Dana's speech, and after his remarks the
sentiment of the evening turned towards, home life. The orators spoke
of the earnest endeavors of the men and women by whom they were
surrounded; of their constant daily labor to produce harmony and higher
social development, and more particularly of their years of personal
toil and devotion, and of their own earnest affection for one another,
until tears started in some eyes.
Mr. Ripley spoke of the devotion of the persons about to leave the
Association to found "a little colony of their own," for whom he had
the highest personal esteem, cemented by years of friendship, counsel
and labor together; his sorrow for their departure; his good wishes for
them, and his hopes for their present and future welfare, and closed
with a sentiment, "The late chief of the Farming Series, Minot Pratt
and his family--they can not remain long in _Concord_ without
returning to _harmony_" (Concord, Massachusetts, was where our
farmer was going), for which the modest gentleman returned thanks for
himself and wife in a few kind and earnest words.
One after another joined in pleasant remarks, and the simple feast, the
music and the conversation were kept up. The ever-present fun and
frolic abounded in some corners, but the joke of the evening was
perhaps that of the Parson--him of the sharp face and nose, who read so
late by the light of the lamp in "Attica"--who commenced his remarks by
saying that he desired to offer a sentiment, and must be pardoned if it
was of a personal nature.
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