The Portland daily press., 1869-12-29
F orefa,her., Day i'm wa.h,.x,.,

|
Wednesday night the New England Society
| Of Washington held their second annual fss-
tival. About 250 sons and daughters of New
England were present; and after an hour or
two spent in social converse and promenad-
ing, the company was seated at the dinner
| table, Hon. E. B. Frenchthe President taking
the head OF the table. Among those present
were Senator Hamlin, Gen. E. Whittlesey,
Major e. b. French, S. p. Brown, Hon. s. C.
Fessenden, the retiring President of the So
ciety, L. Deane, Esq, of Portland, Gen. o. o.
Howard and Hon. T. L. Tullock and Others.
After "the cloth was removed" the President
arose and said, that few years since, at the
suggestion of Hon. s. c.. Fessenden, there
was formed in this city New England Soeie-
ty. Many had since formed around its nu-
cleus, nearly all of whom were honors TO
their States.
The regular toasts followed. Senator Ham
lin responded for Maine, saying that, -
They had no Plymouth Rock in that State,
but they had many other things to stand up
on. He alluded to the chances that Maine
might not always he a border State. People
ate Goldfish there, and could raise ice without
any protection from the government-that
product constituted one of the elements of
her wealth. The fertile Savannahs Of the
South and the great prairies of the West, had
absorbed much of her talent and energy by
the great emigration from her borders, and as
a consequence of the late war, into which so
many of the sons of Maine rushed when the
government called upon them for aid. lAp-
plause. The bones of her sons lie bleaching
in every State that raised the arm of rebel-
ion.
+ Maine was further represented among the
speakers by Gen. Howard and Whittlesey, B.
B. French and s. c. Fessenden.
Mrs. Lippincott (Grace Greenwood re-
sponded to the sentiment in honor of New
England Women, in the following happy
manner: 80
Mr.. President,-As this is not only Fore
fathers, but Foremothers' day, recognize
the propriety of woman being invited to re-
spond to this sentiment. Yet feel that q
better choice could have been made. Indeed,
hardly consider myself eligible. In the
first place, am not New England woman
by birth, though come Of an old New Eng
land family, fed on the one side by stern Eng
lish Puritan, on the lother by fiery Huguenot
blood-a family distinguished, however, for
not having had an ancestor among the Ply
mouth pilgrims. You may search through
our entire stock of heirlooms without coming
upon table, a chest of drawers, high-post
bedstead, or any other little article of house
hold furniture, brought over in the Mayfower.
[Great laughter. An intelligent friend over
the water once startled me by the question,
"Has not civilization advanced further in the
New England than in the other States of the
Unionw l said l thought it had, but was
obliged to acknowledge myself "an outside
barbarian"-born in the savage State OF New
York, though of missionary parents from Con-
necticut. l remember that the first time
visited the home of my fathers-old Lebanon
"a dear old lady peering in my face said,
"Let me see!-you were born after you LEFT
Connecticut" Laughter. tC
Seriousy,I would not disparage my native
| State. hold that 1 am, or with the fran
| chise would be, citizen of no mean COM
| monwealth. Its name is not so sonorous .
| mouthful as Massachusetts, but somehow
| love the sound of it, We have not the At
| lantic, but we have fine family group OF
| young seas, and we have Niagara. We have
i not Bunker Hill and Lexington, but we have
| the watery battle fields of Erie and Cham
plain. We have not Boston, but our seaport
| on the island of Manhattan, is looking mp.
| We have no Plymouth RoSk put we
have Plymouth Church, winch & ho,es I'm ,noss rs
bronze statue of Webster,-but we have the
| Cardiff giant. Secondly,-I have never made
| a pilgrimage to Plymouth Rock. 1t Is in such
| an out of the way place. As removals are in
| fashion, why not remove it to Boston? con
fess that before having seen our Plymouth,
never ought TO have set my face toward the
| old English town of that name, know that
never having saluted its immortal granite,I
| ought to have blushed, as on the gray battle
ments of Blarney Castle, bent to Kiss rs
| magic stone. ,--.. a. .i, ..-.-..-,
shall not presume to speak for those grand
women of 1920, who in their frail little ship,
| dared that wintry voyage, for the men they
| loved and the faith they adored-an undertak-
i ing that, without that love and that faith,
would have seemed like letting go of the dear
| old planet itself, and launching out into in
| finite distance, darkness and cold. Their i'm
/ mortality is secure-a sacred legacy is their
heroic and blessed memory. Applause.
| would speak for the living women OF New
England-and can speak lovingly, if not elo-
| quently-with the thought OF New England
| mother warm at my heart. During the late
| dreadful days of civil war did they not abund-
| antly prove that in them still live even the
| stern virtues of the women OF the olden timer
| When their hospital ministrations endeu,
hosts of New England women took up the
scarcely less hard and perilous work OF edu-
| eating the poor freedmen-who thus saw
Nightingales turned into Doves, bringing olive
leaves, to tell that even for them new earth
of liberty had arisen from the wild, dark wa
tiers of Slavery. --t.t-@l ..--eE-- ,..
How many of the greatest women of our
time has New England nurtured? Maria
MITCHELL who nightly reads the illuminated
missal of the heavens, as we read the daily
papers, and with far more profit. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, whom nobody can write down
not even she herself; Charlotte Cushman,
who, while she kept the English stage, was
the grandest actress on it; Harriet Hosmer,
whose name Is carved in marble, and Ida
Lewis, whose name is writ in water" and
yet imperishable.
On the whole, am glad am not born
Yankee woman, for we're one, might not
feel free to say what l now say, and propose
to stand by that among its other admirable
manufactures, New England produces the best
educated girls, the truest wives, the noblest
mothers, and the most glorious old maids In
the world. [Great Applause.l 81.
After the speeches and poem, the floor
, was cleared, and the merry dance was enjoy
ed until a late hour. t -N i4