Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-03-22

In one of the last public speeches which
the late Benjamin Harrison made he
said
This country of ours is worthy Of ouI
love. 1t should be before everything else
but God. Wife, children. mother, lover
all these men have put aside for it,"
These words of Mr.. Harrison were the
sincere convictions of his heart, and the
sentiment they contain is that of good
patriotism. The future historian, in est
mating the character of this remote sue.
cessor of George Washington, will not
judge Benjamin Harrison by what he has
said, but what he has done, and he will
find no paucity of deeds in his search fol
material.
1t was one warm June day nearly 81
years ago when Harrison gave his first
and greatest proof of devotion to his
country. Governor Oliver L. Morton of
Indiana met him in the street and said,
Ben | want you to raise Il regiment
Ben did not hesitate moment. He rails
ed the regiment and went to the front
with it. As ii gallant intelligent soldier
he stood in the first rank
Benjamin Harrison was likewise poll.
tician. But that fact did not interfere
with his patriotism. He came of stock
about whose devotion to country there
could he no question. 1t was in his blood
TO stand firmly 10y the cause which he
espOused and which he believed to lac the
right one. One of his ancestors in Il di
rect line was an adhercnt of Oliver
Cromwell in the great revolution for con
stitutional liberties.
Relatives of the i'll fated Cromwclian
Harrison, believing that liberty was dead
in England. emigrated TO America and
settled in Virginia. From this stock was
descended the ninth president of the
United States, and the son of this ninth
president was John Scott Harrison. fa
Their of the former president who lies
dead in indianapolis today.
History shows us a Benjamin Harrison
as member of the Virginia house Of
burgesses in Revolutionary times, as Il
signer of the Declaration of lndepcnd
ence, three times governor of Virginia
and a member of the constitutional con
vention that ratified the federal constitu-
ton. He was the grcat-grandfathcr of
the man who is now mourned all over
the country.
In Indiana Harrison was always ia
vorite although he was born in Ohio at
North Bend in the year 1888. He was Z
years biu WHEN llN WIS eject
ed president of the United States. His
energy was noticed in his early years at
school. He learned his \ b C's at a
country school not far from the Ohio
homestead. Then he went To Miami
university, where he graduated at the
age of IS and very soon after married
Miss Lavina Scott, becoming father
before he was 2l.
He elected to study law and entered
the Office of Judge Bellamy Storer in
Cincinnati. He forged ahead so rapidly
in his studies that he was admitted to
the bar before he was of age to vote
He laid the foundation for his greatest
honor, however, in 1876, when he emerg-
ed from private life TO take again an
active part in politics and became the
candidate for governor. He was defeat
ed, but in the campaign made hosts of
friends by his intrepidity, and four years
after, in 1850, he received the reward OF
party fcalty by being elected TO the
e United States senate. lie served the
full term.
Mr.. Harrison was nominated for the
presidency in 1883 and was elected after
an unusually exciting campaign against
Grover Cleveland. The tariff was tho
great issue of the election. Mr.. Harrison
was president of the United States from
March 4, 1889, TO March 4, 1898. In the
course of his administration there were
many important achievements. A large
increase in the navy was one of these.
In 1896 Mr.. Harrison married Mrs.
Mary Lord Dmmick, a niece of the late
wife of the IAdiana statesman.
Mr.. Harrison was defeated for re-elec-
ton by Mr.. Cleveland in 1894 and re-
tired from public life thereafter, writing
occasional magazine articles and resum-
ing the practice of law