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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14131-0.txt b/14131-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32e7164 --- /dev/null +++ b/14131-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3739 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14131 *** + +[Illustration: Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. + +B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. II. + +JANUARY, 1885. + +No. 4. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON. + +BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M. + +[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.] + + +His Excellency George D. Robinson, at present the foremost citizen of +Massachusetts, by reason of his incumbency of the highest office in the +Commonwealth, is the thirtieth in the line of succession of the men who +have held the office of Governor under the Constitution. In character, +in ability, in education, and in those things generally which mark the +representative citizen of New England, he is a worthy successor of the +best men who have been called to the Chief Magistracy. His public career +has been marked by dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; his life as +a private citizen has been such as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man in whom the people who confer +honor upon him find themselves also honored. He is a native of the +Commonwealth, of whose laws he is the chief administrator, and comes of +that sturdy stock which wresting a new country from savagery, fostered +with patient industry the germs of civilization it had planted, and +aided in developing into a nation the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed and existing by and with the +consent of the people. His ancestors were probably of that Saxon race +which for centuries stood up against the encroachments of Norman kings +and nobles, which was led with willingness into the battle, the siege or +the crusade that meant the maintenance or advancement of old England's +honor, or in the cause of mother Church, and which was possessed of that +brave, independent spirit that, when the old home was felt to be too +narrow an abode, sought a new-country in which to plant and develop its +ideas of what government should be. However this may be it is certain +that from the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the +family was always represented among the most honorable of its yeomanry, +and among its members were pillars of both Church and State. His +immediate ancestors, people of the historic town of Lexington, were +active citizens in the Revolutionary period, and in the great struggle +members of the family were among those who did brave and effective +service in the cause of liberty. + +George Dexter Robinson was born in Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born on +a farm, his boyhood and youth were spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor exercise and labor which are +part of the life of the farmer's boy. But the future Governor did not +intend to devote himself to farming. With the aim of obtaining a +collegiate education he attended the Academy in his native town, and +followed his studies there by further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering Harvard University he was +graduated at that institution in 1856, and receiving an appointment as +Principal of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he accepted it, +filling the position with success during a period of nine years. He +retired from it in 1865. Meanwhile he had devoted much time to legal +studies, which he continued more fully during the next few months, and +in 1866 he was admitted to the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the town +wherein his active career in life had begun, he made his permanent home, +and with the various interests of that town he identified himself +closely and pleasantly, exemplifying in many ways the character of a +true townsman, and associating himself with every movement for the good +of his fellow citizens. In 1873 he was elected to represent the town the +ensuing year in the State Legislature, and as a member of the House he +was noted for the promptness and fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he was a member of the State Senate, +and here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous ability as a +legislator in addition to that fidelity to his responsibilities which +had long been characteristic of him in any and all positions. His +qualifications for public life received still wider recognition the year +he served in the Senate, and he was nominated by the Republicans of the +old Eleventh District as Representative in Congress. He was re-elected +for two successive terms, and after the re-apportionment was elected +from the new Twelfth District in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in order to assist in the +organization of the new Congress, and, after that work was accomplished, +resigned to enter upon the duties entrusted to him by the people of the +whole Commonwealth. He had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. Of his career in Washington +it would not be possible to give a better summary than one given by +"Webb," the able Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal, which +is here given in its entirety: + +Mr. Robinson took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, which met in +extra session, in October, 1877. He was prompt in his seat on the first +day of the first session. Regularity in attendance, and constant +attention to public business, have been characteristics of Mr. +Robinson's Congressional career. He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until the House adjourns at night. He +does not spend his time in importuning the departments for clerkships, +but he welcomes the civil service law. He does not take the public time, +which belongs to his constituents, for his private practice in the +United States Supreme Court. He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in discovering, and vigorous in denouncing +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the people's money and has never cast +his vote for an extravagant expenditure; but he does not oppose an +appropriation to gain a reputation for economy, or aspire to secure the +title of "watch dog of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts of a +demagogue. + +When he entered Congress, he went there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority in parliamentary law, and is one +of the ablest presiding officers in Congress. + +In the Congress which he first entered the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father's house, and come to stay." Mr. Randall was +elected Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one of the minor standing +committees--that of Expenditures in the Department of Justice--and +subsequently placed him near the foot of the list on the Special +Committee on the Mississippi Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it was discovered that where +"McGregor sits is the head of the table." Mr. Robinson, at the extra +session of the Forty-fifth Congress, took little active part in the +public proceedings. He was a student of Congressional rules and +practice. + +At the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress he began to actively +participate in the debates, and from the outset endeavored to secure a +much needed reform in Congressional proceedings. He always insisted +that, in the discussion of important questions, order should be +maintained. He followed every important bill in detail, and the +questions which he directed to those who had these bills in charge +showed that he had made himself a master of the subject. He took +occasion to revise upon the floor many of the calculations of the +Appropriations Committee, and to urge the necessity of the most rigid +economy consistent with proper administration. + +It was at the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, +1879, that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable speech. It was upon +the bill relative to the improvement of the Mississippi River. He was +very deeply impressed with the magnitude of the problems presented by +that great river, and, while he was willing that the public money should +be wisely expended for the improvement of the 'Father of Waters,' he did +not wish that Congress should be committed to any special plan which +might prove to be part of a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which this first speech was listened to, +and the endless questions with which the Southern men who favored +absolutely the levee system plied him, showed that they understood that +great weight would be given to Mr. Robinson's opinion, and that they did +not wish him to declare, unconditionally, against their cause. The +speech was a broad and liberal one, but extremely just. It had been +intimated in the course of the debate that Eastern members, who did not +favor the improvement of the river, refused to do so on account of a +narrow provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed them that New England is both +just and generous, and that the country is so united that a substantial +benefit to any portion of it cannot be an injury to another. He made +some keen thrusts at the Southern State rights advocates, who were so +eager for the old flag and an appropriation, and he reminded them that +whatever might be thought of the dogma of State sovereignty, "the great +old river is regardless of State lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee in Arkansas, over it goes into +Louisiana, spreading devastation in its course." Mr. Robinson insisted +that "Congress has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of the public +treasury immediately without investigating a theory and a plan which +proposes to render such an expenditure wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible safe-guards should be provided +against any extravagant expenditure on the part of the Government. The +relations of New England to such an undertaking he thus broadly stated: + +"I am not deterred by any considerations that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from the great cities on the Atlantic +shore. I am willing that the whole country shall be improved and opened +for its best and most profitable occupation. This territory, whose +interests are affected by this, is greater than the whole of New +England. I am not afraid that whatever improvements may be made there +New England will be left out in the cold. Whatever conduces to the +prosperity of the West or South will benefit the East and North. We are +parts of one great whole, and, if it is necessary under a proper policy +to spend some money from the Treasury of the United States to meet the +wants of those States lying along the Mississippi River, I hope it will +not be begrudged to them, but it should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the plans, have received a careful +consideration and the indorsement of the proper officers." + +At the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his +minor place on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of +Justice, introduced a bill relative to the mileage of United States +Marshals, which proposed an important reform. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the first session, Mr. Robinson, on +account of the marked abilities which he had shown as a lawyer and a +debater, was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee, a position +which he held through the Forty-sixth Congress with honor to his +district and his State. From the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress Mr. +Robinson, to the great surprise of many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took front rank as a debater on +points of order, and showed that his months of silent observation and of +earnest study had brought their fruit. His discussion of points of order +and of the rules was always characterized by good sense. He did not seek +to befog a question by an extensive quotation of authorities. He +endeavored to strip the rules of their technicalities and to apply to +them the principle of common sense. Sometimes, however, he was almost in +despair, and once in the course of an intricate discussion he exclaimed +(March 28, 1879): "If there is a standing and clear rule that guides the +Chair, I have not yet found it." + +At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support of an amendment to the +"Culbertson Court bill," which was designed to limit the jurisdiction of +the United States courts. Some of the strongest advocates of this +amendment were men who, although living in Northern States, were +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since the war, have been continuously +aggressive in their efforts to place limitations upon national power. +Mr. Robinson was a member of the Judiciary Committee and spoke upon the +bill. His speech upon this measure attracted more attention than any +speech he had delivered before that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so interested in it that, although the +debate was running in the valuable time of the morning hour, Mr. +Robinson, on motion of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, after the +expiration of his time, was requested to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of the federal courts. A few +extracts from the general parts of this speech furnish an excellent +illustration of the abilities of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He spoke as the son of a Jackson +Democrat would be likely to speak. He vigorously opposed the increase in +the limit from $500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern and Western +Democrats. + +After quoting the opinions of Chief Justices Story and Marshall to show +that the right of Congress to establish federal courts could not be +denied without defeating the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional provisions give to +the citizens of the different States their rights in the federal courts. +I say again, it is not within the constitutional power of Congress to +make discriminations as to citizens in this matter. It has been taken as +settled that the corporations of the States for purposes of jurisdiction +are citizens of the States in which they are created. Can you +discriminate? Why, in the famous Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro was not a citizen within the +meaning of the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in the Circuit Court of +the United States. The nation paused and held its breath, and never +recovered itself until after the bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that no such doctrine should ever be +repeated in this country. If Congress can exclude the citizens of a +locality, or the citizens of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain classes of wealth or industry, +surely it can exclude any other citizens. If you can, in this bill and +under our Constitution, declare that the citizens, or any portion of +them, in this country, because they act in their corporate capacity, +shall lose their rights in the federal courts, it is but the next step +to legislate that the man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in the +manufacture of cotton, or of woolen goods, or is banker, or 'bloated +bond-holder,' shall not have any rights in the federal courts. There is +no step between them. There may be a discrimination as to +subject-matter, but not as to citizens. The distinction is very broad, +and in recognition of it my argument is made." In the discussion of the +apportionment at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, Mr. Robinson +eloquently defended the honor of Massachusetts against the aspersions +which had been cast upon the Commonwealth by General Butler in his brief +as attorney in the Boynton-Loring contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this brief and suggested that if it were +true the representation of Massachusetts should be curtailed. Mr. +Robinson entered into an explanation of the reading and writing +qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts. As General Butler was the +assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson said: + +"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the +debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this +House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this +speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the +Chairman of this Census Committee. He says: + +"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant +white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the +Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and +write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke +and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write +before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that +rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes +there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would +thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that +voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more +safe than now." + +After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows: + +"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that +State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first +learn to read and write. Near to every man's dwelling stands a public +free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These +school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced. + +* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some +time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the +law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of +the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania +we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the +communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that +representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or +because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring +residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the +same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these +prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of +the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and +conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he +cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a +particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has +been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out +that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove +his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, +indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his +residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the +other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in +accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true +policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The +Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of +the man's control." + +In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh +Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which +commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the +contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our +rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for +resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as +that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our +Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one +of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the +consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said: + +"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and +proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is +tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, +unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have +fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this +Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend +some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the +word tyranny." + +To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority +to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would +lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by +some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were +confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the +rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. +But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a +Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to +adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that +we are in that pitiable plight?" + +On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to +express his views in this manner: + +"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We +have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a +chance to do something. + +"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated +officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made +haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, +to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own +retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of +this country. + +"I hear some gentlemen say, 'Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does +not reform enough,' I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he +wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in +one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it +gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends +want." + +The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills +needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and +Harbor bill and voted to sustain the President's veto. + +The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinson's +election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His +Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who +was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive +way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had +preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an +argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year +before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be +found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious +elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in +the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, +and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his +party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further +duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series +of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any +previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive +speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his +arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready +wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it +exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, +and with questions in general connected with the interests of the +Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves +to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He +entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and +during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of +political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties +were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official +business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social +requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, +dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all +kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social +relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the +election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for +Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor +Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, +compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen +both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and +though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is +one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the +strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Oliver Ames] + +OLIVER AMES. + +By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M. + +[Editor of the Boston Traveller]. + + +The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, +are a representative New England family. Their history forms an +honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in +its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the +poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, +as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and +believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled +with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such +service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury +box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the +Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually +one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were +accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously +performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor +or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored +subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. +Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and +so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their +neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As +their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for +the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and +enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises +became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of +prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in +recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a +railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of +the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of +the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became +prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William +Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for conscience's sake +forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not +only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. +Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither +of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of +Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for conscience's +sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were +the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. +The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them +descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + +The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, +Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in +Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John +Ames, who settled in Bridgewater. + +John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in +Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir +he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the +grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723. + +Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward. + +Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774. + +Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was +born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause +service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in +existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels +in 1775. + +Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was +born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant +of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he +removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on +his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, +Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for +the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods +from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and +flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during +the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every +opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of +transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and +Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions. + +Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated +by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew +into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the +factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons +of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and +thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment +had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace +with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters +of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels. + +It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes +Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance +and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable +obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the +Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder +of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand +as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the +Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd +and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National +House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873. + +Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot +note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his +native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five +years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. +At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough +scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, +placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. +The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen +from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and +political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned +to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the +same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several +inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge +of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in +the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the +State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, +and for several years personally superintended the various departments +of the firm's immense establishment at North Easton. At his father's +death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved +on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a +large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, +national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 +Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. +With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton +this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages +of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active +interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political +service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, +as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. +As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the +working members of the body. He served during each year of his +membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he +received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the +ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate +for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General +Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not +too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his +Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political +year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing +the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to +the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State +election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now +entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business +life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by +the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful +performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large +wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in +no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow +citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has +exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his +own. + +It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver Ames has won his widest +reputation. Upon the death of his father the management of the vast +enterprises which the later had controlled, suddenly devolved upon him. +The greatness of the man showed itself in that he found himself equal to +the emergency. The Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he took upon his +shoulders its settlement, not only one in which immense and diversified +interests were involved, scattered throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with obligations to the extent of eight +millions of dollars. The times were most unpropitious, the country being +just on the eve of a great financial panic when immense properties were +crumbling to pittances. He undertook the Herculean task of rescuing at +this time this estate from threatened ruin, and of vindicating the good +name of his father from undeserved censure. He had in this gigantic work +to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious railroad wreckers, and +schemers; but his thorough mental discipline united with his intensely +practical business training, and coupled with his native energy, tact, +good sense, and fertility of resources, stood him in good stead. He +inspired capitalists with confidence, money was forthcoming to further +his carefully matured plans, and the ship freighted with the fortunes of +his family, was, by his steady hand, piloted securely amidst the shoals +and quicksands of disaster, and by rocks strewn with the wrecks of +princely fortunes, to a safe anchorage. He rescued the property from +peril, met and paid the enormous indebtedness resting upon it, paid a +million of dollars or more of legacies, and had still a large surplus to +divide among the heirs. + +As a business man his sagacity seems almost intuitive. As an +illustration of this, his work in developing the Central Branch of the +Union Pacific Railroad may be instanced, a work which at the same time +gave him high rank as a railroad manager. At the time he connected +himself with the undertaking, only the first hundred miles of the road +were in running order. He first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and fully equipping it for operation. +His judgment, which at the time was somewhat questioned by other +experienced railroad managers and financiers, was fully justified by the +result, which was a complete financial success. + +One of the most impressive traits in the character of Oliver Ames is his +veneration for the memory of his distinguished father. He fully believes +that the hastily and unjustly formed verdict of censure pronounced upon +Oakes Ames, both by public opinion and by the United States House of +Representatives, will ere long be reversed, and that his memory will be +honored by the country, as it so justly deserves. Indeed he has already +had the gratification of seeing this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only remains for Congress to remove its +undeserved vote of censure, for Oakes Ames to take his appropriate and +honored place in American history. There is little doubt that Mr. Ames +will yet see this ambition of his life realized. As to this censure, +Massachusetts, where Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, has +spoken through her Legislature by the following resolution, which +unanimously passed both House and Senate in the spring of 1883: + + "Resolved, in view of the great services of Oakes Ames, + representative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional + District, for ten years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the + construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital + contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union + since the war: + + "In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused + to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so + made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement + and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-second Congress + at the close of its session; + + "And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which, upon + a review of all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable + with his condemnation, and which, throughout the whole country + recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement and his + innocence of corrupt motive or conduct; + + "Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its + gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose + and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of + the National Congress." + +The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial devotion and respect. This +village of North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames and other members of the +Ames family, as well as the seat of the extensive shovel works, deserves +more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by +this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The +old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat +appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy +yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the +firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the +welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and +well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a +gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of +architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of +the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like +cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely +struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family, +and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and +endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the +temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New +England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of +the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the +welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a +declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of +New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or +Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer +with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and +charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the +villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are +surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these +is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a +spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its +emerald setting. + +The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most marked +illustrations in this model and typical New England village; and no +small share of what has been achieved for it is due to the warm heart +and open hand of Oliver Ames. He has ever shown himself an ardent friend +of popular education, and justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For a period of twenty years he found +time, amid a multiplicity of weighty business cares, to serve upon the +School Committee of his town and to give the benefit of his experience, +judgment, and personal supervision to the promotion of the efficiency of +this one of the very fundamental of American institutions, the common +school. Oakes Ames left a fund of $50,000, the income to be used for the +benefit of the school children of North Easton village. Through the wise +thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton are among the objects of the +fondest pride of its citizens. + +Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time for the appreciative +enjoyment of the amenities and refinements of life. He posesses a +cultivated appreciation of music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable and choice collections of +paintings and statuary. Architecture has been with him a special study, +and his magnificent winter residence, recently completed on Commonwealth +Avenue, in our city of Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence would be called a palace, here it is +simply the home of a representative American citizen. Peculiarly happy +in his domestic relations his home is beautified and ennobled by the +virtues of domestic life. A generous hospitality is dispensed within its +portals, where on every hand are found the evidences of the cultured +refinement of its occupants. A tour of a few months in the Old World not +only gave Mr. Ames needed rest and relaxation from business cares, but +also furnished him with opportunities for observation which were most +judiciously improved. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton. + +In his native town he is unusually respected and beloved, and with the +working-men in his factories he enjoys an unbounded popularity. This is +but natural, since he is himself a skilled artisan, an inventive and +ingenious mechanic, familiar through a personal experience with every +detail of the work in which they are engaged. This, coupled with his +native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious manners, makes him the +model employer. + +The custodian of great wealth, he uses it in a spirit of wise +benevolence, and his public and private benefactions, while large, are +made without ostentation or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in his personal friendships, it is +little wonder that some of them now and then impulsively speak of him as +"the best man in the world." + +In the full vigor of a robust manhood, Mr. Ames attends to his vast +private business affairs, performs faithfully his official and public +duties, finds time for his favorite authors, and keeps fully abreast +with current thought and the progress of the age. His brow is yet +unwrinkled and cares rest lightly upon him. Free from the pride of +wealth, temperate, conservative, clear-headed, and distinguished for his +strong common sense, his generous, unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his trust justly win for him a +multitude of friends. + +Faithful in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party, and +in his services to his native Commonwealth, Massachusetts has reason for +a just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. His name may yet stand the +Republican party of the State in good stead in a political exigency not +unlikely to arise in the near future. Whatever may be said of the causes +of the defection from the Republican ranks which took place in the last +national campaign, there is no doubt about one of its results,--it has +driven the Republican party to seek a closer alliance with the +working-people of the Commonwealth. The Republican bolters were almost +exclusively drawn from the aristocratic end of the party. It was Harvard +and Beacon Hill that revolted. To make good the loss the Republican +leaders had to appeal for support to the same class of voters which gave +to Republican principles their first triumphs,--the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard now that Mr. Blaine is +defeated it is not likely that for many years to come, if ever, the +Republican party in Massachusetts will be able, to lean upon the immense +majorities of former years, that ran away up to sixty, seventy, and +eighty thousand. With a Democratic administration installed at +Washington, and the power and prestige which that fact will imply and +apply in the local politics of the States,--and in no State more +powerfully than in Massachusetts, where the shifting body of Independent +voters, so-called, is largely made up of the Hessian element that will +incline to whichever side has spoils to bestow,--the Republican party in +order to hold Massachusetts will have to cultivate and strengthen the +alliance which it formed in the late election with the laboring class of +voters. It will have to revert to the sympathetic and liberal policy +touching all questions that affect labor, and the welfare of the working +people of the State, which marked the earlier years of its power. The +Ames family is linked in the popular mind with that policy. And justly +so, too! Oakes Ames was a true friend to labor, as well as one of the +most practical; and the fine instinct which guided him in making of +North Easton a model industrial community, where the happiest relations +of mutual confidence and support have subsisted between employer and +employed, he bequeathed to his sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and there is no element of exaggeration +in the statement, that if all our large capitalists and manufacturers +could succeed in establishing the same rapport between themselves and +their employes which the Ameses have always maintained at North Easton, +the vexed problem of capital and labor would be solved; for there would +be no more conflict between them. Oliver Ames is held in the same high +esteem and almost affectionate regard by the working people of the Old +Colony district, where the interests of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time comes, and it is not far off, that the +Republican party in Massachusetts shall feel the necessity of getting +nearer to her common people, and, in order to retain its supremacy in +the State, of offering to their suffrages a man whose whole life has +been spent in close and friendly relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, if it shall not turn to +the present popular Lieutenant Governor, and present the name of Oliver +Ames as one well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism among the +working-classes, and certain, if presented to them, to be endorsed by a +splendid majority for the first office in the popular gift. + +[NOTE. + +GENEALOGY. + +RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England. + +I. William, who came to America and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. + +II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, married Sarah Willis +(daughter of John Willis of Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In +1672 he settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his heir in +1697. + +III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater and married in 1706 +Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, +and granddaughter of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, the latter +of whom came to America in the third ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623) + +IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard (daughter +of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] Howard, and granddaughter of John and +Martha [Haywood] Howard of Duxbury). + +V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; married in 1759 +Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died January 11, 1821). She was the +daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter of John +Howard of Duxbury and Rev. James Keith. + +VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September 11, 1863; married +in April, 1803, Susannah Angier (born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). +Dr. William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter (2), Ruth, who +came to America in 1637, and married Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose +son (3), Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of President Urian +Oakes of Harvard College. Their son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary +Bourne, granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), Oakes Angier, +a law student of President John Adams, was the father of (6) Susannah +Angier. Children: + +1. _Oakes_, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873. + +2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844. + +3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877. + +4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811. + +5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn. + +6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October 10, 1836, Nathaniel +Witherell, Jr. + +7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844. + +8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 1839, Asa Mitchell. + +VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; +died July 20, 1882). Children: + +1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829. + +2. _Oliver_, b. February 4, 1831. + +3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833. + +4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841. + +5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry W. French. + +VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, 1831; married March 14, +1860, Anna C. Ray (born January 16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children: + +1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861. + +2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863. + +3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864. + +5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870. + +6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874. + +EDITOR.] + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN] + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD. + +By FRANK W. KAAN. + + +We were changing cars about midnight at Rotterdam Junction, New York, +for the Fitchburg Railroad connection. "You might know we were near +Boston," said a passenger. "See what a comfortable car this is." "Yes," +remarked a middle-aged gentleman, "I've been away for three weeks, and I +never want to leave Boston for so long a time again." And he gave a sigh +of relief. No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles were called forth by +this innocent confession. Yet the sentiment found an echo in our hearts. +But a North Adams man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, Berkshire County +is good enough for me." The incident has a deeper meaning than appears +at first glance. + +Going westward on the Boston and Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is +reached at Chester. The rest of the way lies in a country of hills. A +pleasing prospect meets the eye in every direction. There is nothing +sublime and majestic to inspire the mind and exhilarate the spirits, but +the steadfast, sober hills and the quiet valleys in nature's soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul. + +We cross a branch of the River Housatonic, _alias_ Ousatonac, +Ausotunnoog, Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, and the train stops before +a large, handsome brick station, once the "best in the State," now +restricted to "west of Boston." A broad street on the left leads to the +park in the centre of the town. Here is the Berkshire Athenæum, with its +excellent public library, where we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by Mr. J.E.A. Smith. + +A century and a half ago an unbroken wilderness stretched between the +Hoosac and Taconic ranges. The mountains rose by steady degrees from the +hills of Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in Vermont, 4,400 feet above +the level of the sea. The valley, however, dotted with hundreds of +hills, reached its greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the foot of +Greylock, fourteen miles north of Pittsfield; thence it sloped +irregularly north and south. The forests contained deer in plenty for +fifty years longer. A few bears, with rather more wolves and Indians, +constituted the remainder of the larger movable objects of the +landscape. The soil was well fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service to settlers. + +[Illustration: LAKE ONATA.] + +This region remained uninhabited, however, for many years later than +would ordinarily have been the case; not so much from fear of hardships +or Indian troubles as on account of the uncertainty of the land tenures +which could be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason of the Royal Charter +of 1691, claimed to the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: moreover, that the western boundary +had been agreed upon for special reasons; furthermore, that her own +territory, as successor to the rights granted the Duke of York in 1674, +reached from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and western limits. In return, +attention was called to the clause in that Charter, excepting lands in +the possession of any other Christian State. Now, in consequence of the +discovery of the Hudson in 1608, the Dutch had occupied the country as +far east as the Connecticut, and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of settlement. Thus the controversy +was prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run parallel with the Hudson, +at a distance of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But about the year 1720 +it became evident that the western boundary of Connecticut would be +established in favor of that province. This arrangement, as the New York +representatives stated, was a result of the boldness of settlers in +pushing westward and occupying the district in dispute. Accordingly, +Massachusetts was encouraged to pursue a similar course, and the first +settlement on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield in 1725. The occasion +of the next advance appears to have arisen from the attention paid to +free education in Boston. That town, in 1735, because of its large +expenditures for public schools, support of poor, and contribution to +the State treasury, petitioned the General Court for a grant of three or +four townships within the "Hampshire wild lands." Three lots, each six +miles square, were given, subject to certain conditions. Within five +years, sixty Massachusetts families must be settled, each possessing a +house (at least eighteen feet square and seven stud), with five acres of +improved land. A house for public worship must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1807.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD PARSONAGE.] + +One of these townships, Poontoosuck, an Indian word, meaning "winter +deer," was bought at public auction for £1,320, by Colonel Jacob +Wendell, whose descendents have earned lasting honor for the family +name. Philip Livingston, of Albany, and John Stoddard, through older +claims, became associated with him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied with, and, after an unsuccessful +attempt to bring in Dutchmen, a company of forty settlers from Westfield +purchased and took possession of the greater part of the township. +Difficulties with the Indians soon drove them back. The first permanent +settlement was made in 1749, and three years later occurred the birthday +of the town. + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD AVENUE.] + +In May, 1761, the first town meeting was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitt, for his vigorous conduct +of the war against France. Slaves were owned by many of the citizens, +and stocks and a whipping-post were set up. Saw mills and grist mills +were in operation; fulling mills held an important position, and shortly +afterwards the production of iron became considerable. The first +meeting-house was completed in 1770. The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long House," owned by Colonel Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two pounds eight shillings, in 1762. + +In resistance to British oppression at the outbreak of the Revolution, +Berkshire County required no one to lead the way. "The popular rage," +wrote Governor Gage, "is very high in Berkshire and makes its way +rapidly to the rest." In response to the Boston Port bill cattle and +money were sent to the sufferers. Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English goods at whatever time the American Congress +should recommend such action. In August, 1774, Berkshire set the example +of obstructing the King's Courts. In the expedition for the capture of +Ticonderoga, in the invasions of Canada, and in Burgoyne's campaign, the +town and the county held a place among the foremost in efforts and +sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The recommendations of the +Continental Congress were followed out with promptness and zeal. A +similar spirit was displayed in the relations with the Provincial +Government, so far as they affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, the county +was ruled in open resistance to the civil authorities at Boston. +Although representatives were sent to the General Court, the acts of +that body were accepted merely as advice. The judicial and executive +branches of the Government were not recognized. It was maintained that +the new Government should originate from the people on the basis of a +written Constitution and bill of rights. To this end they "refused the +admission of the course of law among them," until their demands should +be complied with. Furthermore, the old Courts were objectionable as +being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling +offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the +town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting +either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to +have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the +want of civil courts was of little consequence. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] + +An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority +had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national +Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the +excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, +numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, +caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of +the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant +of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an +appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It +is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of +the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the +steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State +Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing +the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in +material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM.] + +Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and +just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An +application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a +favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small +respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in +outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the +Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when +asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that +he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a +certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of +Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." + +[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.] + +He was a firm friend of Democracy. During the revolution he was a +radical Whig, and later on became an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian +doctrines. In the second period partisan feelings were very bitter in +the community. When, therefore, he gave full freedom to his thoughts in +articles published in the Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with a +practice more prevalent then than now, mingled political subjects with +his Sunday discourses, the Federalist members of the Congregational +Church grew restive under his pastorship. At this time, it should be +noted, Berkshire differed in politics from the rest of the State. +Matters grew worse, until a division of the parish was made and +continued for seven years. Thomas Allen died in 1811, at the age of 67. + +[Illustration: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.] + +Contrary to the custom in almost every other town of the State, and +notwithstanding the statute requirements, public worship in 1809 ceased +to be supported by the town, and nearly an equality of religious sects +before the law was produced. In 1817, after the re-union of the +Congregational Churches, the parish system was revived. It should be +kept in mind that by far the larger part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its early history with that of the +town. Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the general longing for a complete +reconciliation. + +In 1821 a great revival took place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey believed it to be essential that, so far as +possible, the town should preserve a solemn quiet, and he endeavored to +substitute religious services in place of the ordinary manner of +celebrating the Fourth of July. This plan was, to a considerable number +of citizens, by no means acceptable, yet the exercises in the Church +were attended by a large and reverent congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square where the people were wont to collect on +all anniversaries. In consequence, there was a very annoying disturbance +from fire-crackers, drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the attempt to +make this national holiday quiet and serious was not repeated. Mr. +Humphrey two years later became President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational Society with the town +came to an end through the Constitutional Amendment of that year. Two +years later business was in a state of depression, and emigration went +on at a rapid rate. A missionary from the West made known the need in +that great section of Christian emigrants to help mould its character. +From the Baptist Church in one year more than a hundred members set +forth, leaving finally but three men in the Congregation. During the +first half of the century other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are now +supported by large Congregations, composed of the best citizens of the +town. + +To turn back again in the narrative of events. Of the town's record in +the war of 1812, little must be said, although much is deserved. In this +matter, as previously in others, the county, by its warm support of the +war party, showed its independence in thought and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was made a place of meeting for recruits; a +cantonment for United States troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times 1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody Ninth;" the latter was that +regiment, which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy's Lane, gained undying +fame in a gallant struggle for the enemy's cannon. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS.] + +The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to +its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an +inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on +the green under the Old Elm. Great interest was aroused, and the +importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens. +One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride +that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, +until his friends feared to meet him. At last it gave birth to a calf, +but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, +to the back pasture. The Society was organized in 1811. New features +were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were +interested to compete for premiums. The plowing match became a part of +the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward +was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, +Chairman of the committee, read his poem, "The Ploughman." Many years +before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote +an ode for the cattle show. Improved agricultural implements and better +methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by +the fairs. The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts +of the country. In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield. + +The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who +still held their early home in loving memory. Of the thousands that were +present, many were men of national reputation. Among the exercises, a +sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was +offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor +Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL BLOCK.] + +Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before. He +was born at North Adams in 1796. When seventeen years of age, after +having spent three years in learning the hatters' trade, he began the +study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he +was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He was as +true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day. +Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar +reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon +the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal +satisfaction in both countries. He was distinguished for the consistency +of his life with his religious and temperance principles. Once, it is +said, while exhorting a friend who had already entered the downward path +of immoderate drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced to promise that so long +as the other would abstain from drinking, he, himself, would give up the +use of a collar; and this agreement was kept by both parties for life. +The truth in regard to the anecdote is rather as follows: While County +Commissioner he was often obliged to make long drives, so that besides +the annoyance from wearing a collar, he found great difficulty in +replacing it when soiled. From this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the subject by an old friend, he +offered to resume his collar if the other would cease drinking gin, and +would cut off his cue. The gin and the cue carried the day. + +The Berkshire Medical Institute was established in 1822, mainly through +the exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The charter provided that degrees +should be conferred only by the President and Trustees of Williams' +College, and according to the rules in force in the school at Cambridge. +The purpose was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and +to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a +week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay +the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These +were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student +shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of +the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office +of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one +hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, +inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having +graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of +medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent +out by any college in the country. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING.] + +The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation +excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, +theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died +out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one +evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, +and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a +favorable effect. + +A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, +reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and +exercise. It had a very successful career for about eight years. +Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the +Berkshire Athenæum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and +efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin +Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the +gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenæum +was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been +under the efficient management of Mr. E.C. Hubbel, Curator and +Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual +circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost. + +The history of the public schools is in no important respect different +from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded +in 1874, and have enjoyed an excellent reputation. By far the greater +proportion of the young folks in town attend them. The system of free +text books was early adopted. The High School, under the care of an able +scholar, Mr. Edward H. Rice, has been steadily growing in favor during +the past few years. Graduates yearly enter the various colleges, and +from neighboring towns a considerable number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law. + +For the higher education of young women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss Hinsdale as principal. It has +continued ever since, usually with a lady at the head, and for the last +few years especially has done good work under Miss Salisbury. The +Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, the most noted school of education +that has ever existed in Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations is given a view of the +avenue and the chapel; behind the latter stands the meeting-house of +1793, of late years used for a gymnasium. + +About the time of Shay's Rebellion the first newspaper, the American +Sentinel, was published. It was printed on a sheet ten by eighteen +inches in size, and gave the greater portion of its space to two or +three prosy essays. Three other newspapers appeared and vanished in turn +until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield Sun was established by Phinehas +Allen. It remained in his hands for nearly three-quarters of a century, +and to this day gives its support to the Democratic party. James Harding +is the editor. The Argus was started in 1827, as a rival, by Henry K. +Strong. Four years later it was removed to Lenox, and united with the +Berkshire Journal. In 1838 the name was changed to the Massachusetts +Eagle, and soon afterwards it was brought back to Pittsfield. In 1852 it +was given the name, The Berkshire County Eagle, which it bears to-day. +Both of these papers are weeklies. The Journal is of later date, and is +issued daily. Joseph E. See is editor. In mentioning the educational +facilities of a community it would be an act of thoughtlessness to omit +its bookstores. There is but one in Pittsfield. It contains a large +supply of books, selected with judgment, and is well managed by Mr. J.B. +Harrison. + +Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty and ill health. It is +interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was +called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: "It is a +great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but +they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at +hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so +critically. There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we +have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. +The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of +its honor. Educational matters, especially, received his attention and +assistance. His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor +to his day. The "Student's Manual" is the best known of his works; the +lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well +worth reading. + +[Illustration: ON NORTH STREET.] + +The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of +its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and +was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods +usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding +horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other +markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur +Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving +machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the +country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were +produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a +season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war +demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. + +At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as +religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its +factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years +later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. +The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient +water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into +operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a +difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined +to make their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the best imported goods. +In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which +destroyed all profit. Moreover, instead of making a single class of +goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies +had to be invented. A general business knowledge did not immediately +avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest +consequence. To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in +the county. Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel +Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a +blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling +pieces to that of muskets. Large contracts with State and National +governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the +percussion guns were introduced. + +The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire +County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the +difficulty of communication with other sections of the country. For the +first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of +Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east. In 1830 the +Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield. A little +before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out. +Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a +similar enterprise. Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston +to the Hudson. One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of +1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in +length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner's data, +fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a +discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals. +For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before +actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. In the +face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought +about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. That week occurred the first +accident. An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, +and was severely injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions +of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran +from Albany to Boston. Several short local roads have since been +constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have +contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort. On the west the physical +barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads +has only diminished the inequality. New York is still the metropolis; +the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that +direction. + +In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, +and includes most of the buildings of the town. It originated from the +unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire +department, of which they, themselves, felt little need. Nevertheless, +at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money. A Chief +Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were +constituted officers. Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, +and the duties were performed by commissioners. A curious controversy, +now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the +street crossings. The fire department from the start has been sustained +by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, +George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1876.] + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in +harmony. The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the +Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness +to respond to any call from the government. On April 19, within +twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on +its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain was +Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected +State Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the +town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation +gained in former wars. A Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was organized and +has received much merited praise for its useful services. The ideal +volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett. He was a student +at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out. In April he enlisted +as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in +his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment. He was +a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men. Before the close of +the war he had been brevetted Major-general. In peace he made his +influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the +elevation of politics. + +Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned +towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who +had died on the field of battle. The result was a monument, one of the +most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose. It is placed on the +Park, a short distance from the Athenæum. A bronze statue of a +Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite +pillar. He looks earnestly into the distance. The entire effect of the +expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of +intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers. +On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the +arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth. + +On the others are two shields, engraved with the names of those in honor +of whom this memorial was erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face: + + "FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE--FOR + THE LIVING, A MEMORY--FOR + POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM + OF LOYALTY TO THE + FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY." + +On the east face: + + "WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION + OF THE SERVICES OF ALL + HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE + HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF + OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN + HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE + TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS + THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING + MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED + THAT THE NATION MIGHT + LIVE." + +At the dedication the national flags of the two political parties were +removed from the streets and with them the statue was draped. The town +was crowded with visitors, and a long procession marched through the +streets. A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches by General Bartlett and +Honorable Thomas Colt, President of the day, and an oration by George +William Curtis accompanied the unveiling. + +The four principal streets of the town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of West street is the building of the +Berkshire Life Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1851, and +has always included among its Directors and Managers the best business +men in the town and county, who naturally take great pride in it as one +of the soundest Life Insurance Companies of the country. + +In the same building are three national and one savings bank, besides +the town and other offices. Immediately beyond is Mr. Atwood's drug +store, an establishment of long standing, which would bear favorable +comparison with any similar store as regards either attention or +knowledge of a druggist's duties. Farther along the same street are +Central Block and the Academy of Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and shady horse-chestnut trees, +invite our footsteps. The dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, built in +the cottage and villa styles of architecture; many are stately edifices; +many are hospitable mansions; all show unmistakable evidence of being +comfortable homes. Scattered over the township, each springing up around +a mill or two, are miniature villages. Their population is largely made +up of foreigners, Irish and Germans, whose condition appears to be +somewhat better than that of the same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The mills, mostly small, are located +with a view to an opportunity for using water power, yet none are +without steam power as well. In the same neighborhood are the large +farms and expensive estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest class in +the community. Between the villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views which never repeat themselves or +become monotonous. The cemetery is itself one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighborhood. A massive granite gateway is being put up, +the gift of the late Thomas Allen. For a long distance the road leads +through a thick forest of maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless for a short time, birds and +squirrels show themselves in all directions, and fill his ears with the +sounds of the woods. Far away may be seen the white houses and the +church spires of the town. No resting place for the dead could be more +peaceful, more inspiring to meditation on the part of those who walk in +the light of day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all +covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of +flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving +hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it +is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: + + WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, + Brigadier General and Brevet Major General + UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. + BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, + June 6th, 1840. + DIED IN PITTSFIELD, + December 17th, 1876. + A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment. + A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation. + A Christian, strong in faith and charity, + His life was an inspiration, + His memory is a trust. + +Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not +ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was +procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on +the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before +public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where +a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take +the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real +Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an +energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the +practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character +combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and +conscience with religious sentiment. + +A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in +which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It +is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to +Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, +working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years +travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade +with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way +through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that +deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that +their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and +unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, +the examples set before them. + + * * * * * + +ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER. + +By JOSEPH B. WALKER. + + +No man has been universally great. Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited portions of their lives. +Particularly true is this remark when applied to Major Robert Rogers, +the Ranger, who, in our last French war, greatly distinguished himself +as a partisan commander, and gained as wide fame as did any other +soldier of equal rank and opportunity. + +I do not introduce him here as a saint, for, as is well known, no +quality of sanctity ever entered his composition; but rather, as the +resolute commander of resolute men, in desperate encounters with a +desperate foe; as a man eminently fitted for the rough work given him to +do. And just here and now I am reminded of a remark made in his old age +by the late Moody Kent, for a long period an able member of the New +Hampshire bar, and there the associate of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as well as of Jeremiah Mason, and +the two Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of whom he survived. Said Mr. +Kent, one day, evidently looking forward to the termination of his +career, "Could Zeke Webster have been living at my decease he would have +spoken as well of me, yes, as well of me as he could." If one can summon +to his mind and heart the kindly charity attributed to Mr. Webster, he +may, should he care for it, find a comfortable hour in the society of +this famous Ranger. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good old +Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1727.[A] At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier town, and its log houses were +the last civilized abodes which the traveller passed as he went up the +Merrimack valley on his way to Canada. It was the seed-town from which +were afterwards planted the ten or a dozen other Scotch-Irish townships +of New Hampshire.[B] It was the first to introduce and scatter abroad +Presbyterian principles and Irish potatoes over considerable sections of +this Province. + +[Footnote A: Stark's History of Dunbarton, p. 178.] + +[Footnote B: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 180.] + +Parson McGregor and his people had been in their new homes but four +years when they had ready for occupancy a log school-house, sixteen feet +long and twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in one like it, that +Robert Rogers acquired his scanty stock of "book-learning," as then +termed. But education consists in much besides book-learning, and he +supplemented his narrow stock of this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the rocks and stumps upon his father's +farm and in the hunter's camp. + +The woods, at this day, were full of game. The deer, the bear, the +moose, the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and various other wild animals +existed in great numbers. To a young man of hardy constitution, +possessed of enterprise, energy, and a fondness for forest sports, +hunting afforded not only an attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, and as a hunter, tramped +through large sections of the wilderness between the French and English +settlements. On such excursions he mingled much with the Indians, and +somewhat with the French, obtaining by such intercourse some knowledge +of their languages, of their modes of hunting, and their habits of life. +He also acquired a fondness for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, learning the portages between +their headwaters, many of the Indian trails and the general topography +of the great area just mentioned. + +During the French and Indian wars small bodies of soldiers were often +employed to "watch and ward" the frontiers, and protect their +defenceless communities from the barbarous assaults of Indians, turned +upon them from St. Francis and Crown Point. Robert Rogers had in him +just the stuff required in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, be +surprised to find him on scouting duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when he was but nineteen years of +age;[A] and, three years later, engaged in the same service, under +Captain Ebenezer Eastman, of Pennycook.[B] Six years afterwards, in +1753, the muster rolls show him to have been a member of Captain John +Goff's company, and doing like service.[C] Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique for the ranging service, in which +they were soon to be employed. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. +95.] + +[Footnote B: Same, p. 99.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 118.] + +I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in 1749, as Londonderry became filled +to overflowing with repeated immigrations from the North of Ireland, +James Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, and one of the early +settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton, +and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in +which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the +public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an +extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement, +afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich +uplands which surrounded it. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.] + +Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by +a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a +bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This +incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his +son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that +while in London, after the French war, being in company with several +persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story, +or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When +it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the +woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his +mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who +mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in +fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B] + +[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p. +240.] + +[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is +easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them. +They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven +miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and +the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and +Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills, +nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.] + +As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the +condition of things in the British Colonies and in Canada at the +beginning of this war. + +The thirteen American Colonies had, at that time, all told, of both +white and black, a population of about one million and a half of souls +(1,425,000.)[A] The French people of Canada numbered less than one +hundred thousand.[B] + +[Footnote A: Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 127.] + +[Footnote B: Encyclopedia Brittanica.] + +The respective claims to the Central part of the North American +Continent by England and France were conflicting and irreconcilable. The +former, by right of discovery, claimed all the territory upon the +Atlantic coast from New Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of numerous +grants the right to all west of this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, claimed Canada, a portion of New +England and New York, and the basins of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +together with all the territory upon the streams tributary to these, or +a large part of the indefinite West. + +To maintain her claims France had erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to +the Gulf of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, a line starting at +Louisburg, and thence running up this great river to Quebec and +Montreal, and thence up Lake Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, he will trace +the line across which the two nations looked in defiance at each other, +and see instantaneously that the claims of France were inadmissable, and +that another war was inevitable. It mattered little that of the +forty-five years immediately preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, had been years of war +between these two neighbors. They were now, after a peace of only half a +dozen years, as ready for a fresh contest as if they were to meet for +the first time upon the battle field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; of the old Church with the new; +of feudalism with democracy--a conflict which should settle the destiny +of North America, making it English and Protestant, or French and Roman +Catholic; a contest, too, in which the victor was to gain more than he +knew, and the vanquished was to loose more than he ever dreamed of. + +Hostilities may be said to have been commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed the Ohio company of the +fort which they were erecting at the forks of the Ohio River, afterwards +named Fort Du Quesne. + +The plan of a Colonial Confederation, formed at the Albany convention in +July of that year, having failed of acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by such others as the several +Provinces were willing to furnish. + +The campaign of the next year (1755) embraced: + +1st. An expedition, under General Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne. + +2d. A second, under General Shirley, for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted. + +3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture and deportation of the +Acadians. + +4th. A fourth, under General William Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the French, in the very heart of New +England and New York, whence innumerable bands of Indians had been +dispatched by the French to murder the defenceless dwellers upon the +English frontiers, particularly those of New Hampshire, to destroy their +cattle and to burn their buildings and other property. + +To the army of this latter expedition New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of ten companies, the first being a +company of Rangers, whose Captain was Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. [A] + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, vol. 2, 1866, p. +129.] + +But a few words just here in explanation of the character of this +ranging branch of the English army. It was a product of existing +necessities in the military service of that time. Most of the country +was covered with primeval forests and military operations were largely +prosecuted in the woods or in limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying in ambush for the perpetration +of any mischief for which they might have opportunity. + +It became necessary, therefore, in scouring the forests to drive these +miscreants back to their lairs, as well as in making military +reconnoissances, to have a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian life +and warfare; prepared, not only to meet the Indian upon his own ground, +but to fight him in his own fashion. The British Regular was good for +nothing at such work. If sent into the woods he was quite sure, either +not to return at all, or to come back without his scalp. And the +ordinary Provincial was not very much better. From this necessity, +therefore, was evolved the "Ranger." + +He was a man of vigorous constitution, inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, day after day, upon scant rations, +refreshed by short intervals of sleep while rolled in his blanket upon a +pile of boughs, with no other shelter but the sky. He knew the trails of +the Indians, as well as their ordinary haunts and likeliest places of +ambush. He knew, also, all the courses of the streams and the carrying +places between them. He understood Indian wiles and warfare, and was +prepared to meet them. + +Stand such a man in a pair of stout shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small clothes; give him a close-fitting +jacket and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet in his belt; hang a +good-sized powder-horn by his side, and upon his back buckle a blanket +and a knapsack stuffed with a moderate supply of bread and raw salt +pork; to these furnishings add a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and you have an average New +Hampshire Ranger of the Seven Year's war, ready for skirmish or pitched +battle; or, for the more common duty of reconnoitering the enemy's force +and movements, of capturing his scouts and provision trains, and getting +now and then a prisoner, from whom all information possible would be +extorted; and, in short, for annoying the French and Indian foe in every +possible way. + +If you will add three or four inches to the average height of such a +soldier, give him consummate courage, coolness, readiness of resource +in extremities, together with intuitive knowledge of the enemy's wiles, +supplemented with a passable knowledge of French and Indian speech, you +will have a tolerable portrait of Captain Robert Rogers at the beginning +of our Seven Year's war.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published +in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in +the costume of a Ranger, with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun +resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian +followers."--[Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiach, vol. I, p. 164.] + +He received his first Captain's commission in the early part of 1755, +and was employed by the New Hampshire government in building a fort at +the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and in guarding its Northern and +Western frontiers until July, when he was ordered to Albany to join the +army of Major General Johnson. His first service there was in furnishing +escort, with a company of one hundred men, to a provision train from +Albany to Fort Edward. From this latter point he was afterwards +repeatedly despatched, with smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson River +and down Lake George and Lake Champlain to reconnoiter the French forts. +Some of these expeditions extended as far north as Crown Point and were +enlivened with sharp skirmishes. He was absent up the Hudson upon one of +these when the French were defeated at the battle of Lake George and +Baron Dieskan was made prisoner. + +The efficiency of the campaign of the next year (1756), which +contemplated the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, was +seriously impaired by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; Major +General Shirley being superceded in June by General Abercrombie while +he, about a month later, yielded the command to the inefficient Lord +Londown. The only occurrences of particular note during this campaign +were the capture of our forts at Oswego by General Montcalm and the +formal declarations of war by the two belligents. + +Rogers and his men were stationed at Fort William Henry, and made +repeated visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point to ascertain the power of +the enemy and to annoy him as they had opportunity. They went down Lake +George, sometimes by land upon its shores, and sometimes by water and in +boats. In the winter their land marches were frequently upon snow-shoes, +and their boats were exchanged for skates. On such occasions each Ranger +was generally his own commissary and carried his own supplies. + +In his journal for this year (1756) Rogers notes thirteen of these +expeditions as worthy of record. The first was down Lake George on the +ice, in January, with seventeen men, resulting in the capture of two +prisoners and two sledges laden with provisions. + +The second was made in February with a party of fifty men to ascertain +the strength and operations of the French at Crown Point. Having +captured one prisoner at a little village near by the fort, they were +discovered and obliged to retire before the sallying troops of the +garrison. With very marked sang froid he closes his account of this +reconnoissance by saying: "We employed ourselves while we dared stay in +setting fire to the houses and barns in the village, with which were +consumed large quantities of wheat, and other grain; we also killed +about fifty cattle and then retired, leaving the whole village in +flames." + +There often appears a ludicrous kind of honesty in the simple narratives +of this journal. He occasionally seized certain stores of the enemy +which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in +narrating the capture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon +Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed: "We sunk +and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of +wheat and flour, wine, and brandy; some few casks of the latter we +carefully concealed." + +His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two +whole companies; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens +of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year. + +Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary severity of his +discipline. A story has come down to us which well illustrates this +trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal +muddled, one night, by liberal potations, became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor in consequence of inability +to discharge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at +length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering them in +their distress, at once relieved them by the remark: "I appreciate the +gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious one. +But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other +half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one +time common, "We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the English +nation." + +But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become apparent, and we shall not be +surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by +Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent +company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the +nucleus of the famous corps since known as "Roger's Rangers." + +In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, +thereby increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in +a little more than a year this was farther enlarged by the addition of +five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of +Rangers, becoming thus the commander of the whole corps. + +The character of the service expected of this branch of the army was set +forth in Major General Shirley's orders to its commander in 1756, as +follows, viz.: "From time to time, to use your best endeavors to +distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying their +houses, barns, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack +and destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of +the country where he could find them."[A] + +[Footnote A: Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.] + +On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French +forts; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning +snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point half +way between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they captured, together with six +horses and seven men. The others fled within the walls of Ticonderoga +and alarmed the garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his situation he +commenced at once his return. By two o'clock in the afternoon, his party +was attacked by two hundred and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of his men. The French, as was +subsequently ascertained, lost one hundred and sixteen. The proximity of +Ticonderoga rendered vain the continuance of the contest, and he availed +him of the shelter of the night to return to Fort William Henry. + +For this exploit he was highly complimented by General Abercrombie, and, +at a later period of this same year, was ordered by Lord Londown to +instruct and train for the ranging service a company of British +Regulars. To these he devoted much time and prepared for their use the +manual of instruction now found in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very succinctly and lucidly the rules +governing this mode of fighting. + +The campaign of 1757 contemplated only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown directed all his energies. Having +collected all the troops which could be spared for that purpose, he +sailed for Halifax on the twentieth of June with six thousand soldiers, +among them being four companies of Rangers under the command of Major +Rogers. Upon arriving at Halifax his army was augmented by the addition +of five thousand Regulars and a powerful naval armament. We have neither +time nor inclination to consider the conduct of Lord Londown on this +occassion farther than to say that his cowardice and imbecility seem +wonderful. Finding that, in all probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he returned to New York without +striking a blow. If about this time our heroic commander of the Rangers +used some strong language far from sacred, it will become us to remember +"Zeke Webster" and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives "as +we can." He returned to New York three weeks after the surrender of Fort +William Henry, where with his Rangers he might have done something, at +least, to prevent the horrible massacre which has tarnished the fair +fame of Montcalm indellibly. + +England and America both were humbled in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of sufficent resources is severe, but +how utterly insufferable when, with abundant means, incompetency to use +them brings defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation to Lord +Londown than we are wont to think. His imbecility helped rouse the +British nation and recall William Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other countries and promised an early +termination of French dominion in America. + +Lord Londown was succeeded in the early part of 1758 by General +Abercrombie and plans were matured for capturing the Lake forts, +Louisburg and Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, the two last, +with the addition of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The movement against +Crown Point and Ticonderoga did not succeed. In the assault upon the +latter Rogers and his Rangers fought in the van and in the retreat +brought up the rear. + +In the spring of this year (1758) Rogers went down Lake George at the +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, and near the foot of it had a +desperate battle with a superior body of French and Indians. He reported +on his return one hundred and fourteen of his party as killed or +missing. Why he was not annihilated is a wonder. General Montcalm, in a +letter dated less than a month after the encounter, says: "Our Indians +would give no quarter; they have brought back one hundred and forty-six +scalps." For his intrepidity on this occasion he was presented by +General Abercrombie with the commission of Major of Rangers, before +alluded to. + +The adroitness with which Rogers sometimes extricated himself from +extreme peril is illustrated by his conduct on one occasion, when +pursued by an overwhelming number of savages up the mountain, near the +south end of Lake George, which now bears his name. Upon reaching the +summit he advanced to the very verge of the precipice, on the east side, +which descends 550 feet to the lake. Having here reversed his snow shoes +he fled down the side opposite to that by which he had come up. Arriving +soon after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks of two men, apparently, +instead of one, and Rogers far below upon the ice, hastening towards +Fort Edward, concluded that he had slid down the precipice aided by the +Great Spirit, and that farther pursuit was vain. + +Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of 1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially accomplished. +Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned in July, Fort Niagara +capitulated the same month, and Quebec was surrendered in September. + +Their violation of a flag of truce in this last month now called +attention to the St. Francis Indians, who had been for a century the +terror of the New England frontiers, swooping down upon them when least +expected, burning their buildings, destroying their cattle, mercilessly +murdering their men, women, and children, or cruelly hurrying them away +into captivity. The time had now come for returning these bloody visits. +The proffering of this delicate attention was assigned by Major General +Amherst to Rogers. In his order, dated September 13, he says: "You are +this night to set out with the detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under your command and proceed to +Misisquey Bay, from whence you will march and attack the enemy's +settlements on the south side of the river St. Lawrence in such a manner +as you shall judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for the +success and honour of his majesty's arms. + + * * * * * + +"Take your revenge, but don't forget that tho' those villains have +dastardly and promiscuously murdered the women and children of all ages, +it is my orders that no women or children are killed or hurt." + +In pursuance of these orders Major Rogers started the same day at +evening. On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi Bay. On the +twenty-third, with one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he came, without +being discovered, to the environs of the village of St. Francis. The +Indians had a dance the evening following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an hour before sunrise, Rogers and +his men fell upon them on all sides, and in a few minutes, ere they had +time to arouse themselves and seize their arms, the warriors of that +village were dead. A few, attempting to escape by the river, were shot +in their canoes. The women and children were not molested. + +When light came it revealed to the Rangers lines of scalps, mostly +English, to the number of six hundred, strung upon poles above the +door-ways. Thereupon, every house except three containing supplies was +fired, and their destruction brought death to a few who had before +escaped it by concealing themselves in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their accursed village had been +obliterated. + +The operations of the next year (1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of Quebec by the French was their +final effort. The army of the Lakes embarked from Crown Point for +Montreal on the sixteenth day of August. "Six hundred Rangers and +seventy Indians in whale-boats, commanded by Major Rogers, all in a line +abreast, formed the advance guard." He and his men encountered some +fighting on the way from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no serious obstacle +retarded their progress. The day of their arrival Monsieur de Vaudveuil +proposed to Major General Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in North America. + +The English troops, as will be remembered, entered Montreal on the +evening of the eighth of September. On the morning of the twelfth Major +Rogers was ordered by General Amherst to proceed westward with two +companies of Rangers and take possession of the western forts, still +held by the French, which, by the terms of the capitulation, were to be +surrendered. + +He embarked about noon the next day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to the west by the St. Lawrence and +the Lakes. On the seventh of November they reached the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, where the beautiful city of Cleveland now stands. The cross of +St. George had never penetrated the wilderness so far before. Here they +encamped and were soon after waited upon by messengers from the great +chieftain Pontiac, asking by what right they entered upon his territory +and the object of their visit. Rogers informed them of the downfall of +the French in America, and that he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the English by the terms of the +capitulation. Pontiac received his message remarking that he should +stand in his path until morning, when he would return to him his answer. + +The next morning Pontiac came to the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, met face to face the bold, +self-possessed, clear-headed Major of the British Rangers. It is +interesting to note how calmly the astute ally of the French accepted +the new order of things and prepared for an alliance with his former +enemies. He and Rogers had several interviews and in the end smoked the +pipe of peace. With dignified courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, provisions for his +journey and an escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke camp on the twelfth +and pushed onward towards Detroit. By messenger sent forward in advance +he apprized Monsieur Belletre, Commandant of the fort, of his near +approach and the object of it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of the truth of the unwelcome news +thus brought, he surrendered his garrison. On the twenty-ninth of +November the British flag floated from the staff which ever before had +borne only the lillies of France. + +On the tenth of December, after disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of the forts Miamie and Gatanois, +with characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still farther westward for +Michilimackinac. But it was a vain attempt. The season was far advanced. +Indeed, the winter had already come, and while the ice prevented his +progress by water, the snows rendered impracticable his advance by land. +With reluctance he relinquished for the first time the completion of his +mission. Turning eastward, after a tedious journey, he reached New York +on the fourteenth of February, 1761. + +From New York, there is reason to suppose, that he went this same year +as Captain of one of the His Majesty's Independent Companies of Foot to +South Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant in subduing the Cherokees, +who had for a year or two been committing depredations upon the +Carolinian frontiers. + +From this time onward for the next two years we lose sight of Major +Rogers, but he re-appears at the siege of Detroit in 1763. Hither he +went with twenty Rangers as part of a body of soldiers sent from Fort +Niagara under the command of Captain Dalzell for the re-inforcement of +the beleagured fort. He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, and on the +thirty-first took an active part in the fierce battle of Bloody Bridge. +His valor was as useful as it was conspicuous on that occasion, and but +for his daring efforts the retreat of the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, for a time, in the house of +the Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a throng of savages which surrounded +it, his escape with a few followers at one door was hardly achieved ere +these burst in at another. + +The next glimpse we get of Major Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some four or five hundred acres. Good +old Parson Walker, who here kept open house, and for more than fifty +years watched with solicitude the interests of his parish and his +country, says, in his diary for 1764, against date of February 24: +"Major Rogers dined with us" and again December 22:--"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me." + +It is probable that his private affairs now occupied his attention. A +year or so after the surrender of Montreal he was married to Elizabeth, +daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John's Church, in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He considered this town his residence, and in +papers executed this very year (1764) sometimes designates himself "as +of Portsmouth," and at others, as "now residing at Portsmouth." + +For three or four years, between 1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous and some quite extensive +tracts. Some twenty-five different conveyances to him are on record in +the Recorder's office of Rockingham County, and half as many from him to +other parties. + +Some of these lands he seems to have purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as +Governor of New Hampshire, conveyed to him as "a reduced officer" a +tract of three thousand acres, lying in the southern part of Vermont. + +One[A] conveyance made by him and bearing date December 20, 1762, +arrests our attention. By it he transferred to his father-in-law, Rev. +Arthur Brown, before mentioned, some five hundred acres of land in +Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire) together with "one negro man, named +Castro Dickerson, aged about twenty-eight; one negro woman, named +Sylvia; one negro boy named Pomp, aged about twelve and one Indian boy, +named Billy, aged about thirteen." For what reason this property was +thus transferred I have no means of knowing. If the object of the +conveyance was to secure it as a home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular life, the end sought was +subsequently attained, as the land descended even to his +grand-children.