Memorial of the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Malden, Massachusetts, May, 1899, Part 24

Author: Malden (Mass.)
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Cambridge, Printed at the University press
Number of Pages: 456


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Malden > Memorial of the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Malden, Massachusetts, May, 1899 > Part 24


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Fire Engineers' Wagons.


1. Chief Thomas W. Gowen, Malden. Chief Lewis P. Webber, Boston.


2. Chief James R. Hopkins, Somerville. Ex-Chief Charles Sims, Winchester.


3. Chief Thomas J. Casey, Cambridge. Chief Harry Marston, Brockton.


4. Chief H. Allen Spencer, Chelsea. Chief Electrician William Brophy, Boston.


5. Chief Charles E. Bacon, Medford. Ex-Chief Charles Marchant, Gloucester.


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Veterans of Fire Department. 100 men, in six barges.


Fire Equipment.


Steamer, No. 1.


Hose, No. 1.


Truck, No. 1.


Chemical, No. 3.


Steamer, No. 2.


Hose, No. 3.


Chemical, No. 1.


Hose, No. 2.


Chemical, No. 2.


Truck, No. 2.


Combination Wagon, No. 4. Fire Alarm Wagon.


STILES' EIGHTH REGIMENT BAND (LYNN).


EVERETT VETERAN FIRE ASSOCIATION.


52 men in the red-shirt uniform of former days. Foreman, GEORGE HUEY. President, COLUMBUS COREY.


Hand engine "General Taylor." Drawn by four gray horses. [This engine is owned by the Association in memory of the old General Taylor, No. 4, South Malden, 1847.]


EVERETT HIGH SCHOOL BOYS.


With a small hand engine of an early pattern, once used in a Canadian town.


VETERAN FIREMEN. In carriages.


Benjamin Corey, ae. 84, Chief Engineer, Malden, 1861. Robert M. Barnard, ae. 73, Engineer, Malden, 1862-64. Joseph Swan, ae. 78, Engineer, Malden, 1865-69, and others.


LADIES' VETERAN AUXILIARY (EVERETT). 25 Ladies in a Brake.


WAGONS OF MALDEN HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT.


WAGONS OF MALDEN HEALTH DEPARTMENT.


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THE PARADE


SIXTH DIVISION. NORTH MALDEN - MELROSE.


Marshal. WALTER C. STEVENS.


Chief of Staff. HARRY STEVENS. Aids.


JAMES B. DILLINGHAM. ALBERT H. FULLER.


C. ANDREWS FISKE. FRANK M. MCLAUGHLIN.


FRANK R. UPHAM.


MUNICIPAL BAND OF BOSTON.


Banner.


Obverse, Melrose Town Seal. Reverse, " City of Melrose, 1900." Cavalcade of twenty-four uniformed men.


Mounted Indian Chief. - FRANK J. RYDER, wearing the full suit of the Chief Red Cloud, who presented it to Colonel Seymour of Gen- eral Custer's command, by whom it was given to the late Maj. Wilbur D. Fiske.


SELECTMEN OF MELROSE IN A LANDAU.


Sidney H. Buttrick. L. Frank Hinckley. Charles J. Barton.


Jonathan C. Howes.


MELROSE CELEBRATION COMMITTEE


in a drag drawn by four black horses. [See list of committees.]


MELROSE FIFE AND DRUM CORPS.


HAND ENGINE ENDEAVOR (No. MALDEN, No. 3, 1846).


Drawn by thirty-six men from Capt. James B. Dillingham's pro- visional military company, in firemen's uniform, FRANK W. LYNDE, commander.


CARRIAGE WITH VETERAN FIREMEN.


Survivors of the company that drew the Endeavor in the parade of 1849.


Samuel Ellison, ae. 90. Freeman Upham, ae. 87.


James G. Emerson, ae. 82. William H. Wells, ae. 66. Abel Willis, ae. 81.


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MELROSE FIRE DEPARTMENT. A. WILBUR LYNDE, chief engineer.


