The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-07-16
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
To the Maryland State Teachers Assoc
tiOn, Tuesday, July s. 1899,
BY PRESIDENT JAMES A. DIFFENBAUGH.

A large number of teachers and others
interested in education attended the twenty
sixth annual session of the Maryland State
Teachers Association which began at the
Blue Mountain House on Tuesday of last
week. Mr. James A. Diffenbaugh, School
Examiner of Carroll county and President
of the Association, delivered the annual ad-
dress. He said:
Ladies and Gentlemen-
"The natives of Ionia have legend that
on certain night in every year their tute-
larry saint is seen perched on one Of their
church spires counting the surrounding is
lands to see that none has been sunk by the
power of witchcraft. 1t were not inapt
similitude to find in this legend some like
ness to the passing hour. 1t is an annu-
ally recurring festival which puts the speak
er above you for brief moment, not, in
deed, particularly in the present instance,
with any tutelary or sanity prerogative,
but as a sort of watchman on the tower, to
take note of wind and sky, and, if need be,
give warning of approaching danger. For
this address which inaugurates your meet
ing rather than your president, if | under
stand it properly, ought to, in some meas
ure, summarize the signs of the times and
indicate direction for the school thought
and school energies to take. Conceiving
this to be your wish and my duty, you will
believe me, ladies and gentlemen, bow
with reverence to the genius of the place and
hour and acknowledge with profound SEN
sibility the honor of the position in which
| stand. In casting about for suitable
caption to the message | bring, | have
come upon these suggestive words uttered
by divine lips.
'THE THINGS WHICH ARE CEsAR's."
The Saviour of the world spake as never
man spake-he spake to all mankind
There could be no limitation Of time oil
tongue or circumstance upon His words, ,theil
application must be wide as the world tc
to whom He spake, continuous as the race
He came to save. Moreover, He spake
with all authority, laying upon His hearers
an imperative obligation to search out His
meaning and do His will. Who, then, q!
Caesar, and what things are his? A mar
great in natural gifts, great in acquired
knowledge and great in their use, so thai
he made himself great in arms, great IN
arts, great in politics-the greatest man OF
all antiquity-was Julius Caesar. You
know his story all by heart, how he pushed
the conquests of Rome till she was mistress
of the world, and the eonquests Of Caesar
till he was master of Rome; how he filled
her with himself, subordinated her to his
uses, obscured her by his brightness till
he seemed to have absorbed her into his
own being, and she throbbed in his pulse
breathed by his lungs, spoke with his mouth.
"Thus drawing round her
His ample purple, he glorifed and bound her
In an embrace that seemed identity
Caesar was Rome, and Rome was Caesar!
And so not only did he found dynasty
and give his name to long line of sue ces
sors in the imperial Office, but he made
it the synonym of government wherever
the Roman eagles were borne in triumph
and so firmly impressed it as such upon hu
man thought that it still serves in that ca
pacity-amongt the Russians as Car, among
the Germans as Kaisers, and even among III
now and then, when some too presumption
leaders vaulting ambition evokes the charg
of Csesdrism.
THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP.
In this large sense the Saviour used it
indicating the duty which lies upon all mel
to pay to the government of their country
according to their means and station, sucf
tribute as its best interests demand.
However it may be elsewhere, the law
fulness of such tribute in country lik'
F ours must be apparent to the dullest ap
prehension, and the obligation which 1t en-
tails rests with impressive weight upon
each individual citizen. For here every
man. in the measure of his capacities ant
desires, is the government. 1t will not d
to saw the leaders are responsible, for a
ioin to make the leaders and are the lodg
mept of their accountability. Besides, tn
self-reliance born of our system begets and
intoxicates us with the desire for power
and fame. Accordingly every man, (and
we may soon have to add every woman.
f in proportion to his personal abilities, feels
the invitation to a career which the coun
, trv opeus before him. Where, then, eacl
: ;s in his measure answerable for the charac
ter and conduct of the government-an
swerable to himself and his fellows, to th'
, examples of the long past and the hopes o
: the crowding future-where each has
! share of the benefits and may seek share
: of the honors, it is inevitable that each owe
his portion of the duties. That we do nc
realize this in its fullness is the first dar
ger to our large hope.