[B] + +[Footnote A: The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing upon +the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east side and near the south +end of Main Street, in Concord, New Hampshire. It must be at least a +hundred years old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in the rear. It +was occupied for many years by Captain and Mrs. Roach, and later by +Arthur, son of Major Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.] + +[Footnote B: A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, New Hampshire.] + +And I may as well, perhaps, just here and now anticipate a little by +saying that Major Rogers did not prove a good husband, and that +seventeen years after their marriage his wife felt constrained, February +12, 1778, to petition the General Assembly of New Hampshire for a +divorce from him on the ground of desertion and infidelity. An act +granting the same passed the Assembly on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth of March following.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert Rogers and +Elizabeth, his wife. + +"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the County of Rockingham, +and State aforesaid, hath petitioned the General Assembly for said +State, setting forth that she was married to the said Robert Rogers +about seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time he had +absented himself from and totally neglected to support and maintain +her--and had, in the most flagrant manner, in a variety of ways, +violated the marriage contract--but especially by infidelity to her Bed; +For which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a vinculo +matrimonii, might be granted. The principal facts contained in said +petition being made to appear, upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore, + +"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said +State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between +the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."--[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.] + +I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.[A] After his marriage he lived with his wife +and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously +mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach +is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his +excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at +Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into +the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and +called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two +drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, +expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the +custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain +immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the +guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a +sufficiency for both, the host should call for more. + +[Footnote A: Bouton's History of Concord, p. 351.] + +Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they +neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.[A] + +[Footnote A: Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.] + +In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to +have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is +entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the +several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the +continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the +period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless +quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made under the Generals +who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late war. +From which may be collected the material circumstances of every campaign +upon that continent from the commencement to the conclusion of the war. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. viii; Journals, pp. 236. + +An American edition of Roger's Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, +was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell's Sons. Besides a +valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an +appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals +ever published.] + +The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the country at the time of its +publication.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account of +North America; Containing a description of the several British Colonies +on that Continent, including the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, +&c., as to their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number of Inhabitants +supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior and Westerly Parts of the +Country, upon the rivers St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and +the Great Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those Parts, as to their +Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, &c., Containing many useful and +Entertaining Facts, never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller, near +Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction and Advertisement, pp. viii; +Concise Account, pp. 264.] + +It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when +the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is +doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the +charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were +written by another's hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that +the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his +expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New +York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. +If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit +of their authorship. + +Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair +chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together +with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are +such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth +with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled +much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as +fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also +attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, +entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in +1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages of +America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for the Author, and sold by J. +Millan, opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."] + +On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King's command, General Gage +appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of +Michilimackinac.[A] Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. +He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately +ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly +the duties of this office.[B] But as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and +restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of +mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all +matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters +to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C] + +[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.] + +[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage, +dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in +1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his +readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and +got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up +with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some +of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing +else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that +service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215. + +The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him +(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as +a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at +home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must +appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never +confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you +mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in +time."--[Journals, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.] + +Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by +clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the +government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts +upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary +was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To +this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time +went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got +deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; +grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable +correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of +seeking of the home government an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders +thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.] + +His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was +arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be +there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground, +probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date +between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England. + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.] + +And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, +wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his +innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had +advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He +was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment +for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in +England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he +pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with £600 a +year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt +which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length +overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by +degrees to his true level. + +[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated +February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from +London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and +kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his +sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be +made a Baronet, with a pension of £600 sterling, and to be restored to +his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.] + +We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. +The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our +Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a +military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. +Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all +the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible +business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, +as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person. + +He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival +by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon +his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a +gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, +in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and +Great-Britain;"[A] yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he +makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter +addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.[B] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 259.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, p. 261.] + +On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in +shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. +After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had +fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered +his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the +close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the +night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 118.] + +Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, +but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see +him.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 263.] + +Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South +Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief +his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret +tender of his services to the American Congress.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 273.] + +However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few +days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of +Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,[A] which +was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of +proscription. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.] + +Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he +accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by +General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the +British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 277.] + +On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so +far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was +attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American +troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual +valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over. + +The next year he returned to England,[A] where, after a disreputable +life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, +he is said to have died in the year 1800. + +[Footnote A: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 238.] + +Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in +undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the +poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as +romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy +McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock +Lomond. + + * * * * * + +ROUSED FROM DREAMS. + +By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON. + + + Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder; + Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder; + On my window-pane, making wild refrain, + Sharply strikes the rain. + + Wind in furious gusts with angry railing + Follows the unhappy restless wailing + Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee + None to save nor see. + + Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers, + Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers; + Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate, + Shrieking prayers too late! + + * * * * * + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG + +By EBENEZER BAILEY. + + +On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, +consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding +a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua +River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These +people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, +over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox +carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own. + +Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of +Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town +set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town +meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until +January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain +an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third +of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay +signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the +rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of +Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the +General Court. + +A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to +form a part of the new town of Ashby. + +The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain +Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, +and other business necessary to the organization of a town government +transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put +in order was to provide for "Sabbath days' preaching," and the Rev. +Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed +sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located +between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land +was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had +purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt. + +In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue +of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. +Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a +kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the +Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and +rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in +arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, +whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with +characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one +Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe +struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he +finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to +Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone +through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely +forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great +degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first +Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been +erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston. + +Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and +to appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. And now the town of +Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East +energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new +homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to +eighty families, with a total valuation of £2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, and the rate was over ten per +cent. + +There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many +matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil +and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no +separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the +affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town +meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will +relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine +Providence, and abate her husband's rates on Isaac Gibson's and Ebenezer +Bridge's tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton's poll +tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles. + +Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a +comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the +inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were +preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so +frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging +to the actors, from whom the future was withheld. + +As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting +to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and +to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, +wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." +A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell +was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston. + +In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of +Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and +send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held +accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report +presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing +full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights +and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows: + + "And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now + informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have + made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, + subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, + it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and + the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in + their power to keep off all such infringement." + +The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the +Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. +The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South +and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in +preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim +Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the +armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and +regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was +appropriated for powder, lead and flints. + +The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the +little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at +nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of +Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at +the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few +volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, +under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became +Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged +in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large +wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they +arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. + +It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of +volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill +John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the +intrenchments. + +When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the +contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General +Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard +to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows: + + "Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress + should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them + independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the + inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and + fortunes, support them in the measure." + +In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his +Majesty's name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the +writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of +Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant +ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay." + +For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and +unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of +furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, +the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with +the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial +difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, +and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the +inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to +us under the name of Shay's Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg +deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an +active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah +Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should +be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in +an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." +Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did +everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the +authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a +military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; +and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have +followed. + +The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, +but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the +nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main +Street. One might see Cowdin's tavern, Kimball's saw and grist mill, +Fox's store, a baker's shop, and half a dozen houses between the +American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill +back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store +of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with +large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball +were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer +Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, +were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786. + +In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in +the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a +village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and +boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the +General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, +into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of +the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in +one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill +being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they +determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its +location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should +be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the +words _nearest, convenientest_, were a cause of furious contention. Town +meeting after town meeting was held--now victory rested with one +faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, +extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian +Church. + +But now the leaven of heterodoxy was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, turned from the theological doctrines +of their forefathers and adopted Unitarian views. In most places there +was a final division of the original Church, and the formation of two +societies, one of the Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox persuasion. + +Fitchburg was agitated in this way for about twenty-four years, during +which time many ecclesiastical councils were held, and debate and +dispute were almost continuous, both in and out of town meeting, for +neighbor was divided against neighbor, and one member of a household +against another. The result was the dissolution of the parochial powers +of the town, and a division into two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox built a new building on the corner +of Main and Rollstone streets. + +But while religious contention went on, worldly growth and prosperity +increased. Quite a number of manufacturing establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little stream that furnished the power +was beginning to be appreciated. + +In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton +mills, 1 scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 +taverns, 2 hat manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 tanneries, 2 +window blind manufactories, and 1 chair manufactory. There were a number +of stone bridges, and a dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, and Lowell, and left three times a week for +Worcester and Springfield, and returned on alternate days. + +Energetic, enterprising young men were attracted to Fitchburg as a +promising place for a home, and there was the exhilarating, hopeful +atmosphere of a new and growing town, where changes are rapid and +opportunities are many. It was about this time that Rufus C. Torrey +wrote his history of Fitchburg, in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, then a public spirited young +lawyer, who had already accumulated quite an amount of material from +records and conversations with the older residents These two men saved +from oblivion very many valuable facts in the history of the town. + +About this time, also, the Fitchburg High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the Fitchburg Library Association was +organized, both of which institutions were valuable educational +influences. + +From 1840 to 1860 the town continued to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair business enlarged greatly, the +iron business was introduced by the Putnam Brothers, and grew rapidly, +and various other branches of industry were begun and prospered. The +Fitchburg Railroad was built, followed by the Vermont and Massachusetts, +the Fitchburg and Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch Railroads, all +centreing in Fitchburg and bringing an increase of business. + +At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the town contained +nearly 8,000 inhabitants, and during the war Fitchburg did her part, +answering all calls promptly and sending her best men to the field. Her +history in that contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, in his history +of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion." Nine companies were +organized in the town, and 750 Fitchburg men sent into the field. + +The years immediately following the war were years of prosperity and +rapid growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was incorporated as a city. The +infant township of 108 years before had grown to a city of 12,000 +inhabitants. The little stream which then turned the wheel of the one +solitary saw and grist mill had since been harnessed to the work of many +mills and manufactories, and on either side were the homes of hundreds, +dependent on its power for their daily bread. Railroads carried the +products of these establishments to the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city from the East and from the West +all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life. Can it be that the +dead of past generations, who sleep on the hillside which overlooks the +valley, have seen this transformation, and if so, will they behold all +the changes of the future? Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life blood. + + * * * * * + +SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW. + +By CHESTER F. SANGER. + + +The Legislature of 1884 has placed an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking in the same direction passed by +the Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1884 provides that +"The provisions of chapter ninety-eight of the Public Statutes relating +to the observance of the Lord's day shall not constitute a defence to an +action for a tort or injury suffered by a person on that day." + +Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 provided that common carriers of +passengers should no longer escape liability for their negligence in +case of accidents to passengers, by reason of the injury being received +on Sunday. This act marked a long step forward in the policy of this +Commonwealth, and made it no longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences of its illegal acts by +saying to the injured passenger, "You were breaking the law yourself, +and therefore you have no redress against us." + +This was a condition of things which worked a confusion of relations, +and lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting on "no principle of +justice" or law, and creating a "species of judicial outlawry which +ignored alike the principles of humanity and the analogies of the law." + +The provisions more particularly referred to in these Acts are those +relating to travelling on the Lord's day, found in the Statutes as +follows:-- + +"Whoever travels on the Lord's day, except from necessity or charity, +shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten dollars for each +offence."--Pub. Stat., Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting and +curious study to follow the changes made in the Sunday law, so called, +with the accompanying judicial decisions, as one by one the hindrances +to the attainment of simple justice by travellers injured on the Lord's +day have been swept away. + +The Pilgrims brought many strange ideas with them to their new home, as +we all well know, and we find these reflected in their statute books in +the form of many "blue laws," some of which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded "dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general discussion of this subject is, +as showing the character and purposes of the founders of the Republic, +we can follow but one division of the Sunday law in its various forms +since it was first framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who intended that +the day should be not merely a day of rest from labor, but also a day +devoted to public and private worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only fit punishment for those who, as +they considered it, "prophaned" the Lord's day. + +As early as 1636 it was enacted by the Court of the Plymouth Colony +that, "Whereas, complaint is made of great abuses in sundry places of +this Government of prophaning the Lord's day by travellers, both horse +and foot, by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, etc., upon the +Lord's day to the great offence of the Godly welafected among us. It is, +therefore, enacted by the Court and the authoritie thereof that if any +person or persons shall be found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such a town and fined twenty shillings, +to the Collonie's use, or else shall sit in the stocks four hours, +except they can give a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; but they +that 'soe transgresse' must be apprehended on the Lord's day and 'paye +theire fine or sitt in the stockes as aforesaide' on the second day +thereafter." It seems, however, that in spite of the pious sentiments of +the framers of the law it was not, or could not be enforced, for in 1662 +it was further enacted that "This Court doth desire that the +transgression of the foregoing order may be carefully looked into and +p'r'vented if by any due course it may be." + +But even now it seems that the energies of the law-makers were of no +avail in preventing prophanation of the Holy day by "foraignors and +others," so that twenty years later, in 1683, we find that "To prevent +prophanation of the Lord's day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on that day. It is enacted by the Court +that a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, unto whom whosever hath +nessessity of travell on the Lord's day in case of danger of death, or +such necessitous occations shall repaire, and makeing out such occations +satisfyingly to him shall receive a Tickett from him to pas on about +such like occations;" but, "if he attende not to this," or "if it shall +appeare that his plea was falce," the hand of the law was likely to fall +upon him while he contributed twenty shillings "to the use of the +Collonie." + +In the Massachusetts Bay Province it was early enacted that "no +traveller ... shall travel on the Lord's day ... except by some +adversity they are belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, +or highways the night before, and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings. + +In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation of the Lord's day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, and so it was enacted that the +penalty for the first offense should be thirty shillings, and for the +second, three pounds, while the offender, presumably a "foraignor," was +to be put under a bond to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy +according to the ideas of the straight-laced Puritans. + +Even this did not put an end to the good fathers' troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions of the several laws now +in force relating to the observation of the Lord's day or Christain +Sabbath, the said laws have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the legislators, the Lord's Day hath been greatly +and frequently prophaned" all the laws relating to the observance +thereof were repealed and a new chapter enacted, one section of which, +and the only one in which we are now interested, was the same as the law +of 1727, above quoted. + +Thirty-one years later all these laws were again erased from the statute +book and a new attempt was made to frame a law which should leave no +loop-holes for foraignors or others, as follows: "Whereas the observance +of the Lord's day is highly promotive of the welfare of a community by +affording necessary seasons for relaxation from labor and the cares of +business; for moral reflections and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world; and for those acts of +charity which support and adorn a Christian society. Be it enacted that +no person shall travel on the Lord's day except from _necessity_ or +_charity_, upon penalty of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings and not +less than ten." Notice what an interesting and moral tone is given to +the otherwise dry statute book by these sermonizing preambles which +reflect so well the motives and aims of the men who moulded and formed +the statute laws of the Commonwealth. + +In this act appears for the first time that "charity" which since then +has truly "covered a multitude of sins," while it has as often been a +strong tower of defence to corporations clearly shown to have been +careless of their obligations to the public. One of the first cases to +arise in which these words "necessity or charity" must be judicially +construed was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 Mass., 76. + +One Josiah Paine had contracted with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail between Portland and Boston on +each day of the week for two years from October 1, 1808, and Knox, his +servant, was indicted for unlawfully travelling while carrying the mail +with a stage carriage through the town of Newburyport on November 20, +1808, the same being Sabbath or Lord's day, and the said travelling not +being from necessity or charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering the +opinion of the Supreme Court, after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices and post-roads, and the +consequent legality of Paine's contract, the statutue of his State +notwithstanding, says that "necessity ... cannot be understood as a +physical necessity ... and when this travelling is necessary to execute +a lawful contract it cannot be considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." But fearing that this decision +may open too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers the Chief Justice hastens +to add: "But let it be remembered that our opinion does not protect +travellers in the stage coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of serious people either at public +worship or in their own houses. The carrier may proceed with the mail on +the Lord's day to the post-office; he may go to any public house to +refresh himself and his horses; and he may take the mail from the +post-office and proceed on his route. _Any other liberties on the Lord's +day our opinion does not warrant_." + +The report naively says, that after this opinion the Attorney General +entered a _nolle proscqui_. + +In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, a case which arose in 1816 and +which attracted a great deal of notice at the time, Chief Justice Parker +says: "It is not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated by Moses, +in order to prove that the _Christian Sabbath_ ought to be observed by +_Christians_, as a day of holy rest and religious worship; and if it +were it would be difficult to make out the point contended for from that +source;" and then goes into a long disquisition upon the Mosaic law and +the precepts of the Saviour and finally says that "cases often arise in +which it will be both innocent and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose him suddenly called to visit a +child, or other near relative, in a distant town laboring under a +dangerous illness; or suppose him to be a physician; or suppose a man's +whole fortune and the future comfort of his family to depend upon his +being at a remote place early on Monday morning, he not having known the +necessity until Saturday evening; these are all cases which would +generally be considered as justifying the act of travelling." Certainly +a somewhat broader view than that taken by the Court seven years +earlier. + +The law remained thus and was re-enacted in the Revised Statutes of +1836, the penalty being raised, however, to ten dollars. In civil cases +arising out of damages sustained by travellers upon the Lord's day, +corporations defendant were quick to take advantage of the law and to +rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff's act of travelling, as a good +defence to his action. + +In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 +Metcalf, 363. Bosworth was travelling on the eleventh of June of that +year, being Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to Fall River on business +connected with a suit in the United States Court, and was injured by +reason of a defect in a highway in Swansey. + +The defendant town admitted that it was by law required to keep the +highway in repair. And plaintiffs counsel argued that as the statute +provided a penalty of ten dollars for travelling on Sunday it could not +be further maintained that there was the additional penalty that a man +could have no legal redress for damages suffered by reason of the +neglect or refusal of defendants to do that which the law required them +to do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion, +"that the plaintiff was plainly violating the law and that since he +could recover from the town only, if free from all just imputation of +negligence or fault," in this case he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not called upon to construe the terms +"necessity or charity," as affecting the liability of corporations +plainly shown to be negligent in the performance of their duties to +others; but many such cases soon arose. + +In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or charity ... that it comprehends +all acts which it is morally fit and proper should be done on the +Sabbath may itself require some explanation. To save life, or prevent +or relieve suffering; to prepare useful food for man and beast, to save +property, as in case of fire, flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the bay, or birds on the shore, +happened to be uncommonly abundant on the Lord's day, it is equally +clear that it would furnish no excuse for fishing or shooting on that +day. How it would be if a whale happened to be stranded on the shore we +need not determine." It is needless to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon the coast. + +In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., 109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting in Malden, and counsel for +defendant maintained that the meeting was attended for idolatry and +jugglery, and while it might be the right of the plaintiff to be an +idolater and to attend shows, yet she could not do so in violation of +the Statute, which was intended to protect the conscience of the +majority of the people from being offended upon the Lord's day. But the +Court ruled that it could not be said as matter of law that travelling +for such a purpose was not within the exception, and that it must be +left to the jury to say if the plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience. + +In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, the court held that it was not a +violation of the law to hire a horse and drive to a neighboring town to +attend the funeral of plaintiff's brother. + +But it was held in a later case that plaintiff, who had been to a +funeral on the Lord's day and was returning therefrom by a somewhat +_circuitous_ route for the purpose of calling upon a relative, was not +entitled to recover for damages sustained by reason of a defect in the +highway. This was the opinion of a divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of "necessity or charity" has been +a close one. + +Such are a few of the interesting cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally framed in 1636, and which +still makes it a criminal offence punishable by a fine of ten dollars to +walk or ride upon the Lord's day, save from necessity or charity, while +our cities furnish free concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement under the guise of "sacred" concerts, upon +the day which our fathers thought and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life ... and for public and +private worship of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world. + + * * * * * + +ELIZABETH. + +A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. + +BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STAB IN THE BACK. + + +A brighter morning for a wedding never dawned. The house was alive with +merry voices and the echo of footsteps hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to be present at the ceremony which +was to take place at noon. Then would come the festivities, the feast, +the dancing, and after that the drive of the newly-married pair to the +beautiful house three miles away, that Stephen Archdale had built and +furnished for his bride, and that had never yet been a home. + +Before the appointed hour the guests began to arrive and to fill the +great drawing-room. There each one on entering walked toward the huge +fire-place, in which on an immense bed of coals glowing with a +brilliancy that outshone the rich red furniture and hangings of the room +lay great logs, which blazed in their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from the heat that did not escape up +the chimney. The rich attire of the guests could bear the bright +sunlight that streamed in through the numberless little panes of the +windows, and the gay colors that they wore showed off well against the +dark wainscotting of the room and its antique tapestries. The ladies +were gorgeous in silks and velvets which were well displayed over +enormous hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered hair was built +up in a tower nearly a foot in height, were flowers or feathers. +Precious stones fastened the folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements of fans that, however +discreetly waved, betrayed their trappings once in a while by some +coquettish tremulousness. The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, or diamond shoe buckles, +powdered wigs and queues, and with ruffles of the richest lace about +their wrists. These guests, who were among the people that in +themselves, or their descendants, were destined to give the world a new +nation, strong and free, showed all that regard to the details of +fashion said to characterize incipient decay in races. But with them it +was only an accessory of position, everything was on a foundation of +reality, it all represented a substantial wealth displaying itself +without effort. The Sherburnes were there, the Atkinsons, the +Pickerings, Governor Wentworth, the first of the Governors after New +Hampshire separated from Massachusetts and went into business for +itself, and others of the Wentworth family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already proved that the heart of a strong +man beat under his laced coat. His wife, well-born and fine-looking, was +beside him, and his son, fresh from College honors, and sipping eagerly +the sparkling draught of life that was to be over for him so soon; his +daughter also, last year a bride, and her husband. These were leaders in +that brilliant assembly called together to the marriage of Katie and +Stephen Archdale. + +While waiting for the event of the morning they talked in low tones +among themselves of the wedding, or more audibly, of personal, or of +political affairs. + +"It wants only ten minutes of the hour," said one lady, "perhaps our +good parson may not come this morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked her companion. + +"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, will lock his study door upon him as +she did one Sabbath when we all went to the house of God and found the +pulpit empty. There's no end to all the malicious tricks she plays him. +Poor, good man." + +"Do you know," said a beruffled gentleman in another part of the room to +his next neighbor, "what a preposterous proposal that ragged fellow, +Bill Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth last week? He is a +good-for-nothing, and the whole scheme is thought to have been merely a +plan to talk with the Governor, whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine house, and he stalked about there +an hour looking at the pictures and the splendid furniture while its +owner was taking an airing. The general opinion is that the object of +his visit was accomplished before his Excellency's return." + +"Poor fellow! One can't blame him so very much," returned the listener +with a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted snuff-box to the +speaker before helping himself generously from it. "But what was his +scheme?" + +"Something the most absurd you ever listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish a public coach from this +city to Boston, to run as often as once a week, and, after the first +expense, to support itself from the travellers it carries; each one is +to pay a few shillings. Where did he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other than private conveyances?" And +these representatives of conservatism threw back their heads and laughed +over the absurdity of the lightning express in embryo. Governor +Wentworth standing before the fire was commenting on some of Governor +Shirley's measures, giving his own judgment on the matter, with a +directness more bold than wise, and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that Americans have always used in +political affairs, when a stir of expectation behind them made them take +breath, and glance at the person entering the room. It was the minister. + +"He has come, you see," whispered the lady to her neighbor of the +forebodings. After greeting him, the group about the fire went back to +their discussions. It had been the good parson's horse then, which they +had heard tearing up the road in hot haste; they had not dreamed that so +much speed was in the nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably a little +late and had been afraid of keeping the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; all the company, indeed, but +the four members of it most important that morning, Katie and Stephen, +the bridesmaid, Mistress Royal, and the best man, a young friend of +Archdale's. After a few moments in which conversation lagged through +expectancy, the door opened again. + +"Ah! here they are. No, only one, alone. How strange!" + +Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under which she was acting to see +anything about her. Without sign of recognition she glanced from one to +another, until her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff watching her +with a gentle wonder in his face. It was for him that she had been +looking. She went up to him immediately, and laid a tremulous hand upon +his arm. She tried to smile, but the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself through the assembly; it was felt +that her presence here alone showed that something had happened, and her +expression, that it was something bad. She did not seem even to hear the +minister's kind greeting, and she was as little moved by the wonder and +scrutiny about her as if she had been alone with him. At Mistress +Archdale's reiterated question if Katie were ill, she shook her head in +silence. Some thought held her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak. + +"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, "but it must be only a jest. +The man's horse is blown, he came so fast. And he insisted on seeing me +and would give this only into my own hands; his message was that it was +life and death, that I must read it at once before the--" She stopped +with a shudder, and held out a paper that she had been grasping; it was +crumpled by the tightening of her fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the minister looked toward the door, +and listened. "You must read it now, this instant, before they come in," +cried Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don't dare not to have you; and +tell me that it has no power, it is only a wicked jest; and throw it +into the fire. Oh, quick, be quick." + +Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper with the haste of age, youth's +deliberateness, and began to read at last. At the same instant a hand +outside was laid on the latch of the door. The room was in a breathless +hush. The door was swung slowly open by a servant and the bride and +bridegroom came in, stopping just beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering face waited for her to come to +her place. But the minister, not glancing up, went sternly on with the +paper; and Elizabeth's gaze was fixed on his face; she had drawn a step +away from him; and her hands were pressed over one another. All at once +he uttered an exclamation of dismay, and turned to her, a dread coming +into his face as he met her eyes. + +"What does it mean?" he gasped. "Heaven help us, is it true?" + +"Oh, it can't be, it can't be," she cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you've seen that it must be all false. Give it +to me. Look, they are coming," she entreated. "Think of her, be ready +for them. Oh, burn this. Can't you? Can't you?" and her eyes devoured +him in an agony of pleading. + +"Stop!" he said, drawing back his hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of it +true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? Was that all so?" + +"Yes." + +By this time the scene had become very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and groom had indeed gone across the room +and were standing before the minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin the ceremony, stood with his eyes +on the paper, his face more and more pale and perplexed. + +"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, laying a hand on his shoulder. + +"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked the Colonel, advancing toward the +minister, and showing his irritation by his frown, his flush, and the +abruptness of his speech usually so suave. + +"I hardly know myself," returned Shurtleff looking from one to the +other. + +"Let us have the ceremony at once, then," said Master Archdale +authoritatively. "Why should we delay?" + +"I cannot, until I have looked into this," answered the minister in a +respectful tone. + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with an authority that few contested. +"Proceed at once." + +"I cannot," repeated the minister, and his quiet voice had in it the +firmness, almost obstinacy, that often characterizes gentle people. His +opposition had seemed so disproportioned and was so gently uttered that +the hearers had felt as if a breath must blow it away, and interest +heightened to intense excitement when it proved invincible. + +"What is all this?" demanded Stephen, holding Katie's arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff with eyes of indignant +protest. As he received no immediate answer, he turned to Elizabeth. +"Mistress Royal," he said, "can you explain this unseemly interruption?" + +Then all the company, who for the moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her again. + +"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," she said, looking at him +an instant with a wildness of pain in her eyes. Then she turned to +Katie's fair, pale face full of wonder and distress at the unguessed +obstacle, and with a smothered cry dropped her face in her hands, and +stood motionless and unheeded in the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak. + +"You ask me," he said, "why I do not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts love has united. I do not dare to do +it until I understand the meaning of this strange paper I hold in my +hand. What do you remember," he said to Stephen, "of a singular game of +a wedding ceremony played one evening last summer?" + +The young man looked uncomprehending for a moment, then drew his breath +sharply. + +"That?" he said, "Why, that was only to give an example of something we +were talking about; that was nothing. Mistress,"--he stopped and glanced +at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, was hanging upon every word of his +denial as if it were music--"Mistress Royal knows that was so." + +"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do." + +"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, "it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded treatment of serious matters +must be. I hope with all my heart that a moment's frivolity will not +have life-long consequences of sorrow, but I cannot proceed in this +happy ceremony that I have been called here to perform until the point +is settled beyond dispute." + +"See how habit rules him like a second nature," whispered Colonel +Pepperrell aside to the Governor. "Nobody but a minister would stop to +give a homily with those poor creatures before him in an agony of +suspense." + +"My dear," said his wife softly in a tone of reproof, laying her hand +warningly on his arm. + +"Stephen Archdale isn't the man to stand this," retorted the Governor in +a higher key than he realized. But the words did not reach their object, +for he had already laid hold of the paper in Mr. Shurtleffs hand. + +"If this paper explains your conduct, give it to me," he said haughtily. + +The other drew back. + +"I will read it to you and to the company," he answered. "There can be +no wedding this morning. I trust there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter." + +Katie, whose face had grown rigid, swung heavily against Stephen. "She +has fainted," her mother cried coming forward. + +"Take her away," commanded the Colonel. "This is no place for her." But +the girl clung to Stephen. + +"I will stay," she said, with a tearless sob. "I must listen. I see it +all, and what he meant, too, that evil man." + +"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, "I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in your hand tells us the cause of +your refusal to marry these young people, I bid you read it to us +immediately." + +The parson, bowing with respect, cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth's commands had been his own intention from the +first. + +"It is a confession," he said, "made by one whom many of us have +welcomed to our homes as a gentleman of blameless character and +honorable dealing. Why it was sent to Mistress Royal instead of to +Master Archdale, or the bride, I am at a loss to understand." + +Elizabeth raised her head with a flash in her eyes, but anger died away +into despair, and she stood silent with the others, and listened to the +fate that fell upon her with those monotonous tones, each one heavy as +lead upon her heart. She wondered if it had been sent to her because it +had been feared that Stephen Archdale would keep silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFESSION. + + +"I write without knowing to whom I am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they will surely not grant it to me. +I don't know even that I can crave it of Heaven, for I have played with +sacred things, and used a power given me for good, in an evil way, to +further my own devices, and, after all, I have not furthered them. I am +a man loving and unloved, one who has perhaps thrown away his soul on +the chance of winning earthly joy,--but such joy,--and has lost it. If +any have ever done like me, let them pity and pardon. I appeal to them +for compassion. I shall receive it nowhere else, unless it be possible, +that the one for love of whom I have done the wrong will out of the +kindness of her heart spare me by and by a thought of pity for what was +the suggestion of a moment and acted on--" + +"Skip all that maundering," interrupted Stephen. "To the point. Who is +this man, and what has he done? Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don't us." + +"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge better of the case, and of the +writer's truthfulness." + +"Yes, you are right," answered the young man pressing Katie's arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to his impatience and his +defiance. + +"And acted on without premeditation," resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to this worthy city of +Portsmouth with letters of introduction to Master Archdale, and others, +I met the beautiful Mistress Archdale. From the first hour my fate was +sealed; I loved her as only a man of strong and deep emotions can love, +with a very different feeling from the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved that they ceased troubling me, +even with their presence at her side. Among the others were only two +worthy of attention, and only one whom I feared. I was reticent and +watched; it was too soon to speak. But as I watched my fear of that one +increased, for age, association, a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me his possibilities of success. With +that rival out of my path, my way to victory was clear. There came a day +when, without lifting my finger against him, I could effectually remove +him. I did it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation rushed upon me +suddenly with overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, for opposite +me sat Katie, more beautiful and lovable than ever, and beside her was +my rival, her cousin, with an air of security and satisfaction that +aroused the evil in me. It was August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale's suggestion had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be about a runaway match, and interested the +young people so much, that when I had finished they asked several +questions; one was in reference to a remark of mine, innocently made, +that the marriage ceremony itself, pure and simple, was something +unimaginably short. The story I had told illustrated this, and some of +the party asked me more particularly as to what the form was. Then I saw +my opportunity, and I took it. 'If one of the young ladies will permit +Master Archdale to take her hand a moment,' I said, 'I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how short the formula may be.' +Master Archdale was for holding Katie's hand, but happily, as it seemed +to me at the moment, she was on the wrong side. I requested him to take +the lady on the other hand, who seemed a trifle unready for the jest, +but was induced by the entreaties of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through the marriage service over them as +rapidly as I dared, my voice sounding to myself thick with the beating +of my heart. But no one noticed this; of course, it was all fun. And so +that summer evening, all in fun, except on my part, Stephen Archdale and +Elizabeth Royal were made man and wife, as fast as marriage vows could +make them. Nothing was omitted that would make the ceremony binding and +legal, not even its performance by a clergyman of the Church of +England." + +A cry of rage and despair interrupted the reader. But he went on +directly. + +"No one in America knew that I had been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my brother died and I inherited my +grandfather's property, I resigned my pastorate at once. This act shows +how unfit for it I was. But whatever my grief may be, my conscience +commands me to forbid this present marriage, and to declare with all +solemnity, that Stephen Archdale already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my letter, believed herself still +Mistres Royal." + +A burst of amazement and indignation, that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and voices expressed consternation. To +this confession had been added names and dates, the year of the writer's +entrance into the ministry, the time and place of his brief pastorate, +everything that was necessary to give his statement a reliable air, and +to verify it if one chose to do so. It was evident that there could be +no wedding that morning, and as the truth of the story impressed itself, +more and more upon the minds of the audience, a fear spread lest there +could be no wedding at all, such as they had been called together to +witness. For, if this amusement should turn out to have been a real +marriage, what help was there? It was in the days when amusements were +viewed seriously and were readily imagined to lead to fatal +consequences. Had Stephen Archdale really married? The people in the +drawing-room that December morning were able men and women, they were +among the best representatives of their time, an age that America will +always be proud of, but they held marriage vows so sacred, that even +made in jest there seemed to be a weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in waiting feared, for their part in +life was to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, that these +qualities flowing through mighty channels should conquer physical +strength and found a nation. To do a thing because it was pleasant was +no part of their creed,--although, even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice. + +That winter morning, therefore, the guests were ready to inveigh against +the sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all would be well, and to +shake their heads mournfully. + +"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so much, and trusted him so much. I +knew he loved my little girl, but I thought it was with an honorable +love that would rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot be true. We +must wait. But matters will come right at last." + +"Yes," assented the Colonel across whose face an incomprehensible +expression had passed more than once during the reading; "it will all +come right. We must make it so." + +A hum of conversation went on in the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, or if not near enough to them +for that, spoken to the first who were patient enough to listen instead +of themselves talking. + +In the midst of it all Stephen raised his head, for he had been bending +over Katie who still clung to him, and asked when the next ship left for +England. + +"In about three weeks," answered Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out +a person competent to make full inquiries; the matter shall be sifted." + +"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I shall make the necessary inquiries +myself, it will be doing something, and I may find the man. We need that +he should be found, Katie and I." + +Elizabeth drew back still more; some flash of feeling made the blood +come hotly to her face for a moment, then fade away again. + +Katie looked up, turned her eyes slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought. + +"Go, Stephen, since you will feel better," she said, "but it's of no +use, I am sure. I understand now something Master Harwin said to me when +he left me. I did not know then what he meant. He has taken you away +from me forever." And with a sob, again she hid her face upon his +shoulder. Then, slowly drawing away from him, she turned to Elizabeth, +and in her eyes was something of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed. + +"How could you," she said, "how could you consent to do it?" + +She had drawn toward Elizabeth every gaze and every thought in the room; +she had pointed out the substitute on whom might be emptied those vials +of wrath that the proper object of them had taken care to escape. +Elizabeth heard on all sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how could she +do it, how could she consent to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, and +herself alone, as it seemed, made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed to grow, and widen, and widen, +like the circles of water into which a stone is thrown, and she was +condemned by her friends, by the people who had known her and her +father, condemned as false to her friendship, as unwomanly. Katie she +could forgive on account of her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never dreamed of. These whispers that +her imagination multiplied seemed to roar in her ears. But innocence and +pride kept her erect, and at last made her raise her eyes which had +fallen and grown dim under the blow of Katie's words. She swept them +slowly around the room, turning her head slightly to do it. Not a look +of sympathy met her. Then, in the pain, a power awoke within her. + +"It is no less a disaster to me," she said. Her words fell with the +weight of truth. She had kept back her pain, no one thought of pitying +her as Katie was pitied, but she was vindicated. + +"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" asked Madam Pepperrell in a low +tone of Governor Wentworth at her elbow. + +"It is not probable she loves him much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl's haughty face. "I don't envy her, on the whole, I don't envy +either of them." By George, madam, it _is_ hard." + +"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, whose glance, having more +penetration, had at last brought a look of sympathy to his face. "Let us +go up to the poor thing, she stands so alone, and I'm not clear that she +has not the worst of it." + +"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned his wife as they moved forward. But +before they could reach her, being stopped by several who spoke to them, +there was a change in the group in that part of the room. Katie had +fallen, and there was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen stooped over +her, lifted her tenderly, and carried her from the room. He was followed +by Mistress Archdale and his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth their +eyes met, his glowed with a sullen rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of scorn, as she looked at him it +seemed to her that every fibre of his being was rejecting her. "You!" he +seemed to be saying with contemptuous emphasis. In answer her eyes +filled him with their haughtiness, they and the scornful curl of her +lip, as she stood motionless waiting for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion that he should pass near +her at all. He still saw her face as he bent over Katie. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + * * * * * + +GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. + +BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D. + + +It is not often that a Governor's objections to a measure, which his +veto has defeated, become, even indirectly, the subject of judicial +consideration. Such, however, has been the experience of Governor +Cleveland in connection with his veto of the appropriation, which was +made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a constitutional lawyer, to see the +principles of that veto entirely approved by all the judges of the Court +of Appeals, as well as by all the judges by whom those principles were +considered, before the case, in which they were involved, reached that +august tribunal, the highest in the judicial system of that State. + +By an amendment to the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1874, it is +provided that, "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be +given, or loaned to, or in aid of, any association, corporation, or +private undertaking." + +It would hardly seem possible to mistake the meaning of a prohibition +like this; but this prohibition is accompanied by the following +modification: "This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature +from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, +the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, now held by the State for +educational purposes." + +The question, how far this qualifying clause limits the proceeding +prohibition, arose first in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in +the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd's Fold of the +Protestant Episcopal Church _vs_. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of +the City of New York.[A] The Attorney-General of the State had given an +official opinion, tending to the conclusion that the prohibition is +almost entirely neutralized by the modification. The Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this case in either court, +differed widely upon the question, whether money raised by local +taxation by the City of New York, under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of the Shepherd's Fold, was, or was +not, "money of the State," and therefore included in the terms of this +prohibition; and when one sees how much is done in the discussions of +the able counsel before the Court of final resort, and by the learned +opinion of Judge Rapello, to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had a similar Court of Appeals, to +revise and clarify the decisions of her Supreme Court. About twenty-five +per cent, of all the decisions of the General Terms of the Supreme +Court, Superior Court, and Court of Common Pleas, which are carried to +the Court of Appeals, are there reversed; and can any lawyer doubt that, +at least, as large a proportion of the decisions of our Supreme Judicial +Court ought also to be revised and reversed? + +[Footnote A: See 10 Daly's Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. 137.] + +The Court of Appeals says: "It seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference to money raised by general +taxation throughout the State, or revenues of the State, or money +otherwise belonging to the State treasury, or payable out of it." + +The money claimed by the Shepherd's Fold being raised by local taxation +for a local purpose in the city of New York, and not "by general +taxation throughout the State," the Court of Appeals holds that it is +not within the terms of the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on that particular +point, while agreeing with it on the main question. + +As the money, appropriated to the Roman Catholic Protectory, was +unquestionably money of the State, "being raised by general taxation +throughout the State," that appropriation was unquestionably in conflict +with the prohibition of the Constitution, which the Governor was sworn +to support. + +Of the courage and independence displayed by Governor Cleveland in thus +vetoing a measure in which so large a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an interest, this is not the place to +speak. But it is creditable to him as a lawyer that alone without a +single precedent to guide him, relying upon his own judicial sense, and +rejecting the opinion of a former Attorney-General, he challenged "the +validity of this appropriation under that section of the Constitution." +The Protectory, he says, "appears to be local in its purposes and +operations." And being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public funds +should not be contributed to its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject the state treasury to demands in +behalf of all sorts of sectarian institutions, which a due care for the +money of the State, and a just economy, could not concede." + +In the higher and broader field of public service--"the grandest throne +on earth"--as the Presidency which he is about to enter, has been +grandiloquently called, let us hope that he will display the same +honesty, capability, and fidelity to the Constitution. We shall then be +assured that the interests of the Republic will suffer no detriment at +his hands. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14131 *** diff --git a/14131-8.txt b/14131-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fc909a --- /dev/null +++ b/14131-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4130 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Illustration: Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. + +B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. II. + +JANUARY, 1885. + +No. 4. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON. + +BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M. + +[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.] + + +His Excellency George D. Robinson, at present the foremost citizen of +Massachusetts, by reason of his incumbency of the highest office in the +Commonwealth, is the thirtieth in the line of succession of the men who +have held the office of Governor under the Constitution. In character, +in ability, in education, and in those things generally which mark the +representative citizen of New England, he is a worthy successor of the +best men who have been called to the Chief Magistracy. His public career +has been marked by dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; his life as +a private citizen has been such as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man in whom the people who confer +honor upon him find themselves also honored. He is a native of the +Commonwealth, of whose laws he is the chief administrator, and comes of +that sturdy stock which wresting a new country from savagery, fostered +with patient industry the germs of civilization it had planted, and +aided in developing into a nation the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed and existing by and with the +consent of the people. His ancestors were probably of that Saxon race +which for centuries stood up against the encroachments of Norman kings +and nobles, which was led with willingness into the battle, the siege or +the crusade that meant the maintenance or advancement of old England's +honor, or in the cause of mother Church, and which was possessed of that +brave, independent spirit that, when the old home was felt to be too +narrow an abode, sought a new-country in which to plant and develop its +ideas of what government should be. However this may be it is certain +that from the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the +family was always represented among the most honorable of its yeomanry, +and among its members were pillars of both Church and State. His +immediate ancestors, people of the historic town of Lexington, were +active citizens in the Revolutionary period, and in the great struggle +members of the family were among those who did brave and effective +service in the cause of liberty. + +George Dexter Robinson was born in Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born on +a farm, his boyhood and youth were spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor exercise and labor which are +part of the life of the farmer's boy. But the future Governor did not +intend to devote himself to farming. With the aim of obtaining a +collegiate education he attended the Academy in his native town, and +followed his studies there by further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering Harvard University he was +graduated at that institution in 1856, and receiving an appointment as +Principal of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he accepted it, +filling the position with success during a period of nine years. He +retired from it in 1865. Meanwhile he had devoted much time to legal +studies, which he continued more fully during the next few months, and +in 1866 he was admitted to the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the town +wherein his active career in life had begun, he made his permanent home, +and with the various interests of that town he identified himself +closely and pleasantly, exemplifying in many ways the character of a +true townsman, and associating himself with every movement for the good +of his fellow citizens. In 1873 he was elected to represent the town the +ensuing year in the State Legislature, and as a member of the House he +was noted for the promptness and fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he was a member of the State Senate, +and here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous ability as a +legislator in addition to that fidelity to his responsibilities which +had long been characteristic of him in any and all positions. His +qualifications for public life received still wider recognition the year +he served in the Senate, and he was nominated by the Republicans of the +old Eleventh District as Representative in Congress. He was re-elected +for two successive terms, and after the re-apportionment was elected +from the new Twelfth District in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in order to assist in the +organization of the new Congress, and, after that work was accomplished, +resigned to enter upon the duties entrusted to him by the people of the +whole Commonwealth. He had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. Of his career in Washington +it would not be possible to give a better summary than one given by +"Webb," the able Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal, which +is here given in its entirety: + +Mr. Robinson took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, which met in +extra session, in October, 1877. He was prompt in his seat on the first +day of the first session. Regularity in attendance, and constant +attention to public business, have been characteristics of Mr. +Robinson's Congressional career. He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until the House adjourns at night. He +does not spend his time in importuning the departments for clerkships, +but he welcomes the civil service law. He does not take the public time, +which belongs to his constituents, for his private practice in the +United States Supreme Court. He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in discovering, and vigorous in denouncing +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the people's money and has never cast +his vote for an extravagant expenditure; but he does not oppose an +appropriation to gain a reputation for economy, or aspire to secure the +title of "watch dog of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts of a +demagogue. + +When he entered Congress, he went there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority in parliamentary law, and is one +of the ablest presiding officers in Congress. + +In the Congress which he first entered the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father's house, and come to stay." Mr. Randall was +elected Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one of the minor standing +committees--that of Expenditures in the Department of Justice--and +subsequently placed him near the foot of the list on the Special +Committee on the Mississippi Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it was discovered that where +"McGregor sits is the head of the table." Mr. Robinson, at the extra +session of the Forty-fifth Congress, took little active part in the +public proceedings. He was a student of Congressional rules and +practice. + +At the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress he began to actively +participate in the debates, and from the outset endeavored to secure a +much needed reform in Congressional proceedings. He always insisted +that, in the discussion of important questions, order should be +maintained. He followed every important bill in detail, and the +questions which he directed to those who had these bills in charge +showed that he had made himself a master of the subject. He took +occasion to revise upon the floor many of the calculations of the +Appropriations Committee, and to urge the necessity of the most rigid +economy consistent with proper administration. + +It was at the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, +1879, that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable speech. It was upon +the bill relative to the improvement of the Mississippi River. He was +very deeply impressed with the magnitude of the problems presented by +that great river, and, while he was willing that the public money should +be wisely expended for the improvement of the 'Father of Waters,' he did +not wish that Congress should be committed to any special plan which +might prove to be part of a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which this first speech was listened to, +and the endless questions with which the Southern men who favored +absolutely the levee system plied him, showed that they understood that +great weight would be given to Mr. Robinson's opinion, and that they did +not wish him to declare, unconditionally, against their cause. The +speech was a broad and liberal one, but extremely just. It had been +intimated in the course of the debate that Eastern members, who did not +favor the improvement of the river, refused to do so on account of a +narrow provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed them that New England is both +just and generous, and that the country is so united that a substantial +benefit to any portion of it cannot be an injury to another. He made +some keen thrusts at the Southern State rights advocates, who were so +eager for the old flag and an appropriation, and he reminded them that +whatever might be thought of the dogma of State sovereignty, "the great +old river is regardless of State lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee in Arkansas, over it goes into +Louisiana, spreading devastation in its course." Mr. Robinson insisted +that "Congress has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of the public +treasury immediately without investigating a theory and a plan which +proposes to render such an expenditure wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible safe-guards should be provided +against any extravagant expenditure on the part of the Government. The +relations of New England to such an undertaking he thus broadly stated: + +"I am not deterred by any considerations that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from the great cities on the Atlantic +shore. I am willing that the whole country shall be improved and opened +for its best and most profitable occupation. This territory, whose +interests are affected by this, is greater than the whole of New +England. I am not afraid that whatever improvements may be made there +New England will be left out in the cold. Whatever conduces to the +prosperity of the West or South will benefit the East and North. We are +parts of one great whole, and, if it is necessary under a proper policy +to spend some money from the Treasury of the United States to meet the +wants of those States lying along the Mississippi River, I hope it will +not be begrudged to them, but it should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the plans, have received a careful +consideration and the indorsement of the proper officers." + +At the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his +minor place on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of +Justice, introduced a bill relative to the mileage of United States +Marshals, which proposed an important reform. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the first session, Mr. Robinson, on +account of the marked abilities which he had shown as a lawyer and a +debater, was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee, a position +which he held through the Forty-sixth Congress with honor to his +district and his State. From the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress Mr. +Robinson, to the great surprise of many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took front rank as a debater on +points of order, and showed that his months of silent observation and of +earnest study had brought their fruit. His discussion of points of order +and of the rules was always characterized by good sense. He did not seek +to befog a question by an extensive quotation of authorities. He +endeavored to strip the rules of their technicalities and to apply to +them the principle of common sense. Sometimes, however, he was almost in +despair, and once in the course of an intricate discussion he exclaimed +(March 28, 1879): "If there is a standing and clear rule that guides the +Chair, I have not yet found it." + +At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support of an amendment to the +"Culbertson Court bill," which was designed to limit the jurisdiction of +the United States courts. Some of the strongest advocates of this +amendment were men who, although living in Northern States, were +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since the war, have been continuously +aggressive in their efforts to place limitations upon national power. +Mr. Robinson was a member of the Judiciary Committee and spoke upon the +bill. His speech upon this measure attracted more attention than any +speech he had delivered before that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so interested in it that, although the +debate was running in the valuable time of the morning hour, Mr. +Robinson, on motion of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, after the +expiration of his time, was requested to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of the federal courts. A few +extracts from the general parts of this speech furnish an excellent +illustration of the abilities of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He spoke as the son of a Jackson +Democrat would be likely to speak. He vigorously opposed the increase in +the limit from $500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern and Western +Democrats. + +After quoting the opinions of Chief Justices Story and Marshall to show +that the right of Congress to establish federal courts could not be +denied without defeating the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional provisions give to +the citizens of the different States their rights in the federal courts. +I say again, it is not within the constitutional power of Congress to +make discriminations as to citizens in this matter. It has been taken as +settled that the corporations of the States for purposes of jurisdiction +are citizens of the States in which they are created. Can you +discriminate? Why, in the famous Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro was not a citizen within the +meaning of the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in the Circuit Court of +the United States. The nation paused and held its breath, and never +recovered itself until after the bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that no such doctrine should ever be +repeated in this country. If Congress can exclude the citizens of a +locality, or the citizens of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain classes of wealth or industry, +surely it can exclude any other citizens. If you can, in this bill and +under our Constitution, declare that the citizens, or any portion of +them, in this country, because they act in their corporate capacity, +shall lose their rights in the federal courts, it is but the next step +to legislate that the man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in the +manufacture of cotton, or of woolen goods, or is banker, or 'bloated +bond-holder,' shall not have any rights in the federal courts. There is +no step between them. There may be a discrimination as to +subject-matter, but not as to citizens. The distinction is very broad, +and in recognition of it my argument is made." In the discussion of the +apportionment at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, Mr. Robinson +eloquently defended the honor of Massachusetts against the aspersions +which had been cast upon the Commonwealth by General Butler in his brief +as attorney in the Boynton-Loring contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this brief and suggested that if it were +true the representation of Massachusetts should be curtailed. Mr. +Robinson entered into an explanation of the reading and writing +qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts. As General Butler was the +assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson said: + +"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the +debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this +House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this +speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the +Chairman of this Census Committee. He says: + +"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant +white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the +Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and +write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke +and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write +before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that +rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes +there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would +thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that +voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more +safe than now." + +After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows: + +"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that +State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first +learn to read and write. Near to every man's dwelling stands a public +free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These +school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced. + +* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some +time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the +law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of +the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania +we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the +communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that +representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or +because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring +residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the +same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these +prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of +the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and +conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he +cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a +particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has +been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out +that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove +his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, +indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his +residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the +other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in +accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true +policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The +Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of +the man's control." + +In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh +Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which +commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the +contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our +rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for +resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as +that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our +Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one +of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the +consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said: + +"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and +proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is +tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, +unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have +fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this +Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend +some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the +word tyranny." + +To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority +to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would +lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by +some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were +confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the +rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. +But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a +Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to +adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that +we are in that pitiable plight?" + +On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to +express his views in this manner: + +"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We +have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a +chance to do something. + +"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated +officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made +haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, +to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own +retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of +this country. + +"I hear some gentlemen say, 'Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does +not reform enough,' I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he +wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in +one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it +gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends +want." + +The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills +needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and +Harbor bill and voted to sustain the President's veto. + +The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinson's +election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His +Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who +was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive +way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had +preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an +argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year +before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be +found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious +elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in +the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, +and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his +party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further +duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series +of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any +previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive +speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his +arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready +wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it +exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, +and with questions in general connected with the interests of the +Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves +to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He +entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and +during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of +political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties +were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official +business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social +requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, +dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all +kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social +relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the +election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for +Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor +Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, +compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen +both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and +though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is +one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the +strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Oliver Ames] + +OLIVER AMES. + +By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M. + +[Editor of the Boston Traveller]. + + +The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, +are a representative New England family. Their history forms an +honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in +its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the +poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, +as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and +believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled +with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such +service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury +box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the +Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually +one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were +accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously +performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor +or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored +subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. +Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and +so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their +neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As +their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for +the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and +enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises +became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of +prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in +recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a +railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of +the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of +the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became +prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William +Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for conscience's sake +forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not +only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. +Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither +of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of +Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for conscience's +sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were +the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. +The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them +descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + +The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, +Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in +Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John +Ames, who settled in Bridgewater. + +John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in +Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir +he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the +grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723. + +Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward. + +Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774. + +Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was +born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause +service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in +existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels +in 1775. + +Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was +born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant +of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he +removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on +his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, +Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for +the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods +from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and +flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during +the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every +opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of +transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and +Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions. + +Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated +by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew +into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the +factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons +of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and +thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment +had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace +with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters +of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels. + +It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes +Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance +and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable +obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the +Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder +of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand +as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the +Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd +and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National +House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873. + +Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot +note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his +native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five +years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. +At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough +scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, +placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. +The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen +from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and +political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned +to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the +same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several +inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge +of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in +the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the +State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, +and for several years personally superintended the various departments +of the firm's immense establishment at North Easton. At his father's +death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved +on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a +large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, +national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 +Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. +With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton +this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages +of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active +interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political +service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, +as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. +As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the +working members of the body. He served during each year of his +membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he +received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the +ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate +for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General +Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not +too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his +Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political +year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing +the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to +the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State +election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now +entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business +life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by +the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful +performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large +wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in +no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow +citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has +exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his +own. + +It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver Ames has won his widest +reputation. Upon the death of his father the management of the vast +enterprises which the later had controlled, suddenly devolved upon him. +The greatness of the man showed itself in that he found himself equal to +the emergency. The Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he took upon his +shoulders its settlement, not only one in which immense and diversified +interests were involved, scattered throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with obligations to the extent of eight +millions of dollars. The times were most unpropitious, the country being +just on the eve of a great financial panic when immense properties were +crumbling to pittances. He undertook the Herculean task of rescuing at +this time this estate from threatened ruin, and of vindicating the good +name of his father from undeserved censure. He had in this gigantic work +to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious railroad wreckers, and +schemers; but his thorough mental discipline united with his intensely +practical business training, and coupled with his native energy, tact, +good sense, and fertility of resources, stood him in good stead. He +inspired capitalists with confidence, money was forthcoming to further +his carefully matured plans, and the ship freighted with the fortunes of +his family, was, by his steady hand, piloted securely amidst the shoals +and quicksands of disaster, and by rocks strewn with the wrecks of +princely fortunes, to a safe anchorage. He rescued the property from +peril, met and paid the enormous indebtedness resting upon it, paid a +million of dollars or more of legacies, and had still a large surplus to +divide among the heirs. + +As a business man his sagacity seems almost intuitive. As an +illustration of this, his work in developing the Central Branch of the +Union Pacific Railroad may be instanced, a work which at the same time +gave him high rank as a railroad manager. At the time he connected +himself with the undertaking, only the first hundred miles of the road +were in running order. He first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and fully equipping it for operation. +His judgment, which at the time was somewhat questioned by other +experienced railroad managers and financiers, was fully justified by the +result, which was a complete financial success. + +One of the most impressive traits in the character of Oliver Ames is his +veneration for the memory of his distinguished father. He fully believes +that the hastily and unjustly formed verdict of censure pronounced upon +Oakes Ames, both by public opinion and by the United States House of +Representatives, will ere long be reversed, and that his memory will be +honored by the country, as it so justly deserves. Indeed he has already +had the gratification of seeing this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only remains for Congress to remove its +undeserved vote of censure, for Oakes Ames to take his appropriate and +honored place in American history. There is little doubt that Mr. Ames +will yet see this ambition of his life realized. As to this censure, +Massachusetts, where Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, has +spoken through her Legislature by the following resolution, which +unanimously passed both House and Senate in the spring of 1883: + + "Resolved, in view of the great services of Oakes Ames, + representative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional + District, for ten years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the + construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital + contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union + since the war: + + "In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused + to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so + made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement + and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-second Congress + at the close of its session; + + "And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which, upon + a review of all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable + with his condemnation, and which, throughout the whole country + recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement and his + innocence of corrupt motive or conduct; + + "Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its + gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose + and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of + the National Congress." + +The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial devotion and respect. This +village of North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames and other members of the +Ames family, as well as the seat of the extensive shovel works, deserves +more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by +this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The +old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat +appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy +yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the +firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the +welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and +well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a +gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of +architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of +the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like +cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely +struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family, +and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and +endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the +temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New +England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of +the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the +welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a +declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of +New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or +Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer +with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and +charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the +villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are +surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these +is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a +spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its +emerald setting. + +The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most marked +illustrations in this model and typical New England village; and no +small share of what has been achieved for it is due to the warm heart +and open hand of Oliver Ames. He has ever shown himself an ardent friend +of popular education, and justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For a period of twenty years he found +time, amid a multiplicity of weighty business cares, to serve upon the +School Committee of his town and to give the benefit of his experience, +judgment, and personal supervision to the promotion of the efficiency of +this one of the very fundamental of American institutions, the common +school. Oakes Ames left a fund of $50,000, the income to be used for the +benefit of the school children of North Easton village. Through the wise +thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton are among the objects of the +fondest pride of its citizens. + +Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time for the appreciative +enjoyment of the amenities and refinements of life. He posesses a +cultivated appreciation of music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable and choice collections of +paintings and statuary. Architecture has been with him a special study, +and his magnificent winter residence, recently completed on Commonwealth +Avenue, in our city of Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence would be called a palace, here it is +simply the home of a representative American citizen. Peculiarly happy +in his domestic relations his home is beautified and ennobled by the +virtues of domestic life. A generous hospitality is dispensed within its +portals, where on every hand are found the evidences of the cultured +refinement of its occupants. A tour of a few months in the Old World not +only gave Mr. Ames needed rest and relaxation from business cares, but +also furnished him with opportunities for observation which were most +judiciously improved. