cate him in the arts and sciences of civilized life, and who will venture to say that, when he grows to manhood, he may not rival by his genius a Watt, an Arkwright, or even a Newton? It may be true, indeed, that the peculiar habits of a parent's mind, as well as his mode of living, may affect, to a considerable extent, the mental faculties of his offspring; and it is difficult, if not impossible, to estimate the degree of capacity or incapacity which this may produce. That national character depends, in some measure, on these influences, there is reason to believe; but, whatever may be the differences thus effected, let it be remembered, that these are, in reality, part of the elements which enter into the question we are considering;—that it is not the state of a particular generation of which we speak, but the result of the discipline of centuries; and could it even be proved, that a particular race communicates its own stupidity or intelligence to the mind of its infant offspring, antecedent to all education, this would not essentially alter the case; it would only remove the effect of discipline further back. To whatever distance backwards we suppose the influence to extend, by which character and talent are affected, still, originally, mind is the same; and it is, after all, a peculiar mode of training which merely causes the difference.

This being admitted, let us observe the differences between the savage and the civilized man. Were we to take the extremes of society, we might draw the comparison, between the educated inhabitant of England, and the rude native of New Holland,-a naked, grovelling, brutal savage, without settled habitation, without even the storing instinct belonging to many of the inferior animals ; depending from day to day on the precarious produce of the land or sea; sometimes laboring under the pressure of extreme destitution, and continually exhibiting all the selfishness and ferocity which the cravings of hunger sometimes produce on the minds of persons more civilized.

But we need not descend to so degrading and mortifying an exhibition of human nature. If we look at the wild Indian tribes of North America, and compare them

with their neighbors of European extraction, natives of the same country and the same climate, the contrast will be sufficiently striking. For two centuries, they have lived in the immediate vicinity of civilized men; but they have made scarcely any advancement in civilized life.

They roam their native woods in search of fruits, roots, or wild animals, to satisfy the cravings of hunger; neither practising the arts of agriculture, nor even, to any extent, the less artificial occupation of the shepherd state. Their wigwams, rudely constructed, serve merely for shelter from the rain and cold, and contain little of what deserves the name either of furniture, or of domestic implements. The men, when not engaged in the necessary toils of the chase, bask indolently in the sun, while they compel their women to bear the whole labor of domestic drudgery. For their clothing, they are indebted to their intercourse with the whites, who exchange cloth for the furs of their native animals; and if they show any ingenuity in handicraft, it is excited by their desire either for this necessary, or for weapons by which they may secure their prey; or, still more powerfully perhaps, by their passion for spirituous liquors, with which they render their debased minds more brutal than ever.

Turn now to the more active and enlightened intruders into their original haunts, and what do you behold? You see, as the fruit of their skill and industry, the trees which encumbered their fertile soil, levelled, to give place to fields teeming with vegetable wealth, and furnishing abundant supplies for the manufacture of food and clothing; while these very trees themselves, are converted into a thousand ingenious instruments, and means of comfort and transportation; sometimes affording materials for substantial and commodious habitations; sometimes fashioned into implements of husbandry; sometimes forming machinery, which a thousand-fold facilitates the labors of the manufacturer; and sometimes, in another form, descending into the mighty deep, tracking the restless ocean, and giving rise to a useful and humanizing intercourse between the remotest corners of the earth. Meanwhile, flocks and herds crop the luxuriant herbage, to increase the means

of comfortable subsistence; horses give their strength to draw the plough and the wain; roads and canals form means of ready communication; and, to complete the whole, steam lends its wonderful powers, by which the most mighty and complicated machinery is put in motion, barges ply against wind and stream, and carriages move along the solid earth with the velocity of an eagle! Observe the results of these means and appliances. Cities, palaces, and temples, rise on every hand. The earth becomes vital with a crowded and industrious population, who are buoyant with hope, and noble with intelligence. The arts and sciences flourish, and hand in hand lead on the human intellect. Invention becomes rife, and genius triumphs. Who can refuse, in all this, to recognise the unseen Hand which carries "the mighty process for

the formation of mind !"'*

on

THIRTEENTH WEEK-THURSDAY.

