The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1882-07-20

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four ch,ldrcn growing up be vas very well
Apa very happy Then came the first
news Of trouble with Englaud; the battle
Of Lexington Was fought and the battle OF
( Bunker Hill. and then one battle after An'
other. aud there was call for tnoups, and
the whole land vas 10 commoiion. Your
great. great grandfather thought and
thought. aud looked troubled. bat he did
not say anything till one day-it was 10
July, TITO he came in at noon, and said
Wife, pack my saddlebags, they have
declared the colonies free and indepen-
dent AMI that means work and sacrifice
on the part Of everybody 10 the land-wo-
men, boys and all.
And your great greai-grandmother didn't
say anything, only with her eyes full OF
tears she made great baking. aud put u
with her husbands mended socks aud
homespun shirts into the saddlebags; aud
the next day he mounted the finest horse
he had aud rode of to join the army. while
the boys worked the farm. Every now
and then he sent home for something, hil
all the ready money which had been
stored away. and all the crops, except Just
enough for seed and feed the family, were
gone; and then he took the horses and cat
tie, and last of all the boys. The mother
and two daughters now went out into the
deserted fields aud managed, during the
summer, to raise as much as they needed
TO eat and in winter they spun yarn and
knit stockings, and sent to the soldiers,
Then, when the long eight years were
over and the worn nout soldier and one of
his boys came home again--tho other slept
in patriots graye-tbey set to work to
claim the wild farm and to build up new
prosperity, THAT they might have some
thing to help the new government when
they, and such as they, had worked and
sacrificed to establish. And that boy
son, grandfather, followed in his steps;
and your father and /, Gerald, are trying
|
dignity of work ii there had not been
thousands and thousands oil just such
families all over our land, the little strip
of sea coast would not have grown, in a
hundred years, into vast country, stretch
ing from ocean to ocean and from gull to
gulf; we should not to-day see it filled
with cities and towns which rival the mil
lenpial growtbs of the old worlds; with
manufactures and commerce, mines, rail-
roads, public buildings, schools, colleges,
universities, and Libraries; government
of which we are proud, and an agriculture
which dwarfs all others. These things
did not grow up like mushrooms; they are
the results of steady. intelligent, self.sac-
rificing hard work. Even our culture has
not sprung up spontaneously, lbut has
been acquired by patient, self-denying
toll. Our representative men have always
been workers. Six years ago we had the
grandest Fourth of July clebration-cee
brating the hundredth birthday OF til" Ia.
ton. What was it, bnt Al exhibition oi
the Industries OF all lauds and all time!
One year ago we held onr breaths all
through The national holiday, because an
assassins s bullet had struck down our
noblest and our best beloved. Why was
Garfield so great and SO beloved? Chiefly
because he had climbed from poverty to
the White House, by the daily repeated
steps of honorable toll.
Gerald, my boy, said Uncle Abner, If
our glorious country ever falls too low to
deserve Fourth OF July celebration, 1t
will be because her boys despise work.
and want to have good time
1t was long Grafton for the tired peo-
pie to listen to, and some of the listeners
} had fallen asleep; but Gerald had taken in
every word. 1t is too soon 20 see the good
seed come up, but We do net believe the
, future nation will be ashamed Of the boy
whose great great. grandfather worked and
; sacrificed to perpetuate the Fourth OF
I'll, A., E,..J. m sa,.ra.