PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK'S ADDRESS. 179 



least, to be subject to continual vexation and collision with oth- 

 ers. Take away religion from the farm house, and you have 

 robbed it of its brightest jewel. What spectacle can be more 

 beautiful and impressive, than to see the well ordered and affec- 

 tionate family of the farmer, bowing in unison at the still hour 

 of the rising sun, around the domestic altar, and to hear the 

 hymn of praise from sweet voices, stealing softly through the 

 morning air, followed by the tones of prayer from the priest of 

 the family ? What a preparation for the labors of the day ! And 

 how happily, when its toils are ended, will they repeat over this 

 delightful service ! With what union of purpose and feeling 

 will such a family labor ; and how cheerfully and liberally will 

 they impart of the fruits of their toils to every good cause ! So, 

 too, when trials and afflictions come, what a talismanic power 

 is there in the religion of that family, to blunt their keenness, 

 and to infuse sweetness into the bitter cup of sorrow ! And let 

 not the farmer, in the pride of a stern independence, fancy that 

 the time will never come, when he shall need the power of piety 

 to buoy up his sinking spirit. For the hour is at hand, when, 

 at the withering touch of disease, his strong nerves shall trem- 

 ble like the aspen, and his quailing spirit can find no resting 

 place, but in a genuine, humble, spiritual piety. If, then, religion 

 be so important as a balance wheel and regulator in his secular 

 affairs, and the only rock on which he can stand amid the bil- 

 lows of disease and misfortune, he does not show the shrewd- 

 ness and wisdom of a New England farmer, who fails to secure 

 the precious boon. 



Thus have I endeavored to show some of the links of the 

 golden chain that binds together in strong harmony the various 

 employments and enjoyments of civilized man. With a few 

 brief concluding remarks, I will relieve your wearied patience. 



In the first place, men of different professions and conditions 

 in society, should see in this subject, how unreasonable and 

 suicidal are the jealousies, antipathies, and rivalries, that too 

 often prevail among them. We here learn that, should they 

 succeed in uprooting the pursuit or the individual, apparently 

 so much in their way, it would strike out one of the links in 

 the chain that binds society together ; and they would suffer as 



