VARIOUS COMMEMORATIONS.

Various commemorative acts, not properly coming under either of the foregoing heads, and yet not of sufficient extent to make a separate chapter, have marked the Centennial year in Michigan. Among these was the greeting which the year received at its birth, at midnight on the first day of January. Descriptive remarks introducing the subject of the Centennial Fourth in Michigan, on page 95, are applicable to the advent of the Centennial New Year.

THE NATIONAL FLAG AT THE STATE CAPITOL.

At the commencement of the present year, Governor Bagley, deeming it proper that the national flag should be displayed from the State capitol during the Centennial year, gave verbal directions to the janitor of the State house to that effect. On all days, On all days, therefore, on which the weather was not stormy (except Sundays), the national ensign has floated from the flag-staff at the capitol in Lansing.

CENTENNIAL DISPLAY BY THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of the executive committee of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, held in December, 1875, a resolution was adopted that, in connection with the next annual fair of the society, arrangements be made for a historical and Centennial department. A committee of five members from the executive board, consisting of Hon. J. Webster Childs, of Washtenaw county, Hon. J. G. Ramsdell, of Grand Traverse, Hon. W. J. Baxter, of Hillsdale, Hon. William M. Ferry, of Ottawa, and Hon. William L. Webber, of Saginaw, were appointed for carrying out the purposes of the resolution. In an address issued by the committee, August 10, 1876, they say:

While the greatest exhibition of this, or perhaps of any age, is in progress at Philadelphia, every citizen of our State who can contribute anything that will add interest to, or who can avail himself of the privilege of witnessing that grand display, made by this and other nations, of the curiosities of the past, and the industries and wonders of the present, should do so. Still there are, no doubt, hundreds of articles and relics that have an interesting history as connected with the early days of our country and of our State, and illustrative of the manners, customs, industries, privations and trials of the times long gone by-articles that will be of an ever-increasing value as the years pass on-which are scattered around through our State, their real value as relics, in many cases, unappreciated by those who possess them, that will not find their way to Philadelphia.

The committee are desirous that there should be a large exhibition of specimens of natural history, such as birds, properly mounted and labeled, and insects, arranged and classified so as to show which are injurious and which are beneficial to crops, fruits, etc.; also, specimens of minerals, fossils, and all natural curiosities.

And we are especially desirous to call out for exhibition in this department all relics that can be found of the early Indian and colonial history of our country, the Revolutionary war, the early Indian history of this State, the early French settlements in our State, and of the last war.

In order to insure success, and to make this part of the State fair a most interesting feature of the exhibition, we most earnestly ask the co-operation of all societies or individuals in this State, who have in their possession any of the above-named classes of specimens or relics, or any other articles ancient or curious, or illustrative of the manners, dress, customs, education, domestic economy, farm implements, or implements used in the prosecution of any of the industries of early times, and invite them to bring or send the same to the fair for exhibition in this department.

Mr. Childs, as chairman of the committee, was active and energetic, as were all the members of the committee, in efforts to make the Centennial department of the State fair a success, and the entire committee were in attendance at the fair. The display, though not as large as was anticipated, yet contained many objects of interest. The following statement of the articles exhibited is made up from the report of the committee, published with the premium list of the society, in the "Michigan Farmer," November 14, 1876. All were accorded special mention, and where premiums or diplomas were awarded, they are stated. For the largest and best collection of stuffed birds, F. L. Reese, of Jackson, Mrs. D. Eggleston, of Jackson, and Prof. E. H. Crane, of Colon, received premiums respectively of $10, $5, and silver medal. Mrs. L. Eggleston, of Jackson, exhibited specimens of stuffed birds, display of insects, fossils and curiosities premium, silver medal. F. N. Wood, of Jackson, antelope's and elk's heads, stuffed. The Detroit Scientific Association, a display of insects, named and scientifically classified-diploma. D. L. Garrett, of Sandstone, a collection of fossils and curiosities. Mrs. D. Merriman, of Jackson, corals, Indian ornaments, and literary curiosities. Dr. J. L. Mitchell, of Jackson, Venus flower basket. Miss Jessie Robinson, of Jackson, collection of natural curiosities-premium, silver medal. Prof. E. H. Crane, Colon, collection of mineralogydiploma. Miss Pamelia Smith, Monroe, collection of curiosities, including Indian head-dress, arrow heads, peace pipe, scalping knife, rattle used in war dance, crown and ear-rings, snow shoes, and silver crown for squaw-premium of $25 on total collection. Also, General Smith's sword and belt, battle flag captured by General Smith; tools from Herculaneum; specimens from Mexico, including spurs, Mexican armor, idol, Australian riding whip, miner's axe, badge used in Mexico, sword of Mexican general, stuffed deer-diploma. Joseph Wicksawba, of Grand Haven, Sioux head-dress. Mrs. Ira Skinner, of Jackson, warming-pan used in colonial times. Mrs. Charles Benedict, Jackson, ancient yarn-winder; paper containing Washington's farewell address. Mrs. Dr. Chittock, Jackson, plan of the city of New York, survey of 1728. Mrs. Brundage,

