THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



191 



"Rugged in health, abrupt in speech, 

 kind-hearted and loyal, the memory of 

 this old bachelor-farmer who loved and 

 served his native town, will not soon be 

 forgotten-" 



He stood high in public esteem and 

 in his earlier life was for several years 

 Judge of Probate and a member of the 

 Legislature. He was the founder of 

 the Stamford Hospital and a contribu- 

 tor to various causes, the whole ambi- 

 tion of his life evidently being to do 

 good to some one. to make some one 

 happy. 



From the point of view of The Ag- 



ing of the wind was music to him. He 

 made every foot of land on which lie 

 trod sacred to himself. He loved the 

 fields as a companion. He knew the 

 stone walls and could tell their history. 

 He talked of the days when he was ac- 

 tively engaged in building them and 

 told of his labors in making the stone 

 foundation for his own house and re- 

 lated it not as a hardship but as a joy- 

 He was a keen observer of birds and 

 knew every one that frequented his 

 farm. He also knew the insects, not 

 merely from the helpful and injurious 

 point of view but from real interest in 



PIE DEARLY LOVED HIS OXEN. 



assiz Association he was an ideal Mem- 

 ber in his spirit of service to others and 

 in what one may term his "intensive 

 simplicity" in nearness to nature. It 

 was an inspiration to observe his fond- 

 ness for the so-called simple things of 

 the farm. To him his voke of oxen was 

 the very centre of all delightful forms 

 of animal life. He loved them as one 

 should love a human beinsr. He talked 

 with them, argued with them, praised 

 them, and told his friends of their won- 

 derful qualities and intelligence. 



He w r as a keen observer of weather 

 conditions and really enthusiastic over 

 a sunrise or a sunset. Even the sigfh- 



them. He would listen to anything re 

 garding them as if entertained by a 

 marvelous tale, so keen was his interest 

 in everything that pertained to Mother 

 Nature's productions on his farm. His 

 love for flowers, both from the aesthetic 

 and utility point of view, greatly im- 

 pressed any one who talked with him 

 on these subjects. 



His fondness for a certain spring of 

 pure water was so intense that to the 

 average person it was almost fanatical. 

 He believed that pure water direct from 

 Mother Earth contained the real elixir 

 of life, and every day he visited the lit- 

 tle spring on his farm and insisted upon 



