No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 273 



In yonder elegant public library building the hand of the 

 late French artist painted as a central composition "The 

 Muses greeting the Genius of Enlightenment," with panels 

 representing astronomy, chemistry, physics, history, philos- 

 ophy, etc. These are significant but symbolical. What the 

 country needs to-day is young men of physical strength and 

 courage, combined with mental culture and noble purposes, 

 living practical pictures, to carry the " Genius of Enlighten- 

 ment " to the four quarters of the earth, and particularly the 

 science of our western agriculture. Every tax payer in 

 Massachusetts is in part a proprietor of this institution. 

 Every farmer is, or should be, an interested factor. This 

 Board, as the representative of the agricultural interests of 

 the State, ought to use its opportunities and influence to 

 make its work familiar to the people, to enlarge its patron- 

 age, and to make its work appreciated and successful. 



A word of tribute, and I am through. An honored head 

 lies low. The captain of our theme, the great father of 

 agricultural colleges, has lately fallen by the way. From 

 the Senate of the United States, after a long and useful 

 service, he has passed to the "city of the dead." "The 

 sighing of sister States, respondent in their grief, is heard 

 in all the land." May every college boy that feels the 

 blessing of his great work be ennobled by his character, be 

 exalted by his integrity and inspired by his manhood, and 

 remember with filial gratitude the hand and heart that 

 prepared the blessing, and so keep fresh and tender and 

 fragrant the memory of the illustrious statesman, Justin S. 

 Morrill. 



