The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-06


 now so historic, exemplify in any great
 CT degree the courage, the daring, the
 uneonquerable spirit of the American
 patriot,
 Upon the wall in many country
 home may be found an engraving
 which has done much to foster the spir.
 1t of patriotic devotion. More perhaps
 than the battle paintings of Trumbulh
 preserved in the gallery which bears
 his name In wonder college, the simple
 picture of which I speak represents and
 illustrates the sentiment of the people
 in those fateful days when a nation
 was being established upon the new
 foundation of the rlghtful indepen-
 dence of man. It Is a familiar picture.
 The scene is laid In the Keeping room"
 of a modest New England home, possi-
 bly, on the morning of the 9th of July, 1779, when the alarm gun had sounded the signal that the enemy was ap-
 preaching, and swift messengers were spreading the news throughout the surrounding towns. The call to duty has reached that household, and the
 head and stay of the family knows that
 he Is wanted in the ranks of thAe who are mastering to repel the invader,
 The gray haired mother with the snow white kerchief over her shoulders sits in a chair and looks on approvingly
 while the young wife hands the musket and powder horn to her husband. Up
 on his face Is a look of high spirit and stern determination. Patriotic fire lights up his countenance, and trans forms the simple militiaman into a he
 roic figure. The baby that must be left in its cradle is too young to under stand, but the house dog has caught the spirit of the occasion and watches the proceedings with an air which seems
 to express the wish that he could join his master as he goes forth to defend
 home and secure the blessings of liber- | ty. You all know the picture. It Is called "The Spirit of '76." The painter and the engraver are unknown to me.
 In what farm house the transformation I took place we may not know, but cer- | tain it is that on that morning one hun- | dred and sixteen years ago such arm 1 ing and parting might have been seen | in many a house to which news of the | invasion had come; many a young far mer arming in haste for the fray, many a wife handing the musket to one whom | she loved only less than she loved liber- | ty; many a mother blessing the son as l he goes forth, many a child too young | to know and realize the gravity and l true danger of the occasion. The &C., | tors are no more, the resting places of those who fought and fell may be un- marked or unknown; if their graves could be opened there would be only | dust; what they did as individuals rests | in tradition; but the spirit of '76'' still lives. It moves us and brings us to- l day to unite in this ceremony which commemorates not so much the contest that took place as the spirit of those | who took part in 1t. Why is it that in
 the Providence of God greater liberty
 for mankind is secured only through
 warfare and bloody struggle we may not know. That it is so all history l teaches.
 l I have never been able to fully un- | derstand the men of the Revolution. | As I read the account of their simple and curious lives, their strange habits, and stranger beliefs, not to say super stitions; when think of the great ma | jority of them as rural farmers, plant | ing, sowing and harvesting, limited in l their opportunity by an unenviable en- vironment, with few books and fewer | newspapers, and with only the rudi- ments of education, it seems the chief wonder of Gods own Providence that 1 they should have shown such lofty spir- I it, such determination, self sacrifice and 1 endurance in the struggle for freedom. i withstanding so much In their lives l that seems trivial and petty, we know that they had great and unconquerable souls. In their pursuits and dealings, | in their habits and associations, they | do not seem to have been unselfsh Or
 great hearted. they drudged and bought and sold, and saved or spent like the yeomanry of any country. but all worldly interests and life indeed
 were to them as nothing when weighed | in the balance against independence. We must remember that long experi-
 ence of oppressive power on the ore handand brave endurance on the other | had prepared them to resist tyranny when it should become uncomfortable, and that a terribly real though harsh religion gave their characters a touch | of fanaticism. We must remember too l that in all ages the lines of human lib- erty have been advanced by the poor l and lowly.
 Many gathered here to-day are de- | scended from the men who stood and lretreated, and who stood again and re- treated again as the enemy marched up the road and took possession of the en- thence on which we are gathered, and
 may feel that they have a superior right, right by lineal descent to com
 memorate the valor of those who were participants In the conflict. But the
 patriotism of the fathers is legacy
 rather than heritage. We are all en- riched by It. Even the stranger in our
 midst must share and be enobled by the legacy.
 Whenever We honor as to-day the memory of the men of the olden time a question presents itself to every mind and presses for an answer. Have we the same love of freedom, the same passion for independence, the same spirit to do and suffer all for liberty that so richly characterized the fathers
 of century and more ago? We pause indeed in the whirl of busy life for a day to come here in procession with flags and music, with prayer and song
 and speech to do them honor, to renew | and perpetuate the memory of their pa- triotic work; We strive to catch some thing of the living spirit which prompt