Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-01-25
GOV. PAGE At CHICAGO.

Inc Sons or Vermont had a gather.
ing and a banquet at Chicago, ILL.,, e
few nights since, when Gov. Page APP
peared as an honored guest. In the
course of a speech made there the
governor said among other timely
and appropriate things:
t'Vermont has less of her native
sons within than without her borders
Is it presumptious to predict that those
sons, having gone forth to other fields
to acquire fortunes will, if successful,
return to repurchase the ancestral
homestead and spend their declining
years in quiet and peaceful comfort
upon the old farm. 1 appeal to you,
sons of Vermont assembled here this
evening to answer this question. A
kind fortune has led you to this vigor-
Gus young giant of the West, the city
which destiny has decreed shall be the
distributing center for the millions of
miles of territory comprising the won
derful valley of the Mississippi. 1t is,
and will continue to be, the grand
hating place where the great caravan
of commerce, whether eastward or
westward bound, must stop and pay
tribute. The matchless network of
railroads in the great West will con-
tinue to center here. The wealth of
to pour into your lap at rate hither-
to unknown in the history of any city
ancient or modern. And Chicago will
win.
But when you have passed the equi-
nox of life and wish for that undis-
turbed calm which should precede the
passage to the unknown shore, what
spot in all this world will seem as dear
to you as that old familiar place
among the green hills of your native
state which you once called home?
When life's hard work is done, come
back, and the old folks at home -
those whom you have left behind
will, with outstretched arms and low
ing hearts, welcome your return and
do all they can to scatter flowers in
that peaceful declivity down which
we must all sooner or later pass.
The door has swung, and we have
crossed the threshold of the second
century of our little state. How will
the record stand when that second
century shall close? Will our state
government, now the purest and best
upon the face of the earth, continue
interrupted by influences which so
many states have not escaped in the
century that has just closed? Will our
citizens then be as devoted to the
grand ideas embodied in Vermont's
peerless constitution and bill of rights
as they are to-day? Will our press
then be as independent, as pure, as
fearless, and as incorruptible as now?
Will freedom of speech and opinion
then be as unqualified and absolute as
to-day? Will the purity of our cleo
tive franchise, now our glory and
pride, continue unpolluted? Shall we
continue free from that intolerance in
religion which is the bane Of so'many
lands?
Let us hope that the answer to all
these questions may be an unqualified
yes. That the cause of education may
receive constantly increasing atten-
ton and support; that the patriotism
of Vermont's sons will be as unselfish,
and that in the coming century they
will feel the same measure of love and
loyalty, of respect and generation for
the old state, her traditions and her
institutions which every true son of
Vermont feels to-day; that mothers
will continue to train up their sons in
ways of temperance, thrift and integ-
rity, teaching them that righteous
ness exalteth nation, but sin is re-
proach to any people," In short, let
us hope that our children will learn
from the spotless history of Vermont's
first century that it is not magnificent
public and private buildings, not
crowded population, not rich mines or
enormous wealth, which make peo
pie truly great; but manhood, patriot
ism, physical and moral health.
LET no mean hope their souls enslave;
Be independent, generous, brave;
Our fathers such example gave,
And such may revere."'
WASHINGTON LETTER.