THE ABATOR.
411
EXTRACTSFltOMTHE ADDRESS OF
FRANKLIN MINOR) ESQ., BEFORE THE
VIRGINIA STATE AGRICULTURAL SO
CIETY, AT ITS FAIR, NOVEMBER, 1835.
The moral obstacles which impede tho march of
agricultural improvement are much more serious
and insurmountable than the physical ones, be
cause the minds of men are far more perverse
than the ways of nature. Among the obstacles of
this kind I note, as first in magnitude nnd impor
tance, the low rejntle in tchich tcork is held.
Every farmer who hath sons and daughters ought
to engrave oyer the .vestibule of his front .door in
large jetters, u Work alone is honorable.1' Hon
est, faithful, enduring work, cither of mind or body,
is the only aristocracy a free republic should over
acknowledge. They are the true Nobles of the
land who do best their appointed work of body
or mind." Woe to tho land in vach the loafer
hath more of honor t! n tva laborer. By loafer
I mean ever I u j nothings, whether rich or
poor,' hi"! . j young or old. No man, and
mos t ' : j fanner, has a right to be idle." This
ctr j produced a man whin the world had
of each an one. to whom, if to any, this do.
i:j right might have belonged a man whose
no I need not call, your hearts anticipate ine
i'.;:.t name which
"High o'er the wrecks of men shall stand sublime
A column in the melancholy waste,
(Its cities crumbled, and its glories past,)
A monument amid the solitude of time."
But he did not claim the drone's, right. His
glory ever was to do his "daily work of body or
'f XUIUU appoinicu, wiiemur it suuiiiiuuvu uiui iu
lead embattled hosts in freedom's cause, to lay the
foundations of a new government in honesty, wis
dom and patriotism or to pursue the humbler
occupations of a farmer. They know not all his
glory who know him only in tho tented field or
solemn cabinet. His agricultural letters, his farm
journals, his directions to his managers, his care
of his slaves, in short his attention to all the min
uti of farm work, declare his dignity and honor,
no less than the loftier deeds which crowned his
bW with wreaths of undying glory.
But we needed not this high and noble example
to provo iho dignity of enduring work. Work is
honoraoio lmiseii, occausc n mc jhi-uv
that system by which God created and upholds the
universe becausot is necessary to the full en
joyment and development of the powers of the
body arid the faculties of the mind with which man
is endowed and because it is our duty to oursel vc.tf,
our children and our country a duty which noi.o
can neglect and hope for peace. There is ndhor.
or, there can be no, happincv without work. If
the sluggard say that he finds enjoyment in sloth,
I leave him with his rival the hog, than which l.e
is so far more worthless as ho has neither bristles
on hi3 back nor bacon in his hams. Work ishon-'
orable in all men. The Doctor, the Lawyer, the
Merchant, the Mechanic find their dignity nnd
their honor, as well as their prosperity in the fidel
ity with which they do their daily "'work. Neither,
the character nor the scene of our work can strip
it of its dignity, if we do it tccll and in a faithful
spirit. When Epamiuondas had conquered tho
foci of his country, and won for himself immortal
glory, his'envious enemies in order to affront and
degrade him, elected him 'scavenger of the streets.1
He accepted the office, and discharged the dutic
of it faithfully. Tho glory was his, tho shame re
coiled upon his enemies.
All work faithfully done is honorable. But
some sorts of work are more agreeable than other
sorts. In this respect, which can be compared with
ours? In the open field and shady forest at ea'.
ly dawn and dewy eve amidst the carols of birds
and the music of nature surrounded bv all that
is lovely and sublime who hath so sweet 'a 'work as
the farmer? May we not he pardoned if we some
times exult over the pent up Lawyers, Merchants
and Mechanics, who toil in envious walls, with no
songs, no dew-drops, no sunshine? Oh ! tho fai
mcr has a noble and pleasant work. Why it in is
work in low repute ? Why is it thought genteel to
have nothing to do ? There is a screw I0030 some
where in our moral system, else so false a notion,
so vile and pernicious a heresy, could never havo
found a place in it.
It has been said that the existence of slavery
among us makes work degrading. If this idea
was entertained, only in that land of isms which
lies North of us, I would not notice it. But some
of our own sensible people have sanctioned this
erroneous opinion. Even admitting slaves to be
degraded, (which I by no means will do except for
tho argument's wake) I cannot at all comprehend,
how their doing a thing, in itself honorable or in
different can make it degrading in others to do tho
same thiug, when duty calls on them to do it.
Base men do such things every day without deterr
ing the good from doing the same things. Dr.
Vbter ordered fnt turhcr for his dinner the da?