The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-02-23

There was New England dinner at New
York December -. 1t was several weeks
ago. but the response Of Theodore Ylton to
the toast Nv omsp-the strong staff and
beautiful rod which sustained and comforted
our foreiathers during every step of the Pill
grims Progress lis well worth reading at this
seeming late date:
You must not forget Mr.. President, in eu.
iogizIng the early men of New England. who
are your clients tonight, that it was only
through the help of the early women of New
England, who are mine, that your boasted
heroes could ever have earned their title OF
the Pilgrim Fathers. [Great laughter A
health, therefore, 10 the women in the cabir
of the Mayfower. A cluster of May howers
themselves, trsasplaated from summer in the
old world TO winter IN the new. Counting
over those matrons ard naidens, they nun
Der, all told, just eighteen. Their names are
nav written among the heroines of history
For as over the ashes of Corneiia stood tht
epitaph, The Mother of the Gracchi,' 50
over these women OF that Pilgrimage We write
as proudly, "The Mothers of the Republic. Is
Applause. There was good Mistress Brad
ford, whose feet were not allowed of God to
kiss Plymouth Rock, and who, like Moses,
came only near enough to see but not TO enter
the promised land. She was dashed over
board from the deck-and to this day the sea
is her grave, and Cape Cod her monument.
Applause. There was Mistress Carver,
wife of the FIRST Governor, who, when her
husband under the stroke of sudden death, /,
followed him at FIRST with heroic grief to the
grave, and then fortnight after, followed
him with heroic JOY up into Heaven. [Ap-
plause.
There was Mistress White-the mother OF
the first child born to New England Pilgrims
on this continent. And it was a good omen.
sir, that this historic babe was brought into
this world on board the Mayhower, between
the time of the casting of the anchor and the
landing of the passeBgers-a kind of amphib-
iess prophecy that the new born nation was
to have birthright inheritance over the sea
and over the land. Great applause. There
also, was Rose Standsh-whose name is a
perpetual June fragrance, to mellow and
sweeten those December winds. And there,
too, was Mrs. Winslow, whose name is even
more than fragrance; it is taste; for, as
the advertisements say, "children cry for it;
it is a soothing syrup. Great laughter. ]
Then, after the first vessel, with these women;
there came other vessels, with other women,
loving hearts drawn from the olden land by
those silken threads which afterward harden
into golden chains. For instance, Governor
Bradford, lonesome widower, went down to
the sea beach, and facing the waves, tossed a
love letter over the wide ocean into the lap oi
it up, and read it, and said "Yes, L will
CO." And she went And it is said that the
Governor at his second wedding, married his
first loye! which, according to the New The
ology, furnishes the providential reason why
the first Mrs. Bradford fell overboardl [Greai
laughter
Now, gentlemen, as you sit to- night in this
elegant hall, think of the houses in which The
Mayhower men and women lived in that FIRST
winteri Think of cabin In the wilderness
where winds whistled-where wolves howlec
where Indians yelled! And yet within thai
log house, burning like lamp, was the pure
flame of Christian faith, love, patience, forti
tude, heroism! As the star Of the East rested
over the rude manger where Christ lay, So
spssking net irreyernfty there rested over the
roofs of ufe Pilgrims aStar of the West-the
Star of Empire; and to-day thatempire is the
proudest in the world! [Applause. Ane
if we Gould summon up from their graves anc
bring hither to night that olden company o
long mouldered men, and they could sit with
Us at this feast-in their mortal hesh-aaIe
with their stately presence-the world woule
make pilgrimage to see those pilgrims
Applause. How quaint their attire! How
grotesque their names How we treasuf,
every relic OF their day and generation AND
of all the heir-looms of the earlier times il
YANKEES land, what household memorial il
clustered round about with more touching as
sociations than the spinning Wheel The in
dustrious mother sat by it, doing her worl
while she instructed her childrenI The blush
ing daughter piled il diligently, while he
sweetheart had chair close by! And yot
remember, too, another who used it NOR
| en-, well along 10 life, who, while she spu,
! hss yara into oas "bias ssockins," spun her