Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/288

278 adorning ourſelves with fine clothes, poſſeſſing fine furniture, with elegant houſes, &c. is not, by ſtrongly inciting to labour and induſtry, the occaſion of producing a greater value than is conſumed in the gratification of that deſire. The agriculture and fiſheries of the United States are the great ſources of our increaſing wealth. He that puts a ſeed into the earth is recompenced, perhaps, by receiving forty out of it; and he who draws a fiſh out of our water, draws up a piece of ſilver. Let us (and there is no doubt but we ſhall) be attentive to theſe, and then the power of rivals, with all their reſtraining and prohibiting acts, cannot much hurt us. We are ſons of the earth and ſeas, and, like Antæus in the fable, if in wreſtling with a Hercules we now and then, receive a fall, the touch of our parents will communicate to us freſh ſtrength and vigour to renew the conteſt.