If we look only to the special purpose, for which the Society was established, "the preservation of human life," without including in the estimate the various kindred objects, which at different periods have engaged its attention and been aided by its funds, we find ample testimony of its beneficial influence. It would be difficult to exhibit with any exactness of numbers the individuals, whose names in the course of the fifty-eight years since its institution have been enrolled on its records, either as the instruments or objects of the humanity it encourages; who have saved, or have themselves been saved from "going down to death."* But when we add to these the far wider circle of kindred and friends, of fathers and mothers, of wives and sisters, whose distracting fears or speechless anguish have been changed to exulting joy, there

* At the anniversary of "The Royal Humane Society," in 1804, it was stated that since its institution in 1774, a period of only thirty years, two thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine persons of all ages and conditions had been recorded in its books as rescued from imminent peril and restored to life; and that four thousand five hundred and eighty-seven individuals had been rewarded by its funds for humane exertions. It was customary, also, at those anniversaries, to assemble as many as could be collected of the persons thus recovered, who went in procession and were seated together in a conspicuous part of the church. On one occasion, the numbers of this singular company exceeded seven hundred; and their anthem of thanksgiving was that of the healed King of Israel. "The grave cannot praise Thee: Death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth. But the living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day."

A Hymn was composed by Mrs. Morton, for the anniversaries of our own Society, one stanza of which is supposed to be sung by the persons recovered. The Hymn itself was repeatedly sung by Mrs. Graupner, and others, as appears in the notices of the occasion, at the time; but we believe, that in no instance, was there an assemblage of the persons restored.

The following is the well-known stanza:

rises to our view a countless multitude, who have had reason to bless its instrumentality. To appreciate the value of any single case, we have but to make it our own. The parent has but to think of the child "once dead and alive again," or the wife saved from widowhood, of receiving back her husband; and in every instance of such deliverance, and every effort of successful humanity, what fountains are opened of gratitude and joy! Not that we imagine, that but for any awards, which we can adjudge, such generous efforts would not have been made. We have too much confidence in the impulses of that nature, which God has given us, and in the teachings of that religion, which the Son of God's love has brought us to suppose, that without the bestowment of pecuniary bounty men will be wanting to their fellow-men in the hour of peril. God has touched the hearts of his children to finer issues, and has set that within us, to answer to the calls of human suffering, which depends on no societies, or on what societies can bestow. To encourage, therefore, and reward; to quicken rather than awaken benevolence; and to provide efficient means, which an enlightened philanthropy may employ, is the chief purpose of our Society. For the extent to which this purpose has been accomplished, it becomes us gratefully to acknowledge the sovereign Arbiter, "with whom are the issues of life and

death; and to consecrate all our endeavors by our faith in Him, who, in a sense far surpassing that, in which even the most faithful of his disciples may hope to imitate him, "came not to destroy men's lives but to save them." And amidst the calamities and crimes, disordering society, which the lover of his race is so often called to contemplate and deplore, it is grateful to turn our thoughts to those heroic deeds, such as we here exhibit, which may at once restore our confidence in the nature, of which we are all partakers, and reveal to us the power of that religious faith, which is the only unfailing source of generous action.

BOSTON, Jan. 15, 1845.

As exhibited by the Treasurer, at the Annual Meeting, May 14, 1844.

Nos. 231 to 240,

10 certificates of Massachusetts State Stock, £200 each,

Cash in the hands of the Treasurer,

$7,000.00

4,200.00

700.00

1,500.00

400.00

9,600.00

1,176.16

$24,576.16