gn purpose toward the sons of men.
O Lord God, clothed with majesty and honor, decking Thyself with light
as with a garment, and spreading out the heavens like a curtain, with
the beams of Thy chambers in the waters, and the clouds for Thy
chariot, walking upon the wings of the wind, Thy messengers spirits
and Thy ministers a flaming fire, accept, we beseech Thee, this last
and chiefest fruit of human toil and genius as a tribute to Thy glory,
and a new power making for righteousness and peace amid all conflicts
of earthly interests, and all the stir and pomp of worldly
aggrandizement. Our life is a thing of nought, and our purposes vanish
away; but Thy years shall not fail, and with Thee the beginning and
the end are the same. Therefore we implore Thee to bless and direct
this work, that it shall be more than a highway for the things that
perish, even a path of Thy eternal Spirit lifting by His own infinite
grace, more and more, as the years roll on, the people of these cities
toward the plane of Thine own life--the life of endless peace, of
absolute unity, and perfect love, through Jesus Christ, the one
Redeemer and Mediator between God and man. Amen.

ADDRESS OF WM. C. KINGSLEY,

PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

In the presence of this great assemblage, and of the chosen
representatives of the people of these two great cities, of the
Governor of the State of New York and of the President of the United
States, the pleasing duty devolves upon me, as the official agent of
the Board of Trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, to announce
formally to the chief magistrates of these two municipalities that
this Bridge is now ready to be opened for public use, and is subject
in its control and management only to such restrictions as the people,
to whom it belongs, may choose to impose upon themselves. If I were at
liberty to consult my own wishes I should not attempt to occupy your
attention any further. I am not here as the spokesman of my
associates in the Board of Bridge Trustees. They are well content to
let this great structure speak for them, and to speak more fittingly
and more eloquently yet for the skillful, faithful and daring men who
have given so many years of their lives--and in several instances even
their lives--to the end that the natural barrier to the union, growth
and greatness of this great commercial centre should be removed, and
that a vast scientific conception should be matched in