USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Jericho > The history of Jericho, Vermont > Part 7
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Who will dare say, then, that dwellers on the borderland of warfare do not develop a ruggedness of character and a fearless- ness of soul somewhat different but no less worthy than that pro- duced in the presences of smoking guns? Vermont gave many brave soldiers to the Revolution but its heroes at home, ready to go to the front at a moment's call, developed, while waiting, a stoical bravery unsurpassed, if indeed not unmatched, by those who faced death at the cannon's mouth.
It goes without the saying that he is a brave man who faces showers of leaden hail from hostile guns in defense of country, but the highest type of courage is that which brings no applause from the multitude but holds the man or woman true to principle without regard to consequences in the monotonous round of the work-a-day life. This is the courage which always
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rings true in absolute sincerity of purpose and aggressive pursuit of righteousness, without pomp or parade and this is the type of character, the splendid quality of patriotism bequeathed by the heroes and heroines of the early days in Vermont to those of us who face the problems of a later generation.
What will we do with our legacy? How shall we use our rich inheritance? Certainly not by forgetting the spirit and toil which brought it forth. Surely not by merely marking time and making the achievements of the past our sole means of subsist- ence.
The pioneer by his clearing, his breaking and his building be- queathed to later generations the types of manhood and woman- hood that should be builded as the superstructure of our newer civilization. On an anniversary day such as this the pioneer type should loom big before us, inspiring us to strive to present to civilization a race of strong men, brave men, good men, home- loving men and patriotic men.
Our forefathers were strong-strong in body and in char- acter. There is virtue in physical strength. A strong body un- der control is a good basis for a towering intellect and lofty moral conception. To abuse the body is to destroy intellectual possibil- ities and vitiate moral force. A proper conservation of the physical strength inherited from the fathers will guarantee to so- ciety a race of men sturdy of body and stalwart of character.
Our ancestors were wanting neither in bravery nor good- ness. The perils of wilderness, of mountain, of lake, and of battlefield are testimony of the one; the Christian Church in every town and hamlet certify to the other ..
Those who blazed the way for us more than a century and a quarter agone were a home-loving folk. They reared their cot- tages and their cabins not alone to shelter themselves and their families from the changing vicissitudes of weather. Every man's home was his castle wherein he reigned supreme. There he set up the family altar and magnified the Bible as the Word of God. There he instilled by precept and example, in the sacred privacy of happy domesticity, those ideals which he reverently believed would guarantee through his children the continuing progress of the race toward better things. This beautiful conception of the home life is still cherished in New England and New England
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has indelibly impressed it upon the nation. There are alarmists who would have us believe that apartment houses, the servant problem and the menace of the suffragettes threaten the utter de- struction of the American home. I beg of you not to believe it. The home did not originate in Vermont nor in New England nor in America. Some would declare that it had its origin in the ancient civilization of the Teutons-but even that is not al- together true. The home, which is the ideal institution of our later civilization, found the reason for its existence in the standard established by Him who taught in the unroofed school-rooms of Galilee, saying, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." It is true that our Teutonic ancestors in Germany and Great Britain gave the first fine concrete expression to the divine command. Our puritan forefathers caught it up and transplanted it in New England and New England has established it forever and secure in the Western Hemisphere.
Men naturally love home and the teachings of Jesus have so exalted the ideal of the family that the holy institution is bound to command increasing reverence with the added years. The halo of glory divine has been thrown about the precious words sister, mother, wife, daughter, through the decades until today it out- shines in dazzling splendor the glory of the noon-day sun and it will gleam with resplendent, undying lustre when the night of earth has become the eternal morning of heaven.
Those who are childless are conscious always of something lacking to satisfy the consciousness of earthly completeness. The entwining arms of unselfish loving little ones about the neck never fail to impress those who are not blessed with children of their own and he who has precious jewels of his own finds life empty, hollow without their presence. The most practical matter-of- fact man of affairs away from home for a little time on business is overcome by sense of depressing homesickness and writes of
THE LITTLE TADS AT HOME.
