FRIDAY AFTERNOON. - OPEN-AIR MASS MEETING IN THE PUBLIC PARK. At 2.30 President Mowry called the meeting to order, and introduced Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who, after referring to the large number of persons in attendance, said :— I would particularly call your attention to the importance of improving the opportunities presented by these large gatherings of educators. This can best be done by each one taking to his home and endeavoring to carry out the thoughts suggested here. Wherein lies the power of all republican governments? In their foundation on right principles; and it was this that enabled the country to outlive all the storms we have lately passed through, when all the powers of evil and wickedness seemed leagued against us. But how are we to get at these principles? Many talk about them, but few understand them. We must study them out as well as we are able, and seek the counsel of our thinkers and educators. Theodore Parker once had a relative connected with him by marriage, who did not like him. She belonged to a rich family, and hence looked down upon him. One day, after a controversy, she finished up by saying, "My father always told me to avoid schoolmasters." "It is evident you did," was the fit reply. My last advice is, Hold on to the schoolmaster: he is a great necessity. At the conclusion of her remarks, President Mowry read the following poem, which was written the previous day, and handed to him. The band led in “Federal Street,” and the vast congregation joined in the grand chorus: Tears for the loved who sleep so well Prayers for the living! Still, the tears God speed, O comrades, true and tried! The singing was led by the venerable Gen. Oliver, who is the author of the tune "Federal Street." Rev. Charles Van Norden then led in an appropriate prayer, ask. ing God to save the President, and deliver the country from all trouble and disgrace. This was followed by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; His truth is marching on.-CHO. I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, Previous to introducing the appointed speakers, President Mowry addressed the meeting as follows: : Last Saturday I was congratulating myself on the successful completion of the arrangements for this meeting. Everything promised well. Yet almost in the same instant a messenger came with that terrible telegram, announcing that our beloved President was shot. It could not be! it was too horrid! Alas, it was too true; but thank God, he lives to-day. This present meeting of the American Institute of Instruction is the first of its second half-century. We were desirous of celebrating this beginning of a new semi-centennial by the presence of the President of the United States and members of his Cabinet, men in authority and high in position, who would speak to you words of wisdom. Three months ago Senator Patterson and I went to Washington, and asked the President if he would come to St. Albans and speak to this vast concourse of educators and others. Shortly afterwards we received that grand letter, stating that he would come, bringing with him Mrs. Garfield and the children and the members of his Cabinet. You know the rest it will be written in the history of the world. He is not with us to-day; but our regret and disappointment are as nothing compared to the solici tude we have for the country in such an ordeal as this. Let us, however, ever remember his memorable words, "God reigns, and the government at Washington still lives." Gov. Farnham, of Vermont, on being introduced, spoke humorously of his serious feelings at speaking before so many brilliant men. His thoughts went back to the time when he first heard the "Battle Hymn of the Republic,” during the war, when it seemed: like an inspired song. Only one week ago, he said, we expected, President Garfield to add honor and grace to this occasion. Everything looked favorable, but our President was struck down on the point of starting. The blow came to us all; for while we respect the office, we love the man. He is of the popular class. His birth and training were purely American. In such times as these, we are glad to be assured that those who are in high places are also of American sympathies and habits. The best foreigner cannot at once. become the perfect American, but Garfield's life makes him a representative American citizen. He supplies what we most want: first of all, sterling manhood; after that, education and culture, with a little. polish thrown in. I rejoice that he still lives, fighting the battle for life as a Christian soldier, hopeful and thoughtful enough even to think of his enforced absence from this meeting. I trust that he will recover, and be given back to the people, who love and trust him so much. Gov. Littlefield, of Rhode Island, said that he esteemed it a duty to be present here, to look after the Rhode-Islanders. He congrat ulated President Mowry on the success of the Institute; and also the State of Vermont, which has sent out many noble men, and