The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1874-10-23

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1t was to the patriarch Abram, communing with his
Maker amid the peacefuness and surroundings of pas
toia life that God made the promise that in his seed
should all the earth be blessed The call to the proph
ct Elisha came while he ploughng with his oxen
and to Gideon while threshing out his wheat. And
Moses was with his father-in.law's focks ON Mount
HoreD when God appointed him to lead his chosen peo
pie forth from bondage. And he who treads the
autumnal woods comprehendng the import of the WIS.,
ion when he stands before the flaming glory of the
maple, is as much in the presence of God as when
Moses heard from the burning bush on Horeb, stake
thy shoes from of thy feet for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground"
1t not in the fret and fever of the city mart in
the midst of the wrangle and venture of board
that the heart whispers of God and duty and heaven;
but it is in the sweet solitudes and among the natural
beauties and wonders OF the rural landscape, that
| souls go out toward our Creator and Father.
And if you would seek the place where home is de-
veoped in its lovely perfection, where the delights OF
the fresde most enjoyed, where the matrony moth
sainted being to devoted and daughters,
and conjugal life is sweetest and truest you will
look amid the haunts of fashion where jealousy, and
pride and envy and love of display and greed of money
fill and torture the heart but will seek the abodes that
nestle ON the hill sides and in the vales where the
| farmer plies his heaven-blest toll.
Heaven blest say. The Creator has made every ell
ement tributary him. and all the processes of
ture cooperate to his labors with The
very rocks soften their nty hearts to replenish and
reinvgorate his soil the broad ocean yields from its
bowy breast the nourishment of constant evapora-
ton the brooding clouds gather and dissolve in ger
minatng showers the silent night distils its diamond
dew to refresh and begem the plants of his care while
the sun daily pours its flood OF warmth to ructify his
| fields with emerald, imparts golden lusre to his
grain, eoors his vintage with purple and amber. aud
tnts his orchards with the varying shades of yellow
and russell and vermilOn He goes forth to his labor
alonga pathway carpeted with verdure and irsgrant
| with flowers, while the blue sky sheds its full glory
about him; and is comorted in his toll by zephyrs that
fan his beaded brow, and by the melody of natures
songsters and the music hum of the honey-aden lee.
And while the pursuit of agriculture fills the foun-
ains of religious feeling, personal purity and domestic
virtue it is also the chief of that abiding love
of country OH which the State most securely rests for
its defence and maintenance. stake in thes soil IT,
tie to land, originates that permanent interest in ones
country, which the mere of personal ctattels
does not have; and H. shows that political virtue
and political reeaum have been firmly established
have held title to the soil and protec ted and
honored in its cultivation. When the foundations Of
Roman virtue and Roman greatness laid Zach cit
izen was allotted parcel of land aud agriculture
an honored employment. 1t was in this stag Of Ro-
man history, that Cincinnatus left his pillow to the
State, and Cato, the great censor write ofagri
cul luIal works When however, eastern luxury under.
mined the virtue of Rome agriculture fell irtO dsre
pue, and the tllage was left to slaves.
And so, likewise, in feudal times when the thar of
the SOIL held his land by an uncertain tenure and Rv
kept in condition of serfdom, the epoch one Of
war anu rapne, wherein the mobiles roted in the rib -
ute exaced from inferior orders the were en-
shaved and spiress, and popular right PROSTATE.
lintat Runnymede royal encroachmcnt was resis ed
and concessions and guarantees wruug from the
grasping monarch that still adorn public liberty,
and are enslrned among the gores OF our free ins
tutions AT that time the Barons the landed pro-
prieors and represented the spht that is born of the
union between individual dignity and stake in thd
SOIL ana under Its impulse they boldly made issue wth
King John, and secured, the achievement of thei
proves, the great Magma Charta. TErF \
And coming down to the history of our indehtli.s
dence and of the establishment Of our Republican
eminent, it is again apparent, that IT was mainly r
the instincts of an advanced manhood, coupled tfas
those which spring from ownership in the soil al & Is
cure the homestead that ioreiathers, com N
mainly of sturdy farmers, cnunciated that meme. q
sentiment, born Of the rights of freehold and fats ~
tyranny: "No taxation without representation "fS ~
tmen which is the cornerstone of our political 80 ~
and is the underlying principle of enduring free
tuons. &4 q
1t was in contemplation of the homes, the vrtlf ~
the patriotism offs lch class of people, that Sco IN
gifted bard broke forth into that go wing aspA 4
whose sentiments we may apply to our own ri ssge
land slA4Hsfka
30 Scotia My dear, my native soil, &N+ Es
For whom my warmest wish to heaven Is st'.1t 80
Long may thy of rustic toll go
BE best with health, and peace, and sweet con-
tent;
And o! may Heaven their simple lives prevent
From luXury's contagion, weak aud vile;
Them howeer crowns and coronets be sent
virtuous populace may rise the while,
Aud stand wall of fire around their much loved
Isle" %,