USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Rutland > Centennial celebration of the settlement of Rutland, Vt., October 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th, 1870, including the addresses, historical papers, poems, responses at the dinner table, etc. > Part 8
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XIX. Turned their gaze,
Earnest and pitiful, on the ways
Where the poor, burthened sons of toil Earned their bread amid dust and moil. Saw the dim atties where, day by day, Women were stitching their lives away, Bending low o'er the slender steel Till heart and brain began to reel, And their days 1
Stretched on and on in a dreary maze.
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XX. Then he spoke; Lo! at once into being woke Muscles of iron, arms of steel, Nerves that never a thrill could feel! Wheels and pulleys and whirling bands Did the work of the weary hands, And tireless feet moved to and fro Where the aching limbs were wont to go, When he spoke And all his sprites into being woke.
XXI. Do you say He was no saint who has passed away? Saint or sinner, he did brave deeds
Answering still to Humanity's needs ; Songs he hath sung that shall live for aye; Words he hath uttered that ne'er shall die;
Richer the world than when the earth
Sang for joy to hail his birth, Even tho' you say He was no saint whom we sing to-day.
XXII. Lo! we come
Bearing the Century, cold and dumb!
Folded above the mighty breast
Lie the hands that have earned their rest ; Hushed are the grandly-speaking lips; Closed are the eyes in drear eclipse;
And the sculptered limbs are deathly still,
Responding not to the eager will, As we come Bearing the Century, cold and dumb!
XXIII. Lo! we wait Knocking here at the sepulchire's gate!
Souls of the Ages passed away, A mightier joins your ranks to-day ; Open your doors, ye royal dead, And welcome give to this crowned head!
For calmly under this sable pall
Sleepeth the kingliest of ye all, While we wait At the sepulchre's awful gate !
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XXIV. Give him room
Proudly, Centuries! in your tomb.
Now that his weary work is done Honor and rest he well hath won. Let him who is first among you pay Homage to him who comes this day, Bidding him pass to his destined place, Noblest of all his noble race!
Make ye room For the kingly dead in the silent tomb!
THE PROCESSION.
Immediately after the close of the exercises at Opera Hall, a pro- cession was formed, being one of the largest and most orderly ever seen in Rutland, and moved in the following order, under the direc- tion of Chief Marshal Gen. E. H. Ripley and Assistant Marshals Col. L. G. Kingsley, Major John A. Salsbury, Major R. M. Cross and Capt. Harley Sheldon :
1. Wales Cornet Band, followed by a company of Continental militia, and, in comparison, a company of the militia of to-day.
2. Nickwackett Engine Company, No. 1, 61 men, Capt. S. G. Staley, with engine and hose cart, drawn by a double team of horses.
3. Washington Engine Company, No. 2, E. F. Sadler foreman, 50 men, engine drawn by two horses, and hose cart by two.
4. Killington Steamer, No. 3, drawn by four horses, and its hose cart drawn by two. C. Kingsley foreman, and the full company turned out.
5. Hook and Lauder Company, No. 1, George W. Hilliard tore- man, 45 men, with their truck decked with evergreens and flowers, and preceded by a band of martial music.
6. St. Peter's Cornet Band of Rutland.
7. Hibernian Literary Society of Rutland, Dennis Kingsley and Edward Lyston, marshals.
8. St. Patrick's Benevolent Literary Society of West Rutland, Robert Monaghan, Mi. Duffy and MI. Meagher, marshals.
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After these came individuals representing the costumes, etc., of "ancient" days, among which was a representation of a surgeon of the Revolutionary Army, a commissary of the same period, and other characters, both male and female, representing the same period.
