y\ • > _ S • • » *»w rt> 1 « ^ '^^y^' ■^^..^^ rt» .'.\ ^^c.'^ ^^^ .-^"^ • > «> " » 4 <^ r*"^ ^^\ o^^^PlOt" -^-^^ '^ '-^^^ "'oV^ "t^^ A- P E M ^^.^z^ '^ UKAl) IlEKiBE Tin: )i ii;tv of tin; sons of iNfw i:\(;l\m) PENNSYL\'ANIA, FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOCIETY, HE T\M) IILNLUIED AND TIIIRTV-SEVLNTU ANNIVERSARY LV>DL\(. OF Tin: FIU.KI3IS AT PL\ >IOl Til. BY B. m-A-iTIC. PA-Ll^EK.. HELIVKREI), IIY UEyllEST, IN TIIK CITV OK I'll 1 LAl.EMUl A, DECEMBER 22, 1858. PHILADELPHIA: CRISPY A MAl:l, TIY UEglKST, IS TIIK CITY OF rUILAl>FLriI I A, DECEMBER 22, 1858. PIIILADELPIITA : ORISSY & M.\!U;t.V.Y, IMtlNTEIiS, «OLDSMrni< II Ml IIIMIM.Y >TRKKT. 1859. < . 1. The President of the United States. — Music. '. TIjo Governor of the Commonwealtb. — Music. '■'■. Tlie Mayor and Councils of Philadelphia. — Music. 4. Oir'Plritan' Fathers — Hard as the rock that received them, stern as tlio shore that welcomed them, and sturdy as the forests that sheltered them' tiiey sowed in tears the seed of that harvest of civil and religious liberty, which we now reap with joy. — Response by Emerson Bennett, Esq. Poem. — Somj by M. E. Parker, Esq. " Puritan Fathers." o. Pltmocto — The home and grave of the Pilgrims; tin- niU'^ri y of au empire. — Response by Professor Stephens. '". Old Massachusetts. — Motherof States and of Ideas, llcr leaven causes a brisk effervescence, and makes the whole country rise. — liesjwnse by II. R. ^^''irriner, Esq., Vice-President for Massachusetts. 7. Connecticut — Her Charter Oak, the custodi.m of Freedom's Ciiarter; her hearts of oak its own defence. — Response by U. Dutton, Esq. 5. Little Rhoda — Good Stuff in a small parcel. She basks in the smiles of Providence, and the mountain of her confidence is Jlope. — Response by If. Ci. Jones, Esq. 'J. ^'KR>IONT — The Green Mountain Hoys, who fought the battles of tiieir country, won chaplets wuvcn from her own mountain laurel. In the hearts of her sons in Pennsylvania, their memory, like hers, is evergreen. — Music by the Germania Music Society. 10. New TIampshire — The Granite, her bed; the sea, lier footbath; the clouds, her cauopy ; the eagle, her standard-bearer ; as a grower of great men she bears the palm, and she has borne o)ie Palmer. — Resjyonse hy the Vice- President at Large, of the Society. Poem. 11. Maine — AVhile she sends her Ice to every mart, she manages to keep cool ; -while her ships encounter every storm on every sea she won't " splice the main brace;" and while her sons are in every land, she retains a sufficient num- ber at home to make her the Jllain State. — Rcsponsehy the President of the Society. 12. New England and Pennsylvania — Land of our birth, and land of our adoption. Both ours, and equally dear. As both grow rich by interchange of commodities, so the sons and daughters of both should grow friendly by mutual benefits and courtesies, until they love one another. — Response by Rev. Moses Ballou, Chaplain of the Society. 13. Puiladelphia — We came (o her as strangers, and she received us as brothers. " New friends, new joys, new hopes, wo found A welcome and a borne." ' Response by Henry Davis, Esq. 14. The Pkess — Its proofs are the best proofs of human progress, and 20,000 arguments in its favor are 20,000 copies an hour. — Response by A. J. McCleary, Esq. 15. New England Ideas and Yankee Notions — Products of cute heads and smart hands. The first, the motive power of improvement ; the second, the improvement of motive power. — Chorus. Song ivritten by a lady. 16. The Ladies — Daugbtei's of New England and Pennsylvania. As flowers and stars adorn earth and slsy, so they grace our festival with beauty and light. — Music by the Ilarmonia Society. POEM. MU. riiKSIDKNT, AND I.ADIKS AND <;KNTM;MK\: It is most unfortunate for the State which has grown so many Ill-cat men, that a man so small as the only "one" present who bears the name alluded to in the sentiment just read, should be obliged to respond to the call on this occasion — for lie bears no oratorical or poetical palms. With this disclaimer your respondent will now proceed to palm upon you a few desultory thoughts in fugitive rhyme. New Hampshire I how fondly thy memories I greet ! I still am thy chihl, and my heart turns to thee ! And long as the ocean shall lave thy fair feet — And long as the granite thy broad bed shall be — I'll bless every crag of the dear Motherland That lifts its gray crest to the cloud-riven sky ; And perish this tongue, and this cunning right hand, "When the heart is not moved by thy wild eagle's cry ! I have beard, o'er thy hills, (when the merciless blast Howled back to the thunders a murmuring wail,) The shriek of the oak and the tall native mast. As when tempest and lightning rive timber and sail I Then, high o'er his eyrie that swung on the cloud. The bald eagle guarded the pall of the sky I And when lurid bolts rent the Storm-demon's shroud, He screamed to his brood from his mansion on hiirh. P O E .