AGRICULTURE.
Thou first of arts, source of domestic ease,
Pride of the land, and patron of the seas,
Thrift Agriculture! lend thy potent aid;
Spread thy green fields where dreary forest's shade;
Where savage men pursue their savage prey,
Let the white flocks in verdant pastures play;
From the bloom'd orchard and the showery vale
Give the rich fragrance to the gentle gale:
Reward with ample boon the labourer's hand,
And poor thy gladdening bounties o'er our land.
Columbia's sons, spurn not the rugged toil;
Your nation's glory is a cultur'd soil.
Rome's Cincinnatus, of illustrious birth,
Increas'd his laurels while he tilled the earth:
E'en China's monarch lays his sceptre down,
Nor deems the task unworthy of the crown.