120 



To ])Iant and sow were all in vain, 

 Did'st tliou not bless the buried grain, 



It could no increase yield ; 

 The gentle dew, the sun and shower. 

 Are kind expressions of Thy power 



To fertilize the field. 



Our garners stored, the grateful soil 

 Hath well rewarded all our toil. 



And calls for songs of praise ; — 

 Autumnal glories deck the trees. 

 And health is borne on every breeze, — 



For these our thanks we raise. 



Hasten, O Lord ! the glorious time, 

 When gentle Peace o'er every clime 



Shall spread again her wings ; 

 When spears to pruning-hooks shall turn. 

 And every heart with love shall burn 



For all created things. 



Our Father ! grant that wisdom's ways 

 Our feet may tread, till length of days 



From labor sets us free ; 

 And when the Reaper, Death, shall bind 

 His garnered sheaves, O may he find 



A harvest ripe for Thee. 



Rev. Dr. Lamson of Dedham was then announced bj the Presi- 

 dent as the orator of the day. Dr. Lamson pronounced a very 

 able and instructive address, selecting for his theme the necessity 

 of an agricultural education among farmers. It had been said 

 that " brevity was the soul of wit," and he thought the same might 

 be applied to an agricultural discourse. Promising not to weary 

 the patience of his hearers, he congratulated himself that in ad- 

 dressing the farmers of Norfolk he spoke to intelligent men. It 

 was his purpose to speak of agricultural life in its intellectual 

 aspect, and he proceeded to demonstrate that a better fruitage 

 and more abundant harvests were the natural results of a dissemi- 

 nation of agricultural knowledge. Ignorance could not compete 

 with intelligence in the system of agriculture any more than in the 

 mercantile or mechanical channels of life. It had been said that 

 bayonets must be taught ; so must the spade and hoe be taught, 

 and he who avails liimself of the latest lights of impi-ovcment, 

 makes greater progress than without them. There was at the 

 present day an agricultural literature ; not the exposition of the 

 researches of metaphysicians, but the practical results and teach- 

 ings of experience. He was impressed with the value of the agri- 

 cultural literature of our country, in every page of which he read 



