“But another element of this village life was also evident from the first. This was the articulation of the community. Everyone knew every other one within the confines of the settlement, although stretching along the edges of the beautiful rivers, down the valleys and plains, and up the slope of the stately old mountains. When Mary Jones’ husband died and left her with a brood of little children, every man and woman in the community knew it, and most of them called upon Mary Jones with their burden of food or clothing or wood-shed supplies. It was the articulation of one life into another life, and of each life into the whole, that made the village of New Milford and every village in New England so strong and safe and efficient. “But, little by little, these villagers in New Milford and other communities round about felt the need of the articulation of community interest into a larger whole. And so the community of associated responsibility and help took in Waterbury, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven and other villages and towns scattered over this general region. This articulated the separate communities into a larger whole and the commonwealth was created. It was not a formal government so much as a community of interest and sympathy and love and organized efficiency. These several communities became a commonwealth for protection and development. Self-control was the basis of governmental control. The village was strong and vigorous in so far as the individual man and woman were strong and vigorous. The commonwealth developed these qualities of influence and strength only as the village developed them. And so this simple, this articulate life of the village became the life of the commonwealth. “Then a new condition arose. King George came across the water, established his forts, anchored his fleet in the harbor of another community that began as a village in the neighboring colony of Massachusetts. There was need of protection and safeguard in a larger way than the group of communities or villages furnished. So there came the articulation of the commonwealth with that of other commonwealths, and the united colonial power came into being. This afterwards became, as we all know so well, the United States. “So, in constructive analysis, beginning with the unit of governmental power and influence, we find the village. No fairer or better or cleaner or more dignified than this village of New Milford existed in all the group of villages amid all the clustered commonwealths. A son of some Pilgrims from New Milford, who drifted into northern Ohio, who is your speaker at this moment, rejoices with you who have dwelt here in the East, in this magnificent and imposing Celebration of the founding of New Milford.