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton. + +In his native town he is unusually respected and beloved, and with the +working-men in his factories he enjoys an unbounded popularity. This is +but natural, since he is himself a skilled artisan, an inventive and +ingenious mechanic, familiar through a personal experience with every +detail of the work in which they are engaged. This, coupled with his +native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious manners, makes him the +model employer. + +The custodian of great wealth, he uses it in a spirit of wise +benevolence, and his public and private benefactions, while large, are +made without ostentation or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in his personal friendships, it is +little wonder that some of them now and then impulsively speak of him as +"the best man in the world." + +In the full vigor of a robust manhood, Mr. Ames attends to his vast +private business affairs, performs faithfully his official and public +duties, finds time for his favorite authors, and keeps fully abreast +with current thought and the progress of the age. His brow is yet +unwrinkled and cares rest lightly upon him. Free from the pride of +wealth, temperate, conservative, clear-headed, and distinguished for his +strong common sense, his generous, unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his trust justly win for him a +multitude of friends. + +Faithful in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party, and +in his services to his native Commonwealth, Massachusetts has reason for +a just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. His name may yet stand the +Republican party of the State in good stead in a political exigency not +unlikely to arise in the near future. Whatever may be said of the causes +of the defection from the Republican ranks which took place in the last +national campaign, there is no doubt about one of its results,--it has +driven the Republican party to seek a closer alliance with the +working-people of the Commonwealth. The Republican bolters were almost +exclusively drawn from the aristocratic end of the party. It was Harvard +and Beacon Hill that revolted. To make good the loss the Republican +leaders had to appeal for support to the same class of voters which gave +to Republican principles their first triumphs,--the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard now that Mr. Blaine is +defeated it is not likely that for many years to come, if ever, the +Republican party in Massachusetts will be able, to lean upon the immense +majorities of former years, that ran away up to sixty, seventy, and +eighty thousand. With a Democratic administration installed at +Washington, and the power and prestige which that fact will imply and +apply in the local politics of the States,--and in no State more +powerfully than in Massachusetts, where the shifting body of Independent +voters, so-called, is largely made up of the Hessian element that will +incline to whichever side has spoils to bestow,--the Republican party in +order to hold Massachusetts will have to cultivate and strengthen the +alliance which it formed in the late election with the laboring class of +voters. It will have to revert to the sympathetic and liberal policy +touching all questions that affect labor, and the welfare of the working +people of the State, which marked the earlier years of its power. The +Ames family is linked in the popular mind with that policy. And justly +so, too! Oakes Ames was a true friend to labor, as well as one of the +most practical; and the fine instinct which guided him in making of +North Easton a model industrial community, where the happiest relations +of mutual confidence and support have subsisted between employer and +employed, he bequeathed to his sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and there is no element of exaggeration +in the statement, that if all our large capitalists and manufacturers +could succeed in establishing the same rapport between themselves and +their employes which the Ameses have always maintained at North Easton, +the vexed problem of capital and labor would be solved; for there would +be no more conflict between them. Oliver Ames is held in the same high +esteem and almost affectionate regard by the working people of the Old +Colony district, where the interests of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time comes, and it is not far off, that the +Republican party in Massachusetts shall feel the necessity of getting +nearer to her common people, and, in order to retain its supremacy in +the State, of offering to their suffrages a man whose whole life has +been spent in close and friendly relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, if it shall not turn to +the present popular Lieutenant Governor, and present the name of Oliver +Ames as one well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism among the +working-classes, and certain, if presented to them, to be endorsed by a +splendid majority for the first office in the popular gift. + +[NOTE. + +GENEALOGY. + +RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England. + +I. William, who came to America and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. + +II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, married Sarah Willis +(daughter of John Willis of Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In +1672 he settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his heir in +1697. + +III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater and married in 1706 +Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, +and granddaughter of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, the latter +of whom came to America in the third ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623) + +IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard (daughter +of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] Howard, and granddaughter of John and +Martha [Haywood] Howard of Duxbury). + +V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; married in 1759 +Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died January 11, 1821). She was the +daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter of John +Howard of Duxbury and Rev. James Keith. + +VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September 11, 1863; married +in April, 1803, Susannah Angier (born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). +Dr. William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter (2), Ruth, who +came to America in 1637, and married Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose +son (3), Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of President Urian +Oakes of Harvard College. Their son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary +Bourne, granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), Oakes Angier, +a law student of President John Adams, was the father of (6) Susannah +Angier. Children: + +1. _Oakes_, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873. + +2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844. + +3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877. + +4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811. + +5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn. + +6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October 10, 1836, Nathaniel +Witherell, Jr. + +7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844. + +8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 1839, Asa Mitchell. + +VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; +died July 20, 1882). Children: + +1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829. + +2. _Oliver_, b. February 4, 1831. + +3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833. + +4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841. + +5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry W. French. + +VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, 1831; married March 14, +1860, Anna C. Ray (born January 16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children: + +1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861. + +2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863. + +3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864. + +5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870. + +6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874. + +EDITOR.] + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN] + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD. + +By FRANK W. KAAN. + + +We were changing cars about midnight at Rotterdam Junction, New York, +for the Fitchburg Railroad connection. "You might know we were near +Boston," said a passenger. "See what a comfortable car this is." "Yes," +remarked a middle-aged gentleman, "I've been away for three weeks, and I +never want to leave Boston for so long a time again." And he gave a sigh +of relief. No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles were called forth by +this innocent confession. Yet the sentiment found an echo in our hearts. +But a North Adams man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, Berkshire County +is good enough for me." The incident has a deeper meaning than appears +at first glance. + +Going westward on the Boston and Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is +reached at Chester. The rest of the way lies in a country of hills. A +pleasing prospect meets the eye in every direction. There is nothing +sublime and majestic to inspire the mind and exhilarate the spirits, but +the steadfast, sober hills and the quiet valleys in nature's soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul. + +We cross a branch of the River Housatonic, _alias_ Ousatonac, +Ausotunnoog, Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, and the train stops before +a large, handsome brick station, once the "best in the State," now +restricted to "west of Boston." A broad street on the left leads to the +park in the centre of the town. Here is the Berkshire Athenæum, with its +excellent public library, where we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by Mr. J.E.A. Smith. + +A century and a half ago an unbroken wilderness stretched between the +Hoosac and Taconic ranges. The mountains rose by steady degrees from the +hills of Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in Vermont, 4,400 feet above +the level of the sea. The valley, however, dotted with hundreds of +hills, reached its greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the foot of +Greylock, fourteen miles north of Pittsfield; thence it sloped +irregularly north and south. The forests contained deer in plenty for +fifty years longer. A few bears, with rather more wolves and Indians, +constituted the remainder of the larger movable objects of the +landscape. The soil was well fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service to settlers. + +[Illustration: LAKE ONATA.] + +This region remained uninhabited, however, for many years later than +would ordinarily have been the case; not so much from fear of hardships +or Indian troubles as on account of the uncertainty of the land tenures +which could be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason of the Royal Charter +of 1691, claimed to the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: moreover, that the western boundary +had been agreed upon for special reasons; furthermore, that her own +territory, as successor to the rights granted the Duke of York in 1674, +reached from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and western limits. In return, +attention was called to the clause in that Charter, excepting lands in +the possession of any other Christian State. Now, in consequence of the +discovery of the Hudson in 1608, the Dutch had occupied the country as +far east as the Connecticut, and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of settlement. Thus the controversy +was prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run parallel with the Hudson, +at a distance of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But about the year 1720 +it became evident that the western boundary of Connecticut would be +established in favor of that province. This arrangement, as the New York +representatives stated, was a result of the boldness of settlers in +pushing westward and occupying the district in dispute. Accordingly, +Massachusetts was encouraged to pursue a similar course, and the first +settlement on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield in 1725. The occasion +of the next advance appears to have arisen from the attention paid to +free education in Boston. That town, in 1735, because of its large +expenditures for public schools, support of poor, and contribution to +the State treasury, petitioned the General Court for a grant of three or +four townships within the "Hampshire wild lands." Three lots, each six +miles square, were given, subject to certain conditions. Within five +years, sixty Massachusetts families must be settled, each possessing a +house (at least eighteen feet square and seven stud), with five acres of +improved land. A house for public worship must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1807.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD PARSONAGE.] + +One of these townships, Poontoosuck, an Indian word, meaning "winter +deer," was bought at public auction for £1,320, by Colonel Jacob +Wendell, whose descendents have earned lasting honor for the family +name. Philip Livingston, of Albany, and John Stoddard, through older +claims, became associated with him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied with, and, after an unsuccessful +attempt to bring in Dutchmen, a company of forty settlers from Westfield +purchased and took possession of the greater part of the township. +Difficulties with the Indians soon drove them back. The first permanent +settlement was made in 1749, and three years later occurred the birthday +of the town. + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD AVENUE.] + +In May, 1761, the first town meeting was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitt, for his vigorous conduct +of the war against France. Slaves were owned by many of the citizens, +and stocks and a whipping-post were set up. Saw mills and grist mills +were in operation; fulling mills held an important position, and shortly +afterwards the production of iron became considerable. The first +meeting-house was completed in 1770. The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long House," owned by Colonel Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two pounds eight shillings, in 1762. + +In resistance to British oppression at the outbreak of the Revolution, +Berkshire County required no one to lead the way. "The popular rage," +wrote Governor Gage, "is very high in Berkshire and makes its way +rapidly to the rest." In response to the Boston Port bill cattle and +money were sent to the sufferers. Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English goods at whatever time the American Congress +should recommend such action. In August, 1774, Berkshire set the example +of obstructing the King's Courts. In the expedition for the capture of +Ticonderoga, in the invasions of Canada, and in Burgoyne's campaign, the +town and the county held a place among the foremost in efforts and +sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The recommendations of the +Continental Congress were followed out with promptness and zeal. A +similar spirit was displayed in the relations with the Provincial +Government, so far as they affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, the county +was ruled in open resistance to the civil authorities at Boston. +Although representatives were sent to the General Court, the acts of +that body were accepted merely as advice. The judicial and executive +branches of the Government were not recognized. It was maintained that +the new Government should originate from the people on the basis of a +written Constitution and bill of rights. To this end they "refused the +admission of the course of law among them," until their demands should +be complied with. Furthermore, the old Courts were objectionable as +being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling +offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the +town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting +either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to +have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the +want of civil courts was of little consequence. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] + +An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority +had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national +Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the +excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, +numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, +caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of +the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant +of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an +appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It +is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of +the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the +steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State +Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing +the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in +material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM.] + +Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and +just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An +application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a +favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small +respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in +outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the +Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when +asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that +he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a +certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of +Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." + +[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.] + +He was a firm friend of Democracy. During the revolution he was a +radical Whig, and later on became an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian +doctrines. In the second period partisan feelings were very bitter in +the community. When, therefore, he gave full freedom to his thoughts in +articles published in the Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with a +practice more prevalent then than now, mingled political subjects with +his Sunday discourses, the Federalist members of the Congregational +Church grew restive under his pastorship. At this time, it should be +noted, Berkshire differed in politics from the rest of the State. +Matters grew worse, until a division of the parish was made and +continued for seven years. Thomas Allen died in 1811, at the age of 67. + +[Illustration: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.] + +Contrary to the custom in almost every other town of the State, and +notwithstanding the statute requirements, public worship in 1809 ceased +to be supported by the town, and nearly an equality of religious sects +before the law was produced. In 1817, after the re-union of the +Congregational Churches, the parish system was revived. It should be +kept in mind that by far the larger part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its early history with that of the +town. Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the general longing for a complete +reconciliation. + +In 1821 a great revival took place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey believed it to be essential that, so far as +possible, the town should preserve a solemn quiet, and he endeavored to +substitute religious services in place of the ordinary manner of +celebrating the Fourth of July. This plan was, to a considerable number +of citizens, by no means acceptable, yet the exercises in the Church +were attended by a large and reverent congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square where the people were wont to collect on +all anniversaries. In consequence, there was a very annoying disturbance +from fire-crackers, drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the attempt to +make this national holiday quiet and serious was not repeated. Mr. +Humphrey two years later became President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational Society with the town +came to an end through the Constitutional Amendment of that year. Two +years later business was in a state of depression, and emigration went +on at a rapid rate. A missionary from the West made known the need in +that great section of Christian emigrants to help mould its character. +From the Baptist Church in one year more than a hundred members set +forth, leaving finally but three men in the Congregation. During the +first half of the century other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are now +supported by large Congregations, composed of the best citizens of the +town. + +To turn back again in the narrative of events. Of the town's record in +the war of 1812, little must be said, although much is deserved. In this +matter, as previously in others, the county, by its warm support of the +war party, showed its independence in thought and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was made a place of meeting for recruits; a +cantonment for United States troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times 1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody Ninth;" the latter was that +regiment, which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy's Lane, gained undying +fame in a gallant struggle for the enemy's cannon. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS.] + +The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to +its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an +inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on +the green under the Old Elm. Great interest was aroused, and the +importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens. +One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride +that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, +until his friends feared to meet him. At last it gave birth to a calf, +but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, +to the back pasture. The Society was organized in 1811. New features +were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were +interested to compete for premiums. The plowing match became a part of +the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward +was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, +Chairman of the committee, read his poem, "The Ploughman." Many years +before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote +an ode for the cattle show. Improved agricultural implements and better +methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by +the fairs. The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts +of the country. In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield. + +The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who +still held their early home in loving memory. Of the thousands that were +present, many were men of national reputation. Among the exercises, a +sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was +offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor +Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL BLOCK.] + +Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before. He +was born at North Adams in 1796. When seventeen years of age, after +having spent three years in learning the hatters' trade, he began the +study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he +was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He was as +true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day. +Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar +reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon +the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal +satisfaction in both countries. He was distinguished for the consistency +of his life with his religious and temperance principles. Once, it is +said, while exhorting a friend who had already entered the downward path +of immoderate drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced to promise that so long +as the other would abstain from drinking, he, himself, would give up the +use of a collar; and this agreement was kept by both parties for life. +The truth in regard to the anecdote is rather as follows: While County +Commissioner he was often obliged to make long drives, so that besides +the annoyance from wearing a collar, he found great difficulty in +replacing it when soiled. From this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the subject by an old friend, he +offered to resume his collar if the other would cease drinking gin, and +would cut off his cue. The gin and the cue carried the day. + +The Berkshire Medical Institute was established in 1822, mainly through +the exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The charter provided that degrees +should be conferred only by the President and Trustees of Williams' +College, and according to the rules in force in the school at Cambridge. +The purpose was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and +to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a +week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay +the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These +were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student +shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of +the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office +of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one +hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, +inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having +graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of +medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent +out by any college in the country. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING.] + +The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation +excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, +theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died +out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one +evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, +and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a +favorable effect. + +A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, +reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and +exercise. It had a very successful career for about eight years. +Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the +Berkshire Athenæum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and +efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin +Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the +gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenæum +was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been +under the efficient management of Mr. E.C. Hubbel, Curator and +Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual +circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost. + +The history of the public schools is in no important respect different +from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded +in 1874, and have enjoyed an excellent reputation. By far the greater +proportion of the young folks in town attend them. The system of free +text books was early adopted. The High School, under the care of an able +scholar, Mr. Edward H. Rice, has been steadily growing in favor during +the past few years. Graduates yearly enter the various colleges, and +from neighboring towns a considerable number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law. + +For the higher education of young women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss Hinsdale as principal. It has +continued ever since, usually with a lady at the head, and for the last +few years especially has done good work under Miss Salisbury. The +Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, the most noted school of education +that has ever existed in Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations is given a view of the +avenue and the chapel; behind the latter stands the meeting-house of +1793, of late years used for a gymnasium. + +About the time of Shay's Rebellion the first newspaper, the American +Sentinel, was published. It was printed on a sheet ten by eighteen +inches in size, and gave the greater portion of its space to two or +three prosy essays. Three other newspapers appeared and vanished in turn +until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield Sun was established by Phinehas +Allen. It remained in his hands for nearly three-quarters of a century, +and to this day gives its support to the Democratic party. James Harding +is the editor. The Argus was started in 1827, as a rival, by Henry K. +Strong. Four years later it was removed to Lenox, and united with the +Berkshire Journal. In 1838 the name was changed to the Massachusetts +Eagle, and soon afterwards it was brought back to Pittsfield. In 1852 it +was given the name, The Berkshire County Eagle, which it bears to-day. +Both of these papers are weeklies. The Journal is of later date, and is +issued daily. Joseph E. See is editor. In mentioning the educational +facilities of a community it would be an act of thoughtlessness to omit +its bookstores. There is but one in Pittsfield. It contains a large +supply of books, selected with judgment, and is well managed by Mr. J.B. +Harrison. + +Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty and ill health. It is +interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was +called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: "It is a +great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but +they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at +hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so +critically. There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we +have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. +The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of +its honor. Educational matters, especially, received his attention and +assistance. His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor +to his day. The "Student's Manual" is the best known of his works; the +lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well +worth reading. + +[Illustration: ON NORTH STREET.] + +The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of +its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and +was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods +usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding +horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other +markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur +Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving +machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the +country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were +produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a +season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war +demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. + +At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as +religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its +factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years +later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. +The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient +water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into +operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a +difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined +to make their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the best imported goods. +In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which +destroyed all profit. Moreover, instead of making a single class of +goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies +had to be invented. A general business knowledge did not immediately +avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest +consequence. To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in +the county. Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel +Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a +blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling +pieces to that of muskets. Large contracts with State and National +governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the +percussion guns were introduced. + +The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire +County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the +difficulty of communication with other sections of the country. For the +first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of +Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east. In 1830 the +Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield. A little +before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out. +Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a +similar enterprise. Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston +to the Hudson. One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of +1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in +length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner's data, +fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a +discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals. +For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before +actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. In the +face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought +about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. That week occurred the first +accident. An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, +and was severely injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions +of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran +from Albany to Boston. Several short local roads have since been +constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have +contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort. On the west the physical +barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads +has only diminished the inequality. New York is still the metropolis; +the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that +direction. + +In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, +and includes most of the buildings of the town. It originated from the +unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire +department, of which they, themselves, felt little need. Nevertheless, +at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money. A Chief +Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were +constituted officers. Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, +and the duties were performed by commissioners. A curious controversy, +now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the +street crossings. The fire department from the start has been sustained +by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, +George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1876.] + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in +harmony. The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the +Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness +to respond to any call from the government. On April 19, within +twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on +its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain was +Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected +State Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the +town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation +gained in former wars. A Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was organized and +has received much merited praise for its useful services. The ideal +volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett. He was a student +at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out. In April he enlisted +as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in +his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment. He was +a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men. Before the close of +the war he had been brevetted Major-general. In peace he made his +influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the +elevation of politics. + +Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned +towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who +had died on the field of battle. The result was a monument, one of the +most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose. It is placed on the +Park, a short distance from the Athenæum. A bronze statue of a +Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite +pillar. He looks earnestly into the distance. The entire effect of the +expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of +intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers. +On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the +arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth. + +On the others are two shields, engraved with the names of those in honor +of whom this memorial was erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face: + + "FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE--FOR + THE LIVING, A MEMORY--FOR + POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM + OF LOYALTY TO THE + FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY." + +On the east face: + + "WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION + OF THE SERVICES OF ALL + HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE + HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF + OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN + HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE + TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS + THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING + MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED + THAT THE NATION MIGHT + LIVE." + +At the dedication the national flags of the two political parties were +removed from the streets and with them the statue was draped. The town +was crowded with visitors, and a long procession marched through the +streets. A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches by General Bartlett and +Honorable Thomas Colt, President of the day, and an oration by George +William Curtis accompanied the unveiling. + +The four principal streets of the town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of West street is the building of the +Berkshire Life Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1851, and +has always included among its Directors and Managers the best business +men in the town and county, who naturally take great pride in it as one +of the soundest Life Insurance Companies of the country. + +In the same building are three national and one savings bank, besides +the town and other offices. Immediately beyond is Mr. Atwood's drug +store, an establishment of long standing, which would bear favorable +comparison with any similar store as regards either attention or +knowledge of a druggist's duties. Farther along the same street are +Central Block and the Academy of Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and shady horse-chestnut trees, +invite our footsteps. The dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, built in +the cottage and villa styles of architecture; many are stately edifices; +many are hospitable mansions; all show unmistakable evidence of being +comfortable homes. Scattered over the township, each springing up around +a mill or two, are miniature villages. Their population is largely made +up of foreigners, Irish and Germans, whose condition appears to be +somewhat better than that of the same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The mills, mostly small, are located +with a view to an opportunity for using water power, yet none are +without steam power as well. In the same neighborhood are the large +farms and expensive estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest class in +the community. Between the villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views which never repeat themselves or +become monotonous. The cemetery is itself one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighborhood. A massive granite gateway is being put up, +the gift of the late Thomas Allen. For a long distance the road leads +through a thick forest of maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless for a short time, birds and +squirrels show themselves in all directions, and fill his ears with the +sounds of the woods. Far away may be seen the white houses and the +church spires of the town. No resting place for the dead could be more +peaceful, more inspiring to meditation on the part of those who walk in +the light of day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all +covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of +flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving +hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it +is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: + + WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, + Brigadier General and Brevet Major General + UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. + BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, + June 6th, 1840. + DIED IN PITTSFIELD, + December 17th, 1876. + A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment. + A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation. + A Christian, strong in faith and charity, + His life was an inspiration, + His memory is a trust. + +Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not +ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was +procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on +the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before +public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where +a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take +the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real +Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an +energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the +practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character +combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and +conscience with religious sentiment. + +A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in +which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It +is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to +Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, +working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years +travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade +with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way +through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that +deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that +their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and +unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, +the examples set before them. + + * * * * * + +ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER. + +By JOSEPH B. WALKER. + + +No man has been universally great. Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited portions of their lives. +Particularly true is this remark when applied to Major Robert Rogers, +the Ranger, who, in our last French war, greatly distinguished himself +as a partisan commander, and gained as wide fame as did any other +soldier of equal rank and opportunity. + +I do not introduce him here as a saint, for, as is well known, no +quality of sanctity ever entered his composition; but rather, as the +resolute commander of resolute men, in desperate encounters with a +desperate foe; as a man eminently fitted for the rough work given him to +do. And just here and now I am reminded of a remark made in his old age +by the late Moody Kent, for a long period an able member of the New +Hampshire bar, and there the associate of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as well as of Jeremiah Mason, and +the two Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of whom he survived. Said Mr. +Kent, one day, evidently looking forward to the termination of his +career, "Could Zeke Webster have been living at my decease he would have +spoken as well of me, yes, as well of me as he could." If one can summon +to his mind and heart the kindly charity attributed to Mr. Webster, he +may, should he care for it, find a comfortable hour in the society of +this famous Ranger. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good old +Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1727.[A] At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier town, and its log houses were +the last civilized abodes which the traveller passed as he went up the +Merrimack valley on his way to Canada. It was the seed-town from which +were afterwards planted the ten or a dozen other Scotch-Irish townships +of New Hampshire.[B] It was the first to introduce and scatter abroad +Presbyterian principles and Irish potatoes over considerable sections of +this Province. + +[Footnote A: Stark's History of Dunbarton, p. 178.] + +[Footnote B: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 180.] + +Parson McGregor and his people had been in their new homes but four +years when they had ready for occupancy a log school-house, sixteen feet +long and twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in one like it, that +Robert Rogers acquired his scanty stock of "book-learning," as then +termed. But education consists in much besides book-learning, and he +supplemented his narrow stock of this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the rocks and stumps upon his father's +farm and in the hunter's camp. + +The woods, at this day, were full of game. The deer, the bear, the +moose, the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and various other wild animals +existed in great numbers. To a young man of hardy constitution, +possessed of enterprise, energy, and a fondness for forest sports, +hunting afforded not only an attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, and as a hunter, tramped +through large sections of the wilderness between the French and English +settlements. On such excursions he mingled much with the Indians, and +somewhat with the French, obtaining by such intercourse some knowledge +of their languages, of their modes of hunting, and their habits of life. +He also acquired a fondness for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, learning the portages between +their headwaters, many of the Indian trails and the general topography +of the great area just mentioned. + +During the French and Indian wars small bodies of soldiers were often +employed to "watch and ward" the frontiers, and protect their +defenceless communities from the barbarous assaults of Indians, turned +upon them from St. Francis and Crown Point. Robert Rogers had in him +just the stuff required in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, be +surprised to find him on scouting duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when he was but nineteen years of +age;[A] and, three years later, engaged in the same service, under +Captain Ebenezer Eastman, of Pennycook.[B] Six years afterwards, in +1753, the muster rolls show him to have been a member of Captain John +Goff's company, and doing like service.[C] Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique for the ranging service, in which +they were soon to be employed. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. +95.] + +[Footnote B: Same, p. 99.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 118.] + +I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in 1749, as Londonderry became filled +to overflowing with repeated immigrations from the North of Ireland, +James Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, and one of the early +settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton, +and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in +which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the +public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an +extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement, +afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich +uplands which surrounded it. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.] + +Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by +a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a +bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This +incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his +son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that +while in London, after the French war, being in company with several +persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story, +or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When +it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the +woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his +mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who +mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in +fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B] + +[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p. +240.] + +[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is +easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them. +They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven +miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and +the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and +Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills, +nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.] + +As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the +condition of things in the British Colonies and in Canada at the +beginning of this war. + +The thirteen American Colonies had, at that time, all told, of both +white and black, a population of about one million and a half of souls +(1,425,000.)[A] The French people of Canada numbered less than one +hundred thousand.[B] + +[Footnote A: Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 127.] + +[Footnote B: Encyclopedia Brittanica.] + +The respective claims to the Central part of the North American +Continent by England and France were conflicting and irreconcilable. The +former, by right of discovery, claimed all the territory upon the +Atlantic coast from New Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of numerous +grants the right to all west of this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, claimed Canada, a portion of New +England and New York, and the basins of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +together with all the territory upon the streams tributary to these, or +a large part of the indefinite West. + +To maintain her claims France had erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to +the Gulf of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, a line starting at +Louisburg, and thence running up this great river to Quebec and +Montreal, and thence up Lake Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, he will trace +the line across which the two nations looked in defiance at each other, +and see instantaneously that the claims of France were inadmissable, and +that another war was inevitable. It mattered little that of the +forty-five years immediately preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, had been years of war +between these two neighbors. They were now, after a peace of only half a +dozen years, as ready for a fresh contest as if they were to meet for +the first time upon the battle field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; of the old Church with the new; +of feudalism with democracy--a conflict which should settle the destiny +of North America, making it English and Protestant, or French and Roman +Catholic; a contest, too, in which the victor was to gain more than he +knew, and the vanquished was to loose more than he ever dreamed of. + +Hostilities may be said to have been commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed the Ohio company of the +fort which they were erecting at the forks of the Ohio River, afterwards +named Fort Du Quesne. + +The plan of a Colonial Confederation, formed at the Albany convention in +July of that year, having failed of acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by such others as the several +Provinces were willing to furnish. + +The campaign of the next year (1755) embraced: + +1st. An expedition, under General Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne. + +2d. A second, under General Shirley, for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted. + +3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture and deportation of the +Acadians. + +4th. A fourth, under General William Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the French, in the very heart of New +England and New York, whence innumerable bands of Indians had been +dispatched by the French to murder the defenceless dwellers upon the +English frontiers, particularly those of New Hampshire, to destroy their +cattle and to burn their buildings and other property. + +To the army of this latter expedition New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of ten companies, the first being a +company of Rangers, whose Captain was Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. [A] + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, vol. 2, 1866, p. +129.] + +But a few words just here in explanation of the character of this +ranging branch of the English army. It was a product of existing +necessities in the military service of that time. Most of the country +was covered with primeval forests and military operations were largely +prosecuted in the woods or in limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying in ambush for the perpetration +of any mischief for which they might have opportunity. + +It became necessary, therefore, in scouring the forests to drive these +miscreants back to their lairs, as well as in making military +reconnoissances, to have a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian life +and warfare; prepared, not only to meet the Indian upon his own ground, +but to fight him in his own fashion. The British Regular was good for +nothing at such work. If sent into the woods he was quite sure, either +not to return at all, or to come back without his scalp. And the +ordinary Provincial was not very much better. From this necessity, +therefore, was evolved the "Ranger." + +He was a man of vigorous constitution, inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, day after day, upon scant rations, +refreshed by short intervals of sleep while rolled in his blanket upon a +pile of boughs, with no other shelter but the sky. He knew the trails of +the Indians, as well as their ordinary haunts and likeliest places of +ambush. He knew, also, all the courses of the streams and the carrying +places between them. He understood Indian wiles and warfare, and was +prepared to meet them. + +Stand such a man in a pair of stout shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small clothes; give him a close-fitting +jacket and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet in his belt; hang a +good-sized powder-horn by his side, and upon his back buckle a blanket +and a knapsack stuffed with a moderate supply of bread and raw salt +pork; to these furnishings add a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and you have an average New +Hampshire Ranger of the Seven Year's war, ready for skirmish or pitched +battle; or, for the more common duty of reconnoitering the enemy's force +and movements, of capturing his scouts and provision trains, and getting +now and then a prisoner, from whom all information possible would be +extorted; and, in short, for annoying the French and Indian foe in every +possible way. + +If you will add three or four inches to the average height of such a +soldier, give him consummate courage, coolness, readiness of resource +in extremities, together with intuitive knowledge of the enemy's wiles, +supplemented with a passable knowledge of French and Indian speech, you +will have a tolerable portrait of Captain Robert Rogers at the beginning +of our Seven Year's war.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published +in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in +the costume of a Ranger, with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun +resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian +followers."--[Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiach, vol. I, p. 164.] + +He received his first Captain's commission in the early part of 1755, +and was employed by the New Hampshire government in building a fort at +the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and in guarding its Northern and +Western frontiers until July, when he was ordered to Albany to join the +army of Major General Johnson. His first service there was in furnishing +escort, with a company of one hundred men, to a provision train from +Albany to Fort Edward. From this latter point he was afterwards +repeatedly despatched, with smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson River +and down Lake George and Lake Champlain to reconnoiter the French forts. +Some of these expeditions extended as far north as Crown Point and were +enlivened with sharp skirmishes. He was absent up the Hudson upon one of +these when the French were defeated at the battle of Lake George and +Baron Dieskan was made prisoner. + +The efficiency of the campaign of the next year (1756), which +contemplated the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, was +seriously impaired by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; Major +General Shirley being superceded in June by General Abercrombie while +he, about a month later, yielded the command to the inefficient Lord +Londown. The only occurrences of particular note during this campaign +were the capture of our forts at Oswego by General Montcalm and the +formal declarations of war by the two belligents. + +Rogers and his men were stationed at Fort William Henry, and made +repeated visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point to ascertain the power of +the enemy and to annoy him as they had opportunity. They went down Lake +George, sometimes by land upon its shores, and sometimes by water and in +boats. In the winter their land marches were frequently upon snow-shoes, +and their boats were exchanged for skates. On such occasions each Ranger +was generally his own commissary and carried his own supplies. + +In his journal for this year (1756) Rogers notes thirteen of these +expeditions as worthy of record. The first was down Lake George on the +ice, in January, with seventeen men, resulting in the capture of two +prisoners and two sledges laden with provisions. + +The second was made in February with a party of fifty men to ascertain +the strength and operations of the French at Crown Point. Having +captured one prisoner at a little village near by the fort, they were +discovered and obliged to retire before the sallying troops of the +garrison. With very marked sang froid he closes his account of this +reconnoissance by saying: "We employed ourselves while we dared stay in +setting fire to the houses and barns in the village, with which were +consumed large quantities of wheat, and other grain; we also killed +about fifty cattle and then retired, leaving the whole village in +flames." + +There often appears a ludicrous kind of honesty in the simple narratives +of this journal. He occasionally seized certain stores of the enemy +which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in +narrating the capture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon +Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed: "We sunk +and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of +wheat and flour, wine, and brandy; some few casks of the latter we +carefully concealed." + +His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two +whole companies; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens +of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year. + +Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary severity of his +discipline. A story has come down to us which well illustrates this +trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal +muddled, one night, by liberal potations, became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor in consequence of inability +to discharge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at +length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering them in +their distress, at once relieved them by the remark: "I appreciate the +gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious one. +But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other +half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one +time common, "We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the English +nation." + +But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become apparent, and we shall not be +surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by +Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent +company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the +nucleus of the famous corps since known as "Roger's Rangers." + +In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, +thereby increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in +a little more than a year this was farther enlarged by the addition of +five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of +Rangers, becoming thus the commander of the whole corps. + +The character of the service expected of this branch of the army was set +forth in Major General Shirley's orders to its commander in 1756, as +follows, viz.: "From time to time, to use your best endeavors to +distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying their +houses, barns, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack +and destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of +the country where he could find them."[A] + +[Footnote A: Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.] + +On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French +forts; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning +snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point half +way between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they captured, together with six +horses and seven men. The others fled within the walls of Ticonderoga +and alarmed the garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his situation he +commenced at once his return. By two o'clock in the afternoon, his party +was attacked by two hundred and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of his men. The French, as was +subsequently ascertained, lost one hundred and sixteen. The proximity of +Ticonderoga rendered vain the continuance of the contest, and he availed +him of the shelter of the night to return to Fort William Henry. + +For this exploit he was highly complimented by General Abercrombie, and, +at a later period of this same year, was ordered by Lord Londown to +instruct and train for the ranging service a company of British +Regulars. To these he devoted much time and prepared for their use the +manual of instruction now found in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very succinctly and lucidly the rules +governing this mode of fighting. + +The campaign of 1757 contemplated only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown directed all his energies. Having +collected all the troops which could be spared for that purpose, he +sailed for Halifax on the twentieth of June with six thousand soldiers, +among them being four companies of Rangers under the command of Major +Rogers. Upon arriving at Halifax his army was augmented by the addition +of five thousand Regulars and a powerful naval armament. We have neither +time nor inclination to consider the conduct of Lord Londown on this +occassion farther than to say that his cowardice and imbecility seem +wonderful. Finding that, in all probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he returned to New York without +striking a blow. If about this time our heroic commander of the Rangers +used some strong language far from sacred, it will become us to remember +"Zeke Webster" and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives "as +we can." He returned to New York three weeks after the surrender of Fort +William Henry, where with his Rangers he might have done something, at +least, to prevent the horrible massacre which has tarnished the fair +fame of Montcalm indellibly. + +England and America both were humbled in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of sufficent resources is severe, but +how utterly insufferable when, with abundant means, incompetency to use +them brings defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation to Lord +Londown than we are wont to think. His imbecility helped rouse the +British nation and recall William Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other countries and promised an early +termination of French dominion in America. + +Lord Londown was succeeded in the early part of 1758 by General +Abercrombie and plans were matured for capturing the Lake forts, +Louisburg and Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, the two last, +with the addition of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The movement against +Crown Point and Ticonderoga did not succeed. In the assault upon the +latter Rogers and his Rangers fought in the van and in the retreat +brought up the rear. + +In the spring of this year (1758) Rogers went down Lake George at the +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, and near the foot of it had a +desperate battle with a superior body of French and Indians. He reported +on his return one hundred and fourteen of his party as killed or +missing. Why he was not annihilated is a wonder. General Montcalm, in a +letter dated less than a month after the encounter, says: "Our Indians +would give no quarter; they have brought back one hundred and forty-six +scalps." For his intrepidity on this occasion he was presented by +General Abercrombie with the commission of Major of Rangers, before +alluded to. + +The adroitness with which Rogers sometimes extricated himself from +extreme peril is illustrated by his conduct on one occasion, when +pursued by an overwhelming number of savages up the mountain, near the +south end of Lake George, which now bears his name. Upon reaching the +summit he advanced to the very verge of the precipice, on the east side, +which descends 550 feet to the lake. Having here reversed his snow shoes +he fled down the side opposite to that by which he had come up. Arriving +soon after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks of two men, apparently, +instead of one, and Rogers far below upon the ice, hastening towards +Fort Edward, concluded that he had slid down the precipice aided by the +Great Spirit, and that farther pursuit was vain. + +Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of 1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially accomplished. +Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned in July, Fort Niagara +capitulated the same month, and Quebec was surrendered in September. + +Their violation of a flag of truce in this last month now called +attention to the St. Francis Indians, who had been for a century the +terror of the New England frontiers, swooping down upon them when least +expected, burning their buildings, destroying their cattle, mercilessly +murdering their men, women, and children, or cruelly hurrying them away +into captivity. The time had now come for returning these bloody visits. +The proffering of this delicate attention was assigned by Major General +Amherst to Rogers. In his order, dated September 13, he says: "You are +this night to set out with the detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under your command and proceed to +Misisquey Bay, from whence you will march and attack the enemy's +settlements on the south side of the river St. Lawrence in such a manner +as you shall judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for the +success and honour of his majesty's arms. + + * * * * * + +"Take your revenge, but don't forget that tho' those villains have +dastardly and promiscuously murdered the women and children of all ages, +it is my orders that no women or children are killed or hurt." + +In pursuance of these orders Major Rogers started the same day at +evening. On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi Bay. On the +twenty-third, with one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he came, without +being discovered, to the environs of the village of St. Francis. The +Indians had a dance the evening following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an hour before sunrise, Rogers and +his men fell upon them on all sides, and in a few minutes, ere they had +time to arouse themselves and seize their arms, the warriors of that +village were dead. A few, attempting to escape by the river, were shot +in their canoes. The women and children were not molested. + +When light came it revealed to the Rangers lines of scalps, mostly +English, to the number of six hundred, strung upon poles above the +door-ways. Thereupon, every house except three containing supplies was +fired, and their destruction brought death to a few who had before +escaped it by concealing themselves in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their accursed village had been +obliterated. + +The operations of the next year (1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of Quebec by the French was their +final effort. The army of the Lakes embarked from Crown Point for +Montreal on the sixteenth day of August. "Six hundred Rangers and +seventy Indians in whale-boats, commanded by Major Rogers, all in a line +abreast, formed the advance guard." He and his men encountered some +fighting on the way from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no serious obstacle +retarded their progress. The day of their arrival Monsieur de Vaudveuil +proposed to Major General Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in North America. + +The English troops, as will be remembered, entered Montreal on the +evening of the eighth of September. On the morning of the twelfth Major +Rogers was ordered by General Amherst to proceed westward with two +companies of Rangers and take possession of the western forts, still +held by the French, which, by the terms of the capitulation, were to be +surrendered. + +He embarked about noon the next day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to the west by the St. Lawrence and +the Lakes. On the seventh of November they reached the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, where the beautiful city of Cleveland now stands. The cross of +St. George had never penetrated the wilderness so far before. Here they +encamped and were soon after waited upon by messengers from the great +chieftain Pontiac, asking by what right they entered upon his territory +and the object of their visit. Rogers informed them of the downfall of +the French in America, and that he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the English by the terms of the +capitulation. Pontiac received his message remarking that he should +stand in his path until morning, when he would return to him his answer. + +The next morning Pontiac came to the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, met face to face the bold, +self-possessed, clear-headed Major of the British Rangers. It is +interesting to note how calmly the astute ally of the French accepted +the new order of things and prepared for an alliance with his former +enemies. He and Rogers had several interviews and in the end smoked the +pipe of peace. With dignified courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, provisions for his +journey and an escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke camp on the twelfth +and pushed onward towards Detroit. By messenger sent forward in advance +he apprized Monsieur Belletre, Commandant of the fort, of his near +approach and the object of it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of the truth of the unwelcome news +thus brought, he surrendered his garrison. On the twenty-ninth of +November the British flag floated from the staff which ever before had +borne only the lillies of France. + +On the tenth of December, after disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of the forts Miamie and Gatanois, +with characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still farther westward for +Michilimackinac. But it was a vain attempt. The season was far advanced. +Indeed, the winter had already come, and while the ice prevented his +progress by water, the snows rendered impracticable his advance by land. +With reluctance he relinquished for the first time the completion of his +mission. Turning eastward, after a tedious journey, he reached New York +on the fourteenth of February, 1761. + +From New York, there is reason to suppose, that he went this same year +as Captain of one of the His Majesty's Independent Companies of Foot to +South Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant in subduing the Cherokees, +who had for a year or two been committing depredations upon the +Carolinian frontiers. + +From this time onward for the next two years we lose sight of Major +Rogers, but he re-appears at the siege of Detroit in 1763. Hither he +went with twenty Rangers as part of a body of soldiers sent from Fort +Niagara under the command of Captain Dalzell for the re-inforcement of +the beleagured fort. He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, and on the +thirty-first took an active part in the fierce battle of Bloody Bridge. +His valor was as useful as it was conspicuous on that occasion, and but +for his daring efforts the retreat of the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, for a time, in the house of +the Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a throng of savages which surrounded +it, his escape with a few followers at one door was hardly achieved ere +these burst in at another. + +The next glimpse we get of Major Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some four or five hundred acres. Good +old Parson Walker, who here kept open house, and for more than fifty +years watched with solicitude the interests of his parish and his +country, says, in his diary for 1764, against date of February 24: +"Major Rogers dined with us" and again December 22:--"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me." + +It is probable that his private affairs now occupied his attention. A +year or so after the surrender of Montreal he was married to Elizabeth, +daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John's Church, in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He considered this town his residence, and in +papers executed this very year (1764) sometimes designates himself "as +of Portsmouth," and at others, as "now residing at Portsmouth." + +For three or four years, between 1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous and some quite extensive +tracts. Some twenty-five different conveyances to him are on record in +the Recorder's office of Rockingham County, and half as many from him to +other parties. + +Some of these lands he seems to have purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as +Governor of New Hampshire, conveyed to him as "a reduced officer" a +tract of three thousand acres, lying in the southern part of Vermont. + +One[A] conveyance made by him and bearing date December 20, 1762, +arrests our attention. By it he transferred to his father-in-law, Rev. +Arthur Brown, before mentioned, some five hundred acres of land in +Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire) together with "one negro man, named +Castro Dickerson, aged about twenty-eight; one negro woman, named +Sylvia; one negro boy named Pomp, aged about twelve and one Indian boy, +named Billy, aged about thirteen." For what reason this property was +thus transferred I have no means of knowing. If the object of the +conveyance was to secure it as a home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular life, the end sought was +subsequently attained, as the land descended even to his +grand-children.[B] + +[Footnote A: The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing upon +the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east side and near the south +end of Main Street, in Concord, New Hampshire. It must be at least a +hundred years old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in the rear. It +was occupied for many years by Captain and Mrs. Roach, and later by +Arthur, son of Major Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.] + +[Footnote B: A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, New Hampshire.] + +And I may as well, perhaps, just here and now anticipate a little by +saying that Major Rogers did not prove a good husband, and that +seventeen years after their marriage his wife felt constrained, February +12, 1778, to petition the General Assembly of New Hampshire for a +divorce from him on the ground of desertion and infidelity. An act +granting the same passed the Assembly on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth of March following.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert Rogers and +Elizabeth, his wife. + +"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the County of Rockingham, +and State aforesaid, hath petitioned the General Assembly for said +State, setting forth that she was married to the said Robert Rogers +about seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time he had +absented himself from and totally neglected to support and maintain +her--and had, in the most flagrant manner, in a variety of ways, +violated the marriage contract--but especially by infidelity to her Bed; +For which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a vinculo +matrimonii, might be granted. The principal facts contained in said +petition being made to appear, upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore, + +"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said +State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between +the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."--[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.] + +I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.[A] After his marriage he lived with his wife +and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously +mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach +is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his +excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at +Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into +the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and +called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two +drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, +expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the +custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain +immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the +guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a +sufficiency for both, the host should call for more. + +[Footnote A: Bouton's History of Concord, p. 351.] + +Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they +neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.[A] + +[Footnote A: Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.] + +In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to +have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is +entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the +several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the +continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the +period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless +quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made under the Generals +who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late war. +From which may be collected the material circumstances of every campaign +upon that continent from the commencement to the conclusion of the war. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. viii; Journals, pp. 236. + +An American edition of Roger's Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, +was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell's Sons. Besides a +valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an +appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals +ever published.] + +The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the country at the time of its +publication.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account of +North America; Containing a description of the several British Colonies +on that Continent, including the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, +&c., as to their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number of Inhabitants +supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior and Westerly Parts of the +Country, upon the rivers St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and +the Great Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those Parts, as to their +Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, &c., Containing many useful and +Entertaining Facts, never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller, near +Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction and Advertisement, pp. viii; +Concise Account, pp. 264.] + +It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when +the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is +doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the +charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were +written by another's hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that +the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his +expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New +York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. +If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit +of their authorship. + +Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair +chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together +with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are +such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth +with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled +much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as +fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also +attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, +entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in +1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages of +America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for the Author, and sold by J. +Millan, opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."] + +On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King's command, General Gage +appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of +Michilimackinac.[A] Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. +He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately +ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly +the duties of this office.[B] But as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and +restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of +mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all +matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters +to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C] + +[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.] + +[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage, +dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in +1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his +readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and +got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up +with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some +of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing +else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that +service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215. + +The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him +(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as +a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at +home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must +appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never +confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you +mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in +time."--[Journals, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.] + +Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by +clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the +government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts +upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary +was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To +this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time +went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got +deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; +grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable +correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of +seeking of the home government an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders +thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.] + +His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was +arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be +there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground, +probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date +between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England. + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.] + +And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, +wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his +innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had +advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He +was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment +for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in +England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he +pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with £600 a +year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt +which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length +overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by +degrees to his true level. + +[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated +February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from +London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and +kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his +sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be +made a Baronet, with a pension of £600 sterling, and to be restored to +his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.] + +We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. +The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our +Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a +military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. +Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all +the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible +business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, +as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person. + +He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival +by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon +his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a +gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, +in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and +Great-Britain;"[A] yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he +makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter +addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.[B] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 259.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, p. 261.] + +On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in +shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. +After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had +fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered +his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the +close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the +night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 118.] + +Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, +but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see +him.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 263.] + +Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South +Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief +his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret +tender of his services to the American Congress.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 273.] + +However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few +days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of +Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,[A] which +was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of +proscription. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.] + +Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he +accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by +General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the +British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 277.] + +On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so +far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was +attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American +troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual +valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over. + +The next year he returned to England,[A] where, after a disreputable +life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, +he is said to have died in the year 1800. + +[Footnote A: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 238.] + +Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in +undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the +poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as +romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy +McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock +Lomond. + + * * * * * + +ROUSED FROM DREAMS. + +By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON. + + + Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder; + Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder; + On my window-pane, making wild refrain, + Sharply strikes the rain. + + Wind in furious gusts with angry railing + Follows the unhappy restless wailing + Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee + None to save nor see. + + Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers, + Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers; + Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate, + Shrieking prayers too late! + + * * * * * + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG + +By EBENEZER BAILEY. + + +On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, +consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding +a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua +River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These +people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, +over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox +carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own. + +Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of +Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town +set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town +meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until +January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain +an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third +of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay +signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the +rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of +Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the +General Court. + +A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to +form a part of the new town of Ashby. + +The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain +Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, +and other business necessary to the organization of a town government +transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put +in order was to provide for "Sabbath days' preaching," and the Rev. +Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed +sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located +between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land +was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had +purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt. + +In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue +of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. +Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a +kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the +Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and +rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in +arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, +whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with +characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one +Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe +struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he +finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to +Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone +through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely +forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great +degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first +Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been +erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston. + +Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and +to appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. And now the town of +Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East +energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new +homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to +eighty families, with a total valuation of £2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, and the rate was over ten per +cent. + +There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many +matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil +and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no +separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the +affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town +meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will +relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine +Providence, and abate her husband's rates on Isaac Gibson's and Ebenezer +Bridge's tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton's poll +tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles. + +Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a +comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the +inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were +preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so +frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging +to the actors, from whom the future was withheld. + +As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting +to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and +to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, +wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." +A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell +was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston. + +In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of +Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and +send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held +accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report +presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing +full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights +and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows: + + "And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now + informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have + made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, + subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, + it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and + the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in + their power to keep off all such infringement." + +The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the +Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. +The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South +and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in +preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim +Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the +armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and +regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was +appropriated for powder, lead and flints. + +The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the +little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at +nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of +Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at +the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few +volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, +under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became +Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged +in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large +wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they +arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. + +It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of +volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill +John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the +intrenchments. + +When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the +contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General +Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard +to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows: + + "Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress + should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them + independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the + inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and + fortunes, support them in the measure." + +In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his +Majesty's name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the +writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of +Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant +ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay." + +For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and +unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of +furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, +the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with +the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial +difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, +and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the +inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to +us under the name of Shay's Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg +deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an +active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah +Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should +be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in +an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." +Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did +everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the +authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a +military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; +and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have +followed. + +The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, +but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the +nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main +Street. One might see Cowdin's tavern, Kimball's saw and grist mill, +Fox's store, a baker's shop, and half a dozen houses between the +American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill +back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store +of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with +large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball +were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer +Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, +were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786. + +In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in +the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a +village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and +boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the +General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, +into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of +the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in +one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill +being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they +determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its +location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should +be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the +words _nearest, convenientest_, were a cause of furious contention. Town +meeting after town meeting was held--now victory rested with one +faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, +extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian +Church. + +But now the leaven of heterodoxy was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, turned from the theological doctrines +of their forefathers and adopted Unitarian views. In most places there +was a final division of the original Church, and the formation of two +societies, one of the Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox persuasion. + +Fitchburg was agitated in this way for about twenty-four years, during +which time many ecclesiastical councils were held, and debate and +dispute were almost continuous, both in and out of town meeting, for +neighbor was divided against neighbor, and one member of a household +against another. The result was the dissolution of the parochial powers +of the town, and a division into two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox built a new building on the corner +of Main and Rollstone streets. + +But while religious contention went on, worldly growth and prosperity +increased. Quite a number of manufacturing establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little stream that furnished the power +was beginning to be appreciated. + +In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton +mills, 1 scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 +taverns, 2 hat manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 tanneries, 2 +window blind manufactories, and 1 chair manufactory. There were a number +of stone bridges, and a dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, and Lowell, and left three times a week for +Worcester and Springfield, and returned on alternate days. + +Energetic, enterprising young men were attracted to Fitchburg as a +promising place for a home, and there was the exhilarating, hopeful +atmosphere of a new and growing town, where changes are rapid and +opportunities are many. It was about this time that Rufus C. Torrey +wrote his history of Fitchburg, in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, then a public spirited young +lawyer, who had already accumulated quite an amount of material from +records and conversations with the older residents These two men saved +from oblivion very many valuable facts in the history of the town. + +About this time, also, the Fitchburg High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the Fitchburg Library Association was +organized, both of which institutions were valuable educational +influences. + +From 1840 to 1860 the town continued to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair business enlarged greatly, the +iron business was introduced by the Putnam Brothers, and grew rapidly, +and various other branches of industry were begun and prospered. The +Fitchburg Railroad was built, followed by the Vermont and Massachusetts, +the Fitchburg and Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch Railroads, all +centreing in Fitchburg and bringing an increase of business. + +At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the town contained +nearly 8,000 inhabitants, and during the war Fitchburg did her part, +answering all calls promptly and sending her best men to the field. Her +history in that contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, in his history +of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion." Nine companies were +organized in the town, and 750 Fitchburg men sent into the field. + +The years immediately following the war were years of prosperity and +rapid growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was incorporated as a city. The +infant township of 108 years before had grown to a city of 12,000 +inhabitants. The little stream which then turned the wheel of the one +solitary saw and grist mill had since been harnessed to the work of many +mills and manufactories, and on either side were the homes of hundreds, +dependent on its power for their daily bread. Railroads carried the +products of these establishments to the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city from the East and from the West +all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life. Can it be that the +dead of past generations, who sleep on the hillside which overlooks the +valley, have seen this transformation, and if so, will they behold all +the changes of the future? Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life blood. + + * * * * * + +SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW. + +By CHESTER F. SANGER. + + +The Legislature of 1884 has placed an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking in the same direction passed by +the Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1884 provides that +"The provisions of chapter ninety-eight of the Public Statutes relating +to the observance of the Lord's day shall not constitute a defence to an +action for a tort or injury suffered by a person on that day." + +Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 provided that common carriers of +passengers should no longer escape liability for their negligence in +case of accidents to passengers, by reason of the injury being received +on Sunday. This act marked a long step forward in the policy of this +Commonwealth, and made it no longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences of its illegal acts by +saying to the injured passenger, "You were breaking the law yourself, +and therefore you have no redress against us." + +This was a condition of things which worked a confusion of relations, +and lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting on "no principle of +justice" or law, and creating a "species of judicial outlawry which +ignored alike the principles of humanity and the analogies of the law." + +The provisions more particularly referred to in these Acts are those +relating to travelling on the Lord's day, found in the Statutes as +follows:-- + +"Whoever travels on the Lord's day, except from necessity or charity, +shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten dollars for each +offence."--Pub. Stat., Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting and +curious study to follow the changes made in the Sunday law, so called, +with the accompanying judicial decisions, as one by one the hindrances +to the attainment of simple justice by travellers injured on the Lord's +day have been swept away. + +The Pilgrims brought many strange ideas with them to their new home, as +we all well know, and we find these reflected in their statute books in +the form of many "blue laws," some of which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded "dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general discussion of this subject is, +as showing the character and purposes of the founders of the Republic, +we can follow but one division of the Sunday law in its various forms +since it was first framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who intended that +the day should be not merely a day of rest from labor, but also a day +devoted to public and private worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only fit punishment for those who, as +they considered it, "prophaned" the Lord's day. + +As early as 1636 it was enacted by the Court of the Plymouth Colony +that, "Whereas, complaint is made of great abuses in sundry places of +this Government of prophaning the Lord's day by travellers, both horse +and foot, by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, etc., upon the +Lord's day to the great offence of the Godly welafected among us. It is, +therefore, enacted by the Court and the authoritie thereof that if any +person or persons shall be found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such a town and fined twenty shillings, +to the Collonie's use, or else shall sit in the stocks four hours, +except they can give a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; but they +that 'soe transgresse' must be apprehended on the Lord's day and 'paye +theire fine or sitt in the stockes as aforesaide' on the second day +thereafter." It seems, however, that in spite of the pious sentiments of +the framers of the law it was not, or could not be enforced, for in 1662 +it was further enacted that "This Court doth desire that the +transgression of the foregoing order may be carefully looked into and +p'r'vented if by any due course it may be." + +But even now it seems that the energies of the law-makers were of no +avail in preventing prophanation of the Holy day by "foraignors and +others," so that twenty years later, in 1683, we find that "To prevent +prophanation of the Lord's day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on that day. It is enacted by the Court +that a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, unto whom whosever hath +nessessity of travell on the Lord's day in case of danger of death, or +such necessitous occations shall repaire, and makeing out such occations +satisfyingly to him shall receive a Tickett from him to pas on about +such like occations;" but, "if he attende not to this," or "if it shall +appeare that his plea was falce," the hand of the law was likely to fall +upon him while he contributed twenty shillings "to the use of the +Collonie." + +In the Massachusetts Bay Province it was early enacted that "no +traveller ... shall travel on the Lord's day ... except by some +adversity they are belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, +or highways the night before, and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings. + +In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation of the Lord's day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, and so it was enacted that the +penalty for the first offense should be thirty shillings, and for the +second, three pounds, while the offender, presumably a "foraignor," was +to be put under a bond to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy +according to the ideas of the straight-laced Puritans. + +Even this did not put an end to the good fathers' troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions of the several laws now +in force relating to the observation of the Lord's day or Christain +Sabbath, the said laws have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the legislators, the Lord's Day hath been greatly +and frequently prophaned" all the laws relating to the observance +thereof were repealed and a new chapter enacted, one section of which, +and the only one in which we are now interested, was the same as the law +of 1727, above quoted. + +Thirty-one years later all these laws were again erased from the statute +book and a new attempt was made to frame a law which should leave no +loop-holes for foraignors or others, as follows: "Whereas the observance +of the Lord's day is highly promotive of the welfare of a community by +affording necessary seasons for relaxation from labor and the cares of +business; for moral reflections and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world; and for those acts of +charity which support and adorn a Christian society. Be it enacted that +no person shall travel on the Lord's day except from _necessity_ or +_charity_, upon penalty of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings and not +less than ten." Notice what an interesting and moral tone is given to +the otherwise dry statute book by these sermonizing preambles which +reflect so well the motives and aims of the men who moulded and formed +the statute laws of the Commonwealth. + +In this act appears for the first time that "charity" which since then +has truly "covered a multitude of sins," while it has as often been a +strong tower of defence to corporations clearly shown to have been +careless of their obligations to the public. One of the first cases to +arise in which these words "necessity or charity" must be judicially +construed was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 Mass., 76. + +One Josiah Paine had contracted with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail between Portland and Boston on +each day of the week for two years from October 1, 1808, and Knox, his +servant, was indicted for unlawfully travelling while carrying the mail +with a stage carriage through the town of Newburyport on November 20, +1808, the same being Sabbath or Lord's day, and the said travelling not +being from necessity or charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering the +opinion of the Supreme Court, after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices and post-roads, and the +consequent legality of Paine's contract, the statutue of his State +notwithstanding, says that "necessity ... cannot be understood as a +physical necessity ... and when this travelling is necessary to execute +a lawful contract it cannot be considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." But fearing that this decision +may open too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers the Chief Justice hastens +to add: "But let it be remembered that our opinion does not protect +travellers in the stage coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of serious people either at public +worship or in their own houses. The carrier may proceed with the mail on +the Lord's day to the post-office; he may go to any public house to +refresh himself and his horses; and he may take the mail from the +post-office and proceed on his route. _Any other liberties on the Lord's +day our opinion does not warrant_." + +The report naively says, that after this opinion the Attorney General +entered a _nolle proscqui_. + +In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, a case which arose in 1816 and +which attracted a great deal of notice at the time, Chief Justice Parker +says: "It is not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated by Moses, +in order to prove that the _Christian Sabbath_ ought to be observed by +_Christians_, as a day of holy rest and religious worship; and if it +were it would be difficult to make out the point contended for from that +source;" and then goes into a long disquisition upon the Mosaic law and +the precepts of the Saviour and finally says that "cases often arise in +which it will be both innocent and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose him suddenly called to visit a +child, or other near relative, in a distant town laboring under a +dangerous illness; or suppose him to be a physician; or suppose a man's +whole fortune and the future comfort of his family to depend upon his +being at a remote place early on Monday morning, he not having known the +necessity until Saturday evening; these are all cases which would +generally be considered as justifying the act of travelling." Certainly +a somewhat broader view than that taken by the Court seven years +earlier. + +The law remained thus and was re-enacted in the Revised Statutes of +1836, the penalty being raised, however, to ten dollars. In civil cases +arising out of damages sustained by travellers upon the Lord's day, +corporations defendant were quick to take advantage of the law and to +rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff's act of travelling, as a good +defence to his action. + +In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 +Metcalf, 363. Bosworth was travelling on the eleventh of June of that +year, being Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to Fall River on business +connected with a suit in the United States Court, and was injured by +reason of a defect in a highway in Swansey. + +The defendant town admitted that it was by law required to keep the +highway in repair. And plaintiffs counsel argued that as the statute +provided a penalty of ten dollars for travelling on Sunday it could not +be further maintained that there was the additional penalty that a man +could have no legal redress for damages suffered by reason of the +neglect or refusal of defendants to do that which the law required them +to do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion, +"that the plaintiff was plainly violating the law and that since he +could recover from the town only, if free from all just imputation of +negligence or fault," in this case he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not called upon to construe the terms +"necessity or charity," as affecting the liability of corporations +plainly shown to be negligent in the performance of their duties to +others; but many such cases soon arose. + +In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or charity ... that it comprehends +all acts which it is morally fit and proper should be done on the +Sabbath may itself require some explanation. To save life, or prevent +or relieve suffering; to prepare useful food for man and beast, to save +property, as in case of fire, flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the bay, or birds on the shore, +happened to be uncommonly abundant on the Lord's day, it is equally +clear that it would furnish no excuse for fishing or shooting on that +day. How it would be if a whale happened to be stranded on the shore we +need not determine." It is needless to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon the coast. + +In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., 109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting in Malden, and counsel for +defendant maintained that the meeting was attended for idolatry and +jugglery, and while it might be the right of the plaintiff to be an +idolater and to attend shows, yet she could not do so in violation of +the Statute, which was intended to protect the conscience of the +majority of the people from being offended upon the Lord's day. But the +Court ruled that it could not be said as matter of law that travelling +for such a purpose was not within the exception, and that it must be +left to the jury to say if the plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience. + +In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, the court held that it was not a +violation of the law to hire a horse and drive to a neighboring town to +attend the funeral of plaintiff's brother. + +But it was held in a later case that plaintiff, who had been to a +funeral on the Lord's day and was returning therefrom by a somewhat +_circuitous_ route for the purpose of calling upon a relative, was not +entitled to recover for damages sustained by reason of a defect in the +highway. This was the opinion of a divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of "necessity or charity" has been +a close one. + +Such are a few of the interesting cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally framed in 1636, and which +still makes it a criminal offence punishable by a fine of ten dollars to +walk or ride upon the Lord's day, save from necessity or charity, while +our cities furnish free concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement under the guise of "sacred" concerts, upon +the day which our fathers thought and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life ... and for public and +private worship of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world. + + * * * * * + +ELIZABETH. + +A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. + +BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STAB IN THE BACK. + + +A brighter morning for a wedding never dawned. The house was alive with +merry voices and the echo of footsteps hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to be present at the ceremony which +was to take place at noon. Then would come the festivities, the feast, +the dancing, and after that the drive of the newly-married pair to the +beautiful house three miles away, that Stephen Archdale had built and +furnished for his bride, and that had never yet been a home. + +Before the appointed hour the guests began to arrive and to fill the +great drawing-room. There each one on entering walked toward the huge +fire-place, in which on an immense bed of coals glowing with a +brilliancy that outshone the rich red furniture and hangings of the room +lay great logs, which blazed in their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from the heat that did not escape up +the chimney. The rich attire of the guests could bear the bright +sunlight that streamed in through the numberless little panes of the +windows, and the gay colors that they wore showed off well against the +dark wainscotting of the room and its antique tapestries. The ladies +were gorgeous in silks and velvets which were well displayed over +enormous hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered hair was built +up in a tower nearly a foot in height, were flowers or feathers. +Precious stones fastened the folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements of fans that, however +discreetly waved, betrayed their trappings once in a while by some +coquettish tremulousness. The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, or diamond shoe buckles, +powdered wigs and queues, and with ruffles of the richest lace about +their wrists. These guests, who were among the people that in +themselves, or their descendants, were destined to give the world a new +nation, strong and free, showed all that regard to the details of +fashion said to characterize incipient decay in races. But with them it +was only an accessory of position, everything was on a foundation of +reality, it all represented a substantial wealth displaying itself +without effort. The Sherburnes were there, the Atkinsons, the +Pickerings, Governor Wentworth, the first of the Governors after New +Hampshire separated from Massachusetts and went into business for +itself, and others of the Wentworth family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already proved that the heart of a strong +man beat under his laced coat. His wife, well-born and fine-looking, was +beside him, and his son, fresh from College honors, and sipping eagerly +the sparkling draught of life that was to be over for him so soon; his +daughter also, last year a bride, and her husband. These were leaders in +that brilliant assembly called together to the marriage of Katie and +Stephen Archdale. + +While waiting for the event of the morning they talked in low tones +among themselves of the wedding, or more audibly, of personal, or of +political affairs. + +"It wants only ten minutes of the hour," said one lady, "perhaps our +good parson may not come this morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked her companion. + +"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, will lock his study door upon him as +she did one Sabbath when we all went to the house of God and found the +pulpit empty. There's no end to all the malicious tricks she plays him. +Poor, good man." + +"Do you know," said a beruffled gentleman in another part of the room to +his next neighbor, "what a preposterous proposal that ragged fellow, +Bill Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth last week? He is a +good-for-nothing, and the whole scheme is thought to have been merely a +plan to talk with the Governor, whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine house, and he stalked about there +an hour looking at the pictures and the splendid furniture while its +owner was taking an airing. The general opinion is that the object of +his visit was accomplished before his Excellency's return." + +"Poor fellow! One can't blame him so very much," returned the listener +with a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted snuff-box to the +speaker before helping himself generously from it. "But what was his +scheme?" + +"Something the most absurd you ever listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish a public coach from this +city to Boston, to run as often as once a week, and, after the first +expense, to support itself from the travellers it carries; each one is +to pay a few shillings. Where did he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other than private conveyances?" And +these representatives of conservatism threw back their heads and laughed +over the absurdity of the lightning express in embryo. Governor +Wentworth standing before the fire was commenting on some of Governor +Shirley's measures, giving his own judgment on the matter, with a +directness more bold than wise, and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that Americans have always used in +political affairs, when a stir of expectation behind them made them take +breath, and glance at the person entering the room. It was the minister. + +"He has come, you see," whispered the lady to her neighbor of the +forebodings. After greeting him, the group about the fire went back to +their discussions. It had been the good parson's horse then, which they +had heard tearing up the road in hot haste; they had not dreamed that so +much speed was in the nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably a little +late and had been afraid of keeping the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; all the company, indeed, but +the four members of it most important that morning, Katie and Stephen, +the bridesmaid, Mistress Royal, and the best man, a young friend of +Archdale's. After a few moments in which conversation lagged through +expectancy, the door opened again. + +"Ah! here they are. No, only one, alone. How strange!" + +Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under which she was acting to see +anything about her. Without sign of recognition she glanced from one to +another, until her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff watching her +with a gentle wonder in his face. It was for him that she had been +looking. She went up to him immediately, and laid a tremulous hand upon +his arm. She tried to smile, but the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself through the assembly; it was felt +that her presence here alone showed that something had happened, and her +expression, that it was something bad. She did not seem even to hear the +minister's kind greeting, and she was as little moved by the wonder and +scrutiny about her as if she had been alone with him. At Mistress +Archdale's reiterated question if Katie were ill, she shook her head in +silence. Some thought held her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak. + +"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, "but it must be only a jest. +The man's horse is blown, he came so fast. And he insisted on seeing me +and would give this only into my own hands; his message was that it was +life and death, that I must read it at once before the--" She stopped +with a shudder, and held out a paper that she had been grasping; it was +crumpled by the tightening of her fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the minister looked toward the door, +and listened. "You must read it now, this instant, before they come in," +cried Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don't dare not to have you; and +tell me that it has no power, it is only a wicked jest; and throw it +into the fire. Oh, quick, be quick." + +Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper with the haste of age, youth's +deliberateness, and began to read at last. At the same instant a hand +outside was laid on the latch of the door. The room was in a breathless +hush. The door was swung slowly open by a servant and the bride and +bridegroom came in, stopping just beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering face waited for her to come to +her place. But the minister, not glancing up, went sternly on with the +paper; and Elizabeth's gaze was fixed on his face; she had drawn a step +away from him; and her hands were pressed over one another. All at once +he uttered an exclamation of dismay, and turned to her, a dread coming +into his face as he met her eyes. + +"What does it mean?" he gasped. "Heaven help us, is it true?" + +"Oh, it can't be, it can't be," she cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you've seen that it must be all false. Give it +to me. Look, they are coming," she entreated. "Think of her, be ready +for them. Oh, burn this. Can't you? Can't you?" and her eyes devoured +him in an agony of pleading. + +"Stop!" he said, drawing back his hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of it +true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? Was that all so?" + +"Yes." + +By this time the scene had become very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and groom had indeed gone across the room +and were standing before the minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin the ceremony, stood with his eyes +on the paper, his face more and more pale and perplexed. + +"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, laying a hand on his shoulder. + +"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked the Colonel, advancing toward the +minister, and showing his irritation by his frown, his flush, and the +abruptness of his speech usually so suave. + +"I hardly know myself," returned Shurtleff looking from one to the +other. + +"Let us have the ceremony at once, then," said Master Archdale +authoritatively. "Why should we delay?" + +"I cannot, until I have looked into this," answered the minister in a +respectful tone. + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with an authority that few contested. +"Proceed at once." + +"I cannot," repeated the minister, and his quiet voice had in it the +firmness, almost obstinacy, that often characterizes gentle people. His +opposition had seemed so disproportioned and was so gently uttered that +the hearers had felt as if a breath must blow it away, and interest +heightened to intense excitement when it proved invincible. + +"What is all this?" demanded Stephen, holding Katie's arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff with eyes of indignant +protest. As he received no immediate answer, he turned to Elizabeth. +"Mistress Royal," he said, "can you explain this unseemly interruption?" + +Then all the company, who for the moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her again. + +"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," she said, looking at him +an instant with a wildness of pain in her eyes. Then she turned to +Katie's fair, pale face full of wonder and distress at the unguessed +obstacle, and with a smothered cry dropped her face in her hands, and +stood motionless and unheeded in the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak. + +"You ask me," he said, "why I do not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts love has united. I do not dare to do +it until I understand the meaning of this strange paper I hold in my +hand. What do you remember," he said to Stephen, "of a singular game of +a wedding ceremony played one evening last summer?" + +The young man looked uncomprehending for a moment, then drew his breath +sharply. + +"That?" he said, "Why, that was only to give an example of something we +were talking about; that was nothing. Mistress,"--he stopped and glanced +at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, was hanging upon every word of his +denial as if it were music--"Mistress Royal knows that was so." + +"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do." + +"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, "it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded treatment of serious matters +must be. I hope with all my heart that a moment's frivolity will not +have life-long consequences of sorrow, but I cannot proceed in this +happy ceremony that I have been called here to perform until the point +is settled beyond dispute." + +"See how habit rules him like a second nature," whispered Colonel +Pepperrell aside to the Governor. "Nobody but a minister would stop to +give a homily with those poor creatures before him in an agony of +suspense." + +"My dear," said his wife softly in a tone of reproof, laying her hand +warningly on his arm. + +"Stephen Archdale isn't the man to stand this," retorted the Governor in +a higher key than he realized. But the words did not reach their object, +for he had already laid hold of the paper in Mr. Shurtleffs hand. + +"If this paper explains your conduct, give it to me," he said haughtily. + +The other drew back. + +"I will read it to you and to the company," he answered. "There can be +no wedding this morning. I trust there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter." + +Katie, whose face had grown rigid, swung heavily against Stephen. "She +has fainted," her mother cried coming forward. + +"Take her away," commanded the Colonel. "This is no place for her." But +the girl clung to Stephen. + +"I will stay," she said, with a tearless sob. "I must listen. I see it +all, and what he meant, too, that evil man." + +"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, "I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in your hand tells us the cause of +your refusal to marry these young people, I bid you read it to us +immediately." + +The parson, bowing with respect, cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth's commands had been his own intention from the +first. + +"It is a confession," he said, "made by one whom many of us have +welcomed to our homes as a gentleman of blameless character and +honorable dealing. Why it was sent to Mistress Royal instead of to +Master Archdale, or the bride, I am at a loss to understand." + +Elizabeth raised her head with a flash in her eyes, but anger died away +into despair, and she stood silent with the others, and listened to the +fate that fell upon her with those monotonous tones, each one heavy as +lead upon her heart. She wondered if it had been sent to her because it +had been feared that Stephen Archdale would keep silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFESSION. + + +"I write without knowing to whom I am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they will surely not grant it to me. +I don't know even that I can crave it of Heaven, for I have played with +sacred things, and used a power given me for good, in an evil way, to +further my own devices, and, after all, I have not furthered them. I am +a man loving and unloved, one who has perhaps thrown away his soul on +the chance of winning earthly joy,--but such joy,--and has lost it. If +any have ever done like me, let them pity and pardon. I appeal to them +for compassion. I shall receive it nowhere else, unless it be possible, +that the one for love of whom I have done the wrong will out of the +kindness of her heart spare me by and by a thought of pity for what was +the suggestion of a moment and acted on--" + +"Skip all that maundering," interrupted Stephen. "To the point. Who is +this man, and what has he done? Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don't us." + +"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge better of the case, and of the +writer's truthfulness." + +"Yes, you are right," answered the young man pressing Katie's arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to his impatience and his +defiance. + +"And acted on without premeditation," resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to this worthy city of +Portsmouth with letters of introduction to Master Archdale, and others, +I met the beautiful Mistress Archdale. From the first hour my fate was +sealed; I loved her as only a man of strong and deep emotions can love, +with a very different feeling from the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved that they ceased troubling me, +even with their presence at her side. Among the others were only two +worthy of attention, and only one whom I feared. I was reticent and +watched; it was too soon to speak. But as I watched my fear of that one +increased, for age, association, a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me his possibilities of success. With +that rival out of my path, my way to victory was clear. There came a day +when, without lifting my finger against him, I could effectually remove +him. I did it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation rushed upon me +suddenly with overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, for opposite +me sat Katie, more beautiful and lovable than ever, and beside her was +my rival, her cousin, with an air of security and satisfaction that +aroused the evil in me. It was August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale's suggestion had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be about a runaway match, and interested the +young people so much, that when I had finished they asked several +questions; one was in reference to a remark of mine, innocently made, +that the marriage ceremony itself, pure and simple, was something +unimaginably short. The story I had told illustrated this, and some of +the party asked me more particularly as to what the form was. Then I saw +my opportunity, and I took it. 'If one of the young ladies will permit +Master Archdale to take her hand a moment,' I said, 'I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how short the formula may be.' +Master Archdale was for holding Katie's hand, but happily, as it seemed +to me at the moment, she was on the wrong side. I requested him to take +the lady on the other hand, who seemed a trifle unready for the jest, +but was induced by the entreaties of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through the marriage service over them as +rapidly as I dared, my voice sounding to myself thick with the beating +of my heart. But no one noticed this; of course, it was all fun. And so +that summer evening, all in fun, except on my part, Stephen Archdale and +Elizabeth Royal were made man and wife, as fast as marriage vows could +make them. Nothing was omitted that would make the ceremony binding and +legal, not even its performance by a clergyman of the Church of +England." + +A cry of rage and despair interrupted the reader. But he went on +directly. + +"No one in America knew that I had been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my brother died and I inherited my +grandfather's property, I resigned my pastorate at once. This act shows +how unfit for it I was. But whatever my grief may be, my conscience +commands me to forbid this present marriage, and to declare with all +solemnity, that Stephen Archdale already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my letter, believed herself still +Mistres Royal." + +A burst of amazement and indignation, that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and voices expressed consternation. To +this confession had been added names and dates, the year of the writer's +entrance into the ministry, the time and place of his brief pastorate, +everything that was necessary to give his statement a reliable air, and +to verify it if one chose to do so. It was evident that there could be +no wedding that morning, and as the truth of the story impressed itself, +more and more upon the minds of the audience, a fear spread lest there +could be no wedding at all, such as they had been called together to +witness. For, if this amusement should turn out to have been a real +marriage, what help was there? It was in the days when amusements were +viewed seriously and were readily imagined to lead to fatal +consequences. Had Stephen Archdale really married? The people in the +drawing-room that December morning were able men and women, they were +among the best representatives of their time, an age that America will +always be proud of, but they held marriage vows so sacred, that even +made in jest there seemed to be a weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in waiting feared, for their part in +life was to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, that these +qualities flowing through mighty channels should conquer physical +strength and found a nation. To do a thing because it was pleasant was +no part of their creed,--although, even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice. + +That winter morning, therefore, the guests were ready to inveigh against +the sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all would be well, and to +shake their heads mournfully. + +"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so much, and trusted him so much. I +knew he loved my little girl, but I thought it was with an honorable +love that would rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot be true. We +must wait. But matters will come right at last." + +"Yes," assented the Colonel across whose face an incomprehensible +expression had passed more than once during the reading; "it will all +come right. We must make it so." + +A hum of conversation went on in the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, or if not near enough to them +for that, spoken to the first who were patient enough to listen instead +of themselves talking. + +In the midst of it all Stephen raised his head, for he had been bending +over Katie who still clung to him, and asked when the next ship left for +England. + +"In about three weeks," answered Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out +a person competent to make full inquiries; the matter shall be sifted." + +"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I shall make the necessary inquiries +myself, it will be doing something, and I may find the man. We need that +he should be found, Katie and I." + +Elizabeth drew back still more; some flash of feeling made the blood +come hotly to her face for a moment, then fade away again. + +Katie looked up, turned her eyes slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought. + +"Go, Stephen, since you will feel better," she said, "but it's of no +use, I am sure. I understand now something Master Harwin said to me when +he left me. I did not know then what he meant. He has taken you away +from me forever." And with a sob, again she hid her face upon his +shoulder. Then, slowly drawing away from him, she turned to Elizabeth, +and in her eyes was something of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed. + +"How could you," she said, "how could you consent to do it?" + +She had drawn toward Elizabeth every gaze and every thought in the room; +she had pointed out the substitute on whom might be emptied those vials +of wrath that the proper object of them had taken care to escape. +Elizabeth heard on all sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how could she +do it, how could she consent to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, and +herself alone, as it seemed, made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed to grow, and widen, and widen, +like the circles of water into which a stone is thrown, and she was +condemned by her friends, by the people who had known her and her +father, condemned as false to her friendship, as unwomanly. Katie she +could forgive on account of her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never dreamed of. These whispers that +her imagination multiplied seemed to roar in her ears. But innocence and +pride kept her erect, and at last made her raise her eyes which had +fallen and grown dim under the blow of Katie's words. She swept them +slowly around the room, turning her head slightly to do it. Not a look +of sympathy met her. Then, in the pain, a power awoke within her. + +"It is no less a disaster to me," she said. Her words fell with the +weight of truth. She had kept back her pain, no one thought of pitying +her as Katie was pitied, but she was vindicated. + +"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" asked Madam Pepperrell in a low +tone of Governor Wentworth at her elbow. + +"It is not probable she loves him much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl's haughty face. "I don't envy her, on the whole, I don't envy +either of them." By George, madam, it _is_ hard." + +"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, whose glance, having more +penetration, had at last brought a look of sympathy to his face. "Let us +go up to the poor thing, she stands so alone, and I'm not clear that she +has not the worst of it." + +"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned his wife as they moved forward. But +before they could reach her, being stopped by several who spoke to them, +there was a change in the group in that part of the room. Katie had +fallen, and there was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen stooped over +her, lifted her tenderly, and carried her from the room. He was followed +by Mistress Archdale and his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth their +eyes met, his glowed with a sullen rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of scorn, as she looked at him it +seemed to her that every fibre of his being was rejecting her. "You!" he +seemed to be saying with contemptuous emphasis. In answer her eyes +filled him with their haughtiness, they and the scornful curl of her +lip, as she stood motionless waiting for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion that he should pass near +her at all. He still saw her face as he bent over Katie. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + * * * * * + +GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. + +BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D. + + +It is not often that a Governor's objections to a measure, which his +veto has defeated, become, even indirectly, the subject of judicial +consideration. Such, however, has been the experience of Governor +Cleveland in connection with his veto of the appropriation, which was +made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a constitutional lawyer, to see the +principles of that veto entirely approved by all the judges of the Court +of Appeals, as well as by all the judges by whom those principles were +considered, before the case, in which they were involved, reached that +august tribunal, the highest in the judicial system of that State. + +By an amendment to the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1874, it is +provided that, "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be +given, or loaned to, or in aid of, any association, corporation, or +private undertaking." + +It would hardly seem possible to mistake the meaning of a prohibition +like this; but this prohibition is accompanied by the following +modification: "This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature +from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, +the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, now held by the State for +educational purposes." + +The question, how far this qualifying clause limits the proceeding +prohibition, arose first in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in +the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd's Fold of the +Protestant Episcopal Church _vs_. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of +the City of New York.[A] The Attorney-General of the State had given an +official opinion, tending to the conclusion that the prohibition is +almost entirely neutralized by the modification. The Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this case in either court, +differed widely upon the question, whether money raised by local +taxation by the City of New York, under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of the Shepherd's Fold, was, or was +not, "money of the State," and therefore included in the terms of this +prohibition; and when one sees how much is done in the discussions of +the able counsel before the Court of final resort, and by the learned +opinion of Judge Rapello, to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had a similar Court of Appeals, to +revise and clarify the decisions of her Supreme Court. About twenty-five +per cent, of all the decisions of the General Terms of the Supreme +Court, Superior Court, and Court of Common Pleas, which are carried to +the Court of Appeals, are there reversed; and can any lawyer doubt that, +at least, as large a proportion of the decisions of our Supreme Judicial +Court ought also to be revised and reversed? + +[Footnote A: See 10 Daly's Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. 137.] + +The Court of Appeals says: "It seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference to money raised by general +taxation throughout the State, or revenues of the State, or money +otherwise belonging to the State treasury, or payable out of it." + +The money claimed by the Shepherd's Fold being raised by local taxation +for a local purpose in the city of New York, and not "by general +taxation throughout the State," the Court of Appeals holds that it is +not within the terms of the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on that particular +point, while agreeing with it on the main question. + +As the money, appropriated to the Roman Catholic Protectory, was +unquestionably money of the State, "being raised by general taxation +throughout the State," that appropriation was unquestionably in conflict +with the prohibition of the Constitution, which the Governor was sworn +to support. + +Of the courage and independence displayed by Governor Cleveland in thus +vetoing a measure in which so large a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an interest, this is not the place to +speak. But it is creditable to him as a lawyer that alone without a +single precedent to guide him, relying upon his own judicial sense, and +rejecting the opinion of a former Attorney-General, he challenged "the +validity of this appropriation under that section of the Constitution." +The Protectory, he says, "appears to be local in its purposes and +operations." And being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public funds +should not be contributed to its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject the state treasury to demands in +behalf of all sorts of sectarian institutions, which a due care for the +money of the State, and a just economy, could not concede." + +In the higher and broader field of public service--"the grandest throne +on earth"--as the Presidency which he is about to enter, has been +grandiloquently called, let us hope that he will display the same +honesty, capability, and fidelity to the Constitution. We shall then be +assured that the interests of the Republic will suffer no detriment at +his hands. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 14131-8.txt or 14131-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/3/14131/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="text"> +<div class="front"> + +<div class="div"> +<h2 class="dgp">The Bay State Monthly</h2> +<h2 class="sub">A Massachusetts Magazine</h2> +<h2 class="sub">Volume II</h2> +<h2 class="sub">January, 1885.</h2> +<h2 class="sub">Number 4.</h2> +<p class="noindent"></p> +</div> + + <hr class="doublepage"> + +<div class="div" id="toc"><a name="toc_1"></a><h2 class="dgp">Contents</h2><ul class="toc"> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_1">Contents</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_2">GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_3">OLIVER AMES.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_4">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_5">ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_6">ROUSED FROM DREAMS.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_7">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_8">SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_9">ELIZABETH.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_10">CHAPTER VI.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_11">CHAPTER VII.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_12">Notes</a></li> +</ul></div> + +</div> + +<div class="body"> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image1.png" alt="Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON"></p> +</div> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + + +<a name="toc_2"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.]</p> + + +<p class="dgp">His Excellency George D. Robinson, +at present the foremost citizen of Massachusetts, +by reason of his incumbency +of the highest office in the Commonwealth, +is the thirtieth in the line of +succession of the men who have held +the office of Governor under the Constitution. +In character, in ability, in +education, and in those things generally +which mark the representative citizen +of New England, he is a worthy +successor of the best men who have +been called to the Chief Magistracy. +His public career has been marked by +dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; +his life as a private citizen has been such +as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man +in whom the people who confer honor +upon him find themselves also honored. +He is a native of the Commonwealth, +of whose laws he is the chief administrator, +and comes of that sturdy stock +which wresting a new country from +savagery, fostered with patient industry +the germs of civilization it had planted, +and aided in developing into a nation +the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to +the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed +and existing by and with the consent +of the people. His ancestors +were probably of that Saxon race which +for centuries stood up against the encroachments +of Norman kings and nobles, +which was led with willingness into +the battle, the siege or the crusade that +meant the maintenance or advancement +of old England’s honor, or in the cause +of mother Church, and which was possessed +of that brave, independent spirit +that, when the old home was felt to be +too narrow an abode, sought a new-country +in which to plant and develop +its ideas of what government should be. +However this may be it is certain that +from the first settlement of the Massachusetts +Bay Colony the family was always +represented among the most honorable +of its yeomanry, and among its +members were pillars of both Church +and State. His immediate ancestors, +people of the historic town of Lexington, +were active citizens in the Revolutionary +period, and in the great struggle + +members of the family were among +those who did brave and effective service +in the cause of liberty.</p> + +<p class="dgp">George Dexter Robinson was born in +Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born +on a farm, his boyhood and youth were +spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor +exercise and labor which are part +of the life of the farmer’s boy. But the +future Governor did not intend to devote +himself to farming. With the aim +of obtaining a collegiate education he +attended the Academy in his native +town, and followed his studies there by +further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering +Harvard University he was graduated +at that institution in 1856, and +receiving an appointment as Principal +of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, +he accepted it, filling the position +with success during a period of +nine years. He retired from it in 1865. +Meanwhile he had devoted much +time to legal studies, which he continued +more fully during the next few +months, and in 1866 he was admitted to +the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the +town wherein his active career in life +had begun, he made his permanent +home, and with the various interests of +that town he identified himself closely +and pleasantly, exemplifying in many +ways the character of a true townsman, +and associating himself with every movement +for the good of his fellow citizens. +In 1873 he was elected to represent the +town the ensuing year in the State Legislature, +and as a member of the House +he was noted for the promptness and +fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he +was a member of the State Senate, and +here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous +ability as a legislator in addition +to that fidelity to his responsibilities +which had long been characteristic of +him in any and all positions. His qualifications +for public life received still wider +recognition the year he served in the +Senate, and he was nominated by the +Republicans of the old Eleventh District +as Representative in Congress. He +was re-elected for two successive terms, +and after the re-apportionment was +elected from the new Twelfth District +in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the +office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in +order to assist in the organization of the +new Congress, and, after that work was +accomplished, resigned to enter upon +the duties entrusted to him by the people +of the whole Commonwealth. He +had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. +Of his career in Washington it +would not be possible to give a better +summary than one given by "Webb," +the able Washington correspondent of +the Boston Journal, which is here given +in its entirety:</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Robinson took his seat in the +Forty-fifth Congress, which met in extra +session, in October, 1877. He was +prompt in his seat on the first day of +the first session. Regularity in attendance, +and constant attention to public +business, have been characteristics of +Mr. Robinson’s Congressional career. +He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until +the House adjourns at night. He does +not spend his time in importuning the +departments for clerkships, but he welcomes +the civil service law. He does +not take the public time, which belongs +to his constituents, for his private practice +in the United States Supreme Court. +He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in +discovering, and vigorous in denouncing + +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends +and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the +people’s money and has never cast his +vote for an extravagant expenditure; +but he does not oppose an appropriation +to gain a reputation for economy, or +aspire to secure the title of "watch dog +of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts +of a demagogue.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When he entered Congress, he went +there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, +peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority +in parliamentary law, and is one of +the ablest presiding officers in Congress.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Congress which he first entered +the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," +as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father’s house, and +come to stay." Mr. Randall was elected +Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one +of the minor standing committees—that +of Expenditures in the Department +of Justice—and subsequently placed +him near the foot of the list on the +Special Committee on the Mississippi +Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it +was discovered that where "McGregor +sits is the head of the table." Mr. +Robinson, at the extra session of the +Forty-fifth Congress, took little active +part in the public proceedings. He was +a student of Congressional rules and +practice.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the second session of the Forty-fifth +Congress he began to actively participate +in the debates, and from the +outset endeavored to secure a much +needed reform in Congressional proceedings. +He always insisted that, in +the discussion of important questions, +order should be maintained. He followed +every important bill in detail, and +the questions which he directed to those +who had these bills in charge showed +that he had made himself a master of +the subject. He took occasion to revise +upon the floor many of the calculations +of the Appropriations Committee, +and to urge the necessity of the most +rigid economy consistent with proper +administration.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It was at the third session of the +Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, 1879, +that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable +speech. It was upon the bill +relative to the improvement of the Mississippi +River. He was very deeply impressed +with the magnitude of the +problems presented by that great river, +and, while he was willing that the public +money should be wisely expended for +the improvement of the ’Father of +Waters,’ he did not wish that Congress +should be committed to any special +plan which might prove to be part of +a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which +this first speech was listened to, and +the endless questions with which the +Southern men who favored absolutely +the levee system plied him, showed that +they understood that great weight +would be given to Mr. Robinson’s +opinion, and that they did not wish him +to declare, unconditionally, against +their cause. The speech was a broad +and liberal one, but extremely just. It +had been intimated in the course of the +debate that Eastern members, who did +not favor the improvement of the river, +refused to do so on account of a narrow +provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed +them that New England is both just +and generous, and that the country is so +united that a substantial benefit to any +portion of it cannot be an injury to +another. He made some keen thrusts +at the Southern State rights advocates, +who were so eager for the old flag and + +an appropriation, and he reminded +them that whatever might be thought of +the dogma of State sovereignty, "the +great old river is regardless of State +lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee +in Arkansas, over it goes into Louisiana, +spreading devastation in its course." +Mr. Robinson insisted that "Congress +has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of +the public treasury immediately without +investigating a theory and a plan +which proposes to render such an expenditure +wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible +safe-guards should be provided against +any extravagant expenditure on the +part of the Government. The relations +of New England to such an undertaking +he thus broadly stated:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I am not deterred by any considerations +that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged +extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from +the great cities on the Atlantic shore. +I am willing that the whole country +shall be improved and opened for +its best and most profitable occupation. +This territory, whose interests +are affected by this, is greater +than the whole of New England. I +am not afraid that whatever improvements +may be made there New England +will be left out in the cold. Whatever +conduces to the prosperity of the +West or South will benefit the East and +North. We are parts of one great +whole, and, if it is necessary under a +proper policy to spend some money +from the Treasury of the United States +to meet the wants of those States lying +along the Mississippi River, I hope it +will not be begrudged to them, but it +should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the +plans, have received a careful consideration +and the indorsement of the +proper officers."</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the third session of the Forty-fifth +Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his minor +place on the Committee on Expenditures +in the Department of Justice, introduced +a bill relative to the mileage +of United States Marshals, which proposed +an important reform.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the +first session, Mr. Robinson, on account +of the marked abilities which he had +shown as a lawyer and a debater, was +appointed a member of the Judiciary +Committee, a position which he held +through the Forty-sixth Congress with +honor to his district and his State. From +the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress +Mr. Robinson, to the great surprise of +many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took +front rank as a debater on points of +order, and showed that his months of +silent observation and of earnest study +had brought their fruit. His discussion +of points of order and of the rules was +always characterized by good sense. +He did not seek to befog a question by +an extensive quotation of authorities. +He endeavored to strip the rules of +their technicalities and to apply to them +the principle of common sense. Sometimes, +however, he was almost in despair, +and once in the course of an intricate +discussion he exclaimed (March +28, 1879): "If there is a standing and +clear rule that guides the Chair, I have +not yet found it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the second session of the Forty-sixth +Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support +of an amendment to the "Culbertson +Court bill," which was designed to limit +the jurisdiction of the United States +courts. Some of the strongest advocates +of this amendment were men who, although +living in Northern States, were + +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since +the war, have been continuously aggressive +in their efforts to place limitations +upon national power. Mr. Robinson was +a member of the Judiciary Committee +and spoke upon the bill. His speech upon +this measure attracted more attention +than any speech he had delivered before +that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so +interested in it that, although the debate +was running in the valuable time of the +morning hour, Mr. Robinson, on motion +of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, +after the expiration of his time, was requested +to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of +the federal courts. A few extracts from +the general parts of this speech furnish +an excellent illustration of the abilities +of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He +spoke as the son of a Jackson Democrat +would be likely to speak. He vigorously +opposed the increase in the limit from +$500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern +and Western Democrats.</p> + +<p class="dgp">After quoting the opinions of Chief +Justices Story and Marshall to show that +the right of Congress to establish federal +courts could not be denied without defeating +the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional +provisions give to the citizens +of the different States their rights in the +federal courts. I say again, it is not within +the constitutional power of Congress +to make discriminations as to citizens in +this matter. It has been taken as settled +that the corporations of the States for +purposes of jurisdiction are citizens of +the States in which they are created. Can +you discriminate? Why, in the famous +Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro +was not a citizen within the meaning of +the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in +the Circuit Court of the United States. +The nation paused and held its breath, +and never recovered itself until after the +bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that +no such doctrine should ever be repeated +in this country. If Congress can exclude +the citizens of a locality, or the citizens +of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain +classes of wealth or industry, surely it can +exclude any other citizens. If you can, +in this bill and under our Constitution, +declare that the citizens, or any portion +of them, in this country, because they +act in their corporate capacity, shall lose +their rights in the federal courts, it is +but the next step to legislate that the +man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in +the manufacture of cotton, or of woolen +goods, or is banker, or ’bloated bond-holder,’ +shall not have any rights in the +federal courts. There is no step between +them. There may be a discrimination as +to subject-matter, but not as to citizens. +The distinction is very broad, and in +recognition of it my argument is made." +In the discussion of the apportionment +at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, +Mr. Robinson eloquently defended +the honor of Massachusetts against the +aspersions which had been cast upon +the Commonwealth by General Butler in +his brief as attorney in the Boynton-Loring +contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this +brief and suggested that if it were true +the representation of Massachusetts +should be curtailed. Mr. Robinson entered +into an explanation of the reading +and writing qualification for suffrage in +Massachusetts. As General Butler was +the assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson +said:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I propose to show this matter was +understood before 1874. Turn to the debates +in the Congressional Globe, volume + +75, and in 1869 in this House, and +within these walls. General Benjamin F. +Butler made this speech in reply to an +inquiry made by the gentleman from +New York, the Chairman of this Census +Committee. He says:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Everybody in Massachusetts can +vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in +its justice, and an ignorant white man +cannot vote there and a learned negro +be excluded; but in the Georgia Legislature +there was a white man who could +hardly read and write, if at all, voted in +because he was white, while a negro who +spoke and read two languages was voted +out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her +citizens should read and write before +being permitted to vote. Almost everybody +votes there under that rule, certainly +every native-born person of proper age +and sex votes there, and there are hundreds +and thousands in this country who +would thank God continually on their +bended knees if it could be provided +that voters in the city of New York +should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican +government in form and fact far more +safe than now."</p> + +<p class="dgp">After exposing the assertions of General +Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"For twenty-three years it has been +written before the people of that State +that to entitle them to vote and hold +office they shall first learn to read and +write. Near to every man’s dwelling +stands a public free school. Education +is brought to the door of every man. +These school-houses are supported with +almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and +have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education +of the people has been advanced.</p> + +<p class="dgp">* * * I will not take any time +in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in +the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. +People differ about that. Some time or +other that may be changed; but for +sixty years it has been the law, and it so +remains. Looking into the Constitution +and the laws of the sister States of +Virginia and Georgia and Delaware +and Pennsylvania we find similar provisions +of the same antiquity justified +by the communities that have adopted +such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions +of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. +Does any one claim that representation +should be reduced because of +insanity or idiocy, or because of convicts? +Does any one claim that all +laws requiring residence and registration +should be done away? And yet +they are on the same line, on the +same principle. There is not one of +these prerequsites, on which I have +commented, that it is not in the power +of the person who desires to get suffrage +to overcome and control and conquer +so that he may become a voter. But +if he be a black man he cannot put off +his color. He cannot, if he were born +a member of a particular race, strip +himself of that quality; nor can he, if +he has been in servitude; nor can he, if +he has been in rebellion, take out that +taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted +of other crimes, remove his record +of criminality. These are an inherent, +inseparable, indissoluble part of +that man. But his education, his registration, +his residence, his payment of a +portion of the burdens of the State, and +the other matters, are in his power and +his control. I find it to be in accord +with the wisdom of the people of the + +country that it is the true policy to let +the States govern those matters for +themselves. The Constitution of the +United States touches those things that +are out of the man’s control."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the filibustering contest over the +rules in the Forty-seventh Congress, +first session, Mr. Robinson made a very +earnest speech, which commended itself +to all except the extreme filibusters. +Stripping the contest of its technical +parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson +said: "Our rules are for orderly procedure, +not for disorderly obstruction; +not for resistance." Continuing he +said that no tyranny is one-half as +odious as that which comes from the +minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put +our Government upon the right of the +majority to rule." To the charge of +one of the minority that the purpose of +the majority to proceed to the consideration +of the election cases was tyranny, +Mr. Robinson said:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Tyranny! Because the majority of +this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, +they declare to be right and proper, and +in their judgment is to be vindicated, +you say that is tyranny! But it is not +tyranny for you in a minority forsooth +to say, unless it goes just the way we +want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have +thrown out here and have fulminated in +the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration +of this Congress rather than +you shall not have your way. I commend +to my friend some other dictionary +in which he will find a proper definition +of the word tyranny."</p> + +<p class="dgp">To show to what logical result the +theory of the right of the minority to +prevent legislation or the consideration +of public business would lead, the following +illustration was used: "But this +very day suppose by some great calamity +the chair of the Speaker was left +vacant and we were confronted with +the necessity of electing a Speaker. +Elect him under the rules, you say. +Yes, but under the Constitution, greater +than the rule. But, say one-fifth of +this House, you shall not proceed to +elect a Speaker unless you will take a +man from our number; and we will +move to adjourn, to adjourn over, and to +take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the +yeas and nays. Do you believe that we +are in that pitiable plight?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">On the subject of civil service Mr. +Robinson improved one minute to express +his views in this manner:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I am heartily in favor of this bill. +It is in the right direction. We have +read enough in the platforms of both +political parties; here is a chance to do +something.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In some of the States of this country +have just been inaugurated officers of +the Democratic party; and I have +noticed they have made haste, no matter +what their declarations have been in +recent platforms, to turn out well tried +public servants and put in some of their +own retainers and supporters. I want +this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in +accord with the sentiment of this +country.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I hear some gentlemen say, ’Oh, +yes, we are for reform, but this does not +reform enough,’ I am somewhat alarmed +when I find a man who says he wants to +reform but cannot begin at all unless he +can reform all over in one minute. If +there is not enough in this bill, still let us +take it gladly, give it a cordial welcome +and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far +as our most progressive friends want."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The position of Mr. Robinson on the +tariff and River and Harbor bills needs + +no explanation to Massachusetts readers. +He opposed the River and Harbor bill +and voted to sustain the President’s +veto.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The political campaign of 1883, +which resulted in Mr. Robinson’s election +as Governor, was an interesting and +somewhat exciting one. His Democratic +competitor for the office was +General Benjamin F. Butler, who was +then Governor, and who took the stump +in his peculiarly aggressive way, arraigning +bitterly the Republican administrations +which had preceded his own +and appealing to his own record in the +office as an argument for his re-election. +His elevation to the Governorship +the year before had been the result +of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible +cause of more, unless a candidate could +be found able to harmonize and draw +together again the inharmonious elements. +That Mr. Robinson was such +a man was indicated very clearly in the +fact that the nomination sought him, in +reality against his wish, and was accepted +in a spirit of duty. Accepting +the leadership of his party in the State +Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to +the further duty of making his candidacy +a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all +over the Commonwealth in a series of +addresses that were probably never +surpassed for excellence in any previous +political campaign. He is an interesting +and impressive speaker, an honest +man in the handling of facts, logical in +his arguments, choice in his language, +which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances +combines a clear and ready wit +that, never obtruding itself, is never +missing when the place for it exists. +He made himself thoroughly acquainted +with questions at issue, and with questions +in general connected with the interests +of the Commonwealth. His addresses +commanded attention and commended +themselves to the common +sense of the people, and the result was +inevitable. He entered upon the administration +of affairs with his customary +vigor, and during his first year in +office won the respect of men of all +shades of political opinion by the ability +and impartiality with which his +duties were performed. While neglecting +none of the details of official business +Governor Robinson found time to +attend to those social requirements +that have long been imposed upon +the Chief Magistrate, dignifying by his +presence and enlivening by his timely +remarks all kinds of gatherings, the aim +of which has been to broaden social relations, +or to advance the welfare of the +community in any way. In the election +of November, 1884, he was again +the Republican candidate for Governor, +and was re-elected. In his personal appearance +Governor Robinson is what +might be termed a clean-cut man. He +is of good stature, compactly built, with +a well-shaped head and a face in which +are seen both intelligence and determination. +His temperament is very +even, and though he does not appear to +be a man who could be easily excited, +he is one who can be very earnest. His +manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the +first to accord him, on the strength of +what he appears to be, full respect and +confidence.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image2.png" alt="Oliver Ames"></p> +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_3"></a> + + + +<h2 class="dgp">OLIVER AMES.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">[Editor of the Boston Traveller].</p> + + +<p class="dgp">The descendants of William Ames, the +Puritan, who settled in Braintree, are a +representative New England family. +Their history forms an honorable part +of the history of Massachusetts, and +fitly illustrates in its outlines the social +and material advancement of the people +from the poverty and hardships of the +early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early +days of the Colony they were poor, as +were their neighbors of other names, +but they honored toil and believed in +the dignity of honest labor. Industry +was with them coupled with thrift. +They recognized their duty to the State +and gave it such service as she demanded, +whether it were honest judgment +in the jury box, the town meeting +and the General Court, or bearing arms +against the Indian marauder, and the +foreign foe. State and Church were +virtually one in these primitive times, +and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, +or by the town, were accepted by +the members of this family as duties to +be unostentatiously performed, rather +than as bringing with their performance +either honor or emolument. With their +thrift they coupled temperance. They +labored subduing the forests, on the +clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and +they became skilled artisans. Muskets +were as indispensable to these pioneers +as hoes or spades; and so they made +guns, then farming tools. They made +shovels first for their neighbors, then +for their township, then for their State +and country. As their state advanced +they kept pace with it. They found an +outlet for the products of their skill at a +neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant +countries. Industries and enterprises +which would in time develop other +industries and enterprises became the +special objects of their encouragement. +Where avenues of prosperity and success +were lacking, they must be created; +and in recognition of this necessity this +family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and +the far, near, by building a railway +across the Continent. In this barest +and most meagre outline of the history +of a single family may be found in miniature +an outline of the history of the +development of Massachusetts, of New +England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the early part of the seventeenth +century the Ames family became prominently +identified with the Puritan movement +in England. William Ames, the +divine and author, was among those +who for conscience’s sake forsook his +home, finding refuge in Holland. He +became known to fame not only as an +able writer, but as Professor in the +Franeker University. Richard Ames +was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, +England. Neither of these cast in +their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers +of Massachusetts; but it is doubtful +if the sufferings for conscience’s sake +of those who remained behind were after +all less rigorous than were the sufferings +of those who, self-exiled, sought +homes in New England. The two +branches of the family were united by +marriage and from them descended the + +Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant +Governor of the Commonwealth of +Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Ames family commence their +genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son +of Richard Ames of Bruton, Somersetshire, +who came to this country in +1635, and settled in Braintree in 1638. +A few years later he was joined by his +brother, John Ames, who settled in +Bridgewater.</p> + +<p class="dgp">John Ames, only son of William +Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John +Willis; and in 1672 settled in Bridgewater +with his uncle, John Ames, who +was childless, and whose heir he became +in 1697. He had five sons, one of +whom was Nathaniel, the grandfather of +Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in +1723.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John +and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 +Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas +and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born +in Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 +Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Captain John Ames, second son of +Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, +was born in Bridgewater in 1738: married +in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned +officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he +also rendered the patriot cause service +by the manufacture of guns. His +account book, still in existence, also +proves that he was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels in 1775.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Oliver Ames, third son of Captain +John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, +was born in West Bridgewater April 11, +1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture +of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent +of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early +as 1800 was engaged in the manufacture +of shovels. In 1803 he married +Susannah Angier, a descendant of +President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, +and the same year he removed +to Easton where greater facilities were +afforded for carrying on his business. +At first his goods found an outlet to +markets at Newport, Rhode Island, and +at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was +sufficient for the transportation of the +raw material to, and the manufactured +goods from, his factory. He was a man +who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually +built up a large and flourishing business. +A great impetus was given to +manufacturing during the last war with +Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed +himself of every opportunity to enlarge +his business. The one-horse method +of transportation was soon supplanted +by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, +the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons was +formed, the business had grown to large +dimensions.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son +of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily +into the enterprises inaugurated by his +father. Under his supervision the manufacture +of shovels grew into giant proportions. +A railroad, constructed to the +very doors of the factories, furnished facilities +for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand +tons of steel and five thousand tons of +coal, and for carrying away from them + +more than one hundred and thirty thousand +dozen shovels, in the manufacture +of which employment had been given to +five hundred workmen. The fame of +the goods kept pace with the advance of +civilization; and on every frontier, in all +quarters of the globe, were found as instruments +of progress the Ames shovels.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is not so much as the successful +manufacturer, however, that Oakes Ames +will be remembered, as the master mind +through whose perseverance and indomitable +energy, and in the face of seemingly +insurmountable obstacles, was +forced to completion the pioneer railway +across the Western Continent. +He gained a deserved and enduring +fame as the builder of the Union Pacific +Railroad, and that magnificent work +will ever stand as his proudest monument. +During the former part of the +war of the Rebellion he rendered important +service to the Union cause by +his shrewd and sagacious counsels in +State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts +District in the National House +of Representatives. He died May 8, +1873.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Honorable Oliver Ames, second +son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, +February 4, 1831. [See genealogical +foot note]. He received his early +education in the public schools of +his native town and at the North Attleboro, +Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation +of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he +served an apprenticeship of five years, +thus mastering the business in all the +minuteness of its details. At the age of +twenty, appreciating the value of a more +thorough scholastic training, he took a +special course at Brown University, placing +himself under the special tutelage +of President Francis Wayland. The +bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, +is perhaps best seen from his favorite +branches of study, which were +history, geology, and political economy. +Having finished his collegiate studies, he +returned to North Easton where he soon +demonstrated that he was possessed of +the same splendid business qualities by +which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural +love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed +itself in several inventions; and +his inventive genius, coupled with his +perfect knowledge of the business, has +brought about important changes and +improvements in the business of the firm. +During this time he served honorably +in the State militia, rising from the +rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a +member of the firm of Oliver Ames +and Sons, and for several years personally +superintended the various departments +of the firm’s immense establishment +at North Easton. At his father’s +death in 1873 the numerous financial +trusts held by the latter devolved on +him, and he has been, and is, President, +Director, or Trustee of a large +number of institutions and corporations, +including railroads, national banks, savings +banks, and manufacturing corporations. +In 1880 Mr. Ames was elected to +the State Senate, and was re-elected in +1881. With the exception of having +served on the School Committee of +Easton this was the first office to which +he had been called by the suffrages of +his fellow-citizens. He had, however, +taken a deep and active interest in political +matters, and had rendered efficient +political service by his connection +with the Republican Town Committee +of Easton, as Chairman and Treasurer, +since the formation of the Republican + +party. As a member of the State Senate +he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, +and was known as one of the working +members of the body. He served during +each year of his membership on +the Committees on Railroads, and Education. +In 1882 he received the Republican +nomination for Lieutenant-Governor +upon the ticket headed by +the name of Honorable Robert R. +Bishop as the candidate for Governor. +In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop +was defeated by General Butler, but +Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome +plurality; and it is not too +much to say that by his courteous official +demeanor towards his Excellency, +Governor Butler, during the somewhat +phenomenal political year of 1883, +coupled with his firmness and good +judgment in opposing the more objectionable +schemes of that official, he contributed +much to the restoration of the +Republican party to power at the ensuing +State election. He was re-elected +in 1883, and again in 1884, and has +now entered upon his third term of service. +His political, like his business life, +has been characterized by a straightforward +honesty of purpose, by the strictest +integrity, and by an energetic, able, and +faithful performance of trusts accepted. +Mr. Ames is the possesor of large wealth, +but he has most conclusively proven +that such possession is in no sense a bar +to a faithful and efficient service of his +fellow citizens in positions of trust and +honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, +in whose affairs he has exercised +the same good judgment and marked +executive ability, as in his own.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver +Ames has won his widest reputation. +Upon the death of his father the +management of the vast enterprises +which the later had controlled, suddenly +devolved upon him. The greatness of +the man showed itself in that he found +himself equal to the emergency. The +Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he +took upon his shoulders its settlement, +not only one in which immense and +diversified interests were involved, scattered +throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with +obligations to the extent of eight millions +of dollars. The times were most +unpropitious, the country being just on +the eve of a great financial panic when +immense properties were crumbling to +pittances. He undertook the Herculean +task of rescuing at this time this estate +from threatened ruin, and of vindicating +the good name of his father from undeserved +censure. He had in this gigantic +work to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious +railroad wreckers, and schemers; +but his thorough mental discipline united +with his intensely practical business +training, and coupled with his native +energy, tact, good sense, and fertility +of resources, stood him in good stead. +He inspired capitalists with confidence, +money was forthcoming to further his +carefully matured plans, and the ship +freighted with the fortunes of his family, +was, by his steady hand, piloted securely +amidst the shoals and quicksands of +disaster, and by rocks strewn with the +wrecks of princely fortunes, to a safe +anchorage. He rescued the property +from peril, met and paid the enormous +indebtedness resting upon it, paid a million +of dollars or more of legacies, and +had still a large surplus to divide among +the heirs.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As a business man his sagacity seems +almost intuitive. As an illustration of +this, his work in developing the Central +Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad +may be instanced, a work which +at the same time gave him high rank + +as a railroad manager. At the time +he connected himself with the undertaking, +only the first hundred miles +of the road were in running order. He +first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying +himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise +through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and +fully equipping it for operation. His +judgment, which at the time was somewhat +questioned by other experienced +railroad managers and financiers, was +fully justified by the result, which was a +complete financial success.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One of the most impressive traits in +the character of Oliver Ames is his veneration +for the memory of his distinguished +father. He fully believes that +the hastily and unjustly formed verdict +of censure pronounced upon Oakes +Ames, both by public opinion and by +the United States House of Representatives, +will ere long be reversed, and that +his memory will be honored by the country, +as it so justly deserves. Indeed he +has already had the gratification of seeing +this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only +remains for Congress to remove its undeserved +vote of censure, for Oakes +Ames to take his appropriate and honored +place in American history. There +is little doubt that Mr. Ames will yet +see this ambition of his life realized. +As to this censure, Massachusetts, where +Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, +has spoken through her Legislature +by the following resolution, +which unanimously passed both House +and Senate in the spring of 1883:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"Resolved, in view of the great services +of Oakes Ames, representative from +the Massachusetts Second Congressional +District, for ten years ending March 4, +1873, in achieving the construction of +the Union Pacific Railroad, the most +vital contribution to the integrity and +growth of the National Union since the +war:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In view of his unflinching truthfulness +and honesty, which refused to suppress, +in his own or any other interest, +any fact, and so made him the victim +of an intense and misdirected public excitement +and subjected him to a vote of +censure by the Forty-second Congress +at the close of its session;</p> + +<p class="dgp">"And in view of the later deliberate +public sentiment, which, upon a review of +all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable +with his condemnation, and +which, throughout the whole country +recognizes the value and patriotism of +his achievement and his innocence of +corrupt motive or conduct;</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts +hereby expresses its gratitude for +his work and its faith in his integrity of +purpose and character, and asks for like +recognition thereof on the part of the +National Congress." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial +Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial +devotion and respect. This village of +North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames +and other members of the Ames family, +as well as the seat of the extensive shovel +works, deserves more than a passing +notice, enriched and beautified as it has +been by this family, until it has become +one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which +deserves to be widely copied. The old +and substantial factories, built of granite, +present the neat appearance which +characterizes the buildings in some of +our oldest navy yards. The employes +have many of them grown old in the +service of the firm; and well paid, intelligent, +and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes +and take a just pride in the welfare of the +community. The concrete walks, macadamized +roadways, and well kept yards + +and lawns evince thrift. The elegant +railway station, a gift to the village from +one member of the family, is a model +of architectural beauty and convenience. +The Gothic church and parsonage +of the same style of architecture, +are befitting adjuncts of the +park-like cemetery, where rests the +dust of the blacksmith ancestor who +bravely struggled amid adverse surroundings +to found the fortunes of his +family, and build up a business which +has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, +is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by +is the elegant structure known and endowed +as the Ames Free Library; and +in another direction is the temple, dedicated +to the cause of popular education, +that emblem of New England’s +power, the school-house, all monuments +of the munificence of the Ames family, +and of the deep interest its members +take in the welfare of their native town. +In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of +the principal streets, is a declivity, +where art has so arranged the rough and +irregular forms of New England boulders +as to re-produce a unique scene +from some Scotch or Swiss village. +This "rockery," as it is called, is +clothed in summer with verdure and +flowers, and from its summit one finds +an extended and charming view of +the village, with its cottages, its workshops, +and the villas of the proprietors +of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural +elegance, and are surrounded +by most artistic landscape gardening. +Conspicuous among these is the residence +of the subject of this sketch, facing, +as it does, a spacious well-kept +lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite +gem in its emerald setting.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The public spirit of the Ames’s finds +one of its most marked illustrations in +this model and typical New England +village; and no small share of what has +been achieved for it is due to the +warm heart and open hand of Oliver +Ames. He has ever shown himself an +ardent friend of popular education, and +justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For +a period of twenty years he found time, +amid a multiplicity of weighty business +cares, to serve upon the School Committee +of his town and to give the benefit +of his experience, judgment, and +personal supervision to the promotion +of the efficiency of this one of the +very fundamental of American institutions, +the common school. Oakes Ames +left a fund of $50,000, the income to be +used for the benefit of the school children +of North Easton village. Through +the wise thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames +many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other +sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton +are among the objects of the fondest +pride of its citizens.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the +cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time +for the appreciative enjoyment of the +amenities and refinements of life. He +posesses a cultivated appreciation of +music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable +and choice collections of paintings and +statuary. Architecture has been with him +a special study, and his magnificent +winter residence, recently completed on +Commonwealth Avenue, in our city of +Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence +would be called a palace, here it is simply +the home of a representative American +citizen. Peculiarly happy in his domestic + +relations his home is beautified and +ennobled by the virtues of domestic life. +A generous hospitality is dispensed within +its portals, where on every hand are found +the evidences of the cultured refinement +of its occupants. A tour of a few months +in the Old World not only gave Mr. +Ames needed rest and relaxation from +business cares, but also furnished him +with opportunities for observation which +were most judiciously improved. In his +religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member +of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In his native town he is unusually respected +and beloved, and with the working-men +in his factories he enjoys an +unbounded popularity. This is but natural, +since he is himself a skilled artisan, +an inventive and ingenious mechanic, +familiar through a personal experience +with every detail of the work in which +they are engaged. This, coupled with +his native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious +manners, makes him the +model employer.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The custodian of great wealth, he +uses it in a spirit of wise benevolence, +and his public and private benefactions, +while large, are made without ostentation +or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in +his personal friendships, it is little wonder +that some of them now and then +impulsively speak of him as "the best +man in the world."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the full vigor of a robust manhood, +Mr. Ames attends to his vast private business +affairs, performs faithfully his official +and public duties, finds time for his favorite +authors, and keeps fully abreast with +current thought and the progress of the +age. His brow is yet unwrinkled and +cares rest lightly upon him. Free from +the pride of wealth, temperate, conservative, +clear-headed, and distinguished for +his strong common sense, his generous, +unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his +trust justly win for him a multitude of +friends.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Faithful in his devotion to the principles +of the Republican party, and in +his services to his native Commonwealth, +Massachusetts has reason for a +just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. +His name may yet stand the Republican +party of the State in good stead in +a political exigency not unlikely to arise +in the near future. Whatever may be +said of the causes of the defection from +the Republican ranks which took place +in the last national campaign, there is +no doubt about one of its results,—it +has driven the Republican party to seek +a closer alliance with the working-people +of the Commonwealth. The Republican +bolters were almost exclusively +drawn from the aristocratic end of the +party. It was Harvard and Beacon +Hill that revolted. To make good the +loss the Republican leaders had to appeal +for support to the same class of voters +which gave to Republican principles +their first triumphs,—the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring +men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard +now that Mr. Blaine is defeated +it is not likely that for many years +to come, if ever, the Republican +party in Massachusetts will be able, to +lean upon the immense majorities of +former years, that ran away up to +sixty, seventy, and eighty thousand. +With a Democratic administration installed +at Washington, and the power +and prestige which that fact will imply +and apply in the local politics of the +States,—and in no State more powerfully +than in Massachusetts, where the +shifting body of Independent voters, so-called, +is largely made up of the Hessian + +element that will incline to whichever +side has spoils to bestow,—the Republican +party in order to hold Massachusetts +will have to cultivate and strengthen +the alliance which it formed in the late +election with the laboring class of voters. +It will have to revert to the sympathetic +and liberal policy touching all +questions that affect labor, and the +welfare of the working people of the +State, which marked the earlier years of +its power. The Ames family is linked +in the popular mind with that policy. +And justly so, too! Oakes Ames +was a true friend to labor, as well +as one of the most practical; and the +fine instinct which guided him in making +of North Easton a model industrial +community, where the happiest +relations of mutual confidence and support +have subsisted between employer +and employed, he bequeathed to his +sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and +there is no element of exaggeration in +the statement, that if all our large capitalists +and manufacturers could succeed in +establishing the same rapport between +themselves and their employes which +the Ameses have always maintained at +North Easton, the vexed problem of +capital and labor would be solved; for +there would be no more conflict between +them. Oliver Ames is held in +the same high esteem and almost affectionate +regard by the working people of +the Old Colony district, where the interests +of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored +father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time +comes, and it is not far off, that the Republican +party in Massachusetts shall feel +the necessity of getting nearer to her +common people, and, in order to retain +its supremacy in the State, of offering to +their suffrages a man whose whole +life has been spent in close and friendly +relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, +if it shall not turn to the present +popular Lieutenant Governor, and present +the name of Oliver Ames as one +well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism +among the working-classes, +and certain, if presented to them, to be +endorsed by a splendid majority for the +first office in the popular gift.</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">[NOTE.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">GENEALOGY.</p> + +<p class="dgp">RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I. William, who came to America and settled in +Braintree, Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="dgp">II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, +married Sarah Willis (daughter of John Willis of +Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In 1672 he +settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his +heir in 1697.</p> + +<p class="dgp">III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater +and married in 1706 Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon +Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, and granddaughter +of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, +the latter of whom came to America in the third +ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623)</p> + +<p class="dgp">IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah +Howard (daughter of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] +Howard, and granddaughter of John and Martha +[Haywood] Howard of Duxbury).</p> + +<p class="dgp">V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; +married in 1759 Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died +January 11, 1821). She was the daughter of +Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter +of John Howard of Duxbury and Rev. +James Keith.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September +11, 1863; married in April, 1803, Susannah Angier +(born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). Dr. +William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter +(2), Ruth, who came to America in 1637, and married +Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose son (3), +Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of +President Urian Oakes of Harvard College. Their +son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary Bourne, +granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), +Oakes Angier, a law student of President John Adams, +was the father of (6) Susannah Angier. Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. <em>Oakes</em>, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn.</p> + +<p class="dgp">6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October +10, 1836, Nathaniel Witherell, Jr.