Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-06-01
A GREAT DAY FOR THE PRES
BYTER|ANS,
PRESIDENT CLETELAND AD-
DRESSES THEM Ar THEIR
CENTENNIAL CELEBRA-
TON.

DhIOOLO IdEM HI IdEIh
CENTENNIAL CELEBRA-
TON.
REUNION BEFORE THE CENTENNIAL
INTERESTING sCENEs-THE PREsI-
DENTS sPEECH-THE CENTENNIAL
MEETINGs-THE SPEECHES OF HON. J.
R. TUCKER, DIR. HOGE AND MIR. GOTH
RAN OF 8. C.-MANY INTERESTING IN
CIDENTs.
&C., &C., &C.
The two General Assemblies of the Pres.
byterian church-the Southern, in annual
session at Baltimore and the Northern, in
annual session at Philadelphia-had fixed
on the 25th of May for their joint Centen
NAL celebration at Philadelphia. On the
day before. the two bodies had social re-
union at the splendid home of Wistar Nor
ris, near Philadelphia. The account of it
published in the Baltimore Sun, says:
The Northern Assembly was first on the
grounds, having left Philadelphia at 2:40
P. M, on a special train. The Southern
Assembly arrived from Baltimore shortly
after four O'Clock. Right ahead of the
train of the visitors from the South was
the special bearing Mr.. and Mrs. Cleve-
land, who were met at Overlook, a little
station surrounded by full-leafed oaks and
blooming logwood. by Rev. Charles A.
Wood, Mr.. W1star Morris's son-in- law.
and were driven behind pair of spanking
bays to Mr.. Morris's home, nearly a mile
away. The Presidents special train had
hardly gotten out of the way before that
bearing the Northern Assembly steamed
up. The older commissioners were driven
to their destination and the younger ones
walked. The procession. with two men
abreast, was over half a mile long. The
brook which laZily pursued its way
among the boulders and over the rocks.
GUESTS AT OVERBR OOK.
At their journeys end the guests found
arOomy stone house surrounded by bro ad
piazza turned into a miniature Florida
forest by huge tropical plants. The house
is situated on the crest of one of the many
hills which sweep to the north from Phila-
delphia. In front of it is broad lawn,
unbroken except by a winding drive, and
scattered over it are naples and beeches.
No more romantic, no more beautiful spot
could have been selected for the men of
the n Orth and South to meet and grasp
hands which have been withheld SO long.
There the host, Mr.. Wistar Morris, sur
rounded by every luxury that cultivated
taste can dictate and a vast fortune can
obtain, passes the summer months, in
echoing distance of the city's turmoil, but
removed from its cares and strifes. He is
an aged man, nearly 80 years, with small
head, covered with locks as white as the
driven snow. ! ut, old as he is, as straight
as an arrow. AS soon as his guests reached
the house they crowded inside to greet
him and catch glimpse of Mr. and Mrs.
Cleveland. Others walked about the shaded
grOunds.
MARCHING WITH LOCKED ARMS.
Hardly half an hour had elapsed before
the arrival OF the Southern visitors was
announced. 1he Northern commissioners
marched down to me broad gate, with
antique stone posts. and formed on either
side Of the drive. The visitors were met
by the Rev. DR.. y. l.. Thompson, the mod
orator of the Northern Assembly; Rev.
DR.. w. E. Moore, the permanent clerk;
Rev. DR.. w. II. Roberts, the stated clerk,
and Rev. DR.. Joseph t. Smith. After
Icing introduced to Messrs.s A. G. Trip
and z. L.. Inglis. the marshaIs of the
Southern Assembly, arms were locked
and, preceded by Mr.. Samuel G. Perkins,
of Philadelphia, the grand marshal, they
marched up the wide and winding drive to
the house. With them we're Rev. Drs.
Macintosh and Graham, of Philadelphia,
who accompanied the Southern visitors on
their trip from Baltimore. Con ressmen
j. Randolph Tucker. of Virginia, and
Breckenridge of Kentucky, were conspicu-
GUS among the Southern lay commission
ers, and were heartily recognized. AS the
procession moved up the drive.lt was con-
stantly cheered by the lines of their North
hrp N
sooner reached the house and formed into
compact body in front OF the wide YER
anda, before their host, Mr.. Wistar Morris
walked forward with Mrs. Cleveland lean
ing on his arm; behind him was President
Cleveland, accompanied by Mrs. Morris,
an elderly lady, whose face still shows
traces of its beauty in youth. Cheers
greeted Mr.. Morris as he bowed to the as
semblage. He welcomed his guests and
told them it was an opportune spot for
religious bodies to meet as it was the
scene in former years Of many noble Chris
tian acts of the Society of Friends. He
asked them to cast aside their D. D5. and
LII. D., unite, and recall the early DAYS,
when they knew each other at college and
in the church before it was sep arated.
He expressed regret that the day should
have been so inauspicious. He then in
troduced President Cleveland, WIN spoke
as follows:
PRESIDENT CLEvELAND's SPEECH.
President Cleveland said:
81 am very much gratifed by the opportu-
nifty here afforded me to meet the representa-
tives of the Presbyterian Church. Surely o
man never should lose his interest in the well
fare of the church in which he was reared;
and yet I will not find fault with any of you
who deem it sad confession made when
acknowledge that 1 must recall the days now
long past to find my closest relation to the
grand and noble denomination which you re-
present. 1 say this because those Of us who
inherit fealty to our church as did, begin
early to learn those things which make us
Presbyterians all the days of our lives and
thus it is that the rigors of cur early teaching
by which we are grounded in our lasting al
legiance are especially vivid and perhaps the |
best remembered. The attendance upon
church service three times each Sunday, and |
upon Sabbath-school during the noon inter-
mission, may be irksome enough to boy of |
ten or twelve years of age to be well fixed in
his memory, but 1 have never known man !
who regretted those things in the years of his |
maturity. The Shorter Catechism, though |
thoroughly studied and learned, was not per-
haps at the time perfectly understood, and |
yet in the stern labors and duties of after life |
those are not apt to be the worst citizens who ,
were early taught what ia the chief end of |
man,"
Speaking of these things and in the pres
ence of those here assembled, the most ten
der thoughts crowd upon my mind-all con-
nected with Presbyterianism and it's teach
lnpS. There are present with ma now mann