thunder of our cannon triumphant over the waters of the deep. That demon steed, which leaps the valley and dashes through the mountain, pursues his fleet career over roads which they have constructed. The vast city which surrounds us, the august temple in which we stand, are the works of their hands; and when look upon these gigantic achieve. ments, say, honor to the laborer We laud and magnify the hero who has stormed a ci. ty and driven the ploughshare of ruin over it's habitations let us here laud and magnify the heroes of our country, who have made the wilderness blossom like the rose, and the solitary place glad with the fires of thou- sand happy homes.
 But why should multiply illustrations of which there would be no end, since can say of all, in the words of poet, whose me- mory we venerate, Act ,OeU your part, there all the honor lies." Loud and confined ap- plause.)