Centennial records of the women of Wisconsin

              176
CENTENNIAL  EECOEDS.
been vague, so far as method and definite plans of operation are concemed. In another and higher sense it is, I conceive, fuU of meaning to you and to me, as women of the nineteenth century. In this view of the subject, I gladly respond to your invitation. My own heart is stirred, and my mind awake to what I regard the magnitude of issues involved. I do not speak to you to dweU upon the value and meaning of historical reminiscences chiefly—hallowed as they are by ancestral associations, to many of us —but rather to speak of soul stirrings and aspirations which we all feel, in a greater or less degree, to be the spirit of the present, and which none of us can fuUy define. God, who inspired our forefathers to for¬ sake home and country, to exchange convenience and luxury for privation and suffering, who sustained them amid the rigors of cUmate, in their contests with the mother country, and with each other, had an infinite plan, which we as a na¬ tion are fuUfiUing. ReUgious freedom was their watehword; for this they suffered and died. But the principles they brought with them stfll Uve, and have seeded the centuries that have intervened. Golden harvests of material prosperity wave in the broad sunlight of our advancing civilization. Vineyards of surpassing luxu¬ riance and beauty gladden its hiUsides. The fatness of the olive, and the glory of the palm tree, may be used to symboUze the wealth and victory, which make us a recognized power among the nations of the world, who are to join with us in our offerings of thanksgiving and praise. We are no longer impeUed by the stem law of necessity; we find ourselves, instead, cradled in ease, and soothed by the sweet minstrelsy of peace. But underlying these, is heard a stfll smaU voice, emphasizing, upon the eve of our approaching anniversary, the value of our rich inheritance by reminding us of the fearful price which has from time to time been paid for it. When God led his chosen people out of the wfldemess into the prom¬ ised land, then" deUverences and memorial days were marked by oft'erings of their choicest and best. We have at length awakened to the consciousness that in pro¬ portion as we estimate our homes and liberties, shaU we express in some suita¬ ble form, our love and gratitude, as a thank offering to the God of nations, by whom, and for whom, they haA-e been bestowed and thus far maintained. Our material wealth, brflUant with the poUsh which the labor of the centuries has bestowed, must stfll be grouped in designs and woven into forms of artistic beauty to represent the grandest conceptions and aspirations of the age. The genius of this sphere of labor is love. The strength that has wrought, and the inteUigence that has reared the monuments of our national greatness, must now be permeated by this inner Ufe and Ught in the consecration of aU our treasures to their liighest and hoUest uses. The grand Moloch of unsanctified ambition which obscures and bUghts aU that