The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 89 text:

.63 other kinds of vans. Here, on the historic soil of jersey Qfamous for its red hue and its adhesive qualityj, we cultivate the peaceful cauliflower-and the virtues of our ancestors. To be summoned from these rustic occupations to run for the presidency of the Holland Society was a severeshock to a man of retiring disposition, --all the more so because that disposition to retire- ment was not native, but had been acquired at great expense. . Cincinnatus, you remember, was in the same sit- uation. But then Cincinnatus had done something to deserve it. In my own case, nothing was noto- rious except my disqualilications. I leaned for a long time upon the handle of my hoe, reflecting upon the dilemma. The placid fthough still invis- iblej garden vegetables, the calm cows, and the chuckling chickens seemed to counsel me to remain in Well-earned obscurity. But the commands of Judge Van I-Ioesen, Gen- eral Bergen, Secretary Banta, and other honored dignitaries were imperative. Finally the habit of obedience conquered, and I consented to run, in so far as that Word of rapid motion can ever be applied to the actions of a Dutchman. 'Now another embarrassing element in the situa- tion emerges. On the evening of your annual meeting an engagement of long standing calls. me to lecture in Pennsylvania--you may be sure that I should not venture into that State but for the reassuring fact that Penn's mother was a Dutch- Woman. Nor should I dare the perils of a candi- dacy zkz 6Z6.S'67ZfZ'6Z, but for the fact that you are all Dutchmen. In your hands I shall be safe. What- ever you do I shall be satisfied. . If you say, Stay with your cauliHoWers, it will be an evidence of 'your sense of the fitness of things. - . If you say, Come to the presidential chair, it

Page 91 text:

65 Mr. Bergen then spoke, in substance, as follows: Fellow .lllbmbers of Zlze Holland 5062.661 .' With your Dutch good nature, I trust you will overlook the keen embarrassment I feel at this mo- ment in not being able to hand to my successor, Dr. Henry Van Dyke, in person, the symbols of this high office. Reams of papers filled with bursts of rhetorical admiration evoked by. his presence, must now be consigned to oblivion. With sadness I now send to the paper mills to be made into pulp my tons of extemporaneous manuscript. It is clear that Dr. Van Dyke, as our candidate for president, has 'run so well that he has run away. With his natural hesitation to speak in public, and the rhetorical humility of those men who make professional utterances from the pulpit, he has sent us a letter, the letter which has been read. I-Ie states that he is obliged to deliver a lec- ture this evening in some unknown part of Penn- sylvania. It is evident that he did not dare to deliver that lecture to us.' I have no doubt it is a lecture on the subject of building railroad bridges, or about new methods of applying electricity in the development of mechanical power. At least, I think that is what poets often do when called upon to deliver an address. We are sorry that the author of Little Rivers is not with us to-night. We might' duck him in one of those little rivers in honor of the occasion. I certainly have seen him partially under water in one of those little rivers, when in a burst of poetic license, he cried that he had hooked a trout. These poets catch a good many trout- on paper.