The Northern Galaxy, And Middlebury People's Press

THE CELEBRATION.

We were happy to see the interest awakened in this section, in the celebration of the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims.—Upon very few occasions have we witnessed a more numerous or respectable assemblage of the citizens of the town and vicinity than at the Congregational Church on the evening of the 22d. The address of the Rev. Otto S. Hoyt of Hinesburgh was well received, and its topics well adapted to the occasion.

It afforded a brief historical sketch of the oppressions of our fathers in their native land, their departure, their landing, and their sufferings, and displayed their ardent piety and attachment to those great principles of civil and religious freedom which sustained them amidst perils and deprivations which were next to martyrdom itself.

The example of celebrating the day, with a determination to repeat the observance yearly by the people of Middlebury are worthy of universal imitation through the land Let the high and holy characteristics of human nature which the first settlers of New England displayed, be embalmed in the bosoms, and be preserved vivid in the recollections of this mighty nation. If the day of our independence, which was only a glorious emanation of their virtues and heroic deeds should be celebrated, that day which saw the pilgrims of New England planting their feet upon the rock of Plymouth, with the firm and pious resolve to found a nation free from the tyranny of the crown and the mitre, should not be suffered to fade from the memory of all future generations. To them we owe our free and happy institutions, and to our observance of their noble example and high-souled principles we shall owe their perpetuity, should heaven vouchsafe us such a blessing

We subjoin the expression of a friend on this subject, whose rich and comprehensive style of eloquence adorns whatever it touches, but does not surpass in this instance the merits of his theme.

"I am very glad that day is becoming a widely observed anniversary. Its influence, I think, will be salutary on the moral feeling and manners of New England and her children, and conservative of what is most valuable in New England civilization. The memory of such a day is a blessed power in human history, a life fountain to mankind. I like, too, an anniversary springing if possible right out of a nation's own heart and own history—And when a people has by the kindness of Heaven the precious gift of such a day as the 22d December 1620 in its early history, it should be to it it's "ALL SAINTS' DAY;" its memory is too mighty a power for good to be invoked The youth and manhood of nations like those of individuals need often a rebaptism in the influences of their early fancy Especially does our nation such a reinvigoration of its spirit present time Not that all the forms in which that spirit was embodied should be restored, for I believe society has in many things made progress since that time. But the spirit that lived in them, ought to be and, I trust, is immortal—the breath of life, political and spiritual, to the nations."