Page:Poems Sherwin.djvu/39

 sessed with the largest share of acquired knowledge, have the largest share of common sense, and are the first to perform the most arduous and disagreeable duties of the stations in which an allwise Providence has placed them, knowing that their respectability does not depend upon the station they may hold, but upon their own individual con- duct in that station.

Youth being the time when habits are formed, and the character of the man fixed, how necessary it is that every possible means should be adopted to form the judgment, to direct the taste, to instil pure morals into the mind, to clear the reason with truths, to guide with an unflinching hand into the paths of strict rectitude, and to give the means of happiness in this world, and the hope of it in the world to come.

Those who possess knowledge should not hoard it up with the avariciousness of misers, but bestow it with liberal hands on them who have not the means of obtaining it.

May success attend the praiseworthy efforts which are made for the cultivation of the mind and the advancement of human nature; and may all unite with firm but peaceful ardour in furthering the best plans for improvement, and in support of "the Throne, the Altar, and the Land we live in."