The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1913-02-25

the sorrow is in some slight measure
alleviated by the thought of what he
has done for the association
Telling of the organization of the
association and its incorporation on
May Goth, 1874, Judge Cutler told
how its incorporators gave their time
and money to the preservation of
the headquarters and realized that
the association needed at its head a
man who would give his time to the
building up of the association. In
1877, after he had served as men,
Der of the board of trustees, Mr. Rob-
erts was elected president and held
that position until his death.
At the time Mr.. Roberts took the
presidency, narrated Judge Cutler,
the associations only property was
the headquarters, a small tract of
land upon which it stood and few
relics. There were eighty-nine mem
bers and the association had debt
of $15,000 Under Mr.. Roberts
guiding hand the membership in
creased until it is now between five
and six hundred, considerable land
has been, added to the original tract,
the Lafayette rooms and cottage
built and paid for, the debt cancelled
and the associations invested capi-
tai of $25,OO0 yields an income. All
this has been brought about, asserted
Judge Cutler, by the ability, energy
and persistent efforts of Mr.. Roberts.
"He has made his life sublime and
departing left behind him this monu-
ment to endure through all time,'
said Judge Cutler, in closing.
Judge Mills called for the singing
of "Auld Lang Syne," the audience
standing, after which he formally wei
coined the members and guests and
then introduced DR.. Vicent.
DIR. Vincent's subject was National
Memory" He traced the analogy be-
tween individual and national habit,
asserting that habit formed character
and that it was national character
that preserved the stability of our in
stitutions. Change the habits of the
nation, he said, and the national life
would be destroyed.
Memory is the basis of personality
in the individual, said DR.. Vincent.
"A blow on the Uranium in a certain
place and memory is destroyed, per-
sonality disappears. If the past of
the nation should be blotted out the
nation would cease and it would have
to be organized again. Washington
held together the thirteen colonies
by his dominant personality, though
they had no past history to look back
upon and were bound together only
by common antagonism to England.
But in 1912 it was different, the ma
tion then had the Revolutionary war
to look back upon and the national
memory had it's beginning. Asserting
that in the individual with no memory
there is no personality DR.. Vincent
pointed out a nation without a past
constantly kept alive has no national
unity.
II persons memory be hazy and
inaccurate a wrong Interpretation of
life may be made and so a nation
having a past of inaccurate tradition
has its visions of the future impaired.
The need of revising the histories
was dwelt upon by the speaker that
the people may be given true idea
of the life and time of the country
in days gone by. Washington was
not the statuesque, remote figure
that some people paint him but was
rather a man Of ability, capacity and
other traits of character that made
him a human being like other people.
Wuil6 Ills COuHliy ud5 ludily thin6S
in it's past that it does not feel proud
of 1t should have the courage to look
at them that we of the present day
may look about us and hope for bet
ter things despite the conditions that
confront us.
Memory in the individual is Sc
lective and he who can put things
in their proper proportion is a genius.
So it is with the national traditions,
said DR.. Vincent, Some people OBJ
ject to the heroizing of certain men
of the past but these men become,
however, types and as such are OF
value to the national life. IN pre-
serving the Washington headquarters
at Morristown, the speaker said, the
Washington association is of service
to the national memory in thus ex-
alting the characteristics of Wash
ington.
In the individual there is the emo
tional side of memory requiring SYM
bols around which the feelings may