IX. CHRISTIAN FAITH.

FROM THE ADDRESS BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN'S CHURCH GUild.

I care not which one of the highways you pursue toward knowledge, you will come to a place in the course of your travel where you will stop-where you can go no further-as upon the road it shall be a mountain or an impassable gulf; and beyond that, what is the distant land then becomes a question exclusively of faith. This side of that boundary line it is not allowed us to adopt faith; but I take it that the Providence which intended that human intellect should always be stimulated to inquiry, intended that we should always rely upon our efforts and investigation within the realm of proper inquiry. But we reach a line and boundary beyond which inquiry can not go, sometimes very early in our progress.

I know scarcely any question that does not have this. limit and restriction. Take your own person, and you know of its existence, you know of its faculties and powers; but really you know but little of yourself. Have you any idea how it is that your will does govern your body? You know the fact that by the will the mind itself does work; but how it is, and why it is, you know not. You know that some faculty is connected with your body that controls its action; but just what that faculty is, you know as much as Adam and Eve when they stepped out of the garden. They knew just as much as you do. No philosopher has gone farther. How it is that spirit dwells with matter, and how it influences the action of matter, no man knows or ever will know. So I might go on to give several illustrations, but I will not undertake it. For myself, when I come to that boundary where faith begins, I choose for my faith that which is the most beautiful, the most charming, and that which will promote man's happiness to the greatest extent and add to the glory and honor of the Great Author of all things.

X. ADDRESS OF WELCOME

TO THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF MILLERS.

Indianapolis, May 30, 1878.

Gentlemen: Without any reserve whatever, I may say that for your society and convention, and for yourselves individually, as members thereof, the people of Indianapolis entertain a very great respect. They can not all come here and take each of you by the hand and wish each of you a safe and happy return to your homes, as they would wish to do, but, as an expression of their interest and regard, they extend to you upon this occasion a plain and substantial hospitality, and direct me to bid you a cordial welcome.

The interest which you have excited in this community is not only because you have honored us with your fifth annual meeting (that honor is highly appreciated), but in a large degree it is because you are engaged in and represent a business of great importance to the country, and in a high degree of importance to the people of Indianapolis, and of the State of Indiana.

Careful attention has been given to all that has been proposed and said in your convention, and when you shall have gone away you will have left in a special degree the impression of your views and policies. Indianapolis is a city of no mean pretensions in her manufacturing enterprise, and she is surrounded upon every side with uncommonly rich lands that are now rapidly coming under superior cultivation. And so, if the investigations and deliberations of your society shall result in obtaining from every bushel of grain an increased amount of food for man, and of such superior quality as to make its way into all the markets of the world, you are entitled from us to the benediction which Dean Swift bestowed upon the good citizen who "could make two ears of corn or

two blades of grass grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before." You have come here from many localities and from many different sections, and were strangers to us when you came, but we do not feel it so now. Indeed, I could not at any time realize that you were strangers. As a boy I was acquainted with the miller, and I thought him a great man. When he raised the gate with such composure and confidence and the tumbling waters drove the machinery ahead, I admired his power. And then he talked strongly, too, upon all questions. He was very positive upon politics, religion, law and mechanics. Any one bold enough to dispute a point was very likely to have a personal argument thrown into his face, for he knew all the gossip among his customers. He was cheerful. I thought it was because he was always in the music of the running waters and the whirling wheels. He was kind and clever-indeed, so much so that he would promise the grists before they could be ready, and so the boys had to go two or three times. He was a Chancellor, and prescribed the law, every one in his turn.

The miller standing in the door of his mill, all white with the dust, is a picture upon the memory of even this generation. It is a picture of a manly figure. I wonder if you gentlemen, the lords of many runs and bolts, are ashamed to own him as your predecessor? It was a small mill, sometimes upon a "willowy brook," and sometimes upon the larger river, but it stood on the advanced line of the settlements. With its one wheel to grind the Indian corn and one for wheat, and in the fall and winter season one day in the week set apart for grinding buckwheat, it did the work for the neighborhood. Plain and unpretentious as compared with your stately structures, I would not say that it contributed less toward the development of the country and the permanent establishment of society. So great a favorite was it,

and so important to the public welfare, that the authorities of that day invoked in its favor the highest power of the State-that of eminent domain. That mill and miller had to go before you and yours; and I am happy to revive the memory of the miller at the custom mill, who, with equal care, adjusted the sack upon the horse for the boy to ride upon and his logic in support of his theory in politics or his dogma in religion. It was always an interesting story, and one of which you are proud, that in a period when the rich and the strong were able to corrupt the juries of England, Sir Mathew Hale, the Chief Justice, threw off the robes of his office and assumed the garb of a miller, and found his way into the jury box, and thereby drove out corruption and restored honesty and virtue. We have now reached the period when the little mill and the simple machinery of a former day are insufficient; when success and advancement require capital, improved machinery and skilled labor. All the interests and pursuits of society welcome you. You give good food to all. You give employment to the laborer and the artisan in the shop, and your success is heard in

"The reaper's song among the sheaves."

XI. ADDRESS

AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE NEW STATE HOUSE.

Indianapolis, September 28, 1880.

Indiana became a State of this Union in 1816. Her population was then about sixty-five thousand, as estimated upon the enumeration of the year before. The State tax, as assessed, was six thousand and forty-three dollars. The greater portion of her territory was still occupied by the Indians. At this distant day, and in the

present advanced state of our development, we can not know or appreciate what lay in the way of, and impeded the settlement and improvement of the country. The lands were covered by gigantic and dense forests, and it was the work of more than one generation of men to remove them and prepare a portion, only, of the soil for cultivation. The abundant rainfall, so great a blessing now, was then a trouble and a hinderance. Over this great forest plain, both flowage and evaporation were obstructed, almost prevented, and the water filled the soil and stood upon the surface. Drainage, now so universal, was then impossible.

Obstruction to improvement was not the greatest of evils that attended that natural condition. The summer heats loaded the atmosphere with malaria. In all the settlements distressing and malignant fevers prevailed. In that respect the years 1820, 1821 and 1822 are memorable. The chroniclers of the times mention towns. and settlements that were nearly depopulated; and that Vevay, Jeffersonville, Vincennes, and many other towns lost nearly one-eighth of their inhabitants the first year, and probably one-fourth in the three years."

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Nothwithstanding the difficulties and hardships of the settlements, the three or four years following the years. of admission of the State were years of prosperity. During that period the population of the State more than doubled. Then Commissioners were appointed to select the lands granted by Congress as a site for the permanent seat of government of the State, and this spot where Indianapolis now stands was chosen. It was then far out in the wilderness, but central, and has proven to be a good location, convenient and satisfactory to the people.

In 1824 the seat of government was removed from Corydon to Indianapolis. It is said that it required ten