GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 8.

The Public Reception.

During the trip from Peoria the President and Secretary Tracy rode a goodly portion of the distance on the locomotive with Engineer Frank Hilton, a veteran who served in the President's old command. Galesburg, the principal objective point of the journey, was reached at noon on October 8, where 10,000 patriotic citizens greeted their arrival. Mayor Loren Stevens, at the head of the following committee, received and welcomed the President: Forrest F. Cooke, President of the Day, Judge A. A. Smith, Hon. H. M. Sisson, Hon. O. F. Price, Maj. H. H. Clay, Z. Beatty, Henry Emerich, James M. Ayres, Francis A. Free, Gersh Martin, F. C. Rice, C. D. Hendryx, Gen. F. C. Smith, John Bassett, R. W. Sweeney, Sam'l D. Harsh, Colonel Phelps, Hon. Philip S. Post, Rev. John Hood, Rev. G. J. Luckey, H. A. Drake, Matthias O'Brien, K. Johnson, C. P. Curtis, H. C. Miles, Capt. E. O. Atchinson, and Mr. Weeks. Fully 2,000 veterans participated in the parade; also the local militia, commanded by Captain Elder and Lieutenants Ridgley and Tompkins; Company D, Fifth Regiment, from Quincy, Capt. F. B. Nichols, Lieutenants Treet and Whipple; Company H, Sixth Regiment, Monmouth, Capt. D. E. Clarke, Lieutenants Shields and Turnbull; Company I, Sixth Regiment, Morrison, Capt. W. F. Colebaugh, Lieutenants Griffin and Baker.

Arriving at the Court-House Park, Mayor Stevens delivered the address of welcome. President Harrison responded as follows:

Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens—The magnitude of this vast assemblage to-day fills me with surprise and with consternation as I am called to make this speech to you. I came here to meet with the survivors of my old brigade. I came here with the expectation that the day would chiefly be spent in their companionship and in the exchange of those cordial greetings which express the fondness and love which we bear to each other; but to my surprise I have found that here to-day the First Brigade, for the first time in its history, has been captured. One or two of them I have been able to take by the hand, a few more of them I have seen as they marched by the reviewing stand, but they seemed to have been swallowed up in this vast concourse of their associate comrades and their fellow-citizens of Illinois. I hope there may yet be a time during the day when I shall be able to take each by the hand, and to assure them that in the years of separation since muster-out day I have borne them all sacredly in my affectionate remembrance. They were a body of representative soldiers, coming from these great central States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and as the borders of those States touch in friendly exchange, so the elbows of these great heroes and patriots touched in the great struggle for the Union. Who shall say who was chiefest? Who shall assign honors where all were brave? The distinction that Illinois may claim in connection with this organization is that, given equal courage, fidelity, and loyalty to every man, Illinois furnished three-fifths of the brigade. But possibly I should withhold here those suggestions which come to me, and which will be more appropriate when I meet them in a separate organization.

I have been greatly impressed with this assemblage to-day in this beautiful city, in this rich and prosperous State. The thought had occurred to me, and the more I thought of it the more sure I was of the conclusion, that nowhere on the face of the earth except in the United States of America, under no flag that kisses any breeze, could such an assemblage as this have been gathered. Who are these? Look into these faces; see the evidences of contentment, thrift, prosperity, and intelligence that we read in all these faces. They have come by general summons from all these homes, of village, city, and farm, and here they are to-day the strength and rock of our security as a Nation; the people who furnished an invincible army when its flag was in danger; the people upon whose enlightened consciences and God-fearing hearts this country may rest with unguarded hope. Where is the ultimate distribution of governmental powers? How can all the efforts of President, cabinet and judges, and armies, even, serve to maintain this country, to continue it in its great career of prosperity, if there were lacking this great law-abiding, liberty-loving people by whom they are chosen to these important offices? It is the great thought of our country that men shall be governed as little as possible, but full liberty shall be given to individual effort, and that the restraints of law shall be reserved for the turbulent and disorderly. What is it that makes our communities peaceful? What is it that makes these farm-houses safe? It is not the policemen. It is not the soldiers. It is this great and all-pervading American sentiment that exalts the law, that stands with threatening warning to the law-breaker, and, above all, that pervading thought that gives to every man what is his and claims only what is our own. The war was only fought that the law might not lose its sanction and its sanctity. If we had suffered that loss, dismemberment would have been a lesser one. But we taught those who resisted law and taught the world that the great sentiment of loyalty to our written laws was so strong in this country that no associations, combinations, or conspiracies could overturn it. Our Government will not fail to go on in this increased career of development, in population, in wealth, in intelligence, in morality, so long as we hold up everywhere in the local communities and in the Nation this great thought that every man shall keep the law which secures him in his own rights, and shall not trample upon the rights of another. Let us divide upon tariff and finance, but let there never be a division among the American people upon this question, that nowhere shall the law be overturned in the interests of anybody. If it fails of beneficent purpose, which should be the object of all law, then let us modify it, but while it is a law let us insist that it shall be obeyed. When we turn from that and allow any other standard of living to be set up, where is your security, where is mine, when some one else makes convenience more sacred, more powerful than the law of the land?