"Of course we know we love 'em when we're with 'em every day, "And we'd know it in a minute if one chanced to get away ;
"But we take a lot for granted in the common course of life ;
"And the world keeps tugging at us with its everlasting
6 strife.
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
"But when a little journey of a hundred miles or so
"Gets between us and the garden where the olive branches grow :
"There's a sense of something lacking when the quiet hours come;
"And a rush of tender longing for the little tads at home.
"We think they're awful noisy and we wish they'd let us be,
"When there's half a dozen scrapping for a place upon our knee ;
"We want to read the paper and we'd like a chance to think,
"It's a wonder such a racket doesn't drive a man to drink!
"But the little hotel chamber is as quiet as a tomb,
"Not a note of childish laughter comes to drive away the gloom ;
"And we'd give a thousand dollars, as we glower in our room- "For a jolly evening tussle with the little tads at home.
"We do a little reading, then we try a quiet thought,
"But the page gets dim and blurry as with tears we are caught ;
"And we sit beside the window in the twilight chill and gray; "While our thoughts go flying homeward to the cottage far away ;
"The same old moon shines on us that has kissed them with her. beams
"As we seek our lonely pillow to be with them in our dreams,
"And the last coherent murmur ere the mind begins to roam-
"Is a whispered 'God bless mamma and the little tads at home.'"
The home is a Christian institution and it will continue so long as the Christian religion continues as a potent force in the civilization processes. We pause today for a moment to do honor to the forefathers who planted the home on secure foundations in Vermont. Shall we not here and now, solemnly pledge our- selves that we will perpetuate the memory of the fathers by dedi- cating our lives anew to the perpetuation of the Christian religion and the home which has grown from it?
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
Surely patriotism includes strength, bravery, goodness and domesticity but all these traits of patriotic citizenship require modification to make them adaptable to the needs of each suc- ceeding age in our progressive and ever-progressing civilization. May we not then with perfect propriety on this auspicious anni- versary consider the meaning and the demand of THE NEW LOYALTY?
It is well to distinguish between patriotism and loyalty. Patriotism finds its origin in the Greek word Patriotes which means fellow-countryman. Patriotism is concerned with the na- tional rather than the local spirit. It has to do with devotion to country rather than to neighborhood.
Loyalty, on the other hand, admits of various applications, Loyalty is included in patriotism and yet it is more than patriot- ism. One may be loyal without being patriotic but one can not be patriotic without being loyal. Patriotism is fealty to the father- land. Loyalty is fidelity, faithfulness, constancy, devotion. It may be limited simply to an individual or it may extend to a group. It may reach out and take in a county or a state. During the Civil War or fifty years ago the people of the South were loyal to their own states but none of us would declare that they were patriotic. The people of the North were both loyal and patriotic. Because they were loyal to the nation they were patriots. Patriotism and loyalty are synonymous only when loy- alty is given its largest application and means devotion to coun- try.
Loyalty is of the best sort when it manifests itself in every possible way-in allegiance to individuals, in allegiance to family, in allegiance to neighborhood, in allegiance to state and in al- legiance to country, which is patriotism. All these forms of loy- alty should be cultivated.
Loyalty to self is commendable. The individual who does not believe in himself will not enjoy the confidence of others. It is related that some years ago two gentlemen were earnestly en- gaged in a discussion in the rotunda of the State Capitol in Bos- ton. General Ben Butler was passing by when the discussion was , hottest and was halted by one of the participants. "General," said the gentleman, "we are in dispute as to who is the greatest lawyer in Massachusetts." "Well," quickly answered the bluff old hero
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
of New Orleans, "I'll settle that for you, I'm the greatest lawyer in this state." "Yes, ah-I know, but-but General," queried the gentleman, "but-ah, but how are we to prove it?" "Prove it! Prove it !" thundered Butler, "You don't have to prove it! I ad- mit it." No doubt that is self confidence somewhat overdone. The finest loyalty to self is that begotten of "a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men." The consciousness of a pure heart and unselfish motives, coupled with a belief in one's own possibilities, induces the self-respect which makes loyalty to self attainable. To be worthy of loyalty to one's self is a noble aspiration to foster.
