ANNUAL MEETING. 177 



hands, as it rises in high ;uul noble symmetry until the apex is reached, and 

 all beholders cry out glory, glory, unto it. This work of character building 

 is one of tlie greatest importance to us in our most substantial and vital inter- 

 ests, and we may recognize many powerful forces being engaged upon it. For 

 the sake of contrast we may just glance at some of the foremost of tliese for a 

 moment or two ; and first, 



THE FAMILY. 



This is an influence of pervading force in the formation of all character, 

 and in the present state of things there can be no cliaracter formed without its 

 intervention. Its influence is formative and assimilating, and it is the embodi- 

 ment of first principles in pure government. In the development of the 

 manly virtues it is the fundamental training school, and its power and influ- 

 ence is very generally felt and acknowledged. Under its kind and fostering 

 care the graces and accomplishments of men are all implanted and sunned, 

 watered and nourished into being and full development. In the very infancy 

 of our being, long before there is a trace of manly character upon us, the 

 influences of the family are acting upon us as the sunshine upon the tender 

 plant, until the feeble germs of our life are fanned into being. But the ever 

 present influences of tlie family do not stop here; they follow us still as a 

 refreshing stream in the wilderness, or as the ever present sunlight, to cheer 

 and to guide us in our onward course. Here tenderness and love and good 

 will to all, as formative blocks, are firmly laid in place, not in bricks and mor- 

 tar or perishable material, but rather in the still more solid depths of the 

 human heart. Happy is tlie man who, in his early life, has been cultured and 

 trained amid the golden influences of a good and orderly family. But second, 



THE CHURCH 



As a builder of human character, is still more marked and important. She 

 builds with super-human material a something that cannot be dug from the 

 mines of earth. She takes the work in its incipient steps and adds to its 

 beauty and its glory. Solid are the blocks she lays, and deeply and firmly 

 placed. Universal charity, temperance, love, faith, and hope, with these and 

 similar blocks she builds us up until a proportion and an elevation is reached 

 that is indescribable to a fruition that is never ending, and to the grandest 

 results it is possible for human character to attain. As a guide she takes us 

 by the hand, and safely leads us through the wilderness of this world by all 

 the snares and pit-falls of human life in perfect peace and perfect safety, up 

 to the fields of richest green. The church, firm and deep be her foundations 

 over this broad land, and let her ennobling and christianizing influence be 

 over all classes of the people. But third, 



THE STATE, 



As a character builder, we cannot well afford to overlook the salutary influ- 

 ences upon us of our country. Patriotism is amongst the noblest aspirations 

 of the human breast, and poets have dilated upon the theme in some of their 

 best and most enduring efforts. 



'a 



"Lives there a man with soul so dead, 

 Who never to himself hath said 

 This is my country, my portion fair; 

 My treasures and my hopes are liere." 



2a 