^I . So, on thj stern LillS; is the true yeoman's arm Well nerved to contend with the rock-girded soil; And trusting to Heaven to forefend all harm, He heeds not the blast as he speeds in his toil. But, jocund of heart and with strong willing limb, He guides that great engine of life — the old phxo — The State owes her wealth and her honor to him Who wipes, with brown hands, honeU siceat from his brow ! Then fear not, thou fair one, to press such a hand ; Be sure that its grasp speaks a soul that is firm ; A man whose sound head gives true wealth to a land — Whose hand tills the sod where springs Liberty's germ. It springs like the oak from the glebe's rugged crest — An honest tear waters its tendcrest youth — Now the sunbeams of heaven on its broad branches rest, And the tree towers in Freedom's fair glory and truth ! Its boughs are the ensigns that float o'er the brave, — Whose type is the eagle that down to them screams ; And when they call back " Yes ! t?ie State we will save"- Then wo to the demagogues' dazzling day-dreams ! For, like the dread slide, of rocks, torrents, and earth. That leaps down the mountains with terriblest sweep, These sons of the sod in their armour come forth, And great little tyrants are roused from their sleep I They wake ! but too late do they open their eyes, For they're ridin;/ the avalanche down from the height They wake to behold a most grievous surprise. As low in the party's deep puddle they light ! But, lest you suspect me of one-sided views, My "platform" Fll publish in true honest phrase— The /ree-dem-Eclectic I boldly will choose, For that seems to have the best planks in these days. r K ^^ . I come not, my friends, here with partisan rhymes — I speak of no party, no faction, no clique — I speak not of present nor of the past times — I only of facts and of incidents speak ! My rhymes have one merit — unlimited scope — They break party lines and record living facts; — They hang but the hangman, and on his own rope — Behead but the beadsman, and with his own axe ! This Brotherhood holds no sectarian views, The true, of all sects, on a level here stand ; And ilrah cloth, or black, with hiyh boots, or hic shoes May be worn by a son of thin New England band ! And no party politics enters our creed — Cutaneous statesmen need not here appeal — No such panting patriots here shall e'er bleed — No martyrs unhroiled here the fagots shall feel I So now my good friend, if a Dimocrat, know This sluliiiij from power, to which I allude, Was seccral seasons or longer ago, When manfully shoulder to shoulder you stood — Or, fierce to the drum's thrilling war-beat, you rode With trusty old firelock and broad sword in hand, Ilesistlcssly on through //rr, tempest and jlnod. To raise the fallen standard apain in our land ! But, if you are swelling with Free-soil ideas, And swung your old hat to no purpose, when last The rampant horse, "Woolly," pritkcd up his /?Ht' ears, And snorted and pawed to the bmjlc's wUd blast! O then later doings (I guess) I rehearse — But, mind you, no seer hath the Future foretold I So thus non-committal shall stand my poor verse — O Union ! stand firm, when this poor heart is cold ! P E M . how shall the inusc, unaccustomed, indite A strain that befits so exalted a theme ? The " Nine" with charmed fingers an epic might write Yet tell not the bliss of our goddess's dream. With tremulous heart, and with faltering hand, 1 waken the harp-string to Liberty's sound — Its numbers have thrilled where wave answers to strand, And mountain to valley re-echoes them round ! The bard and the druid have swept o'er each chord — The prophet and priest have bent over its tone — The psalmist hath tuned it to Faith's cheering word. And "felt hands of fire" directing his own. Old Jura hath listened, red Sinai hath spoken. And Palestine wakes at the poet's soft touch ; Greece, Sparta, and Rome have, in phalanx unbroken, Marched forth to the music the soul loves so much ! It rings, like these strains, to Germania's praise* — O'er Poland and Hungary murmurs its sigh — Old Gallia flames with the fierce iVarsei'Uaise, And *' God save the queen" rings through Albion's sky I I list to the strain that down Avon has rolled Till Ocean's loud billows call back from afcir — I hear the lone exile, as, weary and cold, He strikes to the numbers of "Erin go bragh ;" I hear Caledonia, vocal with strains, As Abbottsford answers to Ettrick's wild hill ; And Erin, through all of her sorrows, retains "■ The Harp that through Tara's Halls" ever shall thrill ! I sigh for the rapturous music that rolled Along the sweet banks of the pure gurgling Ayr — For the harp, like the heart, of the poet is cold, And his eye rests no more on that " lingering star." ■■■•" Tlie Gerniania bainl f■|^■ni^sllod tlic nui.sic for the occasion. p o E >r . IJut nn\v the Nkw Woiu.K feels tlio vibrations grand, That master-hands wake round the Puritans' shrine; And the refluent wave, from Columbia's strand ]?ears treasures as rich as the waifs of Lang Sync ! llcr son[ . 