The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-01-01
MR.. oHoArE OK ronEFArHRRs' DAT.

tatnerS LAY IN the lOhOWlnS WOAuS.
Mr.. President and gentlemen Of the
New England Society," thought was
ready to speak, bnt few moments ago
Mr.. Everett, who sits upon my right,
put fearful damper upon my spirits,
was expressing him my profound admira-
ton for Chauncey DePew. (Cheers and
laughter.) "YeS'" said he, i'he has got
all the brains you want" Laughter.)
81 am not insensible of the great honor
YOU have done me in asking me once
more to speak at this festival and to
respond again, after so many years of
silence to this time-honored and historic
toast of ForefAthers' Day. But you will
not expect from me any studied grafton.
At least half dozen Of those are in store
for you here.
GROWTH OF AFTER DINNER oRATOBv.
The fact is that the bubble of New
England dinner oratory has been blown
of late years to such vast proportions,
displaying all the colors Of the rainbow,
but rejecting upon its bloated surfaces
not only the picture of New England
history which belongs there, but that OF
the whole country and all the rest OF
mankind, so that every year it promises
to burst from its own size; and then |
should like to know what would become
of the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers.
(Laughter.) One day last week l was
waited upon by representative of one
of our great metropolitan dailies with a
polite request that l would furnish him
with a copy Of the speech that l was to
deliver that evening in order that 1t
might be set up at the latest on Monday
morning for publication tomorrow.
Naughter). "God bless YOU" said l.
81 have no copy to give you. How can
make an after-dinner speech until l
have made sure of my dinner. Uaugb-
ter.) My speech will not exist until the
president tinkles his little bell as the
signal for me to loosen my tongue or
lose my head altogether" Well, he
seemed a little chopfallen and proceeded
to argue the matter.
why" said he, I've have got all the
rest already, SIR"
Surely said I, you have not got De-
pew'sP" (Cheers and laughter.)
"Oh, yes" said he, I'VE have got
Depew's. We have got him cold"
(Laughter.)
That was little bit of slang that he
did not attempt to translate, but he left
them to imagine that he had got him al
ready set up III cDlu Iype'
HIS CHARACTERISTIC WAY.
So gentlemen, il you will let me pro-
coed in what the reporters are pleased to
call my Characteristic, old-fashiOned,
loose ointed way, l will endeavor, as
best / may, to revamp this somewhat
threadbare and always shiny subject,
the day we celebrate; and in the
first place you will permit me, Mr.. Pres.
ident, to congratulate you and this
society upon your advent to this chair
which you are so worthy to fill. (Cheers.)
You will not be surprised that one who
presided oyer the festivals of this society
quarter of a century ago should be in
ciined to indulge in "reminiscences. Iii
true l have not that original, personal
knowledge of the landing which Secre-
tary Hubbard possesses. The tradition
is that when the Maytlower cast anchor
off the Rock two strangers hailed the
passengers from the summit. The one
was the Indian Samoset, who was sent
by the great chief MAssasoit, who pro-
nounced that worthy invitation, "Wel
come, Englishmen." The other was our
worthy secretary Qaughter), then in the
blooming MsyflOwer Of his youth Qaugh-
teri, with his catalogue under his arm,
on whose virgin pages no entries had as
vet been made. Uaughter.) 1t is to
his painstaking diligence that We owe
the preservation of the list Of those his.
toric names, and who that has ever since
Joined the society can fail to recall the
scene? John Carver, 1920. Good Gov
ernor. by the payment of small sum
toward our charities, you can become a
life member, or rather, in your case, a
member for eternity, let it be-" And
then he proceeded with the rest: miles
Standish, 1920; John Blount, Richard
Warren, William Mullens, John Alden"
and the rest. Dear old secretary, how
we all honor and love him. (Cheers.)
Long may he wave his catalogue.
never meet him on his rounds, with his
little book in his hand, but he reminds
me not of the wandering Jew, but of the
wandering Yankee, carrying about for
ever in his own person the imperishable
records of his race.
RECALLING THE OLD DAYS.
But though l cannot 90 back to the
landing, my memory carries me back to
the old days when we used to gather in
the simple dining-room Of the Astor
House under Colonel Stetson, of blessed
memory, the most genial Of all our hosts,
who used to feed on simple bill of fare,
on which the baked beans and the Indian
pudding, and the ''punkin" pie, just as
our mothers used to servo them, would
predominant. (Cheer.) Delmonico, the
Caesar of caterers, had not yet crossed
the Rubicon. Uaughter). Sherry had
not as yet been corked. Naughter.) He
had not even been bottled for our future
uses, and Stanford White, whose genius
has created this magnificent building for
New York, had hardly yet begun to draw
those pothooks and hangers which pre-
Saged his future fame.
The speeches on those occasions were
equally plain and simple, "0ur Sister
Societies had not yet been relegated to
the back seats 10 mako room for great
statesmen, great warriors and great pyro-
technists. Dinner orAtAry had not then
become special service. UAughter.)
Chauncey DepOW had not graduated from
Yale. He was still practising with his
and sympathetic banks Of the Connect
cut River, and it was not yet almost as
much as your life was worth to be in
Vited to speak at dinner at which he
was to come either before or after
Nl-oukhbClsI A4lu bhOHy WI Ou bhc CNC-
ming before the dinner we had the old
fashioned Grafton and poem in some
spacious tabernacle, in which the woes
and the virtues of our Pilgrim Fathers
were duly rehearsed, and on that partic-
ular anniversary to which my earliest
recollection calls me back we gathered
in DIR. Cheever's church ,on the very spot
where that temple of God has long since
given place TO Tiffany's temple of Nam
mon. Naughter.)
1T WAS LONG BEFORE THE WAR.
1t was in the days long before the war,
the Fugitive Slave Bill had just aroused
the sleeping conscience Of the North,
John Brown was still with his sharp
shooters and sharp rifles in Kansas, dear
old Mr.. Holmes was the orator Of the
day (cheers), then . oomely youth of
fOrty-siI years. He delivered his Grafton, |
in the course of which, amid mingled |
cheers and hisses, he gave the view Of
the Boston Of that day on our peculiar |
especially Of temperance |
and OF slavery. Then. Mr.. President, |
There are some patent med. |
icines that are more marvel
lous than a dozen doctors
prescriptions, but they're not
those that profess to cure
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