11 



those who took part in the proceedings of that day. There was 

 Weuster, great in the practical learning of the farm as in the 

 matchless eloquence of the forum and the Senate. There was 

 JosiAii QuiNCY, that grand old patrician, the noblest Roman 

 that America has yet given to mankind and to immortality, at 

 the top of his powers and of his fame. There was the calm, 

 thoughtful, dignified Everett, with his immense erudition and 

 his unrivalled elocution. There was Horace Mann, the first of 

 educators, delighting in nothing so much as to see the rural 

 population assuming its proper social rank and claiming the 

 academic advantages which of right belong to it. There were 

 Governors Lincoln, Briggs, Hill of New Hampshire, all emi- 

 nent men and distinguished agriculturists ; and in the midst of 

 these first citizens of the Republic sat, occupying the chair as 

 to-day, our urbane, learned and accomplished President, Mar- 

 shall P. Wilder ! 



The address and discussions of that day awakened a profound 

 interest in this and other States. In the following session of 

 the Massachusetts Legislature, if I mistake not, a bill was in- 

 troduced to establish an Agricultural College in this Common- 

 wealth. If I were to mention the name of the member who 

 introduced it, I am afraid there might be a dangerous rush of 

 blood to the head of the Chair ! This bill, so says the news- 

 paper, passed the Senate without a dissenting vote, but was lost 

 in the House of Representatives. A motion was subsequently 

 made for a Commission to report " on the importance and 

 influence of Agricultural Schools." A gentleman now present 

 who has requested me not to mention his name, and I won't, — 

 (but I have succeeded in ferreting out the facts) — was placed 

 at the head of that commission. The late President Hitchcock, 

 of Amherst, was also a member of it, and being then in Europe, 

 at the instance of the chairman and under a guarantee from 

 him of all expenses, at once commenced his duties, and as the 

 result gave an account of 353 schools, large and small, of this 

 character. For the purpose of sustaining these efforts, a com- 

 mittee, of which the gentleman whose name I have not men- 

 tioned was chairman, was appointed by this Society with power 

 to call a general meeting of Agricultural Societies at the State 

 House, " the object of which should be to concert measures for 

 their mutual advantage and for the promotion of the cause of 



