“I am reminded of the story so beautifully told in Roman history of the mother who once paid a visit to a wealthy matron of that glorious republic so many centuries ago. After dinner the matron said, ‘Now I must show you my beautiful jewels.’ They were carefully guarded, but she displayed them to the eyes of her visitor, and then remarked, ‘You must show me your jewels when I go to your house.’ In turn she called upon the mother, and stayed a little longer than is usual, awaiting the exhibition of jewels. Finally she inquired, ‘Have you forgotten to show me your jewels?’ ‘Oh, no,’ the mother replied. ‘Come this way,’ and as she threw open a door five beautiful children were revealed. ‘These,’ she exclaimed, ‘are my jewels.’ “People of Rhode Island, these noble patriots and these scarred flags are your sacred jewels. Guard their memory, defend it, and, as your blood has the rich central vein of patriotism, so sacrifice all you have to keep these jewels sacredly enshrined in your hearts forever. “I would that Sullivan could get a day’s leave from his sacred parole. I would that he could come back to us today, that he might obtain from the St. Gabriel of St. Peter’s Gate a day’s leave of absence to look at these pillars and to gaze about these corridors. We almost hear the whisper, can almost note the footfall of a strange presence here. It is the spirit of the Revolutionary hero that communes with us; it is the lofty emotion that emanates from him, though unseen, and which commends our spirit of patriotism and ratifies our act, not to him individually but to the noble band of which he was Captain. “This is a great day for Rhode Island. This is a great day for America, because this afternoon and tomorrow the wave of thought that is ours will extend beyond us and be carried everywhere to receptive minds. The sunlight will dash it into every possible nook and corner of the land; the rivers will take it down to the Mexican slope; the whole country will vibrate with it. You who know the history of the man we honor, cherish it in your memory, and when you recall these exercises, congratulate yourself that in assisting at them you have fulfilled a duty; one and all, you have paid the homage of a great and noble State.