The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-06-16
Henry WatterSOn Deliv-
erS Address on Field
of Tippecanoe.
GIANTS OF OLDEN DAYS
Their Work in the Upbuilding Of the
Republic - Dangers Of the Present
Age-The Modern Tendency Toward
Commercial Supremacy.

LAFAYETTE. Ind, June 16.-The an
nual address in commemOratiOn OF Gen
eTal Harrison and his men, delivered at
the battlefield OF Tippecanoe, was de
livered yesterday by Henry Watterson.
His Grafton was entitled Heroes in
Homespun." He said:
Travelling from out the twilight of
the past into the radiance Of the pres
ent, and tracing as we go the history
OF the country along the glorious but
rugged route of battlchelds by the glare
OF fagot-fiame and rihe-flash, it seems
ages since Tippecanoe; since Harrison
and his hunting shirts met and van
Quished the hordes of the two TecUm-
sehs; yet are there men still living.
and here today, vino, il they were not
contemporary with the event and its
vaIiants. can distinctly recall the spirit
Of those times; the aspects, the very
familiar features. of those vaIiants: the
atmosphere, the form and body Of an
epoch. when, from Faneuil Hall. in Bos-
ton. from Raleigh Tavern. in Virginia
to Fort Wayne and old VinceGnes upon
the confines of this borderland. the red
skin and the redcoat alike stirred to its
depths the heart Of the young republic.
Giants of oIden Time.
There were giants in those days; and
there was need that there should be-
No vestibuIed trains, nor palace coach
es waited TO fetch them hither; no noisy
procession. with banners waving and
brass bands playing, marched forth TO
honor their arrival They journeyed for
the most part afcot- They picked their
way through trackless canebrake and
wooded waste, across swift-rUnning,
brldgeless streams, their IIntlocks their
commissariat- They had quilted what
they regarded as the oyercrOwded cen
ters of the popUlous East to seek the
lonely but roomier wiIds OF the far
west. keenly alive to the idea of better
ing their condition, having a fine sense
OF pure air and arabic land; il may be
for town SITES but their hearts beat
true 70 the principles of civil and re-
Hgioas liberty, and they brought with
them two accoutTements OF priceless
value-Ihe neW-made Constitution OF
their country and welI-worn family
Bible; for they were God-fearing, Chris
tian soldiers; heroes in homespun as
chivalric and undoubting as mailed
knights OF the Cross; hating with holy
hate the. Indians and the British; rever-
ing the memory of the patriots and
sages who had made the Declaration Of
independence. warm with the blood OF
the Revolution, the echoes of Lexington
and Bunker Hill, of Kings Mountain
and Yorktown still rim ging in their ears
Debt to the Past.
81 dare say their descendants are
equally capable of sacrifices. But 1t is
not OF ourselves that We are here to
speak It is to commemorate the slain
who lie here and hereabout; to keep
their deeds and their worth for long
aye green; to confess the debt We owe
them; TO garland their graves. II in
paying this homage FROM TIE living to
the dead. We Fekindle within US the
spirit of the dead, we shall with each
annual recurrence Of the day the surer
approve our coming and grow better as
We come.
"OuT lot has been cast in easier times,
has been laid on broader. larger lines.
We live IN an age Of miracles We
gather the fruit Of the tree which these,
our foTefathers, planted From the
ashes of their campfTes rise the school
house and the court house The church
marks the spot where the blockhouse
stood. The warwhoop of the savage IS
succeeded by the neigh Of the iron
horse, the CLEAN Of the tomahawk BIZ
the fare of the electric lamp.
Danger Their Portion.
Danger of the kind that was their
daily, hourly companion is TO US IN
known. Privation such as they sus-
tanned assaiIs not honest toll, however
humble. Wealth and luxury wait at
tendant upon thrift and skill Primo
seniture no longer cheats merit Of its
due Entail no longer usurps the pres
snt and puts its mortgages On the fu-
ture. Opportunity and peace and order
and Law are the portion Of the poorest
Struck BIZ the wizard hand of prog
ress. the sleeping beauty. solitude has
awakened a metropolis: touched by the
finger of modern invention, the prairie
and the forest, as by enchan,Tleat, have
revealed their secrets and poured their
riches into the lap of labor. Upon the
loose cobblestones Of what was but a
huddle OF small provinces. each claim
ing for itself e sQualid sovereignty and
held together by rope of sand. rises
proudly, grnndly, securely e nation
built upon the firm foundations OF an
indissoIuble compact Of States, cement
ed forever By the blood Of q patriotic. (
brave. homogeneous people
THE bucolic republic OF Washington /!
and Franklin. the sylvan idyl OF JefIer- 1
son-the government which equally at I
home and abroad had from the first TO 1
fight for its existepce-is world power: /
and. 20 the present generation Of Ameri- j
cans these things have come without any 4
effort of their own; as a rich inherit
ance. which for good, OF for evil they