The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-01-22

He loved it, and the harder the storm ne was
called upon to face, the more vigorously dld
he fill that pair of strong lungs with the
mountain air and the stronger did his heart
pump the pure blood through every vein and
artery of his healthy system. 1t was under
this kind of discipline that the boy grew
strong and hardy and brave.
Sheridan Knowles has given most beautiful
expression to this thought. He says:
"With what pride used
To walk these hills and look up TO my G-d
And bless Him that it was So loved
Its very storms.
You know the jutting cliff round which a track
Up hither winds whose base is but the brow,
To such another one with scanty room
O'ertaken there
By the mountain blast I've laid me fiat along,
And while gust followed gust furiousy
As if to sweep me DER the horrid brink,
And have thought of other lands whose storms
Are summer flaws to those Of mine and just
Have wished there-the thought that mine was free
Has checked that wish; and have raised my head
And cried in thraldom to that furious wind
Blow on This is the land Of liberty"
The mountain state of West Virginia has
for her motto, " Montani semper liveri."
-"Mountaineers are always freemen." And
am Inclined to give the mountains of YER
mont large measure of credit for not only the
Drawn but the brain of the sons She produces
and for their liberty loving characteristics.
The pure mountain streams furnish us our
healthful drink. The mountain breezes
which sweep down through our valleys purify
the atmosphere we breathe. The rugged hill
sides teach our children lessons in perseVer-
ance, patience, energy and freedom. Our sons
are 'tOughened into manhood by the inces-
SAINT labor of the farm and forest and become
quick of apprehension, fearless in danger,
| decisive in action, and tireess in endurance"
| The sons of Vermont to whom we point with
| most pride today are those who have passed
| through the crucial test OF Vermont nara
| ship and Vermont toll. In the purity of their
| lives they stand foremost among the best, ana
and in war well as in peace they have
earned the honor of being models of courage,
/ F1..y sfr..Is ..VN.lx rfrfrt
| But the influence of our mountains and our
scenery in not only invigorating but 1t is re-
filming and enrolling. The Scottish poet
George Macdonald, beautifully says:
| !" A voice is in the wind do not know,
| meaning on tho face of the high hills
| Whose utterance / cannot comprehend:
| something is behind them: That is Cod.
| Were you to name tonight our ablest con-
| stitutional lawyer, the statesman ripest and
| best informed as to all that pertains to the
political history of our country for the last
quarter of a century, 1t would unquestiona-
| bly, be Hon. George +. Edmunds. Self-reltance
| independence and love of freedom and right
are, and always have been his predominating
| characteristics.
| Those of you who have passed along the
| valley of the Winooski will remember that
as you threaded the narrow gorge through
which the river makes its way from the east
| ern to the western side of the mountain, you
saw high up on your right, Gamers Hump,
and on your left old Mansfield. Nestled in
between these Handicapped mountains lies
the rough hillside farm, the birthplace and
early home of this liberty-loving statesman.
He loved those rugged mountains He loved
| to wander
"On and up where Natures heart
| Beats strong amid the hills"
He loved those mountain Streamlets whose
shallow waters scarce covered the pebbles on
their bottoms, concealing the speckled trout
| whose size seemed to render 1t impossible il
could have found hiding place beneath
their rippled surface. Bryant well says:
"To him who in the love nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, sheSpeaks
/ A various language"
And who shall say that these influences, so
pure, so elevating, and so ENROLLING did not
have a deep influence in moulding the char
| acter of this great man.
Our own idolized Morrill, whose term of
continuous service in Congress-already
reaching 81 years and If he lives to complete
his present term will have reached y years
a record exceeding by several years that OF
any other American since the formation of
our gOvernment-and who during more than
thirty years of that service has been an ac-
knowledged authority upon questions per-
tanning to the tariff and finance, was born,
and aside from his residence in Washington,
has spent his life In a little hamlet among our
green hills, miles away not only from rail-
roads, but from any village of considerable
1 size.
Your own Lincoln, the statesman, patriot,
and martyr has aeounterpart in his tall form,