1. We have hitherto sketched the outlines of many of the peculiar ideas which animate the American system of government. The list of topics is not complete, nor can it be made so without far exceeding the limits of a school book. Those who desire to know more may follow up this study through many volumes of history, political science and law, and then perceive that there is still much to be learned. We hope, however, that enough has been shown in this little work to excite the young citizen to push forward to a higher plane of knowledge: enough to suggest to all readers the grave responsibilities they sustain as voters under the American system. For it is upon the personal character of the citizens that the whole political and legal edifice rests. If the public are corrupt, so will the government be. If the people are careless of their public duties, knaves (or fools, the tools of knaves) will surely control the public destinies. If the people lose the sense of justice, the bench will no longer administer it. If they become fond of military glory, the shock of arms and cries of the wounded will soon drown the voice of industry. If they patronize a flagitious press, the press will demoralize them in turn. If they cease the practice of Christian charity, strife and proscription will soon displace peace and good will among men. All these evils, or others of similar nature, have from time immemorial overtaken those nations whose people, enervated by luxury or intoxicated by prosperity, have given the reins to their individual passions, and thus dry-rotted the virtue of society. 2. It is a maxim in natural philosophy that there is no particle of matter, however small, but it affects every other body of matter in the universe, however large. So it is in the American commonwealth; in which there is no person, however humble, who does not influence in some degree the entire community. Yet no one person in a republic is responsible for the acts of all: he must answer only for his own. Can you not see at once, that if every citizen always acted under the sense of personal responsibility, the acts of the public would necessarily be reasonable and just? 3. We come now to consider what principles should actuate each individual, in so regulating his own conduct that he may be worthy of the exalted name of an American. To you, young man, we especially address this discussion; for in a few years youth will become manhood, and upon you individually, and on no one else, will devolve your share of the destinies of this great nation. THE DIGNITY OF LABOR. 4. You have heard the expression, "the dignity of labor," but you have probably not realized the meaning of it. If your parents are poor, and have been obliged to work on a farm, or in a factory, store or shop, for wages so low that they could hardly feed you; surrounded by ignorant, perhaps vicious, fellow-laborers; you have doubtless thought hardly of their lot, and wondered what the politicians meant who came for votes, and talked of the dignity of labor. And if you are the child of wealth, accustomed to look down upon menials and mechanics; to prize a soft hand and fine clothes as the marks of the "gentleman," you have learned to despise labor as something beneath the level of your standing in society. But both these notions are fatal errors, relics of monarchical traditions-false in fact, dangerous in their tendencies, and totally opposed to the American idea. 5. The American doctrine is, that all labor is honorable-labor of the hand as well as of the head. It is only with labor of some kind that man is able to pay the world for his living. Every one must somehow get food, clothing and shelter, or he cannot live. But he can do this only in one of two ways: either he must provide for his own wants, or some one else must do it for him. If the latter, then the recipient of such favors, having little or nothing to do, is not only a burden upon whoever supports him, but is a useless member of society. His faculties rust for want of use; his passions take possession of him, for he must needs amuse himself; idleness breeds vice; vice leads to crime; and by and by the State will very likely be charged with his support as a vagrant, a drunkard, a gambler, or a criminal. "Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do." On the other hand, whoever maintains in idleness a person able to support himself, is burdened with more than his share of responsibility. His rights are invaded, for the other does not so enjoy his liberty as to permit his father |