nse, the poet
was right when he pronounced "an honest man's the noblest work of God."
It is almost inconceivable what an erect and independent spirit this
high endowment communicates to the man, and what a moral intrepidity
and vivifying energy it imparts to his character.... Erected on such a
basis, and built up of such materials, fame is enduring. Such is the
fame of our Washington--of the man "inflexible to ill, and obstinately
just." While, therefore, other monuments, intended to perpetuate
human greatness, are daily mouldering into dust, and belie the proud
inscriptions which they bear, the solid, granite pyramid of his glory
lasts from age to age, imperishable, seen afar off, looming high over
the vast desert, a mark, a sign, and a wonder, for the wayfarers though
this pilgrimage of life.

[Footnote 46: A prominent lawyer and statesman of North Carolina.]

* * * * *

=_Jesse Buel, 1778-1839._= (Manual, p. 504.)

From "The Farmer's Instructor."

=_152._= EXTENT AND DEFECTS OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

We have associated, gentlemen, to increase the pleasures and profits
of rural labor, to enlarge the sphere of useful knowledge, and, by
concentrating our energies, to give them greater effect in advancing the
public good. In no country does the agricultural class bear so great a
proportion to the whole population as in this. In England one-third of
the inhabitants only are employed in husbandry; in France, two-thirds;
in Italy, a little more than three-fourths; while in the United States
the agricultural portion probably exceeds five-sixths. And in no country
does the agricultural population exercise such a controlling political
power, contribute so much to the wealth, or tend so strongly to give an
impress to the character of a nation as in the United States. Hence it
may be truly said of us that our agriculture is our nursing mother,
which nurtures, and gives growth, and wealth, and character to our
country.... Knowing no party, and confined to no sect, its benefits and
its blessings, like dews from heaven, fall upon all.

... Our agriculture is greatly defective. It is susceptible of much
improvement. How shall we effect this improvement? The old are _too old
to learn_, or, rather, to unlearn what have been the habits of their
lives. The young cannot learn as they ought to learn, and as the public
interests require, because they have no suitable school for their
instruction. We