n, between which is the
great highway of the world, and we can not but partake of their
prosperity. Over the railroad passing through this place, or near
it, will pass for all time to come the travel and trade of New York
and San Francisco, of London and Pekin. Every town along this route
partakes of the prosperity of this highway. Upper Sandusky, on the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, and Tiffin, that
thriving and beautiful city through which passes the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, south of us, while along the lake shore passes the
great northern division of the Lake Shore Road, making this route,
as it were, the great artery of the world's travel, and we can
abide with the prosperity that is to come in the future. Those of
our friends who travel in Europe return sometimes dissatisfied,
because there is a rawness in this country not seen in England and
the older countries of Europe. But then the greatest happiness, as
all of us know, in preparing a garden or a home is to see the
improvements growing up under our hands. This is what we enjoy; and
the change in Fremont from the time I first knew it till to-day
gives me very great pleasure.

There is another change which gives rise to mournful reflections.
When I came here in the year 1834, I became acquainted with honored
citizens who are no longer living. There was, Mr. Mayor, your
father, Rudolphus Dickinson, Thomas I. Hawkins, Judge Olmsted,
Judge Howland, and, among others, that marvel of business energy,
George Grant; and I might go on giving name after name. But it is
true that of all those I remember seeing on that first visit, not
one is with us to-night. All who came with me, my uncle, my mother,
and my sister, are gone. But this is the order of Providence.
Events follow upon one another as wave follows wave upon the ocean.
It is for each man to do what he can to make others happy. This is
the prayer and this is the duty of life. Let us, my friends, in
every position, undertake to perform this duty. For one, I have no
reliance except that which Abraham Lincoln had when, on leaving
Springfield, he said to his friends: "I go to Washington to assume
a responsibility greater than that which has been devolved upon any
one since the first president, and I beg you, my friends and