THIRTIETH REUNION.

BURLINGTON, NOVEMBER 15, 1893.

The thirtieth annual meeting was held in Burlington on the 15th of November, 1893. The business meeting was held in the parlor of the Van Ness House at 2:30 o'clock p. m., with some 60 officers in attendance. It was called to order by the President, Major Josiah Grout. Secretary F. E. Smith read the record of the last annual meeting and Treasurer L. G. Kingsley presented his report. A committee of one from each organization represented, with ex-Gov. Ormsbee as chairman, reported nominations of officers for the ensuing year, who were duly elected as follows:

OFFICERS FOR 1893-4.

President, Capt. A. B. Valentine of Bennington. First Vice-President, Lieut. Col. F. G. Butterfield of Derby Line.

ton.

Second Vice-President, Capt. H. O. Wheeler of Burling

Secretary, Lieut. F. E. Smith of Montpelier.

Treasurer, Major L. G. Kingsley of Rutland. Executive Committee, F. E. Smith, J. H. Lucia and L. W. Shedd, all of Montpelier.

In accordance with the custom, it was voted to hold the next annual meeting at Montpelier during the session of the Legislature in 1894. Gen. W. W. Henry was appointed marshal for the evening's banquet, and Rev. E. J. Ranslow, chaplain.

THE PUBLIC EXERCISES.

The large hall of the Young Men's Christian Association was well filled in the evening, the audience including many townspeople and a number of ladies. The members of the society were escorted from the hotel to the hall by the Burlington cadets. President Grout presided and on the stage with him were Gov. Fuller, Hon. George A. Marden, the poet of the evening, Gen. W. W. Henry and Rev. E. J. Ranslow. The exercises opened with prayer by Rev. Mr. Ranslow, followed by a selection by Bachman's orchestra. The college quartette, Messrs. Severson, Knights, Armstrong and Griffiths, sang "Marching Through Georgia."

President Grout said that instead of the usual set oration it had this year been decided to have a poem and it was his pleasure to introduce as the poet of the evening Hon. George A. Marden, State treasurer of Massachusetts. Major Marden's subject was "The Raw Recruit," and his effort was a vivid description of a soldier's life in the field, with bits of pathos and humor woven into verse and closing with a bright picture of the blessings which we enjoy as the result of the war. The closing lines were as follows:

All this my comrades, thirty years ago.
Can it, oh can it ever have been so?

Were these things thought? Could deeds like these then be?
Was Sixty-One so unlike Ninety-Three?

'Tis well, at times, the Present's interests vast

To give the go-by for the pregnant Past,
To thus recall the once familiar way,

And put aside the matters of to-day;
And, as we gather round the campfire's light,
Live in our mem'ries-mem'ries dark and bright.

Banished, then, be the world we live in now;
The store, the office, school, the shop and plough.

Forgotten be our daily business range,
Forgot the market and the stock exchange;
Forgot the bellowing bulls, the brutal bears,
The bleating lambs with anxious doubts and fears,
Sugar and copper, cordage, wheat and oil
The speculator's game may help or foil-
To-night pray tell me what care I or you
About "N. E.," "C. V." or "C. B. Q?"
Quotations for the time we bid forbear-

We're "long" of Pleasure, and we're "short" of Care.

Hard Timeses pinch, just now, we do not feel—
The Van Ness furnishes a good square meal.
What care we how the outside wide world wags,
Alike to us "the purple" and the rags.
Let the "Four Hundred" all to Lenox hie,
The while the tramp lives under open sky;
Let business stop, and wages be cut down;
Let dire distress prevail in every town;
Let dull depression settle o'er the land,
And mills and shops shut down on every hand:
Let panic pinch or plethora prevail,

Let banks make money, or suspend and fail;
Let politicians vex their weary souls
Over the recent landslide at the polls,
And keep disputing, now the thing is over,
Whether it means more yet, or less of Grover;
Or whether tariff-tinkering must not stop
Now Bill McKinley is so much on top.

Let the great Senate keep its clatter going,
And only show the way its wind is blowing,
Until the suffering country's sick as death
Of flatulent Peffer's populistic breath,

And that has come which no one ever dreamt-
That the whole body is beneath contempt.
Let the World's Fair in blaze of glory close,
Alike a marvel to its friends and foes,
Chicago to the world her triumph vaunt,
And in her rival's eyes her victory flaunt;

Let silver sink, and gold reign in Finance,
The modern drama hang upon a dance,
Let Alix trot down next to two and two,
Directum's sharpest, speediest gait outdo.
Let Harvard's crimson either win or fail
On football field against the blue of Yale:
Let Liliuokalani yet be seen

Upon Hawaii's throne again a queen,
And Mr. Gresham force our Uncle Sam

To take back-water-we don't care a-gram;
Let cyclones blow, let waterspouts out-pour,
Let railroad trains get wrecked as ne'er before,
Let crops be short, or let the crops be full,
Let cheese be lively, or let pork be dull,
Let fires burn, let the wild waters drown,

Let earthquakes shock, and dwellings topple down,
Let boilers burst, let ships be lost at sea,
Let the free traders "let the tariff be"-

Let what may happen-surely we're all right,
We're in Vermont-and she is "out of sight.'

A selection by the orchestra followed, and "John Brown's Body," doubly encored, brought the exercises to a close.

THE BANQUET.

The Vermont Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, united with the Reunion Society for the banquet in the evening. About 150 plates were laid in the dining room of the Van Ness House. A pleasant feature was the presence of a goodly number of ladies. The banners of the two organizations leaned against the wall back of the guests of honor. Rev. E. J. Ranslow, the chaplain of the evening, invoked the divine blessing.

The post-prandial exercises opened with a selection by the U. V. M. quartette. Maj. Grout said the committee had decided to limit the time of each speaker to five minutes and

warned those on whom he was to call that the rule must be heeded.

He asked F. W. McGettrick, Esq., of St. Albans to speak for the president of the United States. Mr. McGettrick thought they had made a mistake in prescribing so big a load for so small a gun. He then referred to his late stumping tour in Massachusetts, where he said he raised his voice and admonished the people, for once to be patriotic and rise above partisanship. He had heard since that they had. Speaking seriously he said: We have had at all times loyal presidents, citing Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Harrison as illustrations, and he believed the time was near when regardless of party, the honest and patriotic citizens of the country would point with pride to Grover Cleveland.

Senator Proctor being next called on to respond for the U. S. Senate, reminded the toastmaster that the five minute rule did not apply to the Senate. He was sorry he had not time to make a short address but as he had to leave on the night train he could not. Senator Proctor thought in time the people would conclude the time taken by the Senate in the discussion of the silver repeal bill was not uselessly spent. It had become popular to call for the election of senators by the people. This was a question the people should deliberate upon, particularly the people of Vermont. Explaining how the constitution provides that the Senate shall represent the States, he compared the population of this State with that of New York to more clearly show the importance to Vermonters of the present constitutional method. The past was secure and he would leave it for the future to speak of the present, and having no time to say more, and with the wish that God might bless all his comrades, he departed.