Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-09-02

that it is beyond the power of Ian
guage to give adequate expression.
This is an occasion where the deepest
gratitude of grateful people is pro-
claimed by their silence An occasion
which marks the dividing line between
the conservative system of the past
and the progress of our educational
future, for the thought that was con-
ceived in the brain of noble man
and woman has proved a reality The
poverty OF language fails in expression
for the depth of its foundation. The
strength of sits outer wall, the height
of its. masonry, the grandeur of its
purpose, the dignity of it's massive
columns and the inception of the
thought which erected it can never be
estimated until the birth and death of
at least one generation.
Far Reaching Benefieence.
The Tourtellotte Memorial High
school! AS you think of the scope of
its noble and fer-reaching beneficence
with what gratitude you turn to those
who gave it, and yet you delicately
hesitate to open the chamber of the
sacred memories and affections from
which come it's conception. AS from
some care over which the Angel OF
Death had spread his dark wings, Lo!
the stone is rolled away and an Angel
of Light and Life comes forth. SO
from darkened hearts the burden is
lifted and springing flower, like the
wonder of an Arabian tale, unfolds
into the fair and massive consumma-
ton which on this first day of Sep
TENDER we dedicate.
While this building is unique in its
purpose, it is yet, to the honor OF
American civilization be it said, only
in the live and easy evolution of our
New England system. Behold marvel
more wondrous than any tale of magi-
cal conjuration or Oriental myth; for
not in the closet of the student, not in
the shade of the cloister, not in the
vista of the poet, but straight out OF
the busiest, most intense, hardest head
ed and hardest handed material, con-
centration of industrial manufacturing,
money making labor employing forces
and enterprises, springs this fair
flower of the gentlest humanities, this
Grace of Art, this Fountain of knowl-
edge.
Educational Progress of Century.
While the past century has stimu-
lated our people in the art of accumu-
lating and perpetuating wealth. the
conditions surely point to a rapid and
substantial educational progress. Can
anything be palmer than that new
powers and new principles are at
work; that the application of science
to art is accomplishing a stupendous
revolution; that the condition of the
laborer is in many places improved,
and his intellectual aids increased;
that abuses once thought essential to
society and which seemed enlivened
with all it's fbres have been removed?
Do the mass of men stand where they
did a few centuries ago, and do not
new circumstances, if they make us
fearful. at the same time keep us from
despair?
We have no right then as regards
human affairs to quench as far as we
have power the hope of social prog
ress. When we compare the general
condition of our working classes with
those of foreign lands. when we recol-
lect that they were born and have
lived amidst schools and churches
that they have been brought up to
profitable industry, that they enjoy
many of the accommodations of life
that most of them hold a measure of
property and are hoping for more, that
they possess unprecedented means for
lettering their lot, that they are bound
to comfortable homes by strong do
nestle affections, that they are able
to give their children an education
which places within their reach the
prizes of the social state, that they are
trained to the habits and fam1ilarlzed
with the advantages of intellectual
cultivation-when these things We rec
ollect, we may entertain in a measure
brighter hope for our future.
Progress Of Working Glasses.
Nor is it necessary for me to state
that the most striking and honorable
distinction of this country is to be
found in the intelligence, character and
condition of the great working class.
Let US illustrate this with a force and
if we cannot compare with our sister
towns in the empire of matter we may
venture to compare with them in the
empire of mind, and challenge them to
produce principle in their settlement
or progress more vital than this to the
perpetuation of their principles. 1t is
the mind from which the philosopher,
the physician, the lawyer, the artist,
and the legislator find the objects or
occasions of their researches and from
which the poet borrows his beautiful
imagery, and from which the sculptor
and painter express their noble con-
ceptions. A bird may be shot upward
to the skies by d foreign force but
1t rises in the true sense Of the Werd