I believe to-day that the great rock of our security is this deeply imbedded thought in the American heart that does not, as in many of our Spanish-American countries, give its devotion to the man, but to the law, the Constitution, and to the flag. So that in that hour of gloom, when that richest contribution of all gems that Illinois has ever set in our Nation's diadem, Abraham Lincoln, and in that hour of the consummation of his work, dies by the hand of the assassin, Garfield, who was to meet a like fate, might say to the trembling and dismayed people: "Lincoln is dead, but the Government at Washington still lives."

My fellow-citizens, to all those who, through your Mayor, have extended me their greeting, to all who are here assembled, I return my most sincere thanks. I do not look upon such assemblages without profound emotion. They touch me, and I believe they teach me, and I am sure that the lessons are wholesome lessons. We have had here to-day this procession of veterans, aged and feeble many of them. That is retrospective. That is part of the great story of the past, written in glorious letters on the firmament that is spread above the world. And in these sweet children who have followed we read the future. How sweet it was to see them bearing in their infant hands these same banners that those veterans carried amid the shot and battle and dying of men! I had occasion at the centennial celebration of the inauguration of Washington in New York, being impressed by the great display of national colors, to make a suggestion that the flag should be taken into the schoolhouses, and I am glad to know that in that State there is daily a little drill of the children that pays honor to the flag. But, my friends, the Constitution provides that I shall annually give information to Congress of the state of the Union and make such recommendations as I may think wise, and it has generally been understood, I think, that this affirmative provision contains a negative and implies that the President is to give no one except Congress any information as to the state of the Union, and that he shall especially make no suggestions that can be in any shape misconstrued.

I confess that it would give me great pleasure, if the occasion were proper, to give you some information as to the state of the Union as I see it, and to make some suggestions as to what I think would be wise as affecting the state of the Union. But I would not on an occasion like this, when I am greeted here by friends, fellow-citizens of all shades of thought in politics and in the Church, say a word that could mar the harmony of this great occasion. I trust we are all met here together to-day as loyal-loving American citizens, and that over all our divisions and differences there is this great arch of love and loyalty binding us together.

And now you will excuse me from further speech when I have said again that I am profoundly grateful to the people of Galesburg and this vicinity, and to these, my comrades in arms, who have so warmly opened their arms to welcome me to-day. [Cheers.]

Reunion First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps.

In the afternoon General Harrison attended the reunion of the First Brigade Association, of which he is President. This brigade was the General's command in the late war, and comprised the Seventieth Indiana Regiment, Seventy-ninth Ohio, One Hundred and Second, One Hundred and Fifth, and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois. Many veterans were present from these regiments. Among the prominent participants were: Generals Daniel Dustin and E. F. Dutton, Sycamore, Ill.; Gen. F. C. Smith, Galesburg; Gen. A. W. Doane, Wilmington, Ohio; General Miles, Col. H. C. Corbin, H. H. Carr, N. E. Gray, Dr. P. L. McKinnie, and Colonel Sexton, Chicago; H. H. McDowell, Pontiac; Capt. Edward L. Patterson, Cleveland; Capt. F. E. Scott, Brokenbow, Neb.; Capt. J. T. Merritt, Aledo; Major M. G. McLain, Indianapolis; Capt. J. E. Huston, Clearfield, Iowa; James M. Ayers, R. M. Smock, Colonel Mannon, Major Jack Burst, Wm. Eddleman, C. D. Braidemeyer, Capt. T. U. Scott, Capt. T. S. Rogers, C. P. Curtis, Captain Bodkins, and others. Congressman Thos. J. Henderson and many of the above-mentioned officers made brief speeches during the reunion. General Dustin occupied the chair pending the election of officers for the ensuing year. General Harrison's re-election as President of the Association was carried amid cheers, and as he appeared to assume the presiding chair the veterans gave him a rousing reception.

