The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-05-15
witty and Humorous Address on
Babies.

was offered for the prettiest baby, which
was awarded to Robert Owen Boze, son OF
Capt. w. W. Boze, whereupon Secretary
Mcdonald introduced Rev. John Harmon,
d. D., who delivered the following mimi
table address
Who does not feel to-day like singing the
old ballad, 'Make me child once again,
lust for a night''-one nights plenty;
who does not feel that we are here IN the
presence of the true heroes Of the occasion
Even the gallant Fitz Lee, the future Gov
crnor of Virginia, with his gallant cavalry,
must surrender their laurels forever; the
heart of the boldest of these cavaliers, and
even the heart of the gallant Fitz himself,
has thrilled with terror, when, at midnight,
with yell, the light infantry have
charged the breastworks throughout the
homes of this land Yes, Fitz and his
cavalry must retire, for we are all going to
sine" the infantry They tell us that the
glory of the Old Dominion is thing OF
the mast: that old Virginia is like potato
vine-the best part of it under ground
buried in the graveyards of the land; but,
sir. when I look upon scene like this, L
feel that the glory of the Old Dominion is
here. and in these little faces shines the
light of a glorious future. The whistle OF
the locomotive along our hills, the clash
OF machinery along our streams, and the
veil of the baby among our homes, tell that
the manufacturing interests of old Virginia
are booming. Wendell Phillips lectures on
the ssLost Arts, but, as [ wander through
this old Commonwealth, down by the sea-
board and over her hills to the homes OF
the rich and of the poor, and meet babies
everywhere, | bow my bead reverently and
thank Heaven that the art of making Pres
idents is not yet lest art in old Virginia
There is nothing which more glorifes our
civilization than the status of the baby.
Greece could boast her Olympic games,
where manly strength was crowned the
middle ages bowed worshipfully at the feet
of beautiful woman; but it was reserved for
the nineteenth century to have its baby
shows, and to apotheosize infinite weakness
and infinite possibility. A few years ago
little child in dolls letter to ''Uncle
Larry" Of our Advocate, asked if there
were any baby clothes in heaven. Perhaps
she was thinking of the little new-made
grave in the burial ground, and of little
brother who lay there. Revelation answers
her question is full of baby
clothes, and, thank God, the Sunday Schools
and Orphan Asylums are the baby clothes
found now everywhere in this world.
Bickerstroth, among the greatest of our
modern poets, has sweetly said that Heaven
would be dreary place without children
that there are wanted there not only the
Pauls and the Wesleys, those goodly cedars
of Lebanon, but there are wanted, too, these
little violets that bloom around our hearth
Stones, and fill our homes with fragrance and
joy.
1t is true that every now and then we
hear the expression, "only babyP Why,
my dear sir, everything great was once
baby. Lynchburg, sitting here in her
beauty, with her lovely homes, clinging
like pearls around the neck of her hills,
with the electric lights flashing like the
eyes of a ballroom belle; Lynchburg, which
has grown so large as to have all this bus
tie we see around us (they tell us that all
ladies, when they are grown, have great
deal of hustle around them), Lynchburg
was once but a baby.
Why, the churches, those strong-limbed
angels, walking to and FROM the world and
lifting the nations up to God, were once but
babies. The Baptist Church, grand old
church as she is, standing yonder upon
Court street in her neat suit of brick and
mortar, was once but a baby; and there is
one thing about this baby-it would always
play in the water The Presbyterian
Church with her theological institutions,
ike bumps on her head that would make
an angel phrenologist wonder-the Pres
byterian Church was once but baby, but
was always an old-fashioned child, and took
to books early. The Episcopal Church,
with her beautiful robes of ritual, her
sparkling gems of rubric, was once but
baby, though she has been kept so straight
by her nurses that she has never tumbled
around and grown as healthy and big as
we would have liked. Aud Methodism,
the youngest and the biggest in the family
of congregations, is still little more than
a great laughing, crying, shouting baby,
whose Father is God, whose mother is
Humanity
Yes, we will have to Danish to the past
the barbarous expression, "only baby T.
Political economy recognizes in the baby
the true wealth of State. The forests of
our land are being exhausted, but when |
look upon the great living forest of this
audience, and upon the great forest of life
in the teeming populations of our cities,
and when | see Death, the axeman, ever
busy cutting down these forests, and leav-
ing only the graves in the graveyards, like
stumps, 1 feel no dependency; for in every
home these thickets of the little under
growth of humanity tells us that the forest
of manly and womanly life will never be
exhausted.
The soil of our Old Dominion is worn
out and exhausted. We cannot raise such
wheat as we once did, but when | look at
this crop of babies l feel that the soil is
inexhaustible. Where did we ever see
finer exhibition of live stock As l look
upon these babies, wherever turn, spring
ing up everywhere, my heart swells with
gratitude, and feel ''old Virginia never
tire
saw the other day where an old bach
elor out in Ohio committed suicide, and
gave as his reasons, in note which he left,
that he was of no use III the world. The
objection was sustained, and the next case
was called. Well that it was, and if there
are other old bachelors here to-day let them
go and do likewise, hang themselves in
matrimony to the first pretty woman they
meteor to the nearest Iamp-post.
l call attention to-day to the courage
of the baby History sings the praise of
Pizarro and of Cortez, who, coming to the
shores of this New World, carved out for
themselves vast empires. Great was their
courage, but what was it to compare with
these little pilgrims of eternity, who, COM
ing to the shores of this planet without
quartermaster or commissary stores, con-
quer for themselves an empire in every
home, and rule with an absolute power,
such as no crowned monarch of earth ever
knew Even the mother-in-law-that hoa-
ry-headed despot, is in her turn dethroned,