quent and forcible manner, his reminiscences of by-gone times. He has indeed grown old, but not old enough yet to forget any good thing. His mind is richly stored with varied learning, and his knowledge of the early history of the town, the peculiarities of its early inhabitants, his great fund of wit and anecdote connected with the first settlers, very far exceeds that of any living man; and there is now no one of the emigrants who could so well give an apt response to your highly complimentary sentiment as that worthy octogenarian. I was heart-pained to learn last evening that his attendance is prevented by physical infirmity. In his absence I could have wished that another highly respected son of Peterboro, of the Smith family, had been here to have spoken in our behalf. I allude to one more nearly allied to you, Mr. President, your eldest son, my most esteemed friend. We are of nearly the same age. Our friendship dates back to the days of our childhood. Our intimacy commenced in that little, square, hipped-roof schoolhouse that formerly stood between your homestead and the homestead of my honored father. It was an intimacy in the outset characterized by the ardor of youth, and grew with our increasing years into the strong and unwavering friendship of mature manhood. There has never been a moment's estrangement. For thirty years no frost has chilled it, nor can it grow cold until the clods shall rumble upon our coffins. Glad, indeed, should I have been to have met once more my friend here, to have grasped him by the hand, to have looked upon his slender form and his pale features, to have listened to the tones of his clear voice, to have caught and treasured up the sentiments of a mind as clear as the atmosphere upon the summits of our native hills, and a heart as pure as the fountains that gush from their base. From the sad tidings that I hear of his declining health, I fear that I shall never meet him on this side the grave. May a merciful God bless him. Well may Peterboro express her joy at the success of her absent sons, and pride herself upon them when she numbers such men as these among them. Your sentiment, sir, breathes the prayer that we, the emigrants, may not forget the place of our nativity. I can hardly realize that I am an emigrant. True, sir, a wave of Providence has taken me up, wafted me onward, and cast me upon land not far distant. Although my domicile is in another place, it is here that I seem most at home. It is here that I enjoy all those pleasures derived from early recollection and early associations. It is here that every natural object that meets my eye has some story to relate of high interest to my mind; here every house and tree, stump and store, hill and brook, presents to me image of some old, familiar, well-loved friend. It is here that I meet my earliest friends, and their greeting seems warmer, and more cordial than elsewhere. It was here that I first enjoyed that substantial Peterboro hospitality so well understood and so highly appreciated by every one at all acquainted with the people of the town some some thirty years ago. Let me not be understood, Mr. President, as drawing a comparison unfavorable to the good people with whom I am in more immediate intercourse at the present time. No, sir, I reside among an excellent and a worthy community, to whom I am bound in a large debt of gratitude. They have manifested toward me a kindness and a confidence vastly beyond my merits; and I am sure they will not esteem me the less for finding me susceptible of emotion at the recollections and fond associations of my childhood. Forget Peterboro. How can I forget her? Why, sir, I was born just over there. The bones of my ancestors, both paternal and maternal, are deposited just over there. And among them there repose the remains of my mother. Oh, sir, it would be cold and heartless ingratitude to forget the place where one's earliest and best friend slumbers in death. "Ingratitude. Thou marble-hearted fiend, More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, Spare me, oh, spare me such a reproach. My prayer to Heaven is, that when these eyes shall grow dim, this tongue become dumb, when these lungs shall cease to heave, and this heart to throw off a pulsation, then this head and limbs may be laid to crumble down to dust by side of thine, my mother. * * * * * I have watched with intense interest the wonderful improvments that have been carried forward in my native town within the last thirty years. When I was a boy, a weekly mail, carried upon horseback by a very honest old man by the name of Gibbs, afforded all the mail facilities which the business of the town required. Now, sir, we see a stage-coach pass and repass through this beautiful village every day, loaded with passengers and transporting a heavy mail. Your highways and bridges have been astonishingly improved, showing a praiseworthy liberality on the part of the town to that important subject. Your progress in agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts exhibits striking evidence of the progress of improvement. Look abroad now upon the finely cultivated fields, the substantial fences, the comfortable, yea, elegant dwellings, the superb manufacturing buildings, the splendid churches and seminaries of learning, and in view of all these let the