mode of expression may, perchance, appear singular; but there is, in reality, nothing extravagant in it. "Cultivate men!" It is a correct expression, and a real thing. Men cultivate fields; they cultivate cattle, and trees, and birds, and fish; so, too, they can cultivate men.
The old Romans understood something about this; with an iron hand the Spartans tried their skill at it; so, too, still more and more wisely, the English in modern times; and some few other nationalities. But, as for the world's history in general, alas! how few know any thing about training and fashioning men! Among the vast millions of human beings on earth, and of all its divers nations, what a minimum of men! Vast hordes of male inhabitants there are, in this country and in that; but that largeness of soul—that quick, glad recognition of noble principles—that love of and reverence for fixed and eternal truth—that eager desire for the work of life, which mark and characterize men—true men,—in how many of the human frame and form, in any land, can you discover them?
And yet you can easily sec the radical necessity, in this respect, in two ways. For, first it is only men who can make a country. You may have rich, productive fields, vast mines of silver, of gold, and of diamonds; a genial clime; noble rivers, capacious harbors, nay, even large masses of inhabitants; and yet you may fail as a nation. That requires citizens with large, expanded minds, a fine culture, with natural or acquired manners, and a constant delicate honor; giving strength and solidity at home, and fair
