The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-11-22
The Maine Society Dinner.
SPEECHES BY REV. DR.. LYMAN Az
BOTT AND GEORGE A. QUIMBY.

BOTT AND GEORGE A. QUIMBY.
A goodly number of the Sons and
Daughters of Maine met at the Hotel
Astor in New York city last Thursday
evening for the fourth annual dinner
of the Maine Society. A New York
special says: The beautiful banquet
room of the hotel was never more re-
splendent with handsome women and
brave men than Thursday night. The
breath of the pines was in the air, for
upon each table stood small tree
whose resinous perfume was every
where perceptible. Fully 200 guests
attended the function, which all agreed
was one of the pleasantest ever held by
the society. Among those present were:
William E. Pulsifer, Mrs. Kate Upton
Clark. George Z. Dexter, vice president
of the Mutual Life Insurance Company:
kimball C. Atwood, John l.. Childs,
Rev. DIR. and Mrs Lyman Abbott, Mrs.
Upham and George A. Quimby of Bel
fast.
At the close of the feast James Nc
Keen, president of the society, who act
ed as POSTMASTER, said i'll the course OF
his Introductory remarks that for years
there had been nothing SO sad in New
England, especially in Maine, as the
sight of old homesteads going to decay,
Unlike England, where the laws o.
primogeuature tended to preserve the
ancestral roof trees, Maine has had no
system for their preservation. Contln-
uing Mr.. Mckeen said: 81 have MOTTO
ed lately during my visits to the state
that the old buildings are being repair
ed and the old farms are being reclaim
ed. The work is being done by the
Sons of Maine whose loyalty and love
for their State has moved them to re-
turn to the scenes of their childhood
and revive the old glories of their ma
tive place..
There is one thing that we as exlles
can do for our native State and that IS
to act as patrons of the literature OF
ollr Maine authors. Maine is land OF
romance. It's hills and rugged coast
are alive with materials of which the
skillful writer may fashion books that
will charm the world"
The Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott was in
troduced as the first speaker, and sad
that while he couldn't claim to be son
of Maine he could claim to be son-ln,
law of the State, for his wife was one OF
her daughters. He declared that nor.
way. Me. was the mo democratic OF
all places in the world. After declar-
ing that Abraham LincOln's defnl ton
of democracy, "a government OF the
people, for the people and by the peo-
pie" was the best ever coined, III.
Abbott went on to discuss what true
democracy meant in politics. IN re1g-
ion, in education and IN industrial ee-
velopments. ..n
George A. Quimby of Belfast, Our
George was the next speaker. lie
said:
MI President, ladies, and members
of the Maine Society of New ork !:
| am sufficiently versed in etiquette,
having been constant reader OF the
Ladies' Home Journal for many years,
To know that the proper thlng LOT me
to do at this time IS to thank you 1of
tile honor you have done me, III inviting
mt to address YOU on this occasion, ana
to assure you that it affords me great
pleasure To be here. But that would be
such All uumitgated lie that cannot
make up Inv mind to do it, and it takes
ante a lie TO brighten me SO that l
break my halter and run away; but
there are degrees of perjury that Will
not commit, and this is one, for L am
not glad to be here, in the position |
occupy. and before | am done you Will
wish that pine tree had fallen on your
committee and crushed out their young
lives before they invited me. L dreaded
this ordeal as much as snake does to
shed its skin OF course | don't know
positively that snake breads that
annual duty, but having once fallen
through the ice and gotten soaked
through, | undertook, in cold room
in the dead Of winter, to shed an over
tight suit of underwear, and | think,
mind you, | don't say that | know, but
| think | have an idea OF how the snake
feels. Anyhow, since then five hundred
thousand dollars wouldn't tempt me to
shed my skin.
In a way | have been buncoed After
informing the members OF this society
that | would certainly be here and ad-
dress them, ! was invited to come! AS
our IrpSUituu says, tldG Ndn lloI q
square deal" Your secretary told me
the programs We're all printed and the
society couldn't afford to get out an
other set, and further that there was
no living orator who could fill my place,
and they didn't want dead one. Still,
if | had had lesser person than my
friend and former toWnsman, Harrl-
man, to deal with, | should now be in
my own home; but when he threatened
to send for me with writ OF habeas
corpus | surrendered. | am not afraid
of steam boats, railroads, automobiles,
or even balloons, but draw the line on
a habeas corpus, whether it is steam or
gasolene.
1t is always more or less of task for
me to leave home. L always forget
where | put my pawn ticket, and OF
course cannot come away without my
watch and best suit of clothes, and on
this occasion there was the address to
prepare. You who have never done
ANYTHING of this kind, except perhaps
to write a medical paper on ''How to
prevent the Alcohol Microbe from I'M
dermlning the Constitution OF Malne;'
or perhaps a sermon, or to hand down
a decision from the bench, or address
Jury, or do some trifling thing like that,
little know what it means to construct
an address like this. You have sub