The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-09-21
M|yttklY Stambarh
The Jonathan Edwards Festival.


Our readers have doubtless seen notices
of the reunion of the descendants of Jona-
than Edwards, at Stockbridge, Mass, where
the great logician and metaphysician wrote
his famous treatise on the " Freedom of the
WILL" which placed him foremost among
the logicians of the world. We clip the
following from a Boston paper, as it always
gives us pleasure to record the honors paid
to North Carolinians, and their sons and
daughters:
"The best speech of to-day was delivered
by Professor F. D. Clarke, of the New York
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. This
young gentleman is the only one of the de-
scendants of the great man who has dis
played any of the graces of oratory on this
occasion his speech, which was short and
to the point, was most gracefully delivered,
and touched on new ground, for he stated
he had not come to Stockbridge so much to
praise the dead as to make friendships with
the living, and as 1 noticed that he rose from
between two of the prettiest young ladies
present, when called on to speak, | conclude
he had wasted no time in doing so. In pre-
senting him to the audience the President
of the meeting said, he would read poem
prepared for the occasion, at the request of
the Committee, by his mother, Mrs. Mary
Bayard Clarke, of North Carolina, a lady
remarkable for her beauty as we'll as her
genius This poem of Mrs. Clarke's was
decidedly the best thing produced at
the meeting it was well and effectively
read by her son, and when | saw her shortly
afterwards on the green with her blooming
daughter and two stalwart sons, could
hardly believe she was the mother of the
three, and felt that Mr.. Woodbridge was
right when he pronounced her lone of the
comliest of the family" Her daughter
Miss Mary Clarke, was unanimously pro-
nounced the most beautiful young lady
present, and attracted great attention from
her likeness to the portrait of her ancestress,
the beautiful Sarah Pierrepont, which, with
that of her husband, hung in the church,
where the meeting was held. With Mrs.
Clarke was her cousin DR.. VIM. M. Polk,
son of Bishop Polk of Louisiana; they were
believe the only Southerners present and
the party were generally spoken of as "our
handsome Southern COUSINS" and were
skilfully manevred into prominent posi-
ton, when the clan were gathered on the
green to be photographed en- masse."
POEM BY MRS. NJ. B. CLARKE, READ AT TIE
EDWARDS FESTIVAL, 1870.
Who is this we come to honor?
IT'S no hero of renOwn,
Who amid the rush of battle,
Sliced deathless laurel crown,
IT'S no statesman famed in council,
Who, with skill and wisdom great,
Steered through reefs, and shoals, and quick
sands,
Into port the ship of State.
IT'S no poet, all impassioned,
And by genius true inspired,
Nor speaker-fervid-g glowing,
Who his country's heart hath fired.
Stars like these, in clusters, have we,
Who to fame are not unknown;
But the one we come to honor
In his glory shines alone.
Monarch of a realm majestic,
Where no action could intrude
He-an iceberg IN times ocean,
Floats in mighty solitudel
Fancy lends his fame no brightness,
Though, at times, her dyes are wrought,
Round the stately pinnacles
Of his pure and lofty thought,
His was not the tongue offire,
Which his hearers swayed at will,
But his voice was that of reason
Irresistible, and still.
Master mind in metaphysics,
England's WHATELY him proclaims
Greatest OF the worlds logicians,''
Scotlands STEWART, Edwards names.
Ard DER es-statesmen-poets-
Great Logician and Divine
With thy calm and steady radiance,
Thou forevermore shalt shine.
For thou vast no freak of Nature,
Vast no meteor flashing bright,
But the seen of Reasons system,
Giving TO the world thy light