Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/288

284 Seldom a rural scene you see So full of sweet variety,— The gentle objects near at hand, The distant, flowing, bold, and grand; I've seen the world, from side to side, Walked in the ways of human pride, Moved in the palaces of kings, And know what wealth to grandeur brings; The spot for me, of all the earth, Is this, the dear one of my birth."

In this mansion the father of the poet, the Hon. James Hillhouse, closed a life of usefulness and piety. He possessed a strong and original mind, an untiring industry, with that uprightness and tenderness of heart, which won the confidence of the public, and the love of those with whom he intimately associated. He was the oldest member of the Senate of the United States, when he resigned the seat which he had filled for sixteen years; and when he left the financial management of the School fund, it was found that it had more than doubled its value, while under his superintendence. The city of his residence, whose fair greens and waving trees render it in summer, especially during the leafy month of June, one of the most picturesque spots in New England, owes much to his public spirit and personal labor. The lofty elms, planted by his own hand, are among his monuments. Age did not impair his mental powers, or chill his purposes of philanthropy. In the language of his son,