Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-08-07
SCHUYLER COIFAx AT HOME.

| MIR OOl,FAN TcaCnou MS nome (SOuth
Bend, Ind.,) on the 30th ut He met with
warm and enthusiastic welcome nj ali
lpoints on his journey from Washington.
At Chicago q large and admitting crowd
of citizens turned out TO greet him. and
Mayor Rice welcomed him in an appropri.
ate speech, TO which he feelingly respond.
ed. He was escorted 10 his home by a
large delegation Of the citizens of Chicago.
and every one turned out at South Bend
TO give their distinguished and much.
loved fellow citizen a grand and hearty
reception. The following is portion OF
Mr.. Colfax's speech in response to his
welcome home":
Mr.. Mayor and my Friends-for I can
find no word Ia address you more correct
| ly than that--fifends of nv early boyhood
days; friends Of my early manhood ;
friends of my maturer years friends VINO
have grappled me 10 their hearts with
hooks of steel, ] confess / scarcely know
how to speak to you this afternoon in re-
| sponse to this most enthusiastic welcome
! you have given me. ..l.
There is one word in the English Ian
guage, brief but impressive II thrills
every heart that ia not callous and hard.
ened 1t makes the life-blood course
through our veins more rapidly II is
| the word "home." There Is q volume in
IL to me. If there Is any man ia this
broad land, from the Atlantic to the Pa.
| oific, who has cause to love his home, Il Is
he who now addresses you. Ever kind,
ever considerable, ever devoted, ever affec.
tionate, when have come into your midst
from the labors to which you had assigned
me, l have met everywhere a generous
welcome with the heart in the outstretched
hand.
When the railroad train sped on Mon
day last away from the banks of the Poto-
mac and across the Sufquehanna, the
crests OF the Alleghanies, and the Ohio,
there was one thought that filed me full
lit was the thought of my own beloved
nome on the banks of the st. Jo. have
been absent from you much in the past
Few years, but your friendship has not
been measured by my presence with you.
Abroad as we'll as at home 1t has upheld
me, seeming like guardian angel TO pro-
But to-day, with this ma nifcent dem
onstration which you have made to me of
| your Kindness, confess that come with
feelings saddened and chastened with the
thoughts that have been all day upper
most in my mind There Is no one can
| appreciate more than / do the generous
confidence reposed in me by the represen-
tatives of the millions throughout our
land who believe in the principles that 1
have advocated to the best of my ability,
in placing me side by side with our dis
tinguished commander upon the same ma.
tional ticket in this great struggle know
1t was nom a confidence on their part in
my principles and in the rectitude of my
Intentions 1t was because they had sup
| hn.. f.l.-
that l might be relied upon If l were
chosen by the people of America, never
10 turn my back upon the principles that
professed and yet, as l say, 1 come before
you with feelings of sadness and regret.
Even amidst the enthusiastic friends who
have accompanied me from Chicago have
been made to feel to-day almost as if had
regretted that l had accepted the nomina-
tion. l realize since returned to my
home that 1t sewers probably forever that
tic which has been between us for almost
a lifetime as constituent and representa-.
tive, that 1t removes me in some degree
from being your chosen representative be.
fore the American people, and that never
again am | to come before you and ask
your suflrages to speak, and act and vote
in your behalf in our national councils
l have felt in all the years that have passed,
as have gone up and down the highways
and byways of this district, as if every
home, almost, had an open door, almost
every heart generous welcome. Even
though the poisoned arrows of calumny
might be hurled against me, you were ever
ready to turn them aside, to protect me,
and to publicly exhibit your warm and
generous confidence whenever you had the
opportunity TO exhibit it.
For fourteen years have been your
Representative, but further back than that
far back in 1850, eighteen years ago
you first sustained me at the polls, and
from that hour to this amid all the vicis
situdes of party contest, remember will
an exultation that think had ought tC
feel, that there never has been a time, even
while the clouds were darkened with
gloom for the political party which
represented, or when the sunshine of pros
perity illuminated our banners, that this
noble county of Saint Joseph has moi
stood by me faithfully at every election.
To you owe everything that l am. TC
your continued kindnesses, to your long
continued and answering devotion to me
l owe everything have received at the
hands of the American people. It was
because you here, who have seen me al
home from the days of my boyhood, ad.
hered to me so faithfully for length OF
time unparalleled in Indiana, and almost
in the Union, that the hearts of those dele
gates at Chicago were turned toward me
for the nomination with which they hon.
ored me, They said if that people who
know this man believe in him and adhere
to him, he is a man in whom we can trust
Do | not, then, say truly that l cannot find
words TO express to you the gratitude |
have for those repeated and continuous
manifestations of your love for meP
But today, as stand before you, my
thoughts turn back rather to the past than
towards the swift-coming future.
have thought this morning, as my life
has passed in review before me, of my
early life in your midst L have thought
of the faces was to see here in this audi.
ence before me when arrived at my
home. Thirty-two years ago remember
when rs a boy first looked down upon
the smiling Prairie of Terre Coupee com.
ing from my home In the East, with thooe
who were near and dear to me, 10 seek our
fortunes IN this Western land. There was
the place where our tent was pitched, and
where first we found home in Indiana,
and though but barely then in my teens,
no sooner had arrived there than / found
myself amongst those far older than my
SELF whose friendship has grown with my
growth, and strengthened With my
strength. / see some of those friends, and
of the years succeeding, before me to day.
Many have passed away. The tombstones
IN the graveyard tell the record Of their
lives, and of their names. But their child.
ren are left behind, who seem to have In
herited all their parents interest, and all
their parents affection for me as they have
inherited their blood from the parents that
gave them birth, and they have followed
me, too, with their kindness, until now, |
have even seen in the past contest the
grandchildren Of those who welcomed
me when first came among you, aud I have
seen them riyaling In their devotion the
Kindness aud friendship OF those who
have gone before over quarter Of a CEN
tury ago.
| TMentY.seYen years since I came %