able as the records of our county, and is inseparably connected with the growth of the town and the fondest recollections of its inhabitants-the familiar names Mynderse, Tillman, Sackett, Bascom, Payne, Dey, Downs, Daniels, Seymour, Chamberlain, Johnson, Cowing and Partridge, will long be held in honored remembrance.

Mr. President, with the past to inspire, the present to stimulate, and the future for our children, before us, may we not hope that a century hence, they may rejoice as we do to-day, in hallowed recollections, and as a united, prosperous and happy people.

TYRE.

Unlike her ancient namesake, without a seaport, except the ports upon the line of the canals-is also unlike ancient Tyre, in being the home of a law-abiding, God-fearing people.

Responded to by MR. E. F. STRONG, as follows:

Fellow Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen :

As a modest citizen of a purely agricultural, and therefore, unpretentious township, I trust you will not think me vain or presuming, if in responding to the sentiment just read, in behalf of the town which I have the honor to represent on this occasion, any seemingly pretentious assertions be made. We claim nothing on account of our name. To us, it is as if a well preserved but antiquated old hat once worn by somebody's great-grand-father, were put upon the head of a good looking young man at his majority, and he compelled to wear it. It may give him a comical, venerable look, but it cannot make him old. So we will patiently wear the old tile, until we get a better. It cannot make us old. We are but fifty at the most-one of the youngest of Seneca's townships. Young, vigorous, growing, and full of life, nothing in our surroundings is suggestive of such a name, unless the tide of commerce along our borders, the fin-ity

of our waters, or a place for the spreading of nets have a remote allusion to that ancient city. With a population less than any of our county towns, we have carpenters and masons to build our houses, blacksmiths and wheelwrights to make or mend our carriages and implements, shoe-makers to cobble our soles-sufficient for our needs, one miller to grind our grain, one merchant of various commodities, by the print or yard or pound, teachers for our schools-plenty (three) ministers of the gospel to minister to our spiritual necessities, and one physician who doctors our bodily and physical ailments by administering medicine as an allopathist, and our moral obliquities and deficiencies by administering law and justice as a homopathist. Rumsellers none; years ago they were obliged to quit. Lawyers none; no one has been invited; no one has manifested a desire to make his home with us. Why not? Query-If all the towns of this county would adopt this position of Tyre, would not the burthen of taxation pass, and the county of Seneca enter upon a career of prosperity such as she has not attained in all the past century? We have none of the outward show of wealth; no palatial residences; no monied corporations; no railroad as yet crosses our borders, but the ring of the bell, the whistle of the engine, and the roar of the train, reach us from every side. comparison with other county towns, the variety, quality and quantity of our fruits, are second to none. And in proportion to our acreage, the quantity and quality of our cereals, are equal to any. Tyre has no bonded debt, or any other, unless it be a debt of thankful remembrance of that band of noble pioneers, whose herculean labors, amid privation, and want and sickness and suffering, changed and transformed the wilderness of wood and fern, to pleasant homes, and fields and farms. The pioneers are gone. Their deeds should be ever green in our memories. Again, as we stir the generous soil, or drop the dry seed into its prolific bosom, or gather its bounti

In

ful harvests, we acknowledge an ever increasing debt of grateful heartfelt thanks to the Giver of all good, that "The lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places-yea, we have a goodly heritage."

We do claim to be a "law abiding, God-fearing people”—to be the equals of any in love of country, in fealty to our government, in obedience to its laws, and in readiness with our fortunes, or our lives, if necessary, to uphold or defend the stars and stripes-that glorious old flag of our union. Nor is this an empty boast. We point with honest pride to the war record of the great rebellion, where every requisition upon the town of Tyre for men or money will be found fully, honestly, met and filled. Leaving the recital of the stirring events, and far-reaching consequences resulting from the day we celebrate, to others, and gratefully acknowledging our share of the good it brought to us, permit me, in closing this, perhaps, too lengthy response, to say, that in this day of glorious adulation and gratulation, it seemed right that Tyre should "blow her own horn," that others might know, that we are not that antiquated fossil that our venerable name might lead them to infer. Although with becoming decorum we have borne aloft that old hat for fifty years, we are young yet, tolerably good looking, middling wellto-do, and claim together with you, to be a part and parcel of this great, growing irrepressible nation.

VARICK.

The central town of the county; the youngest of the Seneca tribe; her beautiful domain only limited by the charming lakes-Cayuga and Seneca; in name she honors a revolutionary patriot-Colonel Richard Varick, the trusted Secretary of General George Washington.

Responded to by the REV. J. WILFORD JACKS, as follows:

Mr. President :

In our estimation, there can be but one reason why Varick should have selected one of her youngest citizens

to represent her on this proud occasion.

She, the youngest of the family group, thought it not in keeping with her relative history to invite one of her venerable sires to tell her story, but has kindly asked one of her youngest sons to open her record.

The family group always regard the youngest child with more than usual favor. In charity they overlook his faults. So, if the youngest child of the county shall seem to boast to-day, her staid older brothers and sisters will surely forgive.

Varick was born and christened February 6th, 1830. The nine other towns received her with glad expectancy, and ever since have lent her a helping hand.

Her territory was once a part of the township of Romulus, and ever since the division, the parent has regarded the child with tenderness, and their mutual relations, both in church and state, have been so intimately blended, as to be almost identical.

The location of Varick is charming; the morning sunlight does not touch her shores till it has greeted the waters of the beautiful Cayuga, and the evening sun kisses her good night, across the peaceful Seneca.

Her name does not remind you of carnage, of desperate fields of blood, as do Lodi and Waterloo. We do not boast a name which reminds us of ancient heroes or classic lore, as do the names of Junius and Ovid, of Romulus and Tyre; but we honor the name of one of the purest of American patriots, the best of men and an earnest Christian, Colonel Richard Varick, a hero of the revolution. A lawyer by profession, when the war broke out, he immediately tendered his services to his country. He fought in the memorable battles of Stillwater and Saratoga in 1777, which resulted in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Soon he was transferred to West Point, and then became confidential secretary of General Washington. He was afterward Recorder of the city of New York; was

elected to the Assembly of New York twice, and served as Speaker both years; was afterward Attorney-General, and for twelve years was Mayor of the city of New York, the longest period any one has served in that capacity since the Revolution. His later life was devoted to phil anthropic and religious objects. He was one of the founders of the American Bible Society and its first Treasurer, and afterward, on the death of John Jay, was elected its President. His life was marked by strict integrity as a public man, by unaffected piety and consistency as a Christian.

The poet says "What's in a name?"

"Much every

way. We would fain believe that the spirit of Richard Varick still abides among the people of this town. Free from paupers, free from criminals, it has been the home of many quiet, virtuous people. We have few profes sional men, but straight business men and industrious farmers, an honest and stable people.

As proof let me refer you to the church which I have the honor to represent, which retained one pastor for twenty-one years. And in this same Varick, there is a pastor who has labored with one people more than fiftyeight years, (and he is here to-day,) a pastorate whose continuance is almost unparalleled in American historythe pastorate of Rev. Dr. Diedrich Willers.

The speaker for Romulus has told you that "you could not find handsomer girls, truer wives, and more glorious old maids than could be found in that town."

But it is a significant fact that he counted the ladies of Varick far prettier and truer still, for when he was seeking a wife, he did not lead to the altar one of those Romulus fair ones, but a far prettier daughter of Varick. In early times we had our eccentric men, but they were true as steel.

You remember that memorable wedding at the hotel of Jacob Buys. His niece was to be married. Before the