in praise of Shakespeare; three times three generations of men have turned to him for inspiration; the words set down for Elizabethan England have long since become the common treasure of mankind. One who speaks here then should be content when he has enrolled himself with all humility among the throng of worshipers.

But for America I ask the right to say that she comes not as a stranger to pay tribute to the poet of a foreign land or of an alien tongue. Her pride in Shakespeare is no less than England's nor held by any lesser right. It is not merely because she speaks his language, and needs no interpreter to make her feel the thrill of his majestic music, that neither time, nor chance, nor change can rob her of her share in his legacy to men of English speech. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the sea may come under their common flag to claim their share of the inheritance; but America, though she bears a standard of her own, does not forget that in the days when Shakespeare lived and sang she herself lay hidden in the womb of the same great and fertile motherland that gave him birth. She stands here as a daughter in the house to claim her right of patrimony.

Surely, then, the ceremonies of to-day are not without their deep significance. They mark that essential unity of the English-speaking peoples of which the name and fame of Shakespeare is shibboleth and sign. In the blood-stained drama of a frightful war this unity has played but yesterday a part greater than any that Shakespeare ever dreamed. In the providence of God it will supply in coming years an epic of peaceful glory which no genius less lofty than his own will be worthy to portray.

CHAUNCEY MITCHELL DEPEW

EIGHTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY

Mr. Depew was born in 1834 and has been constantly before the public as a speaker for nearly seventy years. His after-dinner speeches gathered here cover a period of nearly a half century. We begin with a speech at his eighty-seventh birthday in 1921. The next speech is dated 1875, and others follow in chronological order. Other addresses by Mr. Depew are given in Volumes IV and VIII. This speech was delivered by Mr. Depew on his eightyseventh birthday at the Montauk Club, Brooklyn, N. Y., April 30, 1921, being the thirtieth annual dinner given by this Club.

MR. PRESIDENT AND FRIENDS:-All of our meetings and greetings have been interesting. Some of them have had special significance. This, the thirtieth, marks an epoch. It is difficult to grasp the idea and visualize the recollections of thirty years of continuous celebrations of the birthday of a single individual. Necessarily, in the course of nature, most who were at our first dinner have joined the majority, but their places have been filled by their sons and new members, equally loyal to this original idea. It is a tribute to the continuance of friendships, under all conditions, favorable and unfavorable, and it is a monument to good fellowship.

We hear so much of the growing selfishness of communities, of their jealousies, rivalries and competitions which separate them into hostile groups that we get a general idea that good fellowship and unselfish companionship have largely disappeared. Like most generalizations from narrow data, this is untrue. College fraternities for undergraduates were never so prosperous and never so homogeneous as they are now. The annual alumni meetings were never so largely attended, and never with such admirable results, both for the individual alumnus and alma mater. Our meeting here has no political, religious, sectional, trade or personal purpose. It is simply a signifi

cant proof that men of all creeds and professions can meet together and enjoy each other with hearty good-will, and separate with better purposes for the welfare and prosperity of the community in which they live, of the state of which it is a part, of the country which represents it entire and of their associates.

It is an almost forgotten memory how often the country has gone to the dogs during these thirty years. The tragedy at the time of the crisis was that so many of our people had lost faith in the future. It is well that we are so absorbed in the policies or measures or conditions of the hour that we visualize their dangers and concentrate ourselves upon their remedies.

PRESIDENT HARRISON

It was a happy promise for the future that we began these birthday celebrations during Harrison's administration. Harrison was among the ablest of our Presidents. He was a great international lawyer and brought about a settlement of the long pending and critical disputes with Great Britain in the Behring Sea which satisfied American opinion and American honor. He strengthened the Federal courts by a selection of judges for merit and in disregard of partisan claims and political pressure. His appointments won from his successor, Grover Cleveland, who also was a firm friend of the judiciary, this praise, "I cannot see how he did it. I thought I recognized the importance of the Federal courts resisting mere party pressure and giving to my appointments jealous care, but I must confess that Harrison has beaten me."

Dr. Cadman, the eloquent Brooklyn preacher, in a recent address on orators, says, "Perfect taste in public speech was as nearly attained by President Harrison as by any publicist of the last thirty years."

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND

Our experiences with Cleveland were original and interesting. He was a Chief Magistrate much misunderstood by his co-temporaries, but has grown in reputation with the years.