Smyrna times., 1896-11-11
The American University Washington

event IN WashingtOn-the laying of the
corner stone of the College of History
of the American University, Bishop
Hurst presiding, among the several
able speeches was one delivered bv
Bishop Fowler. The following ex-
tract after brief allusion to the laying
of the corner stone of the Capitol in
Washington, then in the woods, will
show somewhat the scope of the ad-
dress:
"Yonder magnificent Capitol, with
its chambers and halls and stairs and
pilasters and columns and halls and
columns and pillars and carved marbles
and statues and dome and towering
Goddess of Liberty, catching the first
rays of the morning from the Atlantic
and the last rays from the Western
plalns-that stately structure, the won
der and admiration of all the civilized
peoples of the earth, stood complete in
the faith of that little group of patriots
as they stood there that long-ago dav
in the woods and laid the cornerstone
Of the first Capitol building, with
blows that echo round all the world
and through all coming centuries.
Not unlike their conditions and task
are our conditions and task. We are
in an open field beyond the wood, on a
hill, laying a corner stone, not of a
Capitol of a nation, but of university
eff great people. They had three and
One-half millions of people scattered in
the wilderness. We have seventy-two
millions of citizens OF these we have
twenty-five millions of people, mem
bers and adherents, in the Methodisms
here interested, in a thickly settled
and wealthy land. They had young
nation back of them. We have a great
nation and great Professionalism and
a great Church back of us. They had
faith of the patriot to inspire them.
We have the faith of the patriot and of
the Christian to inspire us. Did they
go forward? We can go forward in the
name of God. Did they succeed to the
Joy of all coming generations and to
the glory of God?
Ii. We are only discharging duty
We are sprung from an heroic ances-
try. Our fathers went forth empty
handed to build church and nation.
They drove out the savages and the
wild beasts and subdued the conti
nent, and built it full of cities and
towns and houses and comforts. With
their blood in our veins and their
achievements in our inheritance. we
have no rightto plan or do little things.
AS Caesar said to the frightened sailors
ON the stormy Mediterranean: 'eFear
not; you have Caesar on board, " SO we
can say; "The world has right to
expect achievements and courage from
us; we are of the cOnquering race"
Duty demands from us great achieve
ments.
We are the heirs of priceless liberties.
and not one right do we claim that was
not wrenched from fierce enemies with
the red hands of heroic battle. Have
we religious freedom? 1t cost the fires
of Smith6eld. Have we freedom of
speech and of the press? 1t cost the
long and bloody strifes of the English
speaking peoples. Have we political
freedom? 1t cost the bloody trail from
Concord to Yorktown. Have we uni
versal freedom? It cost the long and
crimson struggle from Fort Sumter to
Appomattox. Mankind has a right to
expect much of us.
The age in which we live demands of
us great achievements. We are no
longer provincial; we are cosmopolitan
Citizens of the world. There are no
strangers; all people are tributary to-
us. All the treasure houses of the
world are open to us. All knowledge
OF the ages beckOns to us. Nothing
seems impossible. We can measure
the milliOnth part of an inch; we can
create diamonds; we can whisper two
thousand miles, and hear the breathing
OF the man with whom we are whisper
ing; we can see through triple bars of
bones and flesh. Secrets are no longer
safe in the heart. We can amass for
tune by the hundred millions in a
single lifetime. We have no right to
do small things. We are intrusted
with vast treasures, and must measure
up to vast responsibilities.