OPENING ADDRESS, 



AT THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 

 AT PALACE GARDEN, SEPTEMBER 28, 1859, 



By Henry Meigs, Recording Secretary. 



Ladies and Gentlemen — The American Institute again calls me 

 to the agreeable duty of opening to you the Thirty-first Annual Fair. 



They have gathered here the works and fruits of our home 

 genius and industry, in every branch of our great and busy coun- 

 try — all of the last year's production. Here they are, forming 

 the triumph which we dearly love. These act as so many power- 

 ful stimulants to more invention, more labor to improve all, and 

 surpass all other nations. In this remarkable age, we are taking 

 the lead in splendid style. Our national cry is, Go ahead! I, for 

 one, have for years cried, Ay! but for all sakes. Look ahead too! 



The Managers' work of preparation, including thousands of ad- 

 mirable works which cannot bear exposure to bad weather, has 

 been unavoidably delayed by the storms. Yet no American lives 

 who does not submit with all humility to the dispensations of 

 God. Armies, navies, and nations, have been at the mercy of like 

 storms. Our ancestors always manifested religious patience ; 

 their motto was, however, in the darkest hours of the storm, in 

 Latin, " Serenabit " — it will clear up ! 



In making up a history of the Transactions of the Institute for 

 the year, we include notices of all the new and valuable articles, 

 gathered from the world ; we have them this year from England, 

 France, Russia, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Java, Brazil, China, 

 Hindostan, South America, Mexico, and our Pacific States, Cali- 

 fornia, and from Canada. With all these, we exchange our 

 volumes of Transactions for theirs, free of expense. The Pleni- 

 potentiaries of England, the Lords Napier and Lyons, recently 

 gratuitously gave us the facilities for investigation in India, for 

 investigation of the common schools of Hindostan, ancient and 

 modern. 



About twelve years ago, some of the best of our philosophic 