Jackson, ancient coverlet and linen. Mrs. Emma C. Hopkins, Spring Lake, sword, belt and breastplate worn by Colonel Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. B. M. Davis, Jackson, Indian and rebel relics. J. J. Duer, of Jackson, collection of ancient coins-silver medal. Also, South Sea curiosities. Martin Johnson, of Grand Haven, collection of ancient coins, books, and Esquimaux dress. M. L. Fowler, Jackson, article illustrating education in ancient times. Mrs. M. Johnson, Jackson, ancient dishes. Willis Johnson, Reading, article illustrating early hand-sewing machine. Charles F. Pagelson, Grand Haven, Latin book published in 1602. H. B. Fry, Leslie, ancient coat of arms. H. A. Wetmore, Concord, collection of curiosities-premium of $5. Peter Mulvaney, Marengo, relic of Chicago fire. C. Draper, Jackson, Spanish "McCarty" or hair rope. Rev. Father Buyce, Jackson, Latin works of Diogenes, two volumes, 1512; Latin works Cyprianus, 1521; Latin works Theophylactus, 1524; Latin works Thomas Waldenses, three volumes, 1571; James Eustachius Bonaventura, two volumes, 1572; Dionysius de Quatuor hominis novissimus, one volume, 1578; Missale Romanum (mass book), 1598; St. Augustine Opuscula quondam selecta, 1673; Biblia Sacra (Holy Bible), 1692; French works-Proves de Messire de Claude, folio, six volumes, 1695; Œuvres choissis de Messire de Claude, folio, one volume, 1696; Flemish works-Plinius Secundus, Des Wyd Vermaarden Naturer Kundigen, 1770. The Audubon Club, of Detroit, scalp dress, Sioux jacket, buffalo robe, hood, beaded buckskin dress, pair Comanche moccasins, Comanche haversack and water bottle, Indian saddle, section of Comanche tent, two war shields and quivers, seventeen war arrows-diploma. The Custer Monument Association, of Monroe, buckskin hunting shirt and trappings, chief's calumet pipe and stem, pair embroidered leggings, quiver and arrows, embroidered gun-case, tobacco pouch, battle shield, pair elk antlers, chief's head-dress and case, pair prince's leggings and moccasins, chief's ornaments, two pairs squaws' leggings and moccasins, and two buckskin aprons-discretionary premium of $100.

PART III.

CENTENNIAL ORATIONS AND SERMONS.

I. — REPRESENTATIVE CENTENNIAL ORATIONS.

THE

WHAT THE AGE OWES TO AMERICA.*

IE event which to-day we commemorate supplies its own reflections and enthusiasms, and brings its own plaudits. They do not at all hang on the voice of the speaker, nor do they greatly depend upon the contacts and associations of the place. The Declaration of American Independence was, when it occurred, a capital transaction in human affairs; as such it has kept its place in history; as such it will maintain itself while human interest in human institutions shall endure.

The scene and the actors, for their profound impression upon the world, at the time and ever since, have owed nothing to dramatic effects, nothing to epical exaggerations. To the eye there was nothing wonderful, or vast, or splendid, or pathetic, in the movement or the display. Imagination or art can give no sensible grace or decoration to the persons, the place, or the performance, which made up the business of that day. The worth and force that belong to the agents and the action rest wholly on the wisdom, the courage and the faith that formed and executed the great design, and the potency and permanence of its operation upon the affairs of the world which, as foreseen and legitimate consequences, followed. The dignity of the act is the deliberate, circumspect, open and serene performance by these men, in the clear light of day, and by a concurrent purpose, of a civic duty, which embraced the greatest hazards to themselves and to all the people from whom they held this deputed discretion, but which, to their sober judgments, promised benefits to that people and their

*Hon. William M. Evarts at Philadelphia, July 4, 1876.

posterity, from generation to generation, exceeding these hazards, and commensurate with its own fitness. The question of their conduct is to be measured by the actual weight and pressure of the manifold considerations which surrounded the subject before them, and by the abundant evidence that they comprehended their vastness and variety. By a voluntary and responsible choice they willed to do what was done, and what without their will would not have been done. Thus estimated, the illustrious act covers all who participated in it with its own renown, and makes them forever conspicuous among men, as it is forever famous among events. And thus the signers of the Declaration of our Independence "wrote their names where all nations should behold them, and all time should not efface them." It was, "in the course of human events," intrusted to them to determine whether the fullness of time had come when a nation should be born in a day. They declared the independence of a new nation in the sense in which men declare emancipation or declare war the Declaration created what was declared.

Famous, always, among men are the founders of states, and fortunate above all others in such fame are these, our fathers, whose combined wisdom and courage began the great structure of our national existence, and laid sure the foundations of liberty and justice on which it rests. Fortunate, first, in the clearness of their title, and in the world's acceptance of their rightful claim. Fortunate, next, in the enduring magnitude of the state they founded, and the beneficence of its protection of the vast interests of human life and happiness which have here had their home. Fortunate, again, in the admiring imitation of their work which the institutions of the most powerful and most advanced nations more and more exhibit; and, last of all, fortunate in the full demonstration of our later time, that their work is adequate to withstand the most. disastrous storms of human fortunes, and survive unwrecked, unshaken and unharmed.

This day has now been celebrated by a great people, at each recurrence of its anniversary for a hundred years, with every form of ostentatious joy, with every demonstration of respect and gratitude for the ancestral virtue which gave it its glory, and with the firmest faith that growing time should neither obscure its lustre nor reduce the ardor or discredit the sincerity of its observA reverent spirit has explored the lives of the men who took part in the great transaction; has unfolded their characters and exhibited to an admiring posterity the purity of their motives; the sagacity, the bravery, the fortitude, the perseverance which marked their conduct, and which secured the prosperity and permanence of their work.

ance.