Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-07-23
essry County 8nRla.
ISLAND PoxD. Vt, JULY %.
individual Characters the Result OF
Environment

lsc born TtEhi tux "ish N'i'aN' 'N'
healthiest plant spring up IN barren sol
or amid presidential weeds aud It VIII
produce nothing beneficial to mankind.
There is as much mental miscrgenat'on
as NAV he found in the physical world
among plants and animals. Through
il all il may lie seen that characters are
clearly tracrable to their environment
Take few prominent examples: d.
mustheues is not SO much the representa-
live of artistic and ingenious oratory as
le is type OF a peculiar school OF men,
1t is true he grew much out oi the tact
that Greece was "the land OF scholars
and the nurse OF arms; but his mighty
figure grew out of the great events by
which he was surrounded. The vital
forces which those old democratic com
munwealths showed in the Persian war
were waning. Internal teuds prevented
organization for common defence. But
when Hellenic inspiration became less
permanent it reused the orator to SUI
preme effort. As Greece i'll glory faded
he was more and more illuminated with
the old Greek spirit. He stood almost
alone. And SO out OF his environment
of events, circumstances and influences
he grew into conspicuous renOwn. His
conception of republican sentiments and
his artistic features OF an ideal republic
in his masterpiece, all glowing with pas
sionate utterancts, grew out OF the inten-
sitv of his situation and surroundings.
Phillip was great; Alexander was
greater, because he made Macedonia the
instrument OF organizing ordividinS and
dispensing cOmmonwealths at will, or OF
encouraging monarchy, oligarchy or
democracy by turns according to the
will or caprice of the man who had
grown great surrounded by them. What
inspired Napoleon with that desperate,
direct and dashing military genius but
the fires bv which were forged the thun-
derbolts of a French revolution? In the
midst of what conditions did Queen Vic
toria grow to such large and grand
womanhood? Out of the most Chris
tanizing, civilizing, humanizing and
every way enlivening elements OF as
cheerful time as history ever recorded.
The prominent men OF our nation are
marked by the localities in which they
1. ,t,,
tive men OF Vermont are just, conscien-
tious, and doggedly obstinate in their
conceptions ofjustice and right They
worship principles and are welded to
them as presidents. They are independ-
cut and most tenacious of human rights.
They are earnest, aggressive and full o.
hardy enterprise because they grow out
OF conditions which produced such men
as Ethan Allen and Warner. The judci-
AIRY of Vermont owes its independence
and integrity to the hard school and the
determined learning out of which its in
situations came. The enterprise and per-
severance OF the representatives of YER
mont today is but a reproduction of the
individual characteristics which grew
out of the early conditions of the State.
Men from Maine are stalwart, luxuri-
ant, rich in practical common sense, rug
ged and picturesque in sentiment and ex-
preston, and SO are the rich pines that
grow with them out of the same soil
Virginians are finer grained, less rugged
and more aristocratic They are healthy
but more glowing, intense and brilliant
They are produced in different conditions
beneath wonderfully clear skies, in al.
most perpetual summer, in which the
cypress, the long leaved pine, and al.
most every exotic as well as sen1i-arctic
plant flourshes in the mildest climate
This State, too, has been the most proli-
fc in royal traditions and lordly ancestry
I he distinguished men of Massachusetts
have been reared amid surroundings and
circumstances back to which individual
characteristics can he most clearly traced
One illustration will suffice to show this
Daniel Webster, the great expounder OF
fundamental laws, the great architect in
constitutional construction and limita.
tons came from the very womb OF con.
stitutonal liberty, was graded in
Faneuil Hall aud was constantly listen.
ing too or reading about the intense
lives OF generation, not quite all gone
in his time, lives almost entirely occupied
IN constructing and reconstructing con
sttutional governments. No man could
be more germane to the soil out of which
he grew. None could more closely cor
respond to the nature. growth and de
velopment of constitutional law than he
did. He ted OH and appropriated his
surroundings and grew to be the might
est in the land.
twill be well for the young man otto
day to notice that the successful men lust
past always kept in touch with the sur
roundngs with which they early identi
fed themselves. What a wonderful
country ours is now with such a variet,
otcondtions and elements for individual
development and all available to tn
young men of today! But opportunitie,
are feetlng, and the young man whc
hesitates will soon be numbered anon,
those who might have BEEN" Oppor
tunit'es come thick and fast, but they ar
impatient of delay. There never was
time when young man could NOR
easily start or sooner get into a cond
ton OF responsibility and independents
than now. But he must start at once