cents. Let us, from early years, teach our children to rise above the dust beneath their feet, to the consideration of the great spiritual concerns of immortal natures. A mere bookworm is a worthless character; but a mere money-getter is no better. It is a great mistake, to suppose that it is necessary to be a professional man, in order to have leisure to indulge a taste for reading. Far otherwise. I believe the mechanic, the engineer, the husbandman, the trader, have quite as much leisure as the average of men in the learned professions. I know some men, busily engaged in these different callings of active life, whose minds are well stored with various useful knowledge acquired from books. There would be more such men, if education in our common schools were, as it well might be, of a higher order; and if common school libraries, well furnished, were introduced into every district, as I trust, in due time, they will be. It is surprising, sir, how much may be effected, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, for the improvement of the mind, by a person resolutely bent on the acquisition of knowledge. A letter has been put into my hands, bearing date the sixth of September, so interesting in itself, and so strongly illustrative of this point, that I will read a portion of it; though it was written, I am sure, without the least view to publicity. "I was the youngest" (says the writer,*) "of many brethren, and my parents were poor. My means of education were limited to the advantages of a district school; and those, again, were circumscribed by my father's death, which deprived me, at the age of fifteen, of those scanty opportunities which I had previously enjoyed. A few months after his decease, I apprenticed myself to a blacksmith, in my native village. Thither I carried an indomitable taste for reading, which I had previously acquired through the medium of the social library; all the historical works in which I had at that time perused. At the expiration of a little more than half my apprenticeship, I suddenly conceived the idea of studying Latin. Through the assistance of an elder brother, who had himself obtained a collegiate education by his own exertions, I completed my Virgil during the evenings of one winter. After some time devoted to Cicero, and a few other Latin authors, I commenced the Greek. At this time, it was necessary that I should devote every hour of daylight, and a part of the evening, to the duties of my apprenticeship. Still, I carried my Greek grammar in my hat, and often found a moment, when I was heating some large iron, when I could place my book open before me, against the chimney of my forge, and go through with tupto, tupteis, tuptei, unperceived by my fellow-apprentices, and, to my confusion of face, with a detrimental effect to the charge in my fire. At evening, I sat down, unassisted and alone, to the Iliad of Homer, twenty books of which measured my progress in that language during the evenings of another winter. I next turned to the modern languages, and was much gratified to learn, that my knowledge of the Latin furnished me with a key to the literature of most of the languages of Europe. This circumstance gave a new impulse to the desire of acquainting myself with the philosophy, derivation, and affinity, of the different European tongues. I could not be reconciled to limit myself, in these investigations, to a few hours, after the arduous labors of the day. I therefore laid down my hammer, and went to New Haven, where I recited, to native teachers, in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. I returned, at the expiration of two years, to the forge, bringing with me such books, in those languages, as I could procure. When I had read these books through, I commenced the Hebrew, with an awakened desire of examining another field; and, by assiduous application, I was enabled in a few weeks to read this language with such facility, that I allotted it to myself as a task, to read two chapters in the Hebrew Bible, before breakfast, each morning; this, and an hour at noon, being all the time that I could devote to myself during the day. "After becoming somewhat familiar with this language, I looked around me for the means of initiating myself into the fields of Oriental literature, and, to my deep regret and concern, I found my progress in this direction hedged up by the want of requisite books. I immediately began to devise means of obviating this obstacle; and, after many plans, I concluded to seek a place, as a sailor, on board some ship bound to Europe, thinking in this way to have opportunities of collecting, at different ports, such works, in the modern and Oriental languages, as I found necessary to this object. I left the forge and my native place, to carry this plan into execution. I travelled on foot to Boston, a distance of more than a hundred miles, to find some vessel bound to Europe. In this I was disappointed; and, while revolving in my mind what step next to take, I accidentally heard of the American Antiquarian Society, in Worcester. I immediately bent my steps towards this place. I visited the hall of the American Antiquarian Society, and found there, to my infinite gratification, such a collection of ancient, modern, and Oriental languages, as I never before conceived to be collected in one place; and, sir, you may imagine with what sentiments of gratitude I was affected, when, upon evincing a desire to examine some of these rich and rare works, I was kindly invited to an unlimited participation in all the benefits of this noble institution. Availing myself of the kindness of the directors, I spend about three hours, daily, at the hall, which, with an hour at noon, and about three in the evening, make up the portion of the day which I appropriate to my studies, the rest being occupied in arduous man ual labor. Through the facilities afforded by