The Portland daily press., 1886-07-07
TIL: End.
[coNrrsuED FROM FIRST PAGE.l

But while the city has thus suffered by
war and rapine it has also been the
scene Of much pomp and pageantry. Indeed
the waters of CascO witnessed a great scenic
display before white man had set his foot
on shore, for did not bold Captain Christie
pher Leayet in the year of our Lord one
Thousand SIX hundred and tWenty-three sail
down the harbor with the King and Queen
and prince, bow and arrows, dog and kitten
in his boat, his noble attendance rowing by
us in their canoes? and was not meat, drink
and tobacco given to the lordly savages? and
is not the same figured in Mr. Goold his book?
Let us hope to complete the glowing scene
that great fishes chased each other with heads
like ''the stone horses in a gentlemans
park" that Michael Mitton's Triton looked
on approving having not yet dyed the water
with his purple blood" while the tyranlcal
bear on the shore paused a moment from his
pursuit of the succulent lobster in the shall
low pool.
On one great day in 1754 we had here the
Governor of Massachusetts, and Governor
of Massachusetts of that day was superior
being and suspected it himself. There came
also a majority of the Council and the Speak
er of the House and eight hundred troops.
They stayed with us ten days and there was
great feasting and parade. They treated
with the Indians and went their stately way
back to Boston and lived happily ever after
wards.
/ do not remember these two scenes, but |
do remember the boyish face of the Prince
of Wales, and that remarkable nat OF tne
Duke of Newcastle, which trust his pos
terity have preserved, for it must have de-
scended from his ancestors. | remember also
the wonderful grandeur of the saluting ships
as they belched fire until the white smoke
covered the sea and floated away against the
black and lowering sky. little Thought as
| saw that mighty line-of-battle ship, the
Hero, sail majestic out of the harbor with
her ninety guns tier on tier that should live
to see that representative of England's pride
and glory as obsolete and defenceless as the
old block house at York. Yet only ten years
Dor the tall iron ship the Monarch, before
whose powerful cannon and armOred
prov the great ninety gun, ship, which
would have been the pride OF Nelson
in the days of his highest glory, could
have had no refuge except in flight. But
the mighty Monarch, with its towering
sides and its turretS OF iron, which bore the
dead philanthrophist across the sea, the
| monitors which welcomed her to our shores,
/ and even the great admiral, whose benignant
face added two-fold harm to the glory Of
| his mighty deeds, were but the ornaments of
the great historic event their presence signal.
| lied. The h0norS thus paid to the remains OF
| an untitled citizen solely because he had
| Their epoch in our progress toward that happy
| day when the bronze statues of military lead
erS on horseback will no longer be the sole
adornment of capital cities, when war, noble
| anu cDIUDllnS It's IL SOlutbllllto uOW 10,
cease from the earth; when the great broth
erhood of men shall become fact and not a
| dream when we shall have not only liberty
and equality, but every talent and strength
and power unsefshly consecrated to the good
| f all. we shall have true fraternity also,
| that bright vision alike of Communist and
| Christian
Yet while l thus celebrate the longed-for
| victory of peace, and my hope of the speedy
| coming of the golden age, was no more in,
| cfAla thar xVlpO hplnl6 f0Uatlnr
| on that wonderful day of June, only year
| ago, the old men who had gone forth to battle
! in the prime of their manhood, the middle
| aged men who had consecrated to their coun-
| try the flower of their youth, go marching by
the famous general, whose mind, as he stood
uncovered to their cheers, must have been
| thronged with strange memories OF the brave
days gone by. All we cannot help it. What
| ever reason may teach, or wisdom dictate,
| that heart is dead that does not ylbrate with
all its chords to the flow of martial music
and the measured march of men who met
| death face to face on the stricken field.
/ know that one here in my place today
ought to speak in no stinted terms of the en-
terprising, solid and strong men and women
| who lived here one hundred years ago, whose
| sturdy descendants are scattered all over this
hall, But to do it worthily would require
| not the knowledge born of hurried moments
| Snatched from more engroSSlng duties, but
that ripe acquaintance with all our history
| which William Willis carried with him to
| the grave, and which William Goold possess
| es today Even then the day would be far
| spent before | could close.
Nor can | speak ittingly of the poets and
| artists, statesmen and scholars, who have
adorned our history, and have helped to
make the old town famous to the outer world
What justice would page of description dc
to the character, the poetry, the genius OF
Henry Wadsworth Longfelow? How could
| l. in passing mention, distinguish between
| what we brilliant and what frivolous in
Nathaniel Parker Willis. Would you have
| me undertake to portray in a sentence the
strange genius of John Neal? l might as
well try to bring back to this generation the
Letters caused to the generation which -four
ished before was born, Nor have | any
idea that | could mete out the proper phrases
for the ripe scholarship of Henry b. Smith
the theology of DR.. Nichols, the pastoral
worth of Edward Payson, or the great ad.
ministrative powers of Bishop Bacon. II
would be invidious to select from the living
or could not refrain from offering my trib-
ute of admiration and regard to that aged
minister who came to us from over. the sea
whose noble face, whose stately beauty OF
language, whose full, strong, upright life has
| always made him seem to me the ideal Chris
tian minister, preaching the faith and prac.
tice Of which his own life is the shining exam
pie. l should feel much freer to speak, for they
were almost of my day, of the fame which
was lost to us by the untimely death of vii
liam Law Symonds, and of the fame which
Walter Wells might have won had not thai
strong intellect been overborne by so frail {
body.
Nor will speak of the statesmen except al
| saw them. Time would fail me to do jus
tice to them also. George Evans came tt
Portland in his old age. | well remember
hearing him present a case in court and The
impression which his quiet power, clearnesi
and strength made on me then has enabled
me since to understand how he might have
been the peer of the best in the days
of Webster, and Clay, and Calhoun
and to comprehend what manner o.
man he was in his prime, when he attacked
John Quincy Adams with such vigor ant
power that the old man eloquent, who nevel
declined battle with any other man, saw iii
to make him no reply.
The most impressive scene l ever witness
ed took place in this very hall. Here, almost
on the very spot where now stand, William
| Pitt Fessenden stood, before the constituent
| cy which had loved and hanored him for SO
many years. The hall was black with the
ming of a great Presidential campaign, the
last he was ever to witness. The great prob
lem of Reconstruction was to be reviewed
Mr.. Fessenden had been the master spirit il
its solution The war debt was to be as
| sailed. Mr.. FeSSenden had been chairman
of the committee of finance and secretary o.
the treasury. To all this was added the in
tense personal interest of his recent defea
! OF the impeachment OF Andrew johnson
With full knowledge of the storm about him
but with the courage of perfect conviction HI
faced the responsibility. The occasion wal
| great one, but the man was greater thai
the occasion. Calmly ignoring except in ont
( sharp, incisive sentence, all that wa
personal. with his old vigor terseness ant
simplicity, he explained to his townsmer
the momentous issues of the campaign
From the moment he began thu
party rage commenced to cease and the OLE
pride in his greatness and honesty began to
take its place. How strong he looked tina
night Although all the world might falter
you knew that calm face would be steadfast
To him had happened the rare good fortune
of having the courage and character which
matched a great opportunity. Few mer
would have been so brave. and fewer still
successful.
have not spoken of the conduct of GU
city in either of the wars waged beyond it
limits. That subject also would be too vas
for an occasion like this. Nor do like t.
speak at all of the one within the memory o
us all. For us it has as much of sorrow as
of glory. 1t brings up to me always the Wis
ion of fair young face, the quiet associate
of the studious hours, the bright companion
of the days of pleasure. Can it be that
shall never look into those cheerful eye:
again? Can it be that neither the quaint
jest of the happier hours nor the solemn con
fidences of the heart just opening to full
sense of the high duties of life will ever AGAR
fall upon the ear of friendship or OF love? II
can be no otherwise. He can only live in m.