You are aware, my young friend, that you live in an age of light and
knowledge;--an age in which science and the arts are marching onward
with gigantic strides. You live, too, in a land of liberty;--a land on
which the smiles of Heaven beam with uncommon refulgence. The trump of
the warrior and the clangor of arms no longer echo on our mountains, or
in our valleys; "the garments dyed in blood have passed away;" the
mighty struggle for independence is over; and you live to enjoy the rich
boon of freedom and prosperity which was purchased with the blood of our
fathers. These considerations forbid that you should ever be so
unmindful of your duty to your country, to your Creator, to yourself,
and to succeeding generations, as to be content to grovel in ignorance.
Remember that "knowledge is power;" that an enlightened and a virtuous
people can never be enslaved; and that, on the intelligence of our
youth, rest the future liberty, the prosperity, the happiness, the
grandeur, and the glory of our beloved country. Go on then, with a
laudable ambition, and an unyielding perseverance, in the path which
leads to honor and renown.
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