FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 483 



The sentiment which actuated this large and representative assemblage was in 

 startling contrast to the universal execration which the mention of Brown's name 

 evoked everywhere before the war. 



" For Humanity sweeps onward ; where to-day the martyr stands, 

 On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands; 

 While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return 

 To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn." 



With the transfer of the property to the State there has arisen a desire for informa- 

 tion regarding John Brown and his acts. As Colonel Lyman's oration relates largely 

 to these matters, it seems proper that it should be inserted here. 



Oration of Hon. Henr\; h. Iy>iman at Nortl) Elba, N. ^., 



]q{% Zl, 1^96. 



Joint Broivn! A most common-place name indeed! What is there in it to stir 

 our souls as with the memory of something terrible and grand ? Not the simple name ! 

 No, there are and have been thousands of John Browns ; but the world never had 

 and never can have but one 'John Brown of Osawatomie.' That name is so deeply 

 engraven on the everlasting tablets of fame, so closely interwoven with the supreme 

 and terrible incidents of American history, that it will live forever, a synonym for 

 liberty. 



Names of men sometimes come to stand for principles ; and principles are eternal. 

 Long after yonder huge rock, the fitting monument which bears his name so deeply 

 carved by loving hands on its flinty side, shall have crumbled into dust, the name of 

 John Brown will be remembered and glorified throughout the world as the highest 

 exponent of freedom and equal rights. 



Let us hastily traverse the history and works of the man who bore this illustrious 

 name, to perpetuate whose memory we meet here to-day. 



John Brown was born in Torrington, Conn., May 9, 1800, and died at Charlestown, 

 W. Va., December 2, 1859 ; hence, was but fifty-nine years of age. The only warrant 

 for his common title of ''Old John Brown " is the numerous exciting and important 

 events crowded into his remarkable career. His was a life not measured by years, but 

 by deeds. Only the last twenty years of his life contain anything of special public 

 interest or of extraordinary nature; but to fully understand the man, his strange 

 character and his impulsive fanatical career, we must review his whole life and examine 

 its directing and controlling influences. He was of English, Welsh and Dutch blood. 



