at it is "better to sit on
a pumpkin and have it all to yourself than to be crowded on a velvet
cushion."

When the struggle for independence came, the Puritan influence played no
small part in the contest. When a separate government had been formed he
showed himself foremost in impressing upon it his principles of broad
and comprehensive liberty. He dignified labor; he believed that as the
banner of the young Republic was composed of and derived its chief
beauty from its different colors, so should its broad folds cover and
protect its citizens of different colors.

He was a grand character in history. We take off our hats to him. We
salute his memory. In his person were combined the chivalry of
Knighthood, the fervor of the Crusader, the wit of Gascony, and the
courage of Navarre. [Prolonged applause.]

* * * * *

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

[Speech of Horace Porter at a dinner given by the Republican Club
in honor of the ninetieth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's
birthday, New York City, February 12, 1889. Mortimer C. Addams, the
newly elected President of the Club, occupied the chair. General
Porter was called upon for a response to the first toast, "Abraham
Lincoln--the fragrant memory of such a life will increase as the
generations succeed each other." General Porter was introduced by
the chairman, as one "whose long acquaintance with Abraham Lincoln,
intimate relationship, both official and personal, with our
illustrious chieftain, General Grant, and distinguished career as a
brave defender of his country in the time of her peril, have
eminently fitted him to tell the story of our great War
President."]

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--I am encumbered with diverse
misgivings in being called upon to rise and cast the first firebrand
into this peaceful assemblage, which has evidently been enjoying itself
so much up to the present time. From the herculean task accomplished by
the Republican party last fall we have come to think of its members as
men of deeds and not of words, except the spellbinders. [Laughter.] I
fear your committee is treating me like one of those toy balloons that
are sent up previous to the main ascension, to test the currents of the
air; but I hope that in this sort of ballooning I may not be interrupted
by the remark that interrupted a Fourth of July orator in the West when
he was tickling the Amer