</p> + +<p class="dgp">7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844.</p> + +<p class="dgp">8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 +1839, Asa Mitchell.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, +1804; died May 8, 1873; married November 29, 1827, +Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; died +July 20, 1882). Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. <em>Oliver</em>, b. February 4, 1831.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry +W. French.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, +1831; married March 14, 1860, Anna C. Ray (born January +16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870.</p> + +<p class="dgp">6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: right">EDITOR.]</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image3.png" alt="THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN"></p> +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_4"></a> + +<h2 class="dgp">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By FRANK W. KAAN.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">We were changing cars about midnight +at Rotterdam Junction, New York, for +the Fitchburg Railroad connection. +"You might know we were near Boston," +said a passenger. "See what a +comfortable car this is." "Yes," remarked +a middle-aged gentleman, "I’ve +been away for three weeks, and I never +want to leave Boston for so long a time +again." And he gave a sigh of relief. +No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles +were called forth by this innocent confession. +Yet the sentiment found an +echo in our hearts. But a North Adams +man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, +Berkshire County is good enough for +me." The incident has a deeper meaning +than appears at first glance.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Going westward on the Boston and +Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is reached +at Chester. The rest of the way lies in +a country of hills. A pleasing prospect +meets the eye in every direction. There +is nothing sublime and majestic to inspire +the mind and exhilarate the +spirits, but the steadfast, sober hills and +the quiet valleys in nature’s soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul.</p> + +<p class="dgp">We cross a branch of the River +Housatonic, <em>alias</em> Ousatonac, Ausotunnoog, +Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, +and the train stops before a large, +handsome brick station, once the "best +in the State," now restricted to "west +of Boston." A broad street on the left +leads to the park in the centre of the +town. Here is the Berkshire Athenæum, +with its excellent public library, where + +we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by +Mr. J.E.A. Smith.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A century and a half ago an unbroken +wilderness stretched between the Hoosac +and Taconic ranges. The mountains +rose by steady degrees from the hills of +Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in +Vermont, 4,400 feet above the level of +the sea. The valley, however, dotted +with hundreds of hills, reached its +greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the +foot of Greylock, fourteen miles north +of Pittsfield; thence it sloped irregularly +north and south. The forests contained +deer in plenty for fifty years +longer. A few bears, with rather more +wolves and Indians, constituted the remainder +of the larger movable objects +of the landscape. The soil was well +fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service +to settlers.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image4.png" alt="LAKE ONATA."></p> + +<p class="dgp">This region remained uninhabited, +however, for many years later than would +ordinarily have been the case; not so +much from fear of hardships or Indian +troubles as on account of the uncertainty +of the land tenures which could +be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason +of the Royal Charter of 1691, claimed to +the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the +other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: +moreover, that the western boundary had +been agreed upon for special reasons; +furthermore, that her own territory, as +successor to the rights granted the Duke +of York in 1674, reached from the Connecticut +River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old +Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and +western limits. In return, attention was +called to the +clause in that +Charter, excepting +lands +in the possession +of any +other Christian +State. Now, in +consequence of +the discovery of +the Hudson in +1608, the +Dutch had occupied +the +country as far +east as the +Connecticut, +and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of +settlement. Thus the controversy was +prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run +parallel with the Hudson, at a distance +of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But +about the year 1720 it became evident +that the western boundary of Connecticut +would be established in favor of +that province. This arrangement, as +the New York representatives stated, +was a result of the boldness of settlers +in pushing westward and occupying the +district in dispute. Accordingly, Massachusetts +was encouraged to pursue a + +similar course, and the first settlement +on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield +in 1725. The occasion of the +next advance appears to have arisen +from the attention paid to free education +in Boston. That town, in 1735, +because of its large expenditures for +public schools, support of poor, and + +contribution to the State treasury, +petitioned the General Court for a +grant of three or four townships +within the "Hampshire wild lands." +Three lots, each six miles square, +were given, subject to certain conditions. +Within five years, sixty +Massachusetts families must be settled, +each possessing a house (at +least eighteen feet square and seven +stud), with five acres of improved +land. A house for public worship +must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably +supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image5.png" alt="THE PARK IN 1807."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image6.png" alt="THE OLD PARSONAGE."></p> + +<p class="dgp">One of these townships, Poontoosuck, +an Indian word, meaning "winter deer," +was bought at public auction for £1,320, +by Colonel Jacob Wendell, whose descendents +have earned lasting honor for +the family name. Philip Livingston, of +Albany, and John Stoddard, through +older claims, became associated with +him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied +with, and, after an unsuccessful attempt +to bring in Dutchmen, a company of +forty settlers from Westfield purchased +and took possession of the greater part +of the township. Difficulties with the +Indians soon drove them back. The +first permanent settlement was made in +1749, and three years later occurred +the birthday of the town.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image7.png" alt="MAPLEWOOD AVENUE."></p> + +<p class="dgp">In May, 1761, the first town meeting +was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William +Pitt, for his vigorous conduct of +the war against France. Slaves were +owned by many of the citizens, and +stocks and a whipping-post were set up. +Saw mills and grist mills were in operation; +fulling mills held an important +position, and shortly afterwards the production +of iron became considerable. +The first meeting-house +was completed in 1770. +The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long +House," owned by Colonel +Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two +pounds eight shillings, in 1762.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In resistance to British oppression +at the outbreak +of the Revolution, Berkshire +County required no one to lead the +way. "The popular rage," wrote Governor +Gage, "is very high in Berkshire +and makes its way rapidly to the rest." +In response to the Boston Port bill cattle +and money were sent to the sufferers. +Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English +goods at whatever time the American + +Congress should recommend such action. +In August, 1774, Berkshire set +the example of obstructing the King’s +Courts. In the expedition for the capture +of Ticonderoga, in the invasions of +Canada, and in Burgoyne’s campaign, +the town and the county held a place +among the foremost in efforts and sacrifices +for the cause of liberty. The +recommendations of the Continental +Congress were followed out with +promptness and zeal. A similar spirit +was displayed in the relations with the +Provincial Government, so far as they +affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State +Constitution in 1780, the county was +ruled in open resistance to the civil +authorities at Boston. Although representatives +were sent to the General +Court, the acts of that body were accepted +merely as advice. The judicial +and executive branches of the Government +were not recognized. It was +maintained that the new Government +should originate from the people on the +basis of a written Constitution and bill +of rights. To this end they "refused +the admission of the course of law +among them," until their demands +should be complied with. Furthermore, +the old Courts were objectionable +as being costly and cumbersome. +They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and +criminals convicted of trifling offences. +In the absence of the usual means of +enforcing the laws, the town Governments +took in charge the administration +of justice, acting either through +committees or in town meetings. Public +order appears to have been well preserved, +and in the condition of business +interests the want of civil courts was of +little consequence.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image8.png" alt="SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image9.png" alt="MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL."></p> + +<p class="dgp">An opposition of a different kind +broke out after the State authority had +been re-established under the new Constitution. +The national Government was +involved in difficulties; values were unsettled +by the excessive emission of +paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection +laws, numerous private debts, +and frequent cases of imprisonment for +debt, caused a wide-spread feeling of +discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a +clamor arose for the abolition of the +Senate, a change in the basis of representation, +and an annual grant of salaries +to all officers. This agitation, in + +1786, culminated in an appeal to force +of arms, known from its leader, as Shay’s +Rebellion. It is unnecessary to repeat +the story of its suppression. The leaders +of the former opposition held aloof. +There was a desire felt by the steadier +portion of the community to make a +fair trial of the State Constitution, which +afforded a legal means, however slow, +for redressing the heavier grievances. +Pittsfield in particular was now advancing +in material prosperity, and looked +with disfavor upon any radical changes.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image10.png" alt="BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early +ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this +period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant +countenance. Courteous, sincere +and just, he set his parishioners an example +of Christian morals. An application +of doctrines to the practical +questions of life was a favorite subject +of his sermons and private conversation. +He held small respect for any +religious faith which did not manifest + +itself in outward acts, and especially +those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and +wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation +in several battles of the Revolution +gained for him the title of "The +Fighting Parson." Once, when asked +whether he actually killed any man at +Bennington, he replied "that he did not +know; but, that observing a flash often +repeated from a certain bush, and that +it was generally followed by the fall of +one of Stark’s men, he fired that way +and put the flash out."</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image11.png" alt="FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH."></p> + +<p class="dgp">He was a firm friend of Democracy. +During the revolution he was a radical +Whig, and later on became an ardent +supporter of Jeffersonian doctrines. In +the second period partisan feelings were +very bitter in the community. When, +therefore, he gave full freedom to his +thoughts in articles published in the +Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with + +a practice more prevalent then than now, +mingled political subjects with his Sunday +discourses, the Federalist members +of the Congregational Church grew +restive under his pastorship. At this +time, it should be noted, Berkshire +differed in politics from the rest of the +State. Matters grew worse, until a division +of the parish was made and continued +for seven years. Thomas Allen +died in 1811, at the age of 67.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image12.png" alt="METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Contrary to the custom in almost +every other town of the State, and notwithstanding +the statute requirements, +public worship in 1809 ceased to be +supported by the town, and nearly an +equality of religious sects before the law +was produced. In 1817, after the re-union +of the Congregational Churches, the +parish system was revived. It should +be kept in mind that by far the larger +part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its +early history with that of the town. +Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, +a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the +general longing for a complete +reconciliation.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1821 a great revival took +place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey +believed it to be essential that, so +far as possible, the town should +preserve a solemn quiet, and he +endeavored to substitute religious +services in place of the ordinary +manner of celebrating the Fourth +of July. This plan was, to a considerable +number of citizens, by +no means acceptable, yet the exercises +in the Church were attended +by a large and reverent +congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square +where the people were wont +to collect on all anniversaries. +In consequence, there was a very annoying +disturbance from fire-crackers, +drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the +attempt to make this national holiday +quiet and serious was not repeated. +Mr. Humphrey two years later became +President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational +Society with the town came to +an end through the Constitutional +Amendment of that year. Two years +later business was in a state of depression, +and emigration went on at a rapid +rate. A missionary from the West +made known the need in that great +section of Christian emigrants to help +mould its character. From the Baptist +Church in one year more than a hundred +members set forth, leaving finally +but three men in the Congregation. +During the first half of the century +other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are +now supported by large Congregations, +composed of the best citizens of the +town.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">To turn back again +in the narrative of +events. Of the town’s +record in the war of +1812, little must be +said, although much is +deserved. In this matter, +as previously in others, +the county, by its +warm support of the +war party, showed its independence +in thought +and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was +made a place of meeting +for recruits; a cantonment +for United States +troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times +1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and +Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody +Ninth;" the latter was that regiment, +which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy’s +Lane, gained undying fame in a gallant +struggle for the enemy’s cannon.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image13.png" alt="RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The history of the Berkshire Agricultural +Society may be traced back to its +origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, +who had recently become an inhabitant +of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, +a ram and a ewe, on the green under +the Old Elm. Great interest was +aroused, and the importation of the best +foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited +and enterprising citizens. One +farmer came into possession of a cow, +in which he felt so much pride that it +formed the subject of his conversation +at all times and places, until his friends +feared to meet him. At last it gave +birth to a calf, but minus a tail, and +the wrathful owner carried the calf, with +his axe, to the back pasture. The Society +was organized in 1811. New +features were added from time to time; +standing crops were inspected; women +were interested to compete for premiums. +The plowing match became a +part of the Pittsfield show in 1818, when +a quarter of an acre of green sward was +plowed in thirty-five minutes by the +winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, Chairman +of the committee, read his poem, +"The Ploughman." Many years before, +William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in +Great Barrington, wrote an ode for the +cattle show. Improved agricultural implements +and better methods of cultivation +were some of the material benefits +produced by the fairs. The fame +and influence of the Society have reached +all parts of the country. In 1855, exhibition +grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits +at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those +emigrants from the county, who still +held their early home in loving memory. +Of the thousands that were present, +many were men of national reputation. +Among the exercises, a sermon of welcome +was delivered by the Rev. Mark +Hopkins, a prayer was offered by Rev. + +David Dudley Field, an address was +given by Governor Briggs, and a poem +was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image14.png" alt="CENTRAL BLOCK."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Governor Briggs had become a citizen +of Pittsfield two years before. He was +born at North Adams in 1796. When +seventeen years of age, after having spent +three years in learning the hatters’ trade, +he began the study of law with but five +dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven +consecutive terms as Governor, he was +defeated by a coalition of Democrats +and Free-Soilers. He was as true a +friend of a pure civil service as any man +of the present day. Like a well-known +English writer on political economy, and +for similar reasons, he refused to furnish +money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, +placing the burden upon the +shoulders of other members of his party, +a course which gave equal satisfaction +in both countries. He was distinguished +for the consistency of his life +with his religious and temperance +principles. Once, it is said, while exhorting +a friend who had already entered +the downward path of immoderate +drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced +to promise that so long as the +other would abstain from drinking, he, +himself, would give up the use of a collar; +and this agreement was kept by +both parties for life. The truth in regard +to the anecdote is rather as follows: +While County Commissioner he +was often obliged to make long drives, +so that besides the annoyance from +wearing a collar, he found great difficulty +in replacing it when soiled. From +this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the +subject by an old friend, he offered to +resume his collar if the other would +cease drinking gin, and would cut off +his cue. The gin and the cue carried +the day.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Berkshire Medical Institute was +established in 1822, mainly through the +exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The +charter provided that degrees should be +conferred only by the President and +Trustees of Williams’ College, and according +to the rules in force in the +school at Cambridge. The purpose + +was to secure a uniform practice throughout +the State, and to cause a degree of +confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The +tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one +dollar and seventy-five cents a week. +In 1825 it became necessary to defray +incidental expenses, and pay the salaries +of instructors out of the proceeds from +tuition fees. These were frequently paid +in notes, many of which read "when +said student shall be able to pay," and +having been distributed among the +members of the faculty, a large number +were found afterwards in the deserted +office of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation +of each instructor was about +one hundred and thirty dollars, hardly +enough to attract young, inexperienced +physicians. Therefore, the college came +to an end, having graduated in the course +of forty-four years over one thousand +doctors of medicine, who held rank in +their profession equal to that of those +sent out by any college in the country.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image15.png" alt="BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY’S BUILDING."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The Public Library Association was +founded in 1850, with a regulation excluding +forever all prose works of fiction, +and on the other hand, +theological writings, +unless admitted by a +unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a +few prosperous years +public interest had so +far died out that the +library consisted of a +few books and a small +room, open one +evening in the week +by the dim light of +a lantern. A timely +donation, and a liberal +construction of +the rule regarding +works of fiction, had +a favorable effect.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A Young Men’s Association was organized +in 1865, with a library, reading-room, +collection of curiosities, and provision +for amusement and exercise. It +had a very successful career for about +eight years. Meanwhile the Library +Association, its name having been +changed to the Berkshire Athenæum, +was put on a better footing by the +liberality and efforts of Thomas F. +Plunkett, who afterwards, together with +Calvin Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental +in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest +from Phinehas Allen, and the gift +of its present building from Thomas +Allen, the Berkshire Athenæum was +placed upon a firm foundation. For +the past eleven years it has been under +the efficient management of Mr. E.C. +Hubbel, Curator and Librarian. To-day +it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an +average annual circulation of 50,000; +less than ten volumes have been lost.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The history of the public schools is +in no important respect different from +that in hundreds of other towns. They +were first carefully graded in 1874, and + +have enjoyed an excellent reputation. +By far the greater proportion of the +young folks in town attend them. The +system of free text books was early +adopted. The High School, under the +care of an able scholar, Mr. Edward +H. Rice, has been steadily growing in +favor during the past few years. Graduates +yearly enter the various colleges, +and from neighboring towns a considerable +number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law.</p> + +<p class="dgp">For the higher education of young +women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss +Hinsdale as principal. It has continued +ever since, usually with a lady at the +head, and for the last few years especially +has done good work under Miss +Salisbury. The Maplewood Young +Ladies’ Institute, the most noted school +of education that has ever existed in +Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss +will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations +is given a view of the avenue +and the chapel; behind the latter stands +the meeting-house of 1793, of late years +used for a gymnasium.</p> + +<p class="dgp">About the time of Shay’s Rebellion +the first newspaper, the American Sentinel, +was published. It was printed on a +sheet ten by eighteen inches in size, and +gave the greater portion of its space to +two or three prosy essays. Three other +newspapers appeared and vanished in +turn until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield +Sun was established by Phinehas Allen. +It remained in his hands for nearly +three-quarters of a century, and to this +day gives its support to the Democratic +party. James Harding is the editor. +The Argus was started in 1827, as a +rival, by Henry K. Strong. Four years +later it was removed to Lenox, and +united with the Berkshire Journal. In +1838 the name was changed to the +Massachusetts Eagle, and soon afterwards +it was brought back to Pittsfield. +In 1852 it was given the name, The +Berkshire County Eagle, which it +bears to-day. Both of these papers +are weeklies. The Journal is of later +date, and is issued daily. Joseph +E. See is editor. In mentioning the +educational facilities of a community +it would be an act of thoughtlessness to +omit its bookstores. There is but one +in Pittsfield. It contains a large supply +of books, selected with judgment, and is +well managed by Mr. J.B. Harrison.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a +worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many +years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty +and ill health. It is interesting to +read his estimate of the new congregation +to which he was called after having +been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: +"It is a great, rich, proud, +enlightened, powerful people. They +move slowly, but they tread like the +elephant. They are cool, but kind, +sincere, great at hearing, but very critical. +I have never had an audience +who heard so critically. There is ten +times more intellect that is cultivated +than we have ever had before. You +would be surprised to see how much +they read. The ladies are abundant, +intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting +field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited +citizens of the town, jealous of its +honor. Educational matters, especially, +received his attention and assistance. +His reputation as an author is not +confined to his town, nor to his day. +The "Student’s Manual" is the best +known of his works; the lectures delivered +on returning from a visit to California + +are well worth +reading.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image16.png" alt="ON NORTH STREET."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The first manufactories +of the town date back +to within a few years +of its settlement. Agriculture +was, of course, +the leading industry, +and was carried on according +to the wasteful +and, apparently, unwise +methods usual in a +newly-settled country. +Great attention was paid +to breeding horses and +mules, of which many +were sent to the West +Indies and other markets. +The first carding +machine was set up in +1801 by Arthur Scholfield, +an Englishman. +Soon he set about making +and improving machines, +which he sold to +manufacturers in various +parts of the country. +The industry was subsequently +helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new +custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, +worth as many dollars, were produced +in the county in 1808. After the war +which followed came a season of depression +of manufactures; the cessation of +the unusual war demand and excessive +importations from abroad were the principal +causes.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At this period, when politics were +carried into private affairs, as religion +had been some hundred years before, +each party must have its factory. Thus +the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 +was offset a few years later by the Pittsfield +Woolen and Cotton Company in +Federalist hands. The former enterprise +languished before long for want of +sufficient water power. The latter, by +a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, +and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. +Other mills went gradually into operation. +But in this instance Yankee ingenuity +and versatility found a difficult +foe to master. The proprietors were +ambitious and determined to make +their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the +best imported goods. In this they succeeded, +but by a clumsy, wasteful +process, which destroyed all profit. +Moreover, instead of making a single +class of goods, each factory attempted +to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes + +of failures, for which remedies had to +be invented. A general business knowledge +did not immediately avail in an +industry where matters of detail were +of the greatest consequence. To-day +these mills are the principal sources of +wealth in the county. Another branch +of manufactures grew up in 1799 when +Lemuel Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, +and in addition to the ordinary labor of +a blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, +and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works +from the production of fowling pieces +to that of muskets. Large contracts +with State and National governments +brought a profitable business, until, in +1846, the percussion guns were introduced.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The independant spirit displayed by +Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire County, +in matters of the highest importance, +was largely due to the difficulty of communication +with other sections of the +country. For the first eighty years the +Worthington turnpike, running by way +of Northampton, was the only means of +passage to the east. In 1830 the Pontoosuc +turnpike going through Westfield +was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, +which led to Springfield. A little before +this time the Erie Canal project +was successfully carried out. Thereupon +arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread +desire for engaging in a similar +enterprise. Several routes were explored +for a canal from Boston to the Hudson. +One of them passed through Pittsfield +at an altitude of 1,000 feet, and the +route recommended as feasible was 178 +miles in length, and required a tunnel +of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed +that according to the Commissioner’s +data, fifty-two years would be required +in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam +locomotion in England, and a discussion +began as to the comparative merits of +railways and canals. For several years +horse-power was proposed to be employed, +but before actual work began +the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. +In the face of indifference, +skepticism, and active opposition, which +brought about discouraging delays, the +road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. +That week occurred the first accident. +An old man jumped off the train as it +approached his house, and was severely +injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through +the exertions of Lemuel Pomeroy, the +Western Railroad was completed, and +trains ran from Albany to Boston. +Several short local roads have since +been constructed, which have done +more to bind the county together, and +have contributed greatly to its wealth and +comfort. On the west the physical barriers +were less difficult to surmount, and +the advent of railroads has only diminished +the inequality. New York is still +the metropolis; the mass of travel, the +business relations, are turned in that +direction.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1844 what is known as the Fire +District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of +land, having the Park as a centre, and +includes most of the buildings of the +town. It originated from the unwillingness +of the outlying districts to help +support a suitable fire department, +of which they, themselves, felt little +need. Nevertheless, at its formation +the town granted land and a sum of +money. A Chief Engineer, with seven +assistants and a prudential committee +were constituted officers. Subsequently +the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were +assumed by the Fire District, and the + +duties were performed by commissioners. +A curious controversy, now settled, +arose with the town as to which +should look after the street crossings. +The fire department from the +start has been sustained by the zeal of +its members, and now, directed by its +Chief Engineer, George S. Willis, enjoys +an enviable reputation for efficiency.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image17.png" alt="THE PARK IN 1876."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image18.png" alt="ACADEMY OF MUSIC."></p> + +<p class="dgp">During the civil war the State and +County are found to have acted in harmony. +The old militia system had +died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized +under the name of the Allen +Guard, and in January of the following +year declared its readiness to respond +to any call from the government. On +April 19, within twenty-four hours from +the time of receiving word, the company +was on its way and became a portion +of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain +was Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier +General, and after the war elected State +Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until +the close of the war, the town sent men +to the front who fully maintained its +honorable reputation gained in former +wars. A Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society +was organized and has received +much merited praise for its useful services. +The ideal volunteer soldier of +the war was William F. Bartlett. He +was a student at Harvard, not yet of +age when the war broke out. In April +he enlisted as a private, was appointed +Captain before going to the front, and +in his first engagement showed great +coolness, bravery and judgment. He +was a strict disciplinarian and popular +with his men. Before the close of the +war he had been brevetted Major-general. +In peace he made his influence felt in +the interests of religion and education, +and in the elevation of politics.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Immediately after the war public attention +in the town was turned towards +taking suitable action for honoring the +memory of its sons who had died +on the field of battle. The result +was a monument, one of +the most appropriate ever erected +for a similar purpose. It is +placed on the Park, a short distance +from the Athenæum. A +bronze statue of a Color-sergeant, +as if in line of battle, stands upon +a square granite pillar. He looks +earnestly into the distance. The +entire effect of the expression of +the countenance and the attitude +conveys the impression of intelligent +self-reliance, a true type of +our best volunteer soldiers. On opposite +sides of the pillar, are represented +in bronze relief the arms of +the United States and of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="dgp">On the others are two shields, engraved +with the names of those in +honor of whom this memorial was +erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">"FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE—FOR +THE LIVING, A MEMORY—FOR +POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM +OF LOYALTY TO THE +FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY."</p> +</div> + + + +<p class="dgp">On the east face:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">"WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION +OF THE SERVICES OF ALL +HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE +HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF +OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN +HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE +TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS +THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING +MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED +THAT THE NATION MIGHT +LIVE."</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">At the dedication the national flags +of the two political parties were removed +from the streets and with them +the statue was draped. The town was +crowded with visitors, and a long procession +marched through the streets. +A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches +by General Bartlett and Honorable +Thomas Colt, President of the day, and +an oration by George William Curtis +accompanied the unveiling.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The four principal streets of the +town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North +street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of +West street is the building of the Berkshire +Life Insurance Company, which +was incorporated in 1851, and has always +included among its Directors and +Managers the best business men in the +town and county, who naturally take +great pride in it as one of the soundest +Life Insurance Companies of the +country.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the same building are three national +and one savings bank, besides the +town and other offices. Immediately +beyond is Mr. Atwood’s drug store, +an establishment of long standing, +which would bear favorable comparison +with any similar store as regards either +attention or knowledge of a druggist’s +duties. Farther along the same street +are Central Block and the Academy of +Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and +shady horse-chestnut trees, invite our +footsteps. The dwelling-houses are +mostly of wood, built in the cottage +and villa styles of architecture; many +are stately edifices; many are hospitable +mansions; all show unmistakable evidence +of being comfortable homes. +Scattered over the township, each +springing up around a mill or two, are +miniature villages. Their population +is largely made up of foreigners, Irish +and Germans, whose condition appears +to be somewhat better than that of the +same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The +mills, mostly small, are located with a +view to an opportunity for using water +power, yet none are without steam +power as well. In the same neighborhood +are the large farms and expensive +estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest +class in the community. Between the +villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views +which never repeat themselves or become +monotonous. The cemetery is itself +one of the most beautiful spots in +the neighborhood. A massive granite +gateway is being put up, the gift of the +late Thomas Allen. For a long distance +the road leads through a thick forest of +maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet +clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless +for a short time, birds and squirrels +show themselves in all directions, and +fill his ears with the sounds of the +woods. Far away may be seen the +white houses and the church spires +of the town. No resting place for +the dead could be more peaceful, +more inspiring to meditation on the +part of those who walk in the light of + +day. By the grave of General Bartlett +stands a cross all covered with graceful +hanging Southern moss. Below is a +beautiful bed of flowers, cared for with +a constant devotion, and by the same +loving hands has been added a large +natural rock, imbedded in the ground. +On it is fixed a large tablet with this +inscription:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT,</p> +<p class="dgp">Brigadier General and Brevet Major General</p> +<p class="dgp">UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS.</p> +<p class="dgp">BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS,</p> +<p class="dgp">June 6th, 1840.</p> +<p class="dgp">DIED IN PITTSFIELD,</p> +<p class="dgp">December 17th, 1876.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Christian, strong in faith and charity,</p> +<p class="dgp">His life was an inspiration,</p> +<p class="dgp">His memory is a trust.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Pittsfield, although one of the largest +towns in the country, is not ambitious +to try a city form of government. Five +years ago a charter was procured, but +no action was taken upon it. There is +no disposition on the part of those who +favor the plan to force it into notice +before public opinion is ripe on the subject +At the annual town meetings +where a majority of the voters are +present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The +best portion of the community take the +most active share in the proceedings. +Thus there exists a real Democracy, an +inestimable educator of the people possible +only among an energetic people, +who, by inheritance, have acquired a +love for the practical; in the absence +of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political +rights, and from their character combine +in their thoughts and actions, reason +with understanding and conscience +with religious sentiment.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A review of the lives of these men, +who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one’s mind +the frequency of instances in which each +gained by his own exertions his influence +and reputation. It is one of the best +criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who +in 1799 brought his anvil to Pittsfield; +George N. Briggs, who served as an +apprentice four years, working for eight +dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, +who for five years travelled from town +to town in Eastern New York, carrying +on a trade with householders and +country dealers; John Todd, who +worked his way through college against +poverty and ill-health; these are names +that deserve to be handed down to following +generations, to the end that their +influence may still remain as an incitement +to honest and unwearied efforts by +successors ready to emulate, though not +to imitate, the examples set before them.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + +<a name="toc_5"></a> + +<h2 class="dgp">ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By JOSEPH B. WALKER.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">No man has been universally great. +Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have +done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited +portions of their lives. Particularly +true is this remark when applied to +Major Robert Rogers, the Ranger, who, +in our last French war, greatly distinguished +himself as a partisan commander, +and gained as wide fame as +did any other soldier of equal rank and +opportunity.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I do not introduce him here as a +saint, for, as is well known, no quality +of sanctity ever entered his composition; +but rather, as the resolute commander +of resolute men, in desperate encounters +with a desperate foe; as a man +eminently fitted for the rough work given +him to do. And just here and now +I am reminded of a remark made in +his old age by the late Moody Kent, for +a long period an able member of the +New Hampshire bar, and there the associate +of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as +well as of Jeremiah Mason, and the two +Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of +whom he survived. Said Mr. Kent, +one day, evidently looking forward to +the termination of his career, "Could +Zeke Webster have been living at my +decease he would have spoken as well +of me, yes, as well of me as he could." +If one can summon to his mind and +heart the kindly charity attributed to +Mr. Webster, he may, should he care +for it, find a comfortable hour in the +society of this famous Ranger. He was +born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good +old Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, +New Hampshire, in the year 1727.<a href="#note_1"><span class="footnoteref">1</span></a> At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier +town, and its log houses were the last +civilized abodes which the traveller +passed as he went up the Merrimack +valley on his way to Canada. It was +the seed-town from which were afterwards +planted the ten or a dozen other +Scotch-Irish townships of New Hampshire.<a href="#note_2"><span class="footnoteref">2</span></a> +It was the first to introduce +and scatter abroad Presbyterian principles +and Irish potatoes over considerable +sections of this Province.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Parson McGregor and his people had +been in their new homes but four years +when they had ready for occupancy a +log school-house, sixteen feet long and +twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in +one like it, that Robert Rogers acquired +his scanty stock of "book-learning," +as then termed. But education consists +in much besides book-learning, and +he supplemented his narrow stock of +this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the +rocks and stumps upon his father’s +farm and in the hunter’s camp.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The woods, at this day, were full of +game. The deer, the bear, the moose, +the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and +various other wild animals existed in +great numbers. To a young man of +hardy constitution, possessed of enterprise, +energy, and a fondness for forest +sports, hunting afforded not only an +attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, +and as a hunter, tramped through +large sections of the wilderness between +the French and English settlements. + +On such excursions he mingled much +with the Indians, and somewhat with the +French, obtaining by such intercourse +some knowledge of their languages, of +their modes of hunting, and their habits +of life. He also acquired a fondness +for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, +learning the portages between their +headwaters, many of the Indian trails +and the general topography of the great +area just mentioned.</p> + +<p class="dgp">During the French and Indian wars +small bodies of soldiers were often employed +to "watch and ward" the frontiers, +and protect their defenceless communities +from the barbarous assaults of +Indians, turned upon them from St. +Francis and Crown Point. Robert +Rogers had in him just the stuff required +in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, +be surprised to find him on scouting +duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when +he was but nineteen years of age;<a href="#note_3"><span class="footnoteref">3</span></a> and, +three years later, engaged in the same +service, under Captain Ebenezer Eastman, +of Pennycook.<a href="#note_4"><span class="footnoteref">4</span></a> Six years afterwards, +in 1753, the muster rolls show +him to have been a member of Captain +John Goff’s company, and doing like +service.<a href="#note_5"><span class="footnoteref">5</span></a> Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique +for the ranging service, in which they +were soon to be employed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in +1749, as Londonderry became filled to +overflowing with repeated immigrations +from the North of Ireland, James +Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, +and one of the early settlers of +the township, removed therefrom to the +woods of Dunbarton, and settled anew +in a section named Montelony, from an +Irish place in which he had once lived.<a href="#note_6"><span class="footnoteref">6</span></a> +This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as +an unseparated part only of the public +domain. He may, quite likely, have +been attracted hither by an extensive +beaver meadow or pond, which would, +with little improvement, afford grass for +his cattle while he was engaged in clearing +the rich uplands which surrounded it.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Six years only after his removal (1755), +he was unintentionally shot by a neighbor +whom he was going to visit; the +latter mistaking him for a bear, as he +indistinctly saw him passing through the +woods. This incident was the foundation +of the story said to have been told +by his son, some years after, in a London +tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:<a href="#note_7"><span class="footnoteref">7</span></a> "It +is reported of Major Rogers, that while +in London, after the French war, being +in company with several persons, it was +agreed, that the one who told the most +improbable story, or the greatest falsehood, +should have his fare paid by the +others. When it came to his turn, he +told the company that his father was +shot in the woods of America by a person +who supposed him to be a bear; +and that his mother was followed several +miles through the snow by hunters, +who mistook her track for that of the +same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had +told the greatest lie, when in fact, he +had related nothing but the truth."<a href="#note_8"><span class="footnoteref">8</span></a></p> + + + +<p class="dgp">As the largest part of Roger’s fame +rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years’ War, +we must recall for a moment the condition +of things in the British Colonies +and in Canada at the beginning of this +war.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The thirteen American Colonies had, +at that time, all told, of both white and +black, a population of about one million +and a half of souls (1,425,000.)<a href="#note_9"><span class="footnoteref">9</span></a> +The French people of Canada numbered +less than one hundred thousand.<a href="#note_10"><span class="footnoteref">10</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">The respective claims to the Central +part of the North American Continent +by England and France were conflicting +and irreconcilable. The former, by +right of discovery, claimed all the territory +upon the Atlantic coast from New +Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of +numerous grants the right to all west of +this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, +claimed Canada, a portion of New England +and New York, and the basins of +the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, together +with all the territory upon the +streams tributary to these, or a large +part of the indefinite West.</p> + +<p class="dgp">To maintain her claims France had +erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the +mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf +of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, +a line starting at Louisburg, and thence +running up this great river to Quebec +and Montreal, and thence up Lake +Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward +to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi +to New Orleans, he will trace the +line across which the two nations looked +in defiance at each other, and see instantaneously +that the claims of France +were inadmissable, and that another +war was inevitable. It mattered little +that of the forty-five years immediately +preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, +had been years of war between these +two neighbors. They were now, after a +peace of only half a dozen years, as +ready for a fresh contest as if they were +to meet for the first time upon the battle +field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton +with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; +of the old Church with the new; of +feudalism with democracy—a conflict +which should settle the destiny of North +America, making it English and Protestant, +or French and Roman Catholic; +a contest, too, in which the victor was +to gain more than he knew, and the +vanquished was to loose more than he +ever dreamed of.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Hostilities may be said to have been +commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed +the Ohio company of the fort +which they were erecting at the forks +of the Ohio River, afterwards named +Fort Du Quesne.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The plan of a Colonial Confederation, +formed at the Albany convention +in July of that year, having failed of +acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government +was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by +such others as the several Provinces +were willing to furnish.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The campaign of the next year +(1755) embraced:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1st. An expedition, under General +Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2d. A second, under General Shirley, +for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, +against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture +and deportation of the Acadians.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4th. A fourth, under General William +Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the +French, in the very heart of New England +and New York, whence innumerable +bands of Indians had been dispatched +by the French to murder the +defenceless dwellers upon the English +frontiers, particularly those of New +Hampshire, to destroy their cattle and +to burn their buildings and other +property.</p> + +<p class="dgp">To the army of this latter expedition +New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of +ten companies, the first being a company +of Rangers, whose Captain was +Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. <a href="#note_11"><span class="footnoteref">11</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">But a few words just here in explanation +of the character of this ranging +branch of the English army. It was a +product of existing necessities in the +military service of that time. Most of +the country was covered with primeval +forests and military operations were +largely prosecuted in the woods or in +limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying +in ambush for the perpetration of any +mischief for which they might have +opportunity.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It became necessary, therefore, in +scouring the forests to drive these miscreants +back to their lairs, as well as in +making military reconnoissances, to have +a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian +life and warfare; prepared, not +only to meet the Indian upon his own +ground, but to fight him in his own +fashion. The British Regular was good +for nothing at such work. If sent into +the woods he was quite sure, either not +to return at all, or to come back without +his scalp. And the ordinary Provincial +was not very much better. From +this necessity, therefore, was evolved +the "Ranger."</p> + +<p class="dgp">He was a man of vigorous constitution, +inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, +day after day, upon scant rations, refreshed +by short intervals of sleep +while rolled in his blanket upon a pile +of boughs, with no other shelter but the +sky. He knew the trails of the Indians, +as well as their ordinary haunts and +likeliest places of ambush. He knew, +also, all the courses of the streams and +the carrying places between them. He +understood Indian wiles and warfare, +and was prepared to meet them.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Stand such a man in a pair of stout +shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small +clothes; give him a close-fitting jacket +and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet +in his belt; hang a good-sized powder-horn +by his side, and upon his back +buckle a blanket and a knapsack stuffed +with a moderate supply of bread and +raw salt pork; to these furnishings add +a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and +you have an average New Hampshire +Ranger of the Seven Year’s war, ready +for skirmish or pitched battle; or, for +the more common duty of reconnoitering +the enemy’s force and movements, +of capturing his scouts and +provision trains, and getting now and +then a prisoner, from whom all information +possible would be extorted; and, +in short, for annoying the French and +Indian foe in every possible way.</p> + +<p class="dgp">If you will add three or four inches +to the average height of such a soldier, +give him consummate courage, + +coolness, readiness of resource in extremities, +together with intuitive knowledge +of the enemy’s wiles, supplemented +with a passable knowledge of +French and Indian speech, you will +have a tolerable portrait of Captain +Robert Rogers at the beginning of our +Seven Year’s war.<a href="#note_12"><span class="footnoteref">12</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">He received his first Captain’s commission +in the early part of 1755, and +was employed by the New Hampshire +government in building a fort at the +mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and +in guarding its Northern and Western +frontiers until July, when he was +ordered to Albany to join the army of +Major General Johnson. His first service +there was in furnishing escort, with +a company of one hundred men, to a +provision train from Albany to Fort Edward. +From this latter point he was +afterwards repeatedly despatched, with +smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson +River and down Lake George and Lake +Champlain to reconnoiter the French +forts. Some of these expeditions extended +as far north as Crown Point and +were enlivened with sharp skirmishes. +He was absent up the Hudson upon +one of these when the French were defeated +at the battle of Lake George +and Baron Dieskan was made prisoner.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The efficiency of the campaign of the +next year (1756), which contemplated +the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and +Fort Du Quesne, was seriously impaired +by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; +Major General Shirley +being superceded in June by +General Abercrombie while he, about +a month later, yielded the command +to the inefficient Lord Londown. +The only occurrences of particular +note during this campaign were +the capture of our forts at Oswego by +General Montcalm and the formal declarations +of war by the two belligents.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers and his men were stationed at +Fort William Henry, and made repeated +visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point +to ascertain the power of the enemy +and to annoy him as they had opportunity. +They went down Lake George, +sometimes by land upon its shores, and +sometimes by water and in boats. In +the winter their land marches were frequently +upon snow-shoes, and their +boats were exchanged for skates. On +such occasions each Ranger was generally +his own commissary and carried his +own supplies.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In his journal for this year (1756) +Rogers notes thirteen of these expeditions +as worthy of record. The first +was down Lake George on the ice, in +January, with seventeen men, resulting +in the capture of two prisoners and two +sledges laden with provisions.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The second was made in February +with a party of fifty men to ascertain the +strength and operations of the French +at Crown Point. Having captured one +prisoner at a little village near by the +fort, they were discovered and obliged +to retire before the sallying troops of +the garrison. With very marked sang +froid he closes his account of this reconnoissance +by saying: "We employed +ourselves while we dared stay in setting +fire to the houses and barns in the village, +with which were consumed large +quantities of wheat, and other grain; we +also killed about fifty cattle and then +retired, leaving the whole village in +flames."</p> + +<p class="dgp">There often appears a ludicrous kind +of honesty in the simple narratives of +this journal. He occasionally seized + +certain stores of the enemy which a +Ranger could destroy only with regret. +He naively remarks, in narrating the capture +in June, of this same year, of two +lighters upon Lake Champlain, +manned by twelve men, four of whom +they killed: "We sunk and destroyed +their vessels and cargoes, which consisted +chiefly of wheat and flour, wine, +and brandy; some few casks of the +latter we carefully concealed."</p> + +<p class="dgp">His commands on such occasions +varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way +from a squad of ten men to two whole +companies; and the excursions just +mentioned afford fair specimens of the +work done by the Rangers under Rogers +this year.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers possessed a ready wit and an +attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding +the necessary severity of his discipline. +A story has come down to us which +well illustrates this trait in his character. +Two British Regulars, it seems, a good +deal muddled, one night, by liberal potations, +became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor +in consequence of inability to discharge +its national debt, and their +loyal forebodings had, at length, become +painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering +them in their distress, at +once relieved them by the remark: "I +appreciate the gravity of your trouble, +my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious +one. But, happily, I can remove +it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine +will shortly pay the other half." From +this incident is said to have arisen the +expression, at one time common, "We +pay our debts as Rogers did that of the +English nation."</p> + +<p class="dgp">But Captain Rogers had qualities of +a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a +Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake +George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become +apparent, and we shall not be surprised +to learn that, in March, 1756, he was +summoned to Boston by Major General +Shirley and commissioned anew as +Captain of an independent company +of Rangers, to be paid by the King. +This company formed the nucleus of +the famous corps since known as "Roger’s +Rangers."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In July another company was raised, +and again in December two more, thereby +increasing the Ranger corps to four +companies. To anticipate, in a little +more than a year this was farther enlarged +by the addition of five more, +and Captain Rogers was promoted to +the rank of Major of Rangers, becoming +thus the commander of the whole +corps.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The character of the service expected +of this branch of the army was +set forth in Major General Shirley’s orders +to its commander in 1756, as follows, +viz.: "From time to time, to use your +best endeavors to distress the French +and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying +their houses, barns, barracks, +canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to +endeavour to way-lay, attack and destroy +their convoys of provisions by land +and water in any part of the country +where he could find them."<a href="#note_13"><span class="footnoteref">13</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the fifteenth of January of the +next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down +Lake George to reconnoiter the +French forts; travelling now for a +time upon the ice, and by and by +donning snow-shoes and following the +land. On the twenty-first, at a point + +half way between Ticonderoga and +Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they +captured, together with six horses and +seven men. The others fled within the +walls of Ticonderoga and alarmed the +garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his +situation he commenced at once his return. +By two o’clock in the afternoon, +his party was attacked by two hundred +and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight +was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of +his men. The French, as was subsequently +ascertained, lost one hundred +and sixteen. The proximity of Ticonderoga +rendered vain the continuance of +the contest, and he availed him of the +shelter of the night to return to Fort +William Henry.</p> + +<p class="dgp">For this exploit he was highly complimented +by General Abercrombie, and, at +a later period of this same year, was ordered +by Lord Londown to instruct and +train for the ranging service a company +of British Regulars. To these he devoted +much time and prepared for their +use the manual of instruction now found +in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very +succinctly and lucidly the rules governing +this mode of fighting.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The campaign of 1757 contemplated +only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown +directed all his energies. Having collected +all the troops which could be +spared for that purpose, he sailed for +Halifax on the twentieth of June with +six thousand soldiers, among them being +four companies of Rangers under the +command of Major Rogers. Upon arriving +at Halifax his army was augmented +by the addition of five thousand +Regulars and a powerful naval armament. +We have neither time nor inclination +to consider the conduct of Lord +Londown on this occassion farther than +to say that his cowardice and imbecility +seem wonderful. Finding that, in all +probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he +returned to New York without striking +a blow. If about this time our heroic +commander of the Rangers used some +strong language far from sacred, it will +become us to remember "Zeke Webster" +and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives +"as we can." He returned to +New York three weeks after the surrender +of Fort William Henry, where with his +Rangers he might have done something, +at least, to prevent the horrible massacre +which has tarnished the fair fame of +Montcalm indellibly.</p> + +<p class="dgp">England and America both were humbled +in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of +sufficent resources is severe, but how utterly +insufferable when, with abundant +means, incompetency to use them brings +defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation +to Lord Londown than we are +wont to think. His imbecility helped +rouse the British nation and recall William +Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other +countries and promised an early termination +of French dominion in America.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Lord Londown was succeeded in the +early part of 1758 by General Abercrombie +and plans were matured for +capturing the Lake forts, Louisburg and +Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, +the two last, with the addition +of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The +movement against Crown Point and Ticonderoga +did not succeed. In the assault +upon the latter Rogers and his +Rangers fought in the van and in the +retreat brought up the rear.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the spring of this year (1758) +Rogers went down Lake George at the + +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, +and near the foot of it had a desperate +battle with a superior body of +French and Indians. He reported on +his return one hundred and fourteen of +his party as killed or missing. Why +he was not annihilated is a wonder. +General Montcalm, in a letter dated +less than a month after the encounter, +says: "Our Indians would give no +quarter; they have brought back one +hundred and forty-six scalps." For +his intrepidity on this occasion he was +presented by General Abercrombie with +the commission of Major of Rangers, +before alluded to.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The adroitness with which Rogers +sometimes extricated himself from extreme +peril is illustrated by his conduct +on one occasion, when pursued by an +overwhelming number of savages up +the mountain, near the south end of +Lake George, which now bears his +name. Upon reaching the summit +he advanced to the very verge of +the precipice, on the east side, which +descends 550 feet to the lake. Having +here reversed his snow shoes he fled +down the side opposite to that by +which he had come up. Arriving soon +after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks +of two men, apparently, instead of one, +and Rogers far below upon the ice, +hastening towards Fort Edward, concluded +that he had slid down the precipice +aided by the Great Spirit, and that +farther pursuit was vain.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of +1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially +accomplished. Ticonderoga +and Crown Point were abandoned in +July, Fort Niagara capitulated the same +month, and Quebec was surrendered in +September.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Their violation of a flag of truce in +this last month now called attention to +the St. Francis Indians, who had been +for a century the terror of the New +England frontiers, swooping down upon +them when least expected, burning +their buildings, destroying their cattle, +mercilessly murdering their men, +women, and children, or cruelly hurrying +them away into captivity. The +time had now come for returning these +bloody visits. The proffering of this +delicate attention was assigned by +Major General Amherst to Rogers. In +his order, dated September 13, he says: +"You are this night to set out with the +detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under +your command and proceed to Misisquey +Bay, from whence you will march +and attack the enemy’s settlements on +the south side of the river St. Lawrence +in such a manner as you shall +judge most effectual to disgrace the +enemy, and for the success and honour +of his majesty’s arms.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"> * * * * *</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Take your revenge, but don’t forget +that tho’ those villains have dastardly +and promiscuously murdered the +women and children of all ages, it is +my orders that no women or children +are killed or hurt."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In pursuance of these orders Major +Rogers started the same day at evening. +On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi +Bay. On the twenty-third, with +one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he +came, without being discovered, to the +environs of the village of St. Francis. +The Indians had a dance the evening +following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an +hour before sunrise, Rogers and his +men fell upon them on all sides, and +in a few minutes, ere they had time to +arouse themselves and seize their arms, +the warriors of that village were dead. +A few, attempting to escape by the + +river, were shot in their canoes. The +women and children were not molested.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When light came it revealed to the +Rangers lines of scalps, mostly English, +to the number of six hundred, strung +upon poles above the door-ways. Thereupon, +every house except three containing +supplies was fired, and their destruction +brought death to a few who had +before escaped it by concealing themselves +in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their +accursed village had been obliterated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The operations of the next year +(1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of +Quebec by the French was their final +effort. The army of the Lakes embarked +from Crown Point for Montreal +on the sixteenth day of August. "Six +hundred Rangers and seventy Indians +in whale-boats, commanded by Major +Rogers, all in a line abreast, formed the +advance guard." He and his men encountered +some fighting on the way +from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no +serious obstacle retarded their progress. +The day of their arrival Monsieur de +Vaudveuil proposed to Major General +Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in +North America.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The English troops, as will be remembered, +entered Montreal on the evening of +the eighth of September. On the morning +of the twelfth Major Rogers was ordered +by General Amherst to proceed +westward with two companies of Rangers +and take possession of the western +forts, still held by the French, which, by +the terms of the capitulation, were to +be surrendered.</p> + +<p class="dgp">He embarked about noon the next +day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to +the west by the St. Lawrence and the +Lakes. On the seventh of November +they reached the mouth of the Cuyahoga, +where the beautiful city of Cleveland +now stands. The cross of St. George +had never penetrated the wilderness so +far before. Here they encamped and +were soon after waited upon by messengers +from the great chieftain Pontiac, +asking by what right they entered upon +his territory and the object of their visit. +Rogers informed them of the downfall +of the French in America, and that +he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the +English by the terms of the capitulation. +Pontiac received his message remarking +that he should stand in his path until +morning, when he would return to +him his answer.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next morning Pontiac came to +the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, +met face to face the bold, self-possessed, +clear-headed Major of the +British Rangers. It is interesting to +note how calmly the astute ally of the +French accepted the new order of things +and prepared for an alliance with his +former enemies. He and Rogers had +several interviews and in the end smoked +the pipe of peace. With dignified +courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, +provisions for his journey and an +escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke +camp on the twelfth and pushed onward +towards Detroit. By messenger sent +forward in advance he apprized Monsieur +Belletre, Commandant of the fort, +of his near approach and the object of +it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of +the truth of the unwelcome news thus +brought, he surrendered his garrison. +On the twenty-ninth of November the +British flag floated from the staff which +ever before had borne only the lillies of +France.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">On the tenth of December, after +disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of +the forts Miamie and Gatanois, with +characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still +farther westward for Michilimackinac. +But it was a vain attempt. The season +was far advanced. Indeed, the winter +had already come, and while the ice +prevented his progress by water, the +snows rendered impracticable his advance +by land. With reluctance he relinquished +for the first time the completion +of his mission. Turning eastward, +after a tedious journey, he +reached New York on the fourteenth of +February, 1761.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From New York, there is reason to +suppose, that he went this same year as +Captain of one of the His Majesty’s Independent +Companies of Foot to South +Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant +in subduing the Cherokees, who had for +a year or two been committing depredations +upon the Carolinian frontiers.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From this time onward for the next +two years we lose sight of Major Rogers, +but he re-appears at the siege of +Detroit in 1763. Hither he went with +twenty Rangers as part of a body of +soldiers sent from Fort Niagara under +the command of Captain Dalzell for the +re-inforcement of the beleagured fort. +He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, +and on the thirty-first took an active +part in the fierce battle of Bloody +Bridge. His valor was as useful as it +was conspicuous on that occasion, and +but for his daring efforts the retreat of +the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, +for a time, in the house of the +Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a +throng of savages which surrounded it, +his escape with a few followers at one +door was hardly achieved ere these +burst in at another.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next glimpse we get of Major +Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some +four or five hundred acres. Good old +Parson Walker, who here kept open +house, and for more than fifty years +watched with solicitude the interests of +his parish and his country, says, in his +diary for 1764, against date of February +24: "Major Rogers dined with us" and +again December 22:—"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me."</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is probable that his private affairs +now occupied his attention. A year or +so after the surrender of Montreal he +was married to Elizabeth, daughter of +Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John’s +Church, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. +He considered this town his residence, +and in papers executed this very +year (1764) sometimes designates himself +"as of Portsmouth," and at others, as +"now residing at Portsmouth."</p> + +<p class="dgp">For three or four years, between +1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous +and some quite extensive tracts. +Some twenty-five different conveyances +to him are on record in the Recorder’s +office of Rockingham County, and half +as many from him to other parties.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Some of these lands he seems to have +purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. +In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as Governor +of New Hampshire, conveyed to +him as "a reduced officer" a tract of +three thousand acres, lying in the southern +part of Vermont.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One<a href="#note_14"><span class="footnoteref">14</span></a> conveyance made by him and + +bearing date December 20, 1762, arrests +our attention. By it he transferred +to his father-in-law, Rev. Arthur Brown, +before mentioned, some five hundred +acres of land in Rumford (now Concord, +New Hampshire) together with "one +negro man, named Castro Dickerson, +aged about twenty-eight; one negro +woman, named Sylvia; one negro boy +named Pomp, aged about twelve and +one Indian boy, named Billy, aged +about thirteen." For what reason this +property was thus transferred I have no +means of knowing. If the object of +the conveyance was to secure it as a +home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular +life, the end sought was subsequently +attained, as the land descended +even to his grand-children.<a href="#note_15"><span class="footnoteref">15</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">And I may as well, perhaps, just +here and now anticipate a little by saying +that Major Rogers did not prove a +good husband, and that seventeen years +after their marriage his wife felt constrained, +February 12, 1778, to petition +the General Assembly of New Hampshire +for a divorce from him on the +ground of desertion and infidelity. An +act granting the same passed the Assembly +on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth +of March following.<a href="#note_16"><span class="footnoteref">16</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the +County of Rockingham, and State aforesaid, hath petitioned +the General Assembly for said State, setting forth +that she was married to the said Robert Rogers about +seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time +he had absented himself from and totally neglected to +support and maintain her—and had, in the most flagrant +manner, in a variety of ways, violated the marriage contract—but +especially by infidelity to her Bed; For +which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a +vinculo matrimonii, might be granted. The principal +facts contained in said petition being made to appear, +upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore,</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives +for said State in General Assembly convened, +That the Bonds of Matrimony between the said Robert +and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."—[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.]</p> + +<p class="dgp">I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant +remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the +subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her +divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel +in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for +London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in +Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to +himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.<a href="#note_17"><span class="footnoteref">17</span></a> After his +marriage he lived with his wife and her +son by the former marriage on the estate +in Concord, previously mentioned as +having been conveyed by Rogers to her +father. Captain Roach is said to have +been most famous for his unholy expletives +and his excessive potations. +The venerable Colonel William Kent, +now living at Concord in his nineties, +says that Captain Roach one day +brought into the store where he was a +clerk a friend who had offered to treat +him and called for spirit. Having +drawn from a barrel the usual quantity +of two drinks the clerk set the measure +containing it upon the counter, expecting +the contents to be poured into two +tumblers, as was then the custom. +Without waiting for this division the +thirsty Captain immediately seized the +gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously +remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks +another to take refreshment the guest +should be helped first, and should there +be found lacking a sufficiency for both, +the host should call for more.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her +exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing +from this to a land where "they + +neither marry nor are given in marriage," +it is easy to believe.<a href="#note_18"><span class="footnoteref">18</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">In returning to Major Rogers, we +must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have +been in England in 1765, and to have +there published two respectable volumes +of his writings. One is entitled "Journals +of Major Robert Rogers; containing +an account of the several excursions +he made under the Generals who +commanded upon the continent of +North America, during the late War," +and embraces the period from September +24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is +doubtless quite reliable and valuable as a +contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.<a href="#note_19"><span class="footnoteref">19</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">An American edition of Roger’s Journal, ably edited +by Dr. F.B. Hough, was published at Albany in 1883, by +J. Munsell’s Sons. Besides a valuable introduction, it +contains the whole text of the Journals, an appendix consisting +largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition +of the Journals ever published.]</p> + +<p class="dgp">The other is called "a concise view +of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the +country at the time of its publication.<a href="#note_20"><span class="footnoteref">20</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">It is less reliable than the former, but +is a readable book, and, when the author +keeps within the bounds of his personal +knowledge, is doubtless authentic. +Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. +To the charge that he was an illiterate +person and that these works were +written by another’s hand, it may be +urged, as to the "journals," that the +correspondence of their matter to the +written reports of his expeditions made +to his superior officers and now preserved +in the New York State Library, convincingly +show that this work is undoubtedly +his. If revised before publication by a +should not deprive him of the credit of +their authorship.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, +but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, +attest his possession of a fair chirography, +a pretty good knowledge of +grammar and spelling, together with a +style of expression both lucid and simple; +in short, these are such compositions as +come naturally from a man, who, favored +in youth with but a limited common +school education, has in mature life +mingled much with superiors and been +often called upon to draft such writings +as fall to the lot of a soldier or man of +business. Mr. Parkman also attributes to +Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy +long forgotten, entitled "Ponteach, or +the Savages in America," published in +London in 1766. It is a work of little +merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.<a href="#note_21"><span class="footnoteref">21</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the tenth of June, 1766, at the +King’s command, General Gage appointed +Major Rogers Captain Commandant +of the garrison of Michilimackinac.<a href="#note_22"><span class="footnoteref">22</span></a> + +Sir William Johnson, then +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, when +apprized of it was filled with astonishment +and disgust. He regarded Rogers +as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, +and inordinately ambitious, dishonest, +untruthful, and incompetent to discharge +properly the duties of this office.<a href="#note_23"><span class="footnoteref">23</span></a> But +as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined +to accept the inevitable and restrict +his power, thereby rendering him +as little capable of mismanagement as +possible. He was ordered by General +Gage to act in all matters pertaining to +the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to +report upon all other matters to the +Commandant at Detroit, to whom he +was made subordinate.<a href="#note_24"><span class="footnoteref">24</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Commander Rogers probably reached +Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness +for his position by clandestinely +engaging in the Indian trade,<a href="#note_25"><span class="footnoteref">25</span></a> and by +involving the government in unnecessary +expenses, which he sought to meet +by drafts upon the Superintendent of +Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further +curtail his power, a Commissary was +appointed to reside at the post and +regulate the Indian trade. To this +Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled +with the officer. As time went +on matters grew worse. He engaged +in foolish speculations; got deeply into +debt to the Indian traders; chafed under +his limitations; grew first discontented, +and then desperate; entered +into treasonable correspondence with a +French officer;<a href="#note_26"><span class="footnoteref">26</span></a> and finally conceived a +plan of seeking of the home government +an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure +to rob his post and the traders thereabout, +and then desert to the French on +the lower Mississippi.<a href="#note_27"><span class="footnoteref">27</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">His mismanagement and plottings +having grown insufferable he was arrested +and conveyed in irons to Montreal +in September, 1768, to be there +tried by court-martial for high treason.<a href="#note_28"><span class="footnoteref">28</span></a> +On some ground, probably a technical +one, he escaped conviction, and at +some date between May, 1769, and +February, 1770, he sailed for England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">And there, strange as it may seem, +the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, wily +ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal +had vindicated his innocence +and established his claim to martyrdom. +His books had advertised him as a hero. +His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in +hopes thereby of getting their dues. +He was gazed at by the commonalty. +He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss +his hand. He claimed payment for arrears +of salary and other expenses previously +disallowed in England and at +home, which was made. Encouraged by +his successes he pushed boldly on and + +asked to be made an English Baronet, +with £600 a year, and in addition to +that, a Major in the army.<a href="#note_29"><span class="footnoteref">29</span></a> One is in +doubt which to wonder at the most, the +audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But +vaulting ambition had at length overleaped +itself. He failed of the coveted +knighthood, and sank by degrees to his +true level.</p> + +<p class="dgp">We see nothing more of Major Rogers +until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the +British Army retired on half pay. The +object of his visit to his native land just +at the beginning of our Revolutionary +war was not satisfactorily apparent. +Some considered him a military adventurer, +anxious to sell his services to the +highest bidder. Others regarded him +as a British spy. He wandered over +the country all the way from Pennsylvania +to New Hampshire with very +little ostensible business. His improbable +statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his +visits to places of bad reputation, as +well as his whole general conduct, rendered +him a suspected person.</p> + +<p class="dgp">He was arrested on the twenty-second +of September following his arrival by the +Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but +was afterwards paroled upon his solemn +declaration and promise that "on the +honor of a soldier and a gentleman he +would not bear arms against the +American United Colonies, in any +manner whatever, during the present +contest between them and Great-Britain;"<a href="#note_30"><span class="footnoteref">30</span></a> +yet, on the twenty-sixth of +the next November, he makes a tender of +his services to the British government, in +a letter addressed to General Gage, and +was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.<a href="#note_31"><span class="footnoteref">31</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the second day of December, a +little more than a month later, in shabby +garb he calls upon President Wheelock, +at Hanover, New Hampshire. After +speaking of his absence in Europe, during +which, he said, he had fought two battles +in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously +tendered his aid in a proposed effort to +obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, +but treated him civilly. At the close of +the interview he returned to the tavern +where he passed the night, and left +the next morning without paying his +reckoning.<a href="#note_32"><span class="footnoteref">32</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Again, on the nineteenth of the +same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, +soliciting an interview, but his reputation +was such that the Commander-in-Chief +declined to see him.<a href="#note_33"><span class="footnoteref">33</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Even this did not discourage him. +With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he +had been arrested in South Amboy and +brought to New York, he expressed to the +Commander-in-Chief his desire to pass +on to Philadelphia, that he might there +make a secret tender of his services to +the American Congress.<a href="#note_34"><span class="footnoteref">34</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">However, by this time, his duplicity +had become so manifest that a few days +after this interview (July 2, 1776) the +New Hampshire House of Representatives +passed a formal vote recommending +his arrest,<a href="#note_35"><span class="footnoteref">35</span></a> which was supplemented +two years later (November 19, 1778) +by a decree of proscription.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">Finding hypocrisy no longer available, +sometime in August, 1776, he accepted +a commission of Lieutenant Colonel +Commandant, signed by General Howe +and empowering him to raise a battalion +of Rangers for the British Army. +To this work he now applied himself +and with success.<a href="#note_36"><span class="footnoteref">36</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the twenty-first of October, 1776, +Rogers fought his last battle, so far as I +have been able to discover, on American +soil. His Regiment was attacked at +Mamaronec, New York, and routed by +a body of American troops. Contemporary +accounts state that he did not +display his usual valor in this action +and personally withdrew before it was +over.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next year he returned to England,<a href="#note_37"><span class="footnoteref">37</span></a> +where, after a disreputable life of +some twenty-two or twenty-three years, +of which little is known, he is said to +have died in the year 1800.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Such are some of the more salient +points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another +century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan +commander will shine in undimmed +lustre. When the historian gives place +to the novelist and the poet, his desperate +achievements portrayed by their +pens will render as romantic the borders +of Lake George, as have the daring +deeds of Rob Roy McGregor, rehearsed +by Walter Scott, made enchanting the +Shores of Lock Lomond.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_6"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">ROUSED FROM DREAMS.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON.</p> + + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder;</p> +<p class="l">Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder;</p> +<p class="l">On my window-pane, making wild refrain,</p> +<p class="l">Sharply strikes the rain.</p> +</div> + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Wind in furious gusts with angry railing</p> +<p class="l">Follows the unhappy restless wailing</p> +<p class="l">Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee</p> +<p class="l">None to save nor see.</p> +</div> + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers,</p> +<p class="l">Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers;</p> +<p class="l">Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate,</p> +<p class="l">Shrieking prayers too late!</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_7"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By EBENEZER BAILEY.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">On the opening of the year 1764 +there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a +settlement of about forty families, consisting +of a number of farms, located +mostly on the hills surrounding a narrow +valley through which flowed the north +branch of the Nashua River, almost +screened from view by a dense forest of +pines. These people were obliged to +go four or five miles to Church and +town meeting, over narrow, uneven +roads, travelled only on horseback or +rough ox carts. Most of them were +of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a +little town and parish of their own.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Accordingly they commenced a movement +for a division of the town of Lunenburg; +and the first petition to have the +westerly part of that town set off was +presented in town meeting in 1759. At +various other town meetings a like +petition was presented and always rejected, +until January, 1764, when it was +granted, and a committee appointed to +obtain an act of incorporation from the +Legislature; and at last, on the third of +February, 1764, the Governor of the +Colony of Massachusetts Bay signed the +Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated +town, with all the rights and privileges +usually granted, except that the +two towns of Lunenburg and Fitchburg +were to have but one representative +to the General Court.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A portion of the territory of Fitchburg +was set off a few years later to form +a part of the new town of Ashby.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The first town meeting in Fitchburg +was held in the tavern of Captain Samuel +Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, +when selectmen were chosen, and other +business necessary to the organization +of a town government transacted. The +next business after the necessary civil +affairs were put in order was to provide +for "Sabbath days’ preaching," and the +Rev. Peter Whitney was hired to preach +in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, +which was completed sufficiently +for occupancy in the autumn +of 1766, and was located between Blossom +and Mount Vernon Streets, near +Crescent Street. The land was presented +to the town by Thomas Cowdin, +a new resident, who had purchased the +tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In those days the tavern keeper was +a man of great importance by virtue of +his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in +himself a remarkable man. Energetic +and commanding by nature, his varied +experience had been of a kind to call +out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier +in the Provincial army, he served +actively in the French and Indian wars, +and rose from the ranks to the office of +captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent +soldiers to the army and in arresting +deserters. At one time he was set on +the track of a deserter, whom he found +was making his way to New York. He +followed him with characteristic celerity +and promptness, and at length found +him one Sabbath morning attending +divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but +entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation +of the congregation. A severe struggle +ensued, in which he barely escaped with + +his life, but he finally overpowered and +secured his prisoner. He then took him +to Boston, where he received orders +to deliver him at Crown Point. So +alone through the woods for that long +distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which +awaited him; threading each day the +lonely forest, and lying down each night +to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely +at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For +many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, +and enjoyed to a great degree the +confidence of his fellow citizens. He +was the first Representative to the General +Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. +A handsome monument has recently +been erected to his memory by his +grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of +Boston.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Preaching being provided for, it was +also voted to keep two schools, and to +appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. +And now the town of Fitchburg +was fairly started out in life. From the +towns to the East energetic young men +began to come in with their families, +to make new homes for themselves, so +that in 1771 there were from seventy-five +to eighty families, with a total valuation +of £2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, +and the rate was over ten per cent.</p> + +<p class="dgp">There were now, from time to time, +numerous town meetings and many matters, both +grave and trivial, to discuss and +settle. Matters civil and matters ecclesiastical +were inextricably blended. There +was no separation of Church and State, +but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand +interposed daily in all the affairs of life. +We may instance an article in the warrant +for town meeting, January, 1770, +which read as follows: "To see if the +town will relieve Widow Mary Upton +for Distress occasioned by frowns of +Divine Providence, and abate her husband’s +rates on Isaac Gibson’s and +Ebenezer Bridge’s tax lists." The result +of the article was that Mr. Upton’s +poll tax was abated, and the frowns +of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Time passed on, the town gaining in +wealth and numbers, and a comfortable, +prosperous future was the reasonable +hope of the inhabitants; but other +scenes than those of peace and quiet +were preparing; the opening scenes of +the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the +drama of seven long years, so frought +with great results, but so wearisome, +painful, and discouraging to the actors, +from whom the future was withheld.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As early as September, 1768, the +selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting +them to call a town meeting to +take into consideration the critical condition +of public affairs, and to choose +an agent to meet them in Boston and +show there the "views, wishes and determinations +of the people of Fitchburg +upon the subject." A town meeting +was accordingly called, and the Honorable +Edward Hartwell was sent jointly +by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be +their agent in Boston.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In December, 1773 the selectmen +received another letter from the town +of Boston, requesting them to meet and +pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing +to die in maintaining, and send them +to the Committee of Correspondence. +A town meeting was held accordingly, +and a committee appointed to draft +resolutions. The report presented by + +this committee at an adjourned meeting, +after expressing full sympathy in all +efforts to resist any encroachments on +the rights and liberties of the American +people, concluded as follows:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch +as we are now informed that the town +of Boston and the neighboring towns have +made such noble opposition to said teas being +brought into Boston, subject to a duty so +directly tending to the enslaving of America, +it is our opinion that your opposition is just and +equitable, and the people of this town are ready +to afford all the assistance in their power to +keep off all such infringement." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The time had now come when the +talk at the tavern, the town meeting, +the Church, and at the daily meeting +of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny +of the English Government. The fires +of Liberty were already kindled from +the North to the South and from the seaports +to the frontier. Fitchburg was +not behind in preparation for the coming +storm. In the store building of +Ephraim Kimball, which was near the +corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was +the armory of the minute men, about +forty of whom were enrolled and regularly +drilled; while by vote of the town +fifty dollars was appropriated for powder, +lead and flints.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, +at last arrived and found the little town +ready for action. So rapidly did the +news spread that at nine o’clock in the +morning the alarm was fired in front of +the store of Deacon Kimball. The +company had spent the previous day in +drill, and at the summons the members +promptly assembled, and being joined +by a few volunteers, about fifty men took +up their line of march for Concord, under +the command of Captain Ebenezer +Bridge, who afterwards became Colonel, +and whose regiment, in the battle of +Bunker Hill, was engaged in the fiercest +of the contest. With the minute men +was sent a large wagon loaded with +provisions, which followed them to Concord, +where they arrived in the evening, +too late to take any part in the fight.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It was now necessary to organize a +permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster +enlisted a company of volunteers +to serve for eighteen months. At +the battle of Bunker Hill John Gibson +of Fitchburg was killed while fighting +bravely in the intrenchments.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When the Continental Congress asked +the support of the Colonies to the contemplated +Declaration of Independence, +the Massachusetts General Court sent +circulars, asking the opinion of the +several towns in regard to the measure. +The answer of Fitchburg was as follows:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable +Continental Congress should for the safety +of these United Colonies declare them independent +of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that +we, the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, +will, with our lives and fortunes, support them +in the measure." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In February, 1776, the warrant for +town meeting ran thus: "In his Majesty’s +name." In May the warrant ran +as follows: "In the name of the writ to +us directed, these are in the name of +the Governor and people of Massachusetts +Bay." After the declaration +of independence the warrant ran thus: +"In the name of the State of the +Colony of Massachusetts Bay."</p> + +<p class="dgp">For seven long years the little town +of Fitchburg bore bravely and unflinchingly +the hardships of the war. The +burden to the inhabitants of furnishing +their quota of men, money, and provisions, +was a heavy one, the depreciation +of the currency was ruinous; and +they, in common with the rest of the + +people, found themselves in serious +financial difficulties at the close of the +war. Taxes were high and money +scarce, and the efforts of the authorities +to collect the sums levied on the inhabitants +finally led to organized resistance, +which has come down to us under +the name of Shay’s Rebellion. With it +the people of Fitchburg deeply sympathized, +and in the initiatory proceedings +they took an active, though a prudent +part. In June, 1786, the town sent +Elijah Willard as a delegate to a +convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to +defend his property if he should be +taken in person for his attendance, +"provided he behaves himself in an orderly +and peaceable manner; otherwise +he is to risk it himself." Deeply sympathizing +with the Shayites, the people +of Fitchburg did everything in their +power to prevent the collection of taxes +by the authorities, short of armed +resistance; and the consequence was that +a military company was quartered among +them, much to their indignation; and +had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, +bloodshed might have followed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The population of Fitchburg had not +remained stationary during the war, but +had increased from 650 to about 1,000. +At its close there was the nucleus of a +village scattered along the road near the +river, now Main Street. One might see +Cowdin’s tavern, Kimball’s saw and grist +mill, Fox’s store, a baker’s shop, and +half a dozen houses between the American +house and the upper Common. +The meeting-house upon the hill back +of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow +structure; the red store of Joseph +Fox was below, and in the rear of his +store his house with large projecting +eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon +Ephraim Kimball were near by. Up +the road, and near the present residence +of Ebenezer Torrey, was a bakery and a +dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the +west, were two or three houses and a +blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by +the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In addition, however, to this little +centre of population there was in the +westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood +of Dean Hill, a village which +boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith +shop, and boldly sat up a claim of +rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. +Its people petitioned to the General +Court, to be set off, with a part of +Ashburnham and Westminster, into a +new town. However, a vigorous opposition +from the inhabitants of the remainder +of the town prevented its being +granted. But, defeated in one +point, the Dean Hill people turned +to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, +the little old meeting-house on the +hill being too small to accommodate +the increased population. So +they determined to have the new +Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a +protracted struggle to fix upon its location. +A vote was passed in town meeting +that the new Church should be located +"on the nearest convenientest +spot to the centre," but the words +<em>nearest, convenientest</em>, were a cause of +furious contention. Town meeting after +town meeting was held—now victory +rested with one faction, now with the +other. Finally, after ninety-nine town +meetings, extending through a period of +ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the +location of the present Unitarian +Church.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But now the leaven of heterodoxy + +was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, +turned from the theological doctrines of +their forefathers and adopted Unitarian +views. In most places there was a final +division of the original Church, and the +formation of two societies, one of the +Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox +persuasion.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Fitchburg was agitated in this way for +about twenty-four years, during which +time many ecclesiastical councils were +held, and debate and dispute were almost +continuous, both in and out of +town meeting, for neighbor was divided +against neighbor, and one member of a +household against another. The result +was the dissolution of the parochial +powers of the town, and a division into +two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox +built a new building on the corner of +Main and Rollstone streets.