No. 4.] « COUNTEY LIFE. 113 



one of the representatives of these " whites," in the person 

 of Professor Mies of Cambridge. You are soon to listen to 

 another, in the person of Dr. Conwell of Philadelphia. The 

 names of these distinguished gentlemen are above and be- 

 yond the reach of any magazine writer or of myself on the 

 scale of learning, philanthropy and religion. It may be in- 

 teresting to you to know that these two gentlemen were 

 born and reared in the little town of Worthinsrton, about 

 twenty miles to the north of this town. It is an interest- 

 ing fact also that at the commencement exercises at the 

 Agricultural College last June the two Grinnell prizes were 

 awarded to two Middlefield boys, a little town to the east 

 of this, with four hundred and eighty-six inhabitants. It 

 seems to me that in this the problem of evolution is being at 

 least partially solved. I can suggest no better thing for the 

 hill towns to do than to keep on evolving. 



Many of you probably know that Dr. Conwell is at the 

 head of the largest institution of its kind in this country, if 

 not in the world. I thank God that, with all the cares that 

 fall upon him in his great work, he forgets not the home of 

 his father and mother, he forgets not the teaching-s of his 

 boyhood and early life, he forgets not the hills from whence 

 Cometh his strength, and he forgets not the influence of the 

 State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts. 



Ladies and gentlemen. Dr. Russell H. Conwell hardly 

 needs an introduction to a western Massachusetts audience. 

 I have the pleasure of presenting him to you as the speaker 

 of the afternoon, upon the subject of " Country life." 



