The
President, John Winslow, proposed the toast, "The Citizen Soldier,"
saying: "The next regular toast is 'The Citizen Soldier.' I have
already referred to the embarrassment which a presiding officer
feels in introducing a well-known and distinguished man. If I refer
to the distinguished gentleman who is to respond to this toast as a
pathetic speaker, you will immediately recall some of his fine
humor; and if I should speak of him as a humorous speaker you will
recall some pathetic sentence; so it is better to let General
Horace Porter speak for himself."]
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--After General Sherman the deluge.
I am the deluge. It is fortunate for me this evening that I come after
General Sherman only in the order of speech, and not in the order of
dinner, for a person once said in Georgia--and he was a man who knew
regarding the March to the Sea--that anyone who came after General
Sherman wouldn't find much to eat. Having been brought up in
Pennsylvania, I listened with great interest to General Sherman's
reference to the proposed names of the States in the country. He
mentioned one as "Sylvania." That was evidently a dead letter till we
put the Pen(n) to it. [Laughter.] I noticed that President Dwight
listened with equal interest to the statement of that expedition which
went West and carried such a large quantity of whiskey with it, in
consequence of which the first University was founded.
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