With self-loyalty as a necessary prerequisite to all loyalty, the individual is ready to cultivate the spirit of broad and con- stantly broadening loyalty which reaches out in devotion to the members of his own family, his tribe or his clan. That man is inexcusably narrow, however, who limits his interest to those of his own household. The prayer of the old deacon, "O Lord, bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more" would not carry a man very far along the way toward world-wide brotherhood and universal human betterment.
It seems hardly necessary to urge the importance of town loyalty in Vermont. Local pride is a dominant characteristic of our people. And why should it not be so? I always have a feeling when I leave a town that it is not of quite the same im- portance that it was when I was living in it. Well, now, that sounds a bit egotistical, doesn't it? But it is no egotism. It simply means that my interest in the former dwelling-place, though by no means lost, is transferred in large measure to the new community where by reason of my living, my obligation properly belongs. It is inconceivable that one can develop any degree of efficiency in service to the larger units unless he has demonstrated his worth in service to the smaller unit.
It, of course, goes without the saying that every true citizen is loyal to his own state. If he is not loyal he is not a true citizen. He who believes in his own state is best fitted to contribute to its advancement. There is, however, need of discrimination be- tween loyalty that is fundamental and loyalty that is purely ad- ventitous. The one is real-the other is unreal. One is well
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
foundationed. The other is foundationless, because it is founded on egotism or self interest.
If we are loyal to our state simply because we are Vermonters or for the reason that we happen to live here, then our loyalty is, indeed, of the most superficial quality. General Horace Porter in his wonderfully illuminating work entitled "Campaigning with Grant" relates a most interesting incident in the life of the "silent chieftain." After that awful carnage of "The Wilder- ness," just as Grant and his staff emerged, a band of negro musicians struck up a familiar tune. The members of the staff smiled audibly but the great Commander was grim and immobile as usual. He was, though, sufficiently interested to inquire the reason for the merriment and when by way of reply he was asked if he did not recognize the tune "Ain't I Glad to Get Out ob de Wilderness?" his answer was that he only knew two tunes- "One," he said, "was Yankee Doodle and the other wasn't." The superficial loyalist knows even less of real loyalty than General Grant knew of music. He knows but two things, namely, to love what he has and to despise what he has not.
The true loyalist is never complacent. He feels an interest in the state or locality where his lot is cast and looks about to see what he may find already existing to accentuate his interest and to stimulate his just pride. He studies possibilities and finds his largest loyalty developed by cooperating with his fellow citi- zens to make his own town or village or state all that it may be on the basis of its possibilities.
In Vermont there is ample ground for state loyalty in what the state has been and is now. The record of history is all to our credit. From 1609 when Samuel Champlain, the first white man to look upon Vermont, passed by our western shores, through the War of the Rebellion and the Spanish American War up to this year of Grace nineteen hundred and thirteen the achievements of Vermont on the field of warfare and in peaceful pursuits have been such as to challenge the admiration of mankind and to arouse feelings of commendable pride in all our own people.
The first settlement was made in 1665 by the French who built Fort Saint Anne on Isle La Motte. The first permanent settlement was made at Bennington in 1761. The entire terri- tory now bearing the name of Vermont was claimed by New
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
Hampshire and the governor of that state exercising what he be- lieved to be his rightful authority, between 1762 and 1768, con- veyed to settlers in Vermont one hundred and thirty-eight town- ships of land called "The New Hampshire Grants." It was the insistence of New York, however, that all this land was right- fully hers under a charter granted by Charles II to the Duke of York and in 1763 Governor Tryon ordered a sheriff to eject all settlers holding lands under titles from New Hampshire. Then the hardy settlers of these mountains and valleys under the lead of Ethan Allen and Seth Baker and others formed themselves into companies, banded together to protect each other against all efforts to drive them from their lands. These were the celebrated "Green Mountain Boys" whose opposition to the New York of- ficers was so resolute and effective that the latter were com- pelled to return home without accomplishing their purpose. New York appealed to King George and obtained a decision supporting its title. The settlers, though, had paid for their lands and re- fused to give them up even at the behest of a king. A bloody contest was averted only by the opening of the Revolutionary War which so occupied the attention of all true Americans. that minor disputes seemed insignificant and were lost in the larger questions. The settlers, however, intent on maintaining their rights, met in convention, adopted a constitution, proclaimed their independence, chose representatives to Congress and applied for admission to the Confederacy.
