Young, William, 51.




INTRODUCTION.


It is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human being,
that he loves to contemplate the scenes of the past, and desires to
have his own history borne down to the future. This, like all the
other propensities of our nature, is accompanied by faculties to
secure its gratification. The gift of speech, by which the parent can
convey information to the child--the old transmit intelligence to the
young--is an indication that it is the design of the Author of our
being that we should receive from those passing away the narrative of
their experience, and communicate the results of our own to the
generations that succeed us. All nations have, to a greater or less
degree, been faithful to their trust in using the gift to fulfil the
design of the Giver. It is impossible to name a people who do not
possess cherished traditions that have descended from their early
ancestors.

Although it is generally considered that the invention of a system of
arbitrary and external signs to communicate thought is one of the
greatest and most arduous achievements of human ingenuity, yet so
universal is the disposition to make future generations acquainted
with our condition and history,--a disposition the efficient cause of
which can only be found in a sense of the value of such
knowledge,--that you can scarcely find a people on the face of the