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NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS.

The undersigned, Committee of the Trustees of the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth, hereby certify that, with the sanction of the Society, the Trustees have accepted the design of Mr. HAMMATT BILLINGS for a National Monument to the Forefathers, and he is authorized to appoint agents, receive moneys, and to solicit and collect subscriptions for the prosecution of the work.

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The importance in our annals of the event to be commemorated by this Monument- the birth of a nation which, in less than two centuries and a half, has risen to rival the first empires of the Old World in power, wealth, and the refinements of civilization, while it has far outstripped them in the race of progress, by establishing the capacity of mankind for self-government, based upon universal education of intellect and morals demands from those enjoying the blessings inherited from the Pilgrim Fathers a noble and lasting testimonial; and the Society rely with confidence upon the patriotism and liberality of their countrymen to sustain them in this effort to erect a monument to the faith and self-sacrifice of our Forefathers, worthy of the grateful remembrance in which they are held by their descendants.

Agents for soliciting and collecting subscriptions will visit every part of the country, and it is confidently hoped that every American whose belief in universal liberty is sustained by seeing, day by day, the principles first planted upon the Rock at Plymouth by the Pilgrims of the May Flower, spreading over wide wastes of barbarism, and building up new States in the wilderness, will contribute something toward the first great monumental record ever built by a nation to commemorate an event perfectly peaceful in its nature, and to preserve the memory of men who sought a new land, not in pursuit of wealth, power, or glory, but for the free exercise of their religious faith, and the establishment of the principles of universal self-government.

Every person contributing 50 cts. will receive a copy of the Memorial.

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$5.00, an elegant steel plate Engraving of the Monument and become a life member of the Pilgrim Society.

"$200.00, a Bronze Statuette 23 inches high, being an exact model of the Monument in miniature.

Communications should be addressed to HAMMATT BILLINGS, ARCHITECT, or REV. W. M. HARDING, General and Financial Agent, 3 Tremont Row, Boston, Mass.

THIS MONUMENT CAN BE BUILT.

"WE ARE GOING TO COMPLETE THIS MONUMENT. We in Ohio will do a little, you in Massachusetts will do a great deal, and all New England will do something, and thus the monument IS TO BE BUILT."— Hon. Salmon P. Chase.

And why not? To think of anything else would be worse than folly after so much has been done, and after it has now been well begun, and about one fourth of the necessary amount has been already subscribed. If it is asked who approve and aid the work, we refer to the six thousand members of the Pilgrim Society whose names may be found in another part of this book; and then there is a still larger list of contributors of sums under five dollars whose names are enrolled, and to be handed down to posterity, in the RECORDS of the Monument. Now, READER, will you be one of the number to complete this Monument? If you cannot give a large sum, you certainly CAN give a small one, even "in these times,”—“Where there is a will there's a way,” — and thousands more can do the same, and the work will be done.

Do not fix your mind upon the aggregate amount required and exclaim,-"Such a sum! It cannot be done! You are not expected nor desired to do the whole, any more than a single soldier is expected to win the victory in battle, but simply to do your proportion.

You think, perhaps, that a monument less costly would be sufficient, and for such a monument you would do something. Then, friend, give that "something" now; and if enough others add their “somethings" and build the costly monument, why should you object?

How long need it take New England alone to furnish the funds necessary for the work? If fully awakened to the object, as Mr. Everett awakened the country to the Ladies' appeal for Mount Vernon, the thing would be done. Let us then hear no more of the impracticability of building the Monument. We hope that no descendant of the Pilgrims, no New Englander, no lover of the Union, every foot of which was sacred in the eyes of him who will ever be first in the hearts of his countrymen, will use as a reply to this remark that the Pilgrim Fathers have a more narrow claim on our national gratitude, and that the reverence to their memory is restricted to local lines, to the limits of any portion of the Union, any class of sectarians, any less than the whole American people, the whole Christian world. Whoever has a tittle of real love for Washington, real admiration of his virtues, real reverence for the conscientiousness which formed the basis of his greatness, will have the same admiration, the same (See third page of cover.)

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