are produced which do what armies never did ;-enrich and beautify the land through which they take their triumphal march.

But let me utter another thought. It would seem that some of the greatest inventions and discoveries of the day,—those that are producing the greatest change in, and modification of society, are not new. Old brains worked them out. They were conceived long ago. Yet they never benefited mankind, but lay hidden like the undiscovered gold in California. The traveller tells us, that among the curiosities of the Tower of London, amidst its ancient weapons of warfare, is found a revolving fire-arm similar in construction to Colt's pistol. Now why did that and a thousand other such inventions remain unknown year after year? Does any man ask why? Let him go down to the Ledger office, and there he will see a machine not half as big as an old knight's horse, and will not have as much brass about it as one of our politicians carries in his face : taking up long sheets of pure white paper and rolling it out all speckled and spotted. And there you will see the secret of the value of modern mechanical genius. It is that we are reaping the benefit of Faust's great invention. It is that we have a press, whose mind seems to be ubiquitous, and whose voice seems to reach every ear in this great community. So that through it the mechanic can at once make the world know of his inventions and his skill, and cause all civilized mankind to be sharers in the benefits conferred. No space nor distance curtailing its powers. For the humble mechanic far off upon the borders of our frozen lakes in the north may invent and construct the machine that will grind the cane of the warm fields of the sunny south and without even leaving the hills that he loves so much, convey all its benefits to the brethren for whose wealth and prosperity his more active brain has been at work,-through the daily press. Destroy that! Blot it as an institution of our country out of existence! Let there be no daily press! And at once, one of the great springs of power will be found to be broken, and the great world of mind stand still to rust all the impetus and power that now moves it onward gone! There is no class of men who should cherish with greater jealousy and determination a free press, than American mechanics and inventors. Nor will I let this opportunity pass, without remarking upon the peculiarly elevated position which many mechanical pursuits occupy in this land of Freedom. If you visit the capitals of Europe, the palaces of the kings with their works of art, their picture

galleries, and their gardens are the objects of attraction. When the traveller wends his way to our own; amidst all its public buildings, he sees none that surpasses in elegance, design and largeness of area, that temple erected to preserve unforgotten the memorials of American genius,—the Patent office. Within its niches and on its shelves to have placed one model of an invention that tends to add to the wealth, the comfort and the convenience of man, or to save and protect life, is, I conceive, as great an honor as to be buried amidst the shadows of Westminster's hoary Fane. Yet this is open to your ambition. In other great cities the palaces of men who have inherited their honors,-who boast themselves of what their ancestors did,-whose coats of arms keep in remembrance some acts of the past,—sometimes a scurvy one at that,—often no greater than the butchery of a wild boar, the murdering of a poor Turk, or the slaying of the bleating doe. Not so with us!-We have houses built and being builded, of princely extent; for the occupancy of men who a few years since wielded the hammer, or worked in the shop. Of whom, did you demand their pedigree, could say, "My mother was one of the noblest beings of God's creation, she loved her Saviour, and taught me to read the Bible." Do you want a better pedigree than that? Go to Lowell, and then tell me if in any city of Europe you can find females of greater beauty, intelligence and refinement than are found among its factory girls. Happy is

the man I say that finds a wife among them. For she is but a realization of the exquisite portrait drawn by the hand of that great Royal painter, Solomon.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandize is good; her candle goeth not out by night.

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

She stretcheth out her hands to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is purple and silk.

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the Elders of the land.

She maketh the fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the the merchant; Strength and Honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Many Daughters have done virtuously, but thou hast excelled them all.

Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

A mechanic! The time was when the lips of gentility curled at the name. His hands were too rough for kid gloves-his form too solid for spindle legged chairs, but the world has been better taught. The mechanic is now honored.

One of the most elegant and gifted of modern Poets has not felt his pen degraded as he sang of the Mechanic's toils. Longfellow leaving this exquisite production :

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH.

Under a spreading chestnut tree

The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

But lastly let me not fail to remind you that there is one influence to which you are indebted more than any other, for your position and prospects,-an influence upon which depends the purity, the prosperity, nay,—the very existence of our Republic,an influence with which we are blessed more than any land under heaven, an influence that is as enlightening to the mind as well as sanctifying to the heart; I mean the influence of the Bible. A Book that when it gives a history of the great incarnate God-Jehovah clothed in flesh-tells us that he was a Carpenter-Nor do we conceive that it was without meaning, that we have accorded, (bearing as it does upon the perfection of the objects of industry and manufacture,) "that his coat was without seam woven from the top throughout," so that to conclude with the eloquent language of Melville.

We fear, says he, that the intellectual benefits of scriptural knowledge are well nigh entirely overlooked, and that in the efforts to raise the standard of mind, there is little or no recognition of the mighty principle, that the Bible outweighs ten thousand Encyclopedias. For of all the boons which God has bestowed upon this apostate and orphaned creation, we are bound to say that the Bible is the noblest and most precious. We bring not into comparison with this illustrious donation, the glorious sunlight nor the rich sustenance which is poured forth from the store-house of the earth, nor that existence itself which allows us— -the dust-to soar into companionship with angels. The Bible is the development of man's immortality, which informs him how he may move off triumphantly from a contracted and temporary scene, and grasp destinies of unbounded splendor, Eternity his lifetime and Infinity his home. It is the record that tells us that this rebellious section of God's unlimited empire is not excluded from our Maker's compassion; but that the creatures who moved upon its surface, though they have barely sepulchred in corruption the magnificence of their natures, are yet so dear in their ruin to Him who first formed them that he hath bowed down the heavens in order to open their graves! Oh you have only to think what a change would pass over the aspect of our race, if the Bible were suddenly withdrawn and all remembrance of it swept away, and you arrive at some faint notion of the worth of the Bible. Take from Christendom the Bible, and you have taken the moral chart by which alone its population can be guided. Ignorant of the nature of God; and only guessing at