Delegation of twenty-six firemen, with Steamer No. 1 and Hose No. 1.


VETERANS OF U. S. GRANT POST 4, G. A. R. GEORGE P. MARSH, commander. In a barge.


VETERANS OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. In a barge.


CAMBRIDGE DRUM CORPS.


FLOAT. NO. MALDEN MINUTE MEN, 1775.


Seventeen men from the Melrose Highlands Improvement Asso- ciation, in continental costumes, armed with flint-lock muskets and powder-horns. CHARLES M. Cox, commander.


A YOKE OF OXEN WITH DRAG


loaded with logs, representing timber drawn from No. Malden in 1795 -- 97, for the U. S. frigate " Constitution." It was intended to exhibit an automobile carriage as a contrast to the oxen and drag, but a difficulty in regulating its speed with that of the parade caused it to be withdrawn.


SEVENTH DIVISION.


Marshal. HARVEY L. THOMPSON.


Chief of Staff. WALTER R. MACDONALD.


Aids.


RAYMOND C. BATTING. FULTON CHRISTOPHER.


JOSEPH G. HARRIS.


JOHN L. HOWARD. FRED L. JORDAN. WALTER P. SHELDON.


ASA TRAYES.


MANSFIELD'S MAPLEWOOD BAND.


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THE FIREWORKS


TRADES DISPLAY.


In this division appeared : -


Asher F. Black; Boston Rubber Shoe Co. (eight-horse team) ; Cobb, Aldrich & Co., Boston (automobile delivery-wagon) ; Darcy & Falconer ; Fells Ice Co. (six-horse team) ; Good-Will Soap Co. (fol- lowed by forty boys with toy advertising carts) ; William W. Hall ; W. S. Hills Co., Boston ; John L. Howard ; Jackson Caldwell Fur- niture Co .; F, N. Joslin & Co. (two floats with ladies representing departments in their store, and the Sorosis Shoe chariot drawn by two gray horses, driven by Miss Clara Cameron in white Grecian costume) ; C. T. Joslyn Co. (four-horse team) ; Kelley Bros. ; Elmore E. Locke ; Roderick D. McVicar ; Malden Board of Trade (the fine tally-ho of Keith's theatre, Boston, loaned for the occasion) ; Malden Evening News (two floats) ; Malden & Melrose Gas Light Co. (three teams) ; Pembrook & Innis; Robinson Bros. & Co. (four-horse team) ; Walter P. Sheldon (Queen Sherbet float) ; Harvey L. Thomp- son ; Victor Coffee Co. (four-horse chariot) ; Alonzo A. West ; A. Wheeler & Co .; R. H. White Co., Boston (delivery wagon) ; and many others. About two hundred teams paraded in this division, representing most of the manufacturers and dealers of Malden, with others from the neighboring cities and towns.


THE FIREWORKS.


BY sunset on Tuesday, Salem Street began to be filled by crowds of people passing towards Eaton's Field at Maplewood, where a display of fireworks was to be shown. By eight o'clock, it is estimated, fully twenty-five thousand people had gathered, crowding all points from which a view of the field could be obtained.


The display was furnished by the Masten & Wells Fireworks Man- ufacturing Co. of Boston, and was fired under the supervision of W. L. Wedger, an expert employed by the committee. Martland's Band [Brockton] and Mansfield's Maplewood Band were stationed at different points, and played national and popular airs during the even- ing. Previous to the display, the field was illuminated by owl-light torches and colored fires, in red, white, and blue, vividly lighting the great crowd and bringing out with fine effect the dark background of the hills beyond.


Soon after eight o'clock, the signal was given by batteries of heavy rockets and mortar guns, forming a grand national salute to the day, which was heard for several miles. The whole exhibition was


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one of much beauty and brilliancy ; and it was successful in the highest degree, as was sufficiently proved by the frequent applause of the spectators.


