USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield County centennial celebration > Part 13
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There is nothing, from holding an elephant to counterfeiting nutmegs and cucumber seeds, that some Yankees will not under- take.
Mr. President,-as an immigrant from this County, I have the honor to be one of those who represent that portion of it ineluded within the limits of the town of Salisbury. That town, through her material and inanimate representatives, has, hereto- fore, often been heard on public occasions, speaking for herself in tones of thunder ; * and the effects of her shots have been often seen and felt in the wasting ranks and sinking ships of her country's enemies. But roaring cannon and booming shot are entirely alien to the voice with which she would address you on this most interesting occasion. She would mingle her warm congratulations, her warmer sympathies, her warmest welcome, with those of her sister towns, on this day. She would unite with them in coming up, with filial pride, affection, and respeet, to offer new homage to their common mother, to weave new wreaths for her brows, to lay fresh garlands upon her altars, to sing new praises to her honored name, to exchange heart-felt greetings with others of her children gathered here, to talk of the past and to pray for the future. This occasion is full of interest to every one who hails from Litchfield County.
* Most of the cannon and shot for the Revolutionary War were inade in this town.
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The rattling thunder in her rocky hills ; The silver music of her gushing rills ; The cold and piercing wintry winds wild wail ; The sweeping cadences of the rushing gale ; The green hill-sides' eool, refreshing shade ; The tinkling cow-bell in the wooded glade ; The bleating flocks and the lowing herds ; The hum of inseets and the songs of birds ; The solemn tunes he sung at singing school ; The school house, where he taught the man a fool Who taught, and questioned much his right to rule : The merry dance, in merry ranks arrayed, Which still he danced as still the fiddle play'd, When sleep had settled on his drowsy head ; The boat in which the tugging oar he plied ; The snow-clad hill down which he used to slide ;
The gleeful music which the sleigh-bells made, While the sleigh-shoes, a running octave play'd ; The impressive sound of the old church bell In the joyous peal or the solemn knell ; The house of God-the good man's prayer, The good man's warning which impressed him there.
It is pleasant to look again on these familiar scenes, which are daguerreotyped on all our hearts ; it is music to our cars to hear again these familiar sounds and voices-it is gladness to our hearts to mingle again with the kindred and friends of life's early day.
But, my friends, you have heard enough of this. Permit me to recall to your attention the closing paragraph of the excellent address to which you listened on yesterday. It referred to the Union. And if my voice can not have the weight of admoni- tion, let it at least have the force of entreaty, while I pray you to look upon the federal Union of these States as your political ark of the covenant, sacred in your eyes, dear to your hearts, and to be defended and sustained with all your strength. Let not water drown, let not fire burn, let not cart ropes nor chains strangle nor draw out of you ; let not principalities nor powers, nor anything else under heaven, take from you your conviction of its necessity, your faith in its efficacy, nor your determination that
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it shall be perpetuated. Let us believe that America is, politi- cally speaking, God's present Israel. And though disputes may arise, though local interests may lead to dissentions, though nul- lification or secession may rear their horrid front, though foul trea- son may plot to betray us, though unholy factionists, and more unholy fanaties, may seek to embroil us, still let us cling with the tenacity of an unyielding grasp to the faith that our Union shall be saved at every hazard-that our institutions shall be preserved through every trial-that the spirit of American freedom shall emerge brighter and purer, from every confliet-that still the chosen Israel shall pass unharmed the troubled Jordan, and pitch its tents in the land of promise and of peace !
MR. GOULD'S REMARKS.
GEORGE GOULD, Esq., of Troy, N. Y., a native of Litchfield, was next called upon by the President, and spoke as follows.
MR. PRESIDENT :-
Apologies and themes have all been touched on ; and little is left to be said by any one that comes forward now. But twenty years ago I carried away with me a Litchfield heart, and I have brought it back to-day : and I will answer to a Litchfield County call, whenever and wherever made.
