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We first will note our agricultural friend From Watanummon's brook at the "north end." All through the state have greedy grangers hung Upon the accents of his silver tongue.

From classic Yale he came, and saw no harm

To cultivate his fame and till his farm.
'Tis said he was presented to the queen
As representative of grangers green.

We have with us an unpretentious man
Who gives his time to study, thought, and plan.
With stores of solid wisdom he is blessed,
His high authority by all confessed.

They like them most who know the Pillsburys best.

If in our title we should find a flaw,

And were compelled to grapple with the law,
We have with us a man of legal lore,
Who knows not only law but something more :
Of wisdom Justice Dana hath a store.

The best of men are sometimes rather small,
The largest men are oft not good at all:
We cannot judge of goodness by the size:
We do not know, we hardly realize
How much of good in Deacon Farnum lies.

However, in our youth we learned at school
That some exceptions did but prove the rule :
When nature builds on her most lavish plan,
She often gives all virtues to the man :—
Hath she not done so with good Captain Ann?

Of deacons we could have as many more,
But as it is, we get along with four:
There's Smith, and Morrison, and Ballard, too,
Each one a Christian leader, tried and true.

And still another, not yet quite so old,
Modest and pure, and, if the truth were told,
As true as steel, as good as Moulton gold.

Our youthful choir I hope are somewhere near, That they a word of honest praise may hear. Each of the singers hath a pleasing voice, And, when they sing in concert, make a noise Which hath a charm to sooth the savage ear,

And wring from hardest heart a silent tear.
To all of us the choir is very dear:

We are attached because they are so nice,
We would not hint they 're" dear at any price."

Our organist deserves a word of praise,
Who only for the love of music plays.

He filled the old North church with music sweet;
To him and to us all 't would be a treat
To have him play again as in old days.
For Doctor Carter was the organ bought:
I think we all esteem him as we ought.
Oh! may he speedily his health regain—
Be strong and well, and with us once again.
We should, however, rank beneath the brute,
Did we not value high his substitute.

Our Jewels bright we do not wish to scorn,
Nor skip another, though a constant Thorne.
From old colonial days are handed down
Familiar Ballards, known about the town.
From Charlestown, when the British fled, we find
The Bunkers came, but left the hill behind.

Wisconsin sends to us a chieftian brave
Whom I will mention, nor his blushes save:
Of warlike anecdote he hath a fund :-
A warrior battle-scarred is General Lund.

Nor should we leave the Abbotts in the lurch,
For they, indeed, are longest in the church.
From them we get the latest Vassar lore,
And knightly deeds as in the days of yore.

While some with New Year's a new leaf will turn,

We turn two Pages, who for wisdom yearn,

And still have many pages yet to learn.

They only seem to care for public weal,

And labor for the common good with zeal.

From Scotland came the Stewarts, who can trace
Their lineage straight from Scotland's royal race.
The family here rank quite as high as when
In Scotland they were lords and noblemen,
And cut a royal swell, the story goes,

And could wear antique armor when they chose,
While here they cut a royal suit of clothes.

:

We have with us a scholar versed, indeed, In all the wisdom human beings need :A ready writer, clear, concise; and cool, Efficient teacher in his private school; A man already widely known to fameWhy deed I mention Amos Hadley's name?

If banks we want, we need be at no loss While we have amiable and gentle Cross. Indeed we run the very smallest risk

In leaving all our wealth with Mr. Fiske. One thing alone prevents our being rash,Not want of confidence, but-want of cash!

We have with us a politician gray, Not one, however, who will friends betray; A grateful state enlists him in her cause, And trusts him with the making of the laws: From Enoch Gerrish, senator-elect,

The highest statesmanship we may expect.

Now many more would my attention claim, To fitly honor or pronounce the name; But there, the door you need no longer hold, Although my story is but partly told: There are so many gathered in one fold, I cannot do full justice to them all,— Perhaps would better not have tried at all.

But if you will for just a moment wait,

I will a very mournful tale relate:

It is the sad and melancholy fate

Of one who tried to pass St. Peter's gate,
But was, I grieve to say, a little late.

But better late than never, I contend,
To bring my nonsense rhyme to sudden end.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Appropriately honored by the Republicans of New Hampshire at the Second Banquet of the Lincoln Club, at the Eagle Hotel in Concord, Tuesday Evening, Feb. 15, 1887.

[From the Concord Monitor.]

