Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-11-01

lie and private life, We are largely indebted
to the vesal fires kept burning by the
women who have stamped their pure and
! lOvable character upon our rural homes.
1t was long ago said that the most fOrtu-
nate event in life is to have been born in
some city, for the reason that rural districts
have no surroundings, no troops of friends.
nothing but still and obscure life to aid in
personal Improvement or advancement in
any useful or honorable career among men
To some extent this may be true. and it
may be safely assumed that tqual merit in
| Delaware or Vermont will be less likely to
reach the Presidency Of the United States
than il upheld BY Pennsylvania, New York
or Ohio, but native vigor and habits of toll
will tell. and the men born in the noiseless
towns OF Vermont and transferred to other
States are scarcely less traceable than the
blood of the Morgan horse. You will find
them, as have, great farmers on the prai-
ries, among the foremost merchants of
many cities, rich miners in California, lead
ing professional men in places where com
petition is constant and conspicuous, and 8,
let me add, that in Congress VIC
are usually represented in both
Houses By more Vermonters from other
&ates than from our own. Four-ifths of
the many millions of national revenue from
duties on imports are collected at New York
and Boston. General Merritt, born in Sud-
bury, holds the responsible position of COL
lector at one of these ports, and AlansOn
W. Beard, of Pittsiield, at the other. True,
VIC have brought forth some Jo Smiths End
Brigham foungs. "a well as otkcr phos-
phorescent and eminent rascals, but | am
persuaded that no more than our proper
tionate numbers will be lost in the final
account
Our state among the great States of the
Union, like the earth among the planets,
may be comparatively small, but its ab-
senes would have caused-and would still
cause-some disturbance in the orbits Of the
others, and as We look over past history, We
must claim some names, if not so effulgent
and potential as that rising from q humble
town in New Hampshire and the foremost
name among Americans, yet still fresh and
luminous, whose memory, it is to be hoped,
will remain dear among our green hills
even after the lapse VI one OF those pro-
tracted periods of time treated of by geol-
ogists.
Although have by no means completed
the subject, have nearly used up the time
| had proposed to occupy, and will only add
a few words in conclusion.
The United States, as the chief represen-
tHh''S VI foPhiei ~ hlltdcN
highly advanced in both the affection and |
respect of the world. Its great power by |
land or sea, commercially and morally, il |
no longer disputable. Our State. the first |
born of the Union, and an ardent lover OF |
independence and free institutions, main |
tains in its townships abundant recruiting
stations OF public virtue and capacity. This |
ls our home, where We mean to live and die. |
Here are offered all the resources OF indus |
try, but We must not be content with doing |
merely ordinary things in an ordinary way.
Our credit must be gilt-edged. Our pro-
ducts. whether Of the workshop or the farm,
must be the best, the cream, of all the most
excellent to be found in the market. Not
)nly honor but the surest hope of profit is
to be sought IN this direction. We have
roOm for million of people. if they are
honest people. and have We not ahounding
md sufficient reasons why all should be con-
tent with Vermont?