32 



Annual Address. 



the other concerns of life, the fortunate accidents, as they 

 are called, come in the main to those who by all their pre- 

 vious tastes and habits are best prepared to receive them. 

 In our ignorance or vanity we may talk of procuring at 

 once for our country, some great European collection, but 

 it were easier far for us to obtain their crown jewels. 

 There is but one path by which all valuable results are 

 attained, and that is the path of patient, well-directed 

 labor. We may find great encouragement to our efforts 

 in the rapid growth of such collections as those of the 

 British and Kensington museums, of which I have spoken, 

 and in the fact that the British National Gallery, which 

 dates back only to the purchase in 1824 of the compara- 

 tively small collection of a private gentleman, now contains 

 about eight hundred admirable pictures, more than two- 

 thirds of which have been gifts or bequests. Such is the 

 invariable tendency of all such collections to grow by vol- 

 untary contributions. 



The record of the services of the Institute in the past, 

 ought I think to entitle us to the confidence and assistance 

 of our fellow citizens in any new efforts we may make, and 

 especially in procuring such accommodations as may be re- 

 quired for our present and for future collections. These 

 procured, let us proceed to increase our museum, by adding 

 to it all those now scattered materials of any and every 

 suitable kind which may with a little effort be obtained 

 either by way of gift or of loan, within our own city or 

 neighborhood. Let us endeavor to enlist such an interest 

 in it as a city work, that every citizen who visits foreign 

 lands or has other opportunities, will feel it a matter of 

 pride and duty to bring home some contribution, however 

 small, to our museum; that they who may have the means 

 and the will to do something to render our city more 

 attractive and to make themselves remembered as its bene- 

 factors, shall aid us by gifts or bequests, either of specific 



