Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-11-17
THE BRYANT FESTIVAL!
Bryant. the Poet, ON his Seventeen
Birthday makes a speech.


words you have uttered, and thank thls
good-natured company for having listened
to them with SO many tokens Of assent
and appreciation. 1 must suppose, how
ever, that most of this appreciation was
bestowed upon the orator rather than upon
his subject. He who has brought to the
writing of our national history a genius
equal to the vsstness of the subject, has,
of course, more than talent enough fer
humber tasks. I wonder not, therefore,
that he should be spplauded this evening
for the skill he has shown in embelEshing
a barren topic. t1 zsav E
"I am congratulated on having eomplet
ed my seventieth year. Is there nothing
ambiguous, Mr.. President, in such com
pliment? To be congratulated on ones
senility To be congratulated on having
reached that stage of life when the bodily
and mental powers pass into decline and
decay Lear is made by Shakespeare TO
say:
"'Ags is Unnecessary,
and a later poet, DR.. johnson, has express
ed the same idea in one of his son0Fods
lines: sa. -..al.l
"'Supsrdous Isgs the veteran on the stage
rYou have not forgotten, Mr.. President,
the old Greek saying
'''Whom the Gods love die young, --
nor the passage Of Shakespeare @
-" 'oh, sir, the good die first,
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust,
Burn to the socket
"Much has been said of the wisdom Of
Old Age. Old Age is wise, / grant, for
itself, but not wise for the community IT
is wise in declining new enterprises, i0r'it
has not the power nor the time TO execute
them wise in shrinking from difficulty,
for it has not the strength to overcome it
wise in avoiding danger, for it lacks the
faculty of ready and swift action, by which
dangers are parried and converted into adj
vantages. Bat this is not wisdom for man
kind at large, by whom new enterprises
must be undertaken, and dangers met ana
surmoUnted. What world would this be
if it were made up Of old men genera
ton succeeding generation OF hOary an
clients who had but dozen years or per
haps half that time to live What new
work of good would be attempted what
| existing abuse or evil corrected I? What
strange subjects would such world afford
| for the pencils of our artists-groups Of
surperannuated gray boards bssking in the
sun through the long days Of spring, or
budding like sheep in warm corners IN
the winter time; houses with the timbers
| dropping apart; cities in ruins; roads IN
| VII ought ard unpassabls; weedy gardens
and fields with the surface feebly scratch
ed to put in a scanty hRrVest-teeble old
men climbing mp into crazy Wagons, per
1 hoy ~ ar,,r mil h
horses, Rthey mounted them at all, in ter
ror Of being hurled from their backs like 8
sling from stone. Well it is that IN this
world of ours the old men are but very
small minority. --.g
"Ah Mr.. President, if we could but stop
this rushing tide of time that bears us SC
swiftly onward, and make it flow towards
its source; if we could ca Sc the shadow tc
turn back on the dial plate! 1 SEQ before
me many excellent friends of mine, worthy
/ to live thousand years, on whose counte-
nances years have set their seal, marking E
them with the lines of thought and care
and causing their temples 70 glisten with
the frosts of life's autumn. If to any one
ofthese could be restored his glorious prime
his golden youth, with his hyseinthine
locks, its smooth unwrinkled brow, it!
fresh and rounded cheek, its pearly anc
perfect teeth, its lustrous eyes, its fghf
and bounding step, its frame full Ot ener
gy, its exuiting spirits, its high hopes, II
| generous impulses, and add all these f
the experience and fixed principles of ms
ture age, L am sure, Mr.. President, that
should start at once to my feet and pro
pose thatin cOmmemoration ofsueh msrve
and by way of congratulation 10 cur fTieni
who was its subject, we should have shcl
festivity as the Century has never seer
nor will ever see again. Eloqnence should
bring its highest tribute, and art its fair
est decorations 70 grace the festival; tn
most skilful musicians should be here Will
all mannor of instruments Of music an
cient and modern we would have sack
but and trumpet and shawn, and damsel
with dulcimers, and a modern band thre
times as large as the one that now play
on that balcony. But why dwell sson sucl
vain dream, since it is only by passing
through the darkness that Overhangs tn
Valley cf thu shadow of Death thEt mai
can reach his second youth?
eI have read, in descriptions of the oil
| world, of the families of princes and baron
coming out of their castles TO be presen
at some rustic festivity, such as weddinI
of one Of the pesssntry. I am reminde,
of this custom By the presence of man
, literary persons of emineuee in thes
rooms, and l thank them for this act c
benevolence. Yet . miss among the1
several whom had wished rather thsi
ventured to hope that should meet ol
this occasion. miss my old friend Dams
who gave so grsndly the story Of the BuC
cancer in his solemn verses. ] miss PieI
pont venerable in years yet vigorous i
mind ,snd body and with an undimme
fsncyj and him whose pages are wet wit
the tears Of msidens who read the story {
| Evangefne, and the author of Fanny an
: the Croakers, no less renowned for tn
fiery spirit which animated his Marc
D Bozzaris, and him 10 whose wit "
owe the Biglow Papers, who has mad
} | a lowly flower Of the way side as classics
3 as the rose of Anaareon, and the Quake
: poet whose verses, Quaker as he is, stir th
blood like the voice of trumpet calling t
battle; and the poetess OF Hartford, who's
: beautiful lyrics are in million hands, an
others whose names were they to occur {
me here as in my study might accom-
pany with the mention of some character
: istie merit But here Is ha whose aerit
verse has raised the little insect Of GU
fields making his murmuring journey fol
flower to flower, the humble bee to 4 die
nifty equal to that of Pindars eaglei her
is the Autocrat Of the Breakfast Table
author ofthst most spirited ofnaval lyric
beginning with the line;
10
"'Aye, te'r her tattered ensign down!' G
here, too, Is the poet VINO told in patheti
verse the story Of Jepthss daughter, an
here are others, worthy eOmpeers of thos
I have mentioned, yet greatly my junior
in the brightness Of whose rising fame
, am like one who has carried lantern !
the night, and who peTceives that il
beans are no longer visible il the glc7
which the morning pours around him i