mind for a moment contrast it with the prospect which presented itself to the eye of the first settler as he attained the summit of East moun tain one hundred years ago. Then not a human habitation for the eye to repose on over the whole extent of this basin-like township one unbroken forest throughout the eye's most extensive range. No sound of music or hum of cheerful industry saluted his ear. It was only the howl of the savage beast, or the yell of the still nore savage man, that broke the appalling stillness of the forest. What a wonderful change a hundred years hath wrought here, and what unshrinking energy of character was requisite to induce the commencement of the undertaking. Some of the old objects of interest to me in my younger days are gone; their places, indeed, have been supplied by more expensive and elegant structures. Still, I must say, I regret their loss. And let me ask, Mr. President, are you quite sure that the loss may not manifest itself in some future time? I allude, sir, to the loss of the old church on the hill there, and the old beech tree tree that stood hard by. I look, even at this period of life, upon that spot with a kind of superstitious reverence. Many are the noble resolutions that young minds have formed under the shade of the old beech tree. Intellectual indolence is the prevailing fault of our times. Under the old beech, in my young days, the great and the talented men of this town used to assemble, and there discuss with distinguished power and ability the most important topics. Religion, politics, literature agriculture, and various other important subjects were there discussed. Well, distinctly well, do I remember those debates carried on by the Smiths, the Morrisons, the Steeles, the Holmes, the Robbes, the Scotts, the Todds, the Millers, and perhaps I may be excused for adding the Wilsons and others. No absurd proposition or ridiculous idea escaped exposure for a single moment. A debater there had to draw himself up close, be precise in his logic, and correct in his lan guage to command respectful attention. Abler discussion was never listened to anywhere. Strong thought and brilliant conceptions broke forth in clear and select language. They were reading men, talking men, forcibiy talking men, and sensible men. Bright intellectual sparks were constantly emanating from those great native minds, and, falling upon younger, minds, kindled their slumbering energies to subsequent nobler exertion. The immediate effect of those discussions could be easily traced in the beaming eye and the agitated muscles of the excited listeners. It was obvious to an acute observer that there was a powerful effort going on in many a young mind among the hearers, to seize, retain, and examine some of the grand ideas that had been started by the talkers. This rousing of the young mind to manly exertion, and aiding it in arriving at a consciousness of its own mighty powers, was of great advantage where the seeds of true genius had been planted by the hand of nature. If any of the Peterboro boys, within the last thirty years, have attained to anything like intellectual greatness, my life on it, they date the commencement of their prog ress from the scenes under the old beech tree. A thousand times have I thought, Mr. President, if I had the world's wealth at my command I would cheerfully have bartered it all for the ability to talk as well as those men talked. Antiquity may boast of her schools of philosophy; the present may point to her debating clubs and lyceums, and talk loud as it will of modern improvement; give me the sound good sense that rolled unrestrained from eloquent lips under the old beech, and it is of more worth than all. I shall always respect the spot where it grew, and even now it grieves me to see the greensward that sheltered its roots torn too roughly by the ploughshare. I had purposed, Mr. President, to have asked the attention of the audience to some few remarks on the all-important subject of education. Old Peterboro has hitherto given her full share of educated men to the public, and I cannot but hope that she will not now permit her neighbors to go ahead of her in this particular. The shades of evening, however, admonish me that I must not trespass further. I must tender my thanks to the audience for the very kind and polite attention they have given me during my remarks I have felt constrained to make at this late hour in the afternoon. Allow me to say in conclusion: The sons and daughters of Peterboro, native and adopted: in all good deeds may they prove themselves worthy of the nobie stock that has gone before them.. General Wilson was greatly interested in military affairs. He was appointed Captain of the Keene Light Infantry January 1, 1821, and successfully passed through all the various ranks until he was appointed Major-General in the Third Division of the New Hampshire Militia. He continued in the service until 1839, when he resigned. At this time there were very few military men his equal. He was a strict disciplinarian, popular with his soldiers and brought his command to a high state of proficiency. June 28, 1833, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, visited Concord, N. H. This was the great day at the capital. Thousands of people gathered at Concord from all parts of the State |