ity to truth which was their rule should be ours. Nor would
I forget their courage and steadfastness. Had they turned back or
wavered, I know not what would have been the record of this continent,
but I see clearly that a great example would have been lost. [Applause.]
Had Columbus yielded to his mutinous crew and returned to Spain without
his great discovery; had Washington shrunk away disheartened by British
power and the snows of New Jersey, these great instances would have been
wanting for the encouragement of men. But our Pilgrims belong to the
same heroic company, and their example is not less precious. [Applause.]

Only a short time after the landing on Plymouth Rock, the great
republican poet, John Milton, wrote his "Comus," so wonderful for beauty
and truth. His nature was more refined than that of the Pilgrims, and
yet it requires little effort of imagination to catch from one of them,
or at least from their beloved pastor, the exquisite, almost angelic
words at the close--

"Mortals, who would follow me,
Love Virtue; she alone is free;
She can teach ye how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime.
Or if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her."

[At the conclusion of Senator Sumner's speech the audience arose and
gave cheer upon cheer.]

THOMAS DEWITT TALMAGE

BEHOLD THE AMERICAN!

[Speech of Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage at the eighty-first annual
dinner of the New England Society in the City of New York, December
22, 1886. The President of the Society, Judge Horace Russell,
introduced Dr. Talmage to speak to the toast, "Forefathers' Day."]

MR. PRESIDENT, AND ALL YOU GOOD NEW ENGLANDERS: If we leave to
the evolutionists to guess where we came from and to the theologians to
prophesy where we are going to, we still have left for consideration the
fact that we are here; and we are here at an interesting time. Of all
the centuries this is the best century, and of all the decades of the
century this is the best decade, and of all the years of the decade this
is the best year, and of all the months of the year this is the best
month, and of all the nights of the month this is the best night.
[Applause and laughter.] Many of these advantages we trace straight back
to Forefathers' Day, about which I am to speak.

But I must not introduce a new habit into these New England dinners and
confine myself to the one theme. For eighty-one years your speakers have