PRACTICAL FARMER. 



95 



which no portion of our country has more to boast, 

 than the ancient county of Essex. It is no mere 

 com|)liment, sir ; — the county of Essex is a dis- 

 tinguished part of tlie State. It wouhl be easy, 

 witliin the limits of this single county, to find, in 

 the history of other times, bright examples of al( 

 the traits of character and conduct, which pro- 

 mote the prosperity and honor of nations in peace 

 and in war. From the early contests with the 

 Indians and French, — from the time when the 

 "Flower of Essex" fell at "Bloody Brook," — 

 down to the close of the revolution, the fathers and 

 forefathers of those I have the honor to address, 

 contributed a full share of the counsel and treas- 

 ure, the valor and blood by which the cause of 

 the country was directed, sustained, and carried 

 througii triumphant. 



Need I go beyond the limits of the town of 

 Danvers .^ Is is not enough to recall the time, 

 n )t beyond the memory I am sure of some whom 

 I see before me, when a regiment of royal troops 

 was here encamped, a sort of praetorian band to 

 guard the residence of the Royal Governor? Need 

 1 do more than remind you of the morning of the 

 19th of April, 1775, when your sires, at the sound 

 of the bell of yonder church, hastened together, a 

 portion of them tmder the command of your ven- 

 erable fellow-citizen near nje, (General Gideon 

 Foster,) and rushed rather than marched to the 

 field of danger,-; — sixteen miles in four hours, — 

 flying into the jaws of death, as rapidly as fear 

 commonly lends men wings to fly from it; and 

 contributing, — this single town, — this one little 

 town, — oh, prodigality of noble blood, — one 

 SiXth of the entire loss of that eventful day. Need 

 I, my friends, for the most touching recollections, 

 go beyond the walls of yonder ancient church, 

 consecrated, as it was, by the strange spectacle, 

 (at the memory of which your tears were called 

 forth afresh, on last year's return of the great an- 

 niversary,) — the sight of four of your brave sons 

 wrapped in their bloody shrouds, — the honorable 

 wounds which they had received in their coun- 

 try's cause still freshly flowing? Could I before 

 this audience on such a theme, be wholly mute, 

 would not the grey hairs of the veteran leader of 

 that heroic band, who is now before me, (Geneial 

 Foster) rebuke my silence, and put a tongue in 

 every echo of this building, which would cry out 

 and shame me ! 



Yes, fellow citizens, if anything could make 

 your native land your homes, your firesides more 

 dear to you, it must be these recollections of the 

 precious blood by wliich they were redeemed. If 

 anything was wanting to inspire you with a pas- 

 sionate attachment to the blessings you enjoy, it 

 would be the thought of the inestimable jirice, at 

 which they were purchased. 



Nor let us forget, if we have a patriotic ances- 



try to be proud of, — and if we have privileges to 

 enjoy, — we have also incumbent duties to per- 

 form. The great ) rinciples of republican liberty 

 are exposed to danger in peace as well as in war. 

 Prosperity not less than trial may sap the founda- 

 tion of the social fabric ; and there is at all times 

 less danger from a foreign foe, than from fiarty 

 passion, individual selfishness, and general ap- 

 athy. 



It will not, of course, be expected of me to en- 

 large upon the duties which devolve upon our 

 husbandmen with a view to guard against these 

 dangers and perpetuate our institutions in their 

 purity. I can but glance at the topic. But I may 

 sun's rays and the dews of heaven, — shoot up- 

 ward and expand, — array itself in glories beyond 

 the royal vesture of Solomon, — extract Irom the 

 same common earth and air a thousand varieties 

 of the green of the leaf, — the rainbow hues of the 

 petals, the juicy or the solid substances of the 

 fruit which is to form the food of man and his de- 

 pendent animals — I say the intelligent husband- 

 man w!io beholds this, seems to step behind tlie 

 veil, which conceals thi; mysteries of creative 

 yjower, and sit down, (iff dare so to speak) in the 

 laboratory of Omnipotence. 



Connected with the cultivation of the religious 

 principle, and the natui'al fruit of it, we look to 

 our husbandmen for a high mora! sense. 'Nie 

 say, that tlie first and most important duty of the 

 husbandman is to endeavor to preserve, and if it 

 may i)e to strengthen, the broad foundation Jaid by 

 our fathers, in a deep religious jjrinciple. Surely 

 there is no class of the community, whose daily 

 pursuits eught to furtiish greater nourishment to 

 the sense of religious things. '! he reflecting mind 

 it is true, beholds traces of a higher wisdom and 

 goodness in every step of every walk of life; but 

 the husliandinan, who drops a seemingly lifeless 

 seed into the cold damp earth, — there in great |iart 

 to decay, — who sees the vital germ in a few ays 

 pierce the clod, — rise into the air, — drink the 

 worst feature in the degradation of many foreign 

 countries, is the moral condition of those who till 

 the soil, showing itself in tlie extreme of inten - 

 pernnce, and the kindred vices. No man can ful- 

 ly understand this, who has Jiot wit.iessed it. In 

 the general moral character of our pri|)idation, we 

 are warranted in saying that it might serve as an 

 examjile to the world. I do not think that out of 

 New England, (and 1 rej)eat oniy a remark, which, 

 I have heard several times ffom persons coming 

 from other parts of the country,) you could as- 

 semble a concourse giving so much proof of so- 

 briety, thrift, and industry, as is brought together 

 in this town to-day, and might be assembled, on a 

 similar occasion, in any town in Massachusetts. 

 We look to our husbandmen, by precept and ex- 

 ample, tn sustain, and if possiljle elevate, tiiis 



