MR. gray's address. 29 



high a price for the article which we purchase. Will 

 the results, in all probability justify the undertaking ? 

 How much would such an education cost ? I have not 

 time here to go into particulars, but will pledge myself 

 to show, that on the supposition that our young men 

 spend four years of time, it shall not cost them over 

 six hundred dollars ; one half of which expense they 

 may defray by teaching school during the winter ; and 

 is there a young man in this county or in New England 

 who cannot obtain that amount ? If he cannot, he has 

 not the talent and industry which are needed to engage 

 in an enterprize like this. But if all cannot do it, there 

 are multitudes that can, and would, if the opportunity 

 were furnished, and the countenance and support of the 

 community were given. There is no necessity that any 

 young man should be deprived of such an education on 

 the ground of expense. But how can our young men 

 spend the time ? " Time is money," but in estimating 

 its value, we must take into account the loluile of life ; 

 is it certain that four years of time thus spent would be 

 lost ? is it not probable that at the age of forty the man 

 would be possessed of more wealth, more influence 

 and more character than if his time and money were 

 devoted to the cultivation of the soil without such an ed- 

 ucation. Three or four years spent in the cultivation 

 of the mind and the heart, may be of more value than 

 all the money which a life of toil would secure, without 

 such discipline. " Knowledge is power," and as we 

 cannot live our lives but once, if the seed time is neg- 

 lected, we cannot roll back the wheels of time, but 

 must reap a scanty harvest in old age. "He that sow- 

 eth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which 

 soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully," Let it 

 be remembered that a good education is an investment 

 for life, yielding a constantly increasing income, which 

 nothing can take away, which no fluctuations in human 

 society can change or destroy.* 



Is it not desirable, then, that efforts should be made to 



* See Buel's Cultivator, vol. iv. p. 70. 