A portrait of the Hon. Elisha S. Converse, the first mayor of the city, shown in lines of fire about ten feet high, was received with en- thusiasm, as was a companion piece, a portrait of the Hon. Charles L. Dean, the present mayor, which was afterwards shown. The ex- hibition was closed by a brilliant illumination in the national colors, and an exceedingly effective representation of the city seal in its proper colors of blue and gold.


The returning crowds blocked the streets for a long time; and as they passed through Pleasant Street, loud cheers greeted the Anni- versary Building, where the last exercises of the celebration were taking place.


THE BANQUET.


THE banquet on Tuesday evening was the closing event in a series of exercises which will long be remembered by those who participated therein. It was a beautiful sight which greeted the eyes of the be- holder who, from the platform or the galleries, looked upon the vast and brilliantly lighted auditorium with its bright decorations and its long tables, glittering with their appropriate furnishings and profusely adorned with flowers. Upon the platform, with the mayor and the officers of the meeting, were His Excellency the Governor and other distinguished guests ; while at the tables below were seated Malden's representative men, and with them beautiful women, the wives and daughters of the city, who may be equalled, in virtue of inheritance, but will not be excelled by their descendants, the wives and daughters of the three hundredth anniversary.


Plates were laid for eight hundred and ninety-six guests. So rapidly had the tickets been taken that they had all been applied for before April 1, and the committee had been obliged to give public notice that no more could be sold. Each place was marked by one of the beautiful Malden plates, which the guests took away as sou- venirs of the celebration.


The souvenir plate, the preparation of which was inspired by the secretary of the committee, William G. A. Turner, an ardent ceramist, was made in one size only, the design appearing in light blue. It is thus described : -


The centre of the plate is occupied by a view of the Converse Memorial Building, which contains the Malden Public Library. This


GRANTEDT


THERMOR TU BE CAMAS0


SOUVENIR PLATE


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THE BANQUET


building was erected in 1884-85 by the eminent architect, Henry H. Richardson ; and it was regarded by him as his finest library work.


Below the view of the library is a copy of the record of the incor- poration of the town. At the top of the plate is a view of Hill's Tavern, the Rising Eagle, as it appeared in 1850, taken from a cut in Corey's History of Malden. This house, which is now standing on Irving Street, was built on the site of the present city hall about 1720 and was occupied as a public house until 1804. On either side appear the obverse and reverse of the borough seal of Maldon, county Essex, the English mother of the Malden of Massachusetts.


On the right hand, in a medallion, is a view of Malden in 1837, drawn from a cut in Barber's Historical Collections of Massachusetts. This view was taken from Bailey's Hill, and presents with accuracy somne of the prominent landmarks of that day.


On the left, in a corresponding medallion, is the Old Parsonage, near Bell Rock, which was built in 1724 and was the birthplace of the celebrated missionary, Adoniram Judson, who was born in 1788.


At the bottom, in the ornamental border which surrounds the plate and in which the medallions are set, appears the seal of the town, which was in use until the incorporation of the city, when it was su- perseded by the present city seal.


On the back, the following inscription records the origin and pur- pose of the plate : Made by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, Etruria, England, and Richard Briggs Co., Boston, in commemoration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Maldon, Muss., U. S. A.


The design of the plate, which is as beautiful as it is apposite, was by our townsman, Ludvig S. Ipsen. It is a work which is already sought by the general public, bothi as a souvenir and as a fine specimen of the ceramic art.


The vases which held the flowers upon the tables were especially designed for the occasion, and were inscribed, Malden's 250th Birth- day. They were quickly taken as souvenirs at the close of the banquet.


The arrival of the Hon. Elisha S. and Mrs. Converse at the table upon the platform was the signal for a fervent testimonial of regard from the assembled guests, all rising in their places with loud applause. Soon after, His Excellency the Governor appeared and was warmly welcomed ; and a prayer having been offered by the Rev. James F. Albion of the First Parish, the gustatory exercises of the evening were begun at 6.30 P.M.


