168 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VOL. 3
"THE EDUCATIONAL LESSONS OF THIS
HOUR."
REV. H. A. THOMPSON.
I appreciate the high honor done me by
your Chairman in
the invitation which he has extended me
to speak for a few
moments. I must tell you in advance that
I am not on the pro-
gram for the day; that I have no speech
prepared for your lis-
tening ears. I am here as a member of
the Ohio Historical
Society, whose members are the guests of
your committee. I
am here for the first time in your
beautiful little city to rejoice
with you in the good fortune which has
come to it, and to you,
in being able this day to celebrate its
one hundreth anniversary.
Such occasions are fraught with interest
and profit to us all. In
the olden time the Jews were annually
required to go to Jerusa-
lem, the capital city, to keep the feast
of the passover. As the
children of the household saw the
preparation made for this re-
markable feast they would naturally
inquire what it all meant.
The sacred historian instructed the
master of the household how
to answer: "When thy son asketh thee in time to come saying
what mean the testimonies, the statutes,
and the judgments
which the Lord, our God, hath commanded
you, then shalt thou
say unto thy son, we were Pharaoh's
bondmen in Egypt; and
the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a
mighty hand; and the
Lord showed signs and wonders great and
sore upon Egypt,
upon Pharaoh and upon all his house
before our eyes; and he
brought us from thence that he might
bring us in to give us the
land which he swear unto our fathers;
and the Lord commanded
us to do all these statutes, to fear the
Lord, our God, for our
good always, that he might preserve us
alive, as it is this day.
And it shall be righteousness unto us if
we observe to do all
this commandment before the Lord, our
God, as he hath com-
manded us."-Deut. VI., 20.
So as your children sit with you to-day
on these seats, lis-
tening to the addresses made and
witnessing the parades and
displays, they shall want to know what
it all means; and then
you can interest them in the history of the nation as they
have
never been interested before. It will be
your work to recount
The Educational Lessons of this
Hour. 169
to them the deeds of your ancestors, the
sufferings endured, the
privations undergone, to help build up
this glorious republic,
where every man can work out his own
destiny untrammeled by
the customs and traditions of the old
world; a land in which
above all other lands we recognize the
truth uttered by Scot-
land's humble, though illustrious
singer:
"What though on hamely faer we
dine,
Wear hoddin, gray and a' that;
Gye fools their silks and knaves their
wine
A man's a man for a' that."
And not only will the young people thus
be taught to love
their country, and to make themselves
more worthy of the her-
itage which it is theirs to enjoy, but
those of us who are older
and who can better appreciate our
advantages, may well in this
sacred spot, made sacred not only by the
presence of those who
came here one hundred years ago, but
later still by those noble
patriots who fought to save this nation
from dismemberment,
consecrate ourselves anew to our
country's good, and to be citi-
zens worthy of such illustrious
ancestors.
I have listened, as you no doubt have
also, with intense
pleasure to the distinguished gentleman
who has discoursed to
us so eloquently of the "Lessons of
the Century," as well as to
the gentleman who followed him in his
interesting sketch of the
college you have planted in your midst.
I think it is Cotton
Mather, the New England historian, who
says that one of the
first things our Puritan fathers thought
of after their settlement
in the American wilderness was the
founding of a college, that
their children might not grow up in
ignorance, nor their churches
be without pastors, and that the cause
of religion and education
might be advanced among them. Your
ancestors looked to your
welfare in planting a college in your
county and you will prove
yourselves degenerate sons of worthy
sires if you do not rally
about it and make it a place whither
your sons and daughters
may go to receive that training which
shall fit them for the
duties and responsibilities of this life
and the enjoyments of the
life to come. By the help which you can
give it, it will revolu-
170 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VoL. 3
tionize your county and give you a
citizenship excelled by none
in the land.
As I listened to the lessons of the
century I tried to look
forward to see what they taught us as to
the destiny of our own
fair land. Surely the reign of bloodshed
and of cruel war in
which the nations of the olden time
indulged must now be over.
The sword must no longer be the
arbitrament of nations, since
the "Prince of Peace" has come
proclaiming peace on earth
and good will to all men. We have
outgrown our infancy and
are now marching forward to a grander
and richer civilization.
We have made such a conquest of matter
as men never saw be-
fore; the forces of nature have been
harnessed as in no other
age to do our bidding. The masses have
broken through the
debris that has kept them down; they
have burst asunder the
trammels that bound them and the reign
of the common people
has commenced. Never have the
possibilities of manhood been
greater and never has there been such a
field for the manifesta-
tion of man's noblest powers as in this
land whose citizenship
we honor to-day. Never before has it
meant so much to live.
The very air is thick with questions
that teem with interest, and
that demand a solution at our hands.
While men never lived
with greater possibilities they never
rested under greater re-
sponsibilities. We cannot rest satisfied
with the fact that we are
growing in wealth; that our forests have
been subdued, our
lands tilled and our population
enlarged. To whom much is
given of these shall much be required.
The problems of civil
government have not all been solved. We
are to show the
nations of the earth such an example of
enlightened citizenship
as they have not yet seen. We are to be
a beacon light to those
that sit in darkness showing them the
way out of their disabili-
ties into the coming light. We are to
show them that a govern-
ment of the people, for the people, and
by the people is to be
the most permanent as it is the freest
form of civil government.
Let us see to it that we make of this
people a nation whose God
is the Lord. Not only our own destiny
but the destiny of other
peoples is in our hands. Let us see to
it that we are worthy of
the high trust which God and our fathers
have committed to us.
When our descendants shall come one
hundred years hence to
The Educational Lessons of this Hour. 171
celebrate this anniversary may they find a great nation without a peer; whose rulers rule in righteousness, a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well; a people true to their highest convictions of duty and yielding rightful homage to Him who is the King of kings and the source of all human government. |
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