this institution, I have been able to add so much to my previous acquaintance with the ancient, modern, and Oriental languages, as to be able to read upwards of FIFTY of them, with more or less facility." I trust, Mr President, I shall be pardoned by the author of this letter, and the gentleman to whom it is addressed,* for the liberty which I have taken, unexpected, I am sure, by both of them, in thus making it public. It discloses a resolute purpose of improvement, under obstacles and difficulties of no ordinary kind, which excites my admiration, I may say, my veneration. It is enough to make one who has had good opportunities for education hang his head in shame. No leisure, Mr President, for reading? Is there a man in the community, of an intelligent mind, and with any, the least, tincture of improvement, derived from education, who, when coming, at nightfall, from his labor, (I care not how hard or humble,) if told that, beneath his roof, he would find Shakspeare, or Milton, or Scott, or Irving, or Channing, seated in actual presence by his fireside, and waiting to converse with him, would talk of wanting leisure, or of fatigue? Would he not bound forward to meet them, as the panting hart bounds to the water-brooks? Would not the stars grow pale in the sky before he would think of weariness? Well, sir, there is not an individual in the community who cannot, for a few dollars, surround his fireside with these and kindred spirits, the lights and guides of humanity; not in bodily, but in intellectual presence. They will speak to his understanding, not through the ear, but through the eye. They will discourse to him, not in their every-day language, in which the most gifted do not always greatly excel their fellows, but in the choicest and purest strains to which, by study and meditation, and I had almost said, by inspiration, they have elevated their thoughts; and this they will do, not for a hasty moment, in a brief visit, but again and again, for days and for years; yea, until, by long-continued intercourse with the * W. Lincoln, Esq., of Worcester. noblest intellects of our race, his own becomes exalted and purified. VI. There is one other topic to which I ought to allude, more important than all others; but I have only time for a single remark. Man is a religious being, and, as far as human means and influences go, education is the natural basis of a rational belief. It is the peculiarity of Christianity, as distinguished from other religions, that it addresses the understanding as well as the heart. [It commands us to search the Scriptures; to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us; and invites us, on the Sabbath, to listen to a discourse, that is, a connected, well-reasoned address, on its evidence, duties, hopes, and sanctions. Can this be done, to a good purpose, (humanly speaking,) without education? The heathen might offer incense on the altar of Jupiter with a vacant mind; he might scrutinize the palpitating viscera of animals with a grovelling spirit; he might consult the oracle at Delphi, and shape his conduct by the response, with a benighted understanding. It is but little to say that there was nothing in his religion that invited the exercise of his reasoning powers. We are blessed with a faith which calls into action the whole intellectual man; which prescribes a reasonable service; challenges the investigation of its evidences; and which, in the doctrine of immortality, invests the mind of man with a portion of the dignity of Divine Intelligence. In whatever other respects the advantages of education may be dispensed with, when we consider man as a religious and immortal being, it is a shocking spectacle to see him growing up dark and benighted, ignorant of himself, of his duties, and of his destination. But this subject is too vast for the occasion. I forbear to enlarge. I trust, sir, the resolution will be adopted, and that the people of Massachusetts, of this generation, will show by their conduct as a powerful commonwealth, not less than as a community of individuals, that they perceive the intimate connection between education and the existence and prosperity of free institutions of government. THE SETTLEMENT OF BARNSTABLE." MR PRESIDENT: I RISE, in obedience to your call, to respond to the toast which has just been proposed. I feel gratified that any language of mine has been thought appropriate to express the feelings which I am sure are common to us all on this occasion, feelings of veneration and gratitude for our "Pilgrim Fathers." I am sure, also, that I express the sentiments of every individual of this immense company, when I include in this tribute of respect and affection those excellent, noblehearted women, the MOTHERS of Plymouth and Massachusetts, who bore their full share of the hardships and afflictions of the first settlement. The sphere of woman is domestic. She is not commonly called to the performance of the duties which figure on the page of history. But who can doubt that, amidst the wants and dangers of the period we celebrate; under the pressure of that extremity of fortune to which the colonists were reduced, — that grim and gaunt Poverty which, more than once, like one of the famished wolves of the wilderness around them, forced its way over the threshold of the Pilgrims; the task which devolved upon mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, the task of making a destitute home comfortable, and a weary life tolerable, the task of stilling the impatience of children craving food which could not always be obtained for them, the task of ministering to the sick, and performing the last offices to the departed, was to the full as severe as that of the men who bore the hardships of the field, and faced the savage foe? - Delivered at the public table, on the 3d September, 1839, the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of Barnstable. |