ADDRESS. 



By Key. JAMES W. THOMPSON, D.D. 



OF Jamaica Plain. 



Mr. President^ Gentlemen of the Society and Fellow Citizens. 



The illustrious master of Athenian eloquence — as you have 

 been often told — pronounced the first, second and third requi- 

 sites in the orator to be " action, action, action." I hope you 

 believe it ; and am happy to think that when I laid down my 

 knife and fork, I had truly and well and to your entire satisfac- 

 tion illustrated those essential qualities. 



But if you should not be inclined to accept this ancient 

 authority, you surely will riot repudiate that of your own Society. 

 Your distinguished President has stated the conditions required 

 in your orator for the present year to be these three : 1. That 

 he shall not be a farmer. 2. That he shall say nothing about 

 farming. 3. That he shall take no time to say it in. The 

 embarrassment naturally arising from these limitations of time 

 and subject is somewhat relieved by the success of many of my 

 predecessors ; yet I fear that the field of these know-nothings 

 has been pretty thoroughly reaped. No doubt the valuable 

 information has been communicated by some of them that 

 the great Latin poet, Yirgilius Maro, celebrated in immortal 

 verse the methods, pleasures and rewards of good .farming. 

 Doubtless, the maxim of the great Roman farmer, Cato, 

 " Feed well," has been so often brought to your attention, that 

 the practice has become a law of your life. I should not be 

 surprised if the agricultural proclivities of Cincinnatus had 

 been spoken of in your hearing ; though, if I am rightly in- 

 formed, the honor of his example has been materially reduced 

 by the German historian, Nicbuhr. You may not have heard, 



