SALUTATORY

The Addresses of Welcome, the Responses, and Other Salutations

AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE HON. THOMAS N. HART, MAYOR OF BOSTON, FOR THE

CITIZENS OF BOSTON

I come here to-night in my official capacity to welcome you to the city of Boston, in your Jubilee year, the best of your years. The Christians of the Commonwealth are glad to see you all here from every nation. The Christians of Boston particularly welcome you to their churches. May your work be great in the future, as it has been in the past, and may you continue to live and to prosper! Boston delights to have you here, and bids you welcome to everything she has. May you enjoy yourselves and be happy!

AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE HON. JOHN L. BATES, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, FOR

THE COMMONWEALTH

OF

MASSACHUSETTS

I heard once of a green brakeman-I will not tell you what his nationality was for fear that I might seem to be aiming my words at some one in this assembly-I will simply say he was a green brakeman; and the conductor said to him: "When we arrive at the station I will call out from my end of the car the name of the station, and you do the same thing from your end.” They came to a station which we will call Welcometown, and the conductor called out, "Welcometown." "Same on this

end," said the brakeman.

His Honor, the Mayor, has acted as the conductor upon this occasion, and I feel like personifying the brakeman and echoing his welcome-welcome on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I feel to-night that Oliver Wendell Holmes was not only a poet, but he was a true prophet when he said that Boston was "the hub of the universe." When I look into the faces of the representatives of an institution that has lived through half a century, I realize if I know nothing else about

it, that it must have in it something that appeals to men-otherwise it could not have existed for so long a period. I don't consider it a mere accident that this association was born fifty years ago, because I recall that that was the time when the tide of men was turning from the town, lane and farm towards the great centers of industry-when the cities began to grow and to expand, and the individual who had been held up by the brotherly interest of the town found himself lost in the sea of humanity in the city. There was need of such an organization then; there is greater need of it to-day. So this organization was born, and for fifty years it has been exerting a protecting and uplifting influence that has tended to make better citizens and better men.

I look into your faces as representatives of an organization which seems to me very like that magnificent palm of which I have read, beneath whose branches the natives of the tropics find shelter, in whose leaves they find food, and in whose roots they find the healing for their ills. For half a century this organization has been a shelter for the shelterless; food for the hungry; healing for the sick; strength for the weak, and the friend of the friendless. It is a great pleasure on behalf of the Commonwealth to congratulate you upon these fifty years; to welcome you with a welcome as deep as the ocean, and as broad as the continents, and as genuine as the smile upon the face of His Honor, the Mayor, when he addressed you; yes, on behalf of a commonwealth that from the time that it was born on Plymouth Rock to the present hour has found its greatest glory in being a factor in the uplifting of humanity. I welcome you as representatives of an organization that stands for the ennobling and Christianizing of man.

AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY HENRY M. MOORE FOR
THE BOSTON ASSOCIATION AND FOR THE MASS-

ACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND STATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

I esteem it a great privilege to stand here in behalf of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association and the state committee of Massachusetts and Rhode Island to extend to you a most hearty welcome.

It is fitting that members of the Boston association should invite you at this time, for they are just celebrating their golden wedding. Fifty years ago they gave their heart and their hand to the young men of Boston, and through them to the state and the nation. They have never sought a divorce, and they have asked between 2000 and 3000 of their children to meet them here, and with them to join in the grand celebration of this

event.

When our Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock they little thought of the influence of that event, but the principles which brought them here and which they inculcated in the hearts and minds of others not only had their influence over Massachusetts, but through her have to a greater or less degree influenced this whole nation. So the Boston association organized fifty years ago but faintly realized the importance of that organization. The policy pursued and the principles upon which it was organized have given character to this whole American movement. Boston always did exert more or less influence over New York; but perhaps more at that time than she does at present, for then a number of gentlemen had gathered in New York with a view of organizing a Young Men's Christian Association, and had abandoned the idea; but after they learned that Boston had organized, and that 1200 young men had joined, they rallied their forces and in 1852 the New York association was formed, the influence of which is realized in Greater New York to-day. This, in connection with the fact that the International Committee has had their headquarters there, has caused an influence to go out from that city which has not only reached the American continent but the whole association world.

The state executive committee of Massachusetts and Rhode Island as an organization containing one-tenth of all the association membership in the United States and Canada, and more than one-tenth of the property in association buildings, welcomes you.

We welcome our brethren that come to us from the north, over the line, which some tell us divides and makes two nations of us but I have always failed to see the line, and whenever I have visited Montreal, or Toronto, or London, I have found the same work being accomplished, and have received the same kindly treatment as I would have received in Boston, or Philadelphia, or Baltimore. We recognize the fact that the Montreal association was organized some three weeks prior to the Boston association; but so near together were their birthdays that they were called twins. We heartily acknowledge Montreal to be the elder brother. I want to ask my friend Budge from Montreal this question: Who put it into the hearts and minds of the brethren in Montreal at the same time that it was put into the hearts and minds of Vanderlip and Sullivan and Franklin W. Smith, here in Boston, all unknown one to the other, to organize this work for young men? It was no other than the Spirit of God guiding these men because He saw this work was needed in the age in which we live.

We also welcome our brethren from across the ocean. Whether they cross the ocean on the east or on the west we look upon them all as coming from the east, for men go west now to get east. You represent nations speaking different