Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1856-02-29
ADDRESS


ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
FRANKLIN COUNTY MASS. AGRI-
CULTURAL SOCIETY,
OCT 4, 1855
BY HoS. GEORGE s. BOUTWELL,.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen
INSTRUCTED, as | have been by the
rich experiences Of this and other
similar occasions, l will not detaln
you long from the attractive festIvi-
ties which are before you. 1t must
be the great thought of us all, that
the Author of Nature aud Ruler of
the Seasons has vouchsaied such an
abundant harvest to this country and
indeed TO the whole world, as the
present and coming wants of man
seemed to require but which was
only hoped for rather than expected,
even by the most devoted believers
ia the Providence OF Heaven. No
one of US, ii may be, has witnessed
a year of such uninterrupted beauty
and bounty as this. Spring pres
eryed its ascendency through the
summer, and the fall, the decay, the
death OF the year, has scarcely com
menced.
Some one has said that if the Pill
grims had landed in The fertile re
gious Of the West, New England
would not have been settled. This
may be, but II was great, though not
singular, good fortune then, that i'm
migrants by sea are compelled to
land upon the coast before they pc
nelrated to the interior. II does
sometimes appear as if travellers in
the West and the inhabitants there,
were a little giddy upon their great
plains, lake and rivers. | have tho't
proper, then, to devote the moments
Of this day assigned to me, to some
reflections upon the influence Of hills,
mountains, and and the ocean, upon
lakes and pralries, the dependence
of agriculture upon commerce, and
the relations of the East 10 the West,
that, If possible, some Of our young
men may be bound by stronger ties
to the land of their nativity.
| will not, however, deceive my
self nor attempt to misIead you, by
assuming that the West is not re-
gion Of great fertility and abundant
harvests. Equally fortunate is It for
the East, as for the West, that il is
so. shall only venture to indicate
that the West is not in every respect
superior to the East, and that we
have some compensalions for the
hardness of New England soil aud
the rlgor of our northern climate
Our opinion of foreign land does
not rest so much upon It's soil and
climate as upon the character Of It's
men, We well know that Egypt
and Ireland are among the favored
portions of the globe, yet we respect
the perpetual enemies of Russia in
the mountains OF Caucasus more than
we do the inhabitants of the Nile, aud
would sooner cast our lot IN Sweden,
Norway, or Iceland even, than cul-
llvate the boys of the shannon or
the moors of Donegal. One of the
cultivated and useful men of Massa
chusetts asks me in letter what OPP
portunity the vicinity of my own
residence furnishes for a home, when
he shall be relieved from bis present
cares ana labors. And he says,
what most of all seek is a home
among warm hearts and active souls,
where there IS pure air, pure water,
and mountain scenery. We respect
iniis, nivu"'s'..-y forests. waterfalls.
and the ocean. There is not only
an inspiration IN these, the grandest
, works of nature, but there is reli-
glon in them also. The dweIler a.
mong mountains, the wanderer in
the forest, or upon tie shore of the
ocean, IS a continual worshiper-
God has made hun so. Nature is
not the same everywhere, and whit
nature rs, man, 10 great extent, IS
also Indeed, without seeking for
the reason or principle OF the law,
we expect the mounlaineer to be
vigorous in body, end strong, though
perhaps uncultlva,ed, in intellect
We associate physical Incidence
with great fertility Of soil, and posi-
tive inability TO labor with uninter-
rupled Saubrty Of climate. Swil2-
erland is small country, bu, her
mountains arc indicative Of the great
ness If her people, who, for ten cen
tuues, by their comparative social
purity and political freedom, have at
lracled the attention of the world
far more than the populous states
aud priucIpalites of Germany
Germany has, TO be sure, high
rank for learning, but it is assoc
claled with sluggish civilization,
which might, under adverse CIR
cumslances, be easily exchanged for
an eiiemlnate barbarsm. And the
millions Of the great Russian plains,
If unsupported by mental or physical
force from without, will too readily