Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1920-09-24
PRESIDENT THOMAS
DELIVERS ADDRESS
Welcomes Freshmen to College of
Daniel P. Thompson at Opening


vironment" was the subject of Presi-
dent Thomas address at the opening
OF the l2lst year of Mddebury Col
lege. Quoting from Thompsons Green
Mountain Bows, in which the author
of that famous story attributed to his
Middlebury experiences the inspiration
of his writings DR., Thomas said:
What interests me particularly in
this noble tribute is Thompson's testi-
mony to the influence of his Vermont
environment in this education. His
wanderings in fields and woods up
and down this valley, his excursion, in
the mountains, to Lake Champlain and
Lake Dunmore, wrought nightly up
on his mind and spirit. The hills and
the forests were important elements n
his education He studied deeply and
intimately also in the early records of
this region, so that in scaling noun
tains and treading forests, he did
not merely look upon beautiful seen
cry, but he made real to his mind
the character and spirit Ct the men
who settled these valleys and won
and saved the freedom of the early
Vermont commonwealth
I'VE look out today upon the same
majestic mountains as greeted the eye
of the author of the story which gave
the world its fixed impression of the
character of Ethan Allen and the
early Vermonters The same docu-
ments and sources are open to us as
those which so stirred his magma
ton, and every year is bringing new
ones to light. We ought to make
more of our Vermont environment. |
trust we may soon find larger use in
an educational way OF the magnificent
Green Mountain Estate which is the
unique possession Of this college.
Many of YOU are Vermonters by birth
and residence; others have chosen
Vermont as the place of your college
education. To all of you Vernon
has much to give Through its rugged
climate, its beauty df valley and noun
tain, and particularly through its mar
vellously interesting and. instructive
history, especially the story OF its
founders, the men who made Vermont. "
From old documents in the posses
sion of the college President Thomas
showed that Vermont was once re-
garded as the Northwest. He pointed
out the wetern characteristics in the
descriptions of Vermont by DR.. Sam
uel Williams, the early historian of
the State. From an old pamphlet by
Elias Hall published in Montpelier in
1925 he proved the likeness of the
Vermont settlers to the pioneers Of the
West. "The settlement of Vermont
he said, "has it kinship, not with
Jamestown and Plymouth and Mas
sachusetts Bav, but with the extern
r SION of American territory over the
, vast interior. The original Ncrmontel
was not the weak successor OF John
Smith and John Alden, but the pre-
cursor of the western frontiersman
Ethan Allen and Daniel Boone were
y brothers in spirit pioneers of a new
2 race, the stalwart men who subduet
. the continent and wrought for Amer
o lea its home. 1t is far cry from the
4 Pilgrim Fathers, with their Cambridge
Learning, their Psalm singing and thei
4 missionaries to the Indians, to The
4. Green Mountain BOYS, with thei
buckskin breeChes, their rude, brusqu'
4 speech, and their beech seal for Tories
r but across all the miles of forest ant
= prairie the Green Mountain Boy i
. own brother to the cowboy of tn
plains and the trapper and fur-trade
of the Rockies. The older Communi
4 ties of the Atlantic seaboard have con
a trbuted much to the life of the ma
= ton. They have promoted culture
o swayed national policies, developed
:. American industry, and preserved
y stable finance. But the national do
main the continent whose broad eX
= tent is the foundation OF the distinc
tive American culture, whose wealtl
D, has enforced the will of the nation
- furnished food for her industry ant
- saved her finance, was won by tn
. pioneer with the squirrel cap. H
4, has had too little honor in American
i history His rough speech and forbid
- ding exterior have not especially com
mended him to those who write book;
;, His vices have been plain enough II
all too many instanCes-Coarse Ian
guage, intemperance in drink, ange
lUdl DuIutQ HtlCGlNf HdllOn vi ell III
envy that lasted till death. But hi
virtues are also discernible-he coul
fell the largest trees and ford tn
j. widest rivers, he could shoot stragh
and wait for his range under fire, an
take care of himself alone in the for
Il est in the dead of winter; he wa
$ afraid of nothing under Gods ope
e sky, and his boy could take up hi
$ axe and rifle at an age when Europea
!, offspring were scarcely out of tn
x cradle. If virtues are qualities whic
}. God needs for His work, the qualitie
d of the American pioneer must b
ie Judged less harshly than our drawing
IS room doctrines have been inclined.
}. "The first stage of the march in tn
lie conquest of the continent was ac
l. complished by the Green Mountal
lie Boys. Our glory is not alone in Ply
g mouth Rock it is far more on tn
er prairies and beneath the Rookie
a where the spirit that awoke first j
IL the Green Mountain valleys has mad
y America great. Vermont, first milan
81 state, first proved the power of eXpar
n sion in the American people. She wa
lie the first state which was never a CO
$ ony, never in bondage to any maj
n Her closest kinship is with the ire