The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-20
THEY WERE ALL MUNS0NS
Continued from Second Page.)

(COnllHueu rom second GaBe.)
 the government which for a century past has represented the highest aspi- rations of humanity. It told of the flight to Leyden and of the landing at Plymouth; of the colonial wars and of the Revolution, but 1t did not connect him with those events. But with in- creased leisure and the means of edu- cation and research and with the great interest that has been awakened in the study of local history, traditions have been verified, family genealogies have been compiled, and the descendants of the men of New England who early crossed the Hudson, the Mohawk and the Susquehanna, and later passed be- yond the Alleghanies and over the Si- erra Nevada, have recently learned for the first time the true relation which they bore to the mighty struggle of hu- manity in the sixteenth and seven teenth centuries, which eliminated in the republic of America,
 At once colonial and revolutionary patriotic organizations were formed, historical societies multiplied, priceless records that had remained in manu- script for centuries were printed, local data were collected, arranged and pub lished, suitable monuments were erect ed to the memory of the heroes and statesmen of the past and tablets were placed upon the spots where the chief events of our history had taken place. With these have come a deeper and more intense spirit of national attach ment, of Americanism; a more intelli- gent appreciation of the labors, the sacrifices and the triumphs of those who have preceded us, and naturally to many a feeling of hereditary pride While I would not be understood as fa- voring the adoption in this country of social grades and distinctions similar to those that prevail in the old world, based either upon wealth, the achieve ments of ancestors, or family name, I would abate in no degree the feelings of honest pride of birth in him who traces his lineage to Pilgrim or to Pur- itan, to Cavalier or to Revolutionary sire.
 shall not attempt upon this occa- sion, pleasant as would be the theme, to recount the deeds of the different members of our own family, nor to re- late the part they have borne in the great events of the past. That task
 
 and learning, with, such rare discrimi- nation and exhaustive research, by the historian of our family, that no one for many years at least to come, may ven ture to walk by his side in that field of inquiry. Great as is our sense of obli- gation to Myron A. Munson, the full appreciation of his work will come only with succeeding generations, to which ,1,t foY. hi toi1 he nf our family would doubtless have been lost forever. However much he may owe to those who have preceded him, believe that the two volumes that bear his name will long be accepted as standards in their department of liter ature.
 Unaware even of my relationship to our Ionored ancestor until informed by him, and with no means at my com mand for original research, I can in no particular amplify his work. But as I read again in his pages the history of the earlier days as illustrated by the lives of those whose name we bear, Nhere came to me new interest in the Story, feeling of personal responsibil- ity to the men of prior times, and g. truer appreciation of the dignity of
  And to-day, although fully mindful of the fact that there is no place in this country where American history is studied with greater zeal, nor more clearly understood than at this ancient seat of learning, I ask you to go back with me to the days of Thomas Munson and look for a moment at the influences which guided and governed the men of t,, II of low yioet hn foundations of this mighty nation. Two centuries separate their labors from ours We have outlived the prophecy of De Maistre, and survived the ordeal which de Tocquiville fore saw and feared, but we have still to contend with the dangers which turk in an expansion of the republic in pop ulation, domain and wealth, dangers borne of peace, not of conflict of strength not of weakness, dangers which believe can be averted or over come only by keeping alive in the breasts of their descendants the spirit which governed, controlled and domi- mated their lives
 History furr ishes us with no other instance of a nation founded by men of equal character with those who com posed the N6W EHSlduQ COlOnlto. God" said William Stoughton, in 1888, ''sifted a whole nation that He might send choice grain into the wilderness" While it Is doubtless true that the Pil- grims dreamed not of empire when they left their place of exile in Holland and crossed the ocean, yet they brought with them the spirit of liberty which in an hundred forms was then lowering over the nations of the old world. Although they came seeking only freedom to worship God in their own way, the Pilgrim and the Puritan brought with them in addition to the free church the free school; and from these arose, in obedience to the ineXo- rable logic of Puritanism, the free state No words express with half the elpquence. no subsequent event illus trates with half the force the devotion end the courage of our Pilgrim Fathers as does the simple fact that although returning spring was welcomed by but half of those who had landed in De- cember, and only five of these were left fin sufficient health to close the eyes of the dying and bear them to their name- less graves, yet when the Mayfiower returned to England in April she bore not honeward single Pilgrim. Is it it strange that principles nurtured by
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