"
A very curious and amusing incident is said, and I have no
doubt truly, to have happened at this celebration. It shows
how carefully the great orator, Edward Everett, looked out
for the striking effects in his speech. He turned in the
midst of his speech to the seat where Amos Baker and Jonathan
Harrington sat, and addressed them. At once they both stood
up, and Mr. Everett said, with fine dramatic effect, "Sit,
venerable friends. It is for us to stand in your presence."
After the proceedings were over, old Amos Baker was heard
to say to somebody, "What do you suppose Squire Everett meant?
He came to us before his speech and told us to stand up when
he spoke to us, and when we stood up he told us to sit down."
So you will understand how few lives separate you from the
time when our country was born, and the time when all our
people were British subjects.
But to come back to our old meeting-house. The windows rattled
in the winter, and the cold wind came in through the cracks.
There was a stove which was rather a modern innovation; but
it did little to temper the coldness of a day in midwinter.
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