Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-08-17

tions, We must do it by emulatng their VIZ
tues and by initiating their example.
Next came the
GRAFTON
by Daniel Roberts.
Sons Of Ii11aom-Ng brothers
Around this, her ancient hearth stone.
our mother State has called her children
together to celebrate her hundredth birthday.
1t is well The call stands justified by the
occasion, and the place of our gathering
best BELTS both.
The founding of State is n great event in
the worlds history forming an epoch IN the
social. civil and governmental reckoning of
nations. The names Of the founders of States
are the great names of history. The names
of the founders of free States demand rever-
ence and special honors !; for OF States
free created, the number Is but small,
and the names of the founders OF such
shine but here and there IN solitary brllllan-
CIV, too few and too scattered to form con-
stellations in the heavens Of history. Since
the formation of the American Union, the
new States, from time to time added, have,
for the most part, been but ordinary aces,
sions to the family of States, without special
of freedom, received through infancy and
adolescence, n mothers nourishment and
care, and emerged into free selfgovernment
through the regular process of growth, -the
infant become of age. Not so Vermont,
which was rather free created than thus free
born or, / may say, developed into organi-
zed life and form from the germlnal prln-
ciple of individual freedom and liberty OF
free choice. No mothers caro- Graded or
nurtured it, but, rocked by storm and tenn
pest and nurtured of the elements, this child
of the forest and the mountains won for IT.
self place, and took it, MS a free State. not
only independent of all but in defiance OF
all ..saye the mercies of God" In this re-
gard, its case is quite exceptional among the
American States II made so through the
great sagacity and indomitable will OF a race
of heroes, rs wise as they were brave. Thus
created free State, and having so lived and
flourished for a hundred years. it is well that
her children OF to-day mark the event and
celebrate it.
II is well. too, that we meet here for our
festival here in.Bennington. the namesake
of the Royal Governor of New Hampshire
who granted this town its charter, the first OF
the one hundred and thirty of the New
Hampshire Grants. Here was the earliest con-
siderable settlement Of the then wilderness.
Here, more than elsewhere, occurred the
stirring events of our colonial life pregnant
of the future State. Here was the States
cradle, and her early hearth-stone. Here
gathered the heroes OF that day, the demi-
gods of this, in Council of Safety, and of War,
Tor defence against the common enemy of
the infant nation, and against the special enc
mics of the hardy settlers of 'the Grants, -
those land iobbers and free-booters the
Hudson toward whom the catamount along
from Landlord Fay's tavern sign grinned
angry defiance. Here, early in May, l175.
mustered that patriot band whose ears had
but lust caught the echo of thai first shot fired
at Lexington, and from here they went forth
under the leadership of Ethan Allen. "in the
name of the Great Jehovah, to the capture
of Fort Ticonderoga ; and from here march
ed Stark, with his braves and the Green
Mountain Boys, Just across the border, where
they made the 10th of August immortal and
to this place they returned, bringing their
foes captive and their own dead for burial.
With such "reminiscences OF these early days
and associations Of place, am TO speak to
YOU but cursorily and briefly, of what these
suggest.-of the New Hampshire Grants,
and of Vermont, and how this came to he II
State, and somewhat of its characteristics II
hundred years ago, and since. and now.
This land OF ours, which We now call Yer
mont. had before 100 become extensively
known to the men of New England by eN-
ploration, the visits of hunters, and the nu-
merous military expeditions, which, Starting
from the heart Of New England. had, for
successive years during the French and Eng
fish war, tnvcrsed it. The cession of Cnnn-
da To Great Britain and the conclusion OF
peace left these lands open for settlement,
undisturbed by further terrors of French
and Indian inroads. The inducements TO
Immigration and settlement here, we of thus
age should reckon not inviting. There were
no pralrles spread out III readiness for the
plough d; no open pastures ready prepared
tor sheep and oxen no tropIc climate and
fruits inviting to rest from labor and to easy
iruition nor yet fresh-discovered gold fields
TO set on tire the lust Of men and draw them,
as by Il sucking whirlwind, from the four
corners of the earth, IN mnd rush to for
tune or IA grave hut, on the contrary,
valley and mountain sides covered with for
ests which kept out the 'unlli.ht, and con-
cealed below their nterlncing roots the pos
sible meadow, pasture and corniield. but pos
sible only to the sweat Of labor and the pam
of toll short summers, with irosts both lnte
and early long winters bound III ice and
buried in snow. But to men like our grand
sires, trained to labor and hardship, the
sons of generations of men to whose axes
the sight of tree had been constant tempt
alton, there was nothing in climate or say
age features of the land Ia deter from fol
lowing the emigratsg instinct OF the race
and SO long ms they could, in the minds eye,
see among the dissolylpg forests the com
Portable homestead, the waving grainfeds,
the garden and the orchard, the school house.
the meeting house. the mill and the village
of their industry, they were rather
melted than repealed 10y the difficulties which
nature had interposcd III the way TO such
iruiton. With the thought OF bcttcring
their condition, IN mere prOstc sense, the
love of adventure, the love of the new and
untried to find what may be- in 1t, love of the
free life of the woods aud of II new society,
doubtless, added romance to the movement.
Yet il was no Texas or California that nllured
them.
Another reason tor tins early emigration,
from Massachusetts and Conncc-
ticut, and winch prevailed ton considerable
extent uartook OF II religious character, and
was AKIN to that which impelled their an
cestors, the Puritans and the Pilgrims, to
leave their homes in England for the sake of
n church Of their liking and free
dom of worship in the New England wilder
ness for it is written of these early immi-
grants 10y one of their number. that "Great
numbers of the early settlers on the New
Hampshire Grants were of the sect of New
Lights, OF Separates, who fled from persecu-
ton in the New England States, and found
an asylum here, where they enjoyed their
religious liberty" This persecution spoken |
Of came naturally of the ideas then preya-
ent, that one Of the functions ofgoyernment