e its
submerged proportions are of vastly greater extent than its visible
surface. One may well inquire how much of American greatness is hidden
in its foundation. How massive indeed must be the hidden corner-stone on
which rests the structure of national character. New England is now
turning its attention to the histories of ancient families; genealogy is
no small feature in modern literature, and thus the age seems to confess
that such research is a token of advance.

I believe that the strength of our ancestors was owing to their pure and
simple piety; indeed, one can not go back even for a century without
meeting this element in clear developement. The old New England
preachers were of a character peculiarly adapted to the severe
exigencies of their day. They stood as iron men in an iron age. However
rude in other social features, the early settlers, as they worked their
way to the frontier, demanded the soothing influences of pastoral care,
and the first institution reared in the forest was the pulpit, the next
the school-house. The pastors were settled for life, and minister and
people abode in communion, with little change but that of age. In
seeking a field, the youth just launched into his profession
'candidated' among vacant churches, and was heard with solemn attention
by the selectmen and bench of deacons. Notes were taken by the more
fastidious for subsequent criticism, and the matter was discussed with
all the importance of a national treaty. When the call had been
accepted, the stipend was generally fixed at one hundred pounds, and a
rude parsonage opened its doors of welcome. To this was almost
invariably attached a farm, whose native sterility called for such
expenditure of toil that it might truly have been said,

'The furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.'

These men indeed united mental and physical labor in a remarkable
degree. The long winters were devoted to study, to sermons, or to
meetings,--the summer to the plow and the harvest. One instance is on
record in which the entire stock of a year's sermons were written
between December and April. But, notwithstanding the inevitable drudgery
of such a life, the ministry was, upon the whole, noted for study. The
course held at Harvard required close application, and even at the
chapel exercises the Scriptures were daily read in the original
languages. These labors and studies are recorded in that quaintest of
all American books, Mather's Magnal