Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-07-06

speech, freedom IN religious worship. the
privilege of trial by jury, the abolition of
slavery have been secured to us only by
the sacrifice of unnumbered lives and
countless treasures
There are also other institutions than
those of government which the past has
bequeathed to us-no less valuable.
though established by methods less vic.
lent. Take for example our modern svs-
TEN of education. The establishment of
free schools for the thorough mental
training of all children, the founding and
generous Eendowment of colleges and
universities have done more to elevate
the average intelligence and character of
our people than any other secular insti-
tuition that can be mentioned. What
better legacy can fall to a young man
than an opportunity for ten or twelve
years in the formative period of his life
to secure the best culture and wisdom
that our humanity has attained to:
Consider now two of the practical les
sons Of our theme. One is that to the
great and good who of old labored in Il
behalf we should ever cherish the deep
est sense of gratitude. 1t is not so easy
a thing for us to be thankful to the dead
as to be thankful to the living.
In the living presence of a personal
benefactor our gratitude is spontaneous.
and finds ready expression. Perhaps
there is a selfish element in It, and we
think to insure a continuance or repeti-
ton of the benefit. Gratitude for the
absent or the departed-gratitude TO Il
giver who never knew us as individuals
is a virtue hat pertains to the higher
planes of character and flourishes only
when properly fostered.
We cannot overestimate the uplift of
character that ome to Us from the cul-
tivation of grateful reverence for the
past. We learn to value the blessings of
our birthright, when We realize what they
cost in toll and sacrifice. 1t begets in us
a proper spirit of cOnservatism-not that
we think the men of former days were
perfect, or their work complete, or their
beliefs infallible, but that they laid well
the foundations, we should maintain.
We are come mot to destroy, but to full
fill" In the contemplation of their vir-
tues, in the study of their thoughts and
purposes, and by the grateful recOgni-
ton of their brave deeds, and glorious
achievements, we catch something of the
same spirit; we are changed into the
same images and become less unworthy
of our noble heritage.
Our subject has for us one further
practical lesson. If we are deeply in
debted to those who have gone before
us. we are under corresponding Obliga.
tons to those who shall come after Us,
In Gods providence we are not here in
this world As the idle and passive recipi
ents OF his bounty. The divine command
is: ''Frecly ye have received, freely
give"
We a,e indeed heirs to all the riches OF
our predecessors. All their science and
literature are ours; W. owl ali theil
wonderful devices by which the variOu-
forces of nature are subdued into service
we possess all the "ivil and social insti
tutions which they established at such
great cost. But we are not the last gen.
Grafton Of men on the earth-1nly the
latest. We are but a link in the chain 0,
countless generations that extend.
through the centuri of human history
II Is u duty to transmit TO pOsterity
the great legacy of the race. not simply
unimpaired, but adorned and enriched
and enlarged.