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Superintendent of the school, the speakers of the evening, and a few of the teachers and members of the school in its earliest days. A conspicuous object on one end of the platform was a stand loaded with a huge anniversary cake, a sort of golden wedding cake; and this was balanced on the opposite side by a pyramid of clustering grapes, the appropriate and welcome gift of Mr. TRUMAN P. HANDY, of Cleveland. The gentlemen who occupied the platform were Judge WILLIAM J. BACON, of the Supreme Court, President; the Rev. SAMUEL L. MERRELL, of Theresa, N. Y., Chaplain; Mr. ROBERT S. WILLIAMS, Superintendent; the Rev. Doctors EDWARD BRIGHT, Editor of The Christian Examiner, New York; PHILEMON H. FOWLER of the First Presbyterian Church, SAMUEL W. FISHER of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, ASHBEL G. VERMILYE of the Reformed Dutch Church, DANIEL G. COREY of the Bleecker St. Baptist Church, ALFRED S. PATTON of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Rev. JOHN LYLE, City Missionary; Professor ANSON J. UPSON, of Hamilton College; Messieurs WILLIAM TRACY and GURDON BURCHARD, of New York; MILTON BRAYTON, of Western; HOVEY K. CLARKE, of Detroit; ROBERT B. SHEPARD, of Hudson; JOHN H. EDMONDS, JOHN F. SEYMOUR, and THOMAS W. SEWARD, of Utica.

At eight o'clock, Judge BACON called the meeting to order, and directed the exercises to be opened by singing the following hymn to the Tune of "Auld Lang Syne."

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind;
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And songs of auld lang syne.

For auld lang syre we meet to night,

For auld lang syne;

To sing the song our fathers sang

In days of auld lang synë.

We've passed through many varied scenes,
Since youth's unclouded day;

And friends, and hopes, and happy dreams,
Time's hand hath swept away.

And voices that once joined with ours,

In days of auld lang syne,

Are silent now, and blend no more
In songs of auld lang syne.

Yet ever has the light of song

Illumed our darkest hours;

And cheered us on life's toilsome way,
And gemmed our path with flowers;
The sacred songs our fathers sang,
Dear songs of auld lang syne;
The hallowed songs our fathers sang
In days of auld lang syne.

But when we've crossed the sea of life,
And reached the heav'nly shore,
We'll sing the songs our fathers sing,
Transcending those of yore;

We'll meet to sing diviner strains

Than those of auld lang syne;
Immortal songs of praise unknown
In days of auld lang syne.

The Rev. Mr. MERRELL then read the 145th Psalm of David, and offered prayer; after which the Hymn "Shall we gather at the River," was sung.

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Soon we'll reach the silver river,

Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.

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Judge BACON now arose and delivered the following

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

Cotemporaries of my early days, companions of my riper age, children of my advancing years, a happy greeting to you all. In the name of the hospitable hosts by whose kind invitation I occupy the head of this table, I bid you a hearty welcome. This is to be a night of retrospection and of reminiscence. We are to look back on fifty years of vanished time. It is not a long period in the world's history, and yet how crowded has this half century been in the great epochs and startling events. Within that period, many around us have witnessed the culminating power, the decadence and the final fall and utter overthrow of the first and great Napoleon. Kingdoms and dynasties have been rent asunder or passed away, war and revolution have followed each other in quick succession-the triumphs of the wicked and the base, for a season, have been disastrous and discouraging, the achievements of the good and true-hearted, auspicious and benign, and in our day the long series of great events has just closed with the crushing out of that terrible rebellion, which, while it has covered the land with glory, has filled it with graves, and steeped it in tears. Its sullen waves still beat upon the shore, soon, however, to be hushed to a willing repose, or compelled to quiescence by the great, sound loyal heart of the American people.

But at present we are not concerned with the history of the world, of empires or of states; we proclaim a truce to discussions political and polemical. We are looking back fifty years, to the feeble beginnings of an institution whose jubilee we are now celebrating. At that period, Utica was a small but thriving village, containing a population of

about 2,800 souls, all told. It had its houses of entertainment, its marts for business, its haunts of vice. It had also its churches, of comparatively feeble growth; its public and private schools, such as they were, but it had no Sabbath Schools. This want was then to be supplied, and the First Presbyterian Society of Utica, has the high honor of being the pioneer institution which led on the march of Christian effort here for the benefit of children. I know not in whose brain the project had its birth, but its practical development, in an established and permanent Sabbath School, is due to the zeal and enterprise of five young ladies of that Society. Their names have become familiar; but they will bear repetition. They were MARY E. WALKER, SARAH MALCOLM, ALIDA VAN RENSSELAER, CATHERINE BREESE and ELIZABETH BLOODGOOD. Of the survivors of these, the second one I have named, now Mrs. SARAH M. BALL, of Brooklyn, we have the singular good fortune, to-night, to number as one of our most honored. guests. She comes at the end of fifty years to recall the scenes and look upon some of the faces familiar to her youth. She will find many vacant places, and in view of the bereavements, we have all experienced, be led with many of us to exclaim

"Oh! for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still."

In common with her associates she began a work small and feeble enough at first, but developing steadily and surely into the great institution, some of the results of which we are this night to commemorate. It attracted no public observation, it was ushered in by no imposing ceremonies; but it was a work on which the angels might look approvingly, a work

"Not scorned in heaven, tho' little noticed here."

From that little germ what far reaching influences, what beneficent results have flowed; influences and results, too, that will continue to flow on in a never ceasing tide, till

they break upon the shores of eternity, and become coeval with the untold years of God.

This evening, as I have intimated, is to be mainly devoted to reminiscences of the past, the recollections of the men, the women, the incidents of this Sabbath School, whose semi-centennial we now celebrate. The materials are ample, the subjects are fertile of illustration. At a later period in these exercises, I may perhaps avail myself of the privilege of recalling some matters within my personal recollection. They will be comparatively of small amount and of meager interest, but may add perhaps a trifling contribution to the general fund. At present I give place to others, furnished with better and perhaps longer memories than mine, and more ample materials, the contributions of others from abroad. The names of many of those now departed, who were once connected with this school as pupils, teachers or superintendents, are well worthy of commemoration. Among these we most readily recall the names of PARMELE, of WILSON, of NOYES, of MAYNARD, of Mrs. OSTROM, Mrs. CARROLL, Mrs. WILLIAMS and Mrs. CLARKE, honored names all, whose record is with us, and whose memorial is on high. Let us give due honor to the living who have labored faithfully and successfully in this harvest field, but let us especially tread lightly and reverently on the ashes, and linger lovingly amid the tombstones of those who have gone to meet the Master's plaudits, and whose memory, like flowers of perennial blossoming, will exhale sweet odors through coming generations.

In concluding his address, the Judge gave full permission to the speakers who were to follow him to be as personal and egotistical as they pleased. They were only not to be tedious. How far this permission was made available, and this injunction obeyed, the succeeding pages will amply show.

The first speaker called upon was Mr. ROBERT B. SHEPARD, of Hudson.

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