Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-01-26
VERM0NTERS IN BROOKLYN.
Some Good Speakers at the Annual
Meeting of the Brooklyn Society Last
HeeL

Some Good Speakers at the AnnuR
Meeting of the Brooklyn Society Las
Week.
There was some unusually good speak
| ing at the annual meeting of the Brooklyn
y. Y, society of Vermonters, held last
week on the anniversary of Vermont''
| declaration Of independence as a sovereig gr
state. The opening address of Col. Robert
J. Kimball, president of the society, recog
nized some of the characteristics and
achievements of the state in way that
was impressive because it was simple
statement of fact Here are his remar ks
substantially in full:
Col. KimbRlI's Address.
81 heard a man say in a lecture the other
evening that there we're certain people,
who never made bigger fools of themselves
over any one thing than they did over the
fact that they were born in Virginia. A
lady sitting near me asked if | supposed
they were any worse than Vermonters.
Nermonters everywhere are noted for
boasting of their native state, and it may
be not always pleasant for others to hear
so much said of what has the appearance
of egotism, but it has been a qualification
to me, time and again, to have natives of
other states at our Vermont home: and
after they had enjoyed the grand scenery,
its mountains and beautiful fertile valleys,
the purest water and bracing atmosphere,
they would come away with sincere regret,
full of enthusiasm, loud in their praises,
even outdoing VermOnters themselves.
Another year has gone by quickly, and it
has been an eventful one in many respects
A great financial storm has swept the
country like a hurricane. As the Green
mountains break the force of the whirl-
winds of nature, so this great disaster
seems to have been averted on the borders
of the state. More than 200 state banks
and more than 100 national banks have
suspended in other states, but not one in
the state of Vermont. The farmers have
been blest with a bountiful harvest and
the merchant with prosperous year. The
manufacturing interest has suffered some,
but not to any great extent; the people
generally conservative and prudent, borrow
ing and owing little-have felt the great
depression least of any state.
THE other side of the picture, as a nat
ional event, was the Worlds Fair or the
Columbian exhibition at Chicago; grand
in its conception, beyond anything ever
before attempted in the world, and magnif-
icent in its completion and its success.
All the nations of the world came together
in friendly competition, as did also the
different states, with ca h other. In this
it is gratifying to us, that our great Empire
state took the lead, but that our loved
Vermont held up her high position in those
things in which she has long eXcelled.
In her exhibit of manufactures, especially
scales and organs, in which she has long
enjoyed a wide world reputation, she still
maintains her supremacy, and her marble
and granite quarries are the finest quality
and the most extensive. OF 46 premiums
awarded, all told, for horses, the Vermont
Morgans took 26. We have before beaten
the world in our dairy products, in our eX-
hibits in Vienna and Paris, and were
equally successful in Chicago. Our maple
sugar and pretty girls were exhibited to-
gether, and, as SAKE says, both were
exceedingly sweet In fact, all her eXhib-
its We're highly successful and a credit to
the state. We never had greater reason to
be thankful and proud of our noble state,
her institutions, and her men and women,
at home alone or when she is brought side
by side with her sister states. Then let
this be our thanksgiving day. OF all the
days of our youth in our Vermont home,
we remember that as the best, when the
families got together for reunion, good
dinner and a good time.