THE RT. HON. S. CAVE's PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 11 



will the streams of knowledge gradually and silently make 

 their way through the stnbhorn barrier of ignorance and vice. 

 The report of the Science and Art department speaks of a 

 sensible improvement in the work, and of increasing numbers 

 of students. True, they are as yet mere drops, but they may 

 be the first drops of a shower. Even if generations should 

 pass before the masses are civilized, as generations have 

 passed in the case of those above them, what are a few genera- 

 tions in the life of a nation, when we consider the end to be 

 attained ? We must have patience, and not, as is our habit 

 in these restless times, be perpetually digging up our seed, in 

 order to see whether it is growing. We can but plant and 

 water for a little while before we pass away, but if we do our 

 part we shall pass away in the full assurance that our suc- 

 cessors will reap the fruit of the tree we have planted. 