It has ever been said that those who are born and reared among high hills, have strong local attachments. It should be as truly said, that those reared where high moral principles prevail, like- wise have strong moral attachments. For me, I profess to nothing above what is common ; I claim nothing fabulous ; and I trust I am not earth-born,-an Antaeus. But I have this resem- blance to the fabled giant ;-- whenever my feet touch my native soil, I gather new vigor from the contact. Never do I approach these hills, without feeling the exhilaration of a school boy. We, in the valleys and by the river sides, know nothing of your clear atmosphere. You breathe a stronger, purer air ; you feel better, live nearer heaven-feel as near heaven as every one of us thought himself, when a boy. Your climate has been objected to ; and it is, in winter, dreary and cold. But your State's best poet has said,
- " the wing
Of Life's best angel, HEALTH, is on your gales
Through sun and snow; and in the Autumn time Earth has no purer, and no lovelier clime."
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SPEECH.
This is a sentiment to which every one here will respond, and which has been responded to, by those coming from Connecticut, the world over ; and no one of them forgets it. The whole air around you is full of every thing beautiful, and bright, and great. Such is your land.
But the moral influence, spread abroad in this community, is the great source of its power. One hundred years since, you were organized as a County. And they who composed the County so organized, had come from, been part of, a colony, whose members, at its first organization, were resolved to be gov- erned by the laws of God, till they could make better.
[The speaker was here interrupted by the Rev. Dr. Robbins, who sat on the platform, with " Oh, no; not so!"-the reverend gentleman supposing the speaker to assert,-as has often been jo- cosely said, -that the founders of the colony at Hartford adopted as part of their municipal code, a formal resolution of a purport similar to the words used by the speaker. The speaker con- tinued ; first addressing Dr. Robbins.]
You misunderstand me, sir. I did not say that they passed any such formal resolution : though if I did, (as I do not pretend to remember the time,) I should but "tell the story as 'twas told to me." Yet "multitude of years should teach wisdom ;" and I might be content to be corrected by the lips of age. I said, merely, and mean to say, that at any rate, (whether or not any formal resolution, such, or similar, was passed,) such was the spirit of the men. And you stand here, to-day, what you are, as the result of that spirit. Governed by those principles and laws, (resolved, or unresolved,) as they are seen to exist through- out this land, and founded on such a moral and religious basis, we see the source of the influence and the honors, of both the homespun and the elegant age.
A people that makes the Bible a text-book in schools ; that makes that creed and that code the foundation of its political and moral teachings, must ever exert great influence on all within their reach. Among them, a sense " of duty, God-commanded, over-canopies all life. It penetrates to the remotest cottage, to the simplest heart. There is an inspiration in such a people : one may say, in a more special sense, 'the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.'"
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SPEECH.
As the result of such teachings, years and years ago, Litchfield County was prominent in all those noble enterprises for the ben- efit of mankind, which have extended their blessed influences over the wide world. I can not better illustrate this, than by the fact, (which I remember to have heard many years ago,) that once, when the great enterprise for civilizing and Christianizing foreign and barbarous nations was halting for want of means, and its wheels had almost stopped, the auxiliaries of Litchfield County sent in a liberal, large supply, and the work moved on. The reverend men of those days, who had charge of the work, then said they " had reason to bless God for Litchfield County." And I have always felt,-as every one here has,-as every one bred where such principles are instilled, and where they remain, must feel,-that we, at least, have always and every where "rea- son to bless God for Litchfield County."
SPEECH OF HENRY DUTTON, ESQ.
