Middletown transcript., 1874-01-10
"A al54i.ps ~ LETTERS lsA ~
To the Boys and Girls Of the Middle
town Academy, Delaware.
.LET]TElRS
BY REV. JOSEPH WILSON.

fIt sd lIftt
No. 5.-YouR ADVANTAGES or Position.
My Young Friends The world 10 ra-
pidly advancing in intelligence and refine
ment, and in all those arts and appliances
/, Of civilized life which minister to the con
venience and promote the comfort Of So
ciety. During the past hundred, and oven
fifty years, immense strides have been ta-
ken in Agriculture, Mechanics, and the
Fine Arts. We, are now familiar with
things that one hundred years ago Cor less)
we're not known or even dreamed of; and
many of which would have been pro.
nounced impossible by the wissst of your
grandfathers. a se3t gagi al
II When they were young no steamboats,
or steamships piled on rivers or crossed
the mighty oceans. No railroads traversed
the states and crossed the sentiment, bear
ing the steam locomotive or iron horse,
swiftly dragging the palace car with its
hundreds Of travellers from state to state,
and from ocean to ocsan. ai4sci II j,
4 No electric telegraph---almost annihi-
lating time and space-conyeyed rhnman
thought almost insta tantaneously !, from city
to'city. from country to country, from con-
tinent to continent; triumphantly passing
mountain heights and ocean dspthss with
equal facility;' thus making thought and
speech eutstrip the light of the day in it's
progress round the earth, and enabling q
man in London at IL o'clock, M. to con-
verse with a friend in New York at
o'clock Of the same morning. t1s Pc
The printing press was a comparatively
clumsy instrument, moved laboriously by
human muscle, and though vastly supe-
rior to the pen, is still more infe-
rior to the steam press Of the present day ,
which throws off its printed sheets by
thousands in the hour, with little aid from
man but to supply it with the blank sheets
of paper. we "A' t's1 'n''71t $500
Fifty years ago, the pencil Of the artist
alone was employed to preserve to us the
features Of our relatives and friends, and
that not always accurately But now the
ingenuity of man has put an unerring pen
Gil into the hand of a ray Of light, and the
photograph instantly draws the features Of
our loved oLes, from the infant Of a|few
days to the gray-haired patriarch of three
score and ten. q
But why should I further specify the
inventions and improvements Of the pres
ent century. Time would fail me to men
tion tythe of their number. Their" name
Is legion, and their utility surpasses COM
prshension.
''' I have called your attention to these
things to impress on your minds the fact
that you occupy a,position, on the scale Of
knowledge many steps in advance of that
on which your ancestors stood, You en-
joy advantages not POSSESSED, in their
youthful days, by your ayshaired sires
and mothers. You begin life at an eleva.
ton, only attained by yopr, predecessors, /,
after period Of learning Of, three scorc
years. You begin whore They end, and
may be justly expected to end your earth
ly career far in advance, in knowledge
and improvement, of those who must soon
end their probation.
The inference that I would have you
draw from these premises is, that you are
bound to improve your advantages to the
utmost Of your power. 1t may not be that
all or, any of you may become inventors Of
useful machines or arts but it is not too
much to say that all Of you may and should
act worthiiy Of your advantages and thus
obtain honor and happiness from the right
iuse of the knowledge and conveniences
you may acquire or already possess, i; y
Finally, you should ever bear in,, mind
that the advantages you possess cannot be
attributed to your own wisdom or choice.
Divine Providence has given you your be-
ing in this day of knowledge. Your ore
ator has given you, or some Of you, rich
and loving parents, who freely spend their
wealth for your Improvement and happi-
ness; and all of you have parents or
friends sincerely desirous thatsyou should
know more, be wiser and more happy than
they. You have teachers who regard you
with parental affection, and who Will re-
ljoice in proportion as YOU advance IN know
ledge Virtue and happiness ,eea.,sq
e,GAboyeg all. seek to. advance in the know
ledge and fear Of God, which will be q
crown Of glory to your other accomplish
ments.
IL a