The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-03-26
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ORATION

4
HON. GEORGEH. PENDLETON;
At the Opening OF the Public Librar!
OF Cincinnati, Feb. 25. 1S74.L
From the Cincinnati Commercial, Feb. 2e.l
The feature of the afternoons exercisi
was the grafton by our talented fellow
citizen, Hon. George H. Pendleton. Wher
he stepped forward on the platform he wal
received with a round of applause, and h'
was listened to with marked attention
throughout. After he had concluded, and
while the audience was leaying the hall
Mr.. Pendleton was congratulated on all
hands for his happy effort. He SAID
These proceedings which you have wit
messed, and these reports which you have
heard, abundantly testify that Cincinnati
bns reason 10 he proud of its Public Lii
brary-proud of these many well selected
volumes-proud of thismagnifcent build
inc in which taste and elegance have been
combined with convenience and comfort;
in which beauty of proportion and finish
have lent their charm to durability and
strength-proud that twenty thousand
citizens borrow these books to gratlfy
refined taste at home while thousands
daily tbrong these halls and rooms to study
and perase them here.
Cincinnati has another just cause OF
honorable pride. Honest, upright, honor
able men, differing as widely as men can
differ on every question of politics, and re-
lieion and losophy-diferng widely as
to the Management of the Library, and the
construction of this bullding-have faith
fully, quietly, persistently, economically
prosecuted the work with which they were
charged by the public voice, until they
have completed this edifice IN our midst,
almost unknown to most of US, and to-day
present it free from debt-unequalled IN
its beauty and fitness as hhrary-free
from debt to the free use of its citizens
forever. @ vua
The Public Library is an invention Of
modern times, and supplies special place
in the means of education. The Oldest has
been in existence only twenty-five years,
and sprung out of want long felt. The
Public Library aids every means Of edu-
cation; it is I substitute for none; 1t has
its own special sphere, which none other
can fill.
TIE teachers and the scholars IN the
schools and college may here md the
means of more profound culture. The
students of the sciences and the arts, OF
law and medicine, and theology and phi
losophv. may here find the researches of
the great masters whom they must ponder.
The man of leisure may here crafty every
taste as the whim of the hour prompts.
But, after all, those whose tastes or hab-
its or means allow them to devote their
lives to study, could generally find the
necessary books without the aid of Pub
lie Library. .sr3l teEta -----E -=E
The vast majority of men and women
in every country, and especially IN our
busy Western cities, where activity Is cap
itaI and competition commands the utmost
exertion, have not the TINA nor the means
to devote their lives to study. They 60 to
school for a few years, they learn the rudl-
ments; they learn to read, to think, to talk;
and then they are driven by the neeessi-
ties of life to daily labor, of one kind or
another, and are soon engrossed, no matter
what their work, whether 1T be IN the
street, on the wharf, in the shop, on the
farm, in the store, at the clerks desk. at
the sewing machine-in the supreme effort
to live, to succeed to rise. -. 49,. p
They all must have repese, they all must
have relief from the strain of constant de-
sire and constant effort they all have
hours of recreatlon-some more, some less,
some day in a week, some an hour in
day. some only few moments they can
steal amid painful domestic trials, from
needed sleep For these the Public LII
brary Is Invaluable. as - ~.
Public amusements are excellent for
those who can participate in them; social
GATHERINGS are excellent for those who can
epiov them but the jaded body and the
faS0ed spirit. and the slender purse, and
he home duty are not equal 10 the erjoy-
ment of either. But books-the books of
a well assorted hbrary-embracing every
subject within the broadest range of our
misunderstanding every subject of our
tempora! or eternal concern, illustrating
every principle or thought or sentiment,
bv history or fiction, suited to every ca
pacity and gratifying every taste-books
which lie so temptngly on the table
friends ready to serve for an hour or a
mon ent-servitors who never frown but
always smile, companions who will 60 with
YOU TO your homes and still the restless
children, and amuse the patient wife, and
soothe The suffering invalid, and calm and
refresh the troubled and Jaded spirit
books properly adapted to the man and
his condition,-aford the pnrest ENJOY
ment and the largest instruction. They
cause the best deVelepement of mind and
heart and character, and give a capacity
and taste TO enjoy and TO elevate public
amusements, and to enjoy and to contrib
ute to the enjoyment of social life. Our
Public Library furnishes these books with
out money and without price.
do not underrate profound erudltlon
and the most searching investigation. We
need students in every department ol
knowledge, K that they should devote
their hives to their work. We need men
who will explore the heavens and read the
courses Of the stars, and deduce the laws
which regulate the existence of their world
and ours. We need men who will explore
the earth and resolve its soils and miner
ais. that the husbandman may perform his
part in earth's allotted work IN bringing
| forth food meet for man. We need lner
who will with patient study explore these
human frames, and teach as to ward of
disease and relieve sickness of its pains anc
death of its suferings.
But still more, if that be possible, We
need high-toned, intelligent community
acommunity whose intellect is sharpened
whose passions are softened, whose man
ners are refined by the undoubted inhu-
enee Of a healthful literary culture.
| We cannot all be scholars or students
or professors or authors, but after they
shall have exhausted their lives IN labor
and shall have evoked criticism and dis
cussion from their equals in intelligence
and culture, on their Investigations anC
discoveries, we, the humblest Of US, can il
the intervals of even the most sxacLine
lives, SIT in intelligent Judgment upor
their. differences, and enjoy the fruits which
they have gathered. The bee fits from
flower to flower, and gathers from every
dew cup, in one moment, the honey which
the powers of heaven and earth wer'
needed to create.
1t has been beautifully said "No trutl
/ can perish: 10 truth can pass away. Tn,