HENRY DUTTON, Esq., of New Haven, Professor in the Yale Law School, a native of Watertown, was next introduced, and said :-
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN :-
I shall make no excuse or apology for appearing before you at this time, notwithstanding the displays of eloquence which you have already heard, for I hold that the man who can not say some- thing on such an occasion as this, can have no soul. I never in my life have spent two such days of pleasure and profit, as these, which you, as well as I, have enjoyed. On coming to this place, I passed by the place of my birth, by the hill on which my eyes first opened on the prospect around me ; and O, what a pros- pect! It was no level plain upon which my eyes first opened ; but it was a broader horizon than the inhabitants of a plain can ever witness in their lives. And every thing that I have seen, the hills and the valleys, the streams and the wood-lands, have reminded me of the days of my childhood; and especially here have I been presented with a perfect panorama of what passed from the days of my birth, to the time that I entered upon the active duties of life. When we come together here, it is highly important that we should feel gratitude to our common mother ; and I have been disposed to look and inquire, what are those things for which I should feel individually grateful. Of these, one is, that I had my birth here, and that in my youth I was one of the farmers of Litchfield County. That gave me strength and vigor, which have enabled me to endure a great amount of labor, both of body and of mind, and I have often thought since, and I presume others have concurred with me in opinion, that it would have been better had I again become one of the "princes
12
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SPEECHI.
of the land." But on returning here and looking at the im- provements which have been made, and seeing how much the science of agriculture has gone forward, I have become discour- aged from any personal attempts , for I find myself far behind the age ;- so I have made up my mind that I will never try to be a farmer again.
This is not the only benefit I derived from being brought up in the County of Litchfield. My first impressions of female beauty and female character are connected with Litchfield Coun- ty. My ideas of beauty of countenance are associated with the fresh glow of health, which has been heightened by the cool breezes of the north-west, that sweep over these hills ; and my impressions of female character are also associated with my recollections of the young ladies of this County. I have had opportunities, since, of seeing grace of motion in a great variety of forms. I have seen ladies move with grace in the dance, in the waltz, and in the polka; but, for real grace of motion, as well as grace of the heart, " O, leeze me on the spinning wheel."
We have been referred to days that are past, and our atten- tion has been directed to those who heretofore have done honor to the County of Litchfield ; but I think it may be well to cast a glance, at least, to the present, to see whether the present generation will be able to bear the burthen laid upon them by their ancestors. We have been referred to the bar, and we have been told of the men,-but we need not have been told, for their praises have always rung in our ears,-who distinguished the bar and the bench in this County. Now, I will admit that they raised temples to justice; but I thank God, that at the present day we have at least a Church, and if not quite so large, it is, at all events, quite as well furnished. The days that are past were distinguished for theologians ; but we have theologians still. We have had men who were doctors of divinity, who are now laid in their graves ; but there are men of the present day, too, who bear that distinguished honor, and although heretofore, in the century that has passed, it has been customary for theologians to go on a pilgrimage to the Lake of Geneva, I think, in the cen- tury to come, there will be pilgrimages to Lake Raumaug.
So it is in the political field. It will be recollected, that a short time since there was a general alarm felt, that the Union
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was in danger, and it became a common question, and a matter of common interest, that the State of Connecticut should be able to do something, and send some man to the seat of govern- ment who would be able to render aid in forging chains which would bind the Union together. And when her citizens looked around for the proper person, and searched every other County in the State, they could not find a man who was accustomed to give hard blows enough, until attention was turned to the work- shops of Litchfield County, and there they found a Smith; and if the Smiths of Litchfield can not give hard blows, I should like to know who can ? The same feeling pervaded every quarter of the State. This was particularly true a few years ago of the western district, comprising the counties of Fairfield and Litch- field. These two counties had a man in Congress in whom they put implicit confidence, and who was every way worthy of that confidence ;- one who had managed their affairs well. Every body said he was as good a Butler as had existed since the days of Pharaoh. But here was an alarm about the Union, again, and they wanted somebody to stand guard ; they did not care so much about a man to take care of their affairs, but they wanted one who could see danger from afar, and they turned their attention to Litchfield County, and got a man who had always lived on the top of one of the highest hills, and had been looking and looking till he had almost looked his eyes out. He had been accustomed to look so long that many called him Sce More, (Seymour.) And now, so long as we have a Smith to forge chains to bind us together, and a Seymour to stand guard, I think the Union will be safe. (Laughter.)
