Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-03-03
The vermonters In Worcester, Mass.

J served at at $50 O'Clock. about 225 ladie
and gentlemen being present. Hon. Clarl
7 Jillson. mayor of the city, and president o
!. !. the association, presided, and after the sup
per, addressed the assembly with few
,, words Of welcome. in which he referred t
! the members VINO had died during the pas
year. The orator of the evening was Fred
erick P. Brown, Esq. a former resident o.
! Windham county, who responded to the
sentiment Vermont-the land of oul
birth"
The speech abounded with expressions oil
love for old Vermont.
We are neither carpet-baggers nor ex-
lies" said the speaker. " We are all Yer
monters here tonight, though we hold it
no treason to our mother State to cry, God
save the commonwealth of Massachusetts. ,
Sparta as well as Athens is celebrated in
Grecian story, and the hub has its spokes in
every State and township of New England.
Nor are We OF that band of patriots who
leave their country for their country s
good never to return. We simply occupy
the next room in the old family mansion
Who is not proud to claim fel-
lowship with Allen and Baker, French and
Warner, Widow Storey and honest Mat
Lyon? 1t is said that Vermont is good
State to be born in. also to emigrate from
lieve. and We thank God for it. | am of
that number who believe that she is very
comfortable State even to lire an. and that
she has contributed to the world her full
quota and share in the departments of
science. inventive genius, material resour-
ces, large-hearted patriotism and Spartan
courage. Vermont is still in
the greenness of her youth. No memories
of thousand years illume her historic
pages; no monumental piles of hereditary
glory frown down upon her hillsides and
valleys. Yet the simple inscriptions carved
on the headstones of those who fell at Hub
bardtown, Bennington, and Westminster,
or in the CORY lake fight of Champlain,
bear record OF as lofty patriotism, as
chivalric courage as any perpetuated in
Scottish mausoleum or the hoarv entabla-
lures of Westminster Abbey. We love her
for what she is, not tor what she is not.
We love her beechnut groves, her fine
horses. her ancient June training grounds
We love the benches of the old red-school
| house whereon our adventurous jack-knives
carved youthful monOgrams We love
pale sweet face that first gave us the mittsn
In the hallowed precincts of that worlds
epitOme-the spelling match,-or better
still, that we accompanied home, and dare
not linger to say good night for fear of the
old folks. We love the well-wOrn path ID
the village cemetery, where We laid the
quiet forms OF sister or mother, the tones
of whose gentle warnings still linger in our
ears as the music of the sea haunts the
shell. All these, and more than these. we
venerate in thy name, Oh, mother State
The bleak winds of winter may whistle
through thy wilderness frontier; the frost
may seal thy lakes and rivers and chill thee
IN ha nd ha haa
still hoKl in the coverts of the rocks thy
sons and daughters may lack the polish of
kld-gloyed dIlle,antIsm, but thy heart is
heart of oak. and liberty and sweet charity
have kissed thee their sister beneath the
cold light of the stars No slaves foot
ever pressed The soil of Vermont save on its
way TO Canada aud freedom.
,ibbet reared within her borders
ever witnessed the expiatory mockeries Of
witchcraft. The only witches that ever
troubled Vermont arc those that ensnare
the hearts Of her young men and grace the
households of maturer years. She did not
have the honor of banlshing Quakers and |
Baptists in the name of Puritanic religious |
liberty. Such as she simple, hardy, in |
telligent, free-her fest planted on noun
tains of marble and Of snow, her bosom |
barred ID the winters storm. her hands out |
stretched in deeds OF charity and love, a
crown of stars her diadem, blending the !
Purltan's faith with the pioneers courage
- The lions heart in battle. the woman's |
heart in love, such as she is, We honor |
her as the home of our childhood, the star |
of liberty which, rising first in the new |
galaxy of states, has performed its custO- |
mary orbit, and never once has set-the |
poets ideal ofs state composed Of men who
know their duty, but know their rights,
and knowing dare maintain. "
Having spoken of the physical conditions
OF Vermont. Mr.. Brown considered briefly |
the intellectual and moral characteristics of
her people, their selfreliance, courage,
patriotism. intelligence and religious faith.
