Middletown transcript., 1878-09-28

, of quiet, honest and industrious fami
lies, laborers and traders, ate theil
meals and lay down to rest in com
fort and security. Whether Whigi
or Tories, Protestants or Jesuits were
uppermost, the grazier drove his beasts
to market, the grocer weighed out his
currants; the draper measured out
his broad cloth the hum of buyers
and sellers was as loud as ever in the
towns the harvest home was cele
brated as joyOusly as ever in the ham
lets; the cream Overfowed the pals
Of Cheshire the apple juice foamed
in the presses at Herefordshire; the
piles of crOckery glowed in the fur
naces of the Trent, and the barrows Of
coal rolled fast along the timber rail.
ways of the Tyne. But when the great
instrument of exchange became thor
oughly deranged, all trade, all indus
try, were smitten as with a palsy. The
evil was felt daily and hourly in al
most every place and by almost every
class, in the dairy and on the thresh-
| ing floor, by the anvil and by the
loom, on the billows of the ocean and
in the depths of the mine. Nothing
could be purchased without dispute.
Over every counter there was wrang-
ling from morning to night. The
workman and his employer had a
quarrel as regularly as the Saturday
came round. On fair day or mar
ket day the clamors, the reproaches,
the taunts, the curses were incessant (;
and it was well ifno booth was over
turned and no head broken. No mer-
chant would contract to deliver goods
without making some stipulation about
the quality of the coin in which he was
to be paid. Even men Of business
were often bewildered by the confusion
into which all pecuniary transactions
were thrown. The simple and careless
were pillaged without mercy by ex-
tOrtioners whose demands grew even
more rapidly than the money shrank."
What is the remedy? Retrench-
ment, economy,-civil service and
tariff reforms I have spoken Of, and
class the restoration of a stable STAN
dard of value as the prime and chief
essential. But for all these we must
come back to the people themselves.
They are the source of all political
power and if the fountain is muddy the
stream will not be clear ifthe people
are weak, ignorant, dishonest, we must
expect them to choose rulers like unto
themselves.
Ignorance and dishonesty lose none
of their force by being massed it is
rather increased Where shall we, in
our quiet little Delaware, seek our best |
remedy for our share of present trou-
BILE? Most ofyou live in the country?
you have planted and cultivated trees !;
sometimes you haveseen them languish-
ing; you see the effects in the twig or
in the leaf, but you know the cause
lies at the root. Under the ground
you seek the germ Of evil /; the cut
worm, the insect, or the unfit nature
Of the soil. 1t is SO in our daily lives,
in the government of our people. A
nation is but an aggregation of indi-
viduals. A community of virtuous
families will be safe and happy no
matter what their form of government.
A fireside circle where honesty is the
test and example-afirmative and
self-asserting honesty-will extend
itself through the morals and conduct
Of all the agencies of government.
And who are the guardians of homes I?
turn to you, mothers, daughters and
your domain is there. The
earliest lessons of infancy and child
hood are the controlling lessons of our
ives. 1t is in the tender years that
he mind and body are most easily
shaped. 1t is the formative period of
human lives for veal or woe, and the
mothers Of a people have a power,
over the character and
one Of the nation thatno merely human
avs can give, and of it none can de-
orive them. We men Of this day and
generation must stand by our honest
regardless of the passing
,usts Of bolsterous and passionate pop
llarity, for it is not these which will {
Eaft our ship to port in safety, but {
ather the calm and steady trade
Winds of integrity and self-control will
urely bare us to the haven of pros 6
.nritv and haDniness 8