The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-03-07
Vermont at the Exposition.


brated Vermont day. last Saturday, at the
midwinter exposition in San Francisco. The
weather was fine, and the proceedings were
marked with a display of loyal enthusiasm
that was an unusual sight to the jewellers on
the Pacific slope. Governor Markham and
Director General DeYoung escorted Gov
ernor and Mrs. Fuller and Commissioners
Forbes, Fisk, Morse and Dillingham; to the
grounds, and after the buildings had been
inspected maple sugar festival was held
in Horticultural Hail. Long tables were
erected in the arcade porch, and the 500
sons and daughters Of Vermont each re-
ceived pan of snow and pitcher of melted
sugar. The snow was brought from the
peaks of the Sierra Nevada in box cars.
The formal exercises of the day took place
in Festival Hall. The platform was occu'
pied by Governor Fuller, Mrs. Fuller, Gen
eral Alger Mrs. Alger, Senator Sawyer,
Charles S. Forbes, Nelson w. Fisk and Ed
mund A Morse. Governor Markham, on
behalf of the state of California, cordially
welcomed the native and visiting sons and
daughters of the Green Mountain State and
congratulated them on the large attendance
and the success of the celebration. Gov
ernor Fuller made a fitting response. State
Senator r. b. Carpenter of Los Angeles de-
Home and Abroad" Speeches were also
made by General Alger and ex-senator
Sawyer. Miss Nellie Holbrook Blinn read
an original poem by John Vance Cheney.
Musical selections by Blum's Orchestra, the
| Apollo Male Quartette and vocal soloists
interspersed. The Vermonters wore badges
bearing the coat of arms of the state of Yer
mont, " California Midwinter Exposition,
San Francisco, March 3,l1S94," also sprigs of
evergreen from Vermont. Ladies wore
roses and carnations picked on the grounds.
Festival and Horticultural halls were beau
tifully decorated with roses, carnations,
violets, palms and foliage plants. A grand
display of fireworks and electrical illumina-
tions closed the festivities of the day.
Among the set pieces were representation
of the coat of arms of the state of Vermont
and portrait of Governor Fuller. The
| following are extracts from Governor
| Fuller's speech "Vermont and California
meet to-day to interchange their greetings
1 thank you for the cordial spirit, which, in
your generous welcome to me, you extend
to Vermont. / am greatly honored in the
privilege of being the messenger of the old
Green Mountain state, to bring, at the same
time, her heartiest congratulations to Cali
fornians, and the blessings of the Mother
Commonwealth to her children. We meet,
however, to-day, not so much as citizens OF
California or children OF Vermont, but
rather as citizens Of the United States Tho
flag which waves in the air from these build
ings, and which was at first unfnrled with
| trembling hands by our New England faith
ers, as it unrolls its ample folds to these
western breezes, is the symbol, not of any
single state, but of the government, beneath
whose protecting power the whole sister,
hood of states sits in security" After some
references to Vermont history, which the
day-the 103d anniversary Of the states adj
mission to the Union-suggested, the gov
ernor paid high tribute to California as a
state and Californians as people. Cali
fornia," he said, "has numerous valleys,
where semi-tropical fruits and flowers are
spread out in panoramic beauty, and all
the air is pure, balmy and life-gi wing, where
standing beneath the orange blossoms and
looking toward the mountains that skirt the
valley, one may see how
The snow ereeps down the mountain
The flowers creep up the slope;
And seem to meet and mingle
Like human fear and hope
But while the state may have every ad.
vantage of soil and climate and resources,
| while its fields may yield the most abund-
ant harvests, and its mines open up the
richest veins of metal, and it's landscapes
ravish the eyes with their beauty, yet the
real secret of the highest success and the
surest guarantee of the most permanent
prosperity is not so much in these things as
in the application of those qualities which
aim at the moral and mental growth and
elevation of the people. greatly rejoice in
the evidences that are everywhere seen OF
the operation of these qualities here in San
Francisco" 1t had been twenty-three years
since the governor had visited San Fran.
cisco. The development of the city during
that period, and the exhibition of wealth
and progress in the state as shown by the
large and varied display in the midwintel
exhibition, were like the passages of pleas
ant dream, Concluding, the governor said
Bringing as I do, the greetings of the Old
Green Mountain State to you, her loya
children, and commissioned to whisper the
loving words of dear ones at home, that the
latch string still hangs upon the outer door
singing the merry love song of the absent as
it floats softly in the breezes, telling the
story of welcome, as at the gentle touch o.
the outstretched hand the door swings
! lightly upon its hinges in the day of YOU
joyful return"