Mexico weekly ledger., 1885-07-09

E. c. KENNEN'S SPEECH AT THE LADDoNIA
II MIC.
One of the best (not predantic or rant
ing) speeches made on the 4th of July,
was delivered by Mr.. E. G. Keunen, Of
Laddonia, at the pic mic near that place.
Mr.. Kennen is q sensible man and shows
it, not only in his speeches, but in his ac-
lions in every day life. The following is
a brief review of his speech:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN.-We have assembled here to-day in
a two.fold capacity, and u exercises
may, 1 suppose, be, to a certain extent,
two-fold in their character. I'm the first
place we have met here on this, the one
hundred and ninth anniversary of our ma
TONS birth, as it is right and BETTING
every community of American freemen
should, to commemorate the beginning,
to return thanks for the preservation and
in our humble way seek to continue and
p%erpetuate the great principle of indie
pendent citizenship and free self govern
ment, and to hear proclaimed anew the
article of our distinctive, national, politi-
cal, the plain, the simple, and yet the
strongest and most mastery statement
of the rights of man ever published to the
world, as formulated by Jefferson and an
nounced by the Continental Congress I'M
der the name of the Declaration of Amer
lean Independence. And while We, in
common with the whole sisterhood of
states, to-day rejoice in the foundation
and elimination of u free institutions,
| we, in a local sense, as citizens Of this
particular locality, while in the onward
march of time we look with unfaltering
trust and unchanging hope to the future,
| yet to-day, in order to better appreciate
the blessings which surround US, we will
| turn back to compare and contrast the
condition of this particular part of our
country at this time, with its condition
twenty-five years ago. eTwenty-five
years ago!" How long 1t seems to look
ahead, yet how short it is to look back
quarter of a century. On the fourth day
of July, 1860, the citizens of this commu-
nifty met beneath these same trees to eel
citrate this same day, and many of those
who were present and took part in thai
celebration arepermitted to assemble here
again to-day, having passed twenty-iv
more of the mile stones that mark thu
pathway of time, and having seen this 10.
cality transformed from an almost unbro.
ken desert into a rich and fertile distric
divided into many well cultivated ant
productive farms, and dotted over witt
handsome residences and comfortabl.
homes, and vandalia, Farber, Rush Hill
and Laddonia, four energetic, CROWN:
business towns nov nestled on the broat
bosom of the green prairie, then given ~
to the gopher and the rattlesnake. And
few miles from this point, on the gree
banks of Lick Creek, where twenty-five
years ago there was rothing but the CT
of the wolf and the boot of the owl t
break the stiffness of the native forest
to-day stands the pride of Rails county
the handsome little city of Perry, which
though laboring under some disadvan
tages, bids fair by the aid of her liberal
minded and public-spirited citizens
out-strip all her neighbors in enterpris
and public improvement. Twenty-fy
, years ago an old log schoolhouse stoo
on that green mound yonder with the cor
yenient hazel thicket close at hand, whie
some OF you remember so well, and a