The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-01-26
The Sons OF Vermont,

ne Sons Oh VERMONT
On the 18th Of January, l777. the
commonwealth Of Vermont was born
that being the day when the delegates
of the inhabitants of the New Hamp-
shire grants in session declared the same
to be "a separate, free and Independent
State
This consequently is the day selected
by the organizations of Vermouters in
other cities for their annual reunions.
For these festive gatherings OF native
Vermonters the societies of Sons OF
Vermont in Boston, Worcester Chicago,
Des, MOines, Denver, San Francisco and
other cities make careful preparations
and they are always among the most
interesting occasions of the year to the I
participants.
Vrrmonters at home always watch
these gatherings with especial interest
and give their heartiest good wishes To
the loyal sons and daughters of our
good little State, who do not forget
their mother in her hundred and first
year. Free Press.
The Free PIess probably means the
one-hundred and eleventh. year. The
address of the president of the Chicago
Sons of Vermont, from which we take
an excerpt, gives an idea of what was
passing in the minds of Vermonters on
Tuesday evening of last week. He said /;
Tonight, then. in fancy. will.
1--WE stand upon our native hills again,
Broad. round and green, that in the summer
sky,
With garnture of waving grass and grain,
Orchards and birchen forests, basking lie"
And from this commanding eminence
we discern the pulling brook. winding
like silver thread through meadow
and wood here fringed by deep green
borders dotted with cowslips and aro-
matte with mint; there chattering along
its rocky bed; anon forming in some
shady nook an eddying pool in whose
shadows we often sought with wrig-
Cling worm to entice the willy trout.
proud indeed, if at nightfall. weary and
wet, we could exhibit to the admiring
gaze of our fellows half "a dozen tiny
speckled beauties, impaled by their
scarlet Threats upon a rude forked twig.
Yonder is the school house where
from the gracious lips of the school
ma'am.' SO learned and accomplished in
our eyes, we acquired the rudiments of
Tue HCiOOl WIN Ills
petty Ce 'ars and Napoleons-its NINA
ture Arnolds-its childish athletes, its
modest, maIdenIy Mirandas, at the
shrine of whose unadorned beauty we
secretly worshipped, betraying our ar
dent emotions only by shy glances of
We recall the long winter evenings at
home mo cards. as we sat around the
wide hearth where the flames danced
with glee and the embers glowed with
generous warmth, drawing generously
from the ample store of rich, brown nuts
shapely, fragrant apples, and cider
whose saccharine days had long de-
parted.
On that slight eminence stands the
village church with its modest spire, to
whose plain portals we were wont to
resort on Sunday. gorgeously attlred
with starched dickey, scant trowsers
and other miscellaneous but aristocratic
accompaniment. The pew backs were
very high and perpendicular; our spinal
columns very short; he pulpit very far
above our heads, and the ABILITIES for
repose very limited. The preacher had
more enthusiasm than logic, more zeal
than learning. more piety than worldly
wisdom His sermons somewhat re
SembIed a straight line, inasmuch as
their breadth and depth were sadly dis
to their length; and it
seemed an open question whether they
did not cause us more physical pain
than spiritual benefit. This is no longer
an open question. Those plain God
fearing ministers had wondrous power
to move the soul with strange and strong
emotions. as they discoursed on the
great problems. ever new, ever unsolved:
Observation-Disclosures. For it matters
little whether these majestic themes
come clad in the simplest garb of speech
or voiced in choicest rhetoric and adorn-
ed by the most glowing imagery, they
stir the sensitive soul to its Trofoundest
depths, just beyond the old meeting
house is Gods Acre whose green turf
has been so often mOistened by the
dews of grief. and where sleep in sol
emn silence our kindred and the friends
of our childhood
"Gone to that unknown and silent shore"
and leaving on our young hearts the
dark shadow of that inexplicable mys
Despite the humble home of our early
years, the dearth of books. the paucity
of leisure. the plentiful lack of wealth.
the many long hours of toll and the few
for recreation and amuse-
ment, our hearts swell with emotions of
love for our native State. and with pride
in her story and children. Better far
the school of adversely. the discipline of
labor and the pain of self denial, than
the enervating influence of luxury, eff
femnancy and ease, Better the noun
tain home. the sterile soil. and the sharp
strife with penury, than the environ
ment which fails to summon into activ-
lily all the forces of the soul.