The Portland daily press., 1890-01-17

ing was emitted. The treasurer's report
was read and accepted. The committee to
nominate officers for the ensuing year, S. l..
Larrabee, p. G. Brown and III. S. Payson,
reported the list of officers as follows:
Presldent-George +. Emer,.
Vice Presidents-Nathanr Cleaves Aug. +.
Moulton, Joseph W. Symonds, John A. Water
man.
Treasurer-Frank 5 Waterhouse.
Orator-Rev Z. G. Cummings,
Poet-V.C Wilson,
Toast Master-F o. Conant.
Executive committee-Preniiss Loring, Chas.
L. Webster, Walter G. Davis.
Dinner C0mmittee-Chas. A. Ring, Arthur w.
Merrill, Albert f. Neal.
The following communication was received
from the Bowdoin alumni of Boston:
BOSTON. December 2l, 1889.
To the BotVdoin Alumni of Portland and vicin-
ity
The association of Bowdoin alumni resident in
Boston and vicinity would be pleased to enter
tain representatives of your association at their
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1890 at 6 p. m.
1t has been suggested that the different associa-
tions hold their reunions on the same night IN
their respective cities. II th meets your appro-
val we would ,uggest the second Wednesday of
January, 1891 as the date oi the next reunion.
Yours respectfully,
ARTHUR 1. PARKER, Secretary.
Messrs. William l.. Putnam and Charles
+. Libby were appointed to attend the above
meeting.
The date of the next annual meeting was
fixed, as suggested above. subject to the ap-
proval of the dinner committee.
Dinner was then served after grace by Rev.
E. NJ. Cousins, II, and occupied the atten-
tion of the company for about two hours.
The Grafton was delivered by Aug +.
Moulton as follows:
THE PRESENT AND THE PAST.
1t is not uncommon to hear the present
age spoken of in comparison with the past
as one of degeneracy In its Intellectual power
and more especially in its morals. There
are those who look with small consideration
upon the efforts OF today as compared with
the nightly genius displayed in the past.
They tell Of the dishonesty OF our public ser
wants, of great monopolies corrupting legis-
lation, of the power of the dangerous and ig-
norant classes making society like an inyert-
ed pyramid. unstable and insecure. All this
is compared most disadvantageously with
the stern simplicity and unbeDding integrity
of the good old days.
There is much to be said in support of
such view of things. Ii we enter the field
of philosophy 1t is but to review the thoughts
and speculation discussed by Socrates, Cice-
70 and the rest. Intellectual gems are
freshly polished by modern metaphysicans
and sparkle with new light but the ideas are
old.
Those whom we call ancients borrowed
largely from those of Asia even more yemote.
Garry back your investigations so far as you
may and the sign posts still point rearward
to some source of greater wisdom yet.
In the fine arts the old masters are mas
ters still. Phidias and Praxitales, Angelo.
Raphael and Titan look down upon US from
the unscaled heights Of superiority.
In the field of literature the style of an
cient prose has largely controlled the use Of
language. Where will you find in this agA a
poet to be named in connection with Homer,
Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare?
The engineering skill of the ancients stop
ped at no obstacles. Their mathematical
genius was unsurpassed. Without the teles-
cope they classified and named the stars. In
generalship and statecraft they left little to
be learned. From the vast region of time
of which history gives no report, comes ira
dictionary tales of personages greater than
any named Throughout the whole range
the universal rule, prevails that the olden
times were deemed better still. The old men
of the Iliad pipe in strdent voices of how
men and manners had degenerated them.
Far back in the dim. shadowy past, it would
seem that time has been when there were
| pure aud perfect meL compared with whom
we are degenerate indeed.
| But we forget that in this comparison we
| set against the single age OF the present all
| that has gone before We view the great
L
| tered trees across a stretch of land, so that
| In foreshOrtened view they seem to dwell In
| clusters. Our own times we see as they are,
| with their follies and vices freshly before us.
our age is vastly better than any that has
| preceded 1t. No single generation has pro-
duced so much, in many ways, to benefit
mankinp.
One printing press is worth more to the
world than a hundred Alexanders or CR-
sars. One honest Abraham Lincoln gives
us more faith in humanith than scores of
selfish robbers like Charlemagne and Louis
| XIV. That age is great which, produces
heroes when they are ineeded and this has
been found equal to the demands made upon
it. Before the war we scare ly knew whether
we were nation, but the echo Of Sumter's
guns awakened heroes from the workshop,
the farm and the college, who wrote their
names high on the roll Of fame. The ques-,
tion of the perpetuity OF the nation debated
by Webster and Calhoun was settled forever
beneath the apple tree at Appomattox.
Graat deeds, ancient or modern, should be
estimated at what they are worth. The
Atbenian King at the demand Of the oracle
gave his life to save his country. This was
patriotism. Leonidas and his Spartans died
at Thermopvle for no purpose but to show
the world how Greeks could die. That was
dra natic exhibition merely. But
ths Teen disaster sns brave on .Se sSesnessS stonns
ton railroad died with his hand
on the throttle valve of his engine and his
face to the front there was a purpose In his
death nobler than that which has gloritied
the Spartan. The captain of the emigrant
ship which foundered in the English channel
stood at the gangway pistol in hand to see
that the weak and helpless should have an
equal chance for safety, and shouted last
farewell to his fainting wife as the boats
pulled from the sinking ship. Gladstone,
counting sure defeat for position which he
deemed light, presents a spectacle of moral
heroism An age which every day produces
examples like these cannot be degenerate.
We exaggerate corruption among our pub
lie men. We condemn all for the faults of a
f0w One baleful meteor attracts more at
tention than the tranquil light OF all the fix
ed stars. One of the most encouraging signs
of the times is the fact that corruption does
not pass unnoticed. When governor gen.
eral of India, prosecuted for extortion, made
defense by showing that he had done 1t open
ly and others had done the same without re-
proof, 1t showed state of affairs that was
| indeed alarming.
The most brazen politician now doffs his
hat to the public conscience. If our con,
| crosses and legislatures are not above re.
proach, neither were their predecessors. II
you would reverence the Continental Con,
gress you must not scan its acts too closely
lnere Is no perfect time coming when legis,
lators will not bear watching, and when dis
honest men will be no longer found.
ana yet he who scans history must see
that the world Is advancing, even though
the Improvement comes slowly and unsteadt
!y, as the wavering tide rises upon the shore
We stand "the heirs of all the ages" AL
along the pathway behind us lie the wrecks
Of bad laws and vicious customs Admit
ting our faults, it is but just to name our yir
tues as well. We may point to our printing
presses and our public schools. our charities
and our hospitals. None but freemen nov
dwell beneath the shadows of our flag. I'M
serfs of Russia and the bOndmen Oh brakl
and Spain stand up as men. we see IN,
light of civilization dawning upon the darl
continent. Feudal tyranny Is giving away
everywhere.
The railway and the telegraph make thC
nations forget the time when the same wort
which meant stranger meant an enemy al
so. Ii is an age of peaceful revolutions ant
moral reforms. The revolutions go no
backward and the thoughts of the men ar
widening still. The influences of the Bibl
and the spelling book, the church and tn
l II lI-.-- n.. = fIIall lnan lsAr