The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-02-23

truth in Holy Writ her prayers and ef.
forts will be heard and seconded, and ii
vendors, yea drinkers will not heed the
voice, the warnings, the entreaties, the
tears and prayers Of the gentle woman !;
then indeed they must be calloused and
steelcd, and would not heed or believe,
though one should rise from the dead
Sir, in the year of grace 1876, this vast
city will be emphatically the American
Mecca, at which the descendants of those
honorcd puritanic pilgrims will be gather
ed, that stepped from the frosty deck of
the Mayhower upon Plymouih's chilled
rock, on that bleak December day, to.
gether with representatives from perhaps
the entire civilized world, and shall they
be confronted at nearly every correr
with groggerios andd ram shop? Andsha
these streets that in virtuous days we're
trodden by Washington, a Franklin,
an Adams, Jefferson. Lafayette, aud
host Of others Of revolutionary fame be
disgraccd by the reeling inebriate? And
shall tippler's breath polute the atmos-
phere of that sacred hall, whose walls
yet echo the first anthem of liberty ever
intoued on Columbia's shore by the old
majestic bell, that is yet suspended in
yonder hallway, and where those illustri-
GUS men that pleged their lives, their for
tunes and their sacred honors, and penned
tina. famous protest against British AFRO.
gance and oppression, and promulgated
the Magma Charta of our liberties, and
we're guided, and say it not irreverent-
ly by star of inspiration, Of hope, and
of destiny, nearly as unerringly as were
the magi of Persia, that followed the
blazing meteor, that pointed over the
plains OF Bethlehem?
In our first contest with the Lion of
Britain,-the war Of the revolution-a
Washington appeared and assumed the
helm of the colonial ship of state, ere she
was fairly launched; and by his mastery
engineering backed by loyal soldierlY.
and coupled with the favor of the AL.
mighty, after beating against head wipds,
crossed seas and buffeting storms, through
seven weary years, he at length safely
moored US in the harbor OF freedom and
the port of liberty. Although his dust
is inurDed beneath the shades of Mount
Vernon, and though being dead, he yet
speaks to US through the "mystic tie,"
conjuring US to steady the ark Of freedom
and perservc, inyiolate those orgauic
principles Of the constitutional liberty, Of
which he laid the corner stone.
ln the incipient stages Of the late wick
ed rebellion, ere rebel shot had been
hurled at Sumpters walls or the star
spangled banner had been trailed in the
the dust by vandai hands; there arose
from among the log cabins of the west,
Lincoln name that yet thrills q con.
tinen. and name that makes ths moral
world quiver from pole to pole today
who by an impassioned inspiration of
patriotic freedom, and by swoop of his
pen, sustained by the heroic valor OF
Columbia's legal sons, cleft asunder the
rusty chains of slavery, and set nearly
four millions of dusky captive Africans
free. And now we have with US, Dow,
Cough, Jewett, and scores of others,
who wonld constitute Spartan band that
if need be, would force the passes of
Thermopylae in defence and furthcrance
of the cause, they have so zealousy, and
religiously espouscd. Let US feebly,
though it may be, follow their footsteps.
Sir, the sombre drapery, that festoons
the walls Of your hall and encircles these
banners about us, and marks the chap
lains desk, indicates that a patriarch in
the cause has lately fallen and given up
his stewardship. Although | believe he
was not member Of your division. nei.
ther the one to which have the honor of
being attached, yet he has often appeared
in your midst, and that Of ours. I have
more than once heard him dsclaim pos.
sessing the power of oratory, but the
words that fell from his lips. were always
words Of wisdom and Of experience, and
clothed with interest and loyalty, to the
cause he so crcditably represented. His
stalwart and venerable form coupled with
the evidently sincere utterrances Of his
lips, carried conviction to all, that he was
a loyal and devoted worker in the inter-
est Of temperance. Let us emulate his
integrity, constancy, and devotedness to
that cause which is paramount to all 9TH
ers unless it be the great salvation. And
God grant the day may yet come, when
the angry breakers Of dissipation shall no
logger food this otherwise fair heritage
Of man /; neither shall the dark waves of
intemperance longer dash against the
shield of omnipotence; but may the day
star appear, and the sun Of righteousness
arise, with healing in his wings, whose
shadow will be as that of a rock in
hitherto weary land and may the sons
and daughters of men, yet carol the
praises of the Most High, for the great
delverance.