Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-14
hnnschnld The dearest and loraliest snot on

earth. Though he may have no marble pal
ace, no rich and costly furniture no liveried
servants, still, there is his homestead beauti
fed and adorned with every establishment of
taste and fancy. Who would be willing to
leave such home. with its arcadian bowers
aud its pure and sparkling waters, for the
dust and smoke of the crowded city?
And how strange is this passion for city
over country life which we so often encoun-
ter! 1t cannot spring from any inordinate
desire TO grow rich, for agriculture rewards
her followers more bountifully than any other
pursuit. 1t is passion for pleasure aud dis
play more than for riches. Some men desire
to live in palaces built in the city, that they
may be seen and admired. They desire costly
equipages; but they must glitter in the city,
attracting the admiration of thousands who
would never behold them in the solitude of
the country. The Theatre, the Ball, and the
Masquerade present their nightly attractions.
while they seldom heard of in rural life.
The'devOtee of more questionable pleasures
finds in the city ready facilities of indulgence.
which are entirely removed in the plain and
virtuous organization of country society,"
Whatever the motive this preference given
by so many to city life, is productive of some
of the greatest evils of the present age. In
the fondness of hope that something may
chance to turn up in their favor, hundreds
and thousands precpitate themselves into
towns and cities without preconcerted ar
engagements for regular and permanent en-
ployfnent. 1t is the great law of our being,
| that if we would be either happy or prosper
| ous, we must have employment. physical or
intellectual. This is emphatically true of
| city life But this disprOportOnate rush to
| the city renders such employment impossible:
| no demands of commerce. manufactures or
the mechanic arts can furnish it to the redun-
| dant crowds that pour themselves into our
| cities. Hence that mass of poverty and sui
| tering-for shelter-for fuel-for raiment-
| for bread. which no city ordinances can re-
| lieve. Hence, also, those great mobs and pro-
| cessions through the streets in times of scar
| city demanding employment and subsistence.
| which oftentimes nothing but martial law can
| subdue; and hence, too. that foul and Tester
! ing mass of corruption and vice. which, too
often. afllct and disgrace our over-crOwded
! cities - -
| How delightful it is to turn from the con-
! temptation of these scenes to the calm, con-
| tented. and virtuous life of the country. with
! its comfortable. and sometimes, its magnificent
mansions; with its outstretching lawns and
! landscapes, its churches and school houses,
| its abundant supply of raiment, and its almost
! byundless store of subsistence for man and all
| the animals that minister to either his ne
cessites or pleasure!
| Still | must remind you that the great law
! of employment and labor, applies equally to
country and to city life. 1t is by labor that
| man must work out the great problem of his
! eXistence-labor of the head-labor of the
| heart-and labor of the hand.
! Wherever man has failed to labor, he has
remained a savage, where he has labored
most, he has risen highest in the scale of his
! physical, moral, and intellectual being. If
| one Angel with his flaming sword, drove
| Adam from his Eden, another Angel, though
| disguised in the humble form of Labor, will
! gently lead his descendants back to their
native paradise. Look at the progress they
have already made in that celestial and
! glorious direction. Look backward to the
| dark ages of mans existence. when he was n
mere barbarian. Look at him now, how no.
! bic and majestic he stands with all his temples
! dedicated to learning and piety, and good
! government around him. Once Il savage,
now almost God.
! Be not startled at the holiness of these
| words. The grandeur of what man has
! already done. and is now achieving, must
| plead apologize for the apparent mpiety.-
| He has scanned the Heavens. and almost
numbered the stars. He has gently stolen
| away its lghtnings, and sent them over the
| land and through the deep waters, to convey
his thoughts and wishes around the world
! He has laid hold on another of the elements,
! and dispatched his huge ships in few days
over the widest oceans He has leveled the
| way, and brought forth from their deep and
! hidden recesses the rich treasures they con-
| tanned.
In the majesty of mans civilization and
! progress, the earth, the seas, and the winds.
! all stand subdued and conquered by his pre-
| sence and power; and how animatinG is the
reflection. my cOuntrymen, that i'll all this
Improvement and progress, America, our
/ young and vigorous America, holds SO proud
a pre-eminence Her glorious form of gov
! eminent, stretching like the rainbow of hope
! and of promise from ocean to ocean, gives
| shelter and protection to nearly thirty mil
lions of the sons and daughters Of freedom
| Her luXuriant valleys, repOsing in every
climate, yield in superabundance, every fruit
and grain suited to the subsistence of man
Her mountains teeming with ores, and the
precious metals, give employment to millions
of artisans, and can furnish the long desired
currency of gold and silver the most stable
and unerring standard of values and eXchan'
ges ever devised by the wit of man.
These great advantages of good govern
ment-of climate and soil-of mineral pro
ductiOn-have stimulated the zeal and
quickened the capacities of the American
people, until they stand unsurpassed in agrl
culture, in manufactures in the mechanic
arts, in scientific pursuits, in the learned pro
LESSONS, and indeed, unsurpassed in all thu
elements of national greatness.
But what avais our national greatness, /
we have not national and individual virtue
to inspire us with obedience to law and I
reverence for the glorious Constitution an'
Union under which we live. These are tn
sources OF our uneXampled growth and pros
perity, and with his last breath, every tru
patriot, should fervently pray, that the.
might last and endure for ever.
''Our union of lakes aud union Of lands,
Our union of States, none shall sever,
Our union OF hearts and union of hands,
And the Flag Of our Union for ever"