In point of numbers, enthusiasm, and eloquence, the meeting of the Lincoln Club of New Hampshire at the Eagle hotel, Tuesday evening, was so great a success that it will long be remembered as one of the most notable events in the history of the Republican party in New Hampshire. The attendance was not only very large, but it was made up of representative Republicans from all parts of the state. Under the direct supervision of the secretary, M. J. Pratt of this city, the arrangements had been made so complete that there were no unpleasant delays and no disappointinents. John L. Clark acted as treasurer in the unavoidable absence of Hon. E. H. Woodman. The seating of the large company at the banquet tables was admirably looked after by Charles A. Herbert and Will W. Stone, and Norris A. Dunklee acted as door-keeper. Blaisdell's orchestra gave a delightful concert in the office of the hotel from 8 to 9, and discoursed choice music during the hour and a half that the discussion of the menu was in progress.

The banquet is pronounced the best ever served in this city; it certainly reflected the highest credit on Col. John A. White, the Eagle Hotel, and all who had a share in its preparation and its completion. The menu card bore on one side, "Eagle Hotel, Concord, N. H., Tuesday, February 15th, 1887." Above the menu was a portrait of Mr. Lincoln, over-arched by the words "Lincoln Club of New Hampshire." The dinner was served admirably in courses, and was as follows:

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At the head of the table in the centre of the dining hall sat the president of the club, Col. Charles H. Sawyer of Dover; on his right were Hon. C. H. Burns of Wilton, Capt. Henry B. Atherton of Nashua, Hon. Henry Robinson of this city, Attorney-General Barnard of Franklin, Hon. William E. Chandler of Concord, Hon. David H. Goodell of Antrim, Hon. John J. Bell of Exeter, and Councillor Peter Upton of East Jaffrey; Councillor B. A. Kimball of this city occupied the position opposite the president, and on the latter's left were Rev. A. P. Rein, pastor of White Memorial Universalist church of this city, Col. Daniel Hall of Dover, Charles R. Corning of this city, Hon. O. C. Moore of Nashua, Hon. Edward H. Rollins of this city, Hon. Dexter Richards of Newport, Councillor C. W. Talpey of Farmington, and Councillor M. L. Morrison of Peterborough. Before the members of the club took their seats at the handsome tables, grace was said by Rev. Mr. Rein. After the several courses of the banquet had been duly considered, President Sawyer arose, and gracefully opened the speaking of the evening as follows:

GENTLEMEN OF THE LINCOLN CLUB: It gives me pleasure to see such a large attendance here tonight at this second meeting of the Lincoln Club of New Hampshire. It confirms what seemed app irent at the first meeting, that there is a strong interest felt in this organization by the Republicans of the state. We may reasonably hope that as a means of bringing together members from

throughout the state it will not only be a benefit. socially, but also a valuable and efficient aid in promoting the interests of the party.

We are here to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Strictly, the me ting should have been on the 12th. That date cecurring this year on Saturday, it was thought advisable to defer it until this evening, as being more convenient for members in attendance from the more remote parts of the state. The Club could not have been more honorably or more apCelery. propriately named.

Potato Croquetts. Fillet of Beef with Mushrooms. Boned Turkey with Jelly.

Vegetables.

Chicken Salad.

Orange Sherbet.

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The memory of Lincoln is growing to be more and more honored and revered with the lapse of time. It is a name that appeals to the hearts and sympathy of a loyal and grateful people. A man of the humblest origin, he was destined by Provi dence to lead this nation through the terrible and moi entous struggle which was to demonstrate to

the world that we were a nation, and that a repub. lican form of government could be maintained under the greatest strain to which it could be subjected-that of civil war His great services ended with his life. and he will be ranked with Washington in the hearts of his countrymen, and in history as one of the greatest benefactors of the hu

man race.

SPEECH OF CAPT. H. B. ATHERTON.

The address of Captain Atherton was well delivered and extremely interesting. It was as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN: I first saw Abraham Lincoln in the spring of 184. The news that Senator Douglass ha i reported from his committee a bill repealing the Missouri Compromise had rung out through the country like a fire-bell in the night." The state of Illinois wis ablaze with indignation. I was at Springfield at the meeting of the extra session of the legislature in February, when that measure was under discussion, and I well remember the intense excitement of the occasion. Shortly after, on the 22d of March, it became my good fortune to listen to the trial of a cause in the Morgan county court in which Mr. Lincoln took part as couns I. He was associated with Judge Brown of Springfield for the defence. A Mr. Smith and Murray McConnel of Jacksonville were the plaintiff's lawyers. The suit was brought by Silsby, editor of the Jacksonville Journal, a free soil paper, gainst one Dunlap, a pro-slavery Democrat, for a personal assault which had been provoked by some political or personal allusion to him in the paper. I remember that my sympathies were wholly with the plaintiff and against Mr. Lincoln's client, for the assault had been an aggravated one with a cane, and as a boy, with rather strong anti-slavery proclivities, I was prejudiced against the defendant, his conduct, his politics, and very likely against his counsel also; and yet I was delighted with the argument of Mr Lincoln, which made a lasting impression on my mind. I recall the expectation I had that "Judge" Brown was to do something commensurate with his title, and the surprise I felt that he was so much surpassed by his ssociate. The jury gave the plaintiff $300, and ought probably to have given him more; but that night I put down in my not book, "Mr. Lincoln is a very good speaker," and that was very true.

