The Republican journal., 1903-07-02
An Old Home Week Address

:
of Old Home Week we publish, by per-
mission, remarks by Joseph F. Frye,
made on recent Old Home Week
gathering at Stockton Springs Mr..
FRYE was born in Belfast, spent his
youth in Stockton, and has been resi-
dent of Massachusetts for many years.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
| thank YOU for your kind invitation
so courteously extended to me Dy your
chairman and our mutual frlend TO
address YOU | wish | were Beecher
or a Talmage that l might respond IN a
manner to enighten or amuse you. But
such powers of oratory as ! Formerly
possessed. feeble at BEST have long
since been prostituted and diverted INTO
the channels of trade or relegated INTO
what MI. Cleveland so happily termed
sinnocuous desuetude." My oratory
has gone along with my other posses
sons of youth, notably my landed pos
sessions sin Spain on which L built
out of the scanty material at hand at
that time and in this place some OF the
most beautiful castles eXtant, raising
story upon story, pillar upon pillar,
gable and turret and tower, all splendid
" equipped with every modern conven-
ience and every one near to the cars:
These. my friends, have all been raized
by the hand of time, and the cellars
filled in, and with them has gone my
claim to oratory: but any man except a
deaf mute must respond IN neal! any
soul TO u coralai Sl,lllt anu sen1ihone ls,n ~
OF TINS reunion !lust VOICE lils pleasu;l;I
IN participating Ill thls haPP!, o,'plIt IA
JIon,n Week Nicht RlesSed be the man
who lIISt conceived lhe loea aIlu 'iilaI n.y.
blessed are we who are spared to mlnsle
IN its IestlYl ltles ana Paftahe ol us '1Ga, 4Go
WtalltlrS. TO clasp hdlus acloen ;,le ;,le
@hasm OF years To rene" ora - llieiiusaii9 nus, %
and cultivate lhe new, dhu W 'laoe 49, .i'
she llneaments OF lhls Soulisei seidtla- stla
ton tie Iesenoiallees ana ei'ai1eiIi7 ,s. ~
IStleS OF loVeo IIlel'dS M'!o .Nll o,llI ~ ~
with us tonlgul .! ileli ~
proxies. " no Is IL VINO say Ihoie ,. L'
something m lte Wola NOME ,lial m S.i., "Nan
eus the kindllesl impulses VI tiie lieai No. ~
" NAoeVer the authoI, tills sthIi!lleli' il"e
been expressed III All lts phases IN ioe.i !
and song, pofIraNeu on llliliol ~ S"l
canvas ny tlie nlaSic pl"oI! ". va -
master By the art OF dramalizalioll !, II
has been realistically pfoouceo on the
thousand stages OF the Wofio; apPealils
10 every strata OF socletv allo illlillsIel-
ing to the heaI' munger Oh nolneiesS l',S
wanderers the WoIld over, ana happs
are we WHO can iio lls Gest !, cons s'i,liiid III
llol and 1lll1l 1l'MehI III ol0 Holie eeh
50 plastic is the NINA oi youtil, 50 Ie
cept'Ne to impressions OF pressure arc
pam, sc tenacious the !"l't III III HIeliiol.
that WITH Slight eHoft OF We Will we
can recall incidents long passed. t'he
live again III the scenes OF other Gays
Who can forget the boy VINO llched nm i:
" no can forget the dog tilat piI MN:
And who can forget the Slfl ne loNeu
and WHO failed perhaps 10 Ieclpfocatt
chat tender passion: And VINO can 1or
get Iie conversation, consequence
and collateral incidents relatlhg thtleIo:
All these and thousands more stahd GU
re-incamated, re-habllltated, re-estaD
lished, and become matenallzed splrltS
of the past at the electrical touch OF
memory. 10 those OF us VINO nave
passed the meridian OF MES ORBIT
trhing events are magnlfled by d1s'
tance and loom big and pregnant, sou
ened and chastened ana glorliled, II you
please, 10y the haze OF time, as we gaze
down tile retrospectlve VISTA OF the past
tl.I ny