13 



Thy weather-braving roof, and silent marked 

 The human leaf in constant bud and fall : 

 The generations of deciduous man 

 How often hast thou seen them pass away I" 



This preservation of the old farm need not hinder the in- 

 crease of the number of towns. There are thousands of 

 acres of land yet in this state, enough of these acres in this 

 county, which are now comparatively unproductive. These 

 can be populated, and the farmers will lose nothing thereby. 

 They will rather gain. 



Here is the town within whose limits we are to-day assem- 

 bled ; it is not perhaps on the map of the state, but it num- 

 bers more than five thousand souls. Fifteen years ago it had 

 no name, it was hardly begun. Three or four men came out 

 here and walked over this territory, where nothing but pine 

 trees and stunted oak trees were growing, where cows could 

 be pastured for sixteen dollars a season ; and they said let 

 us build here a town ; let us make a place where the crowded 

 residents of the stifled lanes and alleys of the city can have 

 homes, where they can breathe the pure air, scented only 

 with the fragrance of green grass and the wild forest flowers. 

 Some of us know what opposition they encountered. We 

 can remember and recall how the " conservative " element of 

 the ancient town adjoining, banded themselves together to re- 

 sist the establishment of the town of Hyde Park. 



But the town was established, and the men, who, shut up in 

 the city, sighed for the country, with which they had been fa- 

 miliar in their youth, came hither and built their houses and 

 brought their families. I have no doubt that each man will 

 tell you that his first motive for coming was to have a bit of 

 land, a sort of farm with which to solace himself And it was 

 not the farmers who opposed the building of this town. It 

 was rather those who, while they might have been large land 

 owners, hesitated about helping the breaking up of the 

 local centres of business, which they foresaw must inevitably 

 follow. 



And yet, not alone by keeping alive these unions and friend- 

 ships can our farmers prosper. 



