E. H. ADDINGTON

OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. 175
ing of all subjects; which helps to mould character and strengthen moral
development; which»»opens the mind to all high and noble aspirations;
which' makes true men and true women of the youth of the land; and
imbues them firmly with a desire to better the world in whatsoever capacity
their talents and capabilities suggest. Therefore, young men,
young women, uphold the public schools wherever and whenever you can
as the most beneficent institution conferred by the Fathers upon you
and those who shall come after you.
In this glorious work, Masonry has had no uncertain part, as already
related—the public school found its creator in the Masons who
were in the Constitutional Convention nearly a century and a half ago.
What a sublime record! What prophetic instinct possessed these men!
How like divine such inspiration! What superhuman foresight was
centered in the minds of these eminent men, whose names and whose
memories will be everlasting! ;
And yet they were but the proponents of Masonic teachings. Loving
their fellow men as members of one large family; filled with the fraternal
teachings which they had imbibed at the altar of Masonry; ever
ready to assist the destitute and helpless; mindful of the oppression of
governments that were not "for the people and by the people"; anxious
to establish a safeguard which should not only in name, but in deed, be
a refuge for the downtrodden of all climes; they took from Masonry its
brightest lesson and determined that the spread of knowledge should
be broadcast over the land, within the reach of the richest as well as
the poorest, for the mere asking. Ignorance was dreaded, as its existence
spelt fanatacism and bigotry, and its influence intolerance and
superstition. Their knowledge of history and the experience of their
ancestors in the mother country warned them against a recurrence of
such condition in the new country. They saw as if possessed with the
prophetic instinct, far down into the centuries yet to come, and divined
the great multitude who were to inhabit it, and whose united efforts
would build it as a nation foremost among the greatest of the earth.
And they rightly and wisely chose to lay the foundation stone of its
coming power upon the base of knowledge—good, true and square—forever
safe from the erosion of ignorance—forever free from the blighting
effects of intolerance—the greatest gift of a great nation to its people.
And this great gift is now with you, and" upon you devolves the
duty of its preservation in all its original integrity. For our country
the "public school" is a jewel of priceless value. It has been fostered
with greatest care, and under the skies of a free and enlightened republic
it has grown to such stature that within its pleasant confines it receives
and enfolds the great majority of the young of the land.
The States of this Union have ever been liberal in their gifts
towards its support, and the "little red school house," wherein so many
of our greatest statesmen received the first inklings of knowledge has