Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-10-24
and the town and carefully preserve it for fu-
ture use. He exhibited a
POWDER Horn MADE IN l7G3,

|
| POWDER Horn MADE IN l7G3,
the property of Edmund Clark, one of the
first settlers, that he had brought with him
from Nova Scotia and up the kennebec. The
pause occasioned by a good housewife stop
ping to carefully mend a coat, had directed
the footsteps of the family here-so great
events come from little things. One of the
first chairs made in the new settlement is still
in the hands OF citizen. He would have
these, and the old cradles, the spinning
wheels, and all the old relics, collected and
safely kept. He would have the dresses of
the old time brought out, and would give
more for the women with courage to wear
them, than for all the Dolly Vardens in the
universe.
Augustine Jones, Esq, of Boston, was
called Tor. He said that China was his native
place, where he had spent his boyhood, and
no locality in the world had similar attrac-
tons to him. Here the happy hours were
passed before the stern conflicts and rivalries
OF lite began. He ha1 always looked upon
this as the place where everybody was good
and honest, unselfish and true. When great
questions arise we turn to communities like
this to strike the key note as to what should
always be the end and purpose of true gov
eminent. 1t is refreshing to turn from the
shams and deceits of the great centres where
position is sought and gained by unfair
means, and come back here for the pattern of
true worth. In the country the opinion OBJ
tairs among the people that they have no in
fuence. But, what a mistake Does New
York city and other cities settle great moral
questions, or are they settled by the country
that furnishes the grand staple of real infu-
| ences! Young men go into the city and are
soon used up by hard work and sharp compe-
tition, like the truck horses of the city. SUI
fer yourselves to fall back particle, and our
institutions are endangered and the whole
country weakened.
The common schools of the country have
not accomplished their mission or what the
friends of education in the world had hoped
for and expected. Make them better, and
establish your social Libraries; improve your
agriculture and thus keep your boys at home
on the farm. Let them inculcate lofty ideas
by reading history and the biographies of
eminent men. From the South China library
and the experience of building stone wall on
the farm, he had drank in lessons that would
always benefit him. We want to cultivate
the intellect of the farmer, so as to bring
brain competition into the business Men
rush to the cities on account of the field for
the activities of the intellect, but return,
broken down, to the country for recuperation
Stick to farming, but do it scientifically. On
weight and influence. New Englanders who
have gone west will turn this way again, and
may we be prepared to give them welcome.
y. ID. Baker, Esq, of Augusta, was the
next speaker. We give an abstract of his
remarks.
Under our form of government, the State
and nation are made prominent, the town re-
tires. Yet of the three the town affects us
the more closely, and as we'll repays study.
The ancient city, instead of being the sub.
ordinate of a central authority, was the GEN.
trail authority itself. But while it was the
centre of civ ilzaton, it was also its circum-
ference, and all outside was barbarism. 1t
was also the measure of patriotism. The
Greek knew no country but his native Athens,
the Italian, none but the Imperial city.
The modern town or city had its origin in
the middle ages. 1t was in the establishment
of towns and their endowment with charters
of immunites that civilization knew its Sec
| ond dawning, and liberty began anew its cir
repressible Conflict " it'll despctism. Giving
these free towns the right of representation
in the central Parliament introduced the dis
! tinguishing feature of modern civilization
| representative government, and marked the
boundary line between ancient and modern
| political science, by making large empires at
once possible and free.
privileges of the ancient charters of the free
towns, and their influence on the worlds
progress, abiding particularly to that law
which, so many centuries ago, in an age of
universal serfdom and slavery, decreed that
no slave should be restored to slavery after a
years residence in free town, but should be
admitted to all the civil and political rights of
citizenship.
Towns are the seeds Of nations, and the
growth of liberty through all the centuries of
the miac!' ages kept step and time with the
growth OF free towns.
Therefore it is fitting that this centennial
should be commemorated, not as an isolated
event, but as a connecting link between the
past and the future of political liberty There
is no room for pride in the mere lapse of
years, but only in the growth they bring
Compared with the centuries which open
through the vista of the future, hundred
years are but as one day. Time to the indi-
vidua should mean knowledge; to the Ma
ton, the State, the town, it should mean pro.
gress, improvement, culture, art, education.
! When it means this or movement towards
this, each centennial gathers about it deep
er meaning, and becomes milestone not of
years. but of progress. To this end each
should direct himself, remembering that
| 'Only the actions of the just
Smefl sweet and blossom in the dust
| Howard Owen of Augusta, was the next
speaker, and congratulated the people upon
having arrived at the respectable age of one
hundred years, and not even the ladies were
anxious to deny it The history of the period
was reverted to when the Clarks left the
shores of Nantucket, when the gentle waters
of the Kennebec parted to the keel of their
rude fsherman's craft that at last found safe
anchorage at Cobosseecontee. From thence
the pilgrim journey was traced across the
country until the eastern lake region of the
kennebec is reached. 1t seemed spot fitted
by nature for the foot.sore wanderers. The
log hut is built, the savage Indians conciated,
the wild beasts guarded against, and our IA
theirs begin to hew out for themselves homes
in the dense wilderness and to plant the seeds
of civilization. Forests were levelled, the
rich soil yielded its products, the settlement
of log huts multiplied, smooth acres of wheat
and corn cheered the heart of the patient hus-
| andman, the merry voices of children mingled
with the bird-song of the wildwood, villages
were planted and manufactures established.
The contrast of that age with the present
chain-lightning period was then dwelt upon
and illustrated. While sympathizing with
| the progressive spirit, he would nevertheless