dily strength. Were it not so, there would be
nothing to induce the mason to spend many years in learning a trade at
which he could earn no higher wages than the man who was simply
qualified to carry lime in a hod, or to roll a wheelbarrow.

The wages of labor in different employments vary with the constancy and
inconstancy of employment. Employment is much more constant in some
trades than in others. Many trades can be carried on only in
particular states of weather, and seasons of the year; and if the
workmen who are employed in these cannot easily find employment in
others during the time they are thrown out of work, their wages must be
proportionally raised. A journeyman weaver, shoemaker, or tailor may
reckon, unless trade is dull, upon obtaining constant employment; but
masons, bricklayers, pavers, and in general all those workmen who carry
on their business in the open air, are liable to constant
interruptions. Their wages, accordingly, must be sufficient to
maintain them while they are employed, and also when they are
necessarily idle.

From the preceding observations it is evident that those who receive
the highest wages are not, when the cost of their education, and the
chances of their success, are taken into account, really better paid
than those who receive the lowest. The wages earned by the different
classes of workmen are equal, not when each individual earns the same
number of dollars in a given space of time, but when each is paid in
proportion to the severity of the labor he has to perform, and to the
degree of previous education and skill it requires. So long as each
individual is allowed to employ himself as he pleases, we may be
assured that the rate of wages in different employments will be
comparatively equal.

SELECTION XIX

COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE OCEAN; OR,
THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE

1. O Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble,
When Liberty's form stands in view,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

When borne by the red, white and blue,
When borne by the red, white and blue,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.

2. When war winged its wide desolation.
And threatened the land to deform,
The ark then of f