The President then addressed the brigade as follows:

Comrades—The object of my visit to Galesburg was this meeting which we are to have now. I should not, I think, have been persuaded to make this trip except for the pleasure which I expected to find in meeting the men of the old brigade, from most of whom I have been separated since the muster-out day. We have had a great demonstration, one very full of interest, on the streets and in the park, but I think we are drawn a little closer in this meeting and understand each other a little better than in the larger assemblages of which we have made a part. It is very pleasant for me to see so many here. I cannot recall the names of all of you. Time has wrought its changes upon the faces of us all. You recognize me because there were not so many colonels as there were soldiers—fortunately, perhaps, for the country. [Laughter.] I saw you as individuals in the brigade line when it was drawn up either for parade or battle. It is quite natural, therefore, and I trust it will not be held against me, that you should have a better recollection of my features than I can possibly have of yours. And yet some of you I recall and all of you I love. [Applause.] When you were associated in a brigade in 1862 we were all somewhat new to military duties and life. The officers as well as the men had come together animated by a common purpose from every pursuit in life. We were not so early in the field as some of our comrades. We yield them the honor of longer service, but I think we may claim for ourselves that when our hands were lifted to take the enlistment oath there was no inducement for any man to go into the army under any expectation that he was entering on a holiday. In the early days of the war men thought or hoped it would be brief. They did not measure its extent or duration. They did not at all rightly estimate the awful sacrifices that were to be made before peace with honor was assured.

I well remember an incident of the early days of volunteering at Indianapolis, when the first companies in response to the first call of President Lincoln came hurrying to the capital. Among the first to arrive was one from Lafayette, under the command of Capt. Chris. Miller. They came in tumultuously and enthusiastic for the fight. These companies were organized into regiments, which one by one were sent into West Virginia or other fields of service. It happened that the regiment to which my friend Miller was assigned was the last to leave the State. I met him one day on the street, and a more mad and despondent soldier I never saw. He was not absolutely choice in the use of his language—all soldiers were not. I think the First Brigade was an exception. [Laughter.] He was swearing like a pirate over the disgrace that had befallen him and his associates, growing out of the fact that he was absolutely certain that the war would be over before they got into the field, and left in camp a stranded regiment, having no part in putting down the rebellion.

Well, his day came presently, and he was ordered to West Virginia, and among the first of those who, under the fire of the enemy at Rich Mountain, received a bullet through his body was Capt. Chris. Miller. When these regiments of ours were enlisted we were not apprehensive that the war would be over before we had an adequate share of it. We were pretty certain we would all have enough before we were through. The clouds were dark in those days of '62. McClellan was shut up in the Peninsula; Buell was coming back from Alabama; Kirby Smith was entering through Cumberland Gap, and everything seemed to be discouraging. I think I may claim for these men of Illinois, and these men of Indiana and of Ohio—if some of them are here to meet with us to-day—that when they enlisted there was no other motive than pure, downright patriotism, and there was no misunderstanding of the serious import of the work on which they entered. [Applause.]

Those early days in which we were being transformed from civilians into soldiers were full of trial and hardship. The officers were sometimes bumptious and unduly severe—I am entering a plea in my own behalf now. [Laughter.] The soldiers had not yet got to understand why a camp guard should be established, why they should not be at perfect liberty to go to town as they were when on the farm and the day's work was over. It was supposed that an army was composed of so many men, but we had not learned at that time that it was absolutely necessary that all those men should be at the same place at the same time, and that they could not be scattered over the neighborhood. There were a good many trials of that sort while the men were being made soldiers and the officers were learning their duties, and to know the proper margin between the due liberty of the individual and the necessary restraint of discipline. But those days were passed soon, and they passed the sooner when the men went into active duties. Camp duties were always irksome and troublesome, but when they were changed for the active duties of the march and field there was less need of restraint.

I always noticed there was no great need of a camp guard after the boys had marched twenty-five miles. They did not need so much watching at night. Then the serious time came when sickness devastated us and disease swept its dread swath, and that dreadful progress of making soldiers was passed through when diseases which should have characterized childhood prostrated and destroyed men. Then there came out of all this, after the sifting out of those who were weak and incapable, of those who could not stand this acclimating process, that body of tough, strong men, ready for the march and fight, that made up the great armies which under Grant and Sherman and Sheridan carried the flag to triumph.

