246 Transactions of the • 



eler tbouf^ht it a little strange that so great a saint should have so 

 small a skull, but said nothing and passed on. After visiting many 

 other rooms they came to one, hours later, in which was another 

 skull, evidently of a man, and he asked whose that was. Forgetting 

 what he had said before, and as listless as ever, the guide answered 

 again, " the skull of Saint Patrick !" " But," said the traveler,/' did 

 not you tell me that the one I saw first was that of Saint Patrick?" 

 "Oh, yes," said the guide, now waking up, "but that was his skull 

 when he was a baby !" We know better, and are sure that the skull 

 of the baby will be only the more fully developed skull of the full- 

 grown man; and as we are here introduced to its infantile propor- 

 tions, we may well anticipate with pride what it will grow to become! 

 It is one oi' the special obligations of the early residents of a new 

 country, or a growing toAvn, may I not say, it is one of the special 

 privileges of such persons, to provide ample and permanent facilities 

 for the perpetuation of what they regard as valuable; not that it is 

 their duty so far to anticipate, in their plans and labors, that for 

 years after their successors will have nothing to do but to enter into 

 their labors and enjoy them, but to secure, establish, and anchor 

 what they value, and transfer this to others in such a condition that 

 they can make the bequest even more valuable and abiding when 

 they, in turn, pass it over to those who receive it at their hands. 

 Of this class must those be reckoned who build asylums, schools, 

 churches, and all institutions of public weal of any character where 

 a community has had no such established facilities for profit ade- 

 quate to their need. They are fortunate men, and should never be 

 unmindful of the opportunity granted them, nor be willing to rest 

 contented, if what may meet these demands is within their power, 

 until this is provided. What they thus establish will become abid- 

 ing and transforming elements in the advance of a city or a State. 

 It is sometimes thought, sometimes said, that the early population of 

 a place is too heavily taxed, that it ought not to be expected that it 

 will provide for their successors, since the urgent, pressing necessities 

 of pioneer life are enough for one generation. Yet how shall they 

 leave their impress on the land they settle so indellibly and so 

 nobly as by the permanent, comprehensive, wisely started institu- 

 tions by which a healthy influence may be sent down upon the next 

 generation? They cost money, but the most honorable wealth of 

 men, so situated, is stored in these monumental means of blessing, 

 which they may leave as the witnesses of their wisdom and their 

 worth. Of all men, pioneers, early residents, men who live in a place 

 before society, in all its departments, has crystalized into those vari- 

 ous organizations which growth and advance make necessary, should 

 be liberal, broad, far-seeing; and they should count their own gain, 

 in the ratio, not only that they help and profit themsclYes, but also 

 that they contribute to tliose whose tread can be so distinctly heard 

 immediately behind them that it is almost startling. Thus we 

 become men for our time; for, in a time and region like ours, none 

 can be meii for the time who are not also men for the future, and 

 they are doubly honored wdio can make such brilliant contributions 

 to the elevation of those who may thus be nobler and better; hence 

 I congratulate you on so auspicious a beginning of an agency that 

 can bear with such stimulating power on all the energies and our 

 resources of State. The enteri)rise and wisdom thus shown will bear 

 fruit in the richer products of the coming years, as the grandeur and 