Next in order came a representation of the wares of some of our principal merchants, personified in the manner in which the wagons which bore them were laden. First was a wagon drawn by six horses, a la tandem, alternate white and black, representing the grocery business of Chester Kingsley at the "Old Red Store." A Wardwell stone channelling machine, drawn by two pairs of fancy matched 'horses. G. F. White had a wagon drawn by four oxen, and on it was reclining a monument representing the withered trunk of a tree, or "the flower is faded and the limbs are broken." This monument was very large, weighing several tons. B. W. Marshall represented his grocery business in a heavy laden wagon. H. R. Dyer followed with a team representing steam and gas fitting. Howe's candy manufactory was represented by two double teams, with an assortment of the proprietor's goods. Paine, Bow- man & Co. had in display a fine assortment of manufactured goods and cloths, and with the goods were their operators, both male and female, seemingly as busily at work as when in the store. Levi G. Kingsley had two wagons of upholstery goods, with fine exhibitions of shelf hardware and mechanics' tools. D. Ver- der had a portion of the goods from his bakery out in a wagon drawn by the black horse. George W. Chaplin, Jr., had a fine dis play of furniture and upholstery goods, and Newman Weeks, in the same line, had, beside two chairs made one hundred years ago, a display of furniture and upholstery work which was creditable. W. B. Mussey's grocery wagon was decked with the goods of his line, and the three teams of G. H. & H. W. Cheney bore evidence . that they kept a good variety, and were not to be counted as minors in the grocery line. Dunn, Sawyer & Co. had three teams in the procession, laden with padler's goods, hardware and house furnish . ing goods, including stoves, etc. Spencer, Sawyer & Co. had their large candy wagon in the procession. The Rutland Manufacturing Company had a large wagon, piled mountain high, almost, with chairs. Abbott & Whitman had a display in the shape of a light express wagon. C. W. Nichols, photographer, had his camera out.
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When the procession, after marching through several of the prin- cipal streets, arrived at the pavilion it broke ranks, and some five or six hundred sat down to partake of the dinner.
THE DINNER.
After the dinner had been disposed of, Gen. William Y. W. Rip- ley, acting as President, made a few brief remarks appropriate to the occasion, and in closing called upon Mr. John Strong, the toastmaster of the occasion, who came forward and offered as the first regular toast :
Rutland-Like a good mother, she welcomes her sons who have sustained and exalted the family name abroad, and who, returning front distant places, testify by their presence to-day that they hold in affectionate remembrance the town that gave them birth.
The response was made by James Barrett, who said, in substance, it was a singular thing that one not a perfect speaker should be called upon to respond to this toast, and while he could not respond as he would wish to, Mr. Barrett related some amusing anecdotes of the early history of Rutland, among which was that in a former period when the people from the country around came to trade they tasted the liquors in every store, and after arriving at the place where they considered the best liquors were kept, there they bought their goods. But these times were past, and now we have a town and a community of which every one can feel proud.
In response to the same toast, Rev. Stephen C. Thrall said, on being called upon: I sincerely regret that this welcome Vermont, and particularly Rutland, has extended to her children, has taken my voice away so that I cannot, as I would like to, respond appro- priately on this occasion. Looking, he said, about the continent, and standing on the Sierra Nevadas, on the borders of the Missis- sippi, or wherever his lot had been cast, he had ever with pride remembered Vermont, not populous at home, but extensive abroad, and it has ever been my pride that wherever I met a Vermonter he was true to the manor born. Donglas said Vermont was a good State to go from, and it is not less true, I find, that it is a good State to come back to. On no place on earth have we scen such beauty, and we say to our noble mother, We thank you, and will bear your memory to our homes and to our graves
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Mr. Frederick A. Fuller being called upon, arose and made a happy speech in response to the toast. His remarks were composed chiefly of anecdotes referring to the elderly citizens of Rultand, many of whom, though now non-residents, were present, especially alluding to the humorous traits of the character of Rev. James Davie Butler, when doing business with his father in Rutland thirty years ago.
The second toast was,
Vermont-Her place among the States, established by the bravery of her "Green Mountain Boys," has been gloriously maintained by a people already distinguished for industry and virtue; by her statesmen, eminent in the councils of the nation; by her judges, learned in the law and fearless in its administration ; by her soldiers, first on every battle-field of the republic, from Ticonderoga and Plattsburgh to Gettysburgh and the Wilderness; and above all by her women, who, true to their duties as wives and mothers, with all the sacred precincts of home, have, by the influence of their virtues and the careful training of their children, exalted us as a people.
Gen. Ripley expressed the regrets of Gov. Stewart and Messrs. Redfield, Phelps, Poland and others, who had expressed their desire to be present, but were unavoidably absent, and in a happy manner introduced Col. W. G. Veazey to respond.
