The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-05-23
GREAT FAITH IN VERMONT.
Pres. Thomas Thinks, However, There
Should Be Awakening of People.

'Tn the course of his address on "The
Need of Religion in Greater Vermont"
before Vermont Congregationalists at
Rutland recently, President Thomas of
Middlebury college said in part as fol-
lows:
"There is no state in the As of the
American union, no bit of territory of
$500 square miles anywhere in the in
herited earth, in which there is more
patriotic devotion and deeper affection
for the commonwealth than in the state
of Vermont. ] will not allow that YER
mont is just like great many other
states, and that the people of Vermont
are not essentially different from great
many other people. Vermont has spir-
it and soul all her own, and the men
of Vermont have their own peculiar vir-
tues and ways of thought, as unique
as Camels Hump among the mountains
of the earth. Vermonters love their
state with almost holy zeal
"Our state to-day is aflame with zeal
for the promotion of prosperity, for the
increase of industry, for the improve
ment of laws, for more efficient admin
istration of public enterprises, and for
the advance of the common wealth in
ical welfare. No need Is presented that
some one does not care, that many do
not spring forward to meet ii if they
can.
"All over the state there has been a
movement for the organization of COM
mercial bodies, for union of effort in pro-
noting industry. Some of the most ac-
tive boards of trade in the country are
in Vermont. Organizations and individ-
uals are pushing better farming and bet
ter marketing with notable zeal. YER
mont is in the midst of an industrial
and commercial revival, and the spirit
of enterprise and push is sweeping over
the state like tidal wave. 1t requires
no holiness to predict an increase of
property values throughout our state,
improvements in crops and in the return
from all classes of farming operations.
"Vermont is not degenerate. No state
can be called degenerate which is aroused
to its needs, as Vermont is aroused to-
day, and no people can be called back
ward who are unitedly bent on removing
evil and promoting progress, as is the
spirit in all Vermont at this present
time. / foresee new day for the old
state when, recovering from the deyasta-
tion of the war which drained her blood
and checking the emigration to the cities
and to the West which has made her
The most generous benefactor of other
states, she will build the old waste
places, freshen up every farm and field,
expand her villages and cities, and be-
come one of the most favored states
in all the union.
eff we can improve our business, if
we can make our farms more fertile and
secure larger rewards for agricultural
industry, if we can develop our indus
tries and raise the general scale of liv-
ing, there is no question but that our
churches will have better chance, our
schools viii be better supported, men
will hold up their heads and scorn de-
grading vices, and the general level of
manhood will be elevated.
"But the relation is mutual and inter
dependent. You can't have $4,000 men
with 50-cent souls. Their assets will |
tend to their spiritual quality, by their
own folly or the cleverness of their |
neighbors You can't maintain a town /
with a $4,000 grand list when the men
OF that town degenerate to pauper quail |
ity. There is no community of mere |
money makers under the seven stars. |
Unless there be found among them men
Of personal worth and force, whose gen
ius leads them, not in the direction of |
smassing gain, but in teaching youth
and preaching sermons and caring for
the sick and unfortunate, they will not
maintain their financial standing
vermont must not forget that re-
ligious faith is the strongest and only
permanent basis of honest character and
permanent devotion. 1t is the church
which is the bulwark of temperance and
purity. 1t is the church which fosters