Standing here amid the sacred memories of the first, on the golden
threshold of the second, I ask, Will the second century be as good
as the first? I believe it will because we are growing more and more
humane; I believe there is more human kind-ness and a greater desire
to help one another in America, than in all the world besides. We
must progress. We are just at the commencement of invention. The steam
engine--the telegraph--these are but the toys with which science has
been amusing herself. There will be grander things. There will be higher
and wider culture. A grander standard of character, of literature and
art. We have now half as many millions of people as we have years.
We are getting more real solid sense. We are writing and reading more
books. We are struggling more and more to get at the philosophy of
life--trying more and more to answer the questions of the eternal
Sphinx. We are looking in every direction. We are investigating,
thinking, working! The second century will be grander than the first.