no distinction but that of an honest man, has lived through some of
the most remarkable events of all the ages. For a hundred years a mighty
pageant has been passing before him. I would rather have lived that
hundred years than any other. I am deeply touched to reflect that he who
lately inhabited this cold tenement of clay connects our generation with
that of Washington. And it is impossible to speak of one whose great age
draws together this assembly, without recalling events through which he
lived.

"Our friend was born in this village. This town then included the
adjoining towns to the north and south. The region was then more
sparsely settled, although many houses standing then have disappeared.
While he was sleeping peacefully in the cradle, while he was opening on
the world childhood's wide, wondering eyes, those great men whose names
are our perpetual benediction were planning for freedom from a foreign
yoke. While he was passing through the happy years of early-childhood,
the fierce clash of arms resounded through the little strip of territory
which then made up the United States. I can hardly realize that, as a
child, he heard as a fresh, new, real story, of the deeds of Lexington,
from the lips of men then young who had been in the fight, or listened
as one of an eager group gathered about the fireside, or in the old, now
deserted tavern on the turnpike, to the story of Bunker Hill.

"And when, the yoke of tyranny thrown off, in our country and in France,
Lafayette, the mere mention of whose name brings tears to the eyes of
every true American, came to see the America that he loved and that
loved him, he on whose cold, rigid face I now look down, joined in one
of those enthusiastic throngs that made the visit like a Roman Triumph.

"But turn to the world of Nature, and think of the panoramic scenes that
have passed before those now impassive eyes. In our friend's boyhood
there was no practical mode of swift communication of news. In great
emergencies, to be sure, some patriot hand might flash the beacon-light
from a lofty tower; but news crept slowly over our hand-breath nation,
and it was months after a presidential election before the result was
generally known. He lived to see the telegraph flashing swiftly about
the globe, annihilating time and space and bringing the scattered
nations into greater unity.

"And think, my hearers, for one moment, of the wonders of electricity.
Here is a power which we n