Col. Veazey said, in substance, after saying that he was unex- pectedly called upon to respond to sentiments other than Vermont's soldiers, that the thought occurred to him that he should decline a response, but it occurs to me, said Col. Veazey, that it would be even a greater impropriety on an occasion like this not to say a word for our grand old State. Although Vermont was settled long before Rutland's charter, our State as well as our town were the product of the century just closed, a centary more fruitful of great men and great events than history has chronicled. Our climate makes the State the resort of the invalid, while her scenery attracts the tourist and artist. The speaker paid a tribute to Vermont's statesmen and its long succession of names, from Prentiss and Phelps to Collamer and Foot, second to none the continent over produced. In the judiciary a succession of men adorned the bench of our State, and sustained its eminence; they were those to whom none could point as dishonest, corrupt or unfit for their position, and whose ability and wisdom was unsurpassed by the bench of any
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State in the great sisterhood of States. As regards Vermont in battle, he said that Vermont had been called the legitimate child of war, and truly, for her territory was the battle ground of the origi- nal tribes which inhabited her borders. So through the Colonial . and French wars it was the pathway of contending troops, and then . came the struggles of the New York and New Hampshire Grants, in which as a battle-ground she was historically distinguished. He reverted in unqualified terms of praise to the conduct of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolution, and to the grand figure of Ethan Allen on the parapet of Ticonderoga on the 10th of May, 1775, when he demanded its surrender by the authority of the Continental Congress-when he compelled the surrender of the British to the coming American republic. In the battle of Bennington he would not attempt to detail the achievements of the Green Mountain Boys, they had been so grand; but in 1812 they sustained at Plattsburgh, Niagara and Crown Point the reputation they had won in the pre- vions war. In the Mexican war Vermont furnished her full quota to the national cause, and in it one of her bravest sons, the gallant Ransom, fell. In the war of the rebellion she furnished 34,000 men, who participated, and with glory, in every battle from Big Bethel to Appomattox. They struck the first blow in Virginia at the outbreak of the war, and were the first troops to enter Rich- mond on its surrender .. At Lee's Mills the lamented Reynolds gave up his life, and at Bull Run Vermont troops largely contributed to the safety of the national capital. On the Peninsula they were firm, and in the Seven Day's fight they never failed to punish the enemy. History, he said, will record that a son of Rutland as surely and effectually saved our army from defeat at Malvern Hill as did Col. Warner more than any other man than Stark contribute to our success at Bennington. At South Mountain, Antietam, St. Mary's Heights, Gettysburgh, they were the same, and in the Shen- andoah valley Sheridan knew by their intrepid valor that he could turn defeat to victory. Col. Veazey paid a handsome tribute to to Col. Roberts, who fell at Baton Rouge, and closed by saying that Vermont's sons were a class of men who knew they had rights, and knowing, dare maintain them.
Gen. W. Y. W. Ripley followed in a tribute to the brave men of
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Vermont, and feelingly implored their descendants to preserve the relics of their memory in their hands at present, that the future might revere those who so nobly lived and died.
Gen. Ripley said, to the subject of "The Ladies," embraced in the concluding sentiment of the toast, he would call his friend, Hon. D. E. Nicholson, whose anticipated response would fully jus- tify the fitness of the call.
Mr. Nicholson responded that he duly appreciated the distin- guished honor of being thus commended to this particular sen- timent. As a Rutland county man by birth, whose mother, now in her sainted grave, and whose wife and daughter all had a Rutland county origin, he should justly be condemned if he was wanting in appreciation of the value of such companionship. What has been said here and elsewhere of the distinguished Chris- tians, philanthropists, patriots and sages could never have been true if woman, the mother of them all, had been less than an exalted being, and the perpetual homage of man's heart has been to the Great Creator of all, that when beholding the solitary, pitiful and helpless condition of the father of the race, He benevolently created for him companionship, with such social, intellectual, moral and material adaptations, as had served not only to perpetuate, but to exalt the race.
The third toast was
The Early Settlers of Rutland-True descendants of the Puri- tan stock, they builded better than they knew.
Gen. Benj. Alvord of the U. S. army responded as follows:
GEN. ALVORD'S ADDRESS.
