Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-03-20

Hall The enlargement Of the Library is of pTi-
| mary Importance Respectable in numbers, il is
| yet deficient in many books of standard value /;
particularly illustrated works of Science, and Of
| the Fine and Mechanic Arts. Let this want be
| supplied at the earliest moment. Glasses, too,
may be formed OF the younger members for mu
tual improvement in knowledge, both in the COM
mon branches of education and the higher stud
les OF Science and Mathematics. Many young
men seek location here whose advantages for
education, in the small rural towns have been
exceedingly limited No better service can be
rendered them, than by furnishing, to some ex
tent, at least, the facilities here suggested, and
! which come properly within tile scope of the As
sociation.
Courses of lectures, too, for the public, as we'll
/ as to private classes, will without doubt eoaSti
/ tute prominent feature Of the Institution. 1t
is to be hoped the Association will be sustained
/ in procuring the first order of talent and that
| acknowledgement courses, on special subjects,
1 In knowledge and Science, will be secured. May
! we not anticipate the time, possible, within the
| lifetime OF many present, when the Institution,
| free from any iucumbrance, may appropriate the
/ whole of its revenue to the objects specified
! Gentlemen, the building we to day dedicate
! meets not only want OF the Worcester county
/ Mechanics Associations but of the city general
| ly, and, may almost say, ofthe Commonwealth
4 Our central position has long made Worcester
| famous for large public gatherings. Heretofore,
our assembly rooms and hotels have been quite
inadequate for the public necessities We can
NOW blIST accommodations IN OOLl VI tneSt par
ticulars second TO no other city in New England.
The bearing of all this upon welfare and pros
perlty must be obvious to every one
Gentlemen, should no calamity befall this edi-
flee, it were easy to imagine the parts that will
here be acted in the ver-shifting drama of hu-
man affairs. Here the Orator will display his ell
quence, and the scholar his erudition. Cues
tons of momentous interest State and national,
will here be discussed. 1t will undoubtedly be
the theatre of many strongly contested debate
40 rrrnl nroal poAz Of Hun AN
Human Destiny. The ultraist, and the conserv-
ativei will, each in turn, come up to plead his
cause, AMI demand hearing. Well will 1t be,
however discOrdant the notes that may here lind
utterance, if love of Right and Justice shall pre-
vail Well will it be, if, from this, its CENTRE the
Commonwealth we all love and adore, shall con-
tinue to send forth sentiments and principles
which shall, in time to come as in time past,
cause her name to be respected and honored by
her sister States of the republic
But, o. far distant be that day, when the doc
trine shall be proclaimed, that beings made in the
image of the Almighty, and born beneath the
shadow of these walls, not citizens of the
Commonwealth and the country: that all men
are not created equal and entitled to life liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. Let the flames
consume, let the earthquake sunder. so that not
one stone shall be left upon another, rather than
such disgrace should soil the beautiful Temple,
that we to-day dedicate!
Fellow CT liens, let me congratulate you upon
the facilities almost unsurpassed, for musical
entertainments, which this building furnishes
As source oil public amusement. as the promot-
er of public virtue, the Science OF Music is more
and more appreciated. Itinterposes its soothing
and enrolling influences, amid the diversified
pursuits of this rugged aud wearisome Pilgrimage
of Life. 1t scatters its rays of sunlight and glad
ness around our hearth stones, its mission is
peace and good will to the multitude bowling in
willing homage to its Heavenly mandates. But,
confined to narrow and ill-arraDged apartments,
the power of music is often sadly weakened, if
not wholly destroyed
Q, how would she, that bright and beautiful
Bird Of Song, whose spirit is as pure the SHOWS
OF her own northern home, who for one hour, alas,
all too brief, folded her wings at affairs leav
| ing traces Of almost unearthly melody, lingering
in our memories, how W ould she have hailed and
graced a shrine so beftting her presence as this
| May those pinions. yet again, here find resting
place. and that bird like voice MARBLE delicious
carol more, ere the hand of time shall shatter its
cords, or hush its melody, forever
| And now, gentlemen Of this Association, behold
! the promise Of the day, which God has graciously
allotted TO u.s. on earth. Every thug conspires to
awaken q manly enthusiasm in the great pursuits
aud contests Of life. We live at a period and in
country, when labor must receive its recompense.
| We form portion Of an empire, such the sun,
nowhere else, shines upon. Embracing every
riety of soil and climate with coast Of thou
sands Of miles, and watered by the nobest rivers,
oar country throws wide open, its vast and almost
unlimited acres, to the teeming tides of Human
Life, which, in countless throngs, will continue to
| settle down upon them, for ages to come. Upon
| this accumulating mass Of population, New Eng
| land skill, and New England enterprise beliye
/ me- will continue to be exerted. We may pass
through seasons of depression, in business pursuits,
such as recently has checked the wheels prosper
ity, here and elswhere. This is to be expected
But, not long, can the energies Of such nation as
| ours be paralyzed. The day will follow the night.
The hour Of deliyerance has already dawned upon
US. The busy hum of machinery, and the voices
Of industrious men will ere long resound through
our work shops as BEFORE Yet were it not well,
to count, too long, or two strongly, upon the sta
bility OF any earthly good "a mans life consist
| eth not IN the abundance of the things which he
/ possesseth." These walls now towering high above
all the places our hands have builded, will, the
ever changing cycle of human events witness pros
| perity and adversely, social and individual They
! will witness the acquisition of wealth, they may
witness the passing away Of the accumulations Of
| your early manhood, as the dews of the morning.
! But, despair not, for the lessons of knowledge and
| wisdom, that may here be gamered, more precious
1 than thousands of silver and gold, will remain,
| wealth of enjoyment, solace and support, how
ever dark the clouds of adversely that may settle
upon your pathway
After another strain of excellent music by the
band, which acquitted itself with admirable credit
on the occasion, the President stated that His
Excelleney, the Governor, owing to sickness in
his family, unable to fulfil his engagement
to be present. His Honor, Lieut.. Gov. Bench
| ley, was then introduced, and proceeded to adj
dress the audience at some length, going briefly
over the groundof the early history and settle
ment Of Worcester, nearly two centuries ago, and
concluding by comparison with the present city
and its institutions, chief among which, he said,
was this Association, and its magnificent edifce,
now completed.
/ His Honor Mayor Richardson was then intro
| dueed, and in a few brief and eloquent remarks
congratulated the mechanics of Worcester upon
the successful completion of the noble edi6ce,
which is at once the pride and.omament Of the
city, and a monument Of the enterprise and in
dustry of its citizens.
! The President then introduced one whose his
Sory is intimately associated, not only with the
growth and prosperity of Worcester for half a
century, but with the affairs of the whole Com.
monweath, whose honors he has SO long worthi-
ly enjoyed--the Hon. Levi Lincoln.
| Gov Lincoln, in rising to respond, said he had
been induced, entirely against his own will, to
appear, because, as the gentleman inviting him
stated, they wanted the presence of one of the
! old landmarks on the occasion. And that sug.
gested to him the solemn reflection, how few of
those old landmarks Of the past now remained.
Most wonderful, he said had been the changes