Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-10-07
The Up-tO-date Shoemen
PARK.
Site of Old Crown Point Forts
Dedicated with Address by
President Tho mas.


On Wednesday, October 9th, the New
York Historical Association accepted
formally the custodianship of the sites
of Fort Frederick and Fort Amherst,
opposite Chimney Point, in behalf of the
people of the State of New York. This
site has been given to the State of New
York by Witherbee, Sherman & Com
pany of Port Henry. 1t has been selected
as the location of the Champlain Memo
rial to be erected by the States of Ver-
mont and New York.
At the exercises of the New York His
torical Association in accepting this
trust, the address was given by Presi-
dent Thomas He said in part:
Mr.. James Bryce, the ambassador from
Great Britain whose presence graced our
Champlain celebration a year ago, rec
Ords as the one depressing fact of Amer
lea the monotohous uniformity of our
country, the uniform aspect of nature,
especially in the central west, the uni
tormity of our cities and villages, of
most of which it can be sail that moth
ing interesting ever happened there, the
deadening uniformity of our social and
industrial life. Nowhere in the land
scape, he says, is there a castle or a
tower to "kindle the present with a glow
of imaginative light
This day we dedicate unto perpetual
preservation a ruined castle of the might
of France, whose crumbling stones by
the lakeside bring to life once more the
ambition of her heroes to master a con-
tient for the cross land the tleur-de- lis.
and by a coincidence which, if l mis-
take not, can not be paralleled in
America, On the same site we 10
continuance decayed towers of English
glory, erected here at the farthest
outpost of her domain in the day
when from her little island she
sought to rule the world. Over these
ruins imaginative light must kindle to
the dullest soul. Here the drum-beat
sounds again to battle and buried bugles
rise from the mould to wake the spirits
of the dead. They summon to venera-
ton and reverence before the ambition
and the courage of those who broguht
armies across the sea for the honor of
the flag they loved. They call us to bare
the head in emo of liberty's slain
from the armies of three nations. They
rouse us from the ~lifeless commonplace
the long highway of humanity's pro-
gress, they bid us live and think, not as
creatures of an endless reiteration of the
same old struggles and follies, but as
sharers in the mighty movement of
things toward the kingdom of righteous
ness and peace.
This battlefield park will notably en-.
rich the life of the people of Le Cham
plain valley. Through the u to
Samuel Champlain, to be erected here
by the generous cooperation of two
States, which have sacrificed selfish and
local interests to grace this spot with its
fitting crown, there will be added TO the
memorials of tie nations who fought
here a monument to the valor and worth
of the discoverer of the lake, the bold
navigator, the intrepid and scholarly
discoverer, the worthy and virtuous rep
r%esentative Of a great religion. We do q
deed this day not only for this valley
but for the entire nation. We perpetrate
no local tradition: we make secure for
the future the preservation of a site
unique upon this continent, the most
striking and significant relic of the
contest by which America won its treas
ure, its chief contribution thus far to
the advancement of the world, the priv
ilege and the obligation of free govern
ment. If that treasure is to be guarded
If that contribution is to be preserved.
it will be through the preservation in
the heart of the nation of the sense fol
its past, which, please God. these mounds
and tones shall keep alive while mer
grow reverent before deeds of old-time
valor and SO long as hearts are kindleC
in the face of the mighty dead.