The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-01-27

passed"
The above was signed by all the officers of
the brigade.
There spoke the spirit of the Green
Mountains; the moral courage-the love of
country-that inspired these men to drop the
plow, the sickle and the scythe and hurry on
ward, in the very teeth of the Governors
protest and proclamation, regardless of state
lines, onward they went, the Griswolds,
Smiths and Edscns of BrookfelG; the Edg-
ertons, Flints, Parishes, Cottons, Tarboxes
and Collamers Of Randolph; the Hudsons,
Hutchinsons and Cushmans of Braintree, not
mindful where, but to face the enemies of a
country they were bound to live in and for,
and if need be. to die for.
In the expressive language Of Captain Lott
Hudson of Brain,ree, as minuted on the mar
sin of his roll of men assembled on the NOR
ming Of the 10th of September, lSl4-the
original under his own hand being now pre-
served in the State Secretary's Office:
"Sept. 10.
Collected at
Randolph, and
put our
names Down
to Goe to the
Northard"'
Deep and lasting is the debt of every COM
munity to the pioneers who felled the first
forest and broke the first furrows; especially
is this SO when their Lives and times" their
outgoings and incomings, are safe models of
conduct for all those who may come after
them. for to Il great extent their footsteps
will be followed whether to the right or the
left.
Rarely do come in sight Of these rich
slopes. green to their SUBMITS, and these fer
tile plains, without calling vividly to mind
the many memorable characteristics Of the
early settlers VINO have passed away-their
untirirs devotion 70 the general good Of this
infant society. in hardship. in peril. in power
ty, in pestilence, in cold. hunger and famine :
their patriotism embracing the country AT
large, its national honor and promise for the
future, folding 10 its bosom the town, the
settlement and the neishborhood steady
adherence to whatever was honest, just and
truc-the trmness. directness and purity Of
purpose, and know not what of large heart
edness and kindness, s,tempered with prudence
and economy, SO blended in the very natures
of these men, old men as | remember them,
and women-heroic women too-that nv
heart fills with grateful emotion at their
memory.
What do We not ow e them for the lesson
of their example, the seal of their goodiy
lives, and in short the entire social and NOR
al character of those who have come after
them and filled their vacant places?
How aptly might their children say in the
language used by Mr.. Webster in relation to
las father and his log cabin, which stood he
says,
Amid the snow drifts of New Hampshire.
at period SO early that when the smoke
first rose from lis rude chimney, and curled
over the frozen hills. there was no similar ev-
ldence of a white man hahitation betweenit
and Canada. love to dwell on the tender
recOllections. the kindred ties, the early af-
tectlons and the touching narratives and in
ciden,s which m:nsle with all know of thi,
primitive family abode. l weep to think
that none of those who inhabited it are now
among the Irving. He vino reared and de-
Tended it against savage violence and de-
struction, cherished all the domestic virtues
under its roof and through the fire and
blood of seven years revolutionary war.
shrank from no danger, no loi., no sacrifice
to serve his country and to raise his children
to a condition letter than his orn.'
But section OF country whose history and
progress bear on their face such plenary evi-
dence Of its elements OF prosperity and hap
piness, requires 10 labored plea in its de-
fense. Place Vermont side by side with Ita-
ly or Greece, the cradles of European civili-
zation, and what melancholy contrast in all
that constitutes the true end of life, the cul-
ture and comfort, the Improvement and ele-
vation of the human race.
Surrounded by all the vast engines of in
vention ard skill that distinguish the age
dotted over with villages, churches, schools
and colleges, adorned with the highest finish
of taste, learning and science, in all the pro.
! fessions, in all the arts mechanical and orna-
mental, and when You inquire what is the Sc.
cret of all this, how is it that these noun
tains and vallies, the haunts of savages q
hundred years ago, compare now SO favora-
bly, with Britain and the continent, after cen.
tu:ies of schooling ard cultivation?
! You are compelled to assert it is all in the
power Of her soil and the fitness of her eli
mate.
Yes sir, although many superficial Oh
server may say it is too cold and the wind.
are blowing half the year through the oper
> doors and windows Of the frozen arctic into
the bare bosom of the state, and stransel,
enough too, not few affect to believe tha
, there ran hp M true growth and thrift rrbor.