the sons and daughters of this State of the plains; and we also extend our greeting to those who have come out to meet us from other regions of the great West, and, taking the brotherly hands which have been extended to us, we accept the welcome which has been so bountifully tendered, and indulge the hope that in sharing the hospitality of your homes we shall long mutually remember with pleasure the occasion that brought us into personal acquaintance.

As we came along our way hither we saw that you of the West have already builded the public school and the meeting-house,-worthy memorials of your ancestors,-and that you have also reared those temples of higher learning for the youth of the land, which are sending forth strong men and women to fight the battles necessary to overcome the common enemies of our country-ignorance and vice. We rejoice in what you have already done, and hope that our coming here may cheer you onward in your noble work.

Again thanking you for your welcome, I will take the liberty of introducing one who acted as the secretary of the meeting at which this Association was organized, and who has served it in the same capacity during many years. I now have the pleasure of introducing to you W. E. Sheldon, of Boston, the Secretary of the Association.

RESPONSE BY SECRETARY SHELDON.

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen:

This is a proud hour; an hour in which I feel great self-congratu lation. As the "errand boy" of this Association, as the humble lieutenant of a veteran educator, and as a member of the Executive Committee of this Association, I came West last November to spy out the land, and see where, on this continent, was the best place to hold the meeting of the National Educational Association. I traveled until I crossed the Father of Waters, and came over the broad plains to the capital of Kansas-the city of Topeka, I shall never forget the greeting, the hospitality, and the cordiality of the people of the city of Topeka. I thought them a warm-hearted, generous people, (but it has

been warmer since I came here the second time than it was the first). I then made up my mind that it would be a good thing if all the edu cational friends in the East and in the North and in the South and in the far West could see the plains of Kansas, and reported that this was a landflowing with milk and honey." Very many years ago an eminent journalist said to the young men of the East, "Go West," and many of them went, settling first near one frontier line and then near another frontier line, until I believe now, your Excellency, there is no such a thing as frontier lines in this country.

On my first visit I saw here a body of young men who seemed to me to look lonesome. I went back to the East and told my friends of the lonesome looking young men out on the prairies of the West, and that they said, "Where are the fair daughters of the East?" As an officer of the National Educational Association I have the honor of presenting them to you to-night; and do you wonder that I am proud of the occasion? I know they come with high aims and noble educational purposes and with pure motives; but I have a sort of an intuition that some of them would not object to staying here if properly invited to do so.

If by chance, the officers of the Association should be instrumental in bringing to your borders now and then a "crank," do not be frightened, for I remember that in the early history of Kansas there were hosts of very conservative men in the city where I resided, who said, "Those fellows are all cranks out there." Many are here who are in sympathy with your determination, with your individuality, with your originality, with your intenseness of purpose, and with your determin ation to promote the general intelligence of mankind. You came here bringing the implements of agriculture, but you came also prepared to plant the schoolhouse by the side of the church. The fact is, the elements of educational power entered into the problem of freedom on this soil, and you recognized that power. We must foster universal education to secure the high order of citizenship which will recognize patriotism, obedience to law, and a recognition of those great principles that make the nation strong and enduring.

Mr. President, as I said, I am the "boy" of the Association, a humble worker in the cause, and not a speaker for such an occasion. The veterans are to follow me.

THE PRESIDENT:-We have with us to-night another of the earlier workers in this Association; one who was elected President at its organization, and who presided at the first regular meeting held in Cincinnati in 1858, and who has since filled the offices of Treasurer and of Secretary. When I inform you that a few days ago he sent me a note as he was passing through the city of New York to attend a reunion of a New England College class in which he graduated fifty years ago, and when I add that he is a regular attendant of these annual meetings, that he came here from the capital of our nation, I need not assure you that he is one of the many teachers who are steadfast friends of this Association. I have the pleasure of introducing to you Zalmon Richards of Washington, D. C.

ADDRESS OF ZALMON RICHARDS.