The survivors of some of them are here to-day, and whatever else has come to us in life, whether honor or disappointment, I do not think there are any of us—not me, I am sure—who would to-day exchange the satisfaction, the heart comfort we have in having been a part of the great army that subdued the rebellion, that saved the country, the Constitution, and the flag. [Applause.] If I were asked to exchange it for any honor that has come to me, I would lay down any civil office rather than surrender the satisfaction I have in having been an humble partaker with you in that great war. [Applause.] Who shall measure it? Well, generations hence, when this country, which had 30,000,000, now 64,000,000, has become 100,000,000, when these institutions of ours grow and develop and spread, and homes in which happiness and comfort have their abiding place, then we may begin to realize, North and South, what this work was. We but imperfectly see it now, yet we have seen enough of the glory of the Lord to fill our souls full of a quiet enthusiasm. [Applause.]

Here we are pursuing our different works in life to-day just as when we stood on picket or on guard, just as in the front rank of battle facing the foe—trying to do our part for the country. I hope there is not a soldier here in whom the love of the flag has died out. I believe there is not one in whose heart it is not a growing passion. I think a great deal of the interest of the flag we see among the children is because you have taught them what the flag means. No one knows how beautiful it is when we see it displayed here on this quiet October day, amid these quiet autumnal scenes, who has not seen it when there was no other beautiful thing to look upon. [Applause.] And in those long, tiresome marches, in those hours of smoke and battle and darkness, what was there that was beautiful except the starry banner that floated over us? [Applause.]

Our country has grown and developed and increased in riches until it is to-day marvellous among the nations of the earth, sweeping from sea to sea, embracing almost every climate, touching the tropics and the arctic, covering every form of product of the soil, developing in skill in the mechanical arts, developing, I trust and believe, not only in these material things which are great, but not the greatest, but developing also in those qualities of mind and heart, in morality, in the love of order, in sobriety, in respect for the law, in a God-fearing disposition among the people, in love for our country, in all these high and spiritual things. I believe the soldiers in their places have made a large contribution to all these things.

The assembling of our great army was hardly so marvellous as its disbanding. In the olden time it was expected that a soldier would be a brawler when the campaign was over. He was too often a disturber. Those habits of violence which he had learned in the field followed him to his home. But how different it was in this war of ours. The army sprang into life as if by magic, on the call of the martyred President—Illinois' greatest gift, as I have said, to the Nation. They fought through the war, and they came out of it without demoralization. They returned to the very pursuits from which they had come. It seemed to one that it was like the wrapping of snow which nature sometimes puts over the earth in the winter season to protect and keep warm the vegetation which is hidden under it, and which under the warm days of spring melts and disappears, and settles into the earth to clothe it with verdure and beauty and harvest. [Great cheering.]

Alumni Hall, Knox College.

After the public reception was concluded the President and party participated in the laying of the corner-stone of the Alumni Hall on the campus of Knox College. Dr. Newton Bateman, president of the college, conducted the exercises. Prof. Milton L. Comstock read a brief history of Knox College, at the conclusion of which Dr. Adams introduced President Harrison, who spoke as follows:

My Fellow-citizens—Speaking this morning in the open air, which since my official isolation from campaigning has made my voice unaccustomed to it, will make it impossible for me to speak further at this time. I do not deem this ceremony at all out of accord with the patriotic impulses which have stirred our hearts to-day. Education was early in the thought of the framers of our Constitution as one of the best, if not the only guarantee of their perpetuation. Washington, as well as the founders of the venerable and useful institution, appreciated and expressed his interest in the establishment of institutions of learning. How shall one be a safe citizen when citizens are rulers who are not intelligent? How shall he understand those great questions which his suffrage must adjudge without thorough intellectual culture in his youth? We are here, then, to-day engaged in a patriotic work as we lay this corner-stone of an institution that has had a great career of usefulness in the past and is now entering upon a field of enlarged usefulness. We lay this corner-stone and rededicate this institution to truth, purity, loyalty, and a love of God.

Phi Delta Theta Banquet.