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But while religious contention went +on, worldly growth and prosperity increased. +Quite a number of manufacturing +establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little +stream that furnished the power was beginning +to be appreciated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 +dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing +office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton mills, 1 +scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist +mills, 10 saw mills, 3 taverns, 2 hat +manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 +tanneries, 2 window blind manufactories, +and 1 chair manufactory. There +were a number of stone bridges, and a +dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, +and Lowell, and left three times a week +for Worcester and Springfield, and returned +on alternate days.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Energetic, enterprising young men +were attracted to Fitchburg as a promising +place for a home, and there was +the exhilarating, hopeful atmosphere of +a new and growing town, where changes +are rapid and opportunities are many. +It was about this time that Rufus C. +Torrey wrote his history of Fitchburg, +in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, +then a public spirited young lawyer, who +had already accumulated quite an +amount of material from records and +conversations with the older residents +These two men saved from oblivion +very many valuable facts in the history +of the town.</p> + +<p class="dgp">About this time, also, the Fitchburg +High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the +Fitchburg Library Association was organized, +both of which institutions +were valuable educational influences.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From 1840 to 1860 the town continued +to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair +business enlarged greatly, the iron business +was introduced by the Putnam +Brothers, and grew rapidly, and various +other branches of industry were begun +and prospered. The Fitchburg Railroad +was built, followed by the Vermont +and Massachusetts, the Fitchburg and +Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch +Railroads, all centreing in Fitchburg and +bringing an increase of business.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the breaking out of the war of the +Rebellion the town contained nearly +8,000 inhabitants, and during the war +Fitchburg did her part, answering all +calls promptly and sending her best +men to the field. Her history in that +contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, +in his history of "Fitchburg in the War +of the Rebellion." Nine companies +were organized in the town, and 750 +Fitchburg men sent into the field.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The years immediately following the +war were years of prosperity and rapid + +growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was +incorporated as a city. The infant +township of 108 years before had +grown to a city of 12,000 inhabitants. +The little stream which then turned the +wheel of the one solitary saw and grist +mill had since been harnessed to the +work of many mills and manufactories, +and on either side were the homes +of hundreds, dependent on its power +for their daily bread. Railroads carried +the products of these establishments to +the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city +from the East and from the West all +the necessaries and all the luxuries of +life. Can it be that the dead of past +generations, who sleep on the hillside +which overlooks the valley, have seen +this transformation, and if so, will they +behold all the changes of the future? +Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those +who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life +blood.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_8"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By CHESTER F. SANGER.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">The Legislature of 1884 has placed +an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking +in the same direction passed by the +Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the +Acts of 1884 provides that "The provisions +of chapter ninety-eight of the +Public Statutes relating to the observance +of the Lord’s day shall not constitute +a defence to an action for a tort or +injury suffered by a person on that day."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 +provided that common carriers of passengers +should no longer escape liability +for their negligence in case of accidents +to passengers, by reason of the injury +being received on Sunday. This act +marked a long step forward in the policy +of this Commonwealth, and made it no +longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences +of its illegal acts by saying to +the injured passenger, "You were +breaking the law yourself, and therefore +you have no redress against us."</p> + +<p class="dgp">This was a condition of things which +worked a confusion of relations, and +lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting +on "no principle of justice" or law, and +creating a "species of judicial outlawry +which ignored alike the principles of +humanity and the analogies of the law."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The provisions more particularly referred +to in these Acts are those relating +to travelling on the Lord’s day, +found in the Statutes as follows:—</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Whoever travels on the Lord’s day, +except from necessity or charity, shall +be punished by fine not exceeding ten +dollars for each offence."—Pub. Stat., +Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting +and curious study to follow the changes +made in the Sunday law, so called, with +the accompanying judicial decisions, as +one by one the hindrances to the attainment +of simple justice by travellers injured +on the Lord’s day have been swept +away.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Pilgrims brought many strange +ideas with them to their new home, as + +we all well know, and we find these reflected +in their statute books in the +form of many "blue laws," some of +which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded +"dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general +discussion of this subject is, as +showing the character and purposes of +the founders of the Republic, we can +follow but one division of the Sunday +law in its various forms since it was first +framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who +intended that the day should be not +merely a day of rest from labor, but +also a day devoted to public and private +worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or +amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only +fit punishment for those who, as they +considered it, "prophaned" the Lord’s +day.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As early as 1636 it was enacted by +the Court of the Plymouth Colony that, +"Whereas, complaint is made of +great abuses in sundry places of this +Government of prophaning the Lord’s +day by travellers, both horse and foot, +by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, +etc., upon the Lord’s day to the great +offence of the Godly welafected +among us. It is, therefore, enacted by +the Court and the authoritie thereof +that if any person or persons shall be +found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, +he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such +a town and fined twenty shillings, to the +Collonie’s use, or else shall sit in the +stocks four hours, except they can give +a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; +but they that ’soe transgresse’ must be +apprehended on the Lord’s day and +’paye theire fine or sitt in the stockes +as aforesaide’ on the second day thereafter." +It seems, however, that in +spite of the pious sentiments of the +framers of the law it was not, or could +not be enforced, for in 1662 it was further +enacted that "This Court doth desire +that the transgression of the foregoing +order may be carefully looked +into and p’r’vented if by any due +course it may be."</p> + +<p class="dgp">But even now it seems that the energies +of the law-makers were of no avail +in preventing prophanation of the Holy +day by "foraignors and others," so that +twenty years later, in 1683, we find that +"To prevent prophanation of the Lord’s +day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on +that day. It is enacted by the Court that +a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, +unto whom whosever hath nessessity of +travell on the Lord’s day in case of +danger of death, or such necessitous +occations shall repaire, and makeing out +such occations satisfyingly to him shall +receive a Tickett from him to pas on +about such like occations;" but, "if he +attende not to this," or "if it shall appeare +that his plea was falce," the hand +of the law was likely to fall upon him +while he contributed twenty shillings +"to the use of the Collonie."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Massachusetts Bay Province +it was early enacted that "no traveller +... shall travel on the Lord’s day ... +except by some adversity they are belated +and forced to lodge in the woods, +wilderness, or highways the night before, +and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding +the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation +of the Lord’s day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, +and so it was enacted that the penalty +for the first offense should be thirty +shillings, and for the second, three + +pounds, while the offender, presumably +a "foraignor," was to be put under a +bond to observe the Sabbath day and +keep it holy according to the ideas of +the straight-laced Puritans.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Even this did not put an end to the +good fathers’ troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions +of the several laws now in force +relating to the observation of the Lord’s +day or Christain Sabbath, the said laws +have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the +legislators, the Lord’s Day hath been +greatly and frequently prophaned" all the +laws relating to the observance thereof +were repealed and a new chapter enacted, +one section of which, and the +only one in which we are now interested, +was the same as the law of 1727, above +quoted.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thirty-one years later all these laws +were again erased from the statute book +and a new attempt was made to frame a +law which should leave no loop-holes +for foraignors or others, as follows: +"Whereas the observance of the Lord’s +day is highly promotive of the welfare of +a community by affording necessary seasons +for relaxation from labor and the +cares of business; for moral reflections +and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; +for public and private worship of +the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the +world; and for those acts of charity +which support and adorn a Christian +society. Be it enacted that no person +shall travel on the Lord’s day except +from <em>necessity</em> or <em>charity</em>, upon penalty +of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings +and not less than ten." Notice +what an interesting and moral tone +is given to the otherwise dry statute +book by these sermonizing preambles +which reflect so well the motives and +aims of the men who moulded and +formed the statute laws of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In this act appears for the first time +that "charity" which since then has +truly "covered a multitude of sins," +while it has as often been a strong tower +of defence to corporations clearly shown +to have been careless of their obligations +to the public. One of the first cases +to arise in which these words "necessity +or charity" must be judicially construed +was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 +Mass., 76.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One Josiah Paine had contracted +with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail +between Portland and Boston on each +day of the week for two years from October +1, 1808, and Knox, his servant, +was indicted for unlawfully travelling +while carrying the mail with a stage +carriage through the town of Newburyport +on November 20, 1808, the same +being Sabbath or Lord’s day, and the +said travelling not being from necessity or +charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering +the opinion of the Supreme Court, +after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices +and post-roads, and the consequent +legality of Paine’s contract, the +statutue of his State notwithstanding, +says that "necessity ... cannot be understood +as a physical necessity ... +and when this travelling is necessary to +execute a lawful contract it cannot be +considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." +But fearing that this decision may open +too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers +the Chief Justice hastens to add: "But +let it be remembered that our opinion +does not protect travellers in the stage +coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to +receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of + +serious people either at public worship +or in their own houses. The carrier may +proceed with the mail on the Lord’s +day to the post-office; he may go to +any public house to refresh himself and +his horses; and he may take the mail +from the post-office and proceed on his +route. <em>Any other liberties on the Lord’s +day our opinion does not warrant</em>."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The report naively says, that after this +opinion the Attorney General entered +a <em>nolle proscqui</em>.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, +a case which arose in 1816 and which +attracted a great deal of notice at the +time, Chief Justice Parker says: "It is +not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated +by Moses, in order to prove +that the <em>Christian Sabbath</em> ought to be +observed by <em>Christians</em>, as a day of holy +rest and religious worship; and if it were +it would be difficult to make out the point +contended for from that source;" and +then goes into a long disquisition upon +the Mosaic law and the precepts of the +Saviour and finally says that "cases often +arise in which it will be both innocent +and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose +him suddenly called to visit a child, or +other near relative, in a distant town +laboring under a dangerous illness; or +suppose him to be a physician; or suppose +a man’s whole fortune and the +future comfort of his family to depend +upon his being at a remote place early on +Monday morning, he not having known +the necessity until Saturday evening; +these are all cases which would generally +be considered as justifying the act +of travelling." Certainly a somewhat +broader view than that taken by the +Court seven years earlier.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The law remained thus and was re-enacted +in the Revised Statutes of 1836, +the penalty being raised, however, to ten +dollars. In civil cases arising out of +damages sustained by travellers upon the +Lord’s day, corporations defendant were +quick to take advantage of the law and +to rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff’s +act of travelling, as a good defence +to his action.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth +vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 Metcalf, +363. Bosworth was travelling on the +eleventh of June of that year, being +Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to +Fall River on business connected with a +suit in the United States Court, and was +injured by reason of a defect in a highway +in Swansey.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The defendant town admitted that it +was by law required to keep the highway +in repair. And plaintiffs counsel +argued that as the statute provided a +penalty of ten dollars for travelling on +Sunday it could not be further maintained +that there was the additional penalty +that a man could have no legal redress +for damages suffered by reason of +the neglect or refusal of defendants to +do that which the law required them to +do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice +Shaw delivering the opinion, "that the +plaintiff was plainly violating the law +and that since he could recover from the +town only, if free from all just imputation +of negligence or fault," in this case +he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not +called upon to construe the terms "necessity +or charity," as affecting the liability +of corporations plainly shown to be negligent +in the performance of their duties +to others; but many such cases soon +arose.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge +Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or +charity ... that it comprehends all +acts which it is morally fit and proper +should be done on the Sabbath may itself +require some explanation. To + +save life, or prevent or relieve suffering; +to prepare useful food for man and +beast, to save property, as in case of fire, +flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the +bay, or birds on the shore, happened to +be uncommonly abundant on the Lord’s +day, it is equally clear that it would furnish +no excuse for fishing or shooting on +that day. How it would be if a whale +happened to be stranded on the shore +we need not determine." It is needless +to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon +the coast.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., +109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting +in Malden, and counsel for defendant +maintained that the meeting was +attended for idolatry and jugglery, +and while it might be the right of the +plaintiff to be an idolater and to attend +shows, yet she could not do so in violation +of the Statute, which was intended +to protect the conscience of the majority +of the people from being offended +upon the Lord’s day. But the Court +ruled that it could not be said as matter +of law that travelling for such a purpose +was not within the exception, and that +it must be left to the jury to say if the +plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, +the court held that it was not a violation +of the law to hire a horse and +drive to a neighboring town to attend +the funeral of plaintiff’s brother.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But it was held in a later case that +plaintiff, who had been to a funeral on +the Lord’s day and was returning therefrom +by a somewhat <em>circuitous</em> route +for the purpose of calling upon a relative, +was not entitled to recover for damages +sustained by reason of a defect in +the highway. This was the opinion of a +divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of +"necessity or charity" has been a close +one.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Such are a few of the interesting +cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally +framed in 1636, and which still +makes it a criminal offence punishable +by a fine of ten dollars to walk or ride +upon the Lord’s day, save from necessity +or charity, while our cities furnish free +concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement +under the guise of "sacred" concerts, +upon the day which our fathers thought +and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life +... and for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of +the world.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_9"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">ELIZABETH.</h2> + +<h2 class="sub">A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man’s Work."</p> + + + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_10"></a> +<h3 class="dgp">CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h3 class="sub">THE STAB IN THE BACK.</h3> + + +<p class="noindent">A brighter morning for a wedding +never dawned. The house was alive +with merry voices and the echo of footsteps +hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to +be present at the ceremony which was +to take place at noon. Then would +come the festivities, the feast, the dancing, +and after that the drive of the +newly-married pair to the beautiful +house three miles away, that Stephen +Archdale had built and furnished for his +bride, and that had never yet been a +home.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Before the appointed hour the guests +began to arrive and to fill the great +drawing-room. There each one on entering +walked toward the huge fire-place, +in which on an immense bed of coals +glowing with a brilliancy that outshone +the rich red furniture and hangings of +the room lay great logs, which blazed in +their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from +the heat that did not escape up the +chimney. The rich attire of the guests +could bear the bright sunlight that +streamed in through the numberless +little panes of the windows, and the gay +colors that they wore showed off well +against the dark wainscotting of the +room and its antique tapestries. The +ladies were gorgeous in silks and velvets +which were well displayed over enormous +hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered +hair was built up in a tower +nearly a foot in height, were flowers or +feathers. Precious stones fastened the +folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements +of fans that, however discreetly waved, +betrayed their trappings once in a while +by some coquettish tremulousness. +The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, +or diamond shoe buckles, powdered wigs +and queues, and with ruffles of the +richest lace about their wrists. These +guests, who were among the people that +in themselves, or their descendants, were +destined to give the world a new nation, +strong and free, showed all that regard +to the details of fashion said to characterize +incipient decay in races. But +with them it was only an accessory of +position, everything was on a foundation +of reality, it all represented a substantial +wealth displaying itself without +effort. The Sherburnes were there, the +Atkinsons, the Pickerings, Governor +Wentworth, the first of the Governors +after New Hampshire separated from +Massachusetts and went into business +for itself, and others of the Wentworth +family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already +proved that the heart of a strong man +beat under his laced coat. His wife, +well-born and fine-looking, was beside +him, and his son, fresh from College +honors, and sipping eagerly the sparkling +draught of life that was to be over +for him so soon; his daughter also, last +year a bride, and her husband. These +were leaders in that brilliant assembly +called together to the marriage of Katie +and Stephen Archdale.</p> + +<p class="dgp">While waiting for the event of the +morning they talked in low tones among +themselves of the wedding, or more + +audibly, of personal, or of political +affairs.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It wants only ten minutes of the +hour," said one lady, "perhaps our good +parson may not come this morning."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What do you mean?" asked her +companion.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, +will lock his study door upon him as she +did one Sabbath when we all went to the +house of God and found the pulpit empty. +There’s no end to all the malicious tricks +she plays him. Poor, good man."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Do you know," said a beruffled +gentleman in another part of the room +to his next neighbor, "what a preposterous +proposal that ragged fellow, Bill +Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth +last week? He is a good-for-nothing, and +the whole scheme is thought to have been +merely a plan to talk with the Governor, +whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine +house, and he stalked about there an +hour looking at the pictures and the +splendid furniture while its owner was +taking an airing. The general opinion +is that the object of his visit was accomplished +before his Excellency’s return."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Poor fellow! One can’t blame him +so very much," returned the listener with +a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted +snuff-box to the speaker before +helping himself generously from it. "But +what was his scheme?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Something the most absurd you ever +listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish +a public coach from this city to +Boston, to run as often as once a week, +and, after the first expense, to support +itself from the travellers it carries; each +one is to pay a few shillings. Where did +he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other +than private conveyances?" And these +representatives of conservatism threw +back their heads and laughed over the +absurdity of the lightning express in +embryo. Governor Wentworth standing +before the fire was commenting on +some of Governor Shirley’s measures, +giving his own judgment on the matter, +with a directness more bold than wise, +and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that +Americans have always used in political +affairs, when a stir of expectation behind +them made them take breath, and glance +at the person entering the room. It was +the minister.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"He has come, you see," whispered +the lady to her neighbor of the forebodings. +After greeting him, the group +about the fire went back to their discussions. +It had been the good parson’s +horse then, which they had heard tearing +up the road in hot haste; they had not +dreamed that so much speed was in the +nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably +a little late and had been afraid of keeping +the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; +all the company, indeed, but the four +members of it most important that +morning, Katie and Stephen, the bridesmaid, +Mistress Royal, and the best man, +a young friend of Archdale’s. After a few +moments in which conversation lagged +through expectancy, the door opened +again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Ah! here they are. No, only one, +alone. How strange!"</p> + +<p class="dgp">Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth +Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under +which she was acting to see anything +about her. Without sign of recognition +she glanced from one to another, until +her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff +watching her with a gentle wonder in +his face. It was for him that she had +been looking. She went up to him immediately, + +and laid a tremulous hand +upon his arm. She tried to smile, but +the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself +through the assembly; it was felt that +her presence here alone showed that +something had happened, and her expression, +that it was something bad. +She did not seem even to hear the minister’s +kind greeting, and she was as +little moved by the wonder and scrutiny +about her as if she had been alone with +him. At Mistress Archdale’s reiterated +question if Katie were ill, she shook her +head in silence. Some thought held +her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, +"but it must be only a jest. The man’s +horse is blown, he came so fast. And +he insisted on seeing me and would +give this only into my own hands; his +message was that it was life and death, +that I must read it at once before the—" +She stopped with a shudder, and held +out a paper that she had been grasping; +it was crumpled by the tightening of her +fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the +minister looked toward the door, and +listened. "You must read it now, this +instant, before they come in," cried +Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don’t +dare not to have you; and tell me +that it has no power, it is only a +wicked jest; and throw it into the fire. +Oh, quick, be quick."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper +with the haste of age, youth’s deliberateness, +and began to read at last. At the +same instant a hand outside was laid on +the latch of the door. The room was in a +breathless hush. The door was swung +slowly open by a servant and the bride +and bridegroom came in, stopping just +beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering +face waited for her to come to her place. +But the minister, not glancing up, went +sternly on with the paper; and Elizabeth’s +gaze was fixed on his face; she +had drawn a step away from him; and her +hands were pressed over one another. +All at once he uttered an exclamation +of dismay, and turned to her, a dread +coming into his face as he met her eyes.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What does it mean?" he gasped. +"Heaven help us, is it true?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Oh, it can’t be, it can’t be," she +cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you’ve seen that +it must be all false. Give it to me. +Look, they are coming," she entreated. +"Think of her, be ready for them. Oh, +burn this. Can’t you? Can’t you?" +and her eyes devoured him in an agony +of pleading.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Stop!" he said, drawing back his +hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of +it true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? +Was that all so?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="dgp">By this time the scene had become +very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and +groom had indeed gone across the +room and were standing before the +minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin +the ceremony, stood with his eyes on +the paper, his face more and more pale +and perplexed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, +laying a hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked +the Colonel, advancing toward the minister, +and showing his irritation by his +frown, his flush, and the abruptness of +his speech usually so suave.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I hardly know myself," returned +Shurtleff looking from one to the other.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Let us have the ceremony at once, +then," said Master Archdale authoritatively. +"Why should we delay?"</p> + + +<p class="dgp">"I cannot, until I have looked into +this," answered the minister in a respectful +tone.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with +an authority that few contested. "Proceed +at once."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I cannot," repeated the minister, +and his quiet voice had in it the firmness, +almost obstinacy, that often characterizes +gentle people. His opposition +had seemed so disproportioned and was +so gently uttered that the hearers had +felt as if a breath must blow it away, +and interest heightened to intense excitement +when it proved invincible.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What is all this?" demanded +Stephen, holding Katie’s arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff +with eyes of indignant protest. As +he received no immediate answer, he +turned to Elizabeth. "Mistress Royal," +he said, "can you explain this unseemly +interruption?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">Then all the company, who for the +moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her +again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," +she said, looking at him an instant +with a wildness of pain in her eyes. +Then she turned to Katie’s fair, pale +face full of wonder and distress at the +unguessed obstacle, and with a smothered +cry dropped her face in her hands, +and stood motionless and unheeded in +the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"You ask me," he said, "why I do +not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts +love has united. I do not dare to do it +until I understand the meaning of this +strange paper I hold in my hand. +What do you remember," he said to +Stephen, "of a singular game of a wedding +ceremony played one evening last +summer?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">The young man looked uncomprehending +for a moment, then drew his +breath sharply.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"That?" he said, "Why, that was +only to give an example of something +we were talking about; that was nothing. +Mistress,"—he stopped and +glanced at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, +was hanging upon every word of +his denial as if it were music—"Mistress +Royal knows that was so."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, +"it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded +treatment of serious matters must be. +I hope with all my heart that a moment’s +frivolity will not have life-long +consequences of sorrow, but I cannot +proceed in this happy ceremony that I +have been called here to perform until +the point is settled beyond dispute."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"See how habit rules him like a second +nature," whispered Colonel Pepperrell +aside to the Governor. "Nobody +but a minister would stop to give a +homily with those poor creatures before +him in an agony of suspense."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"My dear," said his wife softly in a +tone of reproof, laying her hand warningly +on his arm.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Stephen Archdale isn’t the man to +stand this," retorted the Governor in a +higher key than he realized. But the +words did not reach their object, for he +had already laid hold of the paper in +Mr. Shurtleffs hand.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"If this paper explains your conduct, +give it to me," he said haughtily.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The other drew back.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I will read it to you and to the +company," he answered. "There can +be no wedding this morning. I trust +there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Katie, whose face had grown rigid, +swung heavily against Stephen.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">"She has fainted," her mother cried +coming forward.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Take her away," commanded the +Colonel. "This is no place for her." +But the girl clung to Stephen.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I will stay," she said, with a tearless +sob. "I must listen. I see it all, and +what he meant, too, that evil man."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, +"I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in +your hand tells us the cause of your refusal +to marry these young people, I +bid you read it to us immediately."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The parson, bowing with respect, +cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth’s commands +had been his own intention from the +first.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is a confession," he said, "made +by one whom many of us have welcomed +to our homes as a gentleman of +blameless character and honorable dealing. +Why it was sent to Mistress Royal +instead of to Master Archdale, or the +bride, I am at a loss to understand."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Elizabeth raised her head with a flash +in her eyes, but anger died away into +despair, and she stood silent with the +others, and listened to the fate that fell +upon her with those monotonous tones, +each one heavy as lead upon her heart. +She wondered if it had been sent to her +because it had been feared that Stephen +Archdale would keep silence.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_11"></a> +<h3 class="dgp">CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h3 class="sub">CONFESSION.</h3> + + +<p class="noindent">"I write without knowing to whom I +am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some +whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they +will surely not grant it to me. I don’t +know even that I can crave it of Heaven, +for I have played with sacred things, and +used a power given me for good, in an +evil way, to further my own devices, +and, after all, I have not furthered +them. I am a man loving and unloved, +one who has perhaps thrown away his +soul on the chance of winning earthly +joy,—but such joy,—and has lost it. +If any have ever done like me, let them +pity and pardon. I appeal to them for +compassion. I shall receive it nowhere +else, unless it be possible, that the one +for love of whom I have done the wrong +will out of the kindness of her heart +spare me by and by a thought of pity +for what was the suggestion of a moment +and acted on—"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Skip all that maundering," interrupted +Stephen. "To the point. Who +is this man, and what has he done? +Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don’t us."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called +out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge +better of the case, and of the writer’s +truthfulness."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes, you are right," answered the +young man pressing Katie’s arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to +his impatience and his defiance.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"And acted on without premeditation," +resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to +this worthy city of Portsmouth with letters +of introduction to Master Archdale, +and others, I met the beautiful Mistress +Archdale. From the first hour my +fate was sealed; I loved her as only a +man of strong and deep emotions can +love, with a very different feeling from +the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered +themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved +that they ceased troubling me, even with +their presence at her side. Among the +others were only two worthy of attention, +and only one whom I feared. I was reticent + +and watched; it was too soon to +speak. But as I watched my fear of +that one increased, for age, association, +a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me +his possibilities of success. With that +rival out of my path, my way to victory +was clear. There came a day when, +without lifting my finger against him, I +could effectually remove him. I did +it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation +rushed upon me suddenly with +overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, +for opposite me sat Katie, +more beautiful and lovable than ever, +and beside her was my rival, her cousin, +with an air of security and satisfaction +that aroused the evil in me. It was +August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale’s suggestion +had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be +about a runaway match, and interested +the young people so much, that when I +had finished they asked several questions; +one was in reference to a remark +of mine, innocently made, that +the marriage ceremony itself, pure and +simple, was something unimaginably +short. The story I had told illustrated +this, and some of the party asked me +more particularly as to what the form +was. Then I saw my opportunity, and +I took it. ’If one of the young ladies +will permit Master Archdale to take her +hand a moment,’ I said, ’I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how +short the formula may be.’ Master +Archdale was for holding Katie’s hand, +but happily, as it seemed to me at the +moment, she was on the wrong side. I +requested him to take the lady on the +other hand, who seemed a trifle unready +for the jest, but was induced by the entreaties +of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through +the marriage service over them as rapidly +as I dared, my voice sounding to +myself thick with the beating of my +heart. But no one noticed this; of +course, it was all fun. And so that +summer evening, all in fun, except on +my part, Stephen Archdale and Elizabeth +Royal were made man and wife, as +fast as marriage vows could make them. +Nothing was omitted that would make +the ceremony binding and legal, not +even its performance by a clergyman +of the Church of England."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A cry of rage and despair interrupted +the reader. But he went on directly.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"No one in America knew that I had +been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never +preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my +brother died and I inherited my grandfather’s +property, I resigned my pastorate +at once. This act shows how unfit for it +I was. But whatever my grief may be, +my conscience commands me to forbid +this present marriage, and to declare +with all solemnity, that Stephen Archdale +already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my +letter, believed herself still Mistres +Royal."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A burst of amazement and indignation, +that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and +voices expressed consternation. To this +confession had been added names and +dates, the year of the writer’s entrance +into the ministry, the time and place of +his brief pastorate, everything that was +necessary to give his statement a reliable +air, and to verify it if one chose to +do so. It was evident that there could +be no wedding that morning, and as the +truth of the story impressed itself, more +and more upon the minds of the audience, +a fear spread lest there could be +no wedding at all, such as they had been +called together to witness. For, if this + +amusement should turn out to have been +a real marriage, what help was there? +It was in the days when amusements +were viewed seriously and were readily +imagined to lead to fatal consequences. +Had Stephen Archdale really married? +The people in the drawing-room that +December morning were able men and +women, they were among the best representatives +of their time, an age that +America will always be proud of, but +they held marriage vows so sacred, that +even made in jest there seemed to be a +weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in +waiting feared, for their part in life was +to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, +that these qualities flowing +through mighty channels should conquer +physical strength and found a nation. +To do a thing because it was pleasant +was no part of their creed,—although, +even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice.</p> + +<p class="dgp">That winter morning, therefore, the +guests were ready to inveigh against the +sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all +would be well, and to shake their heads +mournfully.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as +he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so +much, and trusted him so much. I knew +he loved my little girl, but I thought it +was with an honorable love that would +rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot +be true. We must wait. But matters +will come right at last."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes," assented the Colonel across +whose face an incomprehensible expression +had passed more than once during +the reading; "it will all come right. +We must make it so."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A hum of conversation went on in +the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, +or if not near enough to them for that, +spoken to the first who were patient +enough to listen instead of themselves +talking.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the midst of it all Stephen raised +his head, for he had been bending over +Katie who still clung to him, and asked +when the next ship left for England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In about three weeks," answered +Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out a +person competent to make full inquiries; +the matter shall be sifted."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I +shall make the necessary inquiries myself, +it will be doing something, and I +may find the man. We need that he +should be found, Katie and I."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Elizabeth drew back still more; some +flash of feeling made the blood come +hotly to her face for a moment, then +fade away again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Katie looked up, turned her eyes +slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Go, Stephen, since you will feel +better," she said, "but it’s of no use, I +am sure. I understand now something +Master Harwin said to me when he left +me. I did not know then what he meant. +He has taken you away from me forever." +And with a sob, again she hid her +face upon his shoulder. Then, slowly +drawing away from him, she turned to +Elizabeth, and in her eyes was something +of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"How could you," she said, "how +could you consent to do it?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">She had drawn toward Elizabeth every +gaze and every thought in the room; she +had pointed out the substitute on whom +might be emptied those vials of wrath +that the proper object of them had taken +care to escape. Elizabeth heard on all +sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how +could she do it, how could she consent +to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, +and herself alone, as it seemed, + +made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed +to grow, and widen, and widen, like +the circles of water into which a stone is +thrown, and she was condemned by her +friends, by the people who had known +her and her father, condemned as +false to her friendship, as unwomanly. +Katie she could forgive on account of +her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never +dreamed of. These whispers that her +imagination multiplied seemed to roar +in her ears. But innocence and pride +kept her erect, and at last made her +raise her eyes which had fallen and grown +dim under the blow of Katie’s words. +She swept them slowly around the room, +turning her head slightly to do it. Not +a look of sympathy met her. Then, in +the pain, a power awoke within her.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is no less a disaster to me," she +said. Her words fell with the weight of +truth. She had kept back her pain, no +one thought of pitying her as Katie was +pitied, but she was vindicated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" +asked Madam Pepperrell in a low tone +of Governor Wentworth at her elbow.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is not probable she loves him +much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl’s haughty face. "I don’t envy +her, on the whole, I don’t envy either of +them." By George, madam, it <em>is</em> hard."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, +whose glance, having more penetration, +had at last brought a look of +sympathy to his face. "Let us go up to +the poor thing, she stands so alone, and +I’m not clear that she has not the worst +of it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned +his wife as they moved forward. But before +they could reach her, being stopped +by several who spoke to them, there was +a change in the group in that part of +the room. Katie had fallen, and there +was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen +stooped over her, lifted her tenderly, +and carried her from the room. He +was followed by Mistress Archdale and +his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth +their eyes met, his glowed with a sullen +rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of +scorn, as she looked at him it seemed to +her that every fibre of his being was rejecting +her. "You!" he seemed to be +saying with contemptuous emphasis. In +answer her eyes filled him with their +haughtiness, they and the scornful curl +of her lip, as she stood motionless waiting +for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion +that he should pass near her at all. +He still saw her face as he bent over +Katie.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: right">[TO BE CONTINUED.]</p> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> + +<h2 class="dgp">GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC +PROTECTORY.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">It is not often that a Governor’s objections +to a measure, which his veto +has defeated, become, even indirectly, +the subject of judicial consideration. +Such, however, has been the experience +of Governor Cleveland in connection +with his veto of the appropriation, which +was made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic +Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a +constitutional lawyer, to see the principles +of that veto entirely approved by +all the judges of the Court of Appeals, +as well as by all the judges by whom +those principles were considered, before +the case, in which they were involved, +reached that august tribunal, the highest +in the judicial system of that State.</p> + +<p class="dgp">By an amendment to the Constitution +of New York, adopted in 1874, it is provided +that, "Neither the credit nor the +money of the State shall be given, or +loaned to, or in aid of, any association, +corporation, or private undertaking."</p> + +<p class="dgp">It would hardly seem possible to mistake +the meaning of a prohibition like +this; but this prohibition is accompanied +by the following modification: "This + +section shall not, however, prevent the +Legislature from making such provision +for the education and support of the +blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile +delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, +now held by the State for educational +purposes."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The question, how far this qualifying +clause limits the proceeding prohibition, +arose first in the Court of Common +Pleas, and afterwards in the Court of +Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd’s +Fold of the Protestant Episcopal Church +<em>vs</em>. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty +of the City of New York.<a href="#note_38"><span class="footnoteref">38</span></a> The +Attorney-General of the State had given +an official opinion, tending to the conclusion +that the prohibition is almost entirely +neutralized by the modification. +The Judges of the Court of Common +Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this +case in either court, differed widely upon +the question, whether money raised by +local taxation by the City of New York, +under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of +the Shepherd’s Fold, was, or was not, +"money of the State," and therefore included +in the terms of this prohibition; +and when one sees how much is done in +the discussions of the able counsel before +the Court of final resort, and by +the learned opinion of Judge Rapello, +to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had +a similar Court of Appeals, to revise +and clarify the decisions of her Supreme +Court. About twenty-five per +cent, of all the decisions of the General +Terms of the Supreme Court, Superior +Court, and Court of Common +Pleas, which are carried to the Court of +Appeals, are there reversed; and can +any lawyer doubt that, at least, as large +a proportion of the decisions of our +Supreme Judicial Court ought also to be +revised and reversed?</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Court of Appeals says: "It +seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference +to money raised by general taxation +throughout the State, or revenues of +the State, or money otherwise belonging +to the State treasury, or payable out +of it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The money claimed by the Shepherd’s +Fold being raised by local taxation for a +local purpose in the city of New York, +and not "by general taxation throughout +the State," the Court of Appeals +holds that it is not within the terms of +the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of +Common Pleas on that particular point, +while agreeing with it on the main question.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As the money, appropriated to the +Roman Catholic Protectory, was unquestionably +money of the State, "being +raised by general taxation throughout the +State," that appropriation was unquestionably +in conflict with the prohibition +of the Constitution, which the Governor +was sworn to support.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Of the courage and independence +displayed by Governor Cleveland in +thus vetoing a measure in which so large +a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an +interest, this is not the place to speak. +But it is creditable to him as a lawyer +that alone without a single precedent to +guide him, relying upon his own judicial +sense, and rejecting the opinion of a +former Attorney-General, he challenged +"the validity of this appropriation under +that section of the Constitution." The +Protectory, he says, "appears to be local +in its purposes and operations." And +being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public +funds should not be contributed to +its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject +the state treasury to demands in behalf +of all sorts of sectarian institutions, +which a due care for the money of the +State, and a just economy, could not +concede."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the higher and broader field of +public service—"the grandest throne on +earth"—as the Presidency which he is +about to enter, has been grandiloquently +called, let us hope that he will display +the same honesty, capability, and fidelity +to the Constitution. We shall then +be assured that the interests of the Republic +will suffer no detriment at his +hands.</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<hr class="doublepage"> + +<div class="back"> + <div class="div" id="footnotes"><a name="toc_12"></a><h2 class="dgp">Notes</h2><dl class="footnote"> +<dt><a name="note_1">1.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Stark’s History of Dunbarton, p. 178.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_2">2.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Parker’s History of Londonderry, p. 180.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_3">3.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Adjutant General’s Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. 95.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_4">4.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 99.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_5">5.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 118.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_6">6.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_7">7.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. +1, p. 240.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_8">8.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers’ +house is easily accessible to any person possessed of a +curiosity to visit them. They are in the South-Easterly +section of Dunbarton, some six or seven miles only from +Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, +and the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, +in Farmer and Moore’s New Hampshire Gazeteer, that +he will find there but "few hills, nor any mountains." +He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is +a "pimply" one.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_9">9.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Bancroft’s History of the United States, vol. 4, p. +127.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_10">10.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Encyclopedia Brittanica.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_11">11.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Adjutant General’s Report, vol. 2, +1866, p. 129.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_12">12.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">"An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was +published in London in 1776. He is represented as a +tall, strong man, dressed in the costume of a Ranger, +with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun resting in +the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand +his Indian followers."—[Parkman’s Conspiracy of Pontiach, +vol. I, p. 164.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_13">13.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Roger’s Journal (Hough’s edition), p. 46.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_14">14.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing +upon the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east +side and near the south end of Main Street, in Concord, +New Hampshire. It must be at least a hundred years +old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in +the rear. It was occupied for many years by Captain +and Mrs. Roach, and later by Arthur, son of Major +Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_15">15.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, +New Hampshire.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_16">16.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">"An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert +Rogers and Elizabeth, his wife.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_17">17.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Bouton’s History of Concord, p. 351.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_18">18.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_19">19.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made +under the Generals who commanded upon the Continent +of North America during the late war. From which +may be collected the material circumstances of every +campaign upon that continent from the commencement +to the conclusion of the war. London: Printed for +the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. +viii; Journals, pp. 236.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_20">20.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account +of North America; Containing a description of +the several British Colonies on that Continent, including +the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, &c., as to +their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number +of Inhabitants supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior +and Westerly Parts of the Country, upon the rivers +St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and the Great +Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those +Parts, as to their Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, +&c., Containing many useful and Entertaining Facts, +never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, +bookseller, near Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction +and Advertisement, pp. viii; Concise Account, +pp. 264.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_21">21.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages +of America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for +the Author, and sold by J. Millan, opposite the Admiralty, +Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."</p></dd><dt><a name="note_22">22.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, Hough’s edition, p. 218.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_23">23.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas +Gage, dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He +was a soldier in my army in 1755, and, as we were in +great want of active men at that time, his readiness +recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer +and got him continued in the Ranging service, where +he soon became puffed up with pride and folly from the +extravagant encomiums and notices of some of the +Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was +fit for nothing else—neither has nature calculated him +for a large command in that service."—[Journals, +Hough’s edition, p. 215.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, +says: "I raised him (Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest +station on account of his abilities as a Ranger, for +which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people +at home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any +other purpose must appear surprising to those acquainted +with him. I believe he never confined himself +within the <em>disagreeable bounds of truth</em>, as you mention, +but I wonder much they did not see through him +in time."—[Journals, p. 241.]</p></dd><dt><a name="note_24">24.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 217.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_25">25.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 242.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_26">26.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_27">27.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 231.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_28">28.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 231.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_29">29.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, +dated February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a +most extraordinary letter from London, which says that +Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and kissed +his hand—that he demanded redress and retaliation for +his sufferings. The minister asked what would content +him. He desired to be made a Baronet, with a pension +of £600 sterling, and to be restored to his government at +Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."—[Journals, p. 256.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_30">30.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 259.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_31">31.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 261.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_32">32.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 118.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_33">33.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 263.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_34">34.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 273.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_35">35.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_36">36.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 277.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_37">37.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Parker’s History of Londonderry, p. 238.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_38">38.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">See 10 Daly’s Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. +137.</p></dd></dl></div> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. 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No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Illustration: Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. + +B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. II. + +JANUARY, 1885. + +No. 4. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON. + +BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M. + +[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.] + + +His Excellency George D. Robinson, at present the foremost citizen of +Massachusetts, by reason of his incumbency of the highest office in the +Commonwealth, is the thirtieth in the line of succession of the men who +have held the office of Governor under the Constitution. In character, +in ability, in education, and in those things generally which mark the +representative citizen of New England, he is a worthy successor of the +best men who have been called to the Chief Magistracy. His public career +has been marked by dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; his life as +a private citizen has been such as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man in whom the people who confer +honor upon him find themselves also honored. He is a native of the +Commonwealth, of whose laws he is the chief administrator, and comes of +that sturdy stock which wresting a new country from savagery, fostered +with patient industry the germs of civilization it had planted, and +aided in developing into a nation the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed and existing by and with the +consent of the people. His ancestors were probably of that Saxon race +which for centuries stood up against the encroachments of Norman kings +and nobles, which was led with willingness into the battle, the siege or +the crusade that meant the maintenance or advancement of old England's +honor, or in the cause of mother Church, and which was possessed of that +brave, independent spirit that, when the old home was felt to be too +narrow an abode, sought a new-country in which to plant and develop its +ideas of what government should be. However this may be it is certain +that from the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the +family was always represented among the most honorable of its yeomanry, +and among its members were pillars of both Church and State. His +immediate ancestors, people of the historic town of Lexington, were +active citizens in the Revolutionary period, and in the great struggle +members of the family were among those who did brave and effective +service in the cause of liberty. + +George Dexter Robinson was born in Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born on +a farm, his boyhood and youth were spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor exercise and labor which are +part of the life of the farmer's boy. But the future Governor did not +intend to devote himself to farming. With the aim of obtaining a +collegiate education he attended the Academy in his native town, and +followed his studies there by further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering Harvard University he was +graduated at that institution in 1856, and receiving an appointment as +Principal of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he accepted it, +filling the position with success during a period of nine years. He +retired from it in 1865. Meanwhile he had devoted much time to legal +studies, which he continued more fully during the next few months, and +in 1866 he was admitted to the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the town +wherein his active career in life had begun, he made his permanent home, +and with the various interests of that town he identified himself +closely and pleasantly, exemplifying in many ways the character of a +true townsman, and associating himself with every movement for the good +of his fellow citizens. In 1873 he was elected to represent the town the +ensuing year in the State Legislature, and as a member of the House he +was noted for the promptness and fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he was a member of the State Senate, +and here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous ability as a +legislator in addition to that fidelity to his responsibilities which +had long been characteristic of him in any and all positions. His +qualifications for public life received still wider recognition the year +he served in the Senate, and he was nominated by the Republicans of the +old Eleventh District as Representative in Congress. He was re-elected +for two successive terms, and after the re-apportionment was elected +from the new Twelfth District in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in order to assist in the +organization of the new Congress, and, after that work was accomplished, +resigned to enter upon the duties entrusted to him by the people of the +whole Commonwealth. He had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. Of his career in Washington +it would not be possible to give a better summary than one given by +"Webb," the able Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal, which +is here given in its entirety: + +Mr. Robinson took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, which met in +extra session, in October, 1877. He was prompt in his seat on the first +day of the first session. Regularity in attendance, and constant +attention to public business, have been characteristics of Mr. +Robinson's Congressional career. He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until the House adjourns at night. He +does not spend his time in importuning the departments for clerkships, +but he welcomes the civil service law. He does not take the public time, +which belongs to his constituents, for his private practice in the +United States Supreme Court. He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in discovering, and vigorous in denouncing +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the people's money and has never cast +his vote for an extravagant expenditure; but he does not oppose an +appropriation to gain a reputation for economy, or aspire to secure the +title of "watch dog of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts of a +demagogue. + +When he entered Congress, he went there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority in parliamentary law, and is one +of the ablest presiding officers in Congress. + +In the Congress which he first entered the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father's house, and come to stay." Mr. Randall was +elected Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one of the minor standing +committees--that of Expenditures in the Department of Justice--and +subsequently placed him near the foot of the list on the Special +Committee on the Mississippi Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it was discovered that where +"McGregor sits is the head of the table." Mr. Robinson, at the extra +session of the Forty-fifth Congress, took little active part in the +public proceedings. He was a student of Congressional rules and +practice. + +At the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress he began to actively +participate in the debates, and from the outset endeavored to secure a +much needed reform in Congressional proceedings. He always insisted +that, in the discussion of important questions, order should be +maintained. He followed every important bill in detail, and the +questions which he directed to those who had these bills in charge +showed that he had made himself a master of the subject. He took +occasion to revise upon the floor many of the calculations of the +Appropriations Committee, and to urge the necessity of the most rigid +economy consistent with proper administration. + +It was at the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, +1879, that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable speech. It was upon +the bill relative to the improvement of the Mississippi River. He was +very deeply impressed with the magnitude of the problems presented by +that great river, and, while he was willing that the public money should +be wisely expended for the improvement of the 'Father of Waters,' he did +not wish that Congress should be committed to any special plan which +might prove to be part of a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which this first speech was listened to, +and the endless questions with which the Southern men who favored +absolutely the levee system plied him, showed that they understood that +great weight would be given to Mr. Robinson's opinion, and that they did +not wish him to declare, unconditionally, against their cause. The +speech was a broad and liberal one, but extremely just. It had been +intimated in the course of the debate that Eastern members, who did not +favor the improvement of the river, refused to do so on account of a +narrow provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed them that New England is both +just and generous, and that the country is so united that a substantial +benefit to any portion of it cannot be an injury to another. He made +some keen thrusts at the Southern State rights advocates, who were so +eager for the old flag and an appropriation, and he reminded them that +whatever might be thought of the dogma of State sovereignty, "the great +old river is regardless of State lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee in Arkansas, over it goes into +Louisiana, spreading devastation in its course." Mr. Robinson insisted +that "Congress has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of the public +treasury immediately without investigating a theory and a plan which +proposes to render such an expenditure wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible safe-guards should be provided +against any extravagant expenditure on the part of the Government. The +relations of New England to such an undertaking he thus broadly stated: + +"I am not deterred by any considerations that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from the great cities on the Atlantic +shore. I am willing that the whole country shall be improved and opened +for its best and most profitable occupation. This territory, whose +interests are affected by this, is greater than the whole of New +England. I am not afraid that whatever improvements may be made there +New England will be left out in the cold. Whatever conduces to the +prosperity of the West or South will benefit the East and North. We are +parts of one great whole, and, if it is necessary under a proper policy +to spend some money from the Treasury of the United States to meet the +wants of those States lying along the Mississippi River, I hope it will +not be begrudged to them, but it should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the plans, have received a careful +consideration and the indorsement of the proper officers." + +At the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his +minor place on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of +Justice, introduced a bill relative to the mileage of United States +Marshals, which proposed an important reform. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the first session, Mr. Robinson, on +account of the marked abilities which he had shown as a lawyer and a +debater, was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee, a position +which he held through the Forty-sixth Congress with honor to his +district and his State. From the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress Mr. +Robinson, to the great surprise of many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took front rank as a debater on +points of order, and showed that his months of silent observation and of +earnest study had brought their fruit. His discussion of points of order +and of the rules was always characterized by good sense. He did not seek +to befog a question by an extensive quotation of authorities. He +endeavored to strip the rules of their technicalities and to apply to +them the principle of common sense. Sometimes, however, he was almost in +despair, and once in the course of an intricate discussion he exclaimed +(March 28, 1879): "If there is a standing and clear rule that guides the +Chair, I have not yet found it." + +At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support of an amendment to the +"Culbertson Court bill," which was designed to limit the jurisdiction of +the United States courts. Some of the strongest advocates of this +amendment were men who, although living in Northern States, were +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since the war, have been continuously +aggressive in their efforts to place limitations upon national power. +Mr. Robinson was a member of the Judiciary Committee and spoke upon the +bill. His speech upon this measure attracted more attention than any +speech he had delivered before that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so interested in it that, although the +debate was running in the valuable time of the morning hour, Mr. +Robinson, on motion of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, after the +expiration of his time, was requested to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of the federal courts. A few +extracts from the general parts of this speech furnish an excellent +illustration of the abilities of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He spoke as the son of a Jackson +Democrat would be likely to speak. He vigorously opposed the increase in +the limit from $500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern and Western +Democrats. + +After quoting the opinions of Chief Justices Story and Marshall to show +that the right of Congress to establish federal courts could not be +denied without defeating the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional provisions give to +the citizens of the different States their rights in the federal courts. +I say again, it is not within the constitutional power of Congress to +make discriminations as to citizens in this matter. It has been taken as +settled that the corporations of the States for purposes of jurisdiction +are citizens of the States in which they are created. Can you +discriminate? Why, in the famous Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro was not a citizen within the +meaning of the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in the Circuit Court of +the United States. The nation paused and held its breath, and never +recovered itself until after the bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that no such doctrine should ever be +repeated in this country. If Congress can exclude the citizens of a +locality, or the citizens of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain classes of wealth or industry, +surely it can exclude any other citizens. If you can, in this bill and +under our Constitution, declare that the citizens, or any portion of +them, in this country, because they act in their corporate capacity, +shall lose their rights in the federal courts, it is but the next step +to legislate that the man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in the +manufacture of cotton, or of woolen goods, or is banker, or 'bloated +bond-holder,' shall not have any rights in the federal courts. There is +no step between them. There may be a discrimination as to +subject-matter, but not as to citizens. The distinction is very broad, +and in recognition of it my argument is made." In the discussion of the +apportionment at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, Mr. Robinson +eloquently defended the honor of Massachusetts against the aspersions +which had been cast upon the Commonwealth by General Butler in his brief +as attorney in the Boynton-Loring contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this brief and suggested that if it were +true the representation of Massachusetts should be curtailed. Mr. +Robinson entered into an explanation of the reading and writing +qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts. As General Butler was the +assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson said: + +"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the +debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this +House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this +speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the +Chairman of this Census Committee. He says: + +"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant +white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the +Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and +write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke +and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write +before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that +rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes +there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would +thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that +voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more +safe than now." + +After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows: + +"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that +State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first +learn to read and write. Near to every man's dwelling stands a public +free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These +school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced. + +* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some +time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the +law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of +the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania +we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the +communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that +representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or +because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring +residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the +same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these +prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of +the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and +conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he +cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a +particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has +been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out +that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove +his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, +indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his +residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the +other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in +accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true +policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The +Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of +the man's control." + +In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh +Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which +commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the +contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our +rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for +resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as +that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our +Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one +of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the +consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said: + +"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and +proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is +tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, +unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have +fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this +Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend +some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the +word tyranny." + +To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority +to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would +lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by +some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were +confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the +rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. +But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a +Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to +adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that +we are in that pitiable plight?" + +On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to +express his views in this manner: + +"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We +have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a +chance to do something. + +"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated +officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made +haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, +to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own +retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of +this country. + +"I hear some gentlemen say, 'Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does +not reform enough,' I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he +wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in +one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it +gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends +want." + +The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills +needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and +Harbor bill and voted to sustain the President's veto. + +The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinson's +election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His +Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who +was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive +way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had +preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an +argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year +before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be +found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious +elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in +the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, +and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his +party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further +duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series +of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any +previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive +speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his +arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready +wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it +exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, +and with questions in general connected with the interests of the +Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves +to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He +entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and +during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of +political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties +were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official +business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social +requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, +dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all +kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social +relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the +election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for +Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor +Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, +compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen +both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and +though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is +one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the +strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Oliver Ames] + +OLIVER AMES. + +By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M. + +[Editor of the Boston Traveller]. + + +The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, +are a representative New England family. Their history forms an +honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in +its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the +poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, +as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and +believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled +with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such +service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury +box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the +Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually +one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were +accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously +performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor +or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored +subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. +Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and +so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their +neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As +their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for +the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and +enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises +became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of +prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in +recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a +railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of +the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of +the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became +prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William +Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for conscience's sake +forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not +only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. +Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither +of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of +Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for conscience's +sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were +the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. +The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them +descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + +The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, +Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in +Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John +Ames, who settled in Bridgewater. + +John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in +Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir +he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the +grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723. + +Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward. + +Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774. + +Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was +born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause +service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in +existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels +in 1775. + +Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was +born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant +of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he +removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on +his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, +Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for +the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods +from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and +flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during +the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every +opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of +transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and +Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions. + +Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated +by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew +into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the +factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons +of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and +thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment +had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace +with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters +of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels. + +It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes +Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance +and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable +obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the +Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder +of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand +as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the +Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd +and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National +House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873. + +Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot +note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his +native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five +years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. +At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough +scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, +placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. +The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen +from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and +political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned +to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the +same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several +inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge +of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in +the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the +State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, +and for several years personally superintended the various departments +of the firm's immense establishment at North Easton. At his father's +death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved +on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a +large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, +national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 +Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. +With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton +this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages +of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active +interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political +service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, +as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. +As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the +working members of the body. He served during each year of his +membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he +received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the +ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate +for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General +Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not +too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his +Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political +year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing +the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to +the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State +election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now +entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business +life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by +the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful +performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large +wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in +no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow +citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has +exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his +own. + +It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver Ames has won his widest +reputation. Upon the death of his father the management of the vast +enterprises which the later had controlled, suddenly devolved upon him. +The greatness of the man showed itself in that he found himself equal to +the emergency. The Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he took upon his +shoulders its settlement, not only one in which immense and diversified +interests were involved, scattered throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with obligations to the extent of eight +millions of dollars. The times were most unpropitious, the country being +just on the eve of a great financial panic when immense properties were +crumbling to pittances. He undertook the Herculean task of rescuing at +this time this estate from threatened ruin, and of vindicating the good +name of his father from undeserved censure. He had in this gigantic work +to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious railroad wreckers, and +schemers; but his thorough mental discipline united with his intensely +practical business training, and coupled with his native energy, tact, +good sense, and fertility of resources, stood him in good stead. He +inspired capitalists with confidence, money was forthcoming to further +his carefully matured plans, and the ship freighted with the fortunes of +his family, was, by his steady hand, piloted securely amidst the shoals +and quicksands of disaster, and by rocks strewn with the wrecks of +princely fortunes, to a safe anchorage. He rescued the property from +peril, met and paid the enormous indebtedness resting upon it, paid a +million of dollars or more of legacies, and had still a large surplus to +divide among the heirs. + +As a business man his sagacity seems almost intuitive. As an +illustration of this, his work in developing the Central Branch of the +Union Pacific Railroad may be instanced, a work which at the same time +gave him high rank as a railroad manager. At the time he connected +himself with the undertaking, only the first hundred miles of the road +were in running order. He first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and fully equipping it for operation. +His judgment, which at the time was somewhat questioned by other +experienced railroad managers and financiers, was fully justified by the +result, which was a complete financial success. + +One of the most impressive traits in the character of Oliver Ames is his +veneration for the memory of his distinguished father. He fully believes +that the hastily and unjustly formed verdict of censure pronounced upon +Oakes Ames, both by public opinion and by the United States House of +Representatives, will ere long be reversed, and that his memory will be +honored by the country, as it so justly deserves. Indeed he has already +had the gratification of seeing this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only remains for Congress to remove its +undeserved vote of censure, for Oakes Ames to take his appropriate and +honored place in American history. There is little doubt that Mr. Ames +will yet see this ambition of his life realized. As to this censure, +Massachusetts, where Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, has +spoken through her Legislature by the following resolution, which +unanimously passed both House and Senate in the spring of 1883: + + "Resolved, in view of the great services of Oakes Ames, + representative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional + District, for ten years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the + construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital + contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union + since the war: + + "In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused + to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so + made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement + and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-second Congress + at the close of its session; + + "And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which, upon + a review of all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable + with his condemnation, and which, throughout the whole country + recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement and his + innocence of corrupt motive or conduct; + + "Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its + gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose + and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of + the National Congress." + +The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial devotion and respect. This +village of North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames and other members of the +Ames family, as well as the seat of the extensive shovel works, deserves +more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by +this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The +old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat +appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy +yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the +firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the +welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and +well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a +gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of +architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of +the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like +cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely +struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family, +and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and +endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the +temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New +England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of +the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the +welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a +declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of +New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or +Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer +with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and +charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the +villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are +surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these +is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a +spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its +emerald setting. + +The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most marked +illustrations in this model and typical New England village; and no +small share of what has been achieved for it is due to the warm heart +and open hand of Oliver Ames. He has ever shown himself an ardent friend +of popular education, and justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For a period of twenty years he found +time, amid a multiplicity of weighty business cares, to serve upon the +School Committee of his town and to give the benefit of his experience, +judgment, and personal supervision to the promotion of the efficiency of +this one of the very fundamental of American institutions, the common +school. Oakes Ames left a fund of $50,000, the income to be used for the +benefit of the school children of North Easton village. Through the wise +thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton are among the objects of the +fondest pride of its citizens. + +Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time for the appreciative +enjoyment of the amenities and refinements of life. He posesses a +cultivated appreciation of music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable and choice collections of +paintings and statuary. Architecture has been with him a special study, +and his magnificent winter residence, recently completed on Commonwealth +Avenue, in our city of Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence would be called a palace, here it is +simply the home of a representative American citizen. Peculiarly happy +in his domestic relations his home is beautified and ennobled by the +virtues of domestic life. A generous hospitality is dispensed within its +portals, where on every hand are found the evidences of the cultured +refinement of its occupants. A tour of a few months in the Old World not +only gave Mr. Ames needed rest and relaxation from business cares, but +also furnished him with opportunities for observation which were most +judiciously improved. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton. + +In his native town he is unusually respected and beloved, and with the +working-men in his factories he enjoys an unbounded popularity. This is +but natural, since he is himself a skilled artisan, an inventive and +ingenious mechanic, familiar through a personal experience with every +detail of the work in which they are engaged. This, coupled with his +native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious manners, makes him the +model employer. + +The custodian of great wealth, he uses it in a spirit of wise +benevolence, and his public and private benefactions, while large, are +made without ostentation or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in his personal friendships, it is +little wonder that some of them now and then impulsively speak of him as +"the best man in the world." + +In the full vigor of a robust manhood, Mr. Ames attends to his vast +private business affairs, performs faithfully his official and public +duties, finds time for his favorite authors, and keeps fully abreast +with current thought and the progress of the age. His brow is yet +unwrinkled and cares rest lightly upon him. Free from the pride of +wealth, temperate, conservative, clear-headed, and distinguished for his +strong common sense, his generous, unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his trust justly win for him a +multitude of friends. + +Faithful in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party, and +in his services to his native Commonwealth, Massachusetts has reason for +a just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. His name may yet stand the +Republican party of the State in good stead in a political exigency not +unlikely to arise in the near future. Whatever may be said of the causes +of the defection from the Republican ranks which took place in the last +national campaign, there is no doubt about one of its results,--it has +driven the Republican party to seek a closer alliance with the +working-people of the Commonwealth. The Republican bolters were almost +exclusively drawn from the aristocratic end of the party. It was Harvard +and Beacon Hill that revolted. To make good the loss the Republican +leaders had to appeal for support to the same class of voters which gave +to Republican principles their first triumphs,--the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard now that Mr. Blaine is +defeated it is not likely that for many years to come, if ever, the +Republican party in Massachusetts will be able, to lean upon the immense +majorities of former years, that ran away up to sixty, seventy, and +eighty thousand. With a Democratic administration installed at +Washington, and the power and prestige which that fact will imply and +apply in the local politics of the States,--and in no State more +powerfully than in Massachusetts, where the shifting body of Independent +voters, so-called, is largely made up of the Hessian element that will +incline to whichever side has spoils to bestow,--the Republican party in +order to hold Massachusetts will have to cultivate and strengthen the +alliance which it formed in the late election with the laboring class of +voters. It will have to revert to the sympathetic and liberal policy +touching all questions that affect labor, and the welfare of the working +people of the State, which marked the earlier years of its power. The +Ames family is linked in the popular mind with that policy. And justly +so, too! Oakes Ames was a true friend to labor, as well as one of the +most practical; and the fine instinct which guided him in making of +North Easton a model industrial community, where the happiest relations +of mutual confidence and support have subsisted between employer and +employed, he bequeathed to his sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and there is no element of exaggeration +in the statement, that if all our large capitalists and manufacturers +could succeed in establishing the same rapport between themselves and +their employes which the Ameses have always maintained at North Easton, +the vexed problem of capital and labor would be solved; for there would +be no more conflict between them. Oliver Ames is held in the same high +esteem and almost affectionate regard by the working people of the Old +Colony district, where the interests of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time comes, and it is not far off, that the +Republican party in Massachusetts shall feel the necessity of getting +nearer to her common people, and, in order to retain its supremacy in +the State, of offering to their suffrages a man whose whole life has +been spent in close and friendly relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, if it shall not turn to +the present popular Lieutenant Governor, and present the name of Oliver +Ames as one well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism among the +working-classes, and certain, if presented to them, to be endorsed by a +splendid majority for the first office in the popular gift. + +[NOTE. + +GENEALOGY. + +RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England. + +I. William, who came to America and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. + +II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, married Sarah Willis +(daughter of John Willis of Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In +1672 he settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his heir in +1697. + +III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater and married in 1706 +Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, +and granddaughter of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, the latter +of whom came to America in the third ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623) + +IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard (daughter +of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] Howard, and granddaughter of John and +Martha [Haywood] Howard of Duxbury). + +V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; married in 1759 +Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died January 11, 1821). She was the +daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter of John +Howard of Duxbury and Rev. James Keith. + +VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September 11, 1863; married +in April, 1803, Susannah Angier (born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). +Dr. William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter (2), Ruth, who +came to America in 1637, and married Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose +son (3), Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of President Urian +Oakes of Harvard College. Their son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary +Bourne, granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), Oakes Angier, +a law student of President John Adams, was the father of (6) Susannah +Angier. Children: + +1. _Oakes_, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873. + +2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844. + +3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877. + +4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811. + +5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn. + +6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October 10, 1836, Nathaniel +Witherell, Jr. + +7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844. + +8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 1839, Asa Mitchell. + +VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; +died July 20, 1882). Children: + +1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829. + +2. _Oliver_, b. February 4, 1831. + +3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833. + +4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841. + +5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry W. French. + +VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, 1831; married March 14, +1860, Anna C. Ray (born January 16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children: + +1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861. + +2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863. + +3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864. + +5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870. + +6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874. + +EDITOR.] + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN] + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD. + +By FRANK W. KAAN. + + +We were changing cars about midnight at Rotterdam Junction, New York, +for the Fitchburg Railroad connection. "You might know we were near +Boston," said a passenger. "See what a comfortable car this is." "Yes," +remarked a middle-aged gentleman, "I've been away for three weeks, and I +never want to leave Boston for so long a time again." And he gave a sigh +of relief. No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles were called forth by +this innocent confession. Yet the sentiment found an echo in our hearts. +But a North Adams man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, Berkshire County +is good enough for me." The incident has a deeper meaning than appears +at first glance. + +Going westward on the Boston and Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is +reached at Chester. The rest of the way lies in a country of hills. A +pleasing prospect meets the eye in every direction. There is nothing +sublime and majestic to inspire the mind and exhilarate the spirits, but +the steadfast, sober hills and the quiet valleys in nature's soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul. + +We cross a branch of the River Housatonic, _alias_ Ousatonac, +Ausotunnoog, Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, and the train stops before +a large, handsome brick station, once the "best in the State," now +restricted to "west of Boston." A broad street on the left leads to the +park in the centre of the town. Here is the Berkshire Athenaeum, with its +excellent public library, where we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by Mr. J.E.A. Smith. + +A century and a half ago an unbroken wilderness stretched between the +Hoosac and Taconic ranges. The mountains rose by steady degrees from the +hills of Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in Vermont, 4,400 feet above +the level of the sea. The valley, however, dotted with hundreds of +hills, reached its greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the foot of +Greylock, fourteen miles north of Pittsfield; thence it sloped +irregularly north and south. The forests contained deer in plenty for +fifty years longer. A few bears, with rather more wolves and Indians, +constituted the remainder of the larger movable objects of the +landscape. The soil was well fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service to settlers. + +[Illustration: LAKE ONATA.] + +This region remained uninhabited, however, for many years later than +would ordinarily have been the case; not so much from fear of hardships +or Indian troubles as on account of the uncertainty of the land tenures +which could be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason of the Royal Charter +of 1691, claimed to the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: moreover, that the western boundary +had been agreed upon for special reasons; furthermore, that her own +territory, as successor to the rights granted the Duke of York in 1674, +reached from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and western limits. In return, +attention was called to the clause in that Charter, excepting lands in +the possession of any other Christian State. Now, in consequence of the +discovery of the Hudson in 1608, the Dutch had occupied the country as +far east as the Connecticut, and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of settlement. Thus the controversy +was prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run parallel with the Hudson, +at a distance of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But about the year 1720 +it became evident that the western boundary of Connecticut would be +established in favor of that province. This arrangement, as the New York +representatives stated, was a result of the boldness of settlers in +pushing westward and occupying the district in dispute. Accordingly, +Massachusetts was encouraged to pursue a similar course, and the first +settlement on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield in 1725. The occasion +of the next advance appears to have arisen from the attention paid to +free education in Boston. That town, in 1735, because of its large +expenditures for public schools, support of poor, and contribution to +the State treasury, petitioned the General Court for a grant of three or +four townships within the "Hampshire wild lands." Three lots, each six +miles square, were given, subject to certain conditions. Within five +years, sixty Massachusetts families must be settled, each possessing a +house (at least eighteen feet square and seven stud), with five acres of +improved land. A house for public worship must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1807.