St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-03-26
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY MENU.
(Copyrighted.)

(Copyrighted.)
reckon that intensity oflove Tor ones
country has always been most note
worthy among populations that have
inhabited one region tor ages. The
"rocks and rills" of such land all be-
come in time the scenes OF events that
makes them precious, and the hillsides
cover the bones of unnumbered dead,
whose names are still borne by the living.
So the hearts of the people strike their
roots into the soil, and become part of
it as even with the Greenlanders, whose
dreary coasts hold the feelings of the
inhabitants in such thrall that absence
means agony, even death
reckon also, it is easy of proof that
the ancient peoples most firmly knit
together in one were those whose pre-
carious existence was continued only by
vigilance and conflict. need not hest
tate to cite the Spartans, since the mind
of each well-nformed reader will at once
recall the hardening and unifying expert
ences oil that little nation whose men,
bers preferred to perish together rather
than live separated. Similar proof is
given by Rome in it's early days, when it
was being prepared by most strenuous
experiences for the conquest of the world.
National trials largely account for
national strength.
Furthermore, the nearer people come
to telling the deeds of heroes by word of
mouth-as did Homer, the Old Testament
worthless, and the bards when books
were tew-the easier is it to keep alive
the flames of hate or the willing surren-
der of self to patriotic duty. When the
flashing eyes of the father accentuate the
story OF his own deeds that he is pouring
into the child's soul or when the
"mother-knee' instruction tells why the
chid's father fought and died, then the
father becomes to him "a living epistle,"
and his ancestors "a cloud of witnesses.
Where are we now' Approaching the
homeland. When long residence in one
place, perpetual state of conflict and
the handing down of war traditions by
the fathers, are found to be strong
inducements to patriotism, what hope is
there for our country In one hundred
years, or in other words, since the
fathers of living aged men were boys, our
population has grown from something
over 100000 to about 100000. Of
these, 100000 have come from
abroad since 1920, and the offspring of
these ecund immigrants who can num-
Der Our swarming and restless popula-
ton ever moving forward into virgin
territory, has made the area of the
United States increase from $4,000
square miles in 1776 to over 100000
square miles in 1897. Our people of
New England, Notwithstanding the
remarkable history of the early settle
ment of that region, in many cases
gathered their belongings together and
settled along the southern boundaries of
the Great Lakes and beyond. The group
of Southern states with Virginia as
centre scattered their children north,
south east and west, breaking up
almost entirely the ties OF location. As
a consequence of this mixing and moving
and changing of inhabitants, it is practi-
cally impossible to find in America the
never-dying affection for places that
characterizes more stable populations.
Compared with Older nations in Europe,
we are but newborn infants. For
instance, Buda Pesth in Hungary has
recently celebrated it's thousandth year
oil existence.
Bulwarked by oceans. free from Euro