The menu was prepared and served by Daniel P. Wise of the firm of Weber of Boston. The cover of the menu, which was designed and drawn by Mr. Ipsen, represented Malden as a beautiful woman


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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY


bearing a branch of laurel and supporting a shield on which appeared the city seal. On the border of her robe were the ancestral lions of Maldon, and a wreath of roses was upon her head. In the back- ground, an idealized view of Wayte's Mount and some of the Malden factories appeared.


During the evening, the orchestra, in the centre balcony, rendered a pleasing program of popular and national music, which was well suited to the festal nature of the occasion.


Program.


SALEM CADET BAND.


1 MARCH. - Semper Fidelis. Sousa.


2 OVERTURE. - Stradella. Flotow.


3 VALSE. - Babbie. Fürst.


4 SELECTION. - The Fortune Teller. Herbert.


5 SELECTION. - National Melodies.


Ross.


6 PORTO RICAN DANCE. - Rosita. Missud.


7 SELECTION. - Nautical Songs. Tobani.


8 GAVOTTE. - Wilhelmina. Montagne.


9 THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH. De Carmont.


10 FINALE. - Stars and Stripes. Sousa. JEAN M. MISSUD, Conductor.


Menu.


SOUP - Mock Turtle, Radishes.


FISH - Boiled Penobscot Salmon, Hollandaise Sauce, Cucumbers, Native Peas.


ROAST - Philadelphia Spring Chicken, Giblet Sauce, Fillet Beef, Larded, Mushroom Sauce, Potato Croquettes, String Beans.


ENTRÉES - Croustades of Sweetbreads, Chicken Croquettes Exquisite, Banana Fritters, Wine Sauce.


RELEVÉS - Mayonnaise of Lobster, Lettuce and Tomato Salad.


DESSERT - Maraschino Jelly, Russian Style, Frozen Pudding, Diplomatic, Neapolitan Ice Cream, Harlequin Sherbet. STRAWBERRIES. Crackers, Cheese, and Olives, Assorted Cake, Salted Almonds and Pecans. COFFEE.


ED 16 Vi .


MYSTIC SIDE TOWN 1019


MALDEN'S TWO.HUNDRED AND . FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY


MAY MDCXXXXIX MDCCCXCIX


MENU COVER


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At a few minutes before nine, Chairman Nelson of the committee called the company to order, and as the chairs were pushed back and the attention of all was directed towards the platform, in a few words welcomed the guests of the city and introduced the toastmaster of the evening, Col. William N. Osgood.


INTRODUCTION BY EUGENE NELSON.


Ladies and Gentlemen : - This banquet may be said to officially close the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Malden.


In behalf of the citizens of Malden, I desire to extend a hearty welcome to our honored guests. As chairman of the banquet com- mittee, I desire to extend my heartfelt thanks to the citizens for the cooperation and assistance which has made this banquet what it is. It is, perhaps, not inappropriate at this time to thank my associates on the committee for their work. They have always been ready to adopt any suggestion, and go to any length to carry out the plans of the work.


The idea of souvenir plates, which you have, was the creation of the brain of the secretary and treasurer, William G. A. Turner ; and the plate was designed by a citizen of Malden, Ludvig S. Ipsen.


Without taking more of your time, it gives me pleasure to introduce the toastmaster of the evening, Col. William N. Osgood.


Colonel Osgood, on being presented, proceeded to say : -


Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : - I do not intend to consume any time upon this occasion in general remarks. That has already been sufficiently and gracefully done by our worthy chairman. You will remember that he complimented and thanked about every one who has had anything to do with this banquet except himself. His excessive modesty of course precluded him from doing this. Therefore I am certain to meet with your complete endorsement when I assert that he is, himself, entitled to great credit for the vast amount of labor and energy which he has expended in performing the duties devolving upon him as chairman of the banquet committee.