When I first received the invitation to share in this celebration it seemed impracticable to accept, but every day which elapsed con- vinced me that my heart would gravitate in this direction, and that it was a duty to make an effort to attend. During all my wander- ings to the remotest corners of this Union, throughout the last thirty-seven years, I have never failed to recur with pride and pleas- ure to Vermont and to Rutland.
The attachment of those born in mountain regions to their homes is proverbial. The discharge of my official duties has carried me to the most celebrated mountain regions of this continent; those of 6
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Central America, the snow white peaks which border on the north- west Lake Nicaragua, the principal of which is the volcano of Mombacho; those of the valley of Mexico, Popocatepethl, and Iztaccihuathl, and Toluca; those of the Sierra Nevada range in ' California, and of the Cascade range in Oregon and Washington, and those of the Rocky Mountain ranges of Colorado and Utah Territories. However deep the enjoyment received from such scenes of grandeur, they always only served to carry my memory and imagination back to these lovely green mountains, whose quiet beauty is unsurpassed. I know that it will be said that such senti- ments have their origin in the charms and fascinations of youth. But it is fitting that here, on our return to the land of our birth, such feelings should be indulged. Let them not be despised! It Heaven, in showering upon you other blessings, has also imparted a love of nature, an appreciation of your beautiful scenery, and a keen relish for the wonders and splendors lavished on this material
world, let them be highly esteemed. Contrast the ideas of the native of a level prairie in the West with the sensations awakened here! By cultivation he may acquire such tastes, but his birthright has comparatively a limitation, a tameness and a monotony which excite the pity of exultant mountaineers! It should certainly be
to-day a cause for holding in grateful remembrance our hardy ances- tors, who one century ago choose their homes in such pleasant places, that they bequeathed to their posterity such influences, and such sublime inspirations. There are some not open to such mag- nitism. There are those who, under the shadow of Killington Peak, can without emotion witness the lovely clouds move to and fro, and the cultivated valleys smiling between mountain slopes, and the meandering river gliding through grassy meadows. I say there are those who can gaze at such scenes and turn upon them only a vacant and uninterested eye, buried in the cares and clogged by the surroundings of the busy world. But their effect upon the genuis of your population, upon the character of the most enterprising and susceptible, is undoubted; above all upon the scholars of your State. From one end of this Union to the other, Vermonters can be found remarkable for their clear heads, their hardihood, and if scholars, for their acute, robust intelleets and poetic sensibilities.
It is customary in Massachusetts to boast of Berkshire county,
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and the array of distinguished characters who have originated there. Berkshire is the mere offshoot, the last descending ridge of the Green Mountains, which Vermont condescends to give Massachu- setts. If the scenery of Berkshire and the lovely estates at Lenox an'd Stockbridge of the Sedgwicks, Fields, Rockwells and Bryants can awaken admiration,-for still stronger reasons should Vermont indulge a little pardonable exultation, rioting as she does in the Green Mountains (par excellence), in the very backbone and lofty summit of those mountains. Why do not the Aspinwalls, and Carys, and other men of wealth, who went to Berkshire in search of a mountain home, come up here and get the Simon-pure article ? I feel certain that the Rev. Dr. Todd, now a resident of Pittsfield, in that county, however attached to his Pittsfield home, will admit the force of my recommendation. Why! from the seat of Aspin- wall and other of those millionaires they point to what they call mountains! A few years since I was delighted to make a visit to that county, filled with such charming society, such refined and hos- pitable residents,-but I aver I could not find in all Berkshire county an elevation as high as your "Pine Hill."
The Puritans settled Vermont. From Connecticut and Massa . chusetts they came here to seek their fortunes. All my military life I have been on our extensive frontiers in contact with pioneers. I know well their virtues, their hardihood, their enterprise. I have delighted to watch the growth and expansion of infant communities.