In the evening the President attended a banquet tendered him by Lombard and Knox chapters of Phi Delta Theta, of which college fraternity General Harrison was a member in his student days. At the President's table sat Toastmaster Lester L. Silliman, of Lombard Chapter, with General Miles, Generals Grosvenor, Morgan, and Post, Mayor Stevens, Dr. Ayres, and Rev. Dr. Hood. Brother Geo. W. Prince delivered the welcoming address on behalf of the local chapters, to which the distinguished Phi brother, President Harrison, arising amid great applause, responded. After a few pleasant remarks regarding his recollections of college life and his pleasure at meeting again with the members of the Phi Delta Theta, he said:

My college associations were broken early in life, partly by necessity and partly by choice; by necessity so far as the compulsion to work for a living was upon me, and by choice in that I added to my responsibility at an early date, so that it has not been my pleasure often to meet with or sit about the banquet board with members of this society. It gives me pleasure to meet with you to-night. I feel the greatest sympathy with these young men who are now disciplining their minds for the work of life. I would not have them make these days too serious, and yet they are very full of portent and promise. It is not inconsistent, I think, with the joyfulness and gladness which pertains to youth that they shall have some sense of the value of these golden days. They are days that are to affect the whole future. If I were to select a watchword that I would have every young man write above his door and on his heart, it would be that good word "Fidelity." I know of no better. The man who meets every obligation to the family, to society, to the State, to his country, and his God, to the very best measure of his strength and ability, cannot fail of that assurance and quietness that comes of a good conscience, and will seldom fail of the approval of his fellow-men, and will never fail of the reward which is promised to faithfulness. Unfaithfulness and lack of fidelity to duty, to work, and to obligation is the open door to all that is disgraceful and degrading.

I want to thank you again, gentlemen, for this pleasant greeting, and to ask you, after the rather exhaustive duties of this day, to excuse me from further address and accept the best wishes of a brother in the Phi Delta Theta organization. [Cheers.]

The Brigade Banquet.

Later in the evening the President and party attended a banquet given by the citizens in honor of the First Brigade. It was a brilliant affair, conducted by the ladies of the city, active among whom were Mrs. Geo. Lescher, Miss Tillie Weeks, Miss Maude Stewart, Miss Winnie Hoover, and Mrs. Whiffen. Mrs. George Gale had charge of the table of honor, assisted by Mrs. Otto M. Smith and Miss Louise Tryon. Gen. Philip S. Post was Master of Ceremonies and presented General Harrison.

The President prologued his parting words with an incident of a visit he made to a small town down the Potomac. Although he was introduced as President all over the town, no special attention was paid to him, and when the local paper came out with a column and a half report of the visit of the Chief Executive, the good people of the town were astonished, but explained their lack of attention by saying they thought Mr. Harrison was president of some fishing club. Aside from jokes, said the President:

One serious word in leaving. This day in Galesburg I shall long remember. The enthusiasm and the cordiality of the citizens, the delicacy and kindness of their attention, have impressed me deeply. I shall ever gratefully recollect Galesburg as a spot of especial interest, as the place of the meeting of the old brigade. Comrades, I hope to meet you again when my time is more my own, and on several occasions like this to speak to you more familiarly, and to recall this time. I have tried not to be stinted in my intercourse with you, for I have wanted you to feel me warm and sincere. I have expressed myself, but not as freely as I would if by ourselves, or if I were but a private citizen or member of the brigade. But I would say to you and all your families, to the wives that sit here, to the wives and children that are at home, to those who have gone out from your roof-tree to prepare homes, to your grand-children—and I hope all of you have them—to one and all, I extend the hearty sympathy and best wishes of the "old-timer" you served so faithfully.

Reunion First Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps.

In the afternoon General Harrison attended the reunion of the First Brigade Association, of which he is President. This brigade was the General's command in the late war, and comprised the Seventieth Indiana Regiment, Seventy-ninth Ohio, One Hundred and Second, One Hundred and Fifth, and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois. Many veterans were present from these regiments. Among the prominent participants were: Generals Daniel Dustin and E. F. Dutton, Sycamore, Ill.; Gen. F. C. Smith, Galesburg; Gen. A. W. Doane, Wilmington, Ohio; General Miles, Col. H. C. Corbin, H. H. Carr, N. E. Gray, Dr. P. L. McKinnie, and Colonel Sexton, Chicago; H. H. McDowell, Pontiac; Capt. Edward L. Patterson, Cleveland; Capt. F. E. Scott, Brokenbow, Neb.; Capt. J. T. Merritt, Aledo; Major M. G. McLain, Indianapolis; Capt. J. E. Huston, Clearfield, Iowa; James M. Ayers, R. M. Smock, Colonel Mannon, Major Jack Burst, Wm. Eddleman, C. D. Braidemeyer, Capt. T. U. Scott, Capt. T. S. Rogers, C. P. Curtis, Captain Bodkins, and others. Congressman Thos. J. Henderson and many of the above-mentioned officers made brief speeches during the reunion. General Dustin occupied the chair pending the election of officers for the ensuing year. General Harrison's re-election as President of the Association was carried amid cheers, and as he appeared to assume the presiding chair the veterans gave him a rousing reception.

