The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-24
Bright and witty Responses.

Among the congratulatory speeches at the
reunion of the Brooklyn Society of Yer
monters, TO which reference is made on
page eight, Roswell G. Horn and Rev.
L. p. Frost responded with wit and elo-
quence to the tOasts that bad been assigned
them. The WATCHMAN is indebted to
Colonel Robert j. Kimball, president of the
society, for copies of Brooklyn papers con-
tanning stenographic reports of the speeches,
from which the following excerpts are made
MIR. Horr was asked to respond to the SEN
timent, A Small but Mighty People"
He said, in part: "You can cut the little
state of Vermont out of Texas twenty
seven times and then have edgings enough
left to make another state as large as Con
necticut and Rhode Island combined And
yet who would not rather have been born in
Vermont than in Texas? When a person
says | was born in Vermont that means
something. The statement carries with it
definite idea. One says instantly, There is
person who was actually born some
where No confusion as to locality follows
such statement. Not so when you speak
of Texas. When a person saws, Il was
born in Texas that really means very lit
tie. Texas is so large that the statement
carries with it no definite idea. 1t would
have meant little less if he had said, | was
born somewhere in North America In
deed, it seems to me as though had lust as
lief never have been born at all as to have
been born in Texas. Would it not have
been about the same thing, anyway? But
when say was born in Vermont there
is nothing vague about that statement. |
remember year ago at your anniversary.
MIR. Phelps, eX-minister to the court of ST.
James, attempted to explain the intense
love of Vermonters for their native state
upon the theory that a country full of noun
tains, where people have to struggle in order
to live at all, always develops in its people
an intense feeling of local love and local
Tlpra il
truth in that theory. But he admitted
another fact that must be included to fully
account for the intense love of Vermonters
for the place OF their birth, and that is the
size of the state itself 1t is not SO large as
to destroy ones identity, and identity is the
mother OF intensity. A person with healthy,
active affections can spread himself all over
the state OF Vermont without any patches
getting so thin as to lead to uncomfortable
exposures. Take, for example, the Chinese
empire Its area is so large that its people
have lost their individual Characterization
They all look alike. IL makes no difference
whether you meet Wing Lo, Chang Lung or
Wang Ho, you feel as though you had seen
one and the same person. They are alice
samee.' Not so when you meet people from
Vermont. Somehow, each person has an
individuality of his own. The surroundings
beget type but the type is made up of dis |
tinct units. In travelling over the United
States / have noticed that the people of
Vermont are more completely American |
than the people of almost any other north |
ern state. Rhode Island, Connecticut and |
Massachusetts have had such an immense |
influx of foreigners that the people of those |
states are no longer purely Americans. |
The New England character has been mod |
lied in those states by coming in contact |
and mixing with the people from the old |
world. There is comparatively little of that |
in Vermont. Go where you will in the |
% GfnfA
new editions of Molly Stark and Ethan |
Allen, unmiXed with irish, Italian, German
or Hungarian. The New England strain
survives in all its purity. Fathers and |
mothers are both of revolutionary stock. |
True, their sons and daughters are crowded |
out into the western states and marry and |
with the rest of the world. But
at home Vermont man marries Vermont
girl, and in that way the Vermont char
acteristics are still preserved. The people
OF the New England states, as a whole,
have their distinguishing characteristics.
To be New England Yankee means good
deal. But to be Vermont Yankee at once
suggests condensation of business tact,
Independence and love of coun-
try, coupled with moderation and modesty.
This gives to Vermont character a sort of
glory"
Rev T. p Frost of Baltimore,
Md, said; When it was intimated to me
that l might have the honor of speaking a
few words at this gathering concerning
The Ladies in general and the women of
Vermont in particular, | began to search
such Vermont literature as happened to be
available after some material for a speech.
The first volume consulted was the valu-
able book by Mr.. John j.. Heaton which so
delightfully."- tells the story of the state |
traversed the index with great care and
great expectations. | found there mention
Of the horses, the oxen, the wild animals of
Vermont. but not one word about the
women of the state. With waning expecta-
tons and tagging hopes, | traversed that !
index the second time and was rewarded |
by reading Bread Riots, page 1907 / re-
tiected since the women of Vermont have
baked most of the bread, these riots must
have been in some way connected with |
them But upon referring to the page it |
that the bread riots were all in |
New York city. No Vermonter ever had |
occasion to riot over his bread. Indeed the !