Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1843-09-01
From The Woodstock Mercury.
THE STATE SCHOOL FUND.

When the May flower dlsembarked the Pilgrims
upon the rock of Plymouth, she deposited the
germ Of future empire. Aud what did this germ
this embryo which was TO deveope and unfold all
the present aud future glory and greatness Of
New England and OF this republic consist Was
il in arts, arms, or wealth, or physical power
aud energy? In neither. 1t consisted in turn
OF mind, subdued by moral and mental culture,
sip from the parent stock, among whose fruit
we're found civil and religious liberty. Destitute
of power and patronage, in the depth Of poverty
aud privaon; cast out from all communion with
civilized society, oppressed with famine and pesiI
ence thrown upon a strange, unknown aud in
hospiIabe coast, in the depth of Northern win
ter; without house, or heritage, or home, in the
face OF hostile savages, in the midst of bowling
wilderness, with no shelter but the lowering sky
and no floor but the iroZon earth this gern, of
the future greatness, and glory of this republic,
was destined, under Providence, TO survive and
it did survive, and its fruit now fills the land
Planting ourselves upon the rock of Plymouth in
l640 and looking down through The vista of the
coming BOB years, all the changes which have
since interviewed, would then have been in pros
pect all was to be aud suffered, accomplished
and performed, enjoyed and participated in, by
those Pilgrims, their descendants and associates
| nut through what changes and conflicts were the
descendants of the Pilgrims destined in the course
Of PrUvidentia events to pass? Their own sus-
lenence was 10 be secured habituiions 10 be cree
ted, and defended against the attacks Of hostile
savnges; children 10 be educated; the wilderness
10 he cleared roads and bridges 20 be constructed
governments 10 he established school and court
houses churches and colleges 10 be built, sus-
| famed and endowed wars with savage tribes and
with the French Nation to be maintained, and our
Independence OF The mother country to he ache-
we'd in short all the labOrs and tolls, the prvalions
and sufierngs, which the history of this republic
has since recorded, were then IN prospect, were
cheerlully encountered aud successfully surnoun-
ted. Aud how Amazing are the results? What
| but omnipotence could have accomplished them
Surely II little one has become a thousand, and a
small one a strong nation"
And shall we learn nothing from The past Is II
in vain, that this hook Of experience is open be-
lore US? All which has been accomplished is l.
among the possibles and may he again performed.
IL was mental and moral energy, which, under
Providence, accomplished these sublime results.
! No funded wealth no ancestral patrimony no
foundations ofinlelectual, ecclesiastical or civil in.
slutions, enriched with the accommodating contri-
buttons of centuries OF their prOgentors, come TO
| the aid of the destitute and irendless Pill
grims, in their labors and struggles to found an
empire of chrisiiauized ireemen but God and
their own mental and moral energy were their re-
| lance, aud these were found sufficient.
! Let us now suppose the Mayfower had been
lreighled with the Rolhschilds, the Earrings the
Arkwrghls, and other Croesuses of Europe, that
these Lords OF the mammon OF unrlghleousness,
instead Of the Pilgrims had landed on the rock OF
Piyp'onh. Rshohl them their minds are upon
their treasures nll their thoughts aud enerEies
centre in them; ali their dupes are in self; they
feel no yearnngs to benefit Others or TO found an
empire of cultivated happy ireemen their wealth
is their all, and shut out from The rest Of tho civil
lzed world, they are in the condition oil the nser,
whose spring lock has caught and incarceraled
him, with his bags of treasure, beyond The power
of escape. Let US leave them there. and let there
be inscribed on the rock Of their landing "thy
money perish with thee" for so indeed i, would