The Nevada journal., 1851-12-25
GRAFTON.
BY HON. S. H. CHASE, OF MAINE


Sons of New England You are
this day assembled to commemorate a
great and important epoch in the his
tory Of the world. 1t is not to glorify
yourselves-not to magnify the vir-
tues of your forefathers--it is not to
indulge in any eulogies and narrow
feelings of sectional pride, or sectional
prejudice. Oh no! Over all our land
lays the light of freedom, and there
we linger in love; Sand longer we lin
ger by our own hearth-stone," but
more gladly we gather around our
own fireside. We rejoice in the light
of every star that beams in our politi-
cal armament; but that which came
and stood over the place where we
were born, has for us a higher beauty,
holier significance. To our souls
that star never sets. This day, we
approach then the altar with clean
hands and pure hearts, and thither
bear our affections to offer them up to
New England and her Pilgrim Fa-
theirs. May we turn from that altar
with more elevated sentiments-with
warmer feelings--with loftier purpo-
ses. This day we revisit our native
land; we cross the threshold of our
fathers homes. May our devotion to
liberty be deepened as we stand on
their hearth stone, catch the glow of
the fires they have kindled, and our
faith in man be made strong. at is
great and glorious for ones country to
die" So said, and so acted the Ro-
man. This was his highest glory.
But there is a higher than the wars
rior's glory. More glorious is it to
recall and perpetuats great principles !;
to recognize the equality and brother
hood of man, to promote his happi
ness, to develope his mind, and amid
the bright days of peace and plenty,
to extend the sway of science and art.
There is in the hearts of the most a
sentiment of respect and affection for
their forefathers, and the land of their
birth. There are but few whom the
thoughts of the native land and early
home do not awaken and warm to gen.
erous impulses.
How will the heart throb and the
frame thrill, when, far away, some
cherished object or sentiment presents
itself peculiar to our native land, where
are revived the scenes of our earlier
years, and recalled the memories of
distant home. Have not your souls
burned within you when communing
with home and country, long left or
far away? Has not your blood tin
gled in every vein to have listened to
some simple lay "of youth and home
and that dear time p
''Breathes there man whose soul SO dead
That never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering OF a foreign strand"
The robbcr chieftain, McGregor,
when invited to abandon his highlands,
expressed the feelings of common
nature: "D1y heart would sink, and
my arm would shrink were / away
from my native fern. No The hca-
ther that blooms around me while liv-
ing, shall cover me when dead"--
They who forget, or have no sympa-
thy with their native land, or state, or
home, are traitors to all nobility of
soul; and should occasion offer, AR
neld-like, would lay waste the homes
of their childhood, with fire and sword.
These kind sentiments of regard for
our ancestors and our land, are but an
expression of family affection, spread
out in wider and weaker circles
These memoirs and recollections of
kith and kin, purify the grosser ele-
ments Of the soul, and weaken the
more beautiful nature that slumbers
beneath the toll and cares of life. 1t
is then that we recognize and realize
the claims and common nature of kir-
dred and countrymen, and find in the
goodness and greatness ofthose around
us, incentives to generous thoughts
and deeds. 1t is then we feel that we
are not mere wreckers on the shores
of life, watching for the tempest to
sweep some rich prey within our
grasp.
The history of the Pilgrims is the
history of prescription and persecution
and exile-of "lofty will, struggling
with low want"--of the triumph of
principle over the strong attachments
of life. 1t is history that is identi-
fed with the clements that enter most
largely into nations happiness and
greatness; and wherever man has
o.l - NTH humanity and raioicec