The President then introduccrl, as tlie orator of the day, II. F. 

 Durant, Esq., a gentleman distinguished not only for his literary 

 attainments and legal science, but for his love of rural taste, and 

 who in compliance ■with the request of the Committee of invita- 

 tion, had kindly consented to address the Society on the " Influ- 

 ences of Rural Life." Mr. Durant's address was listened to with 

 deep attention by a large and intelligent audience. [For Address, 

 see p. 9.] 



The services at the church were concluded by the Doxology, 

 sung by the entire audience, and the Benediction, after which the 

 procession was re-formed, and proceeded to the Hall, where an 

 excellent dinner had been provided by Mr. Richards, of the Mas- 

 sapoag House, Canton. 



DINNER. 



At the conclusion of the dinner, the President, after a few in- 

 troductory remarks, offered a toast complimentary to the Rev. 

 A. L. Stone, of Boston. Mr. Stone responded as follows : — 



Mu. President — 



It is a pleasant surprise to me to find tlx' agricullural interest represented 

 by so many of" the gentle and more domestic sex. And yet their presence 

 on such an occasion I believe to be in every respect legitimate and whole- 

 some. For their proper connection with this interest is intimate and vital. 

 The original description or definition of" a wife is, that she is a helpmeet to 

 man. Just in what way, or in what variety of ways, this fitting help is to be 

 rendered, that original document does not set forth. The practical answer 

 exhibits its diversities so varied as never to repeat themselves. Sometimes 

 this sphere of helpful fellowship is very much restricted, and again almost 

 indefinitely broadened. The wife of the German farmer limits this sphere 

 only with the boundaries of his estate. Her nursery is out of doors in tlie 

 open field. Its canopy is the leaf"y shade. Its carpet, the green turf or the 

 soft, brown mould. There her little ones roll, and tumble and sleep all day, 

 while she keeps even stroke with her husband in the day's toil. On a day's 

 ride in the diligence through a pleasant portion of Bavaria, I amused myself 

 by jotting down the occupation of a dozen or so of ladies, as I met them in 

 succession. The first two were equipped with the deep, unwieldy hoes of 

 the countrj', and were hoeing potatoes on a hillgide ; the third was plodding 

 along on the road barefoot, bare-armed, &c., with a burden on her head tliat 

 would have broken the back of a moderate-sized mule ; the Iburtli and fifth 

 were swinging scythes with the regular action of the practised farmer, one 

 of them leading the procession and keeping well aliead. Of the succeeding 

 three, one was raking hay, one was pitching, and one sat on the top of a 

 load, loading, while the only man of the group w;:s driving the oxen. The 

 next four were attendants upon house masons, and were carrying bricks and 

 mortar on their heads up tall ladders, with an ease of step and balance tiiat 

 argue them experts at tlieir trade. I have seen women in that same coun- 

 try holding a plough, and, in some instances, assifiting a dumb ally — I mean 

 a fbur-leggcd one — to draw the same agricultural implement. 



