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esemies, it will band together a firmer phalanx to resist the ea- 

 croachments of designing men upon our liberties and rights. 



The objects of this Society are likewise worthy of vigorous pur- 

 suit, on account of the personal enjoyment their prosecution affords. 

 Earthly happiness is not a phantom ; it has a positive existence, 

 confused and disordered as the world is. And we all of us taste 

 more or less of this happiness, as we are hurried along through 

 life. True, it is not heavenly happiness in its kind ; nor is it 

 unmixed. The fountain has been poisoned and the streams flow 

 out contaminated. Still we all thirst for the waters, and earn- 

 estly seek that region where they flow most pure and abundant. 

 The ambitious monarch believes he shall find them by desolating 

 the earth; and that every cup of happiness he dashes from the 

 lips of others, will be poured into his own. But he soon finds that 

 he has filled his cup with wormwood and gall. The warrior's 

 heart beats high in anticipation of the pleasure he shall feel, 

 when the battle and the wreath of glory are won. But he finds 

 that he has mistaken a sea of blood for a sea of happiness. The 

 youthful Statesman, as he rises from one station to another in the 

 councils of his country, but faintly realizes how far away from 

 the regions of happiness, the surges and the storms of public life 

 are driving him. The man who strives for pre-eminence in the 

 learned professions, knows not, till the desired elevation has been 

 reached, how high it stands above, not merely the follies, but the 

 enjoyments of life. And so in many other pursnits ; when the 

 charm of novelty has passed away, when time has cooled the 

 passions, and possession has disrobed the object of its false 

 splendor, then it is found that the streams of happiness, like 

 the streams of the desert, are almost dried up; leaving only 

 their empty channels to mock desire. It is then that men 

 begin to sigh for pursuits more calm, and peaceful, and re- 

 tired. Hence it is, that so many, from the highest stations in 

 life, have spent the evening of their days in the pursuits of ag- 

 griculture ; in the prosecution of experiments for increasing the 

 produce of the soil. Here they found that contentment and sat- 

 isfaction, which in vain they had sought, in the possession of 

 power, and wealth, and reputation, and learning. For when all 



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