usion to the Pilgrim
Fathers. Thackeray tells us of an ardent young lady who had a devotion
of the same sort to "Nicholas Nickleby." When she wanted instruction,
she read "Nicholas Nickleby." When she wanted amusement, she read
"Nicholas Nickleby." When she had leisure, she read "Nicholas Nickleby."
When she was busy, she read "Nicholas Nickleby." When she was sick, she
read "Nicholas Nickleby," and when she got well, she read "Nicholas
Nickleby" over again. [Laughter.] We return with the same infrequent,
inconstant and uncertain fidelity to the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers.
If we seek the light persiflage and airy humor of the after-dinner
spirit, we find an inexhaustible fountain in the quaint customs and odd
conceits of the Pilgrim Fathers. If we seek the enkindling fire and the
moral elevation of high principle and profound conviction and resolute
courage, we find a never-ceasing inspiration in the unfaltering
earnestness and imperishable deeds of the Pilgrim Fathers. [Applause.]
After praying for all the rest of mankind, the good colored preacher
closed up with the invocation "And, finally, O Lord! bless the people of
the uninhabited portions of the globe." [Laughter.] We are sometimes as
comprehensive in our good-will as the colored brother; but to-night we
fix our thoughts upon that more limited portion of mankind which belongs
in nativity or ancestry to that more restricted part of the globe known
as New England.

We are here to sing the praises of these sturdy people. They, too,
sang--and sang with a fervor that was celebrated in the memorable
inscription on one of the pews of old Salem Church:--

"Could poor King David but for once
To Salem Church repair,
And hear his Psalms thus warbled out,
Good Lord! how he would swear."

And it was not in Salem Church, either, that the Psalms were sung with
the peculiar variations of which we have record. An enterprising
establishment proposed to furnish all the hymn-books to a congregation
not abundantly blessed with this world's goods, provided it might insert
a little advertisement. The thrifty congregation in turn thought there
would be no harm in binding up any proper announcement with Watt and
Doddridge; but when they assembled on Christmas morning, they started
back aghast as they found themselves singing--

"Hark! The herald angels sing,
Beecham's Pills are just the thing;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
Two for man and one for child.