Sci 1635.9.5

ADDRESS.

one may feel at

small beside the

And as the first

I have, to-day, a double satisfaction. While I will not weakly dissemble the honest pleasure that being selected for this service, I make that honor of addressing an association like this. thought of the first man has been supposed to have been, and as the first thought of any one awaking to consciousness naturally must be, embodied in the question "Where am I?" so this same inquiry rises now in my mind, to admonish me who are those in whose presence I am speaking.

You know, gentlemen, that this reflection has no reference to blood, birth, or fortune. There is a vision of greater things before me. I see in those who hear me, the best accredited representatives of the American civilization of today. I speak carefully. I might be told that an assembly of learned men, a body of scientists, a gathering of mercantile boards, or some religious council or congress of legislation, could better answer my terms; but I think otherwise. And if I proceed to develop, somewhat, the character I have ascribed to you, I hope it may be apparent that I rather point you to your duties and privileges, than indulge in any word of adulation.

You represent a territory of some four hundred and seventy square miles, supporting a population of two hundred thousand; a territory most remarkable every way, whether in the present or past. It is busy with almost every modern indus