The President then addressed the brigade as follows:

Comrades—The object of my visit to Galesburg was this meeting which we are to have now. I should not, I think, have been persuaded to make this trip except for the pleasure which I expected to find in meeting the men of the old brigade, from most of whom I have been separated since the muster-out day. We have had a great demonstration, one very full of interest, on the streets and in the park, but I think we are drawn a little closer in this meeting and understand each other a little better than in the larger assemblages of which we have made a part. It is very pleasant for me to see so many here. I cannot recall the names of all of you. Time has wrought its changes upon the faces of us all. You recognize me because there were not so many colonels as there were soldiers—fortunately, perhaps, for the country. [Laughter.] I saw you as individuals in the brigade line when it was drawn up either for parade or battle. It is quite natural, therefore, and I trust it will not be held against me, that you should have a better recollection of my features than I can possibly have of yours. And yet some of you I recall and all of you I love. [Applause.] When you were associated in a brigade in 1862 we were all somewhat new to military duties and life. The officers as well as the men had come together animated by a common purpose from every pursuit in life. We were not so early in the field as some of our comrades. We yield them the honor of longer service, but I think we may claim for ourselves that when our hands were lifted to take the enlistment oath there was no inducement for any man to go into the army under any expectation that he was entering on a holiday. In the early days of the war men thought or hoped it would be brief. They did not measure its extent or duration. They did not at all rightly estimate the awful sacrifices that were to be made before peace with honor was assured.

I well remember an incident of the early days of volunteering at Indianapolis, when the first companies in response to the first call of President Lincoln came hurrying to the capital. Among the first to arrive was one from Lafayette, under the command of Capt. Chris. Miller. They came in tumultuously and enthusiastic for the fight. These companies were organized into regiments, which one by one were sent into West Virginia or other fields of service. It happened that the regiment to which my friend Miller was assigned was the last to leave the State. I met him one day on the street, and a more mad and despondent soldier I never saw. He was not absolutely choice in the use of his language—all soldiers were not. I think the First Brigade was an exception. [Laughter.] He was swearing like a pirate over the disgrace that had befallen him and his associates, growing out of the fact that he was absolutely certain that the war would be over before they got into the field, and left in camp a stranded regiment, having no part in putting down the rebellion.

Well, his day came presently, and he was ordered to West Virginia, and among the first of those who, under the fire of the enemy at Rich Mountain, received a bullet through his body was Capt. Chris. Miller. When these regiments of ours were enlisted we were not apprehensive that the war would be over before we had an adequate share of it. We were pretty certain we would all have enough before we were through. The clouds were dark in those days of '62. McClellan was shut up in the Peninsula; Buell was coming back from Alabama; Kirby Smith was entering through Cumberland Gap, and everything seemed to be discouraging. I think I may claim for these men of Illinois, and these men of Indiana and of Ohio—if some of them are here to meet with us to-day—that when they enlisted there was no other motive than pure, downright patriotism, and there was no misunderstanding of the serious import of the work on which they entered. [Applause.]

Those early days in which we were being transformed from civilians into soldiers were full of trial and hardship. The officers were sometimes bumptious and unduly severe—I am entering a plea in my own behalf now. [Laughter.] The soldiers had not yet got to understand why a camp guard should be established, why they should not be at perfect liberty to go to town as they were when on the farm and the day's work was over. It was supposed that an army was composed of so many men, but we had not learned at that time that it was absolutely necessary that all those men should be at the same place at the same time, and that they could not be scattered over the neighborhood. There were a good many trials of that sort while the men were being made soldiers and the officers were learning their duties, and to know the proper margin between the due liberty of the individual and the necessary restraint of discipline. But those days were passed soon, and they passed the sooner when the men went into active duties. Camp duties were always irksome and troublesome, but when they were changed for the active duties of the march and field there was less need of restraint.

I always noticed there was no great need of a camp guard after the boys had marched twenty-five miles. They did not need so much watching at night. Then the serious time came when sickness devastated us and disease swept its dread swath, and that dreadful progress of making soldiers was passed through when diseases which should have characterized childhood prostrated and destroyed men. Then there came out of all this, after the sifting out of those who were weak and incapable, of those who could not stand this acclimating process, that body of tough, strong men, ready for the march and fight, that made up the great armies which under Grant and Sherman and Sheridan carried the flag to triumph.

