26 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



took early possession of our young minds, and with it were 

 associated all the attractions of the farm, of the forest, and 

 the waters, the beauty and melody of birds, and the activ- 

 ity and instinct of animals. In a word, we were by birth, 

 by education, and choice, country boys ; and we honored 

 our rural origin by adopting the amusements and varieties 

 of exercise which belong peculiarly to the country. 



