MR. SALTONSTALL's ADDRESS. 19 



the most gifted minds, should ever have been thought 

 low or degraded ? " God made the country, man made 

 the town ;" and however the city may be ornamented 

 with beautiful and sublime works of art, there is still be- 

 tween them and natural scenery, the difference there is 

 between things human and divine. 



" Hail therefore, patroness of health and ease, 

 And contemplation, heart-consoling joys, 

 And harmless pleasures, in the thronged abode 

 Of multitudes unknown; hail rural life." 



Agricultural pursuits in the open air, in the pure 

 breath of heaven, and amidst the works which God has 

 made, have the most purifying and elevating influence on 

 the heart and mind. Who that has a heart in his bosom, 

 can look abroad on our hills, crowned with trees, our 

 pastures covered with flocks, on our valleys and plains, 

 laden with " food for man and beast," and not think and 

 feel, how good God is ? AVho can behold the meadows 

 ornamented with flowers, and reflect that the wide 

 spread prairies, the solitary wilderness, nay, that the 

 whole earth is strewn with an infinite variety of those 

 most lovely objects, arrayed with more beauty than was 

 Solomon in all his glory, and his heart not be softened 

 into a sense of that -boundless love, which has made 

 such provision for our enjoyment, and for the gratifica- 

 tion of a pure and refined taste ? Who can see the sun 

 rising in his glory, as all good farmers are wont to do, 

 or can behold him sinking in his gorgeous pavilion — 

 who can look upon the magnificent heavens, which can 

 only be seen in the country, and not feel awed into rev- 

 erence before him who made them all, and exclaim as 

 did the shepherd of Israel, — " When I consider thy 

 heavens, the work of thy hand, the moon and stars 

 which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art 

 mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest 

 him !" Who can listen to the " charm of earliest birds" 

 as they dart from their nest and mount to the topmost 

 sprays at dawn, and not join their notes of grateful 

 praise to him who notices the sparrow's fall, and whose 



