The National tribune., 1882-09-09
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES VANDER-
VOORT IN VERMONT.

RUTLAND, VT, Sept. 1.-The semi-annual
Encampment of the Department of Vermont,
which was held here on the 18th ult., was OF
special interest, owing to the presence of Com
mander-in- Chief VandervoOrt, who was form
ally welcomed by Department Commander
Valentine at the Grand Army Hall, where a
business session was held during the morning.
Among those speaking, besides the distln-
guished visitors, Comrades Vandervoort and
Bangs, who made brief and telling remarks,
were Comrades Gibbs, of Burlington; Butter
field and Taylor, of Bellows Falls; CofIey, of
Richmond; Bundy, of Arlington; Graves, of
Bennington: Greenleaf of WinoOski; Parker,
of Farhaven; and Comrades Richardson, Nor
gan, Goulding, Kingsley, Kinsman, and Proc
tor, of Rutland
In the afternoon the delegates visited Suther-
land Falls at the invitation of COmrade Proctor,
who, with his son and Comrade Hall, OF the
Producers Marble Company, entertained them
very handsomely. On their return in the even
ing there was a gathering at the hall, and,
after music by the Rutland Cornet Band and
the Roberts Post Glee Club, Commander Nalen-
tine introduced the speaker of the evening,
Commander-in-Chief Vandervoort, who said it
gave him great pleasure to meet the Depart
ment of Vermont under such pleasant circum-
stances and in such beautiful village as Rut-
land. He had enjoyed very much visiting the
many places of interest within our thriving
place. and was amazed at the extent of the
marble business. He thought Rutland was
eminently entitled to the cognomen of the
marble city" The speaker said his chief OBJ
iect, in the few remarks he should make, would
be to set forth some of the motives and prlncl-
ciples of the G. A. r., an order which to-day
was represented by larger army than was
marshalled under any one commander during
the rebellion-numbering over $500 Posts. 1t
had been charged against the organization that
it was a political body, gotten up for political
purposes; but such was not the truth; for 1T
was as free from politics as any church III the
land. The foundations of the organization
were charity, justice, and loyalty-charity and
Justice to the soldier who took his life in his
hands and left all that was dear to him on
earth and fought to save this country which
we enjoy to-day. One Of the purposes of the
institution is to teach our children to be loyal
to the flag which their fathers fought to pre-
serve; ana we muSU so 1nSulli JLlS IoSdIty IIeo
them that when the last member of our organ
iZation shall have been mustered out Memorial
Day shall not be forgotten, but the graves of
our soldier dead shall be covered with the most
beautiful flowers the earth produces. The
speaker recalled some of the scenes of the war,
and said that it was one of the duties Of the &.
A. r. to perpetuate these memories. In con-
cluding he exhorted the comrades to band them
selves together and perform well their duties.
The band played Three Cheers for the BED,
White, and Blue" and "John Brown was sung
by the glee club, the audience joining in the
chorus.
Junior Vice. Commander Bangs waf then in
troduced and made very happy speech, in
which he made some sharp hits on the first
speaker He gave an outline of the work OF
the Ladies Relief Society" in Maine and
Massachusetts, an organization which was COM
posed of the wives, mothers, sisters, and daught-
ers of veterans and whose work was auxiliary
to that of the e. A. Z.
Speeches were also made by Chaplain J. *
Richardson, Col Veazey, the Rev. Mr.. Lowell,
a one-armed soldier and Judge Dunton. After
wards about 100 persons sat down to a banquet
at the Bardwell House.