great risk in going AVcst oi" South with the expectation of im- 

 proving his condition. So to my brother fiirmers of Essex, I 

 sa}', what tliough 



" The Southland boasts ils teeinin<j cane, 

 The prairied AV'est its heavy grain. 

 While sunsets radiant jrates unfold 

 On rising marts and fields ot" gold," 



still let us remain on these hills ; and as our fathers drew from 

 them bread, and as from this State have gone forth those who 

 have in all the walks of life honored their birthplace, let us 

 maintain a sturdy independence, endeavoring to make our farms 

 better than when we took them, — to make ourselves better 

 farmers and wiser men than any generation that has gone be- 

 fore, and so uniting in ourselves (jualities which distinguished 

 Lowell's hero, in his poem of " The Coiu'tin'," than Avhom 



-• "Xone couldn't <iuick.er pitch a ton. 



Nor draw a f'lu-row straighter." 



with those which Whitticr has eiui>odied in his young farmer, 



in 'Wmong the Hills," of whom at an interesting period of liis 



life he says : 



•• Framed in its damp, dark locks, his face 

 Had nothing mean nor common ; 

 Strong, manly, true, the tenderness 

 And pride beloved of woman. 



'• He has his own free, bookless lore. 

 The lesson nature taught him ; 

 The wisdom which the woods, and hills. 

 And toiling men, have brought him." 



Let us produce in real life the ideals of the poets, and .so 

 hold an honorable position in the connnunity, discharging all 

 the duties that come to our lot with the faithfidness with which 

 nature rewards our labor. And thus our beloved county shall 

 be as widely known in the futiu-e, as she has been in the past, 

 for the valor and enterprise of her sons, chief among wliom 

 i!»hall stand the tillers of the soil, for we may ever remember 



" Honor waits o'er all the earth. 

 Through endless generations. 

 The art that calls the harvests forth. 

 And feeds expectant nations." 



