Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Colonial.
heavens . " I will not now occupy your attention by referring to instances in which the duty of laying the foundation-stones of public and charitable and stately buildings has been deputed to pur Order , for many must be fresh in the memory of all readers of the English and of foreign newspapers . Above nine years ago I first saw , through the dimness of a dank and misty Sabbath morning , the site on which we are assembled . It lay in an unoccupied and melancholy proximity to a cold ,
dismal , and crime-suggesting tenement , better represented appearance , by its Phosm buildihg , the watch-house over the way . Where the former was , and from which only was heard blasphemy and lamentation , now stands a temple dedicated to the God of all the earth , and from which ascends to Him the voice of praise and of prayer ; -and on this site , as the most welcome and graceful neighbour , is to rise a building to be set aside exclusively as the residence of religion ' s
handmaid , and in which will be carried on , we trust , with zeal , energy , and success , the great and necessary work—the education of the people . Beautiful proximity I fit associates ! and noblest testimonies of a true arid solid progress ! They will be , to use a strong figure , in friendship and in purpose , the Saul and Jonathan of Tasmanian architecture , " lovely and pleasant in their lives , " and when the hand of time and change shall have marred their beauty or levelled them with the ground , it shall also be said of them , " and in their death they
were not divided . " I am sure , therefore , that in making this reference you will not ^ only bear with me , but also enter fully into my feelings , in stating that as an inhabitant of Launceston—as one of yourselves—as one deeply and honestly interested in the prosperity of our town , and the welfare of all sections of society , but chiefly the true advancement of the working classes , I do regard with patriotic pride ( not unmingled with gratitude to Him by whom our footsteps are ordered ) the manner in which my name and energies are wrought up first with the history
of the adjoining ecclesiastical structure , and next with the noble building whose foundation-stone has just been laid . Here is to be erected a building for educational purposes . These are to be carried on by lectures , by a library , by a complete collection of mechanical and scientific apparatus , by a museum ^ by a reading-room , and a room for rendezvous for business and co-operation . In an age like the present , need I enforce the importance of such institutions on your consideration ? With the light of experience to guide , they are being regarded
more and more by the intelligent men of Britain as indispensable elements in the great moral and social work of elevating the people . Isolated instances of local failure may not enter into the great argument of their importance and general success . They are not the sole instruments of a popular regeneration , but a part of the great and glorious agency at work . Every means which can set men a-thinking—dispose them to read , to question , to converse on every variety of subject ; every lawful and pleasing change of occupation of an external kind which can be provided for ourselves and our fellows amidst and after the toils
and perplexities of the day , must not only act on the mind of the individual elevatingly , but throw around it such influence and tendencies as will tell in the best sense on his domestic arrangements and his moral sentiments—his conduct as a citizen of the world , a subject of our kingdom , and an inhabitant of our town . I fearlessly affirm that education ' in the true and comprehensive sensewhich comprehends religion without sectarianism , and art and science without pedantry—which brings them to bear on man as a moral agent , on his conduct
as a member of society , and his faith and existence as responsible to his Godis the great and heaven-intended panacea for all this earth's evils , social and political . Educate aright a man ' s head and heart , and you may safely entrust him with the duties of any social relationship . Educate aright a man ' s head and heart , and you may with every confidence in the election of our law-makers place
the ballot-box at his disposal . Then you may—and not till then . To afford one educational agency an opportunity of aiding in the work , this Launceston Mechanics' Institute is to be erected . The building begun on this spot is to be essentially the possession of the people , and ever at their disposal . The rich man shall not claim it to his exclusive use , nor will the working man be able to enter a caveat against his wealthy neighbour ' s occupation . The widow ' s mite
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Colonial.
heavens . " I will not now occupy your attention by referring to instances in which the duty of laying the foundation-stones of public and charitable and stately buildings has been deputed to pur Order , for many must be fresh in the memory of all readers of the English and of foreign newspapers . Above nine years ago I first saw , through the dimness of a dank and misty Sabbath morning , the site on which we are assembled . It lay in an unoccupied and melancholy proximity to a cold ,
dismal , and crime-suggesting tenement , better represented appearance , by its Phosm buildihg , the watch-house over the way . Where the former was , and from which only was heard blasphemy and lamentation , now stands a temple dedicated to the God of all the earth , and from which ascends to Him the voice of praise and of prayer ; -and on this site , as the most welcome and graceful neighbour , is to rise a building to be set aside exclusively as the residence of religion ' s
handmaid , and in which will be carried on , we trust , with zeal , energy , and success , the great and necessary work—the education of the people . Beautiful proximity I fit associates ! and noblest testimonies of a true arid solid progress ! They will be , to use a strong figure , in friendship and in purpose , the Saul and Jonathan of Tasmanian architecture , " lovely and pleasant in their lives , " and when the hand of time and change shall have marred their beauty or levelled them with the ground , it shall also be said of them , " and in their death they
were not divided . " I am sure , therefore , that in making this reference you will not ^ only bear with me , but also enter fully into my feelings , in stating that as an inhabitant of Launceston—as one of yourselves—as one deeply and honestly interested in the prosperity of our town , and the welfare of all sections of society , but chiefly the true advancement of the working classes , I do regard with patriotic pride ( not unmingled with gratitude to Him by whom our footsteps are ordered ) the manner in which my name and energies are wrought up first with the history
of the adjoining ecclesiastical structure , and next with the noble building whose foundation-stone has just been laid . Here is to be erected a building for educational purposes . These are to be carried on by lectures , by a library , by a complete collection of mechanical and scientific apparatus , by a museum ^ by a reading-room , and a room for rendezvous for business and co-operation . In an age like the present , need I enforce the importance of such institutions on your consideration ? With the light of experience to guide , they are being regarded
more and more by the intelligent men of Britain as indispensable elements in the great moral and social work of elevating the people . Isolated instances of local failure may not enter into the great argument of their importance and general success . They are not the sole instruments of a popular regeneration , but a part of the great and glorious agency at work . Every means which can set men a-thinking—dispose them to read , to question , to converse on every variety of subject ; every lawful and pleasing change of occupation of an external kind which can be provided for ourselves and our fellows amidst and after the toils
and perplexities of the day , must not only act on the mind of the individual elevatingly , but throw around it such influence and tendencies as will tell in the best sense on his domestic arrangements and his moral sentiments—his conduct as a citizen of the world , a subject of our kingdom , and an inhabitant of our town . I fearlessly affirm that education ' in the true and comprehensive sensewhich comprehends religion without sectarianism , and art and science without pedantry—which brings them to bear on man as a moral agent , on his conduct
as a member of society , and his faith and existence as responsible to his Godis the great and heaven-intended panacea for all this earth's evils , social and political . Educate aright a man ' s head and heart , and you may safely entrust him with the duties of any social relationship . Educate aright a man ' s head and heart , and you may with every confidence in the election of our law-makers place
the ballot-box at his disposal . Then you may—and not till then . To afford one educational agency an opportunity of aiding in the work , this Launceston Mechanics' Institute is to be erected . The building begun on this spot is to be essentially the possession of the people , and ever at their disposal . The rich man shall not claim it to his exclusive use , nor will the working man be able to enter a caveat against his wealthy neighbour ' s occupation . The widow ' s mite