As a people descended from the English stock, we inherit much of the ardent love of rural life and its pursuits which belongs to that nation; but our peculiar position, in a new world that required a population full of enterprise and energy to subdue and improve its vast territory, has, until lately, left but little time to cultivate a taste for Rural Embellishment. But in the older states, as wealth has accumulated, the country become populous, and society more fixed in its character, a return to those simple and fascinating enjoyments to be found in country life and rural pursuits, is witnessed on every side. And to this innate feeling, out of which grows a strong attachment to natal soil, we must look for a counterpoise to the great tendency towards constant change, and the restless spirit of emigration, which form part of our national character; and which, though to a certain extent highly necessary to our national prosperity, are, on the other hand, opposed to social and domestic happiness. "In the midst of the continual movement which agitates a democratic community," says the most philosophical writer who has yet discussed our institutions, "the tie which unites one generation to another is relaxed or broken; every man readily loses the trace of the ideas of his forefathers, or takes no care about them."
