The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1885-07-01

BOTH 1850, BY COL. Z. A. SMITH.
Mr.. President and Members Of the Alumni
dissertation;
To speak of friend to whom the highest
tribute which can be rendered, is to relate
the truth in the simplest language Is so
pleasurable a task that when your commit
Tee did me the undeserved honor to invite
me to appear in that capacity on this occa-
sion, promptly accepted the responsible
W. In life, the man to the memory OF
whose useful and unselfish career, we turn
aside to pay onr homage was never pre-
ceded by brazen heralds; so on this &C.
casion, nothing could less beht his char
acter than extended and snowy exordlum.
In life, no dazzling array OF attendants, no
glltterng train of applauders, no dramatic
device was ever employed by him to add
an lmpressvencss not his own; 80 he who
would do justice TO the sturdy character of
Abner Coourn, will leave behind him the
conceits Of the phrase. maker and the am
bilious ailectation of the rhetoiiciau. In
life, he had too much sense and self-re-
spect to initiate and he was too honest to
affect gifts which he did not possess Now
that he is dead, it would be an act of sac
rilcge to present the man to posterity other
than he was in lie. No man ever owed
less to eXtraneous circumstances: he shall
not here be their creature or their victim.
The maxim: "De mortuis nil ns bonum,
has come To have SO much the force OF
law that intellectual padding aud moral
bracing when speaking OF the dead are
practiced in the spirit of charity to I'LL ny
defects and reduce deformities and SO
.killfuly is the work OF character-grading
so often performed that if, in the realm of
the shades, the man as he was, should meet
with the personality created by his eulo-
rst, lie would never recognize his new self
without formal introduction Thrice for
tunate for him who speaks OF Abner Co
burn that his life has made the caution OF
the charitable maxim superhuous and in
its place, and Substitutes the admonition :
"rhe simple truth is the highest praise"
The century and the Republic were in
their infancy and Maine was Massach usetts
when Abner Coburn was born The pop
ulation of the former was 0O00, 600 less
than now and that of the then future Stale
scarcely reached lG5, 900 The murderous
savage no longer ambushcd feebly advanc-
ing civilization, but the resistance of the
force of nature made mere existence the
price of a hand-to-haud everyday struggle.
The hardy settler who had to suodue the
virgin forests aud TO hew paths through
the trackless wilderness, could always see
the gaunt wolf near the door OF his log
cabin. In effort and time, ii cost more to
move a ton of merchandise from Abner Co
burns birth place to The sea than 1t now
does from Chicago to Maine. Now one
can go from MaiDe to Chicago on the fast
express and return in the time which IL
took the father OF Abncr Coburn to 20 from
Bloomfield when called to represent his fell
low citizens in the Massachusetts Gene al
Court.
TO such realistic life was Governor CO.
~ fnV liz ,,T
fourteen children His inheritance was
the PHYSICAL vigor, the manllness, persist
ence and the moral purpose which frugal,
country loving, God-fearlng ancestry can
transmit On both sides, his es'ors
were hardy and intellectual stock
Squire Coburn. the father was one of the
fist men of the region. The mother was
from the family of Weston's, which, in
Maine, is older than the State and has new
Ell failed to contribute to each succeeding
generation, men of character and useful
ness 1t was patriotic blood-the grand
father of the Governor, piloted the Arnold
expedition up the Kcnnebec and across the
s'carry" into the waters of the St. Law
renee and died from the exposure incident
to the patriotic service. Into this life OF
toll and struggle, Ahner Coburn entered
and when mere boy he performed mans
part in the farm work. He made his first
inuruey to Boston, on foot behind drove
of cattle; and the steers which his fathe,
could not sell in the shambes, the thrifty
son made saable TO the farmers by break
ing them to the yoke. EngrosSed with the
cares and pursuits OF men, 1t never oc-
cured to him to sow wild oats. HIS adj
vantages for education were most meigre.
The district schools were kept rather than
taught few weeks year. me school
book maker and the pormal school teacher
had not then cast up and graded the royal
road to learning. He who got KNOWLEDGE
in the public schools seventy years ago,
was conspicuous Illustration OF the OAR
Ninian theory of the survival of the fitteSt.
A short period at the then new Bloomfield
Acad my ended the school lite Of Abnef
Coburn except few winters IN when he
taught district schools for 81 per month
and "boarded round
Although Governor Cohurn never en-
tered college halls, except as patron ana
benctuctor, ne was, in the best sense OF the
term a literally educated man. Ills tl-
panslve mind was well Disciplined. O)ser-
vAtion, experience, contact with peh,
thinking and the time he was able to give
to reading afforded him varied aud wide ln-
formation. | have often been surprised by
the maturity OF his views upon topics not
in the line of his business. Not only was
he n wcl-iuform"d man upon financial anu
commercial topics hut in the field oil
political economy his views were singular
lv clear aud OF wide range. In the summer
OF 1879, | called at hIs house whele wore
two or three men who were engaged with
him in business. The conversation dlllleu
to the business and industrial depression
which, had then extended from september
1874, in the course OF which he spoke
nearly as follows. Business Will revive
lust as soon as there is anything IKE Tree
employment for the people who depend on
wages Tor II living. There Is over-produc-
lion only because the people who depend
on wages cannot ca II them and because,
when close times come, those who can en-
plov labor and buy the products OF labor
make haste to reduce their expenditures.
Give the labor of the country employment
and good wages and you will hear no more
about ovcr-production. That people Will
enjoy the greatest degree of prosperity
which spend freely within their means A