pe this is not trespassing too far on
politics. (Laughter, and cheers.) I unhesitatingly promise you, one and
all, that if I can in any way serve you in that station, I will do it most
cheerfully; regarding it as the choicest blessing of God, if I shall thus
be enabled to make some just return for the kind attentions which you have
this day bestowed upon me."

In his route homeward, Mr. Adams was received and entertained in a very
handsome manner by the people of Pittsfield, Mass. He was addressed by
Hon. George N. Briggs, who alluded, in eloquent terms, to his long and
distinguished public services. Mr. Adams, in reply, spoke of the scenes
amidst which he had passed his early youth, and of the influence which
they exerted in forming his character and shaping his purposes. "In 1775,"
said he, "the minute men from a hundred towns in the province were
marching, at a moment's warning, to the scene of opening war. Many of them
called at my father's house in Quincy, and received the hospitality of
John Adams. All were lodged in the house which the house would contain;
others in the barns, and wherever they could find a place. There were then
in my father's kitchen some dozen or two of pewter spoons; and I well
recollect going into the kitchen and seeing some of the men engaged in
running those spoons into bullets for the use of the troops! Do you
wonder," said he, "that a boy of seven years of age, who witnessed this
scene, should be a patriot?"

In the fall of the same year, Mr. Adams received an invitation from the
Cincinnati Astronomical Society, to visit that city, and assist in the
ceremony of laying the corner stone of an observatory, to be erected on an
eminence called Mount Ida. The invitation was accepted. On his journey to
Cincinnati, the same demonstrations of respect, the same eagerness to
honor the aged patriarch were manifested in the various cities and towns
through which he passed, as on his summer tour.

324 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

The ceremony of laying the corner stone took place on the 9th of November,
1843. Mr. Adams delivered an address on the occasion, replete with
eloquence, wisdom, philosophy, and religion. The following beautiful
extract will afford a specimen:--

"The various difficult, and, in many respects, opposite motives which have
impelled mankind to the study of the stars, have had a singular effect in
complicating and confounding the recommendation of the science. Religion,
idola