“For is not the spirit of that solemnity, and of this, effectively the same?  If that was the commemoration of the good deeds of your forefathers, may not this be called the commemoration of the future achievements of your sons?  If that day was dedicated to the blessed memory of the past, is not this devoted to the no less blessed hope of the future?  It was from schools of public instruction, instituted by our forefathers, that the light burst forth.  It was in the primary schools; it was by the midnight lamps of Harvard hall, that were conceived and matured, as it was within these hallowed walls that were first resounded the accents of that independence which is now canonized in the memory of those by whom it was proclaimed.

“Was it not there that were formed, to say nothing of him ’fit for the praise of any tongue but mine,’—­but was it not there that were formed, and prepared for the conflicts of the mind, for the intellectual warfare which distinguishes your Revolution from all the brutal butcheries of vulgar war, your James Otis, your John Hancock, your Samuel Adams, your Robert Treat Paine, your Elbridge Gerry, your James and your Joseph Warren, and last, not least, your Josiah Quincy, so worthily represented by your Chief Magistrate here at my side?

“Indulge me, fellow-citizens, with the remark, that I have been called to answer to myself these questions, before I could enjoy the happiness, at the very kind invitation of your Mayor and Aldermen, of presenting myself among you this day.

“In conformity to my own inclinations, and to the usages of society, I have deemed it proper, on the recent bereavement I have sustained, to withdraw for a time from the festive intercourse of the world, and in retirement, so far as may be consistent with the discharge of public trusts, to prepare for and perform the additional duties devolving upon me, as a son, and as a parent, from this visitation of heaven.  To that retirement I have hitherto been confined; and in departing from it for a single day, I have needed an apology to myself, as I trust I shall need one to you.  Seek for it, my fellow-citizens in your own paternal hearts.  I have been unable to resist the invitation of the authorities of this my own almost native city, to mingle with her inhabitants in the joyous festivities of this occasion—­and, after witnessing, in the visitation of the schools, hundreds and thousands of the rising generation training ’up in the way they should go;’ to come here and behold the distinguished proficients of the schools sharing at the social board the pleasures of their fathers, and to congratulate the fathers on the growing virtues and brightening talents of their children.

“But, fellow-citizens, I will no longer trespass upon your indulgence.  I thank you for the sentiment with which you have honored me.  I thank you for the many affecting testimonials of kindness and sympathy which I have so often received at your hands; and will give you as a token of my good wishes, not yourselves, but objects dearer to your hearts.  Mr. Mayor, I propose to you for a toast—­