The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-01-08

The menu comprised all the delicacies
Of the season, including the choicest wines
from Rennerts cellars. The table was
decorated with flowers tastefully arranged,
including a boutoniere for each guest.
Dr. Bombaugh made an admirable pre-
siding officer for such an occasion. After
the viands had been thoroughly dis
cussed and the cloth removed, he expressed
his qualification at the large assembly pre-
sent from different parts Of the State In
few happily chosen words he gave warm
expression to the sentiments of the profess
sion in welcoming Mr.. Cotton back home
after six months travel in all the principal
States of Europe as well as in Turkey and
Palestine. He then introduced Senator
Vandcrford, who delivered an impressive
formal welcome on the part of the mem
bers of the State Association, heartily
greeting Mr.. Cotton on his return again
to home, kindred, country and friends
TIE ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
| Mr.. PRESIDENT The present occasion is
one Of peculiar interest. Prompted by fra
ternal feeling the Maryland Editors Associa
ton have met to welcome you again to their
| fellowship after your protracted tour in for
eign lands. The intelligent and ohservant
tourist finds travel not only source of reore-
alton, but also fruitful source of intorma-
ton, from which he may draw large supplies,
if he travel with eyes and ears attent to all
that is passing around him. We need not say
that you have been one Of this class, noting
and marking the contrast between things
abroad and things at home, jotting down your
conclusions, curTente caIdmO, and publishing
them in the most popular form for the benefit
| of the public. We have read these letters
with much satisfaction, and have thus borne
you company throughout your journeyings.
Your route did not lead you through unex-
plorcd regions, requiring you, like pioneer
| traveller, to note the geography. the hydrog-
raphy, the flora and the fauna of the countries
through which you passed, but along the
beaten paths of travel and commerce, closely
cleaned by predecessors, and yet you found
| something new at every stage of your journey,
and have enriched and enlivened your letters
! with novel, entertaining and piquaht matter,
where less astuta and observant travellers
would have riHed the guide books and tGld
oyef ggan the stereotyped stories of the beau
ties Of the Rhine, its ruined castles and its
vine clad shores, of stately cathedrals and
| other imposing ediRces, and reoounted tho
works Of art, the painting and the seulp
ture of world. renowned masters, with whose
achievements the world is already familiar.
| but echo the oft-expressed desire of your
| editorial brethren that you should publish
these letters in book form. Let not the null
titude of books continually issuing from the
press, UNDUE reserve, nor possible hypercrti-
cism, deter yo4.. Nearly three thousand
wears ago it was said ''0f making many books
there u no end and if this remark were
true in the days when the tedious stylus traced
its mysteries upon the parchment scroll, how
much more appropriate it is to the present
day, when the steam power press multipies
them with a velocity greater by more than
hundred fold. Nevertheless, the encourage
me4t remains Of the survival Of the fittest.
Travel and observation arg doing muQii fop
the worlds advancement. The days are sure
ly COME, faretold in the sacred oracles, when
'many shall run to and fFQ and knowledge be
increased" Men will continue to travel and
to write. Books are the repositories Of the
wisdom and learning Of the world, aud must
needs multiply as knowledge increases.
But, sir, | will not protFact my remarks On
this occasion. We are met TO offer you our
friendly greetings and congratulations, and
MARYLAND, / e6ri;ally welcome you back
again, after your protracted jourReyines, to
home, kindred and country, and to the fell
lowship Of ths friends around you.
MR.. c0LT0A's RESPONSE.
10 the address of welcome, Mr.. Cotton
responded in the following manner;
Mr., CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE As
socIATIoy.-I feel myself utterly inadequate
to respond to the eloquent remarks of my hon
ored friend, who has so kindly alluded to my
journey abroad and return again to my home
and cherished friends once more. | assure
you | feel profoundly sensible and deeply
grateful for this evidence of your friendship
and esteem, and prize it still more highly
because it was so unexpected and undeserved
upon my part. This warm greeting by my
editorial brethren not only enlarges my al.
ways great pride at being an humble member
of our guild, but touches chord in my heart
that always sends out responsive thrill. In
all my wanderings abroad, and my yearnings
for friends and ''home again" never dream
ed of SO touching aqd so genial an exhibition
of friendship aud brotherhood as this and |
assure you / shall always reverently cherish
this as one of the happiest and proudest days
OF MY life, would not mar the pleasure of
this hour by any recital of what saw and ex
perienced in the few months that have been
in other lands but it may not be amiss to say
that while absent [ visited many notable pl a.
ces, saw many different social and political
institutions, and learned good deal of the
condition of the people under them that |
could not have learned from books. But
shall not attempt to tell Of what | learned of
the beauty, the magnihcence, the grand see
merry, the delicious climates, the immense nat
ural resources of the lands through which |
passed, nor Of the oppression, the wrongs,
the misery and degradation TO which many OF
their wretched inhabitants are subjected:
return home more profoundly grateful than
ever to God that my lot has been cast in this
glorious land of liberty, of law, of Christian
morality, of political freedom, of peace, of
happiness, and of general prosperity. And
in all my wanderings in the Old World there
was nothing that seemed to me SO beautiful
so hopeful to humanity as the stars and stripes
/ saw floating aloft in the harbor Of New
York.
DIR. Bombaugh followed in few remarks
during which he said: sit has been
thought best by the executive committee
10 order to maintain sociability to substi
tute for the forIaality and restraint Of reg
ular toasts, the privilege Of everybody re-
spending as he saw fit when called upon
by the chair" Mr.. Bombaugh made
many happy hits, and referring to the fact
that Mr.. Colton's letters unlike those of
nearly all European correspondents-were
not copies Of gpjde-books, called amidst
much laughter upon pr, Gols as man
who knew all about it. Dr. Cole respond
ed at some lent.
Mr.. 1. Victor Baughman followed in a
humorous vein, and kept his hearers in a
roar of laughter.