The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-12-30
Forefathers' Day in Washington.

FOrefathers' Day in Washington.
Forefathers' day December 2D was OBJ
served at the national capital under the
auspices of the Congregational Club. One
| hundred twenty-five citzens-many of them
! from New England or of New England
origin gathered around the festive board,
and, after partaSing of the elegant viands,
listened to speeches by Senator Hawley,
Ex-Governor Long Congressman w. w.
! Grout and others The Washington star
has quite a full report of the exercises. The
following is the substance of General
| CIRCUITS speech:
Mr.. Chairman Coming, as I do, from
state that was early overrun by the descend
ants of the Pilgrim fathers, / feel that cannot
wholly excuse myself from just word on
this occasion, and at the same time pay
! proper respect to the memory of these re-
markable men; and perhaps l ought also
to add proper respect for the pride of the
! people of the little state in which have
| my home that they are descended from
these men. | can probably do no better
than respond in the language of the minis
| ter of the name of Adam to his brother min
lister of the name of Lowe, both of whom
were candidating on the same Sabbath day
| for call from the same church. In the
morning the Rev. Mr.. Lowe occupied the
/ pulpit and took for his text: Adam, where
art thou?' In the evening the Rev. Adam
had the pulpit, and answered with the
! text: Lo, am here" In like manner
may say " am here" and perhaps | ought
at least to say | am glad to be here, as in
deed | am. am glad to know of the re-
cent organization of this Congregational
Club here in this beautiful capital of our
! great country. | am glad to know that the
Mayfiower which set out in 1920 from
Delft Haven for the clear skies and balmy
atmosphere of Virginia, but which was
driven by adverse winds, a mistake in
the reckoning, upon the rocky, ice-bound
coast of New England, and reluctantly
dropped her anchor in Cape Cod Bay, has
at last brought up here near the Chesapeake,
| her original destinations: and here, if not
! upon the very soil, at least within sight of
! the promised land, upon which the Pilgrims
! looked !ongingly two hundred fifty years
ago, they have in the persons of their de-
! Scendants at last planted their standard.
Here in this temple, dedicated to the God
of hosts, where you offer up your devotions,
! You are tonight assembled, a goodly com
! pany, in memory of the landing of your
forefathers upon that inhospitable shore
on that bleak December day, if Governor
| Long, after his account of the sultry eli
mate of Cape Cod, will allow that there is
ever anything but sunshine there. Now as
| descendant of the other colony-the
Massachusetts Bay colony-I feel free, of
course, to state the g cold facts " about the
| Plymouth colony and Cape Cod, the gov
ernor having painted that landscape a little
warm | also feel it my duty, after 'he al
Turing description of the distinguished
representative of that colony and that sec
ton, to warn you against trying Plymouth
| Rock as a summer resort in December. |
doubt, my friends, if those of you who never
! spent December on the Massachusetts
coast, or for that matter anywhere in New
England, but have always dwelt in this
milder latitude, where these bright days for
the past fortnight have been of almost
Italian softness-I doubt, say, if you have
any very just conception of what the DIST of
December means in New England, of what
1t calls for in the line of overcoats and over
Shoes of mutflers and mittens. But there
on that day, amid ice and snow, these men
landed. and straightway they built, after
providing themselves homes, the school
house and the church. And there in the
lone wilderness they worshiped, and the
poet tells us that there,
amid the storm they sang
And the stars heard and the sea;
And the sounding aises of the dim woods rang
with the anthem of the free
You will recall how before they landed
as if conscious that their mission was to
plant an independent state as well as an in
dependent church, they formulated sys-
TEN of civil government, under the princi- |
pies of which sixty millions of people now
hold this continent and enjoy the blessings
of civil and religious liberty. Truly these
We're remarkable men; and Longfellow tells !
us why when he says Il think in the Court |
ship of Miles Standish) that God sifted |
three kingdoms to find the wheat for this |
Scotland and Holland, from whence they
came. You will remember also how the
few who survived the rigors of that first ter
rible winter in the next autumn, after they !
had harvested their first crop, were called |
upon by Governor Bradford to raise their
voices in thanksgiving and praise to the |
God of their salvation for his temporal, as |
well as spiritual, gifts TO them. Ever since
that time Thanksgiving day has been an |
institution in New England, and lately
tlOupH long Snpprpl at nv the Vnlipr Snirit !
of certain sections-this New England GUS |
tom has extended itself throughout all the |
states, President Lincoln first Matchmaking |
it by proclamation in 1868, and since then |
there has been an annual proclamation for |
its observance by his successors. This may |
be thought a small matter, but ii is, never |
theess, significant as showing the silver |
thread sent by the lives of these men down |
through the centuries into the civilization of |
to-day. They We're, in fact, the pioneers of |
a civilization altogether new in the history |
of the world. That civilization has for its |
corner-stones the church, the school-house |
and the ballot-boX, for it should be remem- |
bered that the town-neeting was quite rs |
prominent feature in early New England |
history as was the Congregational church. |
Now these three essentials of a free state |
and of a progressive social and religious life |
have always been free in New England to |
do their perfect work. And westward also, !
have gone New Enganders. Out upon the |
prairies and across the great river, and over |
among the Rockies, and even down the |
slopes of the Pacihc-whereve they have |
gone with them also have gone these three |
landmarks of American civilization, viz:
the free school, the free church and the free |
ballot. Now this was the Puritans' formula |
for a free state, and If it shall ever happen TO |
us as people that we miss the grand des- |
tiny made possible for us by the lives and |
teachings of the Pilgrim fathers, il will come |
from the neglect or abuse of some one or all |
of these essentials TO the perpetuity of the |
civil and religious institutions which have |
come down to us from Plymouth Rock. That |
the school-house may not fail in its share of |
the great work still TO be done, New En- |
gland proposes to set aside from the public |
revenues some S77 100000 and dedicate it |
forever to the education of the masses. This |
certainly ought TO answer for the school,
house The Puritan doctrine of complete
ion Of nlnrch and forhils thlA !