still retains many of the leading statesmen of the day. Speaking of the attack upon the President, he expressed his earnest hope of recovery for him, whom we honor for his public service and love for his pri vate virtues. Letters and despatches were then read from Gov. Bell, of New Hampshire; Gov. Long, of Massachusetts; Hons. W. A. Wheeler, Carl Schurz, J. R. Hawley, and G. W. Curtis. Hon. J. W. Patterson, who was then introduced, spoke as follows on THE PRESENT AND FUTURE. We stand to-day in the shadow of a great sorrow, oppressed and paralyzed with dread lest the catastrophe of death shall bereave the nation of its chief magistrate. ""T is as the general pulse Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause; How can I respond to the call to speak from this platform, from which we had expected to hear words of wisdom and power from the lips of the chosen leader and idolized chief of the Republic? I would rather keep silent, and let the wounds of our stricken President, "poor dumb mouths," speak for me. How pathetic and how profound are the lessons that come to us from that bed of suffering! How marvellous and how grand has been the life that now flickers and threatens to be extinguished by the blast of violence! Our history does not furnish a more extraordinary or characteristic illustration of the genius and power of American liberty. Born in a log-cabin on the Western frontier, where his father had lately moved and run in debt for a farm, James A. Garfield began the struggle of life. The father died while James was yet a child. The widowed mother, selling a portion of the farm, attempted by the aid of Thomas, an older son, to redeem the rest by the incessant labor of her own hands, and to give to her young children such scanty opportunities for schooling as the frontiers afforded The story of the subsequent toils, privations, and hardships of the family has but few parallels even in the annals of the poor. Cast into this heritage of poverty, and with such dark and dreary prospects before him, the boy began the march of life; and never despairing in the vicissitudes of fortune, but accepting hardship and toil as the conditions of success, he advanced with a strong and steady step from the fields of manual toil to those of intellectual achievement. He become a teacher, a preacher, a lawyer, a military leader, and a statesman, and in each vocation has stood among the foremost men of his day. As a public man, he has not escaped detraction and abuse, and it ate like a canker into his sensitive spirit, and he once said to a friend that death would be a relief from such wrong; but sustained by a constituency that knew him, and by a consciousness of integrity, he grew in power and in favor with men, till at last he stands on the summit of aspiration, crowned with the respect and love of fifty millions of people. Mindful of his early profession, and anxious to give his influence to the cause of national education, he had. started from the executive mansion to take part in the anniversary of his Alma Mater, and to participate in this reunion of teachers, when he was struck down by the hand of the assassin. Truly the ways of God are mysterious; but we must trust him, for the great ends of life are often reached in ways we could not anticipate. Garfield in all positions has been pre-eminently a teacher. This may have been his divinely appointed mission, and he may be called to honor and consecrate his work with his life. No profession is more practical or far-reaching than that of a teacher. Themistocles, when called upon in a great assembly to play the lute, responded that "he could not play the fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city." I know of no one who can so far realize, and may so properly repeat the boast of the astute Greek politician as the teacher. His work is prophetic of the future, for it puts into the schools what must reappear in the life of the nation. He lays his hand on the springs of intelligence and power, and awakens the forces which dominate the world. It is sometimes said that scholars are likely to be doctrinaires; are too dreamy and transcendental for a wise and efficient administration of public affairs. The charge may be, but is not necessarily or ordinarily true. History does not sustain the assertion. It is your Pitts, your Foxes, your Burkes, your Disraelis, and your Gladstones who have reared the fabric of English rower ard civ ilization, and filled the record of our fatherland with deeds which the ages cannot obliterate. It is the statesmanship of scholars which has given to the little insular kingdom its primacy in history. High scholarship strengthens the faculties, informs the understanding, and brings to the conduct of present affairs the experiences of the past. To minds of practical force, it imparts resource and sagacity, impulse and aspiration, and enables them properly to interpret and wisely to direct the events of current history. It may be thought, perhaps, by some, that this position is subverted by |