Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-07-08
AN OR ALTON,
delivered In tho Pavilion, nt Fort Home.
stead, Gold HiIi, July Alb, 1867.
BY II. D. LATHRor.

When my friends Colonel Mills and Mr..
Lynch, (who ought to be 4 Colonel) waited
upon me and asked me TO deliver a Fourth
OF July Grafton, l was no, at all disposed to
accede 70 their request. ! am not u politi-
clan, nor have l the least hankering for Of.
fee. I have not even = Ratchet to grind,
nor do / desire the vote Of you ''the dear peo-
pie" for School Director, Town Marshal, or
even Member Of Congress. AS understand
nv calling, ! am BY It shut OF from person.
al dabbling in party politics. l hardly know
even TO what political party / belong, or
whether any would own me; indeed, l have
serious doubts as to whether should be al
lowed to vote At any primary, II ! should hrst
state the articles Of my political faith.
Blu, I know l belong to the party OF hon
est, and | trust, intelligent American citi-
Gems. know | love my country, and desire
above all other earthly things, her prosperity
and perpetuity. ! believe in the truth Of the
idea on which her institutions are founded.
for i, is 4 fundamental truth in religion, that
all men are equal before the bar Of God, as
/, is in our civil polity that all men are equal
before the bar Of human law. So then,
though I am not 4 politician nor 4 party
man, I claim to be 4 patriot, and in this /
follow him whom / profess to serve, and in
whose steps I wish 10 walk, who as with pro-
phetie eve he saw clearly delineated the
awful destruction Of the holy city, and the
desolstion md ruin Of his native land, with
hear, full Of love OF country, wept as he look
ed down from Olive, and uttered those words
OF deep heart yearning over Jerusalem,
doomed, devoted, but yet so dear to every
Sbre Of his heart.
And, my friends OF the Committee Of
Invitation told me too, that we were
not to have a grand show, a gorgeous
procession, respondent with banners and
buttons. and bright swords, and gold lace,
bu, a quiet home celebration. o, this word
home, how full Of hallowed memories and
delightful associations to Us exiles so far
away. Across the continent, today friends
think Of US, perhaps they wait our return,
and ask, shall another Fourth come and ind
US still separated? There are our hearts
there are the scenes Of childhood, the quiet
fields, the placid streams, the trees beneath
whose boughs we played, "the orchard, the
meadow, the deep tangled wildwood and ev-
ery loved spot which our infancy knew"
There rests the hallowed dust Of those who
have gone before US, and lain down in sleep,
leaving nought but their memory in our
hearts, and their example for our lives-and
how great, how strange the contrast with
memoirs picture, as We look out upon these
bare, bleak, barren mountains, and down
this narrow, steep, verdureless canon, along
whose sides our houses are perched. But
here are warm hearts, yielding TO none in at
tachment TO their country and love for its in
stitutions, and from yonder mountain ridge
whose surface is so unpromising, is added to
the wealth Of our nation annually Sl6,06O,-
900, and this is a creation, that is made to
be, which was not, aud he Is q benefactor
of his race, who makes two blades OF grass
10 grow where before but one raised its head
TO the sun, or waved in the breeze, so surely
is he who contributes to the production OF a
silver bar, where before was nought but an
empty pocket and a great desire to have
something in it.
We come together then, to-day, to have a
home celebration, and /, your townsman,
your neighbor, an American, a lover OF one
common country, come to speak to you.
Upon this the Birthday Of the Repub-
lie, I can find no theme more appropriate or
more pleasing than
OUR corNrRY's GLORY,
An old subject, but the better for that, for
glory like many other things, improves BY
age; and while we may not indulge ourselves
in foolish adulation, and blind admiration OF
the land in which God has placed US, there
10 enough for Americans to glory over with.
out laying themselves open to any charge Of
foolish conceit or ridiculous self-complacen-
ey. Our country is glorious from its
EXTENT OF TERRITORY.
There is a glory in mere size. It 10 i'm.
possible not to connec the idea Of strength
and power with largeness, and believe it is
natural to prefer citizenship in a large, rather
than 4 small State. Over how vast an area
does our land stretch. The best part OF a
grand division Of the globe is within its lin
is. God bounded it, when, too, the waves OF
the mighty Atlantic as they come rolling
from the far East, then turning TO the vast
Pacific, bearing greeting from Asia the era.
ale of the race, he said to each: "Thus far
shalt thou come. but no further, and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed" An
American NAV start from the point where
'down East" begins.
He NAV cross the continent BY a con.inu-
Gus line Of travel, till he feast his eyes upon
that beautiful bay BY whose side sits San
Francisco, Youngest born Of American enter
prise and thrift, yet In her teens, but even
now a mighty power and destined to be the
center of an empire, the seat Of an influence,
commercial and financial, second. II TO any,
to New York alone; and during all this
travel he shall sail upon the current Of no
river, be borne upon the placid bosom Of no
lake, mingle in the hustle Of no populous
city, pass through no pleasant village. along
NO cultivated farm, he shall ascend no noun
tain, andlook upon a lake there nestling,s spark.
ling in the sunlight, 10 It's mountain setting,
like a diamond held up BY earth's finger to
the eye Of God. he shall look upon no inter
minable prairie. or sage-brush, alkali desert,
heritage OF my fathers. the grand. glorious
possession which ! must hand down to those
who shall tread 10 my steps." Or shall he
leave the majestic forests and ice. clad hills
OF Maine, and passing down our eastern sea.
board, bail Plymouth rock, then look upon
mai majestic bay, now crowded with tbs