Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1846-01-15
lHH ENQUIRER.
LITCHFIELD, JANUARY Is, ls45.
TIE PILGRIM SPIRIT.

We have seldom been more interested than
while perusing the reports of the various
@Piigrim Celebrations" which took place in
different parts of our country on the I'D OF
December last. Those at Plymouth, Boston,
New York, New Orleans, Louisville, &C.,
were Of even more than ordinary interest,"
and strikiRgly exhibited the predominant in
huence of the pilgrim spirit in the minds of
the children of New England, wherever their
lot may be cast. The SONS Of the cod Do
minion'' pride themselves in being the des-
cendants Of noble and chivalric ancestry
beyond the waters; he it our boast, il we
boast at all, that for truths sake and for
Gods, our fathers voluntarily left the pleas
ant homesteads Of their native land, braved
the dangers of the treacherous deep, the rig
ors OF an inhospitable cline, and the perils of
an unbroken wilderness. What genuine son
of New England would not rather be able to
nroyc has descent from the humblest peasant
that trod the deck of the Mayfower, than
trace his undisputed lineage back to the no
blest baron that graced the courts Of old king
John. Who can read Of the trials and pri-
vations of those brave and holy men-the
pilgrim fathers-their patience, their self
DENYING zeal in the cause of liberty and re-
.ligion-without feeling for them reverence
akin to that which is due only TO higher
race of intelligences They seem to have
been specially fitted by providence for the
great work which they so wcll accomplish
ed. Persevering, frugal, CONSCIENTIOUS, and
brave, they made the 'dim old woods" Of
their forest-home alternately ring with the
sound of the woodman's axe and the song
Of praise and thanksgiving. Lovers Of
peace, the untutored children of the wilder
ness found in them teachers Of righteous
ness and forgiveness !; indomitable in
rar, the unconquered heroes of an hundred
fights found their prowess and stratagem a.
like unayailing in their conflicts with the
feeble but hearen-shielded band.
Yet though the pilgrims, who, two hun
dred and twenty-five years ago, planted
their feet on the rock of Plymouth, were long
since laid in their quiet resting places
though the mounds which covered them,
have become leyelled, and the rude stones
which once marked out the place Of their re-
pose, are crumbled to dnst, their memory is
still cherishedin the hearts of great peo-
pie; their spirit and their influence live in
their descendants, pervading the national
mind, and shaping and giving character to
nation; itself. 1t is this influence and this
spirit which form the browning glory Of
New England; it is these which have
made her what she is-the pioneer of
freedom, the home of religion intelligence
and -yirtuA- Wharos-cr theV r1ed0'nln-
ate, in distant parts of our country,
there school houses and places of worship
spring up amid every cluster of dwellings;
and so attractive are these representatives of
New England character to the descendants
of the puritans, that, at the Harvest, they are
not unfrequently the first buildings erected,
forming the nucleus Of future city or vii
lage, around which the eastern emigrants
love to gather. No
The pilgrim spirit is not dead!
1t walks in moons broad light; %
II watches the bed Of the glorious dead
With fhe burning stars by night. A-.a ~
It'watches the bed Of the brave who have hled,
sand shall guard this ice bound shore,
Til the waves OF the bay where the Mas flower
lay,
Shall foam and freeze no more.