Oh, the country is the place for peace, health,
beauty, and innocence. I love it, I was born in it. I lived the
greater part of my life there, and I look forward to die in it.
"How different from town life is that of the country! There are duties
to be performed in-door and out-door, and the inmates assemble round
their breakfast-table, refreshed by sleep and invigorated by the cool
air, partake of their simple, plain, and substantial meal, with the
relish of health, cheerfulness, and appetite. The open window admits
the fresh breeze, in happy ignorance of dust, noise, or fashionable
darkness. The verandah defies rain or noon-day sun, and employment
affords no room for complaint that the day is hot, the weather
oppressive, the nerves weak, or the digestion enfeebled. There can be
no happiness where there is an alternation of listlessness and
excitement. They are the two extremes between which it resides, and
that locality to my mind is the country. Care, disease, sorrow, and
disappointment are common to both. They are the lot of humanity; but
the children of mammon, and of God, bear them differently.
"I didn't intend to turn preacher, Doctor, but I do positively
believe, if I hadn't a been a clockmaker, dear old Minister would have
made me one. I don't allot, though, I would have taken in Slickville,
for I actilly think I couldn't help waltzing with the galls, which
would have put our folks into fits, or kept old Clay, clergymen like,
to leave sinners behind me.
Pages:
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482