NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



433 



We mourn for one who, in his department of 

 knowledge, stood confessedly above any other on 

 this whole continent — a man who came to ns, not 

 like must great minds, too early to be appreciated 

 or even recognised, or too late to be useful, but 

 who came and was welcomed just when the in- 

 habitants of this western world had laid down the 

 woodman's axe, and were anxiously waiting for 

 less; .ns which should enable them to advance from 

 the stern and rigid principles of mere utility, to 

 the higher and more graceful pursuits of science 

 and of art — from the rude cabin of the settler, to 

 the vine-sheltered cottage or more lofty dwelling 

 of the artist and the scholar. This man, we are 

 told, is dead; but still he stands forth, for us, pre- 

 eminent as if yet among the living, patiently, as 

 heretofore, in his written words, replying again 

 and again to our inquiry, How shall we make the 

 earth more beautiful, and humanity more pure? 



Philosophy has suggested that the impress of 

 objects perceived by what we term sight, is con- 

 stantly repeated, projected, again and again, into 

 space, travelling with the rapidity of light, to be 

 intercepted, perchance, thousands of years hence, 

 by the refined senses of mortals even, translated 

 to distant spheres ; so that nothing, whether it be 

 a material atom, a note of music, or the reflected 

 image of a flower, which has once been, can ever 

 cease to lie. The thought, however fanciful, is 

 pleasing in connection with the memory of one 

 whose life has been successfully devoted to the 

 creation of beauty all around. How these daguer- 

 reotypes may have filled all space, and eternity it- 

 self, with his beautiful creations! 



And- now the trite question, usually so easily 

 answered, when one has gone who occupied a large 

 spac-p in the public mind, will be heard, " Who 

 shall fill his place ?" The answer to this inquiry 

 has already been suggested : His place is already 

 filled. The niche in Fame's Temple for him who 

 should develope a new world, in the pursuits of 

 "Rural Life and Rural Taste" in America, like 

 that for the discoverer of a continent, can contain 

 but one statue. 



In early manhood he has fallen, but not, indeed, 

 before he had finished a life-work, and we who la- 

 ment what seems, at first, his untimely fate, should 

 remember that true life is not measured by vibra- 

 tions of the pendulum, and that "his life is long 

 which answers life's great end," whether it be 

 drawn out to three score years and ten, or ended, 

 like his, when scarcely half those years have passed 

 away. 



And now, what eulogy for the dead ? what 

 monument to the memory of our friend departed ? 

 This work is also finished. Throughout the length 

 and breadth of our country, wherever the air is 

 fragrant with the perfume of cherished flowers, or 

 murmurs through cultivated groves and gardens, 

 it breathes the praises of him whose spirit, more 

 than any other, has refined the taste, and whose 

 knowledge guided the hand of the cultivator, and 

 the winds which sweep over our forests — "those 

 grand old woods" of oak, and pine, and hemlock 

 — already celebrate the fame of him who boldly 

 asserted their right to the first rank in the world's 

 catalogue of the majestic woi-ks of nature. His 

 monument ! Is it not already on every hill-top 

 and in every valley, in every town and every vil- 

 lage, where Gothic art expresses, with its vertical 

 lines, in lofty towers and pointed arches, aspiring 



Hope and all-embracing Love — where the encir- 

 cling, overspreading, all-uniting dome of Roman 

 architecture illustrates, in public halls and capitols, 

 the sentiments of patriotism and unity? 



He has indeed "erected a monument more en- 

 din-ing than brass." His memory ! Is it not al- 

 i-eady beautifully entwined with the vine that en- 

 circles the stately columns on the banks of our 

 noble rivers, or hangs from the humble porch of 

 the tree-sheltered cottage? Who among us has 

 built him a house, or planted a vineyard, or reared 

 a rare flower, uninfluenced by his taste? Who, 

 in town or country, does not cherish an abiding 

 sentiment of gratitude and love towards one whose 

 life it was to refine and elevate the hearts of men, 

 turning them from gain and worldliness to the ap- 

 preciation of the beautiful in the works of Ilim 

 who has not in vain, for his creatures, spread out 

 the landscape, and made the woods vocal, and 

 the air fragrant ? No ; of all who have thus sud- 

 denly perished, 



" He will not float upon his watery bier 

 Unwept." 



With no desire to sketch his every-day life, or 

 coldly to analyze his character as an author or an 

 artist, but under the first impulse of the mingled 

 feelings of sadness, of affection, of bereavement, 

 which must find a wide sympathy throughout our 

 country, as his melancholy fate becomes known, 

 this notice of our departed friend has been written. 

 "heaven keep his memory green." 



A MODEL FARM. 



We take pleasure in referring the reader to an 

 account on another page of a visit of several gen- 

 tlemen to Mr. Mechi's farm at Tiptree Hall, Essex 

 Co. , England. Among the company present, num- 

 bering about 250 gentlemen, was our Minister to 

 England, the Hon. Abbott Lawrence. 



The feature in the account which affords us the 

 most pleasure, is the expression of those fraternal 

 feelings which are springing up rapidly in the citi- 

 zens of the two countries. We thank Mr. Law- 

 rence, in the name of the American people, for the 

 assurances he has often given the English people 

 that there is no settled hostility among us to that 

 great nation ; and "that we are naturally proud 

 of our connection with her, and should the time 

 ever arise when the mother country is oppressed 

 by fear or other cause, she may rely upon the as- 

 sistance of her daughter." W r e feel confident that 

 the British government is earnestly desirous of 

 maintaining the most friendly relations with us, 

 and that they will not allow the present fishery 

 question, nor any other, to disturb these relations. 

 We cannot doubt, for a moment, that our own 

 government will act in regard to all questions be- 

 tween us with generous considerations and the 

 strictest integrity. 



There was once a deep-seated prejudice between 

 the citizens of both nations, but happily is fast 

 dying out, and replaced with feelings of sincere re- 

 gard and confidence in each other. The London 

 Times has spoken most unequivocally in several of 