The survivors of some of them are here to-day, and whatever else has come to us in life, whether honor or disappointment, I do not think there are any of us—not me, I am sure—who would to-day exchange the satisfaction, the heart comfort we have in having been a part of the great army that subdued the rebellion, that saved the country, the Constitution, and the flag. [Applause.] If I were asked to exchange it for any honor that has come to me, I would lay down any civil office rather than surrender the satisfaction I have in having been an humble partaker with you in that great war. [Applause.] Who shall measure it? Well, generations hence, when this country, which had 30,000,000, now 64,000,000, has become 100,000,000, when these institutions of ours grow and develop and spread, and homes in which happiness and comfort have their abiding place, then we may begin to realize, North and South, what this work was. We but imperfectly see it now, yet we have seen enough of the glory of the Lord to fill our souls full of a quiet enthusiasm. [Applause.]

Here we are pursuing our different works in life to-day just as when we stood on picket or on guard, just as in the front rank of battle facing the foe—trying to do our part for the country. I hope there is not a soldier here in whom the love of the flag has died out. I believe there is not one in whose heart it is not a growing passion. I think a great deal of the interest of the flag we see among the children is because you have taught them what the flag means. No one knows how beautiful it is when we see it displayed here on this quiet October day, amid these quiet autumnal scenes, who has not seen it when there was no other beautiful thing to look upon. [Applause.] And in those long, tiresome marches, in those hours of smoke and battle and darkness, what was there that was beautiful except the starry banner that floated over us? [Applause.]

Our country has grown and developed and increased in riches until it is to-day marvellous among the nations of the earth, sweeping from sea to sea, embracing almost every climate, touching the tropics and the arctic, covering every form of product of the soil, developing in skill in the mechanical arts, developing, I trust and believe, not only in these material things which are great, but not the greatest, but developing also in those qualities of mind and heart, in morality, in the love of order, in sobriety, in respect for the law, in a God-fearing disposition among the people, in love for our country, in all these high and spiritual things. I believe the soldiers in their places have made a large contribution to all these things.

The assembling of our great army was hardly so marvellous as its disbanding. In the olden time it was expected that a soldier would be a brawler when the campaign was over. He was too often a disturber. Those habits of violence which he had learned in the field followed him to his home. But how different it was in this war of ours. The army sprang into life as if by magic, on the call of the martyred President—Illinois' greatest gift, as I have said, to the Nation. They fought through the war, and they came out of it without demoralization. They returned to the very pursuits from which they had come. It seemed to one that it was like the wrapping of snow which nature sometimes puts over the earth in the winter season to protect and keep warm the vegetation which is hidden under it, and which under the warm days of spring melts and disappears, and settles into the earth to clothe it with verdure and beauty and harvest. [Great cheering.]

Our country has grown and developed and increased in riches until it is to-day marvellous among the nations of the earth, sweeping from sea to sea, embracing almost every climate, touching the tropics and the arctic, covering every form of product of the soil, developing in skill in the mechanical arts, developing, I trust and believe, not only in these material things which are great, but not the greatest, but developing also in those qualities of mind and heart, in morality, in the love of order, in sobriety, in respect for the law, in a God-fearing disposition among the people, in love for our country, in all these high and spiritual things. I believe the soldiers in their places have made a large contribution to all these things.

The assembling of our great army was hardly so marvellous as its disbanding. In the olden time it was expected that a soldier would be a brawler when the campaign was over. He was too often a disturber. Those habits of violence which he had learned in the field followed him to his home. But how different it was in this war of ours. The army sprang into life as if by magic, on the call of the martyred President—Illinois' greatest gift, as I have said, to the Nation. They fought through the war, and they came out of it without demoralization. They returned to the very pursuits from which they had come. It seemed to one that it was like the wrapping of snow which nature sometimes puts over the earth in the winter season to protect and keep warm the vegetation which is hidden under it, and which under the warm days of spring melts and disappears, and settles into the earth to clothe it with verdure and beauty and harvest. [Great cheering.]

Alumni Hall, Knox College.

