Page:A history of the Michigan state normal school (now Normal college) at Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1849-1899 (IA historyofmichiga00putniala).pdf/29

 thank you sincerely, gentlemen of the Board, for the confidence which your appointment implies. If freedom and candor in my communications, if an untiring effort to realize your hopes can ayail, that confidence shall never be impaired, and the acknowledgements due for the honor you have conferred, will be better expressed by discharging with energy and fidelity the duties of the trust.

In entering upon this new field of labor, I am cheered by the belief that the measures which I shall adopt and pursue will meet with your concurrence and co-operation, I shall look to be promptly sustained in all those wholesome regulations and discipline, without which no institution can succeed; and with equal freedom I would say that should I ever be forgetful of the high interests which you have placed in my hands, I shall expect to give an account of my stewardship. May I not also express the hope that while this institution is nourished by the genial regards of its friends in the State, they may not look too early for its fruits. That mental excellence which marks the true scholar is not the product of a day. It is found only in self denial and self application, and its treasures are open only as the hard earnings of intellectual toil. Not even among the marvelous inventions of the present age can there be found any labor-saving processes for the attainment of intellectual worth. Furnish what facilities you will, still that versatility of acquirement which forms the finished teacher will be attained only by study—only continued, assiduous, unwearied. With due cultivation and care, this institution will produce its full harvest in due season. In a State where so many are eager to enjoy its advantages, in a community so well known for liberality and just views of education, favored by all parties and all sects, how can it fail to accomplish its high objects, and become a permanent blessing to the people. Far off be the day when party animosity or sectarian zeal shall trammel its free spirit by making it a bone of contention.

Let every well wisher of his country foster it, while without giving political bias it shall teach the rights and duties of an American citizen. So long as without the inculcation of doctrine or dogma, it has for its foundation the truths of the Bible —let the good man cherish it—and especially may it be associated with the best and happiest thoughts of the teacher. May he regard it as his intellectual home, as the inexhaustible fountain whence he may draw those principles and precepts which shall secure his full success in the vocation which he has chosen."

Later in the day an address was delivered by Hon. Ross Wilkins, Judge of the United States Court, upon the fundamental Laws of the United States and the Rights and Duties of Citizens. With this address the special exercises closed. An institute of four weeks’ duration followed, under the direction of Principal Welch. During this institute the preliminary organization of