THE VOCATION OF FARMING. 37 



two stories high, 45 by 25 feet, would cover the whole ; and 

 the building need not cost more than $2,000 or $2,500. A 

 subscription for it, in the first place, and then the product 

 of two or three days' labor from every man in town, would 

 furnish the requisite sum. 



And then what have we ? First, a social rallying-place ; it 

 might be made large enough for a town hall and for public 

 business, as well as social uses. Next, a permanent library, 

 which, by reason of its established character, would gather 

 books to it from our private shelves, as also by purchase. 

 Stockbridge and Lenox have set us a good example in this 

 way, with the aid, indeed, of private beneficence. I wish 

 that some of those who are giving of their abundance for the 

 public welfare would think of this, not of asylums and hospi- 

 tals alone, but of the means of mental and moral help and 

 healing. Mr. Wm. Sturgis, of Boston, gave the family home 

 in Barnstable, large enough for a library-room and for the 

 librarian's family, and endowed it with sufficient means. Mr. 

 Bryant, who began his life as a lawyer, here in Great Bar- 

 rington, has erected a fire-proof building and a librarian's 

 house adjoining, and has collected more than 3,000 volumes, 

 altogether at an expense of $20,000 or $30,000, which are, 

 or are to be, presented to his native place, the town of Cum- 

 mington. 



Few of our towns can expect such liberal benefactors, and 

 we must do the work for ourselves. In Sheffield we have tried 

 another thing. We have a "Friendly Union," and have had 

 meetings during the winter for three years past, once or twice 

 a w r eek, for lectures, music, games and conversation, which 

 have proved very agreeable, and which, I hope, will be con- 

 tinued. If we can succeed in this ; if such an institution can 

 be made permanent ; if we can establish a library, which we 

 have already commenced, and can erect a building to be the 

 gathering-place and resort and support of good thought and 

 good feeling in the town, it will be a fountain of inappreciable 

 blessings for the years and generations to come. 



Gentlemen, farmers and friends, I have not spoken to you 

 eloquently ; you did not expect it of me ; but I believe, if I 

 do not flatter myself too much, that I have spoken some things 

 worth thinking of. You may think now that what I have been 