Mr. President and Friends of the National Educational Association: Do not be alarmed, did you notice your President said, "fifty years ago?" That is a long time I know. I do not know but that you will think an old man ought to step aside and let Young America come forward, but when the "boy," our Secretary who has just addressed you, was speaking, I remembered that he commenced work in this Association just about the same time that I did. I do not know how many scores of years have gone over his head. I know that a score and a half of them have gone over since I became acquainted with him, and he was an old teacher at that time. It is true I had something to do with the organization of this Association. One man said to me to-day, and congratulated me upon being the grandfather of the "National Teachers' Association." My friends, we have no grandfather; we never had. We have had some fathers. My friend, Dr. Hagar, I think has the right to claim the paternity, if any living man has it; but he and my friend Sheldon and another friend, Pickard of Iowa, thought best, with some others, to choose me as the chief nurse of the Association,-to take care of this infant. At that time it was an infant. Why, when we held that first National meeting at Cincinnati there were only five of us present. I do not suppose there were many that knew anything about it. My friend Sheldon was seated off there, and another good friend in that corner, and another good friend here, so as to make it appear that we had at that first meeting a collection of teachers. We increased our number to about 175, during that session.

What were the aims of this Association when we started out in this work? The grand and one of the most important aims we had in view was to create a union of feeling among all teachers in the United States; we felt that it was necessary that the teachers of the whole country should be brought together. We started out with that purpose, and I think we have accomplished it to a very great extent, for here to-night in this gathering, we have teachers from almost every state of the Union; and I can say that this feeling of unity and good will has been increasing until it has grown into a grand brotherhood and sisterhood of teachers in this country such as we have never had before, and it is going to be stronger still. Another aim that we had was that there should be such a thing recognized in this country as a teachers' profession. Then we started out with another aim: we wanted to have teachers trained for their profession. We sought to have organized in every section of our country, institutions to train. teachers-Normal schools, which were hardly known in those days. Normal schools in every part of the country, in every state, in every city, for the training of teachers for our public schools, for our high schools, and for our colleges.

THE PRESIDENT:-We have heard something about the importance of training teachers and of Normal Schools. I will now introduce to you the principal of one of the oldest and best Normal Schools in this country, Prof. A. G. Boyden, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR BOYDEN.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

His Excellency, Governor Martin, said this evening, that in coming to Kansas we should have one grand object lesson. That we have surely had in coming over the plains from the East and seeing the rapid development of our country. But there is a grander object lesson even than that of the development of the material resources of this country, and that I think I see before me here to-night in this

gathering of teachers and citizens and friends of education. We do indeed well to come from the East and from the North and from the South and from the West into this center of our country to see what the length and breadth of extent our country is in all its resources. I think the grandest of all resources is in the men and women scattered over these broad acres, who are making homes for themselves and building institutions of Government on the strong and firm foundation of morality, intelligence, and virtue. And when we come over this grand land of ours and see the church and the schoolhouse everywhere, and see the teachers training the young, and see the homes springing up, it is to me one of the most cheering, encouraging sights that can come to any man. I have been accustomed in the East to think of Boston as the "hub." When I reached Topeka I was told that Boston could no longer claim that prominence. Then I began to make some inquiries, and I found that Boston men were here, that Boston capital was here building railroads, and the institutions of the country. I found that a large number of New England citizens were here, and I began to feel that really the "hub" had extended into Kansas. Every one of the schoolhouses gracing our land is a center of power and influence that cannot be estimated. And every teacher ruling in these little kingdoms is doing a work whose influence for good cannot be measured. I trust that we shall go back to our work better fitted than ever before to accomplish all the good that is within our power to accomplish in the schoolroom, in the training of teachers and of children to become honorable men and women.

PRESIDENT CALKINS:-We have evidence to-night that those who have come hither from various parts of the country are being remembered by the loved ones whom they left behind. The Secretary will announce the arrival of numerous telegrams.

After these announcements the session closed with music by the Modoc Singing Club of Topeka.