Moses H. Grinnell, asked attention of the company to a toast not on
the catalogue. He gave, "The Constitution and the Union, and their
Chief Defender." This sentiment was received with great applause,
which became most tumultuous when Mr. Webster rose to respond.]

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE NEW YORK NEW ENGLAND
SOCIETY:--Ye sons of New England! Ye brethren of the kindred tie! I
have come hither to-night, not without some inconvenience, that I might
behold a congregation whose faces bear lineaments of a New England
origin, and whose hearts beat with full New England pulsations.
[Cheers.] I willingly make the sacrifice. I am here, to meet this
assembly of the great off-shoot of the Pilgrim Society of Massachusetts,
the Pilgrim Society of New York. And, gentlemen, I shall begin what I
have to say, which is but little, by tendering to you my thanks for the
invitation extended to me, and by wishing you, one and all, every kind
of happiness and prosperity.

Gentlemen, this has been a stormy, a cold, a boisterous and inclement
day. The winds have been harsh, the skies have been severe; and if we
had no houses over our heads; if we had no shelter against this howling
and freezing tempest; if we were wan and worn out; if half of us were
sick and tired, and ready to descend into the grave; if we were on the
bleak coast of Plymouth, houseless, homeless, with nothing over our
heads but the Heavens, and that God who sits above the Heavens; if we
had distressed wives on our arms, and hungry and shivering children
clinging to our skirts, we should see something, and feel something, of
that scene, which, in the providence of God, was enacted at Plymouth on
December 22, 1620.

[Illustration: _THE NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS_

_Photogravure after a photograph_

The corner-stone of the National Monument to the Forefathers at
Plymouth, Mass., was laid August 2, 1859. The monument was
completed in October, 1888, and dedicated with appropriate
ceremonies, August 1, 1889. It is built entirely of granite. The
plan of the principal pedestal is octagonal, with four small, and
four large faces; from the small faces project four buttresses. On
the main pedestal stands the heroic figure of Faith, said to be the
largest and finest piece of granite statuary in the world. The
sculptor was Joseph Archie, a Spaniard. Upon the four buttresses
are seated figur