ADDRESS. 



Another annual period of our course is finished. 

 Once more we have met, with grateful humility to 

 implore the continued benediction of Providence on 

 the cause of improvement ; with heartfelt rejoicing 

 to review the useful results we have been permitted 

 to accomplish ; with cheerful confidence to renew 

 united efforts for the common benefit ; and again to 

 endeavor to fulfil the measure of duty, by doing all 

 the good in our power to every fellow being. 



The close of a year, that wide space, in social as 

 in human existence, is an era of very familiar, but 

 of peculiar interest. Whether falling, according to 

 the computation of the calendar, amid the storms of 

 winter, or stealing on our path when spring unfolds 

 the multitude of buds, and unrols the broad carpet 

 of verdure over valley and hill side ; or overtaking 

 us when autumn spreads her robe of many colors 

 over the green dress of field and forest, and the 

 plant wraps itself up for its long sleep ; it brings a 

 mingled crowd of sad and joyous reflections. Each 

 anniversary gives us a point, where we may pause, 

 to look backward over the past, upon the progress 

 we have made, and onward through the future, to 

 estimate the extent of usefulness which separates us 

 from the termination of our pilgrimage. It stands 

 like a milestone along the highway of time. When 