Thou h then 45 years old, he was but little known outside his own state. He had been in the practice of the law seventeen years. He had served two or three terms in the state legislature and one in Congress, and, as candidate for presidential elector, had stumped the state both in 1840 and 1844 for the Whig party.

Before he began to study law he had begun to advocate those principles which later made him a representative Republican. In 182, when he announced imself at the age of twenty-three a candidate for the legislature, he said, in what must have been about his first political speech, "I am in favor of the internal improvement system and a high protective tariff." wenty-three years later, when his most intimate friend, Speed, inquired of him how he stood, he wro ́e, I think I am a Whig. I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery. I am not a Know Nothing that is certain. How could I be? How could any one who abhors the oppression of negroes be in favor of d grading classes of white people?" Sprung from the ranks of the "plain people" himself, his sympathies were always with the poor. Born among the poor whites of a border slave state, where labor was degraded, good schools made impossible, and the door to advancement closed by the blight of human slavery, he had, through his own experience and that of his parents before him, become cons ions of the great wrong and injustice to the whites, and the great misery and wretche lness to the negroes caused by slavery. His kind heart could not witness unmoved the dis

tress of a dumb animal, and much less could he bear to see the oppressed slaves at their unrequited toil. Poverty, weakness, distress, or misfortune never appealed to him in vain.

He sought distinction without disguise or hypocrisy. He covete i the good will of his fellow-men, but always sought to merit it. He was intellectually as well as morally honest, and as he never deceived others so, he never deluded himself. Of such material were the men who originated the Republican party, and Mr. Lincoln was a fair representative of that party. a vast majority of its voters were working men, intelligent, conscientious, and patriotic.

Within the past few years men have protested against being compelled to compete with the labor of a few hundred unpaid convicts in the prisons, or of a few thousand economical Chinese on the Pacifi coast, who with no families or churches to support, are able to underbid in the labor market the honest Christian, who lives like a man, supports his wife and children, sustains schools and churches, and performs his whole duty as a citizen: and I believe there is some ground for an open and manly protest in that direction. But the grievance from these sources is the merest trifle compared with the intolerable competi ion of three millions of "chattels real,"-African slaves fed on the coarsest of food, clothed with the cheapest of garments, and working for no pay whatever. That was the substantial grievance which the white workingmen of the country, uniting under the name of the Republican party, openly combined to meet. It cheapened the wages of the white man. It cast odium on honest labor-that blessing in disguise without which no race ever emerged from barbarism, and no individual ever attained to a wholesome and healthy growth. It retarded civilization, denied the rights of man, and was at war with our free institutions. It grew strong, aggressive, and defiant. It proclaimed "Cotton is king!" and capitalists at the North timidly bowed before His Majesty.

Making use of the Democratic party as its agent and instrument, slavery began an advance along the whole line. The objective points of this concerted movement were to nationalize slavery and ultimately to reopen the African slave trade, and thereby still further to cheapen labor. Men brought cargoes of slaves from the Congo coast and landed them on the shores of the Southern states with no apparent fear or danger of punishment. The area for slavery was enlarged by waging a war of doubtful justice upon a sister republic and despoiling her of a large portion of her territory. The fugitive slave law was passed which compelled free men in the North at the will of a United States marshal to take the place of blood-hounds in the South in hunting down the fugitive flying from an intolerable thralldom. In the U. S. supreme court the Dred Scott decision was obtained, in which it was announced that no slave or descendant of a slave could be a person entitled to the right of habeas corpus, or trial by jury, and that neither Congress nor a territorial legislature could exclude slavery from the territories. The court would not admit that even the state legislatures could exclude slavery from their respective states; and it was believed that their next step would be to declare that the states had not the power under the constitution. The Lemon slave case was already going through the New York courts, where in the court of appels I heard Charles O'Connor argue against William M. Evarts that a Southern slaveholder could voluntarily bring his "chattels" into New York, and they were not thereby made free, but he might retain possession of them and take them back to the South. Robert Toombs proposed to call the roll of his slaves beneath the shadow of Bunker Hill monument. To this end the three de artments of the general government were working in harmony.

The Missouri Compromise had dedicated to freedom the territories north of 36 deg. 30 min., and was thought by many to be as binding as the constitution it-elf. The good f ith of both sections was pledged to its maintenance. The slaveholders had

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