The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1854-12-08

Iy uncertain yet nothing can be truer than
the life tables OF an Insurance Company, when
its officers desire TO make them 50. The deSti-
nv Of each human individual is hid in deep o5-
suritv-shadows, clouds, and darkness rest up
on ii, and conceal it from every eye except the
all-seeng One Bot disease and mortality do
their work on large COMMUNITIES by general
laws. The average duration ofliie, and the
average amoun; of sickness. in nation, can be
counted before hand with perfect accuracy
Thus, while the individual man sa mystery to
ne solved by Cmniscience alone, man in the
aggregate is reduced by his brother man to a
mathematical problem.
We dare not boast Of much improvement in
law or politics. lnGeed, they seem 70 be grow
ing worse. While other things are rising, they
have fatal procIiyiiy for the downward track.
They darkrn with error in the fail blaze oi sur
rounding truth. But riedIcine has advanced
with magnificent strides. Life is much longer,
and health far better, than it used to be. When
the cholera came to London in form so frightful
that every one was appalled, bv the report OF lis
ravaces, the mortality was net greater tian II
had been at the heathieSt times a hundred and
fifty years earlier. Truly did Solomon say,
that wisdom has length of days in her right
hand.
What the tra1e of the Mississippi and the Hud-
sou was before toe steanboats-what the man
uiac,urr Of cotton before the DAYS Of Arkwright
or Whitney-what ocean navigation was be-
fore the invention OF the oomrass-what land
travelling was before ralroads--what medicine
was when patient MAS STRAINED f,r the small
poX-such is agriculture in the present stage Of
lis progress Il Will not have lis due until IL is
mp, at least. TO their present condition. There
is 4 certain amount Of skill and science applied,
every Gay, 10 the working Of this machine,
which Wr call the earth. II would be as wise
to forget all that. as 10 learn no more. He,
WHO has a race to ran, is not sureT Of losing
the prize, when he turns upon bis tracks, than
when hr stands still In tie Hsidst 81 his career.
To look back, over the ground already trayeFs-
ed. viii be an incentive into The work. which
is vet to be ACCOMPLISHED. IF something has
been done in the dark time, that is long since
passed. what may we not hone tnr with the
sunlight Of modern civilization beaaing on our
path II nav s,artIe some of you. and sound
in vour ears Ike a siaudpr. to tel YOU. that YOU
are all scientific farmers II is true nevertheless
That knowledge, whether it be much or little.
which earres from experience, remembered aud
arranged 50 as to be ready oF use when want
ed. is science. There was tiIu. when it did
not exist at all, in any degree. When we re-
fleet how high we are placed By the little We
have, above those who had none, and what a
struggle it must have cost somehodv, to intro
duce It at the beginning, we shall appreciate its
value. and perhaps. make an effort to get more
Let vo,r ;p,aq;na,ione carry vou barl, 70 the
fime " hen arricul,,,r, WAS in lis ipfancv-be-
fore the earI,,s, dawn Of Greek civilizailon.-
In tbos. aavs men deDended princiralIv unon
The chase tor l,y;rr They At. fin. fr>b. and
cl,tbsd themselves i,b the skins. Of wild beasts.
E,,,,.s and afb,r y,,a.afIes az snontansopx