[CHRISMAN, ILLINOIS, MAY 14.]
At Chrisman the President met with another hearty welcome. More than 6,000 people were present, many coming from Paris, Danville, and other neighboring points. The Reception Committee consisted of J. F. Van Voorhees, C. E. Kenton, C. A. Smith, and Revs. Wiley and Wilkin. Kenesaw Post, G. A. R., of Paris, Ill., J. M. Moody Commander, and a number of veterans from Ridge Farm were present.
Mr. Van Voorhees introduced the President, who spoke as follows:
My Friends—I have but one message for all these vast assemblies of my fellow-citizens who have been greeting us for something more than a month at every point where we have stopped. That message is to thank you for all these greetings and for the friendliness which shines in your faces. I am glad this is a Government by the people, because they are the most capable governors that can be found. No man can traverse this country, as I have done, from the Potomac to the Golden Gate and from the Golden Gate to the cities that open on Puget Sound, to the great North Sea, and can look into the faces of these people that come from every pursuit, without feeling that this Government, raised upon the bulwark of patriotism, is, by God's goodness, a perpetual institution. The patriotism of our people, their unselfish love for the flag, the great good-nature with which they lay aside all sharp party divisions and come together under one banner, is very gratifying to us all. Our trip has been attended by many incidents that have been full of pleasure and sometimes full of pathos.
We have never lost sight of the flag in all this journey. Sometimes out on the Great American Desert, as it used to be called, where nothing but the sage brush gave evidence of the power of nature to clothe the earth, from a little dug-out, where some man had set out to make a home for himself, would float the starry banner. [Cheers.]
This is a great country, girded around by the Grand Army of the Republic. I have never been out of the fellowship of that great organization. I have never stopped on all this trip but some comrade did not stretch up his hand to greet me. I have evidence that some of you are here to-day in this great State, such a magnificent contribution to the Grand Army that they were. I am glad to see these children. They have added grace and beauty to every meeting which we have had in this long journey. Cherish it in your community—this most beneficial institution—the common school of your State.
And now, thanking your kindly welcome, and sorry that we can tarry for only these few minutes, I bid you good-by, and God bless you. [Prolonged cheering.]