The Portland daily press., 1873-12-30
New York Letter.
Forefathers' Day In New York.-The
Dinner Of the Sons of New England.
es etc.
NEW YORK, Dec. %, 1873.

brated with more JUNCTION than Forefathers
day by the descendants of the pilgrims re.
siding in New York. Pride of ancestry it it bt
foible, has the pallation of being universe
and since we have no orders of nobility in this
country, the blood of the Puritans is the best
in point of age and purity, which flows ir
American veins.
Accordingly on the ODD of December of every
year the Yankees in New York gather in grea,
numbers to boast of their origin. OF course all
the descendants of other nationalities look
upon this outburst of filial reverence, with
such emotions as their several natures may
prompt. some with admiration, others with
envy. Many good natured sarcasm has beer
woven into epigram and flung at these devout
children of tie Plymouth colonists, and now
and then sheer that has malice in it has beer
washed ashore from the sea of oblivion ant
used as balm of onso'atiou for the nineteen
twentieths of the people of the country who
did not enjoy the good fortune to be born ir
New England.
But the New England dinner is by universal
admission the most superb festival of the sea.
son. In appointments, service, company aud
exhaustless but there is no day of the veal
when he comes so Lear the end of them, as or
this. Territorially he is hepelessly inadequate
to the occasion. His rooms will accommodate
only 225 people, and the society numbers q
thousand strong. The pressure for admission
is checked somewhat by the extravagant price
IF tickets but nevertheless the demand always
exceeds the supply, and every seat is sold, long
before the eventful day. In other respects the
Prince of caterers meets his responsibilities
with the ease and tact of master, aud the
ippetiz,ng dainties appear and disappear in a
round of cour,es, served with rapidlty and
without confusion in the midst of hum OF
conversation relieved occasionally by the
music of the bands, or an explosive outburst of
laugh .er, as some wit sets the table in roar
with bon mot.
The society has abundant material for meet
ing al! the intellectual requirements of the &C.
casion. Among its members are several en-
uent lawyers, who have distinguished them
selves alike in public and in professional life.
some eloquent cergymen, and very many ed
ucated and gifted laymen in other walks of
life. Nevertheless it has been the custom to
extend the Inequalities of the society to public
men of distinction from abroad and the pres
ence of such has always enhanced the interest
attaching to this august commemorative as
semb.age.
The bright particular stars of the recent festi
val were Henry Ward Beecher, Gen. Sherman,
Senator Sumner, Judge Noah Davis, Judge
Brady, Gov. Howard of R. T., and Rev. Mr..
Gallaher Then there was a reserve corps,
not called into &C ion, consisting Of Mr.. Choate
Dist. Atty. Phelps, Chauncy NJ. Depew, Rev.
Dr. Taylor and Gen. Woodford, NJ. q.
The president of the society,". Mr.. Elliot G.
Cowdin, native of Vermont and for several
years resident of Boston, occupied the chair
was driving we'll in hand, and Mr.. Cowdin,
accustomed as he has been to all this sort of
thing for years, having presided at many din
ner great and small, in Paris as well as in New
York, found use for all his faculties in the con-
troll aud direction of this rare entertainment.
In fact he did transpose the toasts at the out
set in way wiioh disturbed the SENSIBLE
tiles CT the critical .lookers on and when he
had discovered his little mistake, after it was
past immediate correction, it was amusing to
see what a school girl blush suffused
his cheek. The simple truth is that MIR Cow
din was magnetized by the presence of the
Massachusetts Senator A quarter of a CEN
fury ago when the former was presiding over
the Mercantile Library in Boston, the latter
was Illuminating Lyceums with those master
pieces Of Johnsonian English, on which his
literary fame is founded. The admiration
thus formed in youth, deepened in
to reverence with maturer years and IN the eyes
Of the estimable, genial, kindly natured presid-
ing officer, the guest from the Senate chamber
was greater than all others. For the moment
be forgot that there were two clergymen pres
ent, and that in the etiquette of Puritanism,
these servants of the Lord outrauk men of every
station and of every other calling
do not mean to intimate that there was any
disposition on any body's part to withhold ap-
propriate honor from Mr.. Sumner. 1t is inn
possible for New Englandels any where to for
get or to cease to be grateful for the part he
bore in that long war with slavery, which end
ed so tragically. simply because the North was
so temporizing and weak But at least ninety
nine one hundredths of the members of the
New England Society are thoroug Oh believers in
Grant. They believe alike in his integrity and
his craftsmanship Now this man has spoken
evil of him. He has borne false witness against
him. And at every moment whila these festivi-
ties were in progress there seemed to be a dis
position to temper the civilites shown to the
Senator with disclaimer of any sympathy
with or forgiveness for his extraordinary dia-
tribes against the President of the United
States.
And by the way, had it not been for the
domestic affection which recently happened
in the family of Gen. Grant he would in all
probability have shared in the holiday of the
pilgrim sons. If he had come, at this oppor
tine moment, his brow still fresh with the lau-
res with which the people crowned him at the
polls last year, and bearing the honors of the
recent victory of peace achieved without tar
n 81 to the national escutcheon, or hurt to the
national pride,
"The man of long enduring blood
The statesman warrior, moderate. resOlute,
Whole In himself comm on good,'
his welcome would have been as hearty, the
greeting he would have received as cordial as
the faith of all who know him is implicit and
unbounded 10 bis manlness and WORTH
The Secretary of State, too, was looked for but
fund at the last moment that official engage
m ants would detan him at the Capital. Til
WIS disappointment to the whole society, BE-
luse Mr.. Fish is New Yorker of the old
Kniekerbocker tick and the Yankees of the
metropolis would have taken genuine pleasure
in bearing witness to the signal ability with
which he has administered the duties of his
great Office during his long incumbency of it.
The speeches at the dinner were of high
order and rare diversity, Mr. Summers was
the most elaborate and occupied three quarters
of an bour in the delivery. 1t was carefully
prepared. In fact the notes were handed to the
reporters at its conclusion. 1t was an histol
cal essay, notable chiefly for its research II
embodied list of all the Kings, Emperors
Sultans, Princes, Dukes Margraves &c, &c
who were regnaut al the time of the embarca
tiol of the Mayfower, and drew a parallel be
tween their evanescence and the perennial glo
ry of those humble wanderers over the sea.
Judge Davis address sparkled with wit and
humor. His allnsion to the jury system, in the
remark that an important reformatory agen
cy just now was the magic number taoelUe anG
81. zl..y =.