The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-08-11
INFLUENCE OF THE PILGRIMS

in the name of God, amen. We
whose names are underwritten, the
loyal subjects OF our dread sovereign,
Lord King James, by the grace of God
of Great Britain, France and Ireland
King, Defender of the Faith, etc,
having undertaken, for the glory
of God and advancement of the
Christian faith and honor of our King
and country, voyage to plant the
first colony in the northern parts of
Virginia, do by these presents SOL
emily and mutually, in the presence
OF God and one of another, covenant
and combine ourselves together into
civil body polite, for our better or
dering and preservation and further
ance of the ends aforesaid; and by
virtue hereof do enact, constitute and
frame such just and equal laws, or
dinances, acts. constitutions and Of
fees from time to time as shall be
thought most meet and convenient
I for the general good of the colony.
unto which we promise all due sub
mission and obedience. In witness
whereof we have hereunder sub
scribed our names at Cape Cod, the
18th day of November, in the year of
1.-THE reign of our sovereign Lord King
James, of England, France and Ire
land the eighteenth and of Scotland
the fifty-fourth. Ammo Dom. 1920"
The above compact of the Pilgrim
Fathers, made at Provincetown,
Mass, Nov. II, 1920, one of the not
able landmarks along the highway
/ of liberty, was the occasion for the
erection of a beautiful and lofty
memorial, dedicated last Friday at
Provincetown in the presence of the
President of the United States and
other distinguished officials. New
England was the nursery of civil
and religious liberty in America, and
the Pilgrim Fathers were the found
ers of the real New England. In
speaking of the Mayfower compact
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge said:
What was that act? Only giving
adhesion to certain principles set
down on paper. That was all. Merely
the expression of certain thoughts.
But it is thought which finally rules
the world of men. The temples of
Greece are in ruins but the words OF
Plato and Aristotle survive and have
influenced the thoughts of men and
moved the world from that day to
this"
In speaking Of the Pilgrims them
selves Senator Lodge said:
"They were not helpless, ineffi-
cient sentimentalists, but practical
men working hard, ready to fight if
the need came, doing each days duty
and meeting all responsibilities. Yet
they never wavered in seeking the
ideals they had set before them. In
this age of ours money and material
success have assumed proportions
never before witnessed. Both are
proper and necessary objects of am
bition. Neither is lofty or complete
ideal in the life of man. We see the
dangers which they breed. On the one
side in those who have succeeded a
greed is often developed which is too
ready to disregard law and trample
on human rights. On the other side
among those who have been unable to
satisfy their craving for wealth ap-
pears envy and malice which under
thin DISCUSSES would destroy the more
fortunate and involve the prosperity
of guilty and innocent alike in q
common ruin. Between the two eX-
tremes we must find the middle wav,
sane and effective method of curb
ing overgrown power and protecting
human rights, which are first and
most sacred, withoI. wrecking all
other rights and destroying those OPP
portunities for success which civil
lization has built ". : ~ great and
difficult task. Infinitely more coThpl!-
Gated than anything the company OF
the Mayfiower had to meet. But their
way of meeting their task was then
and is nov the tight mud t's noble
way. -'hcy set before themselves N.ah
ideals AMI stroVe w. al the" 1o:cht
ito attain to them. They put the as
pirations Of the soul above the de-
mands of the flesh They wero labo"-
lious and thrifty bur money and pos
sessions were not their highest aim.
Their spirit was that Nh."n has given
saints and martyrs to religion and to
the world IT'S MT, its literature, US
science, it's intellectual triumphs,
all, which makes man the paragoh or
animals and breathes into his soul
1.-THE faith that he has that within
/
which can never die.
1--WE must have material prosperity,
i but woe to that man or that nation
which makes wealth its God and eX-
poets to find salvation in large statis-
tics. The spiritual and the intellect
nal Iloom and flourish when the ma
terial IS withered and dead. High
ideals in the conduct of life are what
survive and that is why the Pilgrim
narrative stands forth in the pages
of every history as one of the great
events of the time, not because they
were among the founders of the Re-
Ipublic. but because they had great
purposes and by their conception OF
duty Influenced the fate of men,
The great danger that threatens
our country today, growing out OF
our abundant national prosperity, is
the exalting of material wealth over the
higher things of life. We have boast
ed of our riches and we have not al
ways been over scrupulous regarding
the methods by which we have &C.
cumulated our possessions. Our po-