institution, in
which the life of the individual is to a great extent absorbed, in order
to preserve and perfect that of the race. But I wish to show at what a
sacrifice this advantage is at present obtained, and to suggest that we
may possibly so live as to secure all the advantage without suffering
any of the disadvantage. What mean ye by saying that the poor ye have
always with you, or that the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge?

"As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to
use this proverb in Israel.

"Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul
of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

When I consider my neighbors, the farmers of Concord, who are at least
as well off as the other classes, I find that for the most part they
have been toiling twenty, thirty, or forty years, that they may become
the real owners of their farms, which commonly they have inherited with
encumbrances, or else bought with hired money--and we may regard one
third of that toil as the cost of their houses--but commonly they have
not paid for them yet. It is true, the encumbrances sometimes outweigh
the value of the farm, so that the farm itself becomes one great
encumbrance, and still a man is found to inherit it, being well
acquainted with it, as he says. On applying to the assessors, I am
surprised to learn that they cannot at once name a dozen in the town who
own their farms free and clear. If you would know the history of these
homesteads, inquire at the bank where they are mortgaged. The man who
has actually paid for his farm with labor on it is so rare that every
neighbor can point to him. I doubt if there are three such men in
Concord. What has been said of the merchants, that a very large
majority, even ninety-seven in a hundred, are sure to fail, is equally
true of the farmers. With regard to the merchants, however, one of them
says pertinently that a great part of their failures are not genuine
pecuniary failures, but merely failures to fulfil their engagements,
because it is inconvenient; that is, it is the moral character that
breaks down. But this puts an infinitely worse face on the matter, and
suggests, beside, that probably not even the other three succeed in
saving their souls, but are perchance bankrupt in a worse sense than
they who fail honestly. Bankruptcy and repudiation are the springboards
from which much of