The Portland daily press., 1871-12-06
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, DEC. 6, 1871.
Discourse Of Rev. II. w. Beecher at Ply
mouth Church, BROOKLYN.

my Fathers mouse.
He said that there was great difference
bet geen Thanksgiving Day and day of CIV
ing thanks. There could be no explanation
of the terms needed by those who are New
Englanders. This is day of f-glorification
among New England Yankees, who still re-
tain the flavor of the Thanksgiving of fifty
years ago in their mouths. Laughter. He
proposed to tell the audience something about
his fathers house, which was in old Litch-
field. He spoke of the community as always
expecting to be rich. Wages for mechanics
averaged fifty cents a day-hear that, We
brick-layers! lSensation.] The shoemaker
came around once year, and many fit was
good enough for any one who had a fit on
him. Laughter.l Every boy and girl had
some part of the household work to do. Be
fore he was ten years old he washed dishes,
and prepared them for washing laughter; !; to
clear the table, and break dishes; to go to
school, and not to study; he was a good boy,
that no one could get along with or without.
Laughter The old house was roomy-for
the elements-and winter reigned in the
morning. Happy thou, when dry kindling-
wood was not consumed before the winter
was. Nothing could live in Litchfield that
was not hardy, and consequently everybody
who was hardy lived in Litchfleld The food
was good, with doughnuts put in by way of
punctuation. Laughter. We had bread
and molasses, apple-sauce and pies, and all
other good things. The spring opened with
fast of humiliation. AS l was a boy, the
loss of full meal on any day was serious
affair. To my idea dinnerless day was like
a torn suit of clothes-both ends, but no mid
die. Laughter. In early days there was so
much set apart for the support of the minis
ter-my father had so much salary and his
wood. The latter was brought in from every
quarter, and the day ON which it came was
one of revelry; the cheeses shrunk, and bar
rels of home-brewed beer were broached, with
plenty of rum and hot flip, mixed with a red
hot crowbar. But the boys were not allowed
to drink themselves. One time detected my
father taking little rum from the China
closet. Laughter Only ON Thanksgiving
day was wine given to the children. Then
there was the election day, the training days,
&c. But Thanksgiving was far above all 9th
ers. We looked forward to it for half a year,
and there was grand gathering. The SER
vice was like the Sunday service, and some
times it was political safety-valve, on which
the minister was allowed to let himself out ON
public affairs. After service everybody went
home to partake of the feast. The speaker
then described the assault upon the table and
its results. The children one by one became
stuffed full and fell off, and the illusion of the
year was ended. Laughter. He said that
before he was fifteen he never earned more
than twenty-five cents at one time. Gifts
were few, and they that lived in those days
lived with the understanding that they must
work out their own future. No person can
appreciate Thanksgiving who cannot realize
what poverty and early struggles are. In his
early days art was unknown, but New Eng
gland was not unhappy. The first part of
Thanksgiving was religion, the other half was
honest liberty.
The speaker then referred to the Thanks
giving of the present day. He was told that
New-England stock was degenerating, but he
did not believe it, He revered the New-Eng-
laud of the past, and believed that she was
today surer of blessing than she ever was
before. He would boast, and those who did
not like it could leave or stay. Laughter
New-England was staid and sober because
she could reach the other parts Of the land
but slowly, and then no one ever went out of
New-England who was born in it. 1t took
longer for a man to 60 to New York from
Connecticut than it does now to go to Cali
fornia. There never was more honest
class of men in the world than New England
ers. She was to the rest of the country what
Palestine was to the rest of the world. Now
she is spread out everywhere, but at home
she is power stih. She is public spirited
and industrious, :rd nowhere is education
more general. New rgiand has no foreign
ers long, for such is IT, power of her diges-
ton that those who come in foreigners dc
not stay so long. Nowhere is public spirit
more widely diffused, and in no country can
we find greater regard for the public welfare.
When the first gun was fired on Sumter, who
rose quicker to the defense of the flag than
New Englanders :? Applause And all through
the war are found New England regiments
among the bravest or of the brave. The
Yankee is known to be sharp, but he is in
every respect equal to any one on this Conti-
nent He calculates and pinches sixpences,
which have taught him to pinch granite rocks
till he has pinched out gold and silver, and
thus made something worth pinching for.
New Englanders have been we'll brought up
and tried severely, and this iswhatmakes them
such valuable members OF society. Nothing
but the war against England knitted the New
Englanders together as confederation, and
that was her salvation, and that spirit is her
safety today. The notion of our Union came
from New England. During the Revolution
ary War we find that craftsmanship came
from New England. Common schools came
from her, and there we find a religion that
does not expend itself upon church establish
ments, and nowhere else have men been
more Jealous of encroachments on religion
than the religious men of New England
When the devil proposed to make the world
over again, and leave New England out, he
paid the greatest compliment to her that was
possible. The fact that the people are kings
is due to New England. She was never com
mercially better off than she is today. He
said, when an Irishman is well broken in he
is a glorious fellow, but woe to the man who
undertakes to break him in. Laughter. He
hoped to see the day when that spirit would
be broken and mingled with us. We all
wanted some Irish blood-only drop of it,
however. Laughter. He looked for the
day when New England would give an i'm
pulse to art, of which she has not had much
heretofore. When she puts her work to art,
he hoped to see the Italian school abandon
ed for the American and German schools
blended. He said that this sermon was to be
glorifcation of New England, but he did
not wish it to be understood that he was
Jealous of any one else. Let others make
the praises of their country known, and he
would go for New England. The best praise
we can give our fathers is to be like them,
and to copy their virtues. He said in con-
clusion, that we should make New England
identical with all that is good and holy, and
then we need not fear for the future of the