I know that you are all impatient to accord a hearty and cordial greeting to the distinguished guests who have honored us with their presence this evening, and to listen to their words. In deference to your desires I will at once proceed to announce the first toast : ---


" The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; beloved by her own citizens, and respected by the citizens of other states. Always among the foremost in the defence of liberty and justice, and second to none in education and material progress."


17


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TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY


This, the first toast, will be responded to by His Excellency the Governor, whom we have learned to admire, and whom we are proud to have with us at this time. I have the pleasure of presenting to you, Roger Wolcott, the Governor of the commonwealth.


ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR ROGER WOLCOTT.


WHEN a busy and prosperous locality sets aside a time from the daily avocations of its ordinary life in order to commemorate fittingly and honorably a marked anniversary in its history, it is a great privilege to bring to that community the greetings and congratulations of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Be assured, fellow-citizens of Malden, that I have not made the mistake of considering as any personal tribute to myself the greeting which you have accorded to me to-night, and which I received from your fellow-citizens along the route of the procession as it passed through your beautiful streets to- day. I know well, and it gives me pleasure to acknowledge it to-night, that that greeting was in no sense to the individual who officially occupies the position of governor of the commonwealth, but that it was a tribute of the people of Malden, the tribute of loyalty and affection, not to an individual, but to the commonwealth of Massachusetts.


You celebrate this week the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of your incorporation as a town. We are accustomed still to speak of this as a young nation. It is young, it is true, in comparison with some of the old communities of the other world ; yet I do not think that a community which has lived for two hundred and fifty years can still lay claim to being one of excessive youth. We cannot call that a sapling that has struck its roots deep down into the soil of centuries, and has waved its branches in the storms of winter and in the breezes of summer for two hundred and fifty years. I think to-night, as we look backward, it is rather, after all, the sense of antiquity more than the sense of youth that is impressed upon our minds. The studious historian of your past history, and the eloquent orator of yesterday have depicted the changes that have occurred in the social and industrial life of this community during those two centuries and a half, and time would fail me, even if I had had the preparation, to attempt to repeat that story. And yet it is impressive if we touch merely for a moment upon the outlines, or the most marked aspects, of the history of those two hundred and fifty years.


At that time King Charles the First had closed an ignoble life by a pathetic death. There were men then in middle life who had heard or had talked with William Shakespeare. At that time there were but three books in the English language that are in general use


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to-day, - Bacon, Shakespeare, and the English version of the Holy Bible. But a few years previous the circulation of the blood, which I suppose ushered in modern surgery or medicine - that discovery had but recently been made. It was later than that before Sir Isaac Newton gave to the world the law of gravitation, which perhaps may be said to be the fundamental truth that ushered in the study of modern science. The world of art was represented by such names as Rem- brandt, Van Dyke, Rubens, and Murillo ; and without intending in any way to depreciate the achievements of modern art, I think we may give the artists of the present day at least until the three hun- dredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Malden to gain a place equal to or exceeding that of such artists as those. So too in the world of what might be called political life. The great Habeas Corpus was then unknown ; and I suppose that the freedom of the individual, the freedom of thought, the right of conscience, the right of personal liberty, may almost be traced back to that great reign.


And so these two hundred and fifty years, which sometimes we are inclined lightly to slur over as being a period of short duration, carry us back from the enlightenment, the privileges, the education, the development, and the achievements of the present day, - whether in government, in science, in art, or in politics, - they carry us back to a period which is really very remote, and which recalls a world very far different from the world in which we live to-day. Not only that, but if it be true, as the poet has sung, that half a century of Europe is better than a cycle of Cathay, it is also true, and it is merely another form of the same truthi, to say that in the accelerated progress of the present time, as the world marches forward down the ever- broadening path of progress, fifty years means more to man, means more to the individual, than five hundred years spent in the twilight of the middle ages. And therefore those two hundred and fifty years, already representing a respectable antiquity, are likely, as the years go forward, to increase in significance and value with a momentum that we can hardly yet appreciate.


