The Newtown bee., 1894-07-06

and take her place among the nations of the earth, or by annexation, add lustre to the star spangled azure of the stars and stripes.
 And now word about Connecticut. 1 No one of the original l3 colonies, no state of the American union, has histo- ry to be more proud of than Connecticut. | The failure of the early settlers of | Massachusetts to agree on lines of gov ernmental policies created considerable | discord among it's people. Three of the I eight Massachusetts towns, Dochester, Watertown, and Newtown, now Cam bridge, disregarded the usage of elect ing church members only to office, and believed that the continuance in office of an efficient minor officer was beneficial to the public service, while the others
 forbade these things. These three towns
 instituted our board of selectmen of to-
 day. The general court of Massachu-
 setts in May, 1884, granted the applica-
 tion of the people of Newtown to re-
 move. Their situation was becoming disagreeable. The greater part of these | three towns in the year of 1884, led by | Thomas Hooker, John Warham, and
 Roger Ludlow, turning their backs upon
 the colonies of Plymouth and Massachu-
 setts Bay, plunged into the forests and
 sought peace and prosperity, happiness
 and home, in the beautiful valley of the
 Connecticut. We cannot imagine the
 intensity of the sufferines of those peo-
 pie during the winter of 1884 and 1885.
 Many of them attempted to return to Boston, but few of them reached there,
 some of them having succumbed to the bitter cold and others fell victims of the bloodthirsty savages. On the arrival
 of spring the few that remained were al- most lifeless from starvation. having
 subsisted great part of the winter upon
 the nuts they gathered from the ground. The spring brought them succor. Their
 friends returned from Boston and
 brought with them many recruits from
 the new colony. Then commenced the
 actual settlement of Connecticut, and
 from that time, although harrassed on
 the one side by the Pequots and the
 other by the Dutch from New York, the
 colonies of Connecticut, and New Haven
 continued to prosper. They organized
 a plan of government as we have already
 stated, which was miniature of our
 federation of states each town enjoying
 the right of local f-government practi-
 cally as we do, to-day. Shortly there
 after the colony of New Haven was
 merged into the colony of Connecticut
 l shall not tire your patience by re-
 view of Connecticut history. but in a
 general way let me observe that her part in American history is q notable one. In size she is the 44th state in the Union I 7th in wealth, 27th in the value of hel annual products and by the census o1
 1890 was eighth in railroad mileage.
 She has always responded generously
 to the call of the national government } and in every war mas furnished more r than her quota of men. In the early , history of the nation such names as Trumbull, Huntington, Wolcott, Sher man and Johnson are stars of the frs magnitude; while Putnum, Hale, Led 5 yard and others are among the roll O. military patriots who have honored theil 3 State and nation.
 ,i The place of Connecticut Tn our his = tory, the achievement of her soldiers he = record in war and in peace, her place il t the ever-advancing column of civilization brings to our minds another thought. l |, reminds Us that we must maintain tn r principles for which our soldiers Tough t and bled. This land of ours is mighty il - scope; mighty in possibility. The ez - fled and oppressed, the down trodden an - debased are docking to these wester e shores. The anarchist and nihilis e blend with the political economist f Against all social elements, warning wit e the peace of society and the security 0 e our rights as guaranteed us by the cor |. stitution and the law, we should endeay = or to make our territory too narrow fo y their existence. Scarcely less censurabl '- are kindred organizations whose purpose
 the outgrowth of pseudo patriotic mo e tives. seems to be to array, by the incu r. cation of bigotry and prejudice one clas e of citizens against another. It is to b y regretted that such beings, whom th l. world dignifies by the name of mer e should be so forgetful or ignorant in ou d country's history. It is to be regrette r. in this enlightened age, with the educs 1t tional facilities offered here, with the oI y portunities which we possess to supplar h ignorance by knowledge, that ther D. should be any found who could len of themselves to the debasing and churlis or occupation of melting race or religiou i'd prejudices between the citizens of the R, IS public. But enlightenment must con IS to those benighted creatures, and sue s, organizations detrimental to the peace Id society and the enjoyment of life, libert S. and the pursuitsof happiness will disal C. pear before the discountenance of intell Ii- gence as does the winters frost befo1 r. the summer sun.
 le There is strange and dangerous i d Gerfusion of destructive and disintegra O. ing clements with our American instit If tions. Social problems of the weightie re magnitude confront us at the presel
 with sixty-five millions, what do. the u- portend when the mighty tide shall ha' ot swollen to two hundred million! Prime n ples which our wars vindicated peat le must promulgate and apply. But peat le has it's battlefields. Foes to the natie D. there still are. They are not open al le avowed like belligeran5 power. The r. are more danoernus hacause thpy lurk