After the public reception was concluded the President and party participated in the laying of the corner-stone of the Alumni Hall on the campus of Knox College. Dr. Newton Bateman, president of the college, conducted the exercises. Prof. Milton L. Comstock read a brief history of Knox College, at the conclusion of which Dr. Adams introduced President Harrison, who spoke as follows:

My Fellow-citizens—Speaking this morning in the open air, which since my official isolation from campaigning has made my voice unaccustomed to it, will make it impossible for me to speak further at this time. I do not deem this ceremony at all out of accord with the patriotic impulses which have stirred our hearts to-day. Education was early in the thought of the framers of our Constitution as one of the best, if not the only guarantee of their perpetuation. Washington, as well as the founders of the venerable and useful institution, appreciated and expressed his interest in the establishment of institutions of learning. How shall one be a safe citizen when citizens are rulers who are not intelligent? How shall he understand those great questions which his suffrage must adjudge without thorough intellectual culture in his youth? We are here, then, to-day engaged in a patriotic work as we lay this corner-stone of an institution that has had a great career of usefulness in the past and is now entering upon a field of enlarged usefulness. We lay this corner-stone and rededicate this institution to truth, purity, loyalty, and a love of God.

Phi Delta Theta Banquet.

In the evening the President attended a banquet tendered him by Lombard and Knox chapters of Phi Delta Theta, of which college fraternity General Harrison was a member in his student days. At the President's table sat Toastmaster Lester L. Silliman, of Lombard Chapter, with General Miles, Generals Grosvenor, Morgan, and Post, Mayor Stevens, Dr. Ayres, and Rev. Dr. Hood. Brother Geo. W. Prince delivered the welcoming address on behalf of the local chapters, to which the distinguished Phi brother, President Harrison, arising amid great applause, responded. After a few pleasant remarks regarding his recollections of college life and his pleasure at meeting again with the members of the Phi Delta Theta, he said:

My college associations were broken early in life, partly by necessity and partly by choice; by necessity so far as the compulsion to work for a living was upon me, and by choice in that I added to my responsibility at an early date, so that it has not been my pleasure often to meet with or sit about the banquet board with members of this society. It gives me pleasure to meet with you to-night. I feel the greatest sympathy with these young men who are now disciplining their minds for the work of life. I would not have them make these days too serious, and yet they are very full of portent and promise. It is not inconsistent, I think, with the joyfulness and gladness which pertains to youth that they shall have some sense of the value of these golden days. They are days that are to affect the whole future. If I were to select a watchword that I would have every young man write above his door and on his heart, it would be that good word "Fidelity." I know of no better. The man who meets every obligation to the family, to society, to the State, to his country, and his God, to the very best measure of his strength and ability, cannot fail of that assurance and quietness that comes of a good conscience, and will seldom fail of the approval of his fellow-men, and will never fail of the reward which is promised to faithfulness. Unfaithfulness and lack of fidelity to duty, to work, and to obligation is the open door to all that is disgraceful and degrading.

I want to thank you again, gentlemen, for this pleasant greeting, and to ask you, after the rather exhaustive duties of this day, to excuse me from further address and accept the best wishes of a brother in the Phi Delta Theta organization. [Cheers.]

The Brigade Banquet.

Later in the evening the President and party attended a banquet given by the citizens in honor of the First Brigade. It was a brilliant affair, conducted by the ladies of the city, active among whom were Mrs. Geo. Lescher, Miss Tillie Weeks, Miss Maude Stewart, Miss Winnie Hoover, and Mrs. Whiffen. Mrs. George Gale had charge of the table of honor, assisted by Mrs. Otto M. Smith and Miss Louise Tryon. Gen. Philip S. Post was Master of Ceremonies and presented General Harrison.

The President prologued his parting words with an incident of a visit he made to a small town down the Potomac. Although he was introduced as President all over the town, no special attention was paid to him, and when the local paper came out with a column and a half report of the visit of the Chief Executive, the good people of the town were astonished, but explained their lack of attention by saying they thought Mr. Harrison was president of some fishing club. Aside from jokes, said the President:

One serious word in leaving. This day in Galesburg I shall long remember. The enthusiasm and the cordiality of the citizens, the delicacy and kindness of their attention, have impressed me deeply. I shall ever gratefully recollect Galesburg as a spot of especial interest, as the place of the meeting of the old brigade. Comrades, I hope to meet you again when my time is more my own, and on several occasions like this to speak to you more familiarly, and to recall this time. I have tried not to be stinted in my intercourse with you, for I have wanted you to feel me warm and sincere. I have expressed myself, but not as freely as I would if by ourselves, or if I were but a private citizen or member of the brigade. But I would say to you and all your families, to the wives that sit here, to the wives and children that are at home, to those who have gone out from your roof-tree to prepare homes, to your grand-children—and I hope all of you have them—to one and all, I extend the hearty sympathy and best wishes of the "old-timer" you served so faithfully.