CAMBRIDGE AS VILLAGE AND CITY 1 



WE have met together this evening on one of 

 those occasions, which keep recurring, for commu- 

 nities as well as for individuals, when it is desira- 

 ble to take a retrospect of the past, to call atten- 

 tion to some of the characteristic incidents in our 

 history, to sum up the work we have done and 

 estimate the position we occupy in the world. As 

 long as we retain the decimal numeration that is 

 natural to ten-fingered creatures, we shall encoun- 

 ter such moments at intervals of half centuries and 

 centuries, and happy are the communities that can 

 meet them without shameful memories that shun 

 the light of history ; happy are the people that can 

 look back upon the work of their fathers and in 

 their heart of hearts pronounce it good ! What a 

 blot it was upon the civic fame of every Greek 

 community that took part in putting out the 



1 An oration delivered in Sanders Theatre, June 2, 1896, at 

 the civic jubilee commemorating the incorporation of Cambridge 

 as a city. 