GENERAL

BE

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT.-CONTRAST TWEEN SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE RELATIVE TO DOMESTIC COMFORTS AND CONVENIENCES.

IF from the improvements made by the progress of the arts, in regard to agricultural produce, and the facilities obtained for manufacturing industry, and commercial intercourse, we turn to the consideration of the domestic condition of man in a state of civilized society, we shall not be less struck with the change which industry and ingenuity have effected. Contrast the habitation of a man in his advanced state, with that of a savage. The one is a wretched hovel, carelessly and unskilfully raised by himself, and the members of his family, as a mere place of shelter from the inclemency of the seasons; the other is

*[But great is our condemnation, and great should be our shame, that with all our superior attainments and advantages, we have not treated the poor Indians with more justice, forbearance, and humanity.-AM. ED.]

the result of the combined labors of thousands, artfully contrived, to supply numerous natural and artificial wants, and to contribute largely to convenience and luxury.

with

In the residence of a country gentleman of moderate fortune, for example, what taste and elegance are displayed even in the exterior appearance of the building, and in the grounds with which it is surrounded. On considering how the work has been produced, we are led to admire, not merely the consummate skill and contrivance, but the wonderful effect of combination. Examine the materials of which it is constructed. The stone has been excavated from the quarry, has been conveyed in carts, has been artfully hewn, has been built by rule of level, line, and square. The lime, which forms the cement, has not only been quarried and conveyed, like the stone, but it has been calcined in the kiln, subdued by water, and tempered with sand. In these various processes, what numerous hands, and what different skill have been employed. I do not merely allude to the quarrymen, the lime-burners, the carters, and the masons; but to a far more numerous class, by whose skill and industry the tools and instruments, which they carry on their varied labors, were produced. Think of the iron of which the tools are made, how it was dug out of the bowels of the earth, and smelted, and formed into bars, and sold, and resold, before it was fashioned on the blacksmith's anvil. In every one of these processes, how many combinations of human labor and ingenuity were required! The coals, for instance, which formed the fire by which the lime was burned, and the iron smelted,-what art and toil must have been called into action, before they were extracted from their native bed, hundreds of fathoms, perhaps, below the surface of the earth; the ropes, the buckets, the steam-engine, and the many other instruments employed in that one operation,-what additional employment must these have given to the rope-maker, the cooper, the engineer, the mechanic! You may go further, and take into account the ingenuity and labor expended on these very instruments,—the materials of which they were formed, the furnaces in which these materials were extracted from the ore,-the

foundries, the workshops, the warehouses. But we lose ourselves in the multiplicity and complicated nature of such operations.

Yet all this astonishing expenditure of skill and industry was necessary, in the simple erection of the walls of the building. It had yet to be roofed with timber, artfully joined together, and covered with slates or lead; to be floored in its various stories; to be furnished with stairs; to be divided into apartments; to be defended from the external air by doors and windows. In these operations, how numerous, again, are the necessary combinations! It would be tedious to analyze them; but a single glance is. sufficient to convince us of their vast extent.

The house is erected and inhabited. Enter one of the rooms, and you shall observe, in that small compass, the work of a thousand artisans and manufacturers. The chairs and tables are formed of wood, which has crossed the seas in ships, themselves the work of hundreds of skilful men. But suppose that foreign wood conveyed to port, it had to undergo numerous processes before it was formed into furniture; the sawyer has cut it, the cabinetmaker has formed and polished it, the upholsterer has prepared the stuffed seats; and how many tools, fashioned by many hands, must have been employed in these operations. If we look at the other articles that replenish the room, its carpet, its mirrors, its pictures, the paper which adorns the walls, the marble which shines in the chimneypiece, the grate with its appurtenances, there seems no end to the combinations of human art and industry, which we discover in the furnishings of this one apartment.

If, pursuing the same method of inquiry, we were to attend to the various articles peculiar to different apartments, the dining-room, the drawing-room, the bed-rooms, the library, the kitchen, what new causes of wonder and admiration would appear, till we should become quite bewildered in the contemplation. The furniture, the beds, the books, the culinary utensils, would each form a separate theme of interesting consideration; and, at every turn, we should be inclined to ask ourselves, do the framers and possessors of these things belong, indeed, to the