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD PARSONAGE.] + +One of these townships, Poontoosuck, an Indian word, meaning "winter +deer," was bought at public auction for L1,320, by Colonel Jacob +Wendell, whose descendents have earned lasting honor for the family +name. Philip Livingston, of Albany, and John Stoddard, through older +claims, became associated with him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied with, and, after an unsuccessful +attempt to bring in Dutchmen, a company of forty settlers from Westfield +purchased and took possession of the greater part of the township. +Difficulties with the Indians soon drove them back. The first permanent +settlement was made in 1749, and three years later occurred the birthday +of the town. + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD AVENUE.] + +In May, 1761, the first town meeting was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitt, for his vigorous conduct +of the war against France. Slaves were owned by many of the citizens, +and stocks and a whipping-post were set up. Saw mills and grist mills +were in operation; fulling mills held an important position, and shortly +afterwards the production of iron became considerable. The first +meeting-house was completed in 1770. The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long House," owned by Colonel Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two pounds eight shillings, in 1762. + +In resistance to British oppression at the outbreak of the Revolution, +Berkshire County required no one to lead the way. "The popular rage," +wrote Governor Gage, "is very high in Berkshire and makes its way +rapidly to the rest." In response to the Boston Port bill cattle and +money were sent to the sufferers. Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English goods at whatever time the American Congress +should recommend such action. In August, 1774, Berkshire set the example +of obstructing the King's Courts. In the expedition for the capture of +Ticonderoga, in the invasions of Canada, and in Burgoyne's campaign, the +town and the county held a place among the foremost in efforts and +sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The recommendations of the +Continental Congress were followed out with promptness and zeal. A +similar spirit was displayed in the relations with the Provincial +Government, so far as they affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, the county +was ruled in open resistance to the civil authorities at Boston. +Although representatives were sent to the General Court, the acts of +that body were accepted merely as advice. The judicial and executive +branches of the Government were not recognized. It was maintained that +the new Government should originate from the people on the basis of a +written Constitution and bill of rights. To this end they "refused the +admission of the course of law among them," until their demands should +be complied with. Furthermore, the old Courts were objectionable as +being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling +offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the +town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting +either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to +have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the +want of civil courts was of little consequence. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] + +An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority +had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national +Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the +excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, +numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, +caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of +the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant +of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an +appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It +is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of +the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the +steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State +Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing +the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in +material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM.] + +Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and +just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An +application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a +favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small +respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in +outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the +Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when +asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that +he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a +certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of +Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." + +[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.] + +He was a firm friend of Democracy. During the revolution he was a +radical Whig, and later on became an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian +doctrines. In the second period partisan feelings were very bitter in +the community. When, therefore, he gave full freedom to his thoughts in +articles published in the Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with a +practice more prevalent then than now, mingled political subjects with +his Sunday discourses, the Federalist members of the Congregational +Church grew restive under his pastorship. At this time, it should be +noted, Berkshire differed in politics from the rest of the State. +Matters grew worse, until a division of the parish was made and +continued for seven years. Thomas Allen died in 1811, at the age of 67. + +[Illustration: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.] + +Contrary to the custom in almost every other town of the State, and +notwithstanding the statute requirements, public worship in 1809 ceased +to be supported by the town, and nearly an equality of religious sects +before the law was produced. In 1817, after the re-union of the +Congregational Churches, the parish system was revived. It should be +kept in mind that by far the larger part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its early history with that of the +town. Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the general longing for a complete +reconciliation. + +In 1821 a great revival took place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey believed it to be essential that, so far as +possible, the town should preserve a solemn quiet, and he endeavored to +substitute religious services in place of the ordinary manner of +celebrating the Fourth of July. This plan was, to a considerable number +of citizens, by no means acceptable, yet the exercises in the Church +were attended by a large and reverent congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square where the people were wont to collect on +all anniversaries. In consequence, there was a very annoying disturbance +from fire-crackers, drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the attempt to +make this national holiday quiet and serious was not repeated. Mr. +Humphrey two years later became President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational Society with the town +came to an end through the Constitutional Amendment of that year. Two +years later business was in a state of depression, and emigration went +on at a rapid rate. A missionary from the West made known the need in +that great section of Christian emigrants to help mould its character. +From the Baptist Church in one year more than a hundred members set +forth, leaving finally but three men in the Congregation. During the +first half of the century other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are now +supported by large Congregations, composed of the best citizens of the +town. + +To turn back again in the narrative of events. Of the town's record in +the war of 1812, little must be said, although much is deserved. In this +matter, as previously in others, the county, by its warm support of the +war party, showed its independence in thought and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was made a place of meeting for recruits; a +cantonment for United States troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times 1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody Ninth;" the latter was that +regiment, which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy's Lane, gained undying +fame in a gallant struggle for the enemy's cannon. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS.] + +The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to +its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an +inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on +the green under the Old Elm. Great interest was aroused, and the +importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens. +One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride +that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, +until his friends feared to meet him. At last it gave birth to a calf, +but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, +to the back pasture. The Society was organized in 1811. New features +were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were +interested to compete for premiums. The plowing match became a part of +the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward +was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, +Chairman of the committee, read his poem, "The Ploughman." Many years +before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote +an ode for the cattle show. Improved agricultural implements and better +methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by +the fairs. The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts +of the country. In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield. + +The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who +still held their early home in loving memory. Of the thousands that were +present, many were men of national reputation. Among the exercises, a +sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was +offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor +Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL BLOCK.] + +Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before. He +was born at North Adams in 1796. When seventeen years of age, after +having spent three years in learning the hatters' trade, he began the +study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he +was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He was as +true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day. +Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar +reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon +the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal +satisfaction in both countries. He was distinguished for the consistency +of his life with his religious and temperance principles. Once, it is +said, while exhorting a friend who had already entered the downward path +of immoderate drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced to promise that so long +as the other would abstain from drinking, he, himself, would give up the +use of a collar; and this agreement was kept by both parties for life. +The truth in regard to the anecdote is rather as follows: While County +Commissioner he was often obliged to make long drives, so that besides +the annoyance from wearing a collar, he found great difficulty in +replacing it when soiled. From this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the subject by an old friend, he +offered to resume his collar if the other would cease drinking gin, and +would cut off his cue. The gin and the cue carried the day. + +The Berkshire Medical Institute was established in 1822, mainly through +the exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The charter provided that degrees +should be conferred only by the President and Trustees of Williams' +College, and according to the rules in force in the school at Cambridge. +The purpose was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and +to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a +week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay +the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These +were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student +shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of +the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office +of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one +hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, +inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having +graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of +medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent +out by any college in the country. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING.] + +The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation +excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, +theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died +out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one +evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, +and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a +favorable effect. + +A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, +reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and +exercise. It had a very successful career for about eight years. +Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the +Berkshire Athenaeum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and +efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin +Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the +gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenaeum +was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been +under the efficient management of Mr. E.C. Hubbel, Curator and +Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual +circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost. + +The history of the public schools is in no important respect different +from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded +in 1874, and have enjoyed an excellent reputation. By far the greater +proportion of the young folks in town attend them. The system of free +text books was early adopted. The High School, under the care of an able +scholar, Mr. Edward H. Rice, has been steadily growing in favor during +the past few years. Graduates yearly enter the various colleges, and +from neighboring towns a considerable number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law. + +For the higher education of young women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss Hinsdale as principal. It has +continued ever since, usually with a lady at the head, and for the last +few years especially has done good work under Miss Salisbury. The +Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, the most noted school of education +that has ever existed in Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations is given a view of the +avenue and the chapel; behind the latter stands the meeting-house of +1793, of late years used for a gymnasium. + +About the time of Shay's Rebellion the first newspaper, the American +Sentinel, was published. It was printed on a sheet ten by eighteen +inches in size, and gave the greater portion of its space to two or +three prosy essays. Three other newspapers appeared and vanished in turn +until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield Sun was established by Phinehas +Allen. It remained in his hands for nearly three-quarters of a century, +and to this day gives its support to the Democratic party. James Harding +is the editor. The Argus was started in 1827, as a rival, by Henry K. +Strong. Four years later it was removed to Lenox, and united with the +Berkshire Journal. In 1838 the name was changed to the Massachusetts +Eagle, and soon afterwards it was brought back to Pittsfield. In 1852 it +was given the name, The Berkshire County Eagle, which it bears to-day. +Both of these papers are weeklies. The Journal is of later date, and is +issued daily. Joseph E. See is editor. In mentioning the educational +facilities of a community it would be an act of thoughtlessness to omit +its bookstores. There is but one in Pittsfield. It contains a large +supply of books, selected with judgment, and is well managed by Mr. J.B. +Harrison. + +Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty and ill health. It is +interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was +called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: "It is a +great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but +they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at +hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so +critically. There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we +have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. +The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of +its honor. Educational matters, especially, received his attention and +assistance. His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor +to his day. The "Student's Manual" is the best known of his works; the +lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well +worth reading. + +[Illustration: ON NORTH STREET.] + +The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of +its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and +was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods +usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding +horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other +markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur +Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving +machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the +country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were +produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a +season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war +demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. + +At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as +religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its +factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years +later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. +The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient +water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into +operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a +difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined +to make their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the best imported goods. +In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which +destroyed all profit. Moreover, instead of making a single class of +goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies +had to be invented. A general business knowledge did not immediately +avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest +consequence. To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in +the county. Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel +Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a +blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling +pieces to that of muskets. Large contracts with State and National +governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the +percussion guns were introduced. + +The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire +County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the +difficulty of communication with other sections of the country. For the +first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of +Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east. In 1830 the +Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield. A little +before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out. +Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a +similar enterprise. Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston +to the Hudson. One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of +1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in +length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner's data, +fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a +discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals. +For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before +actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. In the +face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought +about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. That week occurred the first +accident. An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, +and was severely injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions +of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran +from Albany to Boston. Several short local roads have since been +constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have +contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort. On the west the physical +barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads +has only diminished the inequality. New York is still the metropolis; +the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that +direction. + +In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, +and includes most of the buildings of the town. It originated from the +unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire +department, of which they, themselves, felt little need. Nevertheless, +at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money. A Chief +Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were +constituted officers. Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, +and the duties were performed by commissioners. A curious controversy, +now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the +street crossings. The fire department from the start has been sustained +by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, +George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1876.] + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in +harmony. The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the +Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness +to respond to any call from the government. On April 19, within +twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on +its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain was +Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected +State Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the +town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation +gained in former wars. A Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was organized and +has received much merited praise for its useful services. The ideal +volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett. He was a student +at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out. In April he enlisted +as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in +his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment. He was +a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men. Before the close of +the war he had been brevetted Major-general. In peace he made his +influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the +elevation of politics. + +Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned +towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who +had died on the field of battle. The result was a monument, one of the +most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose. It is placed on the +Park, a short distance from the Athenaeum. A bronze statue of a +Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite +pillar. He looks earnestly into the distance. The entire effect of the +expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of +intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers. +On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the +arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth. + +On the others are two shields, engraved with the names of those in honor +of whom this memorial was erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face: + + "FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE--FOR + THE LIVING, A MEMORY--FOR + POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM + OF LOYALTY TO THE + FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY." + +On the east face: + + "WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION + OF THE SERVICES OF ALL + HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE + HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF + OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN + HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE + TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS + THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING + MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED + THAT THE NATION MIGHT + LIVE." + +At the dedication the national flags of the two political parties were +removed from the streets and with them the statue was draped. The town +was crowded with visitors, and a long procession marched through the +streets. A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches by General Bartlett and +Honorable Thomas Colt, President of the day, and an oration by George +William Curtis accompanied the unveiling. + +The four principal streets of the town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of West street is the building of the +Berkshire Life Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1851, and +has always included among its Directors and Managers the best business +men in the town and county, who naturally take great pride in it as one +of the soundest Life Insurance Companies of the country. + +In the same building are three national and one savings bank, besides +the town and other offices. Immediately beyond is Mr. Atwood's drug +store, an establishment of long standing, which would bear favorable +comparison with any similar store as regards either attention or +knowledge of a druggist's duties. Farther along the same street are +Central Block and the Academy of Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and shady horse-chestnut trees, +invite our footsteps. The dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, built in +the cottage and villa styles of architecture; many are stately edifices; +many are hospitable mansions; all show unmistakable evidence of being +comfortable homes. Scattered over the township, each springing up around +a mill or two, are miniature villages. Their population is largely made +up of foreigners, Irish and Germans, whose condition appears to be +somewhat better than that of the same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The mills, mostly small, are located +with a view to an opportunity for using water power, yet none are +without steam power as well. In the same neighborhood are the large +farms and expensive estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest class in +the community. Between the villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views which never repeat themselves or +become monotonous. The cemetery is itself one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighborhood. A massive granite gateway is being put up, +the gift of the late Thomas Allen. For a long distance the road leads +through a thick forest of maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless for a short time, birds and +squirrels show themselves in all directions, and fill his ears with the +sounds of the woods. Far away may be seen the white houses and the +church spires of the town. No resting place for the dead could be more +peaceful, more inspiring to meditation on the part of those who walk in +the light of day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all +covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of +flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving +hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it +is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: + + WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, + Brigadier General and Brevet Major General + UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. + BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, + June 6th, 1840. + DIED IN PITTSFIELD, + December 17th, 1876. + A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment. + A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation. + A Christian, strong in faith and charity, + His life was an inspiration, + His memory is a trust. + +Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not +ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was +procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on +the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before +public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where +a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take +the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real +Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an +energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the +practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character +combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and +conscience with religious sentiment. + +A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in +which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It +is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to +Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, +working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years +travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade +with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way +through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that +deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that +their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and +unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, +the examples set before them. + + * * * * * + +ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER. + +By JOSEPH B. WALKER. + + +No man has been universally great. Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited portions of their lives. +Particularly true is this remark when applied to Major Robert Rogers, +the Ranger, who, in our last French war, greatly distinguished himself +as a partisan commander, and gained as wide fame as did any other +soldier of equal rank and opportunity. + +I do not introduce him here as a saint, for, as is well known, no +quality of sanctity ever entered his composition; but rather, as the +resolute commander of resolute men, in desperate encounters with a +desperate foe; as a man eminently fitted for the rough work given him to +do. And just here and now I am reminded of a remark made in his old age +by the late Moody Kent, for a long period an able member of the New +Hampshire bar, and there the associate of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as well as of Jeremiah Mason, and +the two Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of whom he survived. Said Mr. +Kent, one day, evidently looking forward to the termination of his +career, "Could Zeke Webster have been living at my decease he would have +spoken as well of me, yes, as well of me as he could." If one can summon +to his mind and heart the kindly charity attributed to Mr. Webster, he +may, should he care for it, find a comfortable hour in the society of +this famous Ranger. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good old +Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1727.[A] At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier town, and its log houses were +the last civilized abodes which the traveller passed as he went up the +Merrimack valley on his way to Canada. It was the seed-town from which +were afterwards planted the ten or a dozen other Scotch-Irish townships +of New Hampshire.[B] It was the first to introduce and scatter abroad +Presbyterian principles and Irish potatoes over considerable sections of +this Province. + +[Footnote A: Stark's History of Dunbarton, p. 178.] + +[Footnote B: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 180.] + +Parson McGregor and his people had been in their new homes but four +years when they had ready for occupancy a log school-house, sixteen feet +long and twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in one like it, that +Robert Rogers acquired his scanty stock of "book-learning," as then +termed. But education consists in much besides book-learning, and he +supplemented his narrow stock of this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the rocks and stumps upon his father's +farm and in the hunter's camp. + +The woods, at this day, were full of game. The deer, the bear, the +moose, the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and various other wild animals +existed in great numbers. To a young man of hardy constitution, +possessed of enterprise, energy, and a fondness for forest sports, +hunting afforded not only an attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, and as a hunter, tramped +through large sections of the wilderness between the French and English +settlements. On such excursions he mingled much with the Indians, and +somewhat with the French, obtaining by such intercourse some knowledge +of their languages, of their modes of hunting, and their habits of life. +He also acquired a fondness for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, learning the portages between +their headwaters, many of the Indian trails and the general topography +of the great area just mentioned. + +During the French and Indian wars small bodies of soldiers were often +employed to "watch and ward" the frontiers, and protect their +defenceless communities from the barbarous assaults of Indians, turned +upon them from St. Francis and Crown Point. Robert Rogers had in him +just the stuff required in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, be +surprised to find him on scouting duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when he was but nineteen years of +age;[A] and, three years later, engaged in the same service, under +Captain Ebenezer Eastman, of Pennycook.[B] Six years afterwards, in +1753, the muster rolls show him to have been a member of Captain John +Goff's company, and doing like service.[C] Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique for the ranging service, in which +they were soon to be employed. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. +95.] + +[Footnote B: Same, p. 99.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 118.] + +I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in 1749, as Londonderry became filled +to overflowing with repeated immigrations from the North of Ireland, +James Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, and one of the early +settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton, +and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in +which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the +public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an +extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement, +afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich +uplands which surrounded it. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.] + +Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by +a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a +bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This +incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his +son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that +while in London, after the French war, being in company with several +persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story, +or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When +it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the +woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his +mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who +mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in +fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B] + +[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p. +240.] + +[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is +easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them. +They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven +miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and +the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and +Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills, +nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.] + +As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the +condition of things in the British Colonies and in Canada at the +beginning of this war. + +The thirteen American Colonies had, at that time, all told, of both +white and black, a population of about one million and a half of souls +(1,425,000.)[A] The French people of Canada numbered less than one +hundred thousand.[B] + +[Footnote A: Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 127.] + +[Footnote B: Encyclopedia Brittanica.] + +The respective claims to the Central part of the North American +Continent by England and France were conflicting and irreconcilable. The +former, by right of discovery, claimed all the territory upon the +Atlantic coast from New Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of numerous +grants the right to all west of this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, claimed Canada, a portion of New +England and New York, and the basins of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +together with all the territory upon the streams tributary to these, or +a large part of the indefinite West. + +To maintain her claims France had erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to +the Gulf of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, a line starting at +Louisburg, and thence running up this great river to Quebec and +Montreal, and thence up Lake Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, he will trace +the line across which the two nations looked in defiance at each other, +and see instantaneously that the claims of France were inadmissable, and +that another war was inevitable. It mattered little that of the +forty-five years immediately preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, had been years of war +between these two neighbors. They were now, after a peace of only half a +dozen years, as ready for a fresh contest as if they were to meet for +the first time upon the battle field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; of the old Church with the new; +of feudalism with democracy--a conflict which should settle the destiny +of North America, making it English and Protestant, or French and Roman +Catholic; a contest, too, in which the victor was to gain more than he +knew, and the vanquished was to loose more than he ever dreamed of. + +Hostilities may be said to have been commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed the Ohio company of the +fort which they were erecting at the forks of the Ohio River, afterwards +named Fort Du Quesne. + +The plan of a Colonial Confederation, formed at the Albany convention in +July of that year, having failed of acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by such others as the several +Provinces were willing to furnish. + +The campaign of the next year (1755) embraced: + +1st. An expedition, under General Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne. + +2d. A second, under General Shirley, for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted. + +3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture and deportation of the +Acadians. + +4th. A fourth, under General William Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the French, in the very heart of New +England and New York, whence innumerable bands of Indians had been +dispatched by the French to murder the defenceless dwellers upon the +English frontiers, particularly those of New Hampshire, to destroy their +cattle and to burn their buildings and other property. + +To the army of this latter expedition New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of ten companies, the first being a +company of Rangers, whose Captain was Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. [A] + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, vol. 2, 1866, p. +129.] + +But a few words just here in explanation of the character of this +ranging branch of the English army. It was a product of existing +necessities in the military service of that time. Most of the country +was covered with primeval forests and military operations were largely +prosecuted in the woods or in limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying in ambush for the perpetration +of any mischief for which they might have opportunity. + +It became necessary, therefore, in scouring the forests to drive these +miscreants back to their lairs, as well as in making military +reconnoissances, to have a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian life +and warfare; prepared, not only to meet the Indian upon his own ground, +but to fight him in his own fashion. The British Regular was good for +nothing at such work. If sent into the woods he was quite sure, either +not to return at all, or to come back without his scalp. And the +ordinary Provincial was not very much better. From this necessity, +therefore, was evolved the "Ranger." + +He was a man of vigorous constitution, inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, day after day, upon scant rations, +refreshed by short intervals of sleep while rolled in his blanket upon a +pile of boughs, with no other shelter but the sky. He knew the trails of +the Indians, as well as their ordinary haunts and likeliest places of +ambush. He knew, also, all the courses of the streams and the carrying +places between them. He understood Indian wiles and warfare, and was +prepared to meet them. + +Stand such a man in a pair of stout shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small clothes; give him a close-fitting +jacket and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet in his belt; hang a +good-sized powder-horn by his side, and upon his back buckle a blanket +and a knapsack stuffed with a moderate supply of bread and raw salt +pork; to these furnishings add a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and you have an average New +Hampshire Ranger of the Seven Year's war, ready for skirmish or pitched +battle; or, for the more common duty of reconnoitering the enemy's force +and movements, of capturing his scouts and provision trains, and getting +now and then a prisoner, from whom all information possible would be +extorted; and, in short, for annoying the French and Indian foe in every +possible way. + +If you will add three or four inches to the average height of such a +soldier, give him consummate courage, coolness, readiness of resource +in extremities, together with intuitive knowledge of the enemy's wiles, +supplemented with a passable knowledge of French and Indian speech, you +will have a tolerable portrait of Captain Robert Rogers at the beginning +of our Seven Year's war.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published +in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in +the costume of a Ranger, with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun +resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian +followers."--[Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiach, vol. I, p. 164.] + +He received his first Captain's commission in the early part of 1755, +and was employed by the New Hampshire government in building a fort at +the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and in guarding its Northern and +Western frontiers until July, when he was ordered to Albany to join the +army of Major General Johnson. His first service there was in furnishing +escort, with a company of one hundred men, to a provision train from +Albany to Fort Edward. From this latter point he was afterwards +repeatedly despatched, with smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson River +and down Lake George and Lake Champlain to reconnoiter the French forts. +Some of these expeditions extended as far north as Crown Point and were +enlivened with sharp skirmishes. He was absent up the Hudson upon one of +these when the French were defeated at the battle of Lake George and +Baron Dieskan was made prisoner. + +The efficiency of the campaign of the next year (1756), which +contemplated the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, was +seriously impaired by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; Major +General Shirley being superceded in June by General Abercrombie while +he, about a month later, yielded the command to the inefficient Lord +Londown. The only occurrences of particular note during this campaign +were the capture of our forts at Oswego by General Montcalm and the +formal declarations of war by the two belligents. + +Rogers and his men were stationed at Fort William Henry, and made +repeated visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point to ascertain the power of +the enemy and to annoy him as they had opportunity. They went down Lake +George, sometimes by land upon its shores, and sometimes by water and in +boats. In the winter their land marches were frequently upon snow-shoes, +and their boats were exchanged for skates. On such occasions each Ranger +was generally his own commissary and carried his own supplies. + +In his journal for this year (1756) Rogers notes thirteen of these +expeditions as worthy of record. The first was down Lake George on the +ice, in January, with seventeen men, resulting in the capture of two +prisoners and two sledges laden with provisions. + +The second was made in February with a party of fifty men to ascertain +the strength and operations of the French at Crown Point. Having +captured one prisoner at a little village near by the fort, they were +discovered and obliged to retire before the sallying troops of the +garrison. With very marked sang froid he closes his account of this +reconnoissance by saying: "We employed ourselves while we dared stay in +setting fire to the houses and barns in the village, with which were +consumed large quantities of wheat, and other grain; we also killed +about fifty cattle and then retired, leaving the whole village in +flames." + +There often appears a ludicrous kind of honesty in the simple narratives +of this journal. He occasionally seized certain stores of the enemy +which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in +narrating the capture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon +Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed: "We sunk +and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of +wheat and flour, wine, and brandy; some few casks of the latter we +carefully concealed." + +His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two +whole companies; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens +of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year. + +Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary severity of his +discipline. A story has come down to us which well illustrates this +trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal +muddled, one night, by liberal potations, became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor in consequence of inability +to discharge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at +length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering them in +their distress, at once relieved them by the remark: "I appreciate the +gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious one. +But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other +half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one +time common, "We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the English +nation." + +But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become apparent, and we shall not be +surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by +Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent +company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the +nucleus of the famous corps since known as "Roger's Rangers." + +In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, +thereby increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in +a little more than a year this was farther enlarged by the addition of +five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of +Rangers, becoming thus the commander of the whole corps. + +The character of the service expected of this branch of the army was set +forth in Major General Shirley's orders to its commander in 1756, as +follows, viz.: "From time to time, to use your best endeavors to +distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying their +houses, barns, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack +and destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of +the country where he could find them."[A] + +[Footnote A: Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.] + +On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French +forts; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning +snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point half +way between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they captured, together with six +horses and seven men. The others fled within the walls of Ticonderoga +and alarmed the garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his situation he +commenced at once his return. By two o'clock in the afternoon, his party +was attacked by two hundred and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of his men. The French, as was +subsequently ascertained, lost one hundred and sixteen. The proximity of +Ticonderoga rendered vain the continuance of the contest, and he availed +him of the shelter of the night to return to Fort William Henry. + +For this exploit he was highly complimented by General Abercrombie, and, +at a later period of this same year, was ordered by Lord Londown to +instruct and train for the ranging service a company of British +Regulars. To these he devoted much time and prepared for their use the +manual of instruction now found in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very succinctly and lucidly the rules +governing this mode of fighting. + +The campaign of 1757 contemplated only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown directed all his energies. Having +collected all the troops which could be spared for that purpose, he +sailed for Halifax on the twentieth of June with six thousand soldiers, +among them being four companies of Rangers under the command of Major +Rogers. Upon arriving at Halifax his army was augmented by the addition +of five thousand Regulars and a powerful naval armament. We have neither +time nor inclination to consider the conduct of Lord Londown on this +occassion farther than to say that his cowardice and imbecility seem +wonderful. Finding that, in all probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he returned to New York without +striking a blow. If about this time our heroic commander of the Rangers +used some strong language far from sacred, it will become us to remember +"Zeke Webster" and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives "as +we can." He returned to New York three weeks after the surrender of Fort +William Henry, where with his Rangers he might have done something, at +least, to prevent the horrible massacre which has tarnished the fair +fame of Montcalm indellibly. + +England and America both were humbled in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of sufficent resources is severe, but +how utterly insufferable when, with abundant means, incompetency to use +them brings defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation to Lord +Londown than we are wont to think. His imbecility helped rouse the +British nation and recall William Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other countries and promised an early +termination of French dominion in America. + +Lord Londown was succeeded in the early part of 1758 by General +Abercrombie and plans were matured for capturing the Lake forts, +Louisburg and Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, the two last, +with the addition of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The movement against +Crown Point and Ticonderoga did not succeed. In the assault upon the +latter Rogers and his Rangers fought in the van and in the retreat +brought up the rear. + +In the spring of this year (1758) Rogers went down Lake George at the +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, and near the foot of it had a +desperate battle with a superior body of French and Indians. He reported +on his return one hundred and fourteen of his party as killed or +missing. Why he was not annihilated is a wonder. General Montcalm, in a +letter dated less than a month after the encounter, says: "Our Indians +would give no quarter; they have brought back one hundred and forty-six +scalps." For his intrepidity on this occasion he was presented by +General Abercrombie with the commission of Major of Rangers, before +alluded to. + +The adroitness with which Rogers sometimes extricated himself from +extreme peril is illustrated by his conduct on one occasion, when +pursued by an overwhelming number of savages up the mountain, near the +south end of Lake George, which now bears his name. Upon reaching the +summit he advanced to the very verge of the precipice, on the east side, +which descends 550 feet to the lake. Having here reversed his snow shoes +he fled down the side opposite to that by which he had come up. Arriving +soon after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks of two men, apparently, +instead of one, and Rogers far below upon the ice, hastening towards +Fort Edward, concluded that he had slid down the precipice aided by the +Great Spirit, and that farther pursuit was vain. + +Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of 1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially accomplished. +Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned in July, Fort Niagara +capitulated the same month, and Quebec was surrendered in September. + +Their violation of a flag of truce in this last month now called +attention to the St. Francis Indians, who had been for a century the +terror of the New England frontiers, swooping down upon them when least +expected, burning their buildings, destroying their cattle, mercilessly +murdering their men, women, and children, or cruelly hurrying them away +into captivity. The time had now come for returning these bloody visits. +The proffering of this delicate attention was assigned by Major General +Amherst to Rogers. In his order, dated September 13, he says: "You are +this night to set out with the detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under your command and proceed to +Misisquey Bay, from whence you will march and attack the enemy's +settlements on the south side of the river St. Lawrence in such a manner +as you shall judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for the +success and honour of his majesty's arms. + + * * * * * + +"Take your revenge, but don't forget that tho' those villains have +dastardly and promiscuously murdered the women and children of all ages, +it is my orders that no women or children are killed or hurt." + +In pursuance of these orders Major Rogers started the same day at +evening. On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi Bay. On the +twenty-third, with one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he came, without +being discovered, to the environs of the village of St. Francis. The +Indians had a dance the evening following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an hour before sunrise, Rogers and +his men fell upon them on all sides, and in a few minutes, ere they had +time to arouse themselves and seize their arms, the warriors of that +village were dead. A few, attempting to escape by the river, were shot +in their canoes. The women and children were not molested. + +When light came it revealed to the Rangers lines of scalps, mostly +English, to the number of six hundred, strung upon poles above the +door-ways. Thereupon, every house except three containing supplies was +fired, and their destruction brought death to a few who had before +escaped it by concealing themselves in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their accursed village had been +obliterated. + +The operations of the next year (1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of Quebec by the French was their +final effort. The army of the Lakes embarked from Crown Point for +Montreal on the sixteenth day of August. "Six hundred Rangers and +seventy Indians in whale-boats, commanded by Major Rogers, all in a line +abreast, formed the advance guard." He and his men encountered some +fighting on the way from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no serious obstacle +retarded their progress. The day of their arrival Monsieur de Vaudveuil +proposed to Major General Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in North America. + +The English troops, as will be remembered, entered Montreal on the +evening of the eighth of September. On the morning of the twelfth Major +Rogers was ordered by General Amherst to proceed westward with two +companies of Rangers and take possession of the western forts, still +held by the French, which, by the terms of the capitulation, were to be +surrendered. + +He embarked about noon the next day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to the west by the St. Lawrence and +the Lakes. On the seventh of November they reached the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, where the beautiful city of Cleveland now stands. The cross of +St. George had never penetrated the wilderness so far before. Here they +encamped and were soon after waited upon by messengers from the great +chieftain Pontiac, asking by what right they entered upon his territory +and the object of their visit. Rogers informed them of the downfall of +the French in America, and that he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the English by the terms of the +capitulation. Pontiac received his message remarking that he should +stand in his path until morning, when he would return to him his answer. + +The next morning Pontiac came to the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, met face to face the bold, +self-possessed, clear-headed Major of the British Rangers. It is +interesting to note how calmly the astute ally of the French accepted +the new order of things and prepared for an alliance with his former +enemies. He and Rogers had several interviews and in the end smoked the +pipe of peace. With dignified courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, provisions for his +journey and an escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke camp on the twelfth +and pushed onward towards Detroit. By messenger sent forward in advance +he apprized Monsieur Belletre, Commandant of the fort, of his near +approach and the object of it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of the truth of the unwelcome news +thus brought, he surrendered his garrison. On the twenty-ninth of +November the British flag floated from the staff which ever before had +borne only the lillies of France. + +On the tenth of December, after disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of the forts Miamie and Gatanois, +with characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still farther westward for +Michilimackinac. But it was a vain attempt. The season was far advanced. +Indeed, the winter had already come, and while the ice prevented his +progress by water, the snows rendered impracticable his advance by land. +With reluctance he relinquished for the first time the completion of his +mission. Turning eastward, after a tedious journey, he reached New York +on the fourteenth of February, 1761. + +From New York, there is reason to suppose, that he went this same year +as Captain of one of the His Majesty's Independent Companies of Foot to +South Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant in subduing the Cherokees, +who had for a year or two been committing depredations upon the +Carolinian frontiers. + +From this time onward for the next two years we lose sight of Major +Rogers, but he re-appears at the siege of Detroit in 1763. Hither he +went with twenty Rangers as part of a body of soldiers sent from Fort +Niagara under the command of Captain Dalzell for the re-inforcement of +the beleagured fort. He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, and on the +thirty-first took an active part in the fierce battle of Bloody Bridge. +His valor was as useful as it was conspicuous on that occasion, and but +for his daring efforts the retreat of the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, for a time, in the house of +the Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a throng of savages which surrounded +it, his escape with a few followers at one door was hardly achieved ere +these burst in at another. + +The next glimpse we get of Major Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some four or five hundred acres. Good +old Parson Walker, who here kept open house, and for more than fifty +years watched with solicitude the interests of his parish and his +country, says, in his diary for 1764, against date of February 24: +"Major Rogers dined with us" and again December 22:--"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me." + +It is probable that his private affairs now occupied his attention. A +year or so after the surrender of Montreal he was married to Elizabeth, +daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John's Church, in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He considered this town his residence, and in +papers executed this very year (1764) sometimes designates himself "as +of Portsmouth," and at others, as "now residing at Portsmouth." + +For three or four years, between 1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous and some quite extensive +tracts. Some twenty-five different conveyances to him are on record in +the Recorder's office of Rockingham County, and half as many from him to +other parties. + +Some of these lands he seems to have purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as +Governor of New Hampshire, conveyed to him as "a reduced officer" a +tract of three thousand acres, lying in the southern part of Vermont. + +One[A] conveyance made by him and bearing date December 20, 1762, +arrests our attention. By it he transferred to his father-in-law, Rev. +Arthur Brown, before mentioned, some five hundred acres of land in +Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire) together with "one negro man, named +Castro Dickerson, aged about twenty-eight; one negro woman, named +Sylvia; one negro boy named Pomp, aged about twelve and one Indian boy, +named Billy, aged about thirteen." For what reason this property was +thus transferred I have no means of knowing. If the object of the +conveyance was to secure it as a home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular life, the end sought was +subsequently attained, as the land descended even to his +grand-children.[B] + +[Footnote A: The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing upon +the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east side and near the south +end of Main Street, in Concord, New Hampshire. It must be at least a +hundred years old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in the rear. It +was occupied for many years by Captain and Mrs. Roach, and later by +Arthur, son of Major Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.] + +[Footnote B: A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, New Hampshire.] + +And I may as well, perhaps, just here and now anticipate a little by +saying that Major Rogers did not prove a good husband, and that +seventeen years after their marriage his wife felt constrained, February +12, 1778, to petition the General Assembly of New Hampshire for a +divorce from him on the ground of desertion and infidelity. An act +granting the same passed the Assembly on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth of March following.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert Rogers and +Elizabeth, his wife. + +"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the County of Rockingham, +and State aforesaid, hath petitioned the General Assembly for said +State, setting forth that she was married to the said Robert Rogers +about seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time he had +absented himself from and totally neglected to support and maintain +her--and had, in the most flagrant manner, in a variety of ways, +violated the marriage contract--but especially by infidelity to her Bed; +For which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a vinculo +matrimonii, might be granted. The principal facts contained in said +petition being made to appear, upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore, + +"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said +State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between +the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."--[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.] + +I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.[A] After his marriage he lived with his wife +and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously +mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach +is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his +excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at +Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into +the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and +called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two +drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, +expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the +custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain +immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the +guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a +sufficiency for both, the host should call for more. + +[Footnote A: Bouton's History of Concord, p. 351.] + +Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they +neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.[A] + +[Footnote A: Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.] + +In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to +have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is +entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the +several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the +continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the +period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless +quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made under the Generals +who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late war. +From which may be collected the material circumstances of every campaign +upon that continent from the commencement to the conclusion of the war. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. viii; Journals, pp. 236. + +An American edition of Roger's Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, +was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell's Sons. Besides a +valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an +appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals +ever published.] + +The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the country at the time of its +publication.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account of +North America; Containing a description of the several British Colonies +on that Continent, including the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, +&c., as to their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number of Inhabitants +supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior and Westerly Parts of the +Country, upon the rivers St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and +the Great Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those Parts, as to their +Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, &c., Containing many useful and +Entertaining Facts, never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller, near +Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction and Advertisement, pp. viii; +Concise Account, pp. 264.] + +It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when +the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is +doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the +charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were +written by another's hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that +the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his +expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New +York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. +If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit +of their authorship. + +Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair +chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together +with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are +such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth +with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled +much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as +fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also +attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, +entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in +1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages of +America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for the Author, and sold by J. +Millan, opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."] + +On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King's command, General Gage +appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of +Michilimackinac.[A] Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. +He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately +ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly +the duties of this office.[B] But as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and +restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of +mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all +matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters +to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C] + +[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.] + +[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage, +dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in +1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his +readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and +got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up +with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some +of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing +else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that +service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215. + +The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him +(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as +a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at +home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must +appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never +confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you +mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in +time."--[Journals, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.] + +Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by +clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the +government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts +upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary +was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To +this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time +went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got +deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; +grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable +correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of +seeking of the home government an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders +thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.] + +His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was +arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be +there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground, +probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date +between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England. + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.] + +And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, +wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his +innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had +advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He +was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment +for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in +England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he +pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with L600 a +year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt +which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length +overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by +degrees to his true level. + +[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated +February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from +London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and +kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his +sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be +made a Baronet, with a pension of L600 sterling, and to be restored to +his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.] + +We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. +The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our +Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a +military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. +Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all +the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible +business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, +as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person. + +He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival +by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon +his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a +gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, +in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and +Great-Britain;"[A] yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he +makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter +addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.[B] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 259.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, p. 261.] + +On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in +shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. +After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had +fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered +his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the +close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the +night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 118.] + +Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, +but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see +him.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 263.] + +Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South +Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief +his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret +tender of his services to the American Congress.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 273.] + +However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few +days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of +Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,[A] which +was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of +proscription. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.] + +Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he +accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by +General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the +British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 277.] + +On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so +far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was +attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American +troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual +valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over. + +The next year he returned to England,[A] where, after a disreputable +life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, +he is said to have died in the year 1800. + +[Footnote A: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 238.] + +Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in +undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the +poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as +romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy +McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock +Lomond. + + * * * * * + +ROUSED FROM DREAMS. + +By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON. + + + Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder; + Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder; + On my window-pane, making wild refrain, + Sharply strikes the rain. + + Wind in furious gusts with angry railing + Follows the unhappy restless wailing + Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee + None to save nor see. + + Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers, + Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers; + Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate, + Shrieking prayers too late! + + * * * * * + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG + +By EBENEZER BAILEY. + + +On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, +consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding +a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua +River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These +people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, +over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox +carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own. + +Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of +Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town +set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town +meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until +January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain +an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third +of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay +signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the +rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of +Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the +General Court. + +A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to +form a part of the new town of Ashby. + +The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain +Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, +and other business necessary to the organization of a town government +transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put +in order was to provide for "Sabbath days' preaching," and the Rev. +Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed +sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located +between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land +was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had +purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt. + +In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue +of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. +Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a +kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the +Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and +rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in +arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, +whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with +characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one +Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe +struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he +finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to +Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone +through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely +forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great +degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first +Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been +erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston. + +Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and +to appropriate the sum of L8 for that purpose. And now the town of +Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East +energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new +homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to +eighty families, with a total valuation of L2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of L121, and the rate was over ten per +cent. + +There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many +matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil +and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no +separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the +affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town +meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will +relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine +Providence, and abate her husband's rates on Isaac Gibson's and Ebenezer +Bridge's tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton's poll +tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles. + +Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a +comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the +inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were +preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so +frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging +to the actors, from whom the future was withheld. + +As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting +to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and +to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, +wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." +A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell +was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston. + +In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of +Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and +send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held +accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report +presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing +full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights +and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows: + + "And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now + informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have + made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, + subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, + it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and + the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in + their power to keep off all such infringement." + +The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the +Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. +The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South +and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in +preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim +Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the +armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and +regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was +appropriated for powder, lead and flints. + +The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the +little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at +nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of +Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at +the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few +volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, +under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became +Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged +in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large +wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they +arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. + +It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of +volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill +John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the +intrenchments. + +When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the +contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General +Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard +to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows: + + "Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress + should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them + independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the + inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and + fortunes, support them in the measure." + +In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his +Majesty's name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the +writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of +Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant +ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay." + +For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and +unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of +furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, +the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with +the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial +difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, +and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the +inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to +us under the name of Shay's Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg +deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an +active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah +Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should +be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in +an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." +Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did +everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the +authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a +military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; +and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have +followed. + +The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, +but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the +nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main +Street. One might see Cowdin's tavern, Kimball's saw and grist mill, +Fox's store, a baker's shop, and half a dozen houses between the +American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill +back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store +of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with +large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball +were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer +Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, +were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786. + +In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in +the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a +village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and +boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the +General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, +into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of +the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in +one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill +being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they +determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its +location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should +be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the +words _nearest, convenientest_, were a cause of furious contention. Town +meeting after town meeting was held--now victory rested with one +faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, +extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian +Church. + +But now the leaven of heterodoxy was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, turned from the theological doctrines +of their forefathers and adopted Unitarian views. In most places there +was a final division of the original Church, and the formation of two +societies, one of the Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox persuasion. + +Fitchburg was agitated in this way for about twenty-four years, during +which time many ecclesiastical councils were held, and debate and +dispute were almost continuous, both in and out of town meeting, for +neighbor was divided against neighbor, and one member of a household +against another. The result was the dissolution of the parochial powers +of the town, and a division into two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox built a new building on the corner +of Main and Rollstone streets. + +But while religious contention went on, worldly growth and prosperity +increased. Quite a number of manufacturing establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little stream that furnished the power +was beginning to be appreciated. + +In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton +mills, 1 scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 +taverns, 2 hat manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 tanneries, 2 +window blind manufactories, and 1 chair manufactory. There were a number +of stone bridges, and a dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, and Lowell, and left three times a week for +Worcester and Springfield, and returned on alternate days. + +Energetic, enterprising young men were attracted to Fitchburg as a +promising place for a home, and there was the exhilarating, hopeful +atmosphere of a new and growing town, where changes are rapid and +opportunities are many. It was about this time that Rufus C. Torrey +wrote his history of Fitchburg, in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, then a public spirited young +lawyer, who had already accumulated quite an amount of material from +records and conversations with the older residents These two men saved +from oblivion very many valuable facts in the history of the town. + +About this time, also, the Fitchburg High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the Fitchburg Library Association was +organized, both of which institutions were valuable educational +influences. + +From 1840 to 1860 the town continued to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair business enlarged greatly, the +iron business was introduced by the Putnam Brothers, and grew rapidly, +and various other branches of industry were begun and prospered. The +Fitchburg Railroad was built, followed by the Vermont and Massachusetts, +the Fitchburg and Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch Railroads, all +centreing in Fitchburg and bringing an increase of business. + +At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the town contained +nearly 8,000 inhabitants, and during the war Fitchburg did her part, +answering all calls promptly and sending her best men to the field. Her +history in that contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, in his history +of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion." Nine companies were +organized in the town, and 750 Fitchburg men sent into the field. + +The years immediately following the war were years of prosperity and +rapid growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was incorporated as a city. The +infant township of 108 years before had grown to a city of 12,000 +inhabitants. The little stream which then turned the wheel of the one +solitary saw and grist mill had since been harnessed to the work of many +mills and manufactories, and on either side were the homes of hundreds, +dependent on its power for their daily bread. Railroads carried the +products of these establishments to the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city from the East and from the West +all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life. Can it be that the +dead of past generations, who sleep on the hillside which overlooks the +valley, have seen this transformation, and if so, will they behold all +the changes of the future? Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life blood. + + * * * * * + +SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW. + +By CHESTER F. SANGER. + + +The Legislature of 1884 has placed an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking in the same direction passed by +the Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1884 provides that +"The provisions of chapter ninety-eight of the Public Statutes relating +to the observance of the Lord's day shall not constitute a defence to an +action for a tort or injury suffered by a person on that day." + +Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 provided that common carriers of +passengers should no longer escape liability for their negligence in +case of accidents to passengers, by reason of the injury being received +on Sunday. This act marked a long step forward in the policy of this +Commonwealth, and made it no longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences of its illegal acts by +saying to the injured passenger, "You were breaking the law yourself, +and therefore you have no redress against us." + +This was a condition of things which worked a confusion of relations, +and lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting on "no principle of +justice" or law, and creating a "species of judicial outlawry which +ignored alike the principles of humanity and the analogies of the law." + +The provisions more particularly referred to in these Acts are those +relating to travelling on the Lord's day, found in the Statutes as +follows:-- + +"Whoever travels on the Lord's day, except from necessity or charity, +shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten dollars for each +offence."