The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-10-02

ADDREss.-Th following address by VIM.
c. Ryan, of New Hope, in response to the
toast The Future of Solebury aud New
Hope" delivered at the recent banquet held
i'll connection with the exhibition of the Sole
bury Farmers Club, at the Deer Park, is pub.
lished below
Mr.. PRESIDENT lit has been said that
the true index to the future is the past, and
know of no one here to night better adapted
to the performance of my duty than our able
historian of the day. l am not prophet nor
the son of a prophet, neither do find in the
history and traditions of the family, evidence
that any of my ancestry ever distinguished
themselves in this direction-even before they
left the old sod. No weight of browning
years has given me mystical lore, or black art
endowed me with the power to foretell but
somewhat less than fifty years experience has
taught me many things Of that picturesque
village by the river; and beyond an association
of hill and dale, mountain and stream, tower
ing woods and cultivated farm, with the name,
and an acquaintance with her cultured and
warm hearted Inhabitants, / have learned
somewhat of Solebury. That both are to
have future seems to be foregone conclu-
sion, but what that shall be depends in great
measure upon circumstances. As we look
things in the coming history of both. Hand
in hand they have gone together in the past,
hand in hand they will go in the future
through sunshine and shadow, success aud re-
verse. New Hope opens up wide field for
speculation, and as we strive to cast the hor-
oscope of her future, visions of palatal spien-
dor and architectural magni6cence float before
the mind, and genius and greatness make her
their dwelling place. Yet the old inquiry may
frfn oil nAn and n No. raa
come out of Nazareth P" There is certainly
room for improvement here, and time enough
for 1t too. Rome was not built in day, neith-
er was New Hope and the idea which may
have gone abroad that both were founded
about the same time should be at once pro-
nounced erroneous it might injure the repu-
tation of Rome. Such theory may have orig
mated from the general style of architecture
exhibited in the structure of her public build
ings, under which head, of course, properly
belong the post-office and town hall. With
SO much latent talent and dormant energy,
one cannot but expect wonderful things OF the
town in time to come, and though it may re-
quire few hundred years to bring this about,
yet solemnly believe, Ito the extent OF my
abity,) that they will come. Solebury may
not be ambitious yet she has certainly much
to expect from her literary societies, and will,
doubtless, at no far distant day, speak IN
truiHpeV GoueS through ner representatives III
the councils of the nation. She may not be
ambitious, yet we may see, even in our day,
the golden riches of her abundant harvests,
and her hardy tillers of the soil reclining at
the luxurious ease of nabobs-provided the
socialistic idea be not in vogue. She seems to
be economical and may see the day when
school teaching ON reduced salary will be
esteemed high and not an empty honor
But most important of ALL she will have, il
wishing has aught to do with it, many such
banquets as her Farmers Club has spread
here to night, and it is the sincere desire of
your humble servant that he be present at ev-
cry one. But soberly We cannot antici-
pate the future. IL stretches away before us,
far beyond the reach of mortal sight. We
stand but in the grey dawn of that day in
whose noontide blaze future generations shall
bask we but in the beginning, they in the full
realization. We but at the foot of the ladder,
they at the top. " One generation passeth
away and another generation cometh, but the
earth abdeth forever" When we shall have
vanished as the shades of night or the morn
ing mist others shall stand in our stead. 9th
er feet shall walk these ways, other hands till
this soil, other voices ring among these hills
when the places that know us now shall know
us no more. For them shall the earth be green
and the skies be bright, the seasons come and
go and the years roll on and though in SOW
ing and reaping and gathering into barns they
may commit our memories to oblivion, yet a
subtle influence will we leave behind, potent
it may be in the shaping of their destiny.