The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-06-14
Christening the New Town of Aver
SPEECH OF DIR. J. c. AVER.


The people of the thriving village OF
Groton junction, Mass, having out
grown their village bounds and become
town, petitioned the Legislature OF
the State, and the village of Groton
Junction became the town OF AVER,
named after DIR. j. c. Aver, a name ia
miliar with every household in the
country. Not long since, the people of
Aver gathered en- masse to celebrate
the important event, and the new town
was christened amid general rejoicing.
Upon the occasion DR.. Aver was pres
emf, as we'll as many distinguished gen
tlemen of the State and, when the
Doctor was introduced, he responded
as follows:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN On the
western coast of Scotland where it
stones into the Irish Sea, q river, rising
on the mountains CT the inner land,
winds down among the hills and emp
ties into the Firth of Clyde. From re-
mote time it has been called Ayr, from
an old Scotch word "Ayry," meaning
an eagles nest-the river Of the eagles
nest. Near it's mouth and a contigu-
Gus harbor, long stood hamlet which
became a royal burg or town named
from the river, aud now about one
third as large as Lowell-the city of
Ayr. For more than thousand years
it has been noted in the history of Scot
land. 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 citadel of Ayr.
But above all its distinctions, AYR
was the rth-place of the poet Burns.
And what poet! What a voice has
he given to all the endearments of
home! How has he hallowed the cot
tage and all it covers-weans and wife,
patches and poverty, beans, barley,
ale, hardship and the poor mans toll.
How he wraps with tenderness what
ever 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, Aud
Lang Syne, and Hi ghland Mary roll
round the world in ever ringing sym
phony with what is purest and best in
human nature. His songs WOO and
melt the hearts of youth and maidens,
bring solace to the sorrowiHg and cour-
age to the over burdened by their lot.
His inspiration has set the affections to
music in strains that are immortal.
No other one man ever made Ian
guage classic, but he has rendered that
lowland Scotch Doric dialect offame.
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 sanctifed.
Along the borders of the sea in par
allelogram and surrounding the town
is a county of the same name-Ayr-
shire.
1t would weary your patience to hear
The 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
yicissitudes of poverty and plenty-of
fortune and misfortune; how they have
intermarried with England, Ireland
and Scotland, aud later with the Ame-
ricans, who are an excellent mixture of
them all.
My FRIENDs-You have chosen the
name l inherited for your town with
an extraordinary unanimity, and have
thereby conferred 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 ap-
prcciated, and that it will be gratefully
remembered with living interest in
your prosperity while life remains to
me, and, | trust, beyond that by my
children after me.
1t 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 centu-
Kiss all the civilized nations of the
globe were pent upon the Eastern con-
tnent. Two or three hundred wears
ago they leaked over into this; few and
fearfully at first, then more and more.
but always in their settlements timidlv
hugging the Atlantic coast. Within
the last two or three generations, thew
have burst out as it were, and overrun
these vast continents of the West.-
Now they are scattered here and pos
sess these measureless stretches of
mountains and valleys, hills, plains,
forests and prairies with the boundless
lampas and mountain ranges of South
America. Former generations lived in
villages and towns, thickly settled to-
gether, where physicians were plenty
and near at hand. Now, the people
are widely scattered in many sections
OF these many countries. For great
numbers the timely treatment of ply
sicians cannot be had over large tracts
"f country good or competent physi-
cans cannot be had at all. They can
not visit patients enough many miles
apart to live by their profession, nor
eau they carry n,n1inipnc pnn,uh ,,.;tl |