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who thinks lightly of such inquiries, or who never brings them home to his own bosom, as matters of direct, personal concern, violates every principle of reason and common prudence. Let me press them upon you, my young friends, as demanding your first and chief attention. They are indeed grave inquiries; and light, trifling minds, may reject them because they are so. But they are suggested by the reality of things; and never, without a due consideration of them, can you be qualified for the duties of life, or sustain the responsibilities so soon to come upon you as members of society.

2. Another requisite for meeting the claims of society is intelligence, or a careful cultivation of your minds. In despotic governments, where the subject is a mere vassal, and has no part either in making or executing the laws, ignorance is, no doubt, as the advocates of legitimacy claim, an essential qualification of a good citizen. The less he knows of his rights, the more contented he is to be deprived of them; and the less he understands of duty, the more pliable he is as a mere instrument of ambition and power. Not so in this country. Here every man is a public man. He has an interest in the community, and

exerts an important influence over the interests of others. He is a freeman; and this ought always to mean the same thing as an intelligent man. He possesses the right of suffrage; and in the exercise of that right, he is often called to aid in the election of rulers; to deliberate and act respecting the public welfare; to fill offices of influence and trust, and to perform innumerable duties in the course of life, which can be well performed, only in the possession of an intelligent and well furnished mind. And certainly, whatever. be a man's circumstances, he cannot but be a happier and more useful man, by possessing such a mind.

It is not an extended, critical acquaintance with the sciences, on which I here insist; this must of necessity be confined to a few; but such a measure of knowledge as may be acquired by men of business, by all men who will but make a proper use of their faculties and time. Franklin was a man of business; he was an apprentice boy in a printing office; but by a careful improvement of that time, which by many young men is thrown away, he became one of the wisest statesmen and most distinguished philosophers of his day. Sherman, too, of our own State, was a man

of business; he was a shoemaker; but by self-impulse, by patient, untiring effort, he rose from the bench of the shoemaker, seated himself in the halls of congress, and there took his place with the first.

A small portion of that leisure time which you all possess, and which, by too many, is given to dissipation and idleness, would enable any young man to acquire a very general knowledge of men and things. A judicious economy of that time, for one year, would afford you opportunity to read a great many useful volumes, and to treasure up much useful knowledge. The means of intellectual improvement were never more abundant or accessible to all classes of persons, than at the present day; and I may add, never were there stronger inducements for young men to avail themselves of those means, and to aim at high attainments in knowledge. Society is rapidly advancing in general improvement; the field of enterprise is fast widening, and useful talents of every kind find ample scope for employment. And permit me to remind you, my friends, that, in respect to mental improvement, the present is the most important period of your life. It is, indeed, the only period in which you can enter upon such a course of

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improvement with any hope of success. from the age of fifteen to twenty-five, a young man neglects the cultivation of his mind, he will probably neglect it till the end of life. It during that period he does not form a habit of reading, of observation and reflection, he will never form such a habit; but go through the world, as the dull ass goes to market, none the wiser for all the wonders that are spread around him.

I am the more anxious to impress this subject on your minds, because I consider your usefulness, your present and future happiness, as most intimately connected with it. A young man who has a fondness for books, or a taste for the works of nature and art, is not only preparing to appear with honor and usefulness as a member of society, but is secured from a thousand temptations and evils to which he would otherwise be exposed. He knows what to do with his leisure time. It does not hang heavily on his hands. He has no inducement to resort to bad company, or the haunts of dissipation and vice; he has higher and nobler sources of enjoyment in himself. At pleasure, he can call around him the best of company,-the wisest and greatest men of every age and country—and feast

his mind with the rich stores of knowledge which they spread before him. A lover of good books can never be in want of good society, nor in much danger of seeking enjoyment in the low pleasures of sensuality and vice.

3. Another thing demanded of you by society is an upright and virtuous character. If a young man is loose in his principles and habits; if he lives without plan and without object, spending his time in idleness and pleasure, there is more hope of a fool than of him. He is sure to become a worthless character, and a pernicious member of society. He forgets his high destination as a rational, immortal being; he degrades himself to a level with the brute; and is not only disqualified for all the serious duties of life, but proves himself a nuisance and a curse to all with whom he is connected.

Every unprincipled, wicked man is an enemy of society. And a virtuous community knows how to punish such characters. They are not respected; they are not patronized; confidence and support are withheld from them; and they are left, neglected and despised, to float down with the common herd to perdition.

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