ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS, 



BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, AT PALACE GARDEN, OCT. 29, 1859, 



By the Hon. A. Oakey Hall. 



" Daily wondera of life in the world of industry." 



The Statutes of 1829, a small volume, compared with the last 

 one, of encyclopeedia bulk, contains the charter of the American 

 Institute. Its first fair was held in Masonic Hall : that now only 

 lives in the Manual of Mr. Valentine. The present one wa» 

 crowded up to "Palace Gardens," which, in 1829, were pasturago 

 grounds, and whose soil, very soon, will be pressed by massive 

 masonry. 



How the multiplication of the State statutes — how the extend- 

 ing city — how the chasm of time between ' fair ' the first and ' fair' 

 the last (a chasm spanned by the beautiful and enduring bridg© 

 of progress) — how eloquently they tell what has been accom- 

 plished during the thirty-one years of the American Institute. 



That is no great lapse of time, observed alone by pendulum 

 measurement. But, noted by the hour-hand of eventful improve- 

 ment, the thirty-one years equal any five centuries since the 

 epochs wherein oriental art and science were entombed beneath 

 Egypt's sands, or beside the Archipelago's silver strand. Aye, 

 the American Institute is aged with success of innumerable inven- 

 tions; and yet its eldest member, in his elasticity of step, may 

 challenge the envy of the youngest club-lounger 1 



A classical account has the Institute to render. It has nobly 

 maintained its object. Says the charter : " For the purpose of 

 encouraging and promoting domestic industry in this State, and 

 in the United States, in agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and 

 the arts, and any improvements made therein, by bestowing re- 

 wards and other benefits upon those who shall make any such 

 improvements, or excel in any of the said branches." 



And the ' Institute ' takes no note of time by its loss. In this 

 age all 'losses ' of merely sped years, produce the 'profits' of the 

 trackless future. 



