They were educated by the responsibilities of self-government.

They were accustomed to meditate and discuss with each other the profoundest questions of theology and of the State.

Their local traditions had made them familiar with a stimulant and heroic history, in which every family had borne its share.
In these Puritan communities life was a perpetual gymnasium.
At the time of Mr.Thayer's birth, the strictness of the Puritan manners had softened somewhat.

A milder theology was slowly making its way, but the race which settled in New England still remained without a tincture of any foreign element.
The town was one of the oldest in Worcester County.

In every generation it had contained men of large influence in the Commonwealth, who had kept alive the interest of the people in public affairs.