Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-01-23
VIEWPOINTS CENTENNIAL.

of Morrisville made the address. After
brief opening he said:
We do not forget that, next to Lincoln,
the greatest statesman of Illinois, who in
his day and generation made deeper i'm
press upon our national polity than any
other man, and whose wise forecast and
indomtable zeal made possible the build
ing that great central line of railway,
which poured a current of lfe-blood into
the early life of your city, was graduated
at workbench in Middlebury, and that
your pulpit, your bench, your bar, your
press and all the trades and callings in
life, have been largely filed by enter
prislng sons of the Green Mountain State,
and that lately when the work of purify
ing the atmosphere of Haymarket square
became necessary, in order to vindicate
the supremacy of American polity over
foreign socialism, the duty was confided
to the culture, the courage and the per-
sistent zeal of Il graduate of Middebury
college, and that when the jealOusies and
contentious of your great rival corporate
interests required the umpirage of sound
sense, wise judgment and Just discrimin-
alton, you sent on to us for another grad
uate from the same college.
The speaker reviewed at length the
history of the State and concluded as
follows:
My friends. point you to the fourteen
years of our State INDEPENDENCE, as the
formative period of Vermont character
Then it was that were born that heroism
of ambition, that long-sutlering in virtue.
that devotion to duty under temptation,
and that inileXble adherence to the
things that make for honor, that make
for peace and that make for righteous
ness, which give to our early Vermont
history It's brightest colorngs.
Then it was that our fathers cast the
horoscope of the future State, and fore
told its schools of learning-the broad
catholicism of its churchhood-the bold,
daring, unpurchasable character of its
manhood, and the law-abding, liberty
loving conservatism of its citizenship.
During these fourteen years our gov
ernment, much of the time, was anoma-
lous. The associated committees of safe
ty, the governor and council and the leg
slative assembly itself, exercised the
powers of absolute despotism. Our sys-
tenn was at once the autocracy of Russia
and the democracy of Athens. 1t was a
despotism created by the free voice of
the people. 1t was made necessary by
the eXigences of the times.
"For forms of government let fools contest
Whatever is best administered is best"
Men inimical to the interests of YER
mont we summarily banished, and their
property contiscated. The private prop
erty of one individual was seized and
turned over to another to compensate
wrong doing. Houses were searched
without warrant. TO question the right
of Vermont in her controversy with New
York ordinarily subjected the traitor to
the application of the "beech seal upon
the naked back. a pair of stocks and a
whipping-post were provided by each
town, which saved the expense of re-
form school and house of correction.
Ethan Allen was the tribune of the
people, and in every emergency, whether
in war TO lead men, or in peace to per-
suade men, his voice was potent beyond
all others. He was a plain, blunt matter
Of-fact man, with the happy gift of say
ing the right thing at the right time and
in the right place. He welded a vigor-
Gus pen and reasoned from the stand
point of justice with wonderful force and
logic. His answer to Gov. Clintons
overtures for peaceful adjustment of
the New York difficulty, published in
TO- Is masterpiece OF vigorous ana III
ElsiVe compositioli anu uisplays Keen
ieSai luuSiheht upon the Questions vi
titie lnVolVeu Ill tile controversy WIN,
out Ailtm Neilnon' iiau iiesel succee''eu
III iler struSsie lor ,nuePenuenGe, anu nc
NUS ever pe resarueu as l,e noses tiia'
ieu Ier TO tlle Pronilseu lahu. lis pam,
!,i ulsreSaru lor an loriha,ity Is wen
lllus'r".eu III ilis ,'lalIlase ~ MIS- Ducll'
ahah. appearing uneNpecieuly one morn
us "a. wy ms va ".o p W ~; ~ "u'cs
Ill westminster, where Mrs' bucilitilill
was stopping, he found her up in a chair
arranging things in china closet. APP
preaching her he says, "frank, if we are
ever to be married now is the time.
"All right she says, lust give me time
to put on my Joseph In five minutes
the couple stood before Judge Robinson,
who happened to be in the house, and
Allen says, "This woman and | have
agreed to have you marry us. have no
great opinion of the ceremony, but de-
cent respect for the opinions of mankind
seems to demand it, so go ahead" The
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