Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-06-28

ii spite of difficulties, my heart is in my mouth,
andmy cap the air with hurra upon my lips.
When see good works like this, feel rs the
gallant yeoman of Ivanhoe did, and like him am
ever ready to add my halloo to good deed, a
good shot or gallant blow, come whence it may.
The times, the place, the circumstances, all
combine together to make this scene one of rare
interest. To witness it i have hft my home and
business beyond the mountains, more. than a
thousand miles away, and haze deemed the heat
and the dust, and the smoke by the way, of no
moment, in comparison with the qualification
which this OCCASION affords. 40 frsfhT7
Where are we and what are We doingf l find
it difficult to realize the fact that am not among
enchanted spirits at work upon things of magic
in some fairy land, for here, and on my way
here, | have in this great valley of the West,
realized things, factsAnd merits, which could
they have been foretold in our fathers hearing,
would have been considered by them too ex-
travagant and highly wrought even for a nursery
tale in which COLLINS and witches, and fairies and
magic are allowed to figure. 6.,..t..el
There was once in dream-and q youth, who,
the romancers tell us, possessed himself Of a
|
ion the most powerful genii, and have them to
| do his will. Get for me, said he to the geni,
| jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and caskets
of rubies ana diamonds and precious stones, and
10 81! riches and wealth stood in great heaps and
| piles before him. Build me, said he, before the
mornings sun shall guild the East, palace more
gorgeous and splendid than the King's,-iet it,
in grandeur, surpass all other palaces that were
! ever built; and in the morning, there it was, to
| the amaz amcnr and wonder of the King, his
daughter, his princes and his no les. We have
all read these tales of entertainment in the nur-
sery, and in the simplicity of childhood wondered
if they were true sure enough
But here in this Western world, in this blessed
land of liberty, under this glorious UnioE, there
is people who have charm, 10y which they can
call up, and have called up, and are every day
calling up, genii far more powerful than any
that Aladdin, with his wonderful lump, ever
dreamed of. Give US, they say in their spirit of
inlomitabla enterprise and energy; give us not
Baskets of stones, but the elements Of greatness,
of human prosperity and happiness, and make US
mighty and great and 10 as if the wand of the
great magician had touched the country, the saw
age and the wild beast disappear, tall trees bow
their heads and the forests fall to the ground,
and in their places we behold the School house,
the Church with its tall taper spire pointing
heavenward, and broad fields OF yellow grain
! waving to the breeze, and making the very hills
to smile and leap with plenty-making glad the
hearts of freemcn.
They say to it, the creation of q palace in a
| night is not enough for us-we want cities with
guided dnmes, and temples of science, and halls
of learning, and splendid charities and 10 |!
they stand where the wilderness was but ycste r
day, and they rise up as if from the green BIO som
of your smiling praries.
Suppose that when our fathers were coming
their nursery rhymes, and listening to fairy tales,
and reading their little story books, some Peter
Farley, other friend of childhood, had hid
from them the story of Aladdin and his Wonder
full Lamp, and slipped into their hands, in its
stead story book that should have told them
that their children should live in world like this
that steam should be harnesscd, the lightning
bridled, ana many powers, and principles, and
agents of nature, then unknown hut now unt,e err
| stool, should be brought into mans use and
employed, rs they now are-what would they
have said? Like the Dacotahs to lIawatha's
story-;e'ler, their reply would have been-'s Kaw,
| agoo, w, don't believe youn %
| In the days of my yoath-and am not old
drank of the springs of the mighty Mississippi
us they came gushing forth from the hills of Ten.
nessee, being bound, babbiing, and rippling and
dancing to meet the laughing waters of your
smiling prairie, and about this season OF the year
annually, used to see gangs of boatmen truds-
ing on foot through the mud, bounl from New
| Orleans back to their homes in the upper cOun-
try. Steam then had not come fairly into use
and it took season to perform the trip to New
Orleans and back. lndeed those who went down
with their produce in the fall, after arriving at
New Orleans; selling boat AMI cargo and walk
| lag back, found themselves too late ut home TO
pnt in a crop for that year. The rule was, one
| year to make crop, another year to take it to
| market.
| The Importance of telling and recording for
our children the agencies, influences, and reasons
by which such ch,nges have been brought about,
cannot be over whatever they be, they
| have their origin in the advancement and i'm.
| provcmcnts OF science - corner stone for 8
temple to which we have just placed here on a
foundation deep, broad and solid.
| voyage of circumnavigation can now be
male in less tim, than. within my recollection,
| you could make the trip down the Mississippi
even from St. Louis or Cincinnati to New Orleans
| and back.
| The change in the habits and customs Of the
| people, which these changes have wrought their
influences upon the social relations of the people
their industrial pursuits, their anners and habits
the effect Of this that statute, discovery, i'm
provement, agent, and invention upon them, it will
be the duty of this Society to otc-for great is the
interest, especially in a historical point of view
that is attached to such things. -
| This Society will accomplish that. IL has com.
menced early. know not which, most to admire,
the sagacity which planned, or the spirit of libe-
rality and patriotism which has come up to adop,
and execute it. These Halls are not to be de-
voted to History alone, but they are wisely to be
dedicated to Science, tn Literature, and Art, and
all that is calculated to enlarge the mind and ele-
| vatc the soul. 1 Z" -
are and are to be, permit me to express the hope
that, mt no distant day, you will have connected
with this Institution an astronomical observatory
| also? ssn5
Your skies are bright, and your atmosphere
the clearest and most Transparent al Observable
ry in such place, with such sky would pos
sess rare advantages in certain departments of
physical rescarch. Tremendous applause.l
Hcrschcll has said, that in Europe, the astron-