Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-01-20
a Distinguished Company at the Grand
Pacific Hotei-Elouuent Address by
Hon. E. n. Sherman Interesting
Poem by Mrs. A. IL. Frost.

3rAttleboro. The poem was read by Capt.
l.. H. Bisbee and was prefaced by rela
tion of the fight of the old brigade on the
Orange plank road on the first day of the
Battle of the Wilderness as described in
Vermont in the Civil War"
ADDRESS OF Z. r. sHERMEN, PRESIDENT.
We gather on this auspicious occasion
not to acquire knowledge, however valu-
able, to sgratifysambition however laud-
able, or to secure personal benefit, how
ever desirable; but to give expression to
one of the sweetest and purest emotions
OF the human heart-our love for the dear
old State in which, with childish wonder
and tottering step, we first trOd the ver-
dant fields and plucked the fragrant
lowers, and with rapt admiration, peered
upward as
one by one in the infinite meadows OF
Blossomed th2 lovely stars the forgct-me-
nGts OF angels
Among the most precious treasures of
memory will ever be the recollection of
the days when the awakening, euqWrIng
soul first looked forth from its narrow
windows, and the heart was first stirred
by strange but pleasing emotions, aud III
separately linked with these fond mem
ories will ever be the remembrance of the
humble home of our early years bathed
in the mellow radiance of Imagination,
and hallowed by the most sacred associ-
atiOns. VINO can not attest the truthful
ness of the simple but touching lines of
Hood
~ remember, ! remember,
The house whore was born,
The LITTLE window, where the sun
Came peepng in al morn.
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so ncavy now,
And SUNNI r pools could scarcely cool
The fever on my brow.
remember, | remember,
The fir rees dark and high,
used to think their slender tops
We're close against the sky;
Twas but childish ignorance,
But now It's little joy
To know I'm farther off from heaven
Than when was u boy"
Let others meet to chant the praises of
science, we assemble in the name of pure
sentiment. The votaries OF science may
smile at our supposed weakness we, in
turn, deride their affected wisdom, remem-
bering that science has given us none of
the words that touch the heart and unseal
the deep fountains of the soul,
friendship and patriotism, poetry and art,
piety and immortality. The match
less trinity, mother, home and heaAen, are
not the blossoming Of reason, but the eff
floresence OF divinely implanted senti-
ment. Science, indeed. is the primeval
barren rock; but sentiment disinte-
CRATES its tlinty surface, converts 1t into a
fertile soil, gives the Joyous sunshine and
Wv iniiihe, i"n ~ 80 A'OHi "''f' wv
winged seed ana 10 lhe once sterile sur
face is clad with pleasing verdure, rich
with ripening grain, fragrant with bud
ding Mowers and vocal win lhe mum OF
living things. Tonight, then. in fancy.
will
eve stand upon ournatiVe nils again,
Broad, round ana greeh' that IN : e summer
vvi+h shS s,hf!Sr,rit,,r ,c ,,.i,,,, e,rssa and profr
nr1b,1 15s INA Gir,bon t6Trst. basLi mo lir'
ana }. III Iu'7 '''''ii ,i"[ en-! Lg..Ce
we DISCERN me p,--..- htook, Mluu!HE
IKE q silver unread III. h.'"Sn Il'duoN anu
WOOL mere lTheeu ny "t' p green uorutIs
ootteu WiA cnNh pa auu t.fohAllc "Ilu
mint 'heIe Cnal'tItH@ aIoHg Iu9 IoChy
pea anon IoluInE III some 2h3Hl hooh
an tNdNluE pIni III "hu7r Nuallo"7 W.
often sought WIN Wfl@-lpS worm 20 en-
snare tne My trout proud lhdeeu, II az
mEhtfall, wear? ana wei, we coulu eN
hlplt 10 Ihe aulhlrpS ga|e OF our leHoWs
nail doZeu tlny sptcKled beauties, I'M
paled by Their scarlet thrOats upon rude,
lorked tWlg'
1Onder Is the Schooi mouse Where from
the gracious lps OF the school ma am,
so learned ana accomplished III our eyes
we acquired the ruulments OF knoWleuge.
Inc schOOl mousse with ltS petty CtSars
and NapoleonS-lIs immature Arnolds-lts
chlldlsh atnleteS, luS modest, maluenly
Mirandas, at the shrine or whose una
dorned beauty we secretly worshlpped,
oetraylng our ardent emOtlons only by
shy glances of admiration
We recall the long winter evenings at
nome, (no cards. rs we sat around the
wide hearth where the names danced
with glee and the emOers gloWed with
generous warmth, drawing generously
from the ample store OF rlch, Drown nuts,
shapely, fragrant apples, ana ciuer whose
On that sii@Si " .U stands tb@ v'
lage church with its modest spire, to