The Cecil Whig., 1871-04-01
AT the Celebration Ceremonies

otate, IN nOnOr OF their distinguished fellow
citizen, Dr. ]. c. Aver, the "great medi-
cine man. made the following address to
the crowds who assembled to honor him on
that OCCASION:
Ladies and Gentlenaen:
On the western coast of Scotland where
it slopes into the Irish Sea, river, rising
on the mountains of the inner land winds
down among the hills and empties into the
Firth of Clyde. From remote time it has
been called Ayr from an old Scotch word
"Ayry,' meaning an eagles nest-the
river of the eagles nest. Near its mouth
and contiguous harbor, long stood a
hamlet which became royal burg or town
named from the river and now about one
third as large as Lowell-the city of Ayr.
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 resorts, and was especially
| favored by him because he was there cured
Of leprosy. Oliver Cromwell made it one
of the depots and headquarters of his
army in his attack upon Scotland and one
of his old forts is now the Ctedel of Ayr
But above all its distinctions, Ayr was
the birth place Of the poet Burns And
what poet. What voice has he given to
all the endearments of home. How has he
hallowed the cottage and all it covers
weans and wife, patches and poverty.
beans, barley, ale, hardship and the poor
mans toll. How he wraps with tenderness
whatever lie names, even his bleak leagues
of pasture, the stubble field, ice, snow.
sleet, and rain brooks, birds. mice, thistles
and heather. Ills Bonny Doom, John
Anderson, my 10 John, Aud Lang Syne,
and Highland Mary roll around the world
in every ringing symphony with what is
pureSt and best in human nature His
songs WOO and melt the hearts of youth and
maidens, bring solaee to the sorrowing and
courage to the overburdened by their lot.
His inspiration has set the affections to
music in strains that are immortal.
No other one man ever made language
classic, but he has rendered that lowland
Scotch Doric dialect of fame. The name
of his home and his beloved river Ayr was
lifted on the wings of his pathos, and now
the approaching traveller yearns to reach
the spot his genius has sanctified.
Along the borders of the sea in Il paral-
telegram and surrounding the town is a
county Of the same name-Ayrshire.
IF yaI,11 ,afionna 70 +bo
history of my ancestors from one ancient
John of Ayr, then John Ayr, down through
the centuries to this Aver now before you:
through their vicisstudes of poverty and
| plenty-of fortune and misfortune; how
they have intermarried with England, Ire
land and Scotland, and later with the
Americans, who are an excellent mixture
of them all.
My ,friends,-you have chosen the name
inherited for your town with an extraor-
dinary unanimity, and have thereby con-
ferred an honor upon me, the proper
acknowledgment of which l do not feel
fully able to express. But beg you to be
assured that it is appreciated and that it
will be gratefully remembered with living
interest in your prosperity while life re-
mains to me, and, l trust beyond that by
my children after me.
If this name has become noted among
the many that are worthier around you,
| that is greatly due to its publicity. May
be permitted to state whence that came
| Until within few centuries all the civil
lied nations of the globe were pent up on
the Eastern continent. Two or three hun
dred years ago they leaked over into this;
few and fearfully at first, then moro and
more but always in their settlements
timidly hugging the Atlantic coast. With
in the last two or three generations, they
have burst out, as it were, and over-run
these vast continents of the West. Now
they are scattered here and possess these
measureless stretches of mountains and
valleys, hills, plains, forests and prairies
with the boundless pampas and mountain
ranges of South America Former genera
tions lived in villages and towns thickly
settled together where physicians We're
plenty and near at hand. Now, the people
are widely scattered, i'll many sections of
these many countries. For great numbers
the timely treatment of physicians cannot
be had; over large tracts of country good
or competent physicians cannot be had at
all. They cannot visit patients enough
sion, nor can they carry medicine enough
with them on horseback for their require
ments. Hence has arisen in these modern
times, necessity for remedies ready at
hand, with directions for their use-a
present recourse for relief in the exigencies
of sickness, when no other aid is near. 1t
is new necessity consequent upon the
changed conditions of human life-a want
l have spent my years in supplying and l
will tell you something of its extent. Our
laboratory makes every day some $50, 900
potions or doses of our preparations
These are all taken by somebody. Here is
n number equal to the population of fifteen
cities as large as Lowell, taking them
every day for sickness keeps no Sabbaths
nor for once only, but again and again
year after year, through nearly one third
Of a century. We all join in the jokes
about medicines as we do about the Doc
tors mission to kill, the clergyman S
insincerity and the lawyers cheating. Yet
each of these labors among the most serious
realities of life. Sickness and its attendant
suffering are no Joke, neither is the treat
ment of them. This system of transport
able relief, to he made available to the
people, must keep its remedies fresh in
their memories. This is done by advertis-
ing. Mark its extent. An advertisement,
taking the run of the newspaper with
which we contract (some 1900 annually is
struck off in such numbers, that when
piled upon each other flatwise, like the
leaves of book, the thickness through