I must have liberty, withal as large a charter as the wind, to
blow on whom I please.--_As You Like It._
_Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen_:
Three great sea voyages have had greater influence upon the history and
progress of the human race than any event which has happened since the
birth of Christ. The history of these voyages and their consequences
is the history of our country. Columbus, the inspired mariner of
Genoa, with a sublime courage almost without a parallel in history,
set sail; himself sailing into immortality, his caravels opening a
pathway through the unknown seas, until guided by propitious stars and
favoring winds they anchored at the gateway of the greatest continent
of the earth. A country compared to which, "the promised land flowing
with milk and honey," is but a beggar's pittance. A country upon whose
shores the tides of two great oceans ebb and flow; a country whose
mountains are filled with silver and gold, with coal and with iron, and
whose fertile valleys are threaded by the grandest network of navigable
rivers on the globe; a country with almost every variety of climate, of
fruit and of flower; this is the gem which Columbus snatched from the
sea.