Nowhere else, it
seems to me, do people work more for the present, less for the future,
or live so commonly up to the extent of their means. If we build houses,
they are generally of wood, and hardly calculated to outlast the
builder. If we plant trees, they are generally Lombardy poplars, that
spring up of a sudden, give no more shade than a broom stuck on end, and
grow old with their planters. Still, however, I believe all this has
a salutary and quickening influence on the character of the people,
because it offers another spur to activity, stimulating it not only
by the hope of gain, but the necessity of exertion to remedy passing
inconveniences. Thus the young heir, instead of stepping into the
possession of a house completely finished, and replete with every
convenience--an estate requiring no labor or exertion to repair its
dilapidations, finds it absolutely necessary to bestir himself to
complete what his ancestor had only begun, and thus is relieved from the
tedium and temptations of idleness.
But you can always tell when you get among the Dutch and the Quakers,
for there you perceive that something has been done for posterity. Their
houses are of stone, and built for duration, not for show. If a German
builds a house, its walls are twice as thick as others--if he puts down
a gate-post, it is sure to be nearly as thick as it is long.
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