Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-07-17
The Fourth at Johnson.
MR.. GLEED'S GRAFTON.

Ladies and Gentlenien. Bt5ihsrs and Sis.
ters Of The Independent Order:
desire to say that am conscious tha
that no consideration of personal merit,
could have induced your Committee to lay
upon me the honorable burden of address
ing such an imposing audience as now
survey. feel that have no claim to
share the emotions Of an Olympic cham
pion, but am rather, the timid conscript
upon whom the lot accidentally fell
In this sea of up-turned faces, radiant
with intelligence and beauty; in the recog-
milton of the central idea and symbolic
life of these Independent Orders, and IN
the remembrance that this is the anniver.
sary of the birth of cur cherished Repub
lie, | find a warrant for my themc-1n-
dependence and Temperance ; one and IN
separoJle
Ninety!onc years ago this very day
that grand old bell high hung in the dome
of Independence Hall, and wreathed with
the Hebrew motto Of Liberty, proclaimed
to an lncredulous world that Americans
were abundantly able to take. care of
america. In the joyous peal of that bell,
the dull car of ecclesiastical soul bondage
heard its funeral dirgc Ancient tyranny
caught the sound Of its death knell, and
gided drones, fat with the stolen labor of
overweight humanity, received the aj
monition of their sudden destruction :;
while man, every where, added cubit to
his stature Martin Luther turned over
in his grave, and Paul. berdiug over the
tattements of heaven. and looking down
upon Independence Hail. smiled in the
thought that Caesar dco ned him to martyr
dom that Christian liberty might then be
born. Recently, one after another, you
have proclaimed to an incrcdulous world
that, henceforth, "rethperance" shall be
upon your brows, and your VOW is regis
tered in heaven. That announcement
made the rich brewer trouble, the greedy
rumseller TO sneak from behind his bar,
aud the fountains of deadliest poison to be
dried up while it added strength and
volume to your manliness, and made good
men and angels every where respond, 80
mote it be-"
Our ancestors proclaimed Independence,
of King George, while you have proclaim
cd Independence of King Alcohol. They,
emptlcd their tea chest into Boston Har
Dor, while you have empticd your demi-
johns into the nearest frog pond. Theirs
was national interest; yours, both ma
tional and personal. They, struck for
civil liberty, only, while you have struck
for national, mental and moral indepen
dence They defantly sundercd their
allegiance to King George, ard proudly.
through fire ami blood. transferred their
patriotic devotion to tie Goddess Of Liber
ty." You, as defantly severed your dead
ly allegiance TO Bacchus the eldest son of
His Satanic Majesty, and as proudly
transferred your homage and obedience
to the healthy laws Of nat1re and of God.
Their purpose aud its triumphant e1ecu
tiOn was grand, indeed, but your resolve if
as triumphantly achieved. will be grander
still. They, determined to found Re
public, in which their sons and daughters
might be cncircled with every appliance
for the fullest detelopcment of their phys
ical, mental, and moral wealth. aud you,
gratefully accepting this priceless herit
age have seizel these appliances. and arc
resolutely bending them to the great work
of exaltihg and chasteuipg these innate
powers.
Our Revolutionary fathers were fully
possessed with the conviction that they
we're entitled to national independence,
while you are as fully possessed with the
conviction that you are entitled to the
broadcast physical, mental. aud moral in.
dependence.
With this conviction, then, let US first
turn our thoughts to the realm of the
physical man.
What thoughtful student Of History
has not learned that the bodies Of men be-
COME more and more valued and sacred,
as the race marches onward in civilization
and refinement 7? Human hecatombs are
no longer annually inundated to appeasc
tie wrath Of some Heather God prison.
ers of war are, by the laws Of battle, ex-
empt from promiscuuus slaughter; and
iusolvent debtors are no longer doomed to
mildew and rot in dark dungeons made
dismal by civilized hands. And yet the
priceless worth and dignity Of these d.
vino temples isgreatly updervslued in the
popular estimate.
True. the cock. pit and the bull-rng arc
banished with the rack aud the gibbet,
an hlnnd- relics Of harharona amueoment.