rself, for pecuniary support; and to
be in this respect, independent. In a country where the general rule is
that a person shall rise,--if he rise at all,--by his own merit, such a
resolution is indispensable. It is usually idle to be looking out for
support from some other quarter. Suppose you should obtain a place of
office or trust through the friendship, favor, or affection of others;
what then? Why, you hold your post at uncertainties. It may be taken
from you at almost any hour. But if you depend on yourself alone, in
this respect, your mountain stands strong, and cannot very easily be
moved.

He who lives upon any thing except his own labor, is incessantly
surrounded by rivals. He is in daily danger of being out-bidden; his
very bread depends upon caprice, and he lives in a state of never
ceasing fear. His is not, indeed, the dog's life, '_hunger_ and
idleness,' but it is worse; for it is 'idleness with _slavery_;' the
latter being just the price of the former.

Slaves, are often well _fed_ and decently _clothed_; but they dare not
_speak_. They dare not be suspected even to _think_ differently from
their master, despise his acts as much as they may;--let him be tyrant,
drunkard, fool, or all three at once, they must either be silent, or
lose his approbation. Though possessing a thousand times his knowledge,
they yield to his assumption of superior understanding; though knowing
it is they who, in fact, do all that he is paid for doing, it is
destruction to them to _seem as if they thought_ any portion of the
service belonged to themselves.

You smile, perhaps, and ask what all this tirade against slavery means.
But remember, there is slavery of several kinds. There is _mental_
slavery as well as bodily; and the former is not confined to any
particular division of the United States.

Begin, too, with a determination to labor through life. There are many
who suppose that when they have secured to themselves a competence,
they shall sit with folded arms, in an easy chair, the rest of their
days, and enjoy it. But they may be assured that this will never do.
The very fact of a person's having spent the early and middle part of
life in active usefulness, creates a necessity, to the body and mind,
of its continuance. By this is not meant that men should labor as
_hard_ in old age, even in proportion to their strength, as in early
life. Youth requires a great variety and amount of action, maturity not
so much, and