Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-04-13
Speech by a Great Medicine Man

Speech by a Great Medicine Man.
A little town at Groton Junction,
Mass. has been named Aver, after DR..
J. C. Aver, the eminent medicine man.
A celebration was held by the citizens
to testify their regard for DIR. Aver, at
which large crowd embracing many
of the public officials and other dis
tinguished men of the State were pres
ent. DIR. Aver was introduced by Presi-
dent Prescott, and made a speech in
which there is much that has more than
a personal interest. He said:
Ladies and Gentlemen. On.the west
ern coast of Scotland where it slopes
into the Irish Sea, a river, rising on the
mountains of the inner land, winds
down among the hilis.and empties into
the Firth of Clyd. From remote time
it has been called Ayr from an old
Scotch word tAyry,' meaning an eagles
lnest-the river of the eagles nest. Near
its mouth and contiguous harbor, long
stood a hamlet which became a royal
burg or townnamed from the river, and
now about one-third as large as Lowell
the city of. Ayr.s For more than a
thousand years it has been noted in the
history of Scotland. During the wars
of Robert Bruce it was one of his re.
sorts and was especially favored by him
because he was there cured of. leprosy,
Oliver Cromwell made it one of the de
pots and headquarters of his army in
his attack upon Scotland, and one of his
old forts is now the Citadel of Ayr.
But abOveall its distinctions, AYR was
I the birthplace of the poet Burns. And
what g. poet! What a voice has he given
to all the endearments of home! How
has ne haliowed the cottage and all il
covers-weans and wife, patches and
poverty, beans, barley, ale, hardship
and the poor mans toll. How he wraps
with tenderness whatever he names
even his bleak leagues of pasture, the
stubble-field, ice, snow, sleet and rain
brooks, birds, mice, thistles and heather
His Bonny Doom, John Anderson, My
10 John, Auld Lang Syne, and High
land Mary roll round the world in evel
lringing symphony with what is plires
/ and best in human nature. Lis song!
4 WOO and melt the hearts of youth anG
maidens, bring soiace to the sorrowing
and courage to the overburdened by
their lot. His inspiration has set thu
1 affections to music in strains that are
immortal.
i No other one man ever made Ian
guage classic, but he has rendered tina
lowland Scotch a Doric dialect of fame
The name of his home and his beloved
river Ayr was lifted on the wings of hi
pathos, and now the approaching trav
eller yearns to reach the spot his geniu
has sanctifed.,
4 Along the borders of the sea in par
allelOgram and surrounding the tow
is acountyOfthe same name-Ayrshire
!. 1t would weary your patience to hea
the history of my ancestors from on
acient John of Ayr, then John Ayr
) down through thecentufies to this Aye
j now before you; through their vicissi
!, tudes of poverty and plenty-of fortun
and misfortune; how they have inter
married with England, Ireland ant
Scotland, and later with the Americans
who are an excellent mixture of then
lall.
Ny Fliends,-you have chosen tn
name inherited for your town with al
extraordinary unanimity, and hav
= thereby conferred an honor upon me
! the proper acknowledgment of which
do not feel fully able to express. But
: beg you to be assured that it is appre
r ciated and that it will be gratefully re
5 membered witha living interest in YOU
, prosperity while life remains to me
and, L trust, beyond that by my chill
!, dren after me-. a.
If this name has become noted anon,
1 the many that are eworthieraroundy you
5 that is greatly due to its publicity. Ma,
: l be permitted to state whence tha
came? Until within a few centuries al
! the civilized nations of the globe wer
pent on the Eastern continent. Tw
or three hundred years ago they leake,
i over into this; few and fearfuliyat first
then more and more but alwaysialthei
, settlements timidly liugging the Allan
J tic coast. Within the last two or tIire,
J generations, they have burst out, as
were, and over-run these vast contin