Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-01-28

the world great fair and got cheated and
laughed at. You are altogether too sharp
for that. Neither, let me tell you, do we
look up to you rs the members of an hum
BILE family sometimes look up to one OF
their number who has gone off and got to
be grander than the rest. There are two
reasons that prevent that. One is. we
know that mOdesty is Chicago virtue
! laughter and the other is, we know that
reverence is not Vermont virtue. APP
| pause. 1t has struck me within few
days, rich rs you are, smart as you are out
here, how you must miss some of the old
things. Since left Vermont | have not
seen hill steep enough for Il boys sled TO
slide down; and | never realized before
how much of gap there is in the mental
condition of Il person who has been used
10 mountains, when the mountains all fade
down below the horizon. These green
flowers that you have kindly given US here
to night are very sweet and fragrant, but
| should like to call up in the memories of
the Vermonters odors from their YOUTH
the odors of the fields and of the woods
the odor which the warm air brings out
of the pine, and the cedar, and the fern.
But when you think of Vermont | want
you W lliIHhs tS yOu uOuDtlCSS uOS NV VII
of the hills, and the brooks, and the woods.
but of the homes and firesidrs, of the
schools and churches. You remember
Tom Moore's pretty little song in which
the maiden, thinking regretfully of her
native land, wonders,
Are the nghtingales singing there YETI
! Are the still bright on the calm Bendemeer?
And so l doubt not when you think of Ver-
mont you wonder, are the homes still poor
and happy? Are the schools flourishing?
Are the churches maintainedp For you
have doubtless heard the prophets of evil
who have told you and still tell you that
the native population of Vermont is all
diving out, that the little school houses are
deserted, that the little churches are going
to decay, and that it won't be very long
before the little remnant of Vermonters
left will be wailing, like the shah of
Persia, "Shal barbarians have these fair
fields of ours?" Now, brethren and
friends, in order to know how many genu-
inc, true hearted Vermonters there are left
in the old state, there must come some
great crisis which will call for the earnest
sacrifice of good men and good women.
At the outbreak of the war, when George
P. Marsh, reaching the very climax of his
enthusiasm, said Vermont must raise five
regiments, we thought that, for once, our
cool, clear-headed, representative man
had lost his head. The idea of Vermont
raising five giments-5,000 men-seem-
ed piece of extravaganza. Well, we
raised twenty regiments [applause], and,
if the worst had come TO the worst,
we could have raised twenty more.
Renewed applause] And so l say TO-
day, if you want to find how many true
hearted men there are, don't send the
census taker, for he cannot find them, but
let there come danger from violence, do
mestic or foreign, and tell you Vermont
ers will start up from places where it is
now supposed there are no Vermonters,
Just like Roderick Dhu's men did on the
side of the mountain. Sometimes, you
know, in order to get at the manhood
there is in country. you have to weigh
as well as count. take it that Vermont
counts more than two in the Senate of the
United States. The reason why Vermont
can furnish any number of men that the
occasion requires, however great the oc
casion is, is because Vermont keeps the
institutions. the habits, the ideas. the
principles which make men and women
great and keep them SO. Up in Yer
mont they have a pure and simple
democratic constitution.
Up in Vermont they fear God Up in
Vermont they keep fifty-two Sundays
every year, and in some very good years
they keep ifty-three. Laughter. Aud
you know what the Vermont Sunday was.
1t was not the Connecticut Blue-law Sun
day; it was not the Partisan Sunday. and,
thank God, it never will be. They believe,
up in Vermont. in the plain old fashioned
homely virtues, and hope that you do in
Chicago. [Applause
| When it was known that was coming
to Chicago Il great many people said to
me, " You just give our love to all the
boys and girls in Chicago. Applause ]
That is what | have come for,-to bring
the love of genuine Vermonters at home to
unspoiled Vermonters in Chicago. But
they will ask me great many questions
when | get back. They will want to know
what our boys and girls out there mainly
set their hearts on? We know they are
very smart out there. We know that they
have miles and miles of palatial residences
and stores, but what have they sci their
HttIIS Ols vi, us III Wis pun OuCO III llC
olden time, if that which is represented by
these magnificent hotels and shops and
offices stands for thirteen, while that which
is represented by the little schools in YER
mont and the little missionary churches
and the quiet, humble homes and firesides,
if all these stand for only twelve. then
you are not true Vermonters. But | hope
and expect, when 90 back To be able to
say that found our boys and girls out
here just as simp!c-minaed and just AS
true. hearted in all their splendor and the
grandeur of their achievements as they
were in the old days when they drove the
cows to the pasture, whistling rs they
went, and when the young heart that
throbbed under the smoked frork didn't
even dream of the splendors that are your
daily fare here now. | want to carry back
something from Chicago. You never
heard of college president who went
anywhere, that he didn't want to carry
back something with hin. Laughter,
But perhaps was not thinking Of the
same thing you were at that time.
would like TO carry back II little Of your
energy ana enthusiasm, IA little of your
push to the old state. | should like, |
think, to carry back something that would
increase the pulses of Vermonters about
five in a minute. don't think it would
hurt them any. hope that all you owe
her for her history and for her training OF
you you will pay back in your affection
and your devotion to her interests, APP
plause. Mr.. Chairman, will close with
the sentiment with which you introduced
me. "The old state of Vermont, God
bless her." may
Il The love of all her encompass her,
The love of all her daug hters cherish her
TIE REV. W. Il. ALGER.
The next toast, The cultivation and
expression of public spirit, a great want in
America" was eloquently responded TO bv