AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION.

THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING.

FIRST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.

BOSTON, MASS., July 31, 1867.

The AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION commenced the First Session of its Thirty-eighth Annual Meeting, in Tremont Temple, Boston, at hálf-past two o'clock this afternoon. The Association was called to order by the President, William E. Sheldon, Esq.; and prayer was offered by Rev. L. H. Rockwood, of the American Tract Society.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY DR. J. A. LAMPSON.

Dr. John A. Lampson, a member of the Boston SchoolCommittee, welcomed the Institute to the City of Boston. He said,

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen of the American Institute of Instruction,- In behalf of the School-Committee of Boston, it is my privilege and my pleasure to extend to you a most cordial and hearty welcome to this city. We appreciate the magnitude of your mission, the indispensability and dignity of your vocation. Wedded to our schools, in which we take an honest pride, but still constantly seeking new light, and striving for new and improved methods of training; recognizing the power of association to accu

mulate energy, to kindle the heart and create new warmth and greater earnestness in our work, when the best educators of the land, from city and country, all moved by one and the same inspiration, come to our metropolis and assemble in this hall, the first words that must leap to our lips are the words of welcome, warm and strong. Judge Russell, the other day, told a story of his visit to a city on the Mississippi in the night, and, though the occasion was a festive one, he found it wrapped in darkness, the gas unlighted. The fact was, the people, weighed down by a large debt, had thought it best to dismiss their teachers and stop their schools, and thus lift the burden; but, when the matter was in debate, a Yankee, who had there erected his domestic altar, thought it better that the feet should stumble in darkness, rather than the minds of his children be shrouded in the black mantles of ignorance, proposed not to cut off the schools, but to cut off the gas. That man was the true representative of the New-England idea, -education first of all things; comforts, luxuries, and elegancies, afterwards, the true inheritor of the idea of our fathers, who, before comfortable shelters covered their heads, planted the foundation. of their schools in the interest of sound learning. The subjects which are to engage your deliberations on this occasion are of transcendent importance. Were you a body of statesmen convened to consider some matter of state, the lightning would take your words as they dropped from your lips to every house in the land; but, while they would be shaping the superstructure, yours is the more important business of laying the foundation. While they attended to outward interests, yours is the holier function of quickening the soul. To do this well, you must penetrate human nature to its core; the laws regulating the intellectual and moral machinery must be as familiar as the alphabet; you must

know how to touch all the secret springs of human action; how to place before the mind the inspiring motive, so that every faculty shall be brought into vigorous action, producing a harmonious and complete development, culminating in men and women of full stature, with not only the learning of the schools in their heads, but with that truth and rectitude in their hearts which shall make them bold and ready for the performance of every duty. I will not trespess upon your time, further than to express the hope that the result of this meeting may be the accomplishment of all you seek; and when you separate, may you carry to your homes, not only pleasant recollections of your visit, and the warm wishes of your friends here, but also living coals of sacred fire in your hearts for the noble work in which you are engaged.

RESPONSE OF PRESIDENT SHELDON.

The President responded as follows:

Sir, — The cordial welcome which you have been so kind as to extend to this Institute, from the School-Committee of the City of Boston, commands our sincere gratitude. We were well aware that any thing which appertains to culture and civilization, throughout the length and breadth of the land, would always find a hearty sympathy in the City of Boston.

Your allusion to the anecdote, given by Judge Russell, reminds me of a recent excursion which I made beyond the Mississippi. I happened to fall in company with an intelligent Western lady, who inquired where I was from. With a pride somewhat magnified, I answered, "From Boston.".

66

Sir," said she, "I thought so." Then she related a story of General Sherman meeting in Washington a gentleman to whom he said, “I think, sir, I have had the pleasure of

seeing you before, in San Francisco?"—"No," said the gentleman; "I was never farther from home than I am now. I was born in Boston, educated in Boston, have preached in Boston, and being a Baptist, I was immersed in Boston.”. "Yes, sir," said the General, stretching himself up; “and when you die, I suppose you expect to go to Boston ?”

We expected to find here an interest in every thing that opens the mind and heart of the people, and in every thing that relates to the promotion of intellectual and moral culture.

Thirty-seven years ago, this Institute had its birth in this city its very spirit is written upon the educational history of the intervening period. The lectures and volumes of its proceedings have gone forth, aiding, stimulating, and encouraging, more perhaps than any other single association, the promotion of universal culture throughout the whole country.

We thank you for the recognition you have given us from the School-Board of Boston, a board, who, from my personal knowledge, I can affirm are gratuitous laborers in this cause, sustaining the responsibilities and cares of their position and executing the trust committed to them with an intelligence and fidelity which has placed the schools of Boston in such a position as to call for the admiration of the country at large. You have participated largely in this work; and for this, this Institute and all educators owe to you their thanks.

Thanking you again for this cordial welcome, we have to express the hope that the result of the deliberations of this meeting may prove satisfactory to the citizens of Boston, and for the best interest of education throughout the country.