No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 269 



aspects of nature which environ them." If this be true, cer- 

 tainly Amherst offers inviting features to develop large men. 

 Hill and valley, mountain and meadow, flower and fern, 

 fruit and foliage, lake and landscape, art and nature conspire 

 to make it the Mecca for farmers' sons. Many a time I have 

 stood upon Clark's Hill, the eastern boundary of the college 

 grounds, and drank in the beauty of the situation. At your 

 feet the college farm, bestudded with horticultural art; far- 

 ther away the fertile valley of the Connecticut; in the north, 

 Mount Toby ; in the south, Mount Holyoke and Mount 

 Tom, standing against the sky like mighty watch towers 

 guarding the western range of hills dotted over with farmers' 

 homes. Have these farmers' homes sent out into the world 

 men of broad, strong minds and keen intellect? Let us see. 

 For an illustration let us take the western hills of Franklin 

 and Hampshire referred to, — a rugged, hilly country, away 

 from railroads, away from advanced classical schools, away 

 from the benefits of libraries and laboratories such as the 

 large towns possess. 



"Within a radius of ten miles from the birth spot of William 

 Cullen Bryant, which is now marked by a granite monument 

 in the town of Cummington, to illustrate my point, I quote 

 a little local history. The town of Ashfield was the birth- 

 place of Dr. G. Stanley Hall, now at the head of Clark 

 University. For several years during his boyhood his father 

 lived in my native town, upon a farm that was his only 

 means of support, which would not sell for $1,500. I be- 

 lieve Dr. Hall is regarded as one of the most profound 

 scholars of modern times. 



Step across the rugged hill top, if you please, to the little 

 town of Plainfield, with its 450 inhabitants, and there w r e 

 will find the birthplace of Charles Dudley Warner, who has 

 built for himself in the world of literature a monument 

 grander than that of marble or granite. There, too, was the 

 early home of Professor Lincoln, both sons of hardy farmers. 



Then, across the eastern branch of the Westfield River, to 

 the birthplace of America's famous poet, and to the place 

 from whence was given to the world " Thanatopsis" and the 

 "Rivulet." The great poet of nature here on his father's 

 farm (although his father was both physician and farmer) 



