New-York tribune., 1875-09-01
IN OLD L4DY'S SPEECH.

This is a season of anniversaries and the
local and little ones are as interesting i'll their
way as the national and great ones. The Mad
River Pioneers held an annual meeting near
fremont, Ohio, on the 21st of August and
talked over tho days of the log cabin, OF
which ediiice Il miniature model was exhibited.
There was also a great display of other an
cient Objects-irOn spectacles, fax hackles,
old homespun linen, table cloths, IRON
thimbles, peculiar pocket-book, " for
"meIly the property of Quaker;
pewter plates, "a carvng-knife and
"fork used at the dinner to which the Signers
"of the Declaration OF independence sat down
"after the names had been duly affixed to
" that instrument sat down with good appc-
tites we hope. There was also the very ink
stand into which the illustrous Signers dipped
their pens. The genuine character OF these
articles was vouchcd for, and they will
doubtless next year find their way to
Philadelphia. But the living antiquities
were the most interesting. There was
John Idle (curious msnomerD cage 50
"years and the first shiuglemakcr i'll that part
"of the country" there WIS Mr.. Rector, who
in his boyhood FUSED to see ten Indians to
lone white man - and, above all, there was
the old lady, Mrs. Fanny Thompson, 50,
who made speech, and an exceedingly
GOOD speech it must have been. She,
too, had experiences with the Indians.
She talked of the time when Tommy
Robinson married Peggy Storms, and all tho
Country far and near, without distinction, was
"invited." She brought with her and exhibited
specimens of the "store goods" OF her early
al. ub oh
cost Is cents yard" and it didn't then take
"15 yards to make Dress" she said; six
"yards were sufficient" She had with her
also samples of calico which cost 81 per yard.
So she prattlcd on in her pleasant way but
her own presence must have been the most
entertaining and instructive of speeches. 1t
told of life OF patience, persistence, and
simplicity of purpose. 1t told the old story,
which can never be too often repeated, OF large
results from small beginnings. These honest
people who settled on Mad River, who subdued
the forests, who survived hard seasons and
Indian wars and all manner OF discourage
ments scarcely stopped to think that they
were laying broad and deep the foundations of
magnificent commonwealth. Their quiet
achievement reminds us of the wisdom of
Goethe:
Kn0w'st thou yesterday, its aim and reason
Work'st thou well to-day for worthy ends
Then calmly trust the futures hidden season,
Then caTnly wait what f.,tc soe'er impends
1t is with peoples as with persons the nOta-
Bile result comes from unnOted daily doing.
All the fine builders have builIed better than
they knew. cit Is truc,' said the great Rcvo-
lutionary orator, "that in the beginning we
- ,;m.d not ot judenpudtncp ~ and we can
now easily see that it would have been Il mis-
fortune if they had. Great failures come
either from original vice of purpose or from
prcmaturity in pushing what Is inherently vir-
tuOus.
When the monsoon of OratOry centennial
and patriotic next year begins, much will be
said Of the day of small things, only we shall
talk of them after grandiloquent fashion, as
if the actors in them worked according to a
gigantic plan. Yet it was all in a nutshell.
Tha Revolutionary patriots did not boast of a
coming empire, of a population to be counted
by many millions, of high place among the
nations-they simply said, "No tax on tea
"no taxation without representation no
"Stamp act" So the Pilgrim Fathers sought
a place in which they might pray after their
own fashion without being sent to prison for
doing so; and hence Massachusetts,. This old
Ohio lady, saving, spinning, doing the daily
farmwOrk, raising children-what dream had
she of the Ohio of tO-dayf The lesson so re-
plete with all the encouragement which rea-
sonable hope can give us, is too obvious to
need pointing out. WORK to-day t0r worthy
mGs' That il all!