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forms of material industry. You dwell under the brightest sunshine ; 

 you breathe the serenest air; you perform the most healthful labor; 

 you enjoy the most quiet independence ; you possess the truest plenty ; 

 you are invaded by the least perplexing cares ; you live amid the beauty, 

 and under the ever open and benignant eye of Nature ; you have the 

 most undisturbed domestic enjoyment; your lives can be passed, ex- 

 posed to the fewest temptations, in the contemplations and discipline 

 which pertain to good men ; and, as in the eye of Nature you have 

 Uved, so in the eye of Nature you can die, and look with faith and hope 

 to brighter heavens, while your bodies repose in the bosom of that 

 bountiful earth, which has ever been to you as a loving mother. What- 

 ever may be the lot of the rest of us, how prone we are to look for- 

 ward to securing at the last, a quiet home in the country, where we 

 may think our last thoughts, do our last work, and breathe our last 

 breath ! This is the dream of the care-worn man of business, of the 

 wearied statesman, of the poet and the philosopher. The greatest and 

 wisest of our race have desired thus to close their lives : — the Roman 

 Cinciunatus, Washington at Mount Vernon, and Webster at Marshfield, 

 are example*. 



But while we thus honor your calling, is it wrong to remind you of 

 your responsibilities ? While we tell you that you are really the lords 

 of this country, and placed under the most auspicious conditions for your 

 own enjoyment and moral elevation, may we not also tell you that the 

 destinies of your country are in your hands ; and that you who are cul- 

 tivating these fields for the benefit of future generations of laborers, are 

 sowing likewise principles, and planting examples whose fruits they must 

 also gather? 



I feel, Farmei"s of Michigan, that we have a common interest at stake, 

 and that we share similar responsibilities. I speak now as one who 

 has been called upon to take charge of your chief educational institu- 

 tion, and I think, therefore, I may assume to speak also in behalf of 

 the Professors associated with me — in behalf of the Regents, the Super- 

 intendent, the Board of Education, the teachei-s of our various institu- 

 tions, and of all particularly engaged in intellectual laboi', and in the 

 irreat work of education. We have a common interest at stake, and 

 we have responsibilities similar to your own. 



