Adams attended the annual examination of the public schools in Boston, and was present at the public dinner given in Faneuil Hall, to the school committee, teachers, and most meritorious scholars.

In reply to a complimentary toast from the Mayor, Mr.Adams responded as follows:-- "MR.

MAYOR, AND MY FELLOW-CITIZENS OF BOSTON:--A few days since, we were assembled in this Hall, as the house of mourning--in commemoration of the two last survivors of that day which had proclaimed at once our independence and our existence as a nation.

We are now assembled within the same walls, at the house of feasting--at the festival of fathers rejoicing in the progressive improvement of their children.
"We have been told by the wisest man of antiquity, that it is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting.

How emphatically true would that sentence be, if the house of mourning were always such as this hall but so recently exhibited!--a mourning of gratitude--a mourning of faithful affection--a mourning full of consolation and joy.