Page:History of the Press in Western New York (1847).djvu/8

Rh fruitful of instruction is his example; how strong the incentive to honorable exertion it affords.

It was said by a celebrated Frenchman, Voltaire; and there is not less truth than beauty in the expression, "that some men are like statues, the higher they are elevated the smaller they appear." It was not so with Franklin. His statue has grown more colossal and imposing by the lapse of time and distance. There it stands on the proud summit of human greatness, and could that colossal form be invested with life and consciousness, and think, and feel, and see, as Franklin; thought, and felt, and saw, with what mingled emotions of amazement and delight would it contemplate the changed aspect and condition of the world, and how would its throbbing heart be filled with ecstacy and wonder as its vision rested upon its own loved native land.

The prescient mind of Franklin, great as it was, could not survey the boundless realms of unexplored learning and science; yet with a forecast that seems more the inspiration than the deduction of human reason, he foreshadowed the invention that has annihilated time and space—the magnetic telegraph—the wonder of the age, and which has inscribed the name of, in letters of living light, on the same tablet upon which is emblazoned that of the immortal.

This discovery of the Telegraph I claim as purely American (by regular succession, as is said of the reign of kings) from the idea of Franklin, that electricity might be made the medium of thought, down to its inventor; and who is more worthy to hear the honors that gather round the name of the great philosopher and statesman than Professor. They were not connected by blood, but their names are united by discoveries that will remain an unbroken chain of union while time shall last; and wherever the lightning's flash shall be seen or the roar of thunder heard, these two philosophers will be remembered as Americans whose scientific researches have benefited, enlightened, adorned and helped to give their country a name among the great, the learned, the wise, and the good in all time to come.

Our country is emphatically a new country; yet it already stands out "a bright and cheering example, the moral and political model and guide, the hope and admiration of the nations of the earth. But from the distant and shadowy past there comes to us no voice and no glory: we have not, in this new land, the mouldering tower and shattered column to awaken poetical interest; but the last quarter of a century, has it not been filled with what would have been considered, in ages gone by, events of thrilling romance? The most fertile imagination, one hundred years since, would have hardly dreamed of what is passing every day before our eyes; but time will not permit me to take even a hasty glance at the splendid and wonderful achievements of the human intellect; the peaceful acquisitions of science and art, and the general and rapid progression of the human race. Neither have I been able to more than barely alude to the general characteristics of the great philosopher and statesman whose birth-day we are assembled to celebrate. It is not necessary that I should have done so, for his history is familiar to you all. A knowledge of his fame and character is wide spread, not only throughout our land, but in every quarter of the habitable globe, where mental degradation and darkness have not interposed an impassable barrier to the light of truth, and vivifying rays of genius, of learning and of science. Who is there in a country where there is light, and knowledge, and civilization, that has not beard of, the printer, the philosopher, the statesman, and the patriot. His mind was cast in a peculiar die: his talents shone out in every department of thought, and he not only made a great and durable impression on human affairs, but there was an exuberant good nature, and a sweet and beaming benevolence in his disposition, that won the hearts of men. His soul was like a divine and noble temple, where truth, and candor, and virtue sat eternally enthroned.

Gentlemen, fellow-craftsmen, brethren; again I thank you.

The throne of grace having been addressed in an appropriate manner by Rev. Mr., the work commenced in good earnest. It is unnecessary to say that full justice was done to the viands, and that the castles, towers, temples and buildings of various shapes which the skilful hand of the cook had fashioned, fell like the walls of Monterey before the artillery of Gen. The following is the bill of fare:

While discussing the dessert, which consisted of the choicest variety of fruits in season and out,, Esq., the reader for the evening, announced the following regular toasts, which were received with rapturous applause: