St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-10-07
CITIZENS AND THEIR DUTIES.
Some Practical Truths Well Put by Gov
Robinson.

| Robinson.
! At the recent celebration in Dedham,
Massachusetts Gov. Robinson gave
the people of that town some plain
talk about voting that will apply as
well to Vermont, and every other state
in New England, on the duties of citi-
zens. His words are commended to the
careful attention of the reader:
Having the right to demand the best
service, shall the people seek it ? Do
the people of the town of Dedham in
sist upon it always? Are they some
times lax in the performance of their
duties as citizens? If some foreign
pOtentate should issue proclamation
declaring that on and after the first
day of October next, no man in the
town of Dedham should have the right
! to cast his vote or to attend the town
meeting, every man would be as val
liant and as ready for the sacrifice as
the grand old heroes of the past were.
Every man would stand at the corner
of the streets with his musket ready to
meet the power that sought to put in
force that infamous proclamation.
And yet there are men in the town of
Dedham that slothfully lay down their
privileges every year and let them go
into the dust, as if they were not
worth the sacrifices of the past or the
enjOyments of the present. You heard
about the grand old men this fOrenOOn;
how they sacrificed how they stood !;
how they marched, not only in Ded-
ham, but over into Lexington, in or
der to meet the enemy. Do you read
in the annals of Dedham in 1886 of all
the men shouldering the ballot when
the time comes and marching to that
strife? Are there any in the old records
that are recorded as having been so
busy in the cornfield that they could
not 90 home to attend to the affairs of
the town or church
Perchance, there may be men that
go to Boston and have an occupation
in counting rooms; possibly lawyers
that have clients in court; possibly
ministers who have the idea that the
whole matter of politics is too vile and
foul for them to touch possibly there
are many people who think that some
how or other the assemblage of the
free men of America in oar own time,
clad in the rights of citizenship by the
power that secures us all,-that that
union and cOncOurse is not honorable
and good for them. | tell you such
people as that would not have had
enough in them to have made decent
Puritan out of them. That kind of
people stayed across the water, and
never came here or if they did, they
took the first ship back. Why, Ded-
ham has 1900 voters upon her voting
list 1900 men that have the right to
vote, and l say more than that, the
duty to vote, that have not any right
to be excused except for insuperable
reasons; and only 761 out of that
whole number voted at the last cleo
ton. Shame on them who come up
here to day and sit down with un-
blushing faces, and listen to the glory
of the past and the greatness of our
ancestors and the sacrifices they made
and of the stuff that was in them and
we weak, puny, insignificant, out of
comparison Perhaps this is the way
that the Commonwealth should not
talk. Perhaps the governor ought to
rise here and deliver some highflOwn
Grafton. But this is the only time, at
a 25Oth anniversary, that L can posi-
bly, have the opportunity to free my
mind and soul. You think the citadel
of power is in danger? You think
that the enemies of good government
are stOrming our strong places at the
present time9 Oh, then, the business
for you is to rush into the breach, and
to stay there until security is assured.
l hear from time to time a good deal
said about how this republic of ours
and how our state is to go to ruin
that it is to go down through the path
of luxury, it may be that it will go
down to destruction in one way or
another of many different ways. But
tell you no such thing. If it will go
down at all, it will go down over men
that have become cOrpses before there
was any struggle at all if it goes down
it will be because our people will talk
of the greatness of the town system,
will extrOl the record of the past, will |
boast of their Puritan ancestry, and |
will elevate themselves in the estima-
ton of the world, but will not to do
one single thing to interrupt their lei
sure, or to go aside from their course
or their pleasures to keep in power the
principles that the grand old Puritans
esta blished.