city in our land and point to hundreds of blocks and churches, hospitals, asylums, schools, manufactories and dwellings that will rank with any in the wide world. There may be a wide diversity in the hopes and realizations of all you "old settlers." Some may have accomplished all they aimed for, and some may have come far short even if their aim had been ever so unpretending. Whatever that fate chances to be, it is rather too late to try and mend it now. We had better philosophically accept the situation and continue striving to the end. You who have hung on so long through thick and thin never flinched in the hour of panic or epidemic, never grunted too much over the cold Lake winds, nor stuck up your nose when the black smokes and crude oil smells hung round your nostrils. You who have brought up a family in knowledge and virtue and have maintained among your fellows as upright a character as the times would warrant, can rest assured that you have done far more for the honor, glory and majesty of Cleveland than Cleveland could possibly do for you. There are two important domestic pictures. I would have you carefully contemplate and view in every light you can see the best. One is Cleveland as you saw her forty years ago, and Cleveland as you can see her to-day. There are artists enough among you to paint these scenes to the life, and the sooner you practice with your brush, your canvas and your pigments on those of the past, your friends will think the more of you, while you will be likely to renew your life in the operation. |