The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-18
DR.. DEMAREST
ON HISTORIC
JERSEY
Educational Progress Of the
State a Feature Of His
! PerOratiOn at Jamestown.
Especial to the Evening star,l

va, Oct. lo.--Ihe au-
dress of DIR. w. II. S. Demarest, presi-
dent of Rutgers College, at the New
Jersey Day celebration at the James
town Exposition, was a scholarly
p%erovation of which the educational
history and trend in New Jersey
formed a feature, while his plea for
closer relations between religious OBJ
servance and everyday life was in
many ways noteworthy The address
attracted general comment of a most
favorable nature 1t vas as follows:
New Jersey Day at the jamestown ex-
position means, | take 1t, New jerseys
memorial of the jamestown settlement, her
national commonwealth of which our state
forms a worthy part. It is but a days
occasion in the midst of many months
occasion appointed in remembrance of
small beginnings from which great con-
summations have come. Amid the display
a most recent art and industry around us,
the central display and the central theme
of the years. celebration is the kernel of
history that through three hundred years
has grown into ever larger harvest, the
grain Of mustard seed that has become the
great tree of spreading branches.
New Jersey, with its ancient origin, it's
distinguished history and its present-day
values, may well pay her share OF praise
to Virginia's makers OF the State. Ia may
also well be that oar hOStB on this 0cca-
sion, the administrators of this great ex-
position, in creating this day have had it
in mind to recognize and display the
glories of our State as part of the latter
glory of the house In which the pioneers
rejoice in the privilege of witnessing 1t is
now v~ouchsafed them. Beyond this, the
thought not simply of the past and pres
ent, but of the future as well; that we re-
mind ourselves of truth that lies in his
tory and achievement. and which must
undeElie all true and noble progress.
Let me speak a little then OF the his
toric, Of the days that are past, that we
forget not the fathers nor the old land
marks. Macaulay says:
"a people which takes no pride IN the
noble achievements of remote ancestors
will never achieve anything to be remem-
bered with pride by remote descendants
"In other words, stumulus and strength
for fine accomplishments come from loyal
remembrance of the origin from which our
power descends and hopeful vision of far
on issues toward which our activity pro-
ceeds. We are of varied mold. all things
do not appear to all men just the same, but
to me there is scarce any stir that thrills
like that of pioneer story, like the sight,
the touch of things once full of life anu
movement now become still and vague, but
vital yet in the men and the forces that
have proceeded from them. The study of
origins is fascinating. A discovery OF
origins must be an unspeakable joy. Just
to look at the remnant tower of James,
town Church stirs the springs of the soul;
TO read a monument standing thus out of
the past, decaying, deserted through the
many years. but telling of early faith and
zeal.
still more to look at the outline Of The
Burgesses' house, to think of voices sound
ing there where so long has been but the
stillness-and more, to think that until but
half a decade ago even those lines lay hid
what a treasure hid in a field! l envy
the engineer whose Providence led him 10
the field and moved him to discovery. So
the more than remnant survivals of early,
though not so early, time at Williamsburg.
They are monuments of life. of person.
atty, of society and of learning and OF
statecraft, OF simplicity and of courtesy
in a virgin commonwealth. Memories Of
brave men and fair women thrOng our
souls, and names to ~conjure with troop
past In high parade. But that day of adj
vance, even of courtly custom, was born
or the men and movement that this year
especially exalts,
The picture in strong lines stands clear
before us of the pioneers, indeed, sailing
up the James in 1907, of them and their
swift successors in the storm and travail
Of the primal settlement, in the endurance
and energy Of a dauntless ambition. In
perils of the sea, in perils of savages, in
perils Of vile or unfaithful men. in want,
in sickness. in death lies the pathway of
q newborn community. We wonder at the
daring that challenged the wide and un-
known waters: we wonder were the
emotions. the fears ard hopes and sense
Of stf~angeness experienced when n new
ldilu rs Ibullu anu "a uWtiilI6 Dldtt DtRul >
we wonder what changes of heart they
felt as the dangers and distresses multi
piled space. Had they utterly failed their
story would not have died, we know, or
been without its worth to us.
But to our far-on view the flow and ebb
and flow again of the tide of early settle
ment spells success, and even the tragedies
of jamestown blend with the romance OF
the later river life to charm and move the
lover of his country to wholesome sym-
pathy. Like the passing OF a dark cloud
Into rich color of the dawn or of the sun
set. so the sternness OF those earliest days
nerges into the pleasant scenes of Shirley
ard MISSIONER and Brabdon. All the more
for this pleasantness that followed WI can
not forget the spisit and the struggles
that preceded Or withhold due honor from
the men, danntless Engllshmen, who made
the Jamestown village permanent, the first
permanent settlement In the new world of
that English race and language which
were to possess n continent and mold men
or every blood into a supremely strong and
prosperous state. Sweeping now In thought
the wide expanse Of our national territory,
the teeming millions of orr population, the
high evolution OF the fine and Industrial
ARTS. the multitude and magnificence of our
institutions. we may well say, What hath
God wrought! and, In human vessels
there was ~ exceilency Of mower
But IN this tribute to pioneer men and
old landmarks I remind myself that Il is
New Jersey that brings 1t and that she
freights It with some circumstances
OF the early and the latter glory that have
dwelt In her house and make her word Of
fellowship worth while. II was not very
long after 1907 that her soil was FIRST set
tied. since which day her people a
never stayed their steady growth. How
different the earliest days there from the
days here No awful story OF famine and