The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-06
The Afternoon Exercises.

Knights of the Golden Eagle. | The Afternoon Exercises. The exercises on the green were scheduled for 2:S0 o'clock, but it was nearer o'clock before the programme was commenced.
 At that hour the crowd on the green was small probably not over two thou sand, many being kept away by the in- tense heat or lured elsewhere by the numerous attractions of of the day. The exercises were of a thoroughly pa- triotic character consisting of music by the Second regiment band, chorus singing by the German Harugari soci- ety and addresses.
 On the platform erected In front of Center church were seated members of | the city government and of the general committee of celebration, and the par l ticipants in the exercises of the after noon,
 Invocation was offered by Rev. Dr. | Levi Gilbert of Trinity M. E. church, and the Declaration of Independence was read by Professor William P. | Chandler. The introductory address was made by Mayor F. B. Farnsworth, who said, in part:
 "The record of our state in the Revo- lutionary war is one of which we may well be proud. It was in Connecticut | that men were recruited to make up for the deficiencies of those states less zeal ous than she. It was Connecticut that was the granary of the Continetal ar my. It was Connecticut that gave Put nam, on whose services Washington | placed such strong reliance, and David Bushnell, who caused great consterna- tion. to the British fleet, and which, when developed, became our modern system of torpedoes. It was Trumbull, Brother Jonathan Connecticuts war governor of the Revolutionary war, l who was the friend and trusty counsel | Tor of Washington.
 While we have in mind the victories ! of the Continentals, while we feel proud l of the praises which Washington gave
 to men and officers of the Connecticut I brigade when he said that 1t was com posed of as fine body of men as any | in the army, we must not forget the men of New Haven who gained lasting renoWn in the struggle which we are this day commemorating There was Wooster, of high rank and great skill, the hero of three preceding wars, gen eral less impulsive than that other one
 we might mention, but who was not less ready, and whose loyalty was
 never questioned There was Daggett.
 the able professor of Yale, who, during
 the ten years previous to active hostil-
 ities. had used his pen to oppose Great
 Britain's measures, and who, at the in- l a Sinn 0f Nayy boc ocfa +r +lo | West Bridge to rally those few defend- | Ing it against Great Britain's army l There was the lamented Nathan Hale,
 not & native of New Haven, but edu- cated here, who grleved because he had
 but one life to sacrifice for his country | Wooster, Daggett, Hale-New Haven's | heroes Of '76. whose renown found a. | fitting complement in the glory of | Bushnell, Terry and Foote, New Ha-
 ven's heroes of '61.
 l Tt is with the memory of these men with us, with their high ideals before
 us, that we take part in the exercises
 of the day They were loyal to their town. They were loyal to their state They were loyal to their country. As we realize the value of their services, we can give no better evidence of our
 appreciation than by joining in the ex-
 ercises with hearty spirit and by | showing in the unselfish, the patriotic life that all should lead. that ''the good
 which men do lives after them"
 The orator of the day was Rev. Dr. Watson Phillips. He said in part
 Tn conformity to an ancient and
 commendabl ble custom we are met to re-
 mind each other of our fathers achieve
 ments, to recount our blessings and to
 renew our loyal hope for the future This is the day of days to the genuine
 American, when he reverently trans ports himself back to the joyous hour
 when the old bell rang out it's death
 less paean, when bonfires famed from
 hill to hill. and the expectant colonists
 rent the heavens with the first glad l shouts of free nation. We do well 10
 make this day vivid in our calendar, We
 can set no better object lesson before
 our adopted citizens, no better teacher before our children We are not here as l politicians who celebrate partisan
 victory-to-day the strident voice of | partisanism is drowned by the larger voice of common devotion, or as brag-
 gers and boosters who freight the air l with soulless rhetoric. We are here as | thoughtful, patriotic citizens, standing
 on historic soil, with the monuments of Puritan piety and valor about us, to ex- press our gratitude to our fathers and
 to our God, and to repledge our fealty
 to the highest American ideals.
 "'We give thy natal day to hope, l 0 country of our love and prayer,
 Thy way is down no fatal slope | But up to freer sun and air
 Tt is no empty sentiment that holds
 a great, busy people through so many
 years to the observance of a day of re- | joicing. It Is the expression of a deep
 and fervent patriotism which no pas l sage of time can weaken and no new in- | terests can distract. The dawdlinS de- generates whose blood has been vitia- ! ted by self-indulgence, the sneering patricfans who mistake conceit for cul-
 ture and who regard these demonstra- | tions as vulgar and uncouth, have mis- l interpreted the spirit of the American