25 



rales — we must first collect facts. But this alone is not 

 enough. Unless the observations are of the right kind 

 and made in the right way ; unless they are exact and 

 accurate, so conducted and so reported as to admit of 

 proper arrangement and comparison, they will avail lit- 

 tle, and may even lead to confused and mistaken 

 notions." 



Hon. Otis P. Lord spoke hefore the Society at Haver- 

 hill, September 26, 1866. He said: "It has seemed to 

 me that now, just as we are emerging from this terrible 

 conflict, there can be no fitter subject for an hour's con- 

 sideration than the nature, object and purposes of good 

 Government, with special reference to our own and its 

 institutions." And so he spoke of government. 



Rev. R. H. Seeley, D. D., addressed the Society at 

 Haverhill, September 25, 1867. He said : " Let him, 

 therefore, who has a farm in any district of New En- 

 gland, which equals the average for fertility and advan- 

 tages of position, hold it, as the safest form in which his 

 property can be invested, and work it with that thought 

 and skill which are the guaranty of fair returns, remem- 

 bering, meanwhile, that not the ruler of the State, nor 

 the proudest merchant upon 'Change, is so independent 

 as himself of the crises and changes which, whether by 

 violence or the operation of steady laws, occur so fre- 

 quently in the social and political affairs of the country." 

 At the same time he adds : " In this connection the sug- 

 gestion may be worth heeding, that the New England 

 farmer should not expect too large profits from his farm." 



A peculiar interest attaches to these addresses from 



the fact that they are all the eftbrts of citizens of Essex 



county, of men conversant with the w^ants and purposes 



of this locality, and familiar with the questions and ob- 



4 



