The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-08-23
Mr.. DlngIey's Address.

Hon. Nelson Dingley was received with
great applause, and spoke as follows:
Mr.. President and Sons and Daughters of
Durham:
The ss Ssssufita ss song ga&Ih With So Sf fcfH fHQms
ing, strikes the key note of this occasion with
great fidelity.
The thought which is uppermost with every
one here, to-day, is that of home. Those who
still reside in the town whose centennial we
celebrate, bear witness to their home love by
the fact that the homestead roof still shelters
them. Those who have returned from adopted
homes to revisit the scenes Of their childhood,
+ find recollections of the old home crowding
upon them as they look once more on the
peaceful river, the green intervale, the wooded
hills and the old land marks. ht
1t is only the hundredth anniversary of the
incorporation of what we fondly call the dear
old town of Durham, that we are here to-day
TO celebrate. To those of us who have always
known the town, and sawhose earliest impress
sions give it the halo of age and the magnitude
with which youth always invests lis surround
ings, a town Of a century's growth seems ven-
cradle with years and experience.
But to maturer years century in the life OF
town is not long sweep of time. l remem
Der that few years ago arrived one evening
at a quaint Swiss town which seemed to be in
hustle of excitement. On inquiry learned
that on the morrow the S50th anniversary Of
the town would be celebrated with great pomp
and parade. To the citizens Of such an ancient
town, or to the citizens of Damascus which
claims to be over 5000 years old, 1.-THE celebra-
| ton of the first hundredth anniversary might
seem to be puerile affair.
But years do not really measure the life ct
towns or States or nations, or even individuals.
There are men who have lived more in single
decade than others in three score and ten, be-
| cause their achievements for God and man
have been more. The men who have lived in
the last quarter of century IN this country
had glorious opportunities for living and doing.
| So the men who have lived, and the town and
| State and nation which have had the opportu-
nifty of carrying forward the geat work COM
mitted to each in this grand Republic, in the
hundred years just closed, have lived longer
and done more for liberty and progress than
has been done by Damascus N 5000 years.
The poet laureate of England has sung, "Bet-
ter fifty years of England than cycle oi
Cathay." So the American citizen may day
say with equal TRUTH "Better fifty years Of ar
American town than cycle of "a Swiss ham,
let
1t is the peculiar good fortune of an Ameri-
can and especially New England town o.
| ---~-,
eventful experiences and to have witnessed
greater strides in all that tends to material ant
social progress than that experienced by |
town Of five centuries of growth in other land
A century marks the life Of the United
States since the adoption OF the constitution
Durham is Just as old town'as the country i
as a nation under framework Of governmen
which made us nation in reality. The sam,
sturdy men who organized the town in 1889 al
the 10th incorporated town in the then distric
of Maine, participated in the selection of de
legates to aid in ratifylng the constitution
( and cast their votes for George Washington a
the first President and John Adams as the frs
Vice President of the United States. 1t i
known that the town meetings in l77S am
| 1889 were held in the old meeting house bull
| and roughly finished in the former year.
do not know on what spot within the limit
| of this then plantation of Royalsborough, tn
first town meeting was held. If l did woul
like to stand on the consecrated ground an
picture in nv mind the little band of sturd
early settlers leaving their cabins in the clear
ings to talk over and decide questions of publ
interest.
Probably that gallant first settler, sturd
Capt. Charles Gerrish, was there. As early
1852 he had penetrated what was then a vii
derness and settled on what is now known 4
l IQe lru6 OSROOu @AAhuN years late
Immediately after the intelligence of the bait
of Bunker Hill reached him, he had enliste
in the Continental army-six of his neighbo
subsequently joining him. Some idea of II
difficulty of communication at that early perie
may be gained when we learn that his fami
did not hear from him or see any human beir
outside of their own cabin for three mont
after he left to join the patriot army Now,
we do not receive letter from Boston on Il
same day that it is written, we criticise II
slowness and inefficiency of the mail service.
1t was in such town meetings as those he
here in Durham, those held in all our Ne
England towns to discuss and decide ouestio
committed to inhabitants of this political un
that the ideas were evolved that gave birth
our national independence and to our nation
constitution, which Gladstone has well cha
acterized as the most wonderful and state
manlike frame Of government ever devised
|, men. A
Here in our town meetings the idea of wh
Lincoln has so well described as a governme
of the people, by the people and for the peop
was made reality, and people were prepar
q for self government. The New England i'd,
. born in the cabin of the MayAower, applied
a system of government by the Pilgrim fatht