The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-02-24
@attbman 4 aourr Al.
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY a, 1892.
A Rhetorical Pump.

Senator Mulligan of Lexington, KY,
is rhetorical pump. You press the
handle; he does the rest. Lack of
space usually forbids our reproducing
the impassioned eloquence Of orators
outside of the Green Mountain state,
and the same reason often compels us
TO omit even the post-prandial ebulli-
.~s, sapience and wit from Colonel
ub w. Hooker of Brattleboro.
But these are some thugs that are loo
good ID lbe lost, and we must make
room for the magnificent effort, last
week, of Senator Mulligan in behalf
of Mary Brown Day, who aspired to be
librarian of Kentucky. Thus did the
inspired Mulligan {" Pheousl what
nameP) approach his task:
"How dull, unmusical, colorless, these
poor words of mine to paint such an one as
the masters essayed to fix when they sought
to picture the purity of the soul in the radi-
ant beauty Of the temple. Some Del Sarto
in inspired tints, some Byron or Burns in
enhancing numbers, some Handel in the
weird magic of his notes-alternately a
pecan or prayer, an angelic chorus or
moan-might in the mystery Of his art,
charming the sense, transporting the soul,
present q true portrait of one who, among
the daughters OF Eve, is so rare a combina-
ton of all that is gentlest, purest, most
womanly-of Mary Brown Day. The stored
stream that surges near us, floating on its
bosom full, round century of history, po-
etry, tradition, was broader, deeper. clearer,
than now these old hills that tower above
us were greener, loftier, yet easier climbed;
this old pile was statelier, majestic men
were drawer, youth more heroic, lasses
were fairer, may be pardoned for al least
believing. And amid that trooping throng
Of maidens, more beautiful than the nymphs
OF Thessalian groves, purer than the vir-
gins who fed the sacred flames on Ephesian
affairs, brighter in glance and smile than
the beam Of Venus; happy as the wild birds
that twittered around them. the echo Of
these hills repeating, but adding no sweet
ness to their laughter; the most winsome
and beloved, gentlest, bonniest best was
she whom we 80 love 10 remember as Mary
Brown Russell. Her womanhood has made
good all that her girlhood promised. AS
patriotic as the sturdy senator from whose
loins she is sprung, as joyous in nature as
the sparkling stream by whose banks she
gambolled in childhood, as brave as the
maidens who filed forth from Bryauts
Stations rude bastions, as gentle as the
breath of the springtime, as sincere in faith
as the nun in her cloister, as steadfast in
friendship as the sunhower in homage, as
fixed in integrity as the hills that joined in
the song of her girlhood, her soul garlanded
in virtues as June is with roses, she is as
lofty Of purpose as the Incompatible Maid
OF Domremy. And now, though the soft
outline OF her grlish beauty of mould may
have lost somewhat of its perfection
though the bloom OF the roses may have
faded from her cheers; though the ripple of
laughter breaks not 80 spontaneously often
from her lips as Of yore. yet is her soul as
pure, her spirit as gentle, her heart DIS true
and those who loved and honored Mary
Brown Russell in other days still as fondly
cling about that sunny spot that ever encir-
eled Mary Brown Day. These hearts beat
responsive second when l name her to
your choice for librarian of the state"
Need we say that Mary was elected?
We need not