Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-09-15
Memories of Secretary Blaine's
Birthplace.


A LETTER READ AT THE Centennial
CELEBRATIsS or WASHINGTON COUSrY
Penn, LAST THURSDAY.
From the New York Tribune Sept. l2.
WAsHrNGToS, ID. C., Sept. 3, 1881.
john T. McKESSAS. Esq., Warrington,
Penn.
DEAR SIR: had anticipated great pleas
ure In being present at the centennial celebra-
ton Of Washington County, but the National
sorrow which shadows every household de-
tains me here. shall, perhaps, never again
have the opportunity Of seeing so many of
the friends Of my youth and many Of
my blood and kindred, and you may well
conceive that my disappointment is great
The strong attachment which feel for the
county. the pride which I cherish in its
traditions, and the high estimate which have
always placed on the character Of its people
increase with years and with reflection. The
pioneers were strong hearted, God fearing,
resolute men, wholly. or almost wholly, OF
Scotch or Scotch-Irish descent. They were
men who, according 20 an inherited maxim,
never turned their backs on a friend or on an
enemy. For twenty years dating from the
middle period Of the Revolution, the settlers
we're composed very largely Of men who had
themselves served in the Continental Army,
many Of them as officers. and they impaired
an intense patriotism to the public sentiment.
II may be among the illusions of memory,
but think I have nowhere else seen the
Fourth Of July and Washingt0n's Birthday
celebrated with such zeal and interest rs in
the gatherings then attended. I recall a
great meeting Of the people on the Fourth of
July, 1870. on the border Of the county, in
Brownsville, at which a considerable part of
the procession was composed of vehicles filled
with Revolutionary soldiers. | was but ten
years old, and may possibly mistake, but
think there were more than two hundred Of
the grand old heroes. The modern cant and
criticism which we sometimes hear about
Washington not being, after all, very great
man would have been dangerous talk on that
day and in that assemblage.
These pioneers placed high value on edu-
cation, and while they were still on the from
tier. struggling with its privations, they es-
tablished two excellent colleges. long since
prosperously united in one. 1t would be i'm
possible to overstate the benefcent and wide
spread influence which Washington and Jefier-
son colleges have exerted on the civilization of
that great country which lies between the
Allcghanies and the Mississippi river. Their
graduates have been prominent in the pull
pit, at the bar, on the bench, and in the high
stations of public life. During my service
Of eighteen years in Congress met larger
number of the alumni of Washington and
Jefferson than of any other single college in
the Union make this statement from MEM
ory, but feel assured that close examina-
ton If the rolls Of the two Houses from 1868
to 1881 would fully establish its correctness.
Not only were the two colleges founded
and well sustained. but the entire educational
system of the county, long before the school
tax ard public schools, was comprehensive
and thorough. ! remember in my own boy
hood that there were ten or eleven acade-
mics or select schools in the county where
lads could be fitted for college. In nearly
every instance the Presbyterian pastor WAS
the principal teacher. Many who will be
present at your centennial will recall the
succession of we'll Thrilled students who came
for so many years from the tuition of DR..
McCluskey. Of West Alexander; from the
Rev. John Stockton, at Cross Creek; from the
Rev. John Eagleston, at Buffalo, and from
others of like worth and reputation.
n 10 inevitable that a county thus peopled
should grow in strength. wisdom and wealth.
Its sixty thousand inhabitants are favored far
beyond the average lot of man. They are
pleased with fertile soil and with the health
giving climate which belongs to the charmed
latitude Of the fortieth parallel-thc middle
of the wheat and corn belt Of the continent.
Beyond this they enjoy the happy and en-
noblinx influences Of scenery rs grand and
beautiful a. that which lures tourists thous-
ands Of miles beyond the sea. l have myself
visited many Of the celebrated spots in Eu-
rope and America, and have now here wit
messed = more attractive sight than Was IA
miliar to my eyes in boyhood from the old
Indian Hill Farm, where l was born. and
where my great-grandfather. the elder Neal
Gillespie. settled before the outbreak of the
Revolution. The majestic sweep of the
Monongahela through the foothills OF the Al
leghanies, with the chain Of mountains but
twenty miles distant. in full, view. give an
impression Of beauty and suslimity which
can never be efaced.
talk thus Familiarity of localities and
childhood incidents because your asscm-
blage, though composed Of thousands, will
in effect be family reunion, where the only
things in order will be tradition and recol-
lection and personal history. Identified. as
have been for twepty-eight years, with q
great aud noble people in another section of
the Union, have never lost any Of my at
tachment for my native county and my native
State. The two feelings no more couflict
than does a mans love for his
wife and his love for his mother
Wherever may be in life. or whatever my
fortune. the Couaty of Washington, As it
anciently was, taking in both sides of the
Nononxahela, will be sacred in my memory.
l shal always recall with pride that my
ancestry and kindred we're and are not in
coaspicnossly connected with its history.
aad.s on either aide Of the beautiful river,
\ Psosestnns and in Catholic cemeteries,
ave excavations of my Own blood sleep in
eeseeea agfavss' Very sincerely yours,
JANIs G. BLAME