Through the persistent opposition of New York, Congress refused to consider the proposition to make a new state, so Ver- mont set up an independent government and renewed her bound- ary troubles with New York and New Hampshire. In October, 1790, it was agreed that New York should cease opposition to the admission of Vermont to the Union on the payment of thirty thousand dollars for disputed land claims. This was paid and after nearly fifty years of heroic struggle in defence of her rights Vermont, on the 18th day of February, 1791, was admitted as the fourteenth state of the American Union.
Though occupied with these internecine troubles Vermonters never lost sight of their larger obligation to the great nation which was born out of our larger conflict with England. The sturdy settlers of this independent state rendered valiant service
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
to the other states during the Revolutionary War at Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Bennington. And to make the situation yet more complex and trying the British troops were striving to over-run the state by rushing in upon Vermont from Canada, hoping to retain it as a British colony. Ethan Allen and Ira Al- len were alert and valiant leaders of the people, however, and by diplomacy and bravery in proper combination they saved Ver- mont to the United States.
In the Civil War Vermont furnished 35,242 Union soldiers, or one for every ten of its entire population, and one-half of all its able-bodied men. Is not the record of our history from the very beginning up to the auspicious present, then, glorious enough to stir the loyalty to this state which should be made manifest in undying devotion ?
Then, the scenery contributed by the Master Builder of the universe to Vermont is a constant stimulus to the loyalty of him who has eyes that see. It was William H. Lord who in writing of Vermont scenery declared that "A few regions God has made more beautiful than others. His hand has fashioned some dreams or symbols of Heaven in certain landscapes of earth; and we have always thought the Almighty intended when He formed the hills of Vermont and shook out the green drapery of the forests over their sloping shoulders, and made them in folds like the robe of a king along their sides, to give us a dim picture of the new creation and the celestial realm."
Then think of our splendid type of citizenship in this state and fail in loyalty to Vermont if you can! The frontiersmen who blazed their ways through the trackless forests in defiance of wild beasts and blood-thirsty savages to build homes and found a worthy civilization for posterity were no ordinary men. They felled the trees, tilled the land, threw up the highways, bridged the streams, erected their school-houses and reared their churches in the face of difficulties that would have baffled or defeated men of the common type. These men of the early Vermont with the heroic, God-fearing women who were their faithful help-mates were progenitors from whose loins have sprung the Vermont citizenship of the present day, the most independent, truth-loving and industrious in the sisterhood of states.
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
It has become the fashion in some quarters to speak sneer- ingly of the commercial and agricultural standing of Vermont but we need not assume a cringing or apologetic attitude at this point. There are more than 30,000 farms in this state with a total acreage of 4,600,000 acres, valued at above $112,000,000-an increase of 35 per cent. in the 10 years extending from 1901- 1911. Encouraging also is the knowledge that the average farm consists of 143 acres, indicating that our people own their own property and are not victims of any oppressive land-lord system. No feudal castle or patroon system has ever existed in free Ver- mont. In this respect, also, the state stands unique.
Talk about "abandoned farms!" Connect that thread-bare expression with the fact that in 1910 our live-stock in Vermont consisted of 94,000 horses, 285,000 dairy cows, 210,000 other cattle, 95,000 hogs and 229,000 sheep. Bear in mind that our annual wool-clip approximates a quarter of a million dollars annually and that in 1911, 1,509,000 dollars worth of wheat, $2,157,000 worth of potatoes and $16,926,000 worth of hay should be placed to the credit of Vermont and then be cynical if you can concerning our agricultural resources.