Nowhere on the globe, he believed. had the |
spirit of self-rellsnee and absolute inde- |
pendence been better exempli6ed than with |
IN the boundaries of Vermont, ard in the |
character of genuine Vermonter.
" The war writers tell US whsta Sa gene;
ris he was, often saddening the heart of |
military martinez by his devil-msy-eare |
pranks. on the march or in dress parade. |
Yet when men were needed for fighting,
when the actual onset of battle came on he |
had breast of adamant and faith that |
could remove mountains. But between |
fights and along the line of march, he liked |
10 do few things for himself. lust to make |
sure of his individuality and independence, |
II only TO rob neighboring hen IOos;, or |
whistle Yankee Doodle after the approved |
Vermont pattern, or makes sudden detour |
from the ranks to capture a battery, or
take squad of the Johnnvs prisoners, Just |
as ThompsOn's scout IN the Green Mountain |
Boys took the twenty redskins alone By sur
rounding them"
The speaker paid tribute to the courage |
of the Green Mountain boys. alluding |
briefly to their readiness to encounter dam |
ger on the battle fields of the Revolution |
and IN our late war. lie spoke of Allen, |
Warner, Stark. and many other names of |
men of less note. who have long since pass |
ed away, and also OF the valorous deeds of |
Wright, Sedgwick and Stannard in the bat |
ties of the rebellion.
" And what shall say Of the intelli- |
gence of State. that in 80 briet period |
has furnished to the world such jurists as
Pierrepont, Redield and Collamer ; such |
scholars as Marsh. Stafford and Thompson
such sculptOrs as Mead such poets as SAKE;
such advocates as Edmunds. Shafter. the |
Bradleys. and old Sam Phelps, of whom |
Webster once said he rather have pitted |
against him in case any lawyer in New |
England? Why, in Vermont the school |
house and lyceum are as much Port OF the |
creed as Plymouth Rock itself. and be- |
lieye there are fewer iliiterats persons there |
than in any State in the Union, IN proper |
tiOn to the population. Douglass was a
VermOnter, Horace Greeley WAS born in |
New Hampshire, but never amounted to |
much till he came to Poultney and learned |
to be an editor. Vermont is the home of |
inventors. One of her sons was audaciOus |
enough to anticipate Morse in constructinga a |
telegraph, and Fulton in launchinga steam |
ship. Fairbanks scales are to-day weigh |
ing the merchandise of Europe, and when |
she gets so many new inventions that she |
hasn't room for her geniuses she converts |
them into politicians and sends the surplus |
into Illinois for presidential candidates, or |
TO Massachusetts, to become school commit
tees and mayors. And this after all consti- |
tutes the glory Of State, not breadth of
acres, not the wealth of lneas, not the ar
mics of Alexander or Cyrus. but the church, |
the school house, the ballot-box. the press, |
the college, the treasury OF intellect, the |
divine ailiitus of genius Here Vermont |
and her sister New England states wear re-
gal robes. By this sign they conquer.
- Finally. we claim for Vermont that |
mead and measure of religious faith which |
BELTS a commonwealth founded by the chill |
tren of the Pilgrims. Though rough in
exterior, often lacking the polished graces |
OF etiquette, the sOHs anu daughters OF |
Vermont. at home and abroad, have learned |
through tribulation and toll, and oft-re- |
peatei discipline. to bow humbly before the |
throne of the most high God as the source |
II all strength-the fountain of every |
blessing. Unless lie lay the foundations
they labor in vain who would build a
State"
The speaker, in drawing bis remarks to
close. said the lesson OF the reunion was
that " righteousness exalteth nation,
while sin is a reproach to any people"
. To win that unselfsh righteousness as
a nation, and as individuals to walk the
track of life unscathed, to wage constant
battle against dishonesty. social disintegra-
ton and moral dishonor; to irown down
intidelity. treason and license in whatso-
ever form; to rescue our country from the
dangers of corruption aud public spolia-
ticn as she stands planting her feet on the
threshold of another country and epthrone