13 hfK'iJgcs ring upon anvils — tliruugh logs the saw screams — IJlocks swing to their places — beetles drive home the buaiiih — It is sontrs such as these that she croons to the din Of her fast-flying shuttles year out and year in, "While from earth's farthest corner there comes not a breeze IJut wafts her the buzz of her gold-glcaniing bees. AVliat though those horn hands have, as yet, found small time For painting and sculpture, and music and rhyme, These will come in due order; the need that pressed sorest Was to vanquish the seasons, the ocean, the forest. To bridle and harness the rivers and steam, Making that whirl her mill wheels, this tug in hor team, To vassalize old tyrant Winter, and make Him delve surlily for her on river and lake I When this New World was parted she strove not to shirk 1 lor lot in the heirdom, the tough silent work I — Yes, thou dear Granite State, if ever man's praise Could be claimed for creating heroical lays — Thou hast won it — if ever the laurel divine Crowned the Maker and Builder, that glory is thine. Thy songs are right epic — they tell how this rude llock-rib of New England was tamed and subdued. Thou hast written them plain on the face of the planet. In bold deathless letters of iroti and tjranitel And if any old drones should, in querulous ease. Ask thy art and thy letters, point proudly to these — Or, if they deny these are letters and art, Toil on with the same old invincible heart ! Thou art rearing the pedestal broad-based and grand, Whereon the fair shapes of the artist shall stand; And creating, through labors undaunted and long, The true theme for all sculpture, and painting, and song." Thy daughters I ah, they need no poor praisi- uf mine — Their lii-cs best exhibit the graces divine. *' Ah, there's many abeam from the fountain ot day, That to reach us, unclouded, must pass on its way, Through the soul of a woman! that's always wide ope 14 roEM. To the influence of Heaven, as the blue eyes of Hope ! Yes, a great soul is her's, one that dares to go in To the prison, the rude hut, the alleys of sin — And to bring into each, or to find there, some line Of the never completely out-trampled divine ! If her heart, at high tides, swamps her brain now and then, Tis but richer for that when the tide ebbs again !" What wealth does she bring to man, surly and sour In the shambles of trade, or in Love's golden bower ! ' Hail, lovely New England ! the laud of my boast — How happy thy homes by lake, river, and sea ! Thy hills roll their harvest-wealth down to the coast. Where Commerce her white wing spreads wide over thee ; And long as Mount Washington looks on the wave. To bless, with his smile, the lone exile's dim eye ; stretch forth, in kindness, thy strong arm to save The heart that comes laden with misery's sigh. Potential New England — the pride of the land — The nursery of Empire is trusted to thee ! The cradle of Liberty rocks by thy strand — These, these are your shrines, ye sons of the free ! Then guard ye the rock and the hallowed sod, On which your brave fathers — a prayer-loving band- First stepped from the Mayflower, worshiping God, For Freedom they found and preserved iu the land ! My country ! I view, with a heart full of pride. The fame of thy sons and the vastness of thee ; Thy golden gate ope's to Pacific's broad tide — Thy sons to the pole plow the disc of the sea ; And long as that gray shaft, in grandeur sublime, Shall tower o'er the graves where the patriots sleep, Their names shall be traced on the pillars of Time, Where'er Freedom's angel her vigils shall keep ! V () K M 80 thou in each science and art slialt excel — Thus "good will toward man " o'er the earth will increase And where'er thy sails of the triumph shall tell, The angel of mercy will often say — " Peace. " Sail on I let the starry flag kiss every sky ! Great ark of the Nation?, thou'rt leading the van — Sail on I where'er mortals for liberty sigh — IJoar hope to the down-trodden — Freedom to VKtit .' ■a? ♦*> ^oy ^Ao^ 'oK ^^-n^. ^0' ^ *.—;-' G^ '^o o_ V ^ ^•^;t%'^o .s^"^. ■* O J .^'% * '^\' ^^9" v*^* n.^ o •..o' .0-' V *..^- .^^ o^ -..o' *. . -.^ip:" j'"'-^-. '^i^' . ^■^'"-^^ ' ^ W' ./x •0^ . v * ■•\' *^'o V. "^^r. c^ '-^ '^^ V^