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Men of Michigan, happy are those, it may be said, who come upon 

 the stage of life where institutions exist, })erfected by the ages which 

 have gone over them ; where everything which the eye beholds is fin- 

 ished, and where the whole condition of society shows the giace and 

 elegance of a ripened civilization ! But far more noble and favored is 

 taeir position, who are called upon to lay the foundations of great in- 

 stitutions, and to plant the comer stones of society, and to open the 

 springs of knowledge, truth and beauty, to coming generations ! The 

 first is the lot of mortals — the last rather the ofiice of divinities ; the 

 first may enjoy and be forgotten — the last will hve in the sculptured 

 forms of art, in the songs of poets, in the records of history, and iti the 

 undying admiration and gratitude of the uni\ersal human heart ? 



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