It was one hundred years after the incorporation of the town of Malden before the steam-engine ushered in the age of steam. It seems to us now as if the age of steam might soon pass away into the dim twilight, and be succeeded in the coming century, as it has already begun to be in the present century, by the age of electricity. And what man is so wise to-day that he would be willing to say that, through liquid air, or some great undiscovered force more subtle still, the coming century may not see another force introduced that shall make even the electricity of to-day seem like a clumsy tool in the hand of man?


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Now there is another fact that I think should be borne in mind in any comparison that is made of the present with the past, still more in any comparison that may be made of the present with the future. It is this - that with the accelerated pace, with the greater demands that modern life makes upon the individual, just as it is true that to control the mighty locomotive that moves the express train, moving almost with the noise and with the rapidity of thunder and of light- ning - as that requires a better developed brain, a cooler judgment, a quicker dexterity -just as the motorman of to-day must be a better educated man, a man of quicker brain power than he who formerly drove the horses of the horse-car - so the modern life makes a greater . demand upon the individual ; and to meet it the individual must culti- vate more carefully his mental powers, must bring the powers of his mind and the control of his nerves to a higher condition of perfection ; and that is the task that is laid upon us to-day. That is what will be expected of our children. That is the responsibility of the duty to which our children must be educated. And therefore, while we look back upon the past, while we see there distinctly exhibited upon the stage, with the few actors that then stood before the footlights - as we see the great courage, the great foresight, the great power of endurance of the men of that time- let us not for a moment believe that the present time lays upon us, or that the future time will lay upon our children, a demand for less power than our fathers and our grandsires had. No, my friends, I believe that in the competition of to-day it is a greater demand, rather than a less demand, that is laid upon the individual ; and I believe that in order that any community like yours -that any larger community like the commonwealth of Massachusetts-in order that it may hold its onward progress of honorable achievement, of virtuous homes, of steady progress, must develop, not a weaker type of civic life and virtue, but a stronger type. Those who, by honest industry, have acquired great wealth, and who are willing in the interest of the community to make a gener- ous and enlightened use of that wealth, must increase in number rather than diminish. The entire community must show something more, and must know something more, than the old civic virtue. They must show that upon them all rests the burden of what the city shall become, of what the commonwealth shall become, of what place among the nations of the world this great country shall show itself capable of occupying and honoring.


And so, looking to the future rather than to the past, although this occasion might well make us reminiscent of the past rather than prophetic of the future, I feel sure that the commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, that your own beautiful city, can count hereafter, as hereto- fore, upon the loyalty, the virtue, the strength of its citizens ; ready


" ROUGH WALKERS " - FOURTH DIVISION


THE REVIEW


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to meet whatever responsibility may come wherever they may carry the flag or the national name, ready to meet those responsibilities at which our fathers might have stood aghast, but ready to meet those responsibilities with all the courage, all the civic virtue, all the strength that our fathers have bequeathed to us, that have made of this city and of this commonwealth a fair and goodly heritage.


At the conclusion of the address of Governor Wolcott, which was received with prolonged applause, the toastmaster read the following letter from Senator George F. Hoar : -


LETTER BY THE HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR.


WORCESTER, MASS., April 7, 1899.


My dear Mr. Mayor, -I am sorry that I cannot accept the courteous invitation of your young and beautiful city to be present at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Malden as a town. Nothing could be fuller of instruction and inspiration than to listen to the simple and noble story which will be repeated on that occasion. It will be the story of a people who have loved liberty and feared God. The love of liberty, controlled by the fear of God, is not a mere desire of the individual to be free from restraint. It is an austere and sacred sense of duty. It prevents a people from trampling on the rights of other men or other peoples while it asserts its own. When Malden was settled, the children of the Puritans occupied only a little space by the sea- side. Now their nation covers a continent, and the portals of the temple they have builded are upon both the seas. Their power has been due not only to the love of liberty, but also in a still larger measure to the restraining influence of the sense of duty and the fear of God. Let us pray that in this day of their power they may not forget the lesson they learned in the day of their weakness.




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