‘Vermonters fear no man’

From atop Mount Equinox.

“Vermont is a state I love.

“I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield and Equinox without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me.

“It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride; here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our everlasting hills.

“I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all, because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.

“Vermont is my birthright. Here one gets close to nature, in the mountains, in the brooks, the waters which hurry to the sea; in the lakes, shining like silver in their green setting; fields tilled, not by machinery, but by the brain and hand of man. My folks are happy and contented. They belong to themselves, live within their incomes, and fear no man.’’

— President Calvin Coolidge (18720-1933) on Sept. 21, 1928. He grew up in Plymouth Notch, Vt., though he went to college (Amherst College), practiced law and rose to governor in Massachusetts.

Visit the Coolidge homestead. Hit this link.

At the Coolidge homestead, in Plymouth Notch, Vt. Calvin Coolidge was born in the rear of the general store in the foreground and the Coolidges’ still operative cheese company is in the distance.

— Photo by Swampyank 

Coolidge's 'law of service'

Coolidge’s home in Northampton, Mass., from 1906-1930

Calvin Coolidge (1972-1933; president 1923-1929) states his philosophy;

‘T]here is a standard of righteousness that might does not make right, that the end does not justify the means, and that expediency as a working principle is bound to fail. The only hope of perfecting human relationships is in accordance with the law of service under which men are not so solicitous about what they shall get as they are about what they shall give. Yet people are entitled to the rewards of their industry. What they earn is theirs, no matter how small or how great. But the possession of property carries the obligation to use it in a larger service.…’’

The Coolidge family homestead, in Plymouth Notch, Vt.