There is yet one other subject, of higher & holier moment, that forms a part of these responsible duties: the direction to be given to our pupils to comply with the great object of their creation, & glorify their Maker. In our religious instruction, bestowed often upon them, we have endeavoured to point them to that Saviour, provided for them, & to impress upon them the duty of repentance & faith required in the gospel. We trust we have not done this, in a sectarian spirit, & that we have equally encouraged every sect “who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity & truth.” But feeling, as we do, the deep wickedness of the human heart, the necessity of a change of that disposition to an entrance into the kingdom of heaven, & the agency of the Spirit of God in accomplishing that change, we must press these subjects upon our pupils, & to show them their guilt, their danger, their remedy & their duty; praying that the Spirit of God would accompany these exhortations with saving power to their hearts— Such is very slightly the outlines of the motives, that have guided our public career & we hope that on looking back over the long list of immortal beings entrusted to our charge, at the most important & responsible part of their existence, we can be excused the assertion that we have attempted to do the good required of us, “in our day & generation”— [Illustration: PL. LIX.—SILHOUETTE OF A LITCHFIELD GIRL OF ABOUT 1830 ] Will the patrons of this school, now, pardon me in giving a detail of the reasons that have led me to relinquish my charge as the _associate principal_ in this Institution—These are, very concisely, (for I do not wish to occupy public attention by an egotistical exhibition of my private movements,) the diminution in the number of my pupils, occasioned by the numerous other establishments of a similar description, springing up all around us; the increased facilities of travelling to other places which nature has denied as an access to this village; & the offer to a station, where with less of physical exertion, a more certain & ample support for my increasing family, can be obtained, & a greater amount of usefulness be in my power, from the increased number of pupils, & the enlarged sphere of action—But in relinquishing this office, let me be believed, when I assert that I never can efface from my memory, the kindness of those by whom, I have been surrounded & supported for so many years—The stream of time may roll many things into oblivion, but whether it stagnate in its course, or rush on with a cataract’s velocity, it can never bury beneath its waves, or hurry from my heart, the recollection of all that has been done & felt for me, by the people of my native village—