Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-07-13


grafton to be delivered by Rev. A. ID.
Grigsby, pastor OF the Presbyterian
church, was omitted. The reverend
gentleman had devoted considerable
time preparing suitable speech, and
while cold type cannot give the ora
torical effect, we feel THAT in justice
both to Rev. Grigsby and the Public.
we should be the medium uf present
ing it to them. Below Is the sub
stance of same In full:
Ladies' and Gentemen-I am glad
to be with you today, and glad to have
the honor of addressing you on this,
the l3lst anniversary OF the signing
OF the Declaration Of Independence.
am one OF you heart and soul. lam
naturalized American, and your his
tory is now my history and is full of
interest to me.
1t Is the right thing to have these
celebrations 'lest we forget" 1 once
heard story of an old verger or jani-
tor of one or the college chapels at
Oxford to whom the preacher
OF the day at one time re
marked, lyon must have heard a
good many sermons ia your day."
"Yes sir have" said the old man
.'But thank God l am Christian
otill nd fhNuuh xuo n bava ho1 on
many celebrations of the Fourth we
still believe in observing it.
Did it ever strike you that God
never made anything that was not
usefuISomewhere or somehow. once
preached sermon on the Uses Of
Fools" King George III and those
associated with him in his day were
exceedingly useful. (By the way he
could never get into his head how an
apple found It's way into bottle a
good deal smaller than itself). For
they taught the colonists how to re-
sist tyranny aud oppression. If they
had not been fools, they would not
have oppressed them, and today this
might have been what Canada is, a
mere appendage to the British Crown.
Being fools they ground the colonists
with exorbitant taxation and not being
fools, our ancestors kicked against the
pricks. But it was all right, at least
it tWrned out SO. 1t gave you what
you wanted, freedom to develop and
expand. An acorn will grow for few
months as sapling In flower pot,
but 1t can meyer grow to its full size
there. Something must happen. 1t
must have more room otherwise 1t
will burst the pot.
So the loss to England has been the
immeasurable gain to America, aud
through America to the World.
So l am glad and we are all glad
that your ancestors whipped the Brit
ish. You were the only people who
could have done it, and you only did
it because you were Of British blood {.
Did you ever when a boy possess
one of those pretty colOred skin bal
looms that Is so full Of bounce till you
stick q pin into it, then 1t collapses
all at once. So the bubble of British
vanity was pricked in the Revolution
ary war aud the gas let out.
SUGAB,I am told is not the best thing
for steady diet. Sometimes By
TIERS are necessary-we make wry
face for they are very nasty but they
are good for us. That il just exactly
what the British government had to
swallow, and L believe 1t acted bene,
ticially on their constitution.
Well now let us look back 100 years.
On the 4th of July the great Declara-
tion was signed. That Is true bat i
want to remind you that to SIGN a
Declaration of Independence and TO
ACHIEVE Independence are very dis
tinSt things. 1t took eight years OF
har9 fighting to secure what the colo
r ,ts started out to do In 1776 Aud
it was a conflict carried on by our
forefathers under very grave and ser.
ious disadvantages. They were fresh
from the plough, unaccustomed tc
arms, unused to war--They were train
ed veterans, well equipped, well dis
ciplined and we'll oflicered and with
everything in their favor. CoULI
anything have been more unequalY
Yet they succeeded. Why? Mainly
for these reasons:
First-As | have already said, they
were of English blood, of the best
quality, they had the grit in then
OF Cromwell's Ironsides, who fought a
Naseby and Marston Moor and never
turned back on the foe.
<tpd secondly what counted fol
much more) they had Right on thei