intellectuality, genuine sensibility, a development of the finer
affections, and positive Christian virtue. When a man is a man, he
never "tucks in grub." When a man lies down for rest and sleep he
does not "go to roost." To a man, marriage is something more than
"hitching on," and a dirty shirt is a good deal more of a
"surprise" to a man's back than a clean one. There is no doubt
about the fact that a life whose whole energies are expended in
hard bodily labor is such a life as God never intended man should
live. I do not wonder that men fly from this life and gather into
the larger villages and cities, to get some employment which will
leave them leisure for living. Life was intended to be so adjusted
that the body should be the servant of the soul, and always
subordinate to the soul. It was never meant by the Creator that
the soul should always be subordinate to the body, or sacrificed
to the body.

I am perfectly aware that I am not revealing pleasant truths. We
are very much in the habit of glorifying rural life, and praising
the intelligence and virtue of rural populations; and if they
believe us, they cannot receive what I write upon this subject
with pleasure. But the question which interests these people most
is not whether my statements are pleasant but whether they are
true. Is the philosophy sound? Are the facts as they are
represented to be? Does a severe and constant tax upon the
muscular system repress mental development, and tend to make life
hard and homely and unattractive? Is this the kind of life
generally which the American farmer leads? Is not the American
farmer, generally, a man who has sacrificed a free and full mental
development, and all his finer sensibilities and affections, and a
generous and genial family and social life, and the dignities and