Mr. President, Litchfield County has done something in anoth- er matter. This County was not very much distinguished in its earlier days for poetry ; the people then cared more about the realities of life than mere imaginary existences. But at length it was thought desirable that poetry should be brought over from the other side of the Atlantic, and the great question was how it should be done. Here was the sea intervening, and it was feared that before poetry could be got over, it would be lost in the ocean. But they looked for aid to Litchfield County, and she erected a bridge across the ocean, a regular Pierre-pont, over which the genius of poetry passed, and brought with her the sweet "Airs of
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Palestine." Litchfield County has done something, too, in the way of the mechanical arts. I should be glad to know how the world could get along, even at the present day, without the aid of Liteh- field County clocks ? The men might know when to get up in the morning, and go to bed at night ; but how in the world would their wives know when to get dinner, if it were not for Litchfield County clocks ? Then, again, I suppose the world could have got along as it always had done in years gone by, without those means of com- munication which exist at the present period. But railroads have come to be a sort of necessity, and I should like to know how we could have had railroads if it had not been for the iron mines in Litchfield County ? And after the rails were provided, if one of the sons of that County had not kindly consented to be the President of one Railroad Company, the Secretary of another, and a Director of the rest, so that he might be called the bear-all (Burrall,) of the whole concern,-we might have had to travel in wagons still, and instead of there being such a num- ber of sons and daughters gathered here from all parts of the world, there would have been so few here on this occasion, that our friends would have had no reason to spread such a broad tent as this for our accommodation. So we see that our very enjoy- ments, as well as reminiscences, are owing to our good old mother Litchfield.
Mr. President, the present occasion is not only one of joyous- ness, but one of seriousness also. We ought not only to look and see to what we are indebted for the present, but we should remember that we stand upon the commencement of another cen- tury ; we ought to realize and feel that of whatever advantage Litchfield County has been to us, whatever it has made us, there is the higher weight of responsibility resting upon us that when another Centennial is celebrated, our descendants and our suc- cessors may come together here and recount with honor and with pride what has been done during another century. If Litchfield County, beginning as we have heard a century ago, a mere waste, a howling wilderness, with here and there a few bright spots, a few settlers in one place and another, has done so much, what ought we to do, and what ought Litchfield County to do in the century, upon which we have entered, starting as we do from where they left off, and commencing with all these advantages
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SPEECH.
thus gathered together and placed at our disposal ? Nor is this the only consideration which should weigh upon our minds. We must recollect that the arts, within the last half century, have made man a different being from what he was before. The tele- graph and railroads have given man a species of ubiquity ; he can speak and his voice will be heard for thousands of miles. The very speeches which these distinguished gentlemen have been making here to-day, will probably be read in St. Louis or New Orleans, to-morrow. Man has now a power to speak to a much greater number of men than ever before, and can exercise an in- fluence upon a far greater number of individuals ; and this throws upon him a responsibility, which nothing but the training which Litchfield County has given to her sons would ever enable him to pass through with credit. Let every son of Litchfield Coun- ty, while he recounts with gratitude what has been done by the County for him, while he recalls wit's pride what has been done by his forefathers, remember that we who are here now are com- mencing a new career; and let us so conduet and so exert our- selves in whatever situations we may be placed, that the next century will have more deeds to recount, and the next Centennial will be held with a greater degree of satisfaction and pride.
6
SONG.
AULD LANG SYNE was then admirably sung ;- the stanzas by the choir, and the chorus by the audience :- in the following words, prepared for the occasion, by the REV. H. GOODWIN, of Canaan.
1 " Should auld acquaintance he forgot, And never brought to mind ? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days of Auld Lang Syne ? For Auld Lang Syne my friends, For Auld Lang Syne, We'll join the hand of kindness yet For Auld Lang Syne.
2
Our Fathers here their dwellings reared, In social state combined, These swelling fields their labors cleared, For Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
3
Those ancient homes they guarded well, And stood by freedom's shrine ;
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SONG.
