The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-22

the cause OF freedom. where their sons
could be educated to liberty and independ-
ence in the school of self-reliance and dam
ger.
From these homes sprang men of genius,
molders of opinion, leaders of men. In these
homes order was enthroned frugality was
a necessity and industry r virtue. You may
cr1ticfse, If you will, their government as
Puritanical and the discipline as exacting
but the lofty character of their sons and
daughters is their encomium and defense.
Il was an interested listener, a few years
ago, to the story of a New England home.
How the mother, from the fleece, fashioned
with her own hand both the fabric and
the garments that clothed her boys. And
when left a widow, still failed not to take
her boys to church each returning Sabbath
that they might be catechised and in
strueted from Gods law. This required four
miles of travel over the hills and through
the rigor of the New England winter. Mod
ern home builders will doubtless criticise
the mothers zeal, and perhaps industry
but they Will be charitable enough to COM
mend her devotion to her boys. We will
allow their history to proclaim the glory
of her zeal and devotion. One Of these boys
Rev. Samuel Mott, d. D., for many years,
in addition to his labOrS as pastor taught
with marvellous success a boys school, and
engrafted into many lives the noble quail
tiles OF his exalted character. He was the
pastor of the Congregational Church at
Franklin, Conn, for seventy-one years,
which is the longest continual pastorate on
record. He was justly called the patriarch
of the New England clergy. He died May
20 1902, at the age of ninety-eight years.
Inc younger DrOLner, EllpHdiet NOIt, II. d.,
Lii. D. was pastor of the First Presbyter-
ian Church at Albany, N. Z, from 1898 to
1904 at which time he was made president
of the Union College. During his presidency
more than four thousand young men grad
uated. In 1854 the sem-centennial of his
presidency was celebrated. and there were
in attendance six hundred of the alumni.
He was the author of books. He delivered
the. address on the death of Alexander
Hamilton, of which it is said the vast audi
ence, moved by his eloquence and pathos,
ton which has been acclaimed by sehool
boys in ten thousand schools and has passed
into history. His great life was ended at the
age of ninety-three Time will prove too
limited to measure the influence of this one
New England home, it will require eternity.
/ speak of this one home and leave you to
judge of the molding powers Of the many.
May not, in conclusion, commend to mod
ern homebuilders some of the characters
tics that distinguished the early New Eng
land homes? Ideas and methods are chang
ing, but all changes are not commendable.
Less conformity to custom and fashion and
more intense attention to the home would
give abundant reward.
Recently, on railway train / witnessed
a remarkable contrast: On one side was
seated q woman who was much exercised
over the care of a pug dog. She frequently
admonished his dogship that it was impoite
to growl and bark on the train and that
he might be punished for such an offense
by being sent to the horrible baggage car.
Opposite the pug dog woman sat mother
with three little boys. 1t was clearly mani
were given to her home and family. / was
led to believe that in the years to come
ton with their love: that they would bless
her memory and honor her motherhood
with nobility of character. Madame De
Stael said to Napoleon: Frances greatest
need is better mothers and be assured
France will have better sons Our greatest
need at this time is the exaltation of the
the broadening of its Influence. The home
should be the one endearing place around
WHICH cluster and in which center our
earthly hopes, joys, purposes, plans and as
pirations. with such homes there would be
less need for reformatories and prisons;
there would be less of tears and sorrow
and more of sunshine and happiness"
PURITAN OF THE FUTURE
"The Puritan of the Future" was re-
sponded to by Rev. William B. Lord, for
merly of Boston, but more recently of Min
neapolis. Mr.. Lord dwelt principally in his
remarks on the absence of the faculty for
the beautiful among the Puritans He said
the pilgrims were endowed with the great
organic principles of religion and loyalty
to duty, but that they had no eye for beau
ty, and had consequently handed down a
defective inheritance which the Puritans of
to-day would mend. He spoke of the great
beauty throughout all nature, beauty
that was given to delight the hearts of
men, and deprecated the fact that the eyes
of the pilgrims ignored the beauty of their
hills and forests and made their existence
so barren. Beauty gives graciousness to
character, said the speaker, and it is a pity
this grace of beauty was not found among
the PuritanS. One of the consequences is
seen to this day in the buildings of splen-
did size which are erected that are an
offense to the eye. In a large city on one
of the lakes, the speaker said, three great
churches have recently been erected, cost
are monuments of uglness. Mr. Lord,
conti uing his theme, declared that wher-
ever organizations of charity and reform
are found the backbone of them is always
found to consist of New England men. He
spoke of the civil-service convention re-
Gently held at Cincinnati, which he attend
ed, and said that it was largely made up
of Boston people. And of the men oppos-
ing civil-service reform said he, there
is not one that is New Highlander. The
men who are resorting to lies in their fran
tic endeavOr to grasp power through de-
feating civil service are all foreign to New
England soil" In closing Mr.. Lord urged
all New Englanders to hold tenaciously to
the old-time righteousness of the PuritanS
and to go forward in acquiring the gra-
ciousness that comes from a recognition of
the beautiful
TILE PILGRIM SOLDIER.
Mayor James S. Ostrander, of Richmond,
spoke to the toast 1.-THE Pilgrim Soldier
Standish of Standish."
Mr.. Ostrander began with a quotation
from Longfellow describing the subject of
his Sketch
and athletic,
Broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, with
muscles and sinews of iron,
Brown as nut was his face, but his russell
beard was already
Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges
sometimes in November
The speaker, continuing, gava 4 portrait
of Standish in poetic language. showing
him TO have been the one soldier aboard the
Mayfower. Said he:
Looking backward through nearly one
hundred years in which the little captains
fame and worth have grown brighter with
every sun, it is as plain as monday that his
was the great mission to found a state. We
might tell over again the story Of the Plym-,
outh Rock, with Carver, and Bradford, and
Brewster - admirable as each was in his
sphere either swelling the pilgrim ranks
without authority or left behind III Holland,
and the sequel would be as now, an empire
founded, a continent for country; but only
subtract from the precious cargo of the
Mayfiower the sword of the white man.
the little Great Heart of the pilgrimage,
and we might write a story of disaster and
ruin and death, with Plymouth Rock a
it was good, it was divine to face the perils
of the angry deep, the inhumanity of savage
foes and the season 5 wrath for liberty of
conscience and freedom to worship God; but
unless those brave men knew the might of
the strong arm of the soldier on which they
leaned and trusted in its strength their ven
ture was the madness of the morn and
it's rashness deserved our pity, if not our
with the sentiment that would make of
these pilgrim fathers soft, pulpy souls, de-
void of all worldly wisdom. They did know
their commander and weighed we'll his
strength and worth, but the iron hand was
sheathed in velvet glove. God-fearing and
God-loving as they were, they had read His
word with profit for both time and eternity
and while in purpose they were as harmless