Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-05

she brought from the ancient to the modern world the lights of pure religion and sound learning, which were like to go out in the darkness and tempest of medieval Europe; for the courage and maguanimity with which
 Tn the days Of her strength she spread her protecting wings over the poor and oppress- ed in every land to save them from fhe
 spoilers whose piety I say we reverence for
 what she has been, yea, and for what she
 now Is. And hither, too. have come the
 children of that ancient faith from which
 the Christian faith has sprung and here
 Israel after the flesh have reared their syn-
 Rogues and here they worship the God of
 their fathers in their fathers way. Verify,
 great change has come over the place since
 the days when this vas the only church and
 everyone in the plantation had to come here
 on Sunday whether he wanted to or not.
 And 1t was because the first planters
 sturdily contended for their own liberty that
 they won this larger liberty for us. When
 ever honest men successfully ba tie for their
 rights they always win high privileges for
 those who come after them. But we can pursue no furthsr the lines of the city's development. It is time now so turn in clos ing to the thought with which we began, that the right government of cities in 8 re- public Is the great problem which now faces us. If we can in practice reach the true | solution Of this problem then will all things | prosper If we cannot reach a true solution. woe be to usi We are not yet large enough | city to feel greatly the pressure of this problem upon ourselves, but it's shadow is al- ready over us and If our growth and pros i per1ty continues shall have to | face 1t in all its magnitude And it can only
 be met successfully by all good citizens giv- l Ing thelr first interest to municipal affairs. l If the dwellers in cities would give as l much and intelligent attention to a munich pal election as they do to national one the | greatest danger to our civilization would dis l appear. If we will take care of the cities
 the republic will be very apt to take care of | lself. 1t IS matter for keen regret that | the politics of our cities have become so en- l tangled with national politics When man | IS candidate for an off in the city govern ment the first question that we ask concern | ing him is the very irrelevant one, to I what political party does he belong? As If that ought to make any difference. The questions which we ought to ask are: What | are his views upon sewerage and sanitation | upon public improvements, upon roads and | highways. upon the various subjects which ! may be within the reach of city ordinances? Are his character and energy such as to make | him good public servant? Will he feel his | responsibility to the people in the exercise of | the trust committed to his charge? What
 have his views upon the tariff or upon the interpretation of the constitution of the United States, or his preference for any na- \ y, l municipal office? But the working of our ] political system has unfortunately been such l that in local elections are apt to look be- yond local interests to the necessity of carry | ing the State or the nation, and so our cities l are largely governed by accident or misgov- | erned or scarcely governed at all. If there is l salvation 1n store for this land 1t must come | by renewed attention on the part of citizens ! to municipal affairs. City government must l be d1sentangled from national politics, | and this can only come about when the great l bulk of citizens who have no axes to grind, l no political preferment to seek, nothing but the well being of the city at heart, will set l themselves to this work. We must work out l our own political salvation and eternal vigi- 1 lance must be it's price. And we have reason ! to rejoice that in some of the largest cities, ! where the evils of lax an d corrupt govern. l ment have been becoming intolerable, this simple principle IS being practically recog- l nized and in the question as to who shall holG | 8 city of6ce fitness for the office is somewhat l considered. Even here where these evils art
 in less evident stage of their development
 we have sporadic attacks of this same uncom l mon sense. The gentleman who now hold.
 the chief magistracy of this city holds it no | because he IS Democrat, certainly not be
 cause he is 8 Republican, but because he has been weighed in the municipa 1 balance and not found wanting
 Fellow citizens: ''The lines are fallen tc
 us in pleasant places, yea, we have goodlJ l heritage" It has come to us from the
 fathers we hold it in trust for the genera
 tions to come. What shall we do with ii
 Shall we transmit it to posterity, more beau
 tiful in outward seeming and in inward
 grace than it came to us? Or shall we waste
 our fair portion in riotous living and by oul
 unfaithfulness give to successors onlJ
 the broken remnants, the shattered residue
 of what was once so goodly and so great
 Upon the dWellers in cities rests a double
 duty, double responsibility. According a
 we discharge that duty and responsibility
 the future of this nation shall be bright an6
 splendid, or it's governments shall be, from
 top to bottom, not governments at all, bu
 one wild ochlocracy. It is ours to determine
 what shall be, and have faith that we shal
 determine aright. We must lose sight neither
 of the actual nor of the ideal. We must no
 forget or ignore the mean and petty
 details of our political life, it paltry corruptions, it's wearisomt
 particulars. We must not lose sight of thes,
 things, for in their correction and in thei
 administration lies the work which is giver
 us to do. But we must not dwell on these
 alone. If we do we shall become depravet
 or disgusted. We must look not only at tht
 things which are seen, but at the things
 which are unseen. We must ever keep ir
 sight that ideal city which rises above thess
 gross particulars, that fair city of hope anG
 beauty and righteousness and splendor tc
 which we may never attain, but toward which
 we may ever approximate. If we lose sight ] of the actual we shall become impractical and useless, if we lose sight of the ideal we l shall miss our aspirations and become mere
 material laborers for the meat which perishes l But not from the ideal of the future alone
 may we draw inspiration, but also from the
 memory of the past. As we look backward
 our eyes must rest to-day upon the famous academy in the liar oldI year'' 1638 RThe
 bay stretched out in blue beauty
 to the Sound; the grand sheer faces of the
 everlasting hills rose in solemn majesty
 to the north; and between the water and the
 cliffs sloped upward the budding verdure oi l the wooded plain, and beneath the spreading
 branches of an oak sat little company, upon | whose ears fell the voice of one crying in the
 wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the | Lord, and when the service was ended they 1 arose and went to prepare the way. 'tAnd
 the wilderness and solitary place were glad
 for them, and all these having obtained a good report thro' faith, received not the
 promise, God having provided some better
 thing for us that they without us should not l be made perfect" For to-day, from the blue
 waters to the stately hills, the forest is gone ] and in it's place rise the spires and habita- | tions of this beautiful and prosperous city
 whose glory we now celebrate. What has | happened in the intervening time? Who hath done this! Davenport and
 Eaton laid the foundation, but other
 men have builded thereon Walk thro' the
 silent streets of wonder cemetery and read l there the names of soldiers. sages, saints, l who have iven their strength and greatness l to the place of their abode. And there, too, 1 you will read the names of many also whose ! record is forgotten, but who not less than 1 their more famous llow-citizens have con-. | tributed to the welfare of the city. They
 rest from their labors, but their works do fol- | low them because they prized their own 1 Jerusalem beyond their chiefest joy. From | the dust of the memorable and the unremem-
 bered dead, who served their generation in | faithfulness and hope, who thro' faith and l patience labored for the common good, there comes to us to-day commandment and an | inspiration that we also serve our generation and the generations that to be. The hopes of the future and the memory of the past, alike call upon us to do the duty that
 lies nearest to us and the glorified city gitters 1 from the skies. No free institution can ever perish, unless first faith in them has died out from the hearts of the people. We must be- 1 lieve in our city aud our nation. We must walk by faith and not by sight
 l And we know that this high devotion to ideals is yet strong among us. The turf up-
 on the graves, where we strew flowers from
 year to year, is yet too young, there are left among us too many of the heroes of the war for the Union for us to think that high deyo-