Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-05-31
PROSPECTS DAY
Handsome Monument Unveiled With Appropriate Ceremonies.

was unveiled with appropriate cere- monies, and in addition to the popu- lation to the town, hundreds were present from other towns. Judge Cowell, Senator Phelan, and Mrs Phipps of this city, who did consid- erable work for the committee, were guests of honor and also made short addresses. Wadhams Post. c. A. R. of this city and Isbell Post, Nauga- tuck, sent big delegations. William L. Clark. chairman of the committee. | made the opening speach and Miss Adella Clark, the ten years old daughter of the Hon Lavergne c. Clarkn unveiled the monument. John L.Saxe called for three cheers for the monument and they were given in voice that re-echoed over the entire district. Commander Chauncey Seeley of Wadhams post, | read the dedicatory service after which the monument was presented to the post by Chairman Clark. Aft CT the dedication it was given back to the town by Comrade A. R. Tyler and was accepted on behalf of the people ny Selectman Stephen Tal- madge. There was music by the Skilton quartet of Watertown, con sisting of James G. Skilton, A. w. Skilton, Fred Peck and Charles Perry. The Boys brigade of St Pau's church, Waterbury, fired a salute of three volleys.
 The Rev Sherrod Soule of Nauga- tuck delivered the oration. He said in part:
 ''The greatest of all Americans over two score years ago gave utter ance to thoughts that at once put on immortality. They throb and thrill to-day and I would turn to them for my text.
 In a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated 1t far above our power to add or de- tract No more can we dedicate this chiselled shaft and the carved statue surmounting. It is not what we say but what others did that dedi- cates.
 We are stationed to-day on a sparsely settled and somewhat se- cluded hilltop, but this event is the farthest from being provincial The season and the day unite anew the United States. The one blue firma- ment hovers over the broad bounti- full nation from Plymouth Rock to Golden Gate and from lakes to gulf. From this height we gaze across the plains stretching to the Sound and see the sparkle of the waters.
 The names on this monument take us back to beginnings. There was clash of crowns in the colonies and a coalition of one crown with the aboriginal allies. The coast col onies, including Connecticut, stood by England. The name of Hotch- kiss deservedly like that of Abou Ben Adhem, should lead all the rest and should be prefixed by Gideon. A name that should ever be held in honor. He sleeps in the cemetery hard by in altogether too obsQre position and the place is too hunhly marked. That name tells of Ticon- deroga and the terrible slaughtsr. Then there followed the clash of the colonies with the crown. This enid of England had become n man. Pa- ternalism past the period of minor ity is no other than oppression. Tax, alton and representation were only skin symptoms of tyranny over the minds of men. Gideon Hotchkiss gave himself and his two sons and d grandson to this conflict"
 hA growth of the doctrine of states rights and the rising tide against slavery, and continued:
 "The call was made for troops by voice since hushed by an assassln's bullet and this hill heard and heed ed, and Prospect, whom the common wealth holds in esteem and pride, leads all the rest of the towns of the state in proportionate patriotism. This is holy ground here and about. Other towns in the commonwealth and country kept aloof until forced. Many a man piped to fiocks and herds and truckled to trade and clung to commerce. but Prospect, the pride of the patriots, sent nearly one- sixth of its population to war and out of 145 voters, some too aged and infirm for active service, furnished seventy-five soldiers to serve the na- ton and save the Union. It is a record that t9rills us with joy and makes this occasion SO fraught with force and meaning and encircles the head of the ideal soldier on that statue with a halo. unseen. but of real and imperishable glory.
 Where are the seventy-five sol- ciers who went forth to war from this place? Some fell at Fairfax Station and Beaufort. Some per- ished at Petersburg. Some were killed at that cruel carnage at Chan cellorsville. One was worse than murdered at that hole. blacker than that of Caleutta-Andersonv prison. Some struggled homo. broken in health and bruised in body, to finger only a little and many have paid the last debt to nature since. but their souls. still go marching on and the tramp of spirit feet thrills us to-day. You who remain have honorable scars of service. We rev erence your hoary hairs and every line h your faces Is a ehevron of distinction
 May this monument be an in- spiration to you who abide here and your children and ehiIdren's chill dren and the generations yef unborn. Financial feudalism would secure serfs. socialism ss a system suggests only another sort of slavery. Politi-