36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



u highly illustrated and beautitul work, costing fifteen dol- 

 lars, found more than forty purchasers in Sheffield; and the 

 "State Atlas," costing twelve dollars, thirty more. I was told 

 of a man in Southington, Conn., when I visited that town, 

 some years ago, who found time, amidst his farm-work, to 

 make a study of nature ; who imported books from England 

 to assist him ; and who pursued his inquiries with a most 

 earnest and religious spirit. 



But I admit the difficulty about books. And this leads me 

 to speak of the obvious and easy remedy for it — a town 

 library — an established public library, as a part of the equip- 

 ment for our general enlightenment, and the elevation of the 

 public mind. We live in an age of books, and books of such 

 moderate cost, that all may have what was utterly denied to 

 the people of former ages, and which, if they had them, they 

 could not read. Books are the breath of intellectual life to 

 the generations that are now coming upon the stage, and 

 without which any people must sink into notable ignorance 

 and obscurity. I do not say that book-knowledge makes a 

 man, but I say that it helps him to be the man that this age 

 and this country look for. We are not tenants and drudges, 

 working upon other men's lands, but work upon our own. 

 We would not cultivate our farms only, but we would culti- 

 vate ourselves. A man, I hope, is something greater than 

 his possessions ; greater than a herd of cattle, or a flock ot 

 sheep ; greater than a house, or form, or fortune. 



Therefore, I advocate self-culture, as the highest interest 

 and duty that we have to take care of in this world. But I 

 wish to put what I have to say on this subject in a more 

 distinct form. We want, in each of our towns, a public insti- 

 tution for mental improvement. We have schools for the 

 education of our children. We have churches for religious 

 instruction. Is not something further necessary? The school- 

 learning is sadly technical. It stops with the school-lessons, 

 and does not take hold of life. Our religion needs the help 

 of larger knowledge and enlightenment. Suppose there were 

 in each town a building large enough for a hall for lectures 

 and other social gatherings ; for a library and reading-room; 

 a kitchen, to provide for occasional entertainments, and two 

 or three rooms, for a librarian, with a small family. A roof, 



