252 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



republican constitution is structured. And it shall be the duty 

 of such instructors to endeavor to lead those under their care 

 (as their ages and capacities will admit,) into a particular 

 understanding of the tendency of the before-mentioned virtues 

 to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and to secure 

 the blessings of liberty, as well as to promote their future happi- 

 ness ; and the tendency of the opposite vices to slavery and 

 ruin." 



In this eloquent passage, not introduced here because it is 

 new and has hitherto escaped the notice and admiration to 

 which it is entitled, but because it will bear constant repetition, 

 is to be found all the genius which has guided Massachusetts 

 in her work of education. How this golden Act points to the 

 value of religious and moral instruction ! How it elevates 

 the standard of education ! How it indicates that the highest 

 and most reliable virtues are the pillars of the State 1 How 

 it appeals to all men of culture and of good principles to stand 

 round and support popular education ! How it encourages the 

 youth of the Commonwealth to " avoid that which is evil and 

 cleave to that which is good ! " With what confidence does it 

 build a republican constitution for a " people whose God is the 

 Lord!" 



I must believe that it is the spirit of this Act which has 

 directed our educational system from its passage until now. 

 And with this belief, I cannot congratulate you too warmly 

 upon the success of Massachusetts schools and colleges. Start- 

 ing forth as she did, with this high moral and religious stand- 

 ard, her institutions of learning have increased in number and 

 prosperity, until she has become literally the nursery of educa- 

 tion and educated men. In the advance guard of civilization, 

 as it travels westward, may be found her young men, graduates 

 of her schools, prepared to plant the New England school-house 

 within the fortifications and palisades of the frontier. Within 

 her limits no branch of science, or thought, or speculation, or 

 education goes unexplored. And when from the schools of the 

 Old World the energetic and enterprising scholar turns his eye 

 towards this country, as towards a new field for investigation, 

 and he looks for that spot where he may find a genial atmos- 

 phere and the best fraternity of scholarship, it is Massachusetts 

 which presents the most alluring charms. I cannot forget the 



