MR. CHAIRMAN, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In Grecian mythology it is related that Zeus, warned by an oracle that the son of his spouse, Metis, would snatch supremacy from him, swallowed both Metis and her unborn child. When the time of birth arrived, Zeus felt a violent pain in his head, and in his agony requested Hephæstus to cleave the head open with an ax. His request was complied with, and from the brain of the great god sprang Athena, full-armed and with a mighty war-shout. She at once assumed a high place among the divinities of Olympus. She first took part in the discussions of the gods as an opponent of the savage Ares. She gave counsel to her father against the giants; and she slew Enceladus, the most powerful of those who conspired against Zeus, and buried him under Mt. Ætna. She became the patron of heroism among men, and her active and original genius inspired their employment. The agriculturist and the mechanic were under her special protection, and the philosopher, the poet and the orator delighted in her favor. The ægis was in her helmet, and she represented the ether—pure air. She was worshipped at Athens because she caused the olive to grow on the bare rock of the Acropolis. She was also the protectress of the arts of peace among women. She bore in her hand the spool, the spindle and the needle, and she invented and excelled in all the work of women. She was the goddess of wisdom and the symbol of thought; she represented military skill and civic prudence. In war she was heroic and invincible; in peace she was wise, strong, inventive, and industrious. THE ATHENA OF AMERICAN STATES.