Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-02-21

Maine girls without breaking the first
commandment, for there is nothing like
them in heaven above, or earth beneath,
or waters under the earth
Turning from the triumphs of peace to
those of war, discern in the last great
commander of the army of the United
States, the Philip Sidney Of our civil war,
he Henry Havelock OF the Union army,
Oliver o. Howard, with Berry and Burn
ham, and Chamb erlain and Fessenden
and Connor, all sealing their devotion
with life or limb; and in this connection
l am reminded that, seated among the
officers Of your society tonight, / see
modest soldier, who, fresh from his alma
mater, led a regiment OF Maine boys up
the shot-swept slopes OF Fredericksburg,
into the wheat field at Gettysburg,
through the jungles and thickets OF the
Wilderness, the bloody angle of Spott-
sylvania, the fiery furnace OF Cold Harb
and the bloody campaign OF Petersburg;
till when his ragged remnant stacked
final hostile arms upon the field OF
Appomattox, shut cartridge boxes and
opened haversacks to their defeated
fellow countrymen, they stood in battle
losses thirty-fifth on the roll OF more
than two thousand infantry regiments
which composed the Union army.
or the two hundred and sixty-four cav
airy regiments which rode with Sheridan,
and Stoneman, and Fitzpatrick, and
Merritt, and Custer and Wilson, our First
Maine cavalry heads the list in the num-
Der OF its killed and wounded, and in the
heavy artillery branch Maine regiment
holds the same distinguished position.
A poet laureate OF England has en-
balmed in immortal verse, The Charge OF
the Light Brigade at Balaklava, where six
hundred and seventy-three gallant Brit
ons, while
| Cannon to right Of Them
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front Of them.
yollcyed aud Numbered"
rode into the valley Of the shadow OF
death, from whence two hundred and
forty seven, (thirty-six per cent. OF their
number) never returned; but to regi-
ment from our own State, Maine lumber
men and farmers boys, belongs the dis
tinpuished honor of losing in single,
mortal com bat, the greatest percentage OF
fighting heroes recorded in the annals OF
war
In the last desperate assault which
closed the bloody spring campaign OF
1864, the First Maine heavy artillery
acting as infantry, charged upon the most
stupendous specimens of the defensive
enginery OF modern war at Petersburg
nor paused nor stayed till six hundred
and four of their comrades, more than
sxty-six per cent. OF their number, lay
t llfeless and bleeding within the Golgot ha
OF its bloody slopes and trenches in less
than ten immortal minutes; and OF the
/ men who went into that charge, not
one for moment believed that human
/ fortitude or mortal valor could accomplish
the errand for which they no less readily
went cheering to their graves.
Open the volume OF American states
manship, and on its memorial pages what
names shed brighter luster than those OF
William Pitt Fessenden, Hannibal Ham
lin and James G. Blaine? Turn to the
leaf of the present and tell me, If yol
please. the name of him who is to-day
the brainiest, broadest minded, biggest
hearted and most thoroughly all-around
competent citizen of this country fol-
president of the United States?
Don't think for a moment that ! am SC
far forgetting the proprieties as to talk
politics, for | am doing nothing oil
the kind. The obscure and humble patti
in which my political feet have hitherto
trodden. has been as widely divergent
from the highway of our distinguished
/ fellow citizen as you can we'll imagine
/ But this is a family party, and | an
speaking of an absent brother. | was
/ born wit thin a stones throw of his birth
place; | was a Portland sehoolboy under
his tuition. | know his character to bt
unstained by any trace of dou bic dealing
or sharp practice; his record unspottec
by a single doubtful transaction. w hat
ever distinction may be his, he owes tC
the unfalterng support of two faithful
friends-a level head and an honest heart
and | know no man no better illustrate.
Hamlet's ideal,
"a man whom Fortunes bullets and rewards
hast ta'cu with equal thanks
+ nor ever
CROOKED the pregnant hinges of the knee wher
thrift may follow fawning,"
| In political campaigns, some who OPP
posed him have often asked, for lack o
better argument, "What has Tom Reet
ever done for his district or the State o
Maine?" During the campaign of 1892
| think propounded that question from
the stump number of times myself; bu
| never asked the question without feel
ing that l would like to answer it, ant
with your permission will do so to-nigh
for the first time.
In the first place, the scope of Mr.. Ree'
is considera more than district, o