The Portland daily press., 1884-05-31


that in every portion of this land, they who
were bravest and truest in the days Of the great
strife, in all the stress of duty forever since
have been the BEST exponents of the new
hopes aud the new life of the Republic. They
have been the tenderest to heal, the swiftest to
forgive, the surest to do justice. They have
been the safest counsellors, and they have been
and are to-day the pioneers in the noble work
of establishing full and final peace in the land.
With broad and catholic faith let Us follow
this lead. With the true instinct of manhood
let us meet and hallow their spirit that bids
Defeat unite with victory
To win for each a.. rander aim,
One fatherland redeemed from blame,
One past, of sadder, prouder fame,
One future just and tree."
After the address by Judge knight, which
was frequently applauded, the band played a
selection, followed by the Weber Club with a
vocal number
Hon. Thomas B. Reed was then received
with enthusiasm and spoke as follows:
MR.. REEDS ADDRESS.
I remember few years ago being aroused
before the early dawn to take a night train
| from country town in the month of August.
l found in the coach little child on its
mothers knee, little child Of only few
months old. As we drove through the leafy
streets could see the little eyes peering Gu
| rously out of one window and then the other
| at the shifting shadows OF the sombre trees
! and at all the faint outlines of semi
midnight. What strange vague impressions
from the darkness came pouring into the little
| soul we shall never know for long before the
language comes in which they might have
been expressed the Impressions viii have
| vanished into the thin air from whence they
| came.
As 1 watched the eager chances I thought
how typical the scene was of the race to which
we all belong. Ever since the distant ages in
| which we had our origin mankind has been peer
| ing wstfully forth in quest of knowledge of the
vast world in which it lives That stores OF
knowledge have been heaped up, that every
| generation has added 10 the stores of their
| forefathers is not more certain than that every
| generation to come will go on in the great
| work Of enlightenment until the knowledge
| alike OF God and of his creation will cover the
earth as the waters cover the sea and yet for
| ages and perhaps forever the vast unknown
| will stretch limitless bevond human view.
OF all the mysteries to us still unknown the
| greatest is the mystery OF the human race it,
| self. For its preservation and perpetuation as
| whole no care seems TO be too great no effort
| OF nature seems to be spared AS it grows in
| numbers and in strength great continents
seem to open for its habitation. When the
| old world became too small for its sustenauce,
| the new world gradually opened its gates and
| spread wide Its vast plains for those who
| could no longer find growth in their former
| homes. And to-day, when no vivid magma.
i
| future America teeming, like Asia, with un-
| counted millions, an observant eye can already
| see that the hitherto inhospitsble shores OF
| Africa may hereafter witness the disembsrk a.
ton of myriads of the progeny of those living
| in other lands who little dream of such a future
| for their children.
And yet careful and painstaking as nature
is for the race as whole-and / might illus
| trate it in thousand ways other Than the one
L have taken-nature seems to care
| nothing for the individual. Whole
swept off the face OF the earth. In
six seconds the Lisbon earthquake swallowed
| up forty thousand human beings. Every year
/ from our own coasts hundreds of fishermen on
| that hottest Of errands the search for susie.
| nance for wife aud child 90 down with
bubbling groan to their graves in the unre.
| lenting sea. Whole cities have been covered
MP by the volcanoes blast in a single night,
| No matter how learned or famous anv man
may be the lave of Nature never
spare him. No account seems to be
taken OF ripe Learning, OF high promise or Of
| usefulness. Pascal dies at 80. Hamilton falls
by duelist's bullet at AZ, in the fullness oil
his powers. Stephen A, Douglass dies at the
| opening OF the war, at the very moment when
| his country seemed to need him most The
Presidents of the United States in the very
| crises OF their country's fate, were stricken
i down by ruthless sssassins. 1t is only a
| year ago that the great English scholar,
| Palmer, ricn with wealth of Oriental learn
| ing, was Killed like a dog by a marsuding
band of wanderi' Arabs, the whole of whose
| lives would seem poor recompense for his.
War also is great destroyer of men. When
| we think what war is we wonder that 1t can
| ever be. Said General Sherman, and no man
/ knows whst 1T Is better than he, "War is cru