It is only necessary to consult such authority as the Report of the United States Geological Survey to learn that in 1909 the mineral output of Vermont including clay products, lime, min- eral waters, ochre, sand and gravel, slate, stone, marble and granite, talc, soapstone and other products were valued at the princely sum of $8,626,929. Is that a discouragement to state loyalty?
And how about our manufactured products? I regret that I have no later authority on this subject than the United States Industrial Census of 1905 which shows that the value of the manufactured products in Vermont for that year was more than $63,000,000. It is fair to assume that in these eight years of unexampled prosperity we have made a normal advance in the value of manufactures and here once more we find a proper stimulant for state loyalty.
Then turn your attention to our public institutions and our educational system and find justification for becoming loyalty. Homes for the poor, institutions for destitute children, reforma- tories, hospitals, industrial schools and alms-houses indicate that
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
our people are alive to the obligation they owe to society and its erring and unfortunate children. Church spires pointing heaven- ward in every neighborhood are testimony to our reverence for God and our belief in the eternal verities.
In common with other New England States we find Vermont in the very beginning of its existence providing for the education of its childhood and youth. The Constituton of 1777 recognized the necessity of a system of public education complete from ele- mentary schools to University and the organic law of the state adopted in 1793 declared "a competent number of schools ought to be maintained in each town for the convenient instruction of youth and one or more grammar schools be incorporated and properly supported in each County of this State." Even away back in the days of the New Hampshire Grants this inchoate state of ours was laying the foundation of our common school es- tablishment. In 1762, the very next year after the first perma- nent settlers had housed their families at Bennington, they taxed themselves to build a school-house. From that day on Vermont has been no laggard in providing its childhood and youth with facilities for elementary and secondary schooling. It is true, no doubt, that our school-houses and appliances are not all that they should be, and neither, for that matter, are they so in any other state in the union. We should have a care that Vermont is not by slander of her own people held up to the contempt of the rest of the world. It has been my privilege to visit and gain some first- hand knowledge of nearly every one of the United States and I can not condemn too severely the reflections of discredit upon Vermont people and Vermont institutions that have been circu- lated through the public prints and flung from the platform to the humiliation of every loyal citizen of our fair state. I have no question but that the moral standards of some Vermonters liv- ing in our cities as well as in the isolated mountain towns are lower than they should be, but at our worst we have no record of murderous police officers such as shames New York; we have no reputation as a nursery for unapprehended criminals as Chicago has; there is no stench of graft rising above any Ver- mont city like that of San Francisco; there is here no exploita- tion of white slavery such as St. Louis has known; the illicit
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HISTORY OF JERICHO, VERMONT.
stills and law-evading moonshiners of Kentucky have no kindred spirits in the mountain fastnesses of Vermont.
It is a sad fact that many of our school surroundings are unattractive and many of our schoolrooms bare and destitute of necessary apparatus, but we are not peculiar in these re- spects. Turn to an editorial in the issue of The Journal of Edu- cation for the 17th of July, 1913, and read this report of a school survey of one of the wealthiest and most populous states to the west of us. "School-rooms are insufficient, equipment inade- quate, and conveniences often lacking in comfort and sanita- tion !" That statement could be duplicated in every state in the Union. We should have a care that we do not defile our own garments unnecessarily to invite a contempt from mankind that Vermont does not deserve. The "muck-raker" perhaps has a mission but he exceeds his mission when, to get into the public eye, he heaps unmerited obloquy upon those whose glory and honor he should defend.
With words of patriotic wisdom Doctor Winship declares that "The little red school-house is still a potent influence though it has in recent years changed its color and increased its size." We want to put more maps and charts and globes and devices in- side these country schools. We want to make the out-buildings sanitary and decent. We hope to have green lawns and attrac- tive walks about our little school-houses. We shall have school gardens and we will lead many other states in these improve- ments because it is the Vermont spirit to lead and not because we have been held up to unjust shame and ignominy before the en- tire world.
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