with the eyes of strangers; we stayed among you as friends, and we part
from you as friends. (Cheers.) Everybody knows that the one thing on
earth which makes life pleasant is the friendly atmosphere in which men
live--the one thing that makes it hateful is to be surrounded by
thoroughly bitter hearts. There is an old saying that "stone walls do
not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." No, the life within can make
any place enjoyable--nay, happy. Yet, I think it is better to be in
happy surroundings too. Of this, however, you may be sure: those
glorious hills of yours, this sea, and all the happy hours we have spent
wandering about, will not easily pass out of our minds. The jewel of a
friendly spirit has also been set in very bright surroundings. We do
rejoice in the life we have had here, and all that we have found.
(Cheers.) You have spoken to-night of the good conduct of the school,
and have said that we have caused no trouble since our stay here. That
like many other questions, has two sides. Is it not a great credit to
this place that when between a hundred and seventy and a hundred and
eighty strange boys have been put into your cottages and homes, there has
not arisen a single difficulty for the whole year? I say it is quite as
much a feather in your caps as in ours. I am proud of it--very proud of
it. (Applause.) I would also refer to the extensive power which lies in
a great school. It is quite true that some few years hence, these boys
whom you have looked on with interest will be schoolmasters, barristers,
and leaders in every part of the world. (Applause.) There is not a
quarter of the globe where we have not our representative. It is now,
and not in the future only, that I may venture to say that there is no
part of this globe where men are to be found, where, here and there,
Borth has not been heard of this year. (Cheers.) I will mention two
facts only which may interest you. This very week, quite unconscious of
this meeting to-night, I sent a letter to North Canada, with, I may say,
a very glowing account of Borth in it--(cheers)--and the day before