the earth, "Work, WORK, WORK," "Pray, PRAY, PRAY"; and as they were faithful to the heavenly vision, the great march still went on, as it will continue to go on, if we are faithful also. Industry, piety, and frugality, with an unwavering trust in God, they were content to follow, as the unerring guides to national prosperity and honor.

Mr. President, my fellow-countrymen, sons and daughters of New England, which do you choose? Which will you carry from this scene of joyous festivity and pious commemoration, as your guide in the coming days? That the onward march of the country you love, and in which your children are to live, shall be symbolized by the Wandering Jew, or by the Christian Pilgrim ?

I anticipate your response, here and everywhere, where there is a drop of the Pilgrim blood still warming the heart or suffusing the countenance of a son or daughter of the good old Pilgrim stock. And I ask you to unite with me in the wish I shall utter as a sentiment for this day and hour:

The Sons and Daughters of New England, May their contributions to the true glory of the republic be ever exhibited in an unwavering fidelity to those principles of their Pilgrim Fathers that were founded upon THE ROCK.

THE PRESIDENT.-" Our Pilgrim Fathers landed here, but first they landed somewhere else on this continent; and we cannot meet at the festive board, or anywhere else, without remembering that cape which stretches away far into the sea. That soulless Constitutional Convention, which has been alluded

to on the present occasion, has deprived us of some gentlemen who were expected to speak here to-day. I call it a "soulless " Convention, without meaning any disrespect to that body. I think if they had the soul of Massachusetts in them, they would have adjourned this day, and let their members come down here. But one half of the crew of the Mayflower died within the first six months, and still the Pilgrim Fathers got on; and we can get along too, notwithstanding the Convention. We are deprived of the gentleman who was to answer the toast I am now to read; but Cape Cod has more than one to speak for her. I give you :

"The Cape Cod Association, - Plymouth in 1644 gave one Prince to Cape Cod; Cape Cod has to-day sent us many Princes in return."

This was responded to by H. A. SCUDDER, Esq., of the Cape Cod Association :

I rise somewhat reluctantly, Mr. President, to respond to the sentiment which you have proposed, in the absence of others to whom the duties and the honors of this office more properly belong. Nor should I venture, for one moment, sir, to trespass upon the forbearance of this assembly, except in obedience to your command. Not that the place, or the occasion, is without interest; not that my soul, untouched by sympathy, has power to withstand the inspiration of this hour; but from fear that the lips might fail to give proper utterance to the real sentiments of the heart. For who can suppress those emotions which naturally arise in the midst of so many and such associations as cluster around this consecrated spot.

Why, sir, here is Plymouth Rock, and there is old

Cape Cod,there, too, is Cape Cod Harbor. What places so memorable among the records of the past? What names more sacred to the cause of human progress, in ancient or in modern times, in the Old World or in the New? Is not this the very scene where dawned the earliest light of New England history? Was not this the theatre of those moral and political events which have made New England classic ground? Around us are those waters which bore upon their bosom the Mayflower and her company. Before us lies the very haven which first embraced that Pilgrim ship. Beneath us is the very soil which first received the impress of those Pilgrim feet. Those very principles, which at present form the basis of our great American republic, which quicken and adorn her noblest institutions, were they not cradled in yonder cabin of the Mayflower? were they not rocked upon those very billows which even now are rolling before our eyes, and are humming their deep-toned lullaby along these shores?

Truly this is a place for sacred thought and pious meditation. Well may the dweller upon these shores feel that the soil whereon he rests is hallowed ground. Well may the wandering child, revisiting these shores, feel a spirit of holy veneration mingling with his affections for his native land. Well may the Christian traveller turn aside from his journeying, and pause awhile to kneel in grateful adoration upon the shores of Plymouth and Cape Cod. Well may the patriot and philosopher direct their footsteps hitherward, to gaze upon these shores, to call to

mind their early history, and here to indulge in emotions scarcely less sacred than those produced upon the pious pilgrim's heart even at the sight of his beloved Jerusalem!

Prompted by sentiments of love and veneration for the past, deeming the place and the occasion appropriate, the citizens of the various towns within the limits of the Old Colony of Plymouth have gathered here to-day to celebrate the anniversary of the embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delft Haven. The scenes and the ceremonies of that day have elsewhere been depicted in language beautiful and touching. That was indeed a day of sad remembrances, of fearful misgivings, and of sorrowful forebodings. What tears, what prayers, what yearnings of the heart were there! With what fear and trembling did they bid adieu to the endearments of the past, and trust themselves to the untried perils of the future. The destinies of that hour no one could foresee; they were known only to the mind and in the counsels of that Omniscient One, on whom alone our fathers cast themselves for guidance and protection. Was ever a day so dark, and yet so eventful as that, wherein the hand of Omnipotence is now so visibly revealed? Was ever an adventure so hopeless in its beginning, in whose results the special counsels of the Almighty are now so plainly manifested?

Although I have not the honor, Mr. President, to be enrolled among the members of the Pilgrim Society, under whose auspices and at whose invita

tion we are this day assembled, yet it is my privilege to claim a membership among those of another, a sister association, and thus to feel a common sympathy in every thing pertaining to this occasion. It is a pleasing spectacle to behold, not only individuals, but communities and kindred associations, coming up hither, and here uniting as children of one common family, to offer their tribute of affection at one common shrine. It is proper, and it is becoming, that on such an occasion our hearts, "like kindred drops, should mingle into one." From the sentiment which you have had the kindness to propose, from the language in which that sentiment was couched, I know, sir, how willingly you will permit those of us who trace our origin to the various sections of this favored land, not only to participate with you, but even to claim our portion, in the honors and in the ceremonies of this day.

The entire territory of the Old Colony of Plymouth is to the heart of the patriot and the Christian consecrated ground. There is not a single spot within her ancient borders, from Plymouth Rock to Cape Cod Harbor, which does not abound in hallowed associations. It seems, indeed, almost indispensable, in forming a proper conception of the labors and the trials of our fathers, from the day of their embarkation at Delft Haven up to the time of their arrival on this side of the Atlantic, and during the period of their colonial existence, that one should have travelled throughout the length and breadth of their primitive domain, especially that he