WEST OXFORD SOCtETT. Jg]^ 



and spins and weaves by machinery, at a cheap rate, all the various 

 fabrics in use. The mothers and daughters of the household are 

 now left to indulge in labors more congenial with their natures, and 

 in the refinements of society. 



Science and art have indirectly lent their aid in improving and 

 adorning the home of the farmer, in the erection of tasteful and com" 

 fortable dwellings as a substitute for the cold and ill-shaped houses 

 ■of a former generation. 



Science has invented that common, though wonderful instrument, 

 the mariner's compass. Not only the sailor is guided unerringly 

 over the broad expanse of ocean, but the surveyor v/ho searches for 

 new homes in the wilderness, depends on the direction of the needle 

 to lot out the farmers boundaries. But science is still further needed 

 'even here. Perhaps this town was surveyed ninety-five years ago. 

 Its lots were numbered, and its angles measured and recorded, but 

 the surveyor, who to-ddy goes to trace out those original boundaries, 

 finds that the record does not agree with his instrument. The man 

 •of science modestly but confidently points out a law, that there has 

 been for a century past, a variation of the needle to ,the west in- 

 "Creasing at a certain rate each year. This fact at once prevents a 

 multitude of neighborhood quarrels and interminable lawsuits. 



Science, by means of expeditions fitted out for scientific men, has 

 explored the icy regions of the north, and established the geogra- 

 phy of our continent, and has told the hardy sailor where he can go 

 to catch the seals and whales whereA^ith to supply our wants. It 

 has brought to the knowledge of the farmer the various productions 

 of other lands, and left him to choose and experiment upon, and 

 adapt them to the climate of kis home. Though there be many ex- 

 periments that fail, yet if one new plant one-half as valuable to us 

 as the potato, or Indian corn, can be discovered, it v/ill at once add 

 millions to the value of the country. 



Science has explored the depths of the ocean, and told us where 

 we can lay a telegraphic wire by which to connect the eastern and 

 western continents. Yet these discoveries by science are usually 

 slow and expensive. The steam engine was at first a mere toy, and 

 it has cost more than any city in Maine is worth, to bring it to its 

 present efficient condition. I well remember when a railroad was 

 building from Baltimore to Washington, and it was thought a great 