Our ancestors came to the New Hampshire Grants deeply imbued with all the best traits of the Puritan race. It is true that time and the progress of world wide ameliorations have not failed to soften the severities and banish those peculiarities of the Puritans which were objectionable,-and it must be a source of satisfaction that the doctrines of toleration had their birth on New England soil. and were soon instilled into her whole population. But if these princi- ples of toleration had their birth in Rhode Island, the news of yes- terday shows that their last most signal consummation will be wit- nessed in Rome. As the people of the Papal States have voted for annexation to the Kingdom of Italy, King Emanuel will soon enter Rome as his capital, followed, I predict, by the Protestant mission- aries now tolerated in Florence, and the two Vermonters, Geo. P. Marsh and Hiram Powers, now in Florence, will witness this
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momentous revolution. I must add that I doubt not that it was mainly owing to the vigorous action of Mr. Marsh that those mis- sionaries received toleration in Florence.
The Puritans were distinguished for their love of religion, pure and undefiled, their manly simplicity, pure morality and love of learning, their hardihood, industry and untamable spirit of inde- pendence, for their love of liberty, for their patriotism, courage and gallantry in battle. It is not necessary for me to descant on these qualities. But they are inwrought into the character and stamina of their descendants, and are prominent in every achievement for which, far and near, they have been distinguished, from the days of the Revolution to the present hour. They are disseminated all over this Union, and their virtues and characters adhere to them wher- ever they go. In action they are shown by vigor, perseverance and success; in science by logical acumen and inventive genius; in scholarship and literature by originality, breadth of views, depth of learning, racy wit and humor, brilliant fancy and fertility of resources; in statesmanship by dignity of character and unwavering adherence to principles-principles avowed, known of all men, and whose germinations can be traced in the history of the country. These qualities are higher and better than mere wealth. We can- not regret that you have here no worshiping of mere wealth, no courts or costly crowded capitals, reeking in corruption, intrigue and effeminacy. The office-seeker here has little upon which to
feed and batten. Better to be a thrifty people, plain in manner,. · reverencing God and respecting yourselves, than one pampered by overgrown fortunes, a country which knows not true glory, and seeks no higher good than riches,-where hungry sycophants throng with supplication all the departments of the State.
Well did a Puritan writer say, "I wish to belong to a State in the character and institutions of which I may find a spring of improvement which I can speak of with an honest pride !- in whose records I may meet good and honored names, and which is fast making the world its debtor by its discoveries of truth, and by an example of virtuous freedom."
The question occurs, Has this Puritan character borne generous fruit? In pure and applied science, in oratory and metaphysics and literature, in poetry and art, the educated men living in the
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State, or sent forth by Vermont, have made their mark throughout the world. . The names of James Marsh, George P. Marsh, S. S. Phelps, Charles K. Williams, Collamer, Foot, Horace Green, Saxe, Powers and Meade, are a sufficient response, known, some of them, to the whole civilized world. And it was fitting that the State which produced the best living American sculptor should also find in its exhaustless quarries the best marble for purposes of art on this continent, and thus spread the name of Rutland to all lands.
The student, residing here far from the distractions of more popu- lous haunts, has had time and opportunity to dive deeper into the recesses of science. Vermonters are noted for their liberal culture, and in public life for their national sentiments. They have not been narrow-minded. They have not been eaten up with sectionalism or provincialism. Their State pride, however intense, has not diminished their love and devotion to the Union and the national government. In time of deliberation and counsel, they have been for peace and averse to war. But their hearts have embraced the whole country, and have instantly rejected every proposition looking to a dissolution of the Union. This brings us to say that the descendants of the Puaitans have stood the test of the great civil war, in which their best qualities have been conspicuously mani- fested. Look at their promptitude, their manly spirit, their martial enthusiasm, their noble deeds, their devotion to the flag and to the cause of liberty. Let Grant, Sheridan and Meade be consulted as to the bearing of the Green Mountain Boys!
How consoling it is to reflect that the war was one for principle, for the unity and permanent peace, freedom and tranquility of America,-whose immediate consequences have been so immense and fundamental. What a vivid contrast to the war now raging in Europe,-a war for mastery merely, a war for a pretendea equilib- rium or balance of power, a war having its origin in mere jealousy. Had the rebellion succeeded, large standing armies would have hov- ered around a boundary line, and we too would have been led to study an American balance of power, eternally subject to chronic commotions and fruitless wars. The German soldier, whose deeds now extort the admiration of the world, has some characteristics quite similar to those of the Puritan soldier of the days of the common- wealth. The same simplicity, steadiness and energy, the same hardy
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