And many a fearless warrior fell, In days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c. 4
And we were nursed amid these hills, And in these vales reclined ; But we have wandered far away Since days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c. 5
We've roamed across the prairie wild, The mountain pass have climbed, And placed the school-house in the wild, Since days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
6
We've cleared and reaped the fields of toil ; We've bid the church-bells chime ; And raised the halls of learning high, Since days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
7
We've mingled in the city's strife, We've delved within the mine, And braved the ocean's stormy waves, Since days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
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SONG.
8
Hope lured us onward in our course, While joy around us shined ; But many a cloud of care hath pass'd, Since days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
9
The sturdy men of yore have gone, And brothers in their prime ; The lov'd and good have disappeared, Since days of Auld Lang Syne, " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
10
We part again to distant scenes, And leave this hallowed shrine ; But oft we'll think with grateful praise, Of days of Auld Lang Syne. " For Auld Lang Syne," &c.
PRAYER.
The following Prayer was then offered by Rev. FOSDICK HARRISON, now of Bethany :---
GOD of our fathers, we rejoice that we may recognize Thee as our God ; that Thou hast kindly brought us together under cir- cumstances of so much interest, and surrounded us with so many testimonials of Thy loving kindness, and that Thou art calling upon us to render our united tribute of gratitude to Thec, the Author and Giver of all our mercies. It becomes us, as de- scendants of a puritan ancestry, to render thanks to Thy name, for all the mercy manifested to our fathers in days that are past ; that Thou didst mercifully sustain them in their days of trial, darkness and peril ; that Thou didst enable them to lay broad and deep the foundations of all those institutions, civil and reli- gious, with which we have been blessed. We thank Thee that it was their first care to erect churches, and to provide, by common schools, for the education of the rising generation. We bless Thee, our Heavenly Father, that we had fathers and mothers who early took us by the hand and led us up to the house of prayer, and placed upon us the broad seal of Thine own everlasting cove- nant, and taught us to remember the Sabbath and reverence the sanctuary. We thank Thee for all the hallowed influences which, through their instrumentality, have come down to us, their de- scendants, and we bless Thee that from distant parts of this widely extended land, so many sons of this beloved section of our country have been permitted to assemble here, and mingle their congratulations, and repeat their testimonials of respect for each other and their native land. We thank Thee for all the interest- ing scenes we have enjoyed, and now, our Father, as the hour of separation has arrived, as we part to meet no more on earth, un- der circumstances like the present, let a deep solemnity pervade every mind ; and while we feel duly grateful for all Thy loving kindness manifested to our fathers in their days, and until the
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PRAYER AND BENEDICTION.
present time, may we humble ourselves for our departures from Thee, and humbly pray for the pardon of our multiplied rebellions against Thee. O give us hearts to appreciate and improve the privileges we enjoy, that it may not be for our greater condemna- tion that we have been thus exalted in point of privilege ; and we pray that Thou wouldst go with us in our various ways, to our several homes. Grant Thy continued care, and smile on the in- habitants of this County in coming time. O let our sons and daughters preserve the principles they have been taught, and let a holy influence descend upon them, and let a wider influence go forth from these hills, combining to bless our widely extended land. And O, make us mindful, our Heavenly Father, that though our present meeting must terminate forever, we are hast- ening onward to the day when we shall meet in a more august assembly, when the fathers of the generations past, and those of the present, and the multitudes that shall come after us, shall meet before the tribunal of the Judge of all the carth, to render an account for the deeds done in the body. So help us to im- prove our privileges, that when the summons comes, we may give up our account with joy, and hear the welcome invitation, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And now, to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be undivided honors, world without end. Amen.
BENEDICTION.
THE Rev. THOMAS ROBBINS, D. D., of Hartford, a native of Norfolk, pronounced the Benediction, as follows :-
MAY the God of peace, who brought our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, make you per- fect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
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