Providence Morning Star

The ability and the inclination of a body of citizens to assemble in the ranks of a military organization, without for a moment losing sight of the civil and moral obligations resting upon them, is an integer whose importance, in both a social and political system, can not easily be overestimated.

That the people of our own State have apprehended the strength of this principle, and are disposed to incorporate it practically into their life, has never been more clearly shown than at the muster of the Third Brigade, at Westerly, last Thursday. We assert, with a feeling of personal pride in the fact, that no equal number of persons ever assembled in this country with a more perfect observance of the principles of order and sobriety, in both their collective and individual capacity.

It is but a slight tax upon the memory of this generation, to recall the time when "Muster Day" held rank with the fourth of July, as an occasion when a man of good repute might become intoxicated, without serious damage to his reputation in any circle of society. How gratifying, therefore, in the light of this fact, was the spectacle of the assemblage of a body of young men, representing the best elements among us, who, while exhibiting an admirable proficiency in military tactics, yet had the manhood to repudiate military customs by long usage made powerful, and to declare by assertion and example that debauchery or temptation thereto should have neither open nor secret share in their festival. The people of Rhode Island are to be congratulated on their ability to record such an example for the benefit of other communities.