--Pub. Stat., Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting and +curious study to follow the changes made in the Sunday law, so called, +with the accompanying judicial decisions, as one by one the hindrances +to the attainment of simple justice by travellers injured on the Lord's +day have been swept away. + +The Pilgrims brought many strange ideas with them to their new home, as +we all well know, and we find these reflected in their statute books in +the form of many "blue laws," some of which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded "dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general discussion of this subject is, +as showing the character and purposes of the founders of the Republic, +we can follow but one division of the Sunday law in its various forms +since it was first framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who intended that +the day should be not merely a day of rest from labor, but also a day +devoted to public and private worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only fit punishment for those who, as +they considered it, "prophaned" the Lord's day. + +As early as 1636 it was enacted by the Court of the Plymouth Colony +that, "Whereas, complaint is made of great abuses in sundry places of +this Government of prophaning the Lord's day by travellers, both horse +and foot, by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, etc., upon the +Lord's day to the great offence of the Godly welafected among us. It is, +therefore, enacted by the Court and the authoritie thereof that if any +person or persons shall be found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such a town and fined twenty shillings, +to the Collonie's use, or else shall sit in the stocks four hours, +except they can give a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; but they +that 'soe transgresse' must be apprehended on the Lord's day and 'paye +theire fine or sitt in the stockes as aforesaide' on the second day +thereafter." It seems, however, that in spite of the pious sentiments of +the framers of the law it was not, or could not be enforced, for in 1662 +it was further enacted that "This Court doth desire that the +transgression of the foregoing order may be carefully looked into and +p'r'vented if by any due course it may be." + +But even now it seems that the energies of the law-makers were of no +avail in preventing prophanation of the Holy day by "foraignors and +others," so that twenty years later, in 1683, we find that "To prevent +prophanation of the Lord's day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on that day. It is enacted by the Court +that a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, unto whom whosever hath +nessessity of travell on the Lord's day in case of danger of death, or +such necessitous occations shall repaire, and makeing out such occations +satisfyingly to him shall receive a Tickett from him to pas on about +such like occations;" but, "if he attende not to this," or "if it shall +appeare that his plea was falce," the hand of the law was likely to fall +upon him while he contributed twenty shillings "to the use of the +Collonie." + +In the Massachusetts Bay Province it was early enacted that "no +traveller ... shall travel on the Lord's day ... except by some +adversity they are belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, +or highways the night before, and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings. + +In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation of the Lord's day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, and so it was enacted that the +penalty for the first offense should be thirty shillings, and for the +second, three pounds, while the offender, presumably a "foraignor," was +to be put under a bond to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy +according to the ideas of the straight-laced Puritans. + +Even this did not put an end to the good fathers' troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions of the several laws now +in force relating to the observation of the Lord's day or Christain +Sabbath, the said laws have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the legislators, the Lord's Day hath been greatly +and frequently prophaned" all the laws relating to the observance +thereof were repealed and a new chapter enacted, one section of which, +and the only one in which we are now interested, was the same as the law +of 1727, above quoted. + +Thirty-one years later all these laws were again erased from the statute +book and a new attempt was made to frame a law which should leave no +loop-holes for foraignors or others, as follows: "Whereas the observance +of the Lord's day is highly promotive of the welfare of a community by +affording necessary seasons for relaxation from labor and the cares of +business; for moral reflections and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world; and for those acts of +charity which support and adorn a Christian society. Be it enacted that +no person shall travel on the Lord's day except from _necessity_ or +_charity_, upon penalty of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings and not +less than ten." Notice what an interesting and moral tone is given to +the otherwise dry statute book by these sermonizing preambles which +reflect so well the motives and aims of the men who moulded and formed +the statute laws of the Commonwealth. + +In this act appears for the first time that "charity" which since then +has truly "covered a multitude of sins," while it has as often been a +strong tower of defence to corporations clearly shown to have been +careless of their obligations to the public. One of the first cases to +arise in which these words "necessity or charity" must be judicially +construed was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 Mass., 76. + +One Josiah Paine had contracted with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail between Portland and Boston on +each day of the week for two years from October 1, 1808, and Knox, his +servant, was indicted for unlawfully travelling while carrying the mail +with a stage carriage through the town of Newburyport on November 20, +1808, the same being Sabbath or Lord's day, and the said travelling not +being from necessity or charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering the +opinion of the Supreme Court, after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices and post-roads, and the +consequent legality of Paine's contract, the statutue of his State +notwithstanding, says that "necessity ... cannot be understood as a +physical necessity ... and when this travelling is necessary to execute +a lawful contract it cannot be considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." But fearing that this decision +may open too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers the Chief Justice hastens +to add: "But let it be remembered that our opinion does not protect +travellers in the stage coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of serious people either at public +worship or in their own houses. The carrier may proceed with the mail on +the Lord's day to the post-office; he may go to any public house to +refresh himself and his horses; and he may take the mail from the +post-office and proceed on his route. _Any other liberties on the Lord's +day our opinion does not warrant_." + +The report naively says, that after this opinion the Attorney General +entered a _nolle proscqui_. + +In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, a case which arose in 1816 and +which attracted a great deal of notice at the time, Chief Justice Parker +says: "It is not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated by Moses, +in order to prove that the _Christian Sabbath_ ought to be observed by +_Christians_, as a day of holy rest and religious worship; and if it +were it would be difficult to make out the point contended for from that +source;" and then goes into a long disquisition upon the Mosaic law and +the precepts of the Saviour and finally says that "cases often arise in +which it will be both innocent and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose him suddenly called to visit a +child, or other near relative, in a distant town laboring under a +dangerous illness; or suppose him to be a physician; or suppose a man's +whole fortune and the future comfort of his family to depend upon his +being at a remote place early on Monday morning, he not having known the +necessity until Saturday evening; these are all cases which would +generally be considered as justifying the act of travelling." Certainly +a somewhat broader view than that taken by the Court seven years +earlier. + +The law remained thus and was re-enacted in the Revised Statutes of +1836, the penalty being raised, however, to ten dollars. In civil cases +arising out of damages sustained by travellers upon the Lord's day, +corporations defendant were quick to take advantage of the law and to +rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff's act of travelling, as a good +defence to his action. + +In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 +Metcalf, 363. Bosworth was travelling on the eleventh of June of that +year, being Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to Fall River on business +connected with a suit in the United States Court, and was injured by +reason of a defect in a highway in Swansey. + +The defendant town admitted that it was by law required to keep the +highway in repair. And plaintiffs counsel argued that as the statute +provided a penalty of ten dollars for travelling on Sunday it could not +be further maintained that there was the additional penalty that a man +could have no legal redress for damages suffered by reason of the +neglect or refusal of defendants to do that which the law required them +to do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion, +"that the plaintiff was plainly violating the law and that since he +could recover from the town only, if free from all just imputation of +negligence or fault," in this case he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not called upon to construe the terms +"necessity or charity," as affecting the liability of corporations +plainly shown to be negligent in the performance of their duties to +others; but many such cases soon arose. + +In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or charity ... that it comprehends +all acts which it is morally fit and proper should be done on the +Sabbath may itself require some explanation. To save life, or prevent +or relieve suffering; to prepare useful food for man and beast, to save +property, as in case of fire, flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the bay, or birds on the shore, +happened to be uncommonly abundant on the Lord's day, it is equally +clear that it would furnish no excuse for fishing or shooting on that +day. How it would be if a whale happened to be stranded on the shore we +need not determine." It is needless to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon the coast. + +In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., 109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting in Malden, and counsel for +defendant maintained that the meeting was attended for idolatry and +jugglery, and while it might be the right of the plaintiff to be an +idolater and to attend shows, yet she could not do so in violation of +the Statute, which was intended to protect the conscience of the +majority of the people from being offended upon the Lord's day. But the +Court ruled that it could not be said as matter of law that travelling +for such a purpose was not within the exception, and that it must be +left to the jury to say if the plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience. + +In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, the court held that it was not a +violation of the law to hire a horse and drive to a neighboring town to +attend the funeral of plaintiff's brother. + +But it was held in a later case that plaintiff, who had been to a +funeral on the Lord's day and was returning therefrom by a somewhat +_circuitous_ route for the purpose of calling upon a relative, was not +entitled to recover for damages sustained by reason of a defect in the +highway. This was the opinion of a divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of "necessity or charity" has been +a close one. + +Such are a few of the interesting cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally framed in 1636, and which +still makes it a criminal offence punishable by a fine of ten dollars to +walk or ride upon the Lord's day, save from necessity or charity, while +our cities furnish free concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement under the guise of "sacred" concerts, upon +the day which our fathers thought and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life ... and for public and +private worship of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world. + + * * * * * + +ELIZABETH. + +A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. + +BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STAB IN THE BACK. + + +A brighter morning for a wedding never dawned. The house was alive with +merry voices and the echo of footsteps hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to be present at the ceremony which +was to take place at noon. Then would come the festivities, the feast, +the dancing, and after that the drive of the newly-married pair to the +beautiful house three miles away, that Stephen Archdale had built and +furnished for his bride, and that had never yet been a home. + +Before the appointed hour the guests began to arrive and to fill the +great drawing-room. There each one on entering walked toward the huge +fire-place, in which on an immense bed of coals glowing with a +brilliancy that outshone the rich red furniture and hangings of the room +lay great logs, which blazed in their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from the heat that did not escape up +the chimney. The rich attire of the guests could bear the bright +sunlight that streamed in through the numberless little panes of the +windows, and the gay colors that they wore showed off well against the +dark wainscotting of the room and its antique tapestries. The ladies +were gorgeous in silks and velvets which were well displayed over +enormous hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered hair was built +up in a tower nearly a foot in height, were flowers or feathers. +Precious stones fastened the folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements of fans that, however +discreetly waved, betrayed their trappings once in a while by some +coquettish tremulousness. The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, or diamond shoe buckles, +powdered wigs and queues, and with ruffles of the richest lace about +their wrists. These guests, who were among the people that in +themselves, or their descendants, were destined to give the world a new +nation, strong and free, showed all that regard to the details of +fashion said to characterize incipient decay in races. But with them it +was only an accessory of position, everything was on a foundation of +reality, it all represented a substantial wealth displaying itself +without effort. The Sherburnes were there, the Atkinsons, the +Pickerings, Governor Wentworth, the first of the Governors after New +Hampshire separated from Massachusetts and went into business for +itself, and others of the Wentworth family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already proved that the heart of a strong +man beat under his laced coat. His wife, well-born and fine-looking, was +beside him, and his son, fresh from College honors, and sipping eagerly +the sparkling draught of life that was to be over for him so soon; his +daughter also, last year a bride, and her husband. These were leaders in +that brilliant assembly called together to the marriage of Katie and +Stephen Archdale. + +While waiting for the event of the morning they talked in low tones +among themselves of the wedding, or more audibly, of personal, or of +political affairs. + +"It wants only ten minutes of the hour," said one lady, "perhaps our +good parson may not come this morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked her companion. + +"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, will lock his study door upon him as +she did one Sabbath when we all went to the house of God and found the +pulpit empty. There's no end to all the malicious tricks she plays him. +Poor, good man." + +"Do you know," said a beruffled gentleman in another part of the room to +his next neighbor, "what a preposterous proposal that ragged fellow, +Bill Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth last week? He is a +good-for-nothing, and the whole scheme is thought to have been merely a +plan to talk with the Governor, whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine house, and he stalked about there +an hour looking at the pictures and the splendid furniture while its +owner was taking an airing. The general opinion is that the object of +his visit was accomplished before his Excellency's return." + +"Poor fellow! One can't blame him so very much," returned the listener +with a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted snuff-box to the +speaker before helping himself generously from it. "But what was his +scheme?" + +"Something the most absurd you ever listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish a public coach from this +city to Boston, to run as often as once a week, and, after the first +expense, to support itself from the travellers it carries; each one is +to pay a few shillings. Where did he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other than private conveyances?" And +these representatives of conservatism threw back their heads and laughed +over the absurdity of the lightning express in embryo. Governor +Wentworth standing before the fire was commenting on some of Governor +Shirley's measures, giving his own judgment on the matter, with a +directness more bold than wise, and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that Americans have always used in +political affairs, when a stir of expectation behind them made them take +breath, and glance at the person entering the room. It was the minister. + +"He has come, you see," whispered the lady to her neighbor of the +forebodings. After greeting him, the group about the fire went back to +their discussions. It had been the good parson's horse then, which they +had heard tearing up the road in hot haste; they had not dreamed that so +much speed was in the nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably a little +late and had been afraid of keeping the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; all the company, indeed, but +the four members of it most important that morning, Katie and Stephen, +the bridesmaid, Mistress Royal, and the best man, a young friend of +Archdale's. After a few moments in which conversation lagged through +expectancy, the door opened again. + +"Ah! here they are. No, only one, alone. How strange!" + +Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under which she was acting to see +anything about her. Without sign of recognition she glanced from one to +another, until her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff watching her +with a gentle wonder in his face. It was for him that she had been +looking. She went up to him immediately, and laid a tremulous hand upon +his arm. She tried to smile, but the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself through the assembly; it was felt +that her presence here alone showed that something had happened, and her +expression, that it was something bad. She did not seem even to hear the +minister's kind greeting, and she was as little moved by the wonder and +scrutiny about her as if she had been alone with him. At Mistress +Archdale's reiterated question if Katie were ill, she shook her head in +silence. Some thought held her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak. + +"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, "but it must be only a jest. +The man's horse is blown, he came so fast. And he insisted on seeing me +and would give this only into my own hands; his message was that it was +life and death, that I must read it at once before the--" She stopped +with a shudder, and held out a paper that she had been grasping; it was +crumpled by the tightening of her fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the minister looked toward the door, +and listened. "You must read it now, this instant, before they come in," +cried Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don't dare not to have you; and +tell me that it has no power, it is only a wicked jest; and throw it +into the fire. Oh, quick, be quick." + +Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper with the haste of age, youth's +deliberateness, and began to read at last. At the same instant a hand +outside was laid on the latch of the door. The room was in a breathless +hush. The door was swung slowly open by a servant and the bride and +bridegroom came in, stopping just beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering face waited for her to come to +her place. But the minister, not glancing up, went sternly on with the +paper; and Elizabeth's gaze was fixed on his face; she had drawn a step +away from him; and her hands were pressed over one another. All at once +he uttered an exclamation of dismay, and turned to her, a dread coming +into his face as he met her eyes. + +"What does it mean?" he gasped. "Heaven help us, is it true?" + +"Oh, it can't be, it can't be," she cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you've seen that it must be all false. Give it +to me. Look, they are coming," she entreated. "Think of her, be ready +for them. Oh, burn this. Can't you? Can't you?" and her eyes devoured +him in an agony of pleading. + +"Stop!" he said, drawing back his hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of it +true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? Was that all so?" + +"Yes." + +By this time the scene had become very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and groom had indeed gone across the room +and were standing before the minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin the ceremony, stood with his eyes +on the paper, his face more and more pale and perplexed. + +"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, laying a hand on his shoulder. + +"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked the Colonel, advancing toward the +minister, and showing his irritation by his frown, his flush, and the +abruptness of his speech usually so suave. + +"I hardly know myself," returned Shurtleff looking from one to the +other. + +"Let us have the ceremony at once, then," said Master Archdale +authoritatively. "Why should we delay?" + +"I cannot, until I have looked into this," answered the minister in a +respectful tone. + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with an authority that few contested. +"Proceed at once." + +"I cannot," repeated the minister, and his quiet voice had in it the +firmness, almost obstinacy, that often characterizes gentle people. His +opposition had seemed so disproportioned and was so gently uttered that +the hearers had felt as if a breath must blow it away, and interest +heightened to intense excitement when it proved invincible. + +"What is all this?" demanded Stephen, holding Katie's arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff with eyes of indignant +protest. As he received no immediate answer, he turned to Elizabeth. +"Mistress Royal," he said, "can you explain this unseemly interruption?" + +Then all the company, who for the moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her again. + +"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," she said, looking at him +an instant with a wildness of pain in her eyes. Then she turned to +Katie's fair, pale face full of wonder and distress at the unguessed +obstacle, and with a smothered cry dropped her face in her hands, and +stood motionless and unheeded in the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak. + +"You ask me," he said, "why I do not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts love has united. I do not dare to do +it until I understand the meaning of this strange paper I hold in my +hand. What do you remember," he said to Stephen, "of a singular game of +a wedding ceremony played one evening last summer?" + +The young man looked uncomprehending for a moment, then drew his breath +sharply. + +"That?" he said, "Why, that was only to give an example of something we +were talking about; that was nothing. Mistress,"--he stopped and glanced +at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, was hanging upon every word of his +denial as if it were music--"Mistress Royal knows that was so." + +"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do." + +"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, "it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded treatment of serious matters +must be. I hope with all my heart that a moment's frivolity will not +have life-long consequences of sorrow, but I cannot proceed in this +happy ceremony that I have been called here to perform until the point +is settled beyond dispute." + +"See how habit rules him like a second nature," whispered Colonel +Pepperrell aside to the Governor. "Nobody but a minister would stop to +give a homily with those poor creatures before him in an agony of +suspense." + +"My dear," said his wife softly in a tone of reproof, laying her hand +warningly on his arm. + +"Stephen Archdale isn't the man to stand this," retorted the Governor in +a higher key than he realized. But the words did not reach their object, +for he had already laid hold of the paper in Mr. Shurtleffs hand. + +"If this paper explains your conduct, give it to me," he said haughtily. + +The other drew back. + +"I will read it to you and to the company," he answered. "There can be +no wedding this morning. I trust there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter." + +Katie, whose face had grown rigid, swung heavily against Stephen. "She +has fainted," her mother cried coming forward. + +"Take her away," commanded the Colonel. "This is no place for her." But +the girl clung to Stephen. + +"I will stay," she said, with a tearless sob. "I must listen. I see it +all, and what he meant, too, that evil man." + +"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, "I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in your hand tells us the cause of +your refusal to marry these young people, I bid you read it to us +immediately." + +The parson, bowing with respect, cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth's commands had been his own intention from the +first. + +"It is a confession," he said, "made by one whom many of us have +welcomed to our homes as a gentleman of blameless character and +honorable dealing. Why it was sent to Mistress Royal instead of to +Master Archdale, or the bride, I am at a loss to understand." + +Elizabeth raised her head with a flash in her eyes, but anger died away +into despair, and she stood silent with the others, and listened to the +fate that fell upon her with those monotonous tones, each one heavy as +lead upon her heart. She wondered if it had been sent to her because it +had been feared that Stephen Archdale would keep silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFESSION. + + +"I write without knowing to whom I am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they will surely not grant it to me. +I don't know even that I can crave it of Heaven, for I have played with +sacred things, and used a power given me for good, in an evil way, to +further my own devices, and, after all, I have not furthered them. I am +a man loving and unloved, one who has perhaps thrown away his soul on +the chance of winning earthly joy,--but such joy,--and has lost it. If +any have ever done like me, let them pity and pardon. I appeal to them +for compassion. I shall receive it nowhere else, unless it be possible, +that the one for love of whom I have done the wrong will out of the +kindness of her heart spare me by and by a thought of pity for what was +the suggestion of a moment and acted on--" + +"Skip all that maundering," interrupted Stephen. "To the point. Who is +this man, and what has he done? Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don't us." + +"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge better of the case, and of the +writer's truthfulness." + +"Yes, you are right," answered the young man pressing Katie's arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to his impatience and his +defiance. + +"And acted on without premeditation," resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to this worthy city of +Portsmouth with letters of introduction to Master Archdale, and others, +I met the beautiful Mistress Archdale. From the first hour my fate was +sealed; I loved her as only a man of strong and deep emotions can love, +with a very different feeling from the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved that they ceased troubling me, +even with their presence at her side. Among the others were only two +worthy of attention, and only one whom I feared. I was reticent and +watched; it was too soon to speak. But as I watched my fear of that one +increased, for age, association, a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me his possibilities of success. With +that rival out of my path, my way to victory was clear. There came a day +when, without lifting my finger against him, I could effectually remove +him. I did it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation rushed upon me +suddenly with overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, for opposite +me sat Katie, more beautiful and lovable than ever, and beside her was +my rival, her cousin, with an air of security and satisfaction that +aroused the evil in me. It was August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale's suggestion had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be about a runaway match, and interested the +young people so much, that when I had finished they asked several +questions; one was in reference to a remark of mine, innocently made, +that the marriage ceremony itself, pure and simple, was something +unimaginably short. The story I had told illustrated this, and some of +the party asked me more particularly as to what the form was. Then I saw +my opportunity, and I took it. 'If one of the young ladies will permit +Master Archdale to take her hand a moment,' I said, 'I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how short the formula may be.' +Master Archdale was for holding Katie's hand, but happily, as it seemed +to me at the moment, she was on the wrong side. I requested him to take +the lady on the other hand, who seemed a trifle unready for the jest, +but was induced by the entreaties of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through the marriage service over them as +rapidly as I dared, my voice sounding to myself thick with the beating +of my heart. But no one noticed this; of course, it was all fun. And so +that summer evening, all in fun, except on my part, Stephen Archdale and +Elizabeth Royal were made man and wife, as fast as marriage vows could +make them. Nothing was omitted that would make the ceremony binding and +legal, not even its performance by a clergyman of the Church of +England." + +A cry of rage and despair interrupted the reader. But he went on +directly. + +"No one in America knew that I had been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my brother died and I inherited my +grandfather's property, I resigned my pastorate at once. This act shows +how unfit for it I was. But whatever my grief may be, my conscience +commands me to forbid this present marriage, and to declare with all +solemnity, that Stephen Archdale already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my letter, believed herself still +Mistres Royal." + +A burst of amazement and indignation, that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and voices expressed consternation. To +this confession had been added names and dates, the year of the writer's +entrance into the ministry, the time and place of his brief pastorate, +everything that was necessary to give his statement a reliable air, and +to verify it if one chose to do so. It was evident that there could be +no wedding that morning, and as the truth of the story impressed itself, +more and more upon the minds of the audience, a fear spread lest there +could be no wedding at all, such as they had been called together to +witness. For, if this amusement should turn out to have been a real +marriage, what help was there? It was in the days when amusements were +viewed seriously and were readily imagined to lead to fatal +consequences. Had Stephen Archdale really married? The people in the +drawing-room that December morning were able men and women, they were +among the best representatives of their time, an age that America will +always be proud of, but they held marriage vows so sacred, that even +made in jest there seemed to be a weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in waiting feared, for their part in +life was to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, that these +qualities flowing through mighty channels should conquer physical +strength and found a nation. To do a thing because it was pleasant was +no part of their creed,--although, even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice. + +That winter morning, therefore, the guests were ready to inveigh against +the sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all would be well, and to +shake their heads mournfully. + +"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so much, and trusted him so much. I +knew he loved my little girl, but I thought it was with an honorable +love that would rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot be true. We +must wait. But matters will come right at last." + +"Yes," assented the Colonel across whose face an incomprehensible +expression had passed more than once during the reading; "it will all +come right. We must make it so." + +A hum of conversation went on in the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, or if not near enough to them +for that, spoken to the first who were patient enough to listen instead +of themselves talking. + +In the midst of it all Stephen raised his head, for he had been bending +over Katie who still clung to him, and asked when the next ship left for +England. + +"In about three weeks," answered Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out +a person competent to make full inquiries; the matter shall be sifted." + +"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I shall make the necessary inquiries +myself, it will be doing something, and I may find the man. We need that +he should be found, Katie and I." + +Elizabeth drew back still more; some flash of feeling made the blood +come hotly to her face for a moment, then fade away again. + +Katie looked up, turned her eyes slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought. + +"Go, Stephen, since you will feel better," she said, "but it's of no +use, I am sure. I understand now something Master Harwin said to me when +he left me. I did not know then what he meant. He has taken you away +from me forever." And with a sob, again she hid her face upon his +shoulder. Then, slowly drawing away from him, she turned to Elizabeth, +and in her eyes was something of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed. + +"How could you," she said, "how could you consent to do it?" + +She had drawn toward Elizabeth every gaze and every thought in the room; +she had pointed out the substitute on whom might be emptied those vials +of wrath that the proper object of them had taken care to escape. +Elizabeth heard on all sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how could she +do it, how could she consent to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, and +herself alone, as it seemed, made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed to grow, and widen, and widen, +like the circles of water into which a stone is thrown, and she was +condemned by her friends, by the people who had known her and her +father, condemned as false to her friendship, as unwomanly. Katie she +could forgive on account of her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never dreamed of. These whispers that +her imagination multiplied seemed to roar in her ears. But innocence and +pride kept her erect, and at last made her raise her eyes which had +fallen and grown dim under the blow of Katie's words. She swept them +slowly around the room, turning her head slightly to do it. Not a look +of sympathy met her. Then, in the pain, a power awoke within her. + +"It is no less a disaster to me," she said. Her words fell with the +weight of truth. She had kept back her pain, no one thought of pitying +her as Katie was pitied, but she was vindicated. + +"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" asked Madam Pepperrell in a low +tone of Governor Wentworth at her elbow. + +"It is not probable she loves him much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl's haughty face. "I don't envy her, on the whole, I don't envy +either of them." By George, madam, it _is_ hard." + +"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, whose glance, having more +penetration, had at last brought a look of sympathy to his face. "Let us +go up to the poor thing, she stands so alone, and I'm not clear that she +has not the worst of it." + +"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned his wife as they moved forward. But +before they could reach her, being stopped by several who spoke to them, +there was a change in the group in that part of the room. Katie had +fallen, and there was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen stooped over +her, lifted her tenderly, and carried her from the room. He was followed +by Mistress Archdale and his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth their +eyes met, his glowed with a sullen rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of scorn, as she looked at him it +seemed to her that every fibre of his being was rejecting her. "You!" he +seemed to be saying with contemptuous emphasis. In answer her eyes +filled him with their haughtiness, they and the scornful curl of her +lip, as she stood motionless waiting for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion that he should pass near +her at all. He still saw her face as he bent over Katie. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + * * * * * + +GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. + +BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D. + + +It is not often that a Governor's objections to a measure, which his +veto has defeated, become, even indirectly, the subject of judicial +consideration. Such, however, has been the experience of Governor +Cleveland in connection with his veto of the appropriation, which was +made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a constitutional lawyer, to see the +principles of that veto entirely approved by all the judges of the Court +of Appeals, as well as by all the judges by whom those principles were +considered, before the case, in which they were involved, reached that +august tribunal, the highest in the judicial system of that State. + +By an amendment to the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1874, it is +provided that, "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be +given, or loaned to, or in aid of, any association, corporation, or +private undertaking." + +It would hardly seem possible to mistake the meaning of a prohibition +like this; but this prohibition is accompanied by the following +modification: "This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature +from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, +the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, now held by the State for +educational purposes." + +The question, how far this qualifying clause limits the proceeding +prohibition, arose first in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in +the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd's Fold of the +Protestant Episcopal Church _vs_. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of +the City of New York.[A] The Attorney-General of the State had given an +official opinion, tending to the conclusion that the prohibition is +almost entirely neutralized by the modification. The Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this case in either court, +differed widely upon the question, whether money raised by local +taxation by the City of New York, under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of the Shepherd's Fold, was, or was +not, "money of the State," and therefore included in the terms of this +prohibition; and when one sees how much is done in the discussions of +the able counsel before the Court of final resort, and by the learned +opinion of Judge Rapello, to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had a similar Court of Appeals, to +revise and clarify the decisions of her Supreme Court. About twenty-five +per cent, of all the decisions of the General Terms of the Supreme +Court, Superior Court, and Court of Common Pleas, which are carried to +the Court of Appeals, are there reversed; and can any lawyer doubt that, +at least, as large a proportion of the decisions of our Supreme Judicial +Court ought also to be revised and reversed? + +[Footnote A: See 10 Daly's Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. 137.] + +The Court of Appeals says: "It seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference to money raised by general +taxation throughout the State, or revenues of the State, or money +otherwise belonging to the State treasury, or payable out of it." + +The money claimed by the Shepherd's Fold being raised by local taxation +for a local purpose in the city of New York, and not "by general +taxation throughout the State," the Court of Appeals holds that it is +not within the terms of the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on that particular +point, while agreeing with it on the main question. + +As the money, appropriated to the Roman Catholic Protectory, was +unquestionably money of the State, "being raised by general taxation +throughout the State," that appropriation was unquestionably in conflict +with the prohibition of the Constitution, which the Governor was sworn +to support. + +Of the courage and independence displayed by Governor Cleveland in thus +vetoing a measure in which so large a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an interest, this is not the place to +speak. But it is creditable to him as a lawyer that alone without a +single precedent to guide him, relying upon his own judicial sense, and +rejecting the opinion of a former Attorney-General, he challenged "the +validity of this appropriation under that section of the Constitution." +The Protectory, he says, "appears to be local in its purposes and +operations." And being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public funds +should not be contributed to its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject the state treasury to demands in +behalf of all sorts of sectarian institutions, which a due care for the +money of the State, and a just economy, could not concede." + +In the higher and broader field of public service--"the grandest throne +on earth"--as the Presidency which he is about to enter, has been +grandiloquently called, let us hope that he will display the same +honesty, capability, and fidelity to the Constitution. We shall then be +assured that the interests of the Republic will suffer no detriment at +his hands. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 14131.txt or 14131.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/3/14131/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee9ab0e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14131 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14131) diff --git a/old/14131-8.txt b/old/14131-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fc909a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14131-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4130 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Illustration: Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. + +B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. II. + +JANUARY, 1885. + +No. 4. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON. + +BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M. + +[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.] + + +His Excellency George D. Robinson, at present the foremost citizen of +Massachusetts, by reason of his incumbency of the highest office in the +Commonwealth, is the thirtieth in the line of succession of the men who +have held the office of Governor under the Constitution. In character, +in ability, in education, and in those things generally which mark the +representative citizen of New England, he is a worthy successor of the +best men who have been called to the Chief Magistracy. His public career +has been marked by dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; his life as +a private citizen has been such as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man in whom the people who confer +honor upon him find themselves also honored. He is a native of the +Commonwealth, of whose laws he is the chief administrator, and comes of +that sturdy stock which wresting a new country from savagery, fostered +with patient industry the germs of civilization it had planted, and +aided in developing into a nation the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed and existing by and with the +consent of the people. His ancestors were probably of that Saxon race +which for centuries stood up against the encroachments of Norman kings +and nobles, which was led with willingness into the battle, the siege or +the crusade that meant the maintenance or advancement of old England's +honor, or in the cause of mother Church, and which was possessed of that +brave, independent spirit that, when the old home was felt to be too +narrow an abode, sought a new-country in which to plant and develop its +ideas of what government should be. However this may be it is certain +that from the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the +family was always represented among the most honorable of its yeomanry, +and among its members were pillars of both Church and State. His +immediate ancestors, people of the historic town of Lexington, were +active citizens in the Revolutionary period, and in the great struggle +members of the family were among those who did brave and effective +service in the cause of liberty. + +George Dexter Robinson was born in Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born on +a farm, his boyhood and youth were spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor exercise and labor which are +part of the life of the farmer's boy. But the future Governor did not +intend to devote himself to farming. With the aim of obtaining a +collegiate education he attended the Academy in his native town, and +followed his studies there by further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering Harvard University he was +graduated at that institution in 1856, and receiving an appointment as +Principal of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he accepted it, +filling the position with success during a period of nine years. He +retired from it in 1865. Meanwhile he had devoted much time to legal +studies, which he continued more fully during the next few months, and +in 1866 he was admitted to the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the town +wherein his active career in life had begun, he made his permanent home, +and with the various interests of that town he identified himself +closely and pleasantly, exemplifying in many ways the character of a +true townsman, and associating himself with every movement for the good +of his fellow citizens. In 1873 he was elected to represent the town the +ensuing year in the State Legislature, and as a member of the House he +was noted for the promptness and fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he was a member of the State Senate, +and here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous ability as a +legislator in addition to that fidelity to his responsibilities which +had long been characteristic of him in any and all positions. His +qualifications for public life received still wider recognition the year +he served in the Senate, and he was nominated by the Republicans of the +old Eleventh District as Representative in Congress. He was re-elected +for two successive terms, and after the re-apportionment was elected +from the new Twelfth District in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in order to assist in the +organization of the new Congress, and, after that work was accomplished, +resigned to enter upon the duties entrusted to him by the people of the +whole Commonwealth. He had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. Of his career in Washington +it would not be possible to give a better summary than one given by +"Webb," the able Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal, which +is here given in its entirety: + +Mr. Robinson took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, which met in +extra session, in October, 1877. He was prompt in his seat on the first +day of the first session. Regularity in attendance, and constant +attention to public business, have been characteristics of Mr. +Robinson's Congressional career. He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until the House adjourns at night. He +does not spend his time in importuning the departments for clerkships, +but he welcomes the civil service law. He does not take the public time, +which belongs to his constituents, for his private practice in the +United States Supreme Court. He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in discovering, and vigorous in denouncing +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the people's money and has never cast +his vote for an extravagant expenditure; but he does not oppose an +appropriation to gain a reputation for economy, or aspire to secure the +title of "watch dog of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts of a +demagogue. + +When he entered Congress, he went there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority in parliamentary law, and is one +of the ablest presiding officers in Congress. + +In the Congress which he first entered the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father's house, and come to stay." Mr. Randall was +elected Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one of the minor standing +committees--that of Expenditures in the Department of Justice--and +subsequently placed him near the foot of the list on the Special +Committee on the Mississippi Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it was discovered that where +"McGregor sits is the head of the table." Mr. Robinson, at the extra +session of the Forty-fifth Congress, took little active part in the +public proceedings. He was a student of Congressional rules and +practice. + +At the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress he began to actively +participate in the debates, and from the outset endeavored to secure a +much needed reform in Congressional proceedings. He always insisted +that, in the discussion of important questions, order should be +maintained. He followed every important bill in detail, and the +questions which he directed to those who had these bills in charge +showed that he had made himself a master of the subject. He took +occasion to revise upon the floor many of the calculations of the +Appropriations Committee, and to urge the necessity of the most rigid +economy consistent with proper administration. + +It was at the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, +1879, that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable speech. It was upon +the bill relative to the improvement of the Mississippi River. He was +very deeply impressed with the magnitude of the problems presented by +that great river, and, while he was willing that the public money should +be wisely expended for the improvement of the 'Father of Waters,' he did +not wish that Congress should be committed to any special plan which +might prove to be part of a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which this first speech was listened to, +and the endless questions with which the Southern men who favored +absolutely the levee system plied him, showed that they understood that +great weight would be given to Mr. Robinson's opinion, and that they did +not wish him to declare, unconditionally, against their cause. The +speech was a broad and liberal one, but extremely just. It had been +intimated in the course of the debate that Eastern members, who did not +favor the improvement of the river, refused to do so on account of a +narrow provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed them that New England is both +just and generous, and that the country is so united that a substantial +benefit to any portion of it cannot be an injury to another. He made +some keen thrusts at the Southern State rights advocates, who were so +eager for the old flag and an appropriation, and he reminded them that +whatever might be thought of the dogma of State sovereignty, "the great +old river is regardless of State lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee in Arkansas, over it goes into +Louisiana, spreading devastation in its course." Mr. Robinson insisted +that "Congress has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of the public +treasury immediately without investigating a theory and a plan which +proposes to render such an expenditure wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible safe-guards should be provided +against any extravagant expenditure on the part of the Government. The +relations of New England to such an undertaking he thus broadly stated: + +"I am not deterred by any considerations that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from the great cities on the Atlantic +shore. I am willing that the whole country shall be improved and opened +for its best and most profitable occupation. This territory, whose +interests are affected by this, is greater than the whole of New +England. I am not afraid that whatever improvements may be made there +New England will be left out in the cold. Whatever conduces to the +prosperity of the West or South will benefit the East and North. We are +parts of one great whole, and, if it is necessary under a proper policy +to spend some money from the Treasury of the United States to meet the +wants of those States lying along the Mississippi River, I hope it will +not be begrudged to them, but it should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the plans, have received a careful +consideration and the indorsement of the proper officers." + +At the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his +minor place on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of +Justice, introduced a bill relative to the mileage of United States +Marshals, which proposed an important reform. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the first session, Mr. Robinson, on +account of the marked abilities which he had shown as a lawyer and a +debater, was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee, a position +which he held through the Forty-sixth Congress with honor to his +district and his State. From the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress Mr. +Robinson, to the great surprise of many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took front rank as a debater on +points of order, and showed that his months of silent observation and of +earnest study had brought their fruit. His discussion of points of order +and of the rules was always characterized by good sense. He did not seek +to befog a question by an extensive quotation of authorities. He +endeavored to strip the rules of their technicalities and to apply to +them the principle of common sense. Sometimes, however, he was almost in +despair, and once in the course of an intricate discussion he exclaimed +(March 28, 1879): "If there is a standing and clear rule that guides the +Chair, I have not yet found it." + +At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support of an amendment to the +"Culbertson Court bill," which was designed to limit the jurisdiction of +the United States courts. Some of the strongest advocates of this +amendment were men who, although living in Northern States, were +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since the war, have been continuously +aggressive in their efforts to place limitations upon national power. +Mr. Robinson was a member of the Judiciary Committee and spoke upon the +bill. His speech upon this measure attracted more attention than any +speech he had delivered before that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so interested in it that, although the +debate was running in the valuable time of the morning hour, Mr. +Robinson, on motion of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, after the +expiration of his time, was requested to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of the federal courts. A few +extracts from the general parts of this speech furnish an excellent +illustration of the abilities of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He spoke as the son of a Jackson +Democrat would be likely to speak. He vigorously opposed the increase in +the limit from $500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern and Western +Democrats. + +After quoting the opinions of Chief Justices Story and Marshall to show +that the right of Congress to establish federal courts could not be +denied without defeating the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional provisions give to +the citizens of the different States their rights in the federal courts. +I say again, it is not within the constitutional power of Congress to +make discriminations as to citizens in this matter. It has been taken as +settled that the corporations of the States for purposes of jurisdiction +are citizens of the States in which they are created. Can you +discriminate? Why, in the famous Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro was not a citizen within the +meaning of the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in the Circuit Court of +the United States. The nation paused and held its breath, and never +recovered itself until after the bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that no such doctrine should ever be +repeated in this country. If Congress can exclude the citizens of a +locality, or the citizens of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain classes of wealth or industry, +surely it can exclude any other citizens. If you can, in this bill and +under our Constitution, declare that the citizens, or any portion of +them, in this country, because they act in their corporate capacity, +shall lose their rights in the federal courts, it is but the next step +to legislate that the man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in the +manufacture of cotton, or of woolen goods, or is banker, or 'bloated +bond-holder,' shall not have any rights in the federal courts. There is +no step between them. There may be a discrimination as to +subject-matter, but not as to citizens. The distinction is very broad, +and in recognition of it my argument is made." In the discussion of the +apportionment at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, Mr. Robinson +eloquently defended the honor of Massachusetts against the aspersions +which had been cast upon the Commonwealth by General Butler in his brief +as attorney in the Boynton-Loring contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this brief and suggested that if it were +true the representation of Massachusetts should be curtailed. Mr. +Robinson entered into an explanation of the reading and writing +qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts. As General Butler was the +assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson said: + +"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the +debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this +House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this +speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the +Chairman of this Census Committee. He says: + +"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant +white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the +Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and +write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke +and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write +before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that +rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes +there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would +thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that +voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more +safe than now." + +After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows: + +"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that +State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first +learn to read and write. Near to every man's dwelling stands a public +free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These +school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced. + +* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some +time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the +law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of +the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania +we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the +communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that +representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or +because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring +residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the +same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these +prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of +the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and +conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he +cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a +particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has +been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out +that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove +his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, +indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his +residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the +other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in +accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true +policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The +Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of +the man's control." + +In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh +Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which +commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the +contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our +rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for +resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as +that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our +Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one +of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the +consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said: + +"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and +proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is +tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, +unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have +fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this +Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend +some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the +word tyranny." + +To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority +to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would +lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by +some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were +confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the +rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. +But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a +Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to +adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that +we are in that pitiable plight?" + +On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to +express his views in this manner: + +"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We +have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a +chance to do something. + +"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated +officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made +haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, +to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own +retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of +this country. + +"I hear some gentlemen say, 'Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does +not reform enough,' I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he +wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in +one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it +gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends +want." + +The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills +needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and +Harbor bill and voted to sustain the President's veto. + +The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinson's +election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His +Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who +was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive +way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had +preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an +argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year +before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be +found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious +elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in +the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, +and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his +party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further +duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series +of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any +previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive +speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his +arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready +wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it +exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, +and with questions in general connected with the interests of the +Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves +to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He +entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and +during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of +political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties +were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official +business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social +requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, +dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all +kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social +relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the +election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for +Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor +Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, +compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen +both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and +though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is +one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the +strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Oliver Ames] + +OLIVER AMES. + +By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M. + +[Editor of the Boston Traveller]. + + +The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, +are a representative New England family. Their history forms an +honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in +its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the +poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, +as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and +believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled +with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such +service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury +box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the +Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually +one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were +accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously +performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor +or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored +subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. +Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and +so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their +neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As +their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for +the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and +enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises +became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of +prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in +recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a +railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of +the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of +the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became +prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William +Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for conscience's sake +forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not +only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. +Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither +of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of +Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for conscience's +sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were +the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. +The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them +descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + +The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, +Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in +Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John +Ames, who settled in Bridgewater. + +John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in +Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir +he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the +grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723. + +Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward. + +Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774. + +Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was +born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause +service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in +existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels +in 1775. + +Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was +born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant +of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he +removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on +his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, +Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for +the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods +from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and +flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during +the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every +opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of +transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and +Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions. + +Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated +by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew +into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the +factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons +of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and +thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment +had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace +with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters +of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels. + +It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes +Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance +and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable +obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the +Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder +of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand +as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the +Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd +and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National +House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873. + +Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot +note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his +native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five +years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. +At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough +scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, +placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. +The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen +from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and +political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned +to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the +same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several +inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge +of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in +the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the +State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, +and for several years personally superintended the various departments +of the firm's immense establishment at North Easton. At his father's +death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved +on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a +large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, +national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 +Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. +With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton +this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages +of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active +interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political +service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, +as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. +As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the +working members of the body. He served during each year of his +membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he +received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the +ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate +for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General +Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not +too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his +Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political +year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing +the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to +the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State +election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now +entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business +life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by +the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful +performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large +wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in +no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow +citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has +exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his +own. + +It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver Ames has won his widest +reputation. Upon the death of his father the management of the vast +enterprises which the later had controlled, suddenly devolved upon him. +The greatness of the man showed itself in that he found himself equal to +the emergency. The Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he took upon his +shoulders its settlement, not only one in which immense and diversified +interests were involved, scattered throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with obligations to the extent of eight +millions of dollars. The times were most unpropitious, the country being +just on the eve of a great financial panic when immense properties were +crumbling to pittances. He undertook the Herculean task of rescuing at +this time this estate from threatened ruin, and of vindicating the good +name of his father from undeserved censure. He had in this gigantic work +to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious railroad wreckers, and +schemers; but his thorough mental discipline united with his intensely +practical business training, and coupled with his native energy, tact, +good sense, and fertility of resources, stood him in good stead. He +inspired capitalists with confidence, money was forthcoming to further +his carefully matured plans, and the ship freighted with the fortunes of +his family, was, by his steady hand, piloted securely amidst the shoals +and quicksands of disaster, and by rocks strewn with the wrecks of +princely fortunes, to a safe anchorage. He rescued the property from +peril, met and paid the enormous indebtedness resting upon it, paid a +million of dollars or more of legacies, and had still a large surplus to +divide among the heirs. + +As a business man his sagacity seems almost intuitive. As an +illustration of this, his work in developing the Central Branch of the +Union Pacific Railroad may be instanced, a work which at the same time +gave him high rank as a railroad manager. At the time he connected +himself with the undertaking, only the first hundred miles of the road +were in running order. He first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and fully equipping it for operation. +His judgment, which at the time was somewhat questioned by other +experienced railroad managers and financiers, was fully justified by the +result, which was a complete financial success. + +One of the most impressive traits in the character of Oliver Ames is his +veneration for the memory of his distinguished father. He fully believes +that the hastily and unjustly formed verdict of censure pronounced upon +Oakes Ames, both by public opinion and by the United States House of +Representatives, will ere long be reversed, and that his memory will be +honored by the country, as it so justly deserves. Indeed he has already +had the gratification of seeing this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only remains for Congress to remove its +undeserved vote of censure, for Oakes Ames to take his appropriate and +honored place in American history. There is little doubt that Mr. Ames +will yet see this ambition of his life realized. As to this censure, +Massachusetts, where Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, has +spoken through her Legislature by the following resolution, which +unanimously passed both House and Senate in the spring of 1883: + + "Resolved, in view of the great services of Oakes Ames, + representative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional + District, for ten years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the + construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital + contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union + since the war: + + "In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused + to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so + made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement + and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-second Congress + at the close of its session; + + "And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which, upon + a review of all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable + with his condemnation, and which, throughout the whole country + recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement and his + innocence of corrupt motive or conduct; + + "Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its + gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose + and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of + the National Congress." + +The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial devotion and respect. This +village of North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames and other members of the +Ames family, as well as the seat of the extensive shovel works, deserves +more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by +this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The +old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat +appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy +yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the +firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the +welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and +well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a +gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of +architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of +the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like +cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely +struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family, +and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and +endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the +temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New +England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of +the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the +welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a +declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of +New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or +Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer +with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and +charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the +villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are +surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these +is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a +spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its +emerald setting. + +The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most marked +illustrations in this model and typical New England village; and no +small share of what has been achieved for it is due to the warm heart +and open hand of Oliver Ames. He has ever shown himself an ardent friend +of popular education, and justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For a period of twenty years he found +time, amid a multiplicity of weighty business cares, to serve upon the +School Committee of his town and to give the benefit of his experience, +judgment, and personal supervision to the promotion of the efficiency of +this one of the very fundamental of American institutions, the common +school. Oakes Ames left a fund of $50,000, the income to be used for the +benefit of the school children of North Easton village. Through the wise +thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton are among the objects of the +fondest pride of its citizens. + +Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time for the appreciative +enjoyment of the amenities and refinements of life. He posesses a +cultivated appreciation of music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable and choice collections of +paintings and statuary. Architecture has been with him a special study, +and his magnificent winter residence, recently completed on Commonwealth +Avenue, in our city of Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence would be called a palace, here it is +simply the home of a representative American citizen. Peculiarly happy +in his domestic relations his home is beautified and ennobled by the +virtues of domestic life. A generous hospitality is dispensed within its +portals, where on every hand are found the evidences of the cultured +refinement of its occupants. A tour of a few months in the Old World not +only gave Mr. Ames needed rest and relaxation from business cares, but +also furnished him with opportunities for observation which were most +judiciously improved. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton. + +In his native town he is unusually respected and beloved, and with the +working-men in his factories he enjoys an unbounded popularity. This is +but natural, since he is himself a skilled artisan, an inventive and +ingenious mechanic, familiar through a personal experience with every +detail of the work in which they are engaged. This, coupled with his +native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious manners, makes him the +model employer. + +The custodian of great wealth, he uses it in a spirit of wise +benevolence, and his public and private benefactions, while large, are +made without ostentation or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in his personal friendships, it is +little wonder that some of them now and then impulsively speak of him as +"the best man in the world." + +In the full vigor of a robust manhood, Mr. Ames attends to his vast +private business affairs, performs faithfully his official and public +duties, finds time for his favorite authors, and keeps fully abreast +with current thought and the progress of the age. His brow is yet +unwrinkled and cares rest lightly upon him. Free from the pride of +wealth, temperate, conservative, clear-headed, and distinguished for his +strong common sense, his generous, unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his trust justly win for him a +multitude of friends. + +Faithful in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party, and +in his services to his native Commonwealth, Massachusetts has reason for +a just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. His name may yet stand the +Republican party of the State in good stead in a political exigency not +unlikely to arise in the near future. Whatever may be said of the causes +of the defection from the Republican ranks which took place in the last +national campaign, there is no doubt about one of its results,--it has +driven the Republican party to seek a closer alliance with the +working-people of the Commonwealth. The Republican bolters were almost +exclusively drawn from the aristocratic end of the party. It was Harvard +and Beacon Hill that revolted. To make good the loss the Republican +leaders had to appeal for support to the same class of voters which gave +to Republican principles their first triumphs,--the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard now that Mr. Blaine is +defeated it is not likely that for many years to come, if ever, the +Republican party in Massachusetts will be able, to lean upon the immense +majorities of former years, that ran away up to sixty, seventy, and +eighty thousand. With a Democratic administration installed at +Washington, and the power and prestige which that fact will imply and +apply in the local politics of the States,--and in no State more +powerfully than in Massachusetts, where the shifting body of Independent +voters, so-called, is largely made up of the Hessian element that will +incline to whichever side has spoils to bestow,--the Republican party in +order to hold Massachusetts will have to cultivate and strengthen the +alliance which it formed in the late election with the laboring class of +voters. It will have to revert to the sympathetic and liberal policy +touching all questions that affect labor, and the welfare of the working +people of the State, which marked the earlier years of its power. The +Ames family is linked in the popular mind with that policy. And justly +so, too! Oakes Ames was a true friend to labor, as well as one of the +most practical; and the fine instinct which guided him in making of +North Easton a model industrial community, where the happiest relations +of mutual confidence and support have subsisted between employer and +employed, he bequeathed to his sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and there is no element of exaggeration +in the statement, that if all our large capitalists and manufacturers +could succeed in establishing the same rapport between themselves and +their employes which the Ameses have always maintained at North Easton, +the vexed problem of capital and labor would be solved; for there would +be no more conflict between them. Oliver Ames is held in the same high +esteem and almost affectionate regard by the working people of the Old +Colony district, where the interests of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time comes, and it is not far off, that the +Republican party in Massachusetts shall feel the necessity of getting +nearer to her common people, and, in order to retain its supremacy in +the State, of offering to their suffrages a man whose whole life has +been spent in close and friendly relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, if it shall not turn to +the present popular Lieutenant Governor, and present the name of Oliver +Ames as one well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism among the +working-classes, and certain, if presented to them, to be endorsed by a +splendid majority for the first office in the popular gift. + +[NOTE. + +GENEALOGY. + +RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England. + +I. William, who came to America and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. + +II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, married Sarah Willis +(daughter of John Willis of Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In +1672 he settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his heir in +1697. + +III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater and married in 1706 +Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, +and granddaughter of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, the latter +of whom came to America in the third ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623) + +IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard (daughter +of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] Howard, and granddaughter of John and +Martha [Haywood] Howard of Duxbury). + +V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; married in 1759 +Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died January 11, 1821). She was the +daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter of John +Howard of Duxbury and Rev. James Keith. + +VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September 11, 1863; married +in April, 1803, Susannah Angier (born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). +Dr. William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter (2), Ruth, who +came to America in 1637, and married Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose +son (3), Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of President Urian +Oakes of Harvard College. Their son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary +Bourne, granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), Oakes Angier, +a law student of President John Adams, was the father of (6) Susannah +Angier. Children: + +1. _Oakes_, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873. + +2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844. + +3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877. + +4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811. + +5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn. + +6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October 10, 1836, Nathaniel +Witherell, Jr. + +7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844. + +8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 1839, Asa Mitchell. + +VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; +died July 20, 1882). Children: + +1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829. + +2. _Oliver_, b. February 4, 1831. + +3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833. + +4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841. + +5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry W. French. + +VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, 1831; married March 14, +1860, Anna C. Ray (born January 16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children: + +1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861. + +2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863. + +3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864. + +5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870. + +6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874. + +EDITOR.] + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN] + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD. + +By FRANK W. KAAN. + + +We were changing cars about midnight at Rotterdam Junction, New York, +for the Fitchburg Railroad connection. "You might know we were near +Boston," said a passenger. "See what a comfortable car this is." "Yes," +remarked a middle-aged gentleman, "I've been away for three weeks, and I +never want to leave Boston for so long a time again." And he gave a sigh +of relief. No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles were called forth by +this innocent confession. Yet the sentiment found an echo in our hearts. +But a North Adams man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, Berkshire County +is good enough for me." The incident has a deeper meaning than appears +at first glance. + +Going westward on the Boston and Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is +reached at Chester. The rest of the way lies in a country of hills. A +pleasing prospect meets the eye in every direction. There is nothing +sublime and majestic to inspire the mind and exhilarate the spirits, but +the steadfast, sober hills and the quiet valleys in nature's soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul. + +We cross a branch of the River Housatonic, _alias_ Ousatonac, +Ausotunnoog, Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, and the train stops before +a large, handsome brick station, once the "best in the State," now +restricted to "west of Boston." A broad street on the left leads to the +park in the centre of the town. Here is the Berkshire Athenæum, with its +excellent public library, where we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by Mr. J.E.A. Smith. + +A century and a half ago an unbroken wilderness stretched between the +Hoosac and Taconic ranges. The mountains rose by steady degrees from the +hills of Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in Vermont, 4,400 feet above +the level of the sea. The valley, however, dotted with hundreds of +hills, reached its greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the foot of +Greylock, fourteen miles north of Pittsfield; thence it sloped +irregularly north and south. The forests contained deer in plenty for +fifty years longer. A few bears, with rather more wolves and Indians, +constituted the remainder of the larger movable objects of the +landscape. The soil was well fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service to settlers. + +[Illustration: LAKE ONATA.] + +This region remained uninhabited, however, for many years later than +would ordinarily have been the case; not so much from fear of hardships +or Indian troubles as on account of the uncertainty of the land tenures +which could be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason of the Royal Charter +of 1691, claimed to the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: moreover, that the western boundary +had been agreed upon for special reasons; furthermore, that her own +territory, as successor to the rights granted the Duke of York in 1674, +reached from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and western limits. In return, +attention was called to the clause in that Charter, excepting lands in +the possession of any other Christian State. Now, in consequence of the +discovery of the Hudson in 1608, the Dutch had occupied the country as +far east as the Connecticut, and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of settlement. Thus the controversy +was prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run parallel with the Hudson, +at a distance of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But about the year 1720 +it became evident that the western boundary of Connecticut would be +established in favor of that province. This arrangement, as the New York +representatives stated, was a result of the boldness of settlers in +pushing westward and occupying the district in dispute. Accordingly, +Massachusetts was encouraged to pursue a similar course, and the first +settlement on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield in 1725. The occasion +of the next advance appears to have arisen from the attention paid to +free education in Boston. That town, in 1735, because of its large +expenditures for public schools, support of poor, and contribution to +the State treasury, petitioned the General Court for a grant of three or +four townships within the "Hampshire wild lands." Three lots, each six +miles square, were given, subject to certain conditions. Within five +years, sixty Massachusetts families must be settled, each possessing a +house (at least eighteen feet square and seven stud), with five acres of +improved land. A house for public worship must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1807.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD PARSONAGE.] + +One of these townships, Poontoosuck, an Indian word, meaning "winter +deer," was bought at public auction for £1,320, by Colonel Jacob +Wendell, whose descendents have earned lasting honor for the family +name. Philip Livingston, of Albany, and John Stoddard, through older +claims, became associated with him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied with, and, after an unsuccessful +attempt to bring in Dutchmen, a company of forty settlers from Westfield +purchased and took possession of the greater part of the township. +Difficulties with the Indians soon drove them back. The first permanent +settlement was made in 1749, and three years later occurred the birthday +of the town. + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD AVENUE.] + +In May, 1761, the first town meeting was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitt, for his vigorous conduct +of the war against France. Slaves were owned by many of the citizens, +and stocks and a whipping-post were set up. Saw mills and grist mills +were in operation; fulling mills held an important position, and shortly +afterwards the production of iron became considerable. The first +meeting-house was completed in 1770. The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long House," owned by Colonel Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two pounds eight shillings, in 1762. + +In resistance to British oppression at the outbreak of the Revolution, +Berkshire County required no one to lead the way. "The popular rage," +wrote Governor Gage, "is very high in Berkshire and makes its way +rapidly to the rest." In response to the Boston Port bill cattle and +money were sent to the sufferers. Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English goods at whatever time the American Congress +should recommend such action. In August, 1774, Berkshire set the example +of obstructing the King's Courts. In the expedition for the capture of +Ticonderoga, in the invasions of Canada, and in Burgoyne's campaign, the +town and the county held a place among the foremost in efforts and +sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The recommendations of the +Continental Congress were followed out with promptness and zeal. A +similar spirit was displayed in the relations with the Provincial +Government, so far as they affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, the county +was ruled in open resistance to the civil authorities at Boston. +Although representatives were sent to the General Court, the acts of +that body were accepted merely as advice. The judicial and executive +branches of the Government were not recognized. It was maintained that +the new Government should originate from the people on the basis of a +written Constitution and bill of rights. To this end they "refused the +admission of the course of law among them," until their demands should +be complied with. Furthermore, the old Courts were objectionable as +being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling +offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the +town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting +either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to +have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the +want of civil courts was of little consequence. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] + +An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority +had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national +Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the +excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, +numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, +caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of +the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant +of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an +appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It +is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of +the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the +steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State +Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing +the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in +material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM.] + +Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and +just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An +application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a +favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small +respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in +outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the +Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when +asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that +he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a +certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of +Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." + +[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.] + +He was a firm friend of Democracy. During the revolution he was a +radical Whig, and later on became an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian +doctrines. In the second period partisan feelings were very bitter in +the community. When, therefore, he gave full freedom to his thoughts in +articles published in the Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with a +practice more prevalent then than now, mingled political subjects with +his Sunday discourses, the Federalist members of the Congregational +Church grew restive under his pastorship. At this time, it should be +noted, Berkshire differed in politics from the rest of the State. +Matters grew worse, until a division of the parish was made and +continued for seven years. Thomas Allen died in 1811, at the age of 67. + +[Illustration: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.] + +Contrary to the custom in almost every other town of the State, and +notwithstanding the statute requirements, public worship in 1809 ceased +to be supported by the town, and nearly an equality of religious sects +before the law was produced. In 1817, after the re-union of the +Congregational Churches, the parish system was revived. It should be +kept in mind that by far the larger part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its early history with that of the +town. Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the general longing for a complete +reconciliation. + +In 1821 a great revival took place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey believed it to be essential that, so far as +possible, the town should preserve a solemn quiet, and he endeavored to +substitute religious services in place of the ordinary manner of +celebrating the Fourth of July. This plan was, to a considerable number +of citizens, by no means acceptable, yet the exercises in the Church +were attended by a large and reverent congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square where the people were wont to collect on +all anniversaries. In consequence, there was a very annoying disturbance +from fire-crackers, drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the attempt to +make this national holiday quiet and serious was not repeated. Mr. +Humphrey two years later became President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational Society with the town +came to an end through the Constitutional Amendment of that year. Two +years later business was in a state of depression, and emigration went +on at a rapid rate. A missionary from the West made known the need in +that great section of Christian emigrants to help mould its character. +From the Baptist Church in one year more than a hundred members set +forth, leaving finally but three men in the Congregation. During the +first half of the century other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are now +supported by large Congregations, composed of the best citizens of the +town. + +To turn back again in the narrative of events. Of the town's record in +the war of 1812, little must be said, although much is deserved. In this +matter, as previously in others, the county, by its warm support of the +war party, showed its independence in thought and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was made a place of meeting for recruits; a +cantonment for United States troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times 1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody Ninth;" the latter was that +regiment, which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy's Lane, gained undying +fame in a gallant struggle for the enemy's cannon. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS.] + +The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to +its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an +inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on +the green under the Old Elm. Great interest was aroused, and the +importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens. +One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride +that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, +until his friends feared to meet him. At last it gave birth to a calf, +but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, +to the back pasture. The Society was organized in 1811. New features +were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were +interested to compete for premiums. The plowing match became a part of +the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward +was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, +Chairman of the committee, read his poem, "The Ploughman." Many years +before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote +an ode for the cattle show. Improved agricultural implements and better +methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by +the fairs. The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts +of the country. In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield. + +The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who +still held their early home in loving memory. Of the thousands that were +present, many were men of national reputation. Among the exercises, a +sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was +offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor +Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL BLOCK.] + +Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before. He +was born at North Adams in 1796. When seventeen years of age, after +having spent three years in learning the hatters' trade, he began the +study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he +was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He was as +true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day. +Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar +reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon +the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal +satisfaction in both countries. He was distinguished for the consistency +of his life with his religious and temperance principles. Once, it is +said, while exhorting a friend who had already entered the downward path +of immoderate drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced to promise that so long +as the other would abstain from drinking, he, himself, would give up the +use of a collar; and this agreement was kept by both parties for life. +The truth in regard to the anecdote is rather as follows: While County +Commissioner he was often obliged to make long drives, so that besides +the annoyance from wearing a collar, he found great difficulty in +replacing it when soiled. From this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the subject by an old friend, he +offered to resume his collar if the other would cease drinking gin, and +would cut off his cue. The gin and the cue carried the day. + +The Berkshire Medical Institute was established in 1822, mainly through +the exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The charter provided that degrees +should be conferred only by the President and Trustees of Williams' +College, and according to the rules in force in the school at Cambridge. +The purpose was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and +to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a +week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay +the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These +were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student +shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of +the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office +of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one +hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, +inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having +graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of +medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent +out by any college in the country. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING.] + +The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation +excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, +theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died +out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one +evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, +and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a +favorable effect. + +A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, +reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and +exercise. It had a very successful career for about eight years. +Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the +Berkshire Athenæum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and +efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin +Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the +gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenæum +was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been +under the efficient management of Mr. E.C. Hubbel, Curator and +Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual +circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost. + +The history of the public schools is in no important respect different +from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded +in 1874, and have enjoyed an excellent reputation. By far the greater +proportion of the young folks in town attend them. The system of free +text books was early adopted. The High School, under the care of an able +scholar, Mr. Edward H. Rice, has been steadily growing in favor during +the past few years. Graduates yearly enter the various colleges, and +from neighboring towns a considerable number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law. + +For the higher education of young women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss Hinsdale as principal. It has +continued ever since, usually with a lady at the head, and for the last +few years especially has done good work under Miss Salisbury. The +Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, the most noted school of education +that has ever existed in Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations is given a view of the +avenue and the chapel; behind the latter stands the meeting-house of +1793, of late years used for a gymnasium. + +About the time of Shay's Rebellion the first newspaper, the American +Sentinel, was published. It was printed on a sheet ten by eighteen +inches in size, and gave the greater portion of its space to two or +three prosy essays. Three other newspapers appeared and vanished in turn +until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield Sun was established by Phinehas +Allen. It remained in his hands for nearly three-quarters of a century, +and to this day gives its support to the Democratic party. James Harding +is the editor. The Argus was started in 1827, as a rival, by Henry K. +Strong. Four years later it was removed to Lenox, and united with the +Berkshire Journal. In 1838 the name was changed to the Massachusetts +Eagle, and soon afterwards it was brought back to Pittsfield. In 1852 it +was given the name, The Berkshire County Eagle, which it bears to-day. +Both of these papers are weeklies. The Journal is of later date, and is +issued daily. Joseph E. See is editor. In mentioning the educational +facilities of a community it would be an act of thoughtlessness to omit +its bookstores. There is but one in Pittsfield. It contains a large +supply of books, selected with judgment, and is well managed by Mr. J.B. +Harrison. + +Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty and ill health. It is +interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was +called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: "It is a +great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but +they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at +hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so +critically. There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we +have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. +The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of +its honor. Educational matters, especially, received his attention and +assistance. His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor +to his day. The "Student's Manual" is the best known of his works; the +lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well +worth reading. + +[Illustration: ON NORTH STREET.] + +The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of +its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and +was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods +usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding +horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other +markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur +Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving +machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the +country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were +produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a +season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war +demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. + +At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as +religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its +factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years +later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. +The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient +water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into +operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a +difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined +to make their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the best imported goods. +In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which +destroyed all profit. Moreover, instead of making a single class of +goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies +had to be invented. A general business knowledge did not immediately +avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest +consequence. To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in +the county. Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel +Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a +blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling +pieces to that of muskets. Large contracts with State and National +governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the +percussion guns were introduced. + +The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire +County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the +difficulty of communication with other sections of the country. For the +first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of +Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east. In 1830 the +Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield. A little +before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out. +Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a +similar enterprise. Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston +to the Hudson. One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of +1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in +length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner's data, +fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a +discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals. +For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before +actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. In the +face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought +about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. That week occurred the first +accident. An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, +and was severely injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions +of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran +from Albany to Boston. Several short local roads have since been +constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have +contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort. On the west the physical +barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads +has only diminished the inequality. New York is still the metropolis; +the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that +direction. + +In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, +and includes most of the buildings of the town. It originated from the +unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire +department, of which they, themselves, felt little need. Nevertheless, +at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money. A Chief +Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were +constituted officers. Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, +and the duties were performed by commissioners. A curious controversy, +now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the +street crossings. The fire department from the start has been sustained +by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, +George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1876.] + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in +harmony. The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the +Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness +to respond to any call from the government. On April 19, within +twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on +its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain was +Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected +State Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the +town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation +gained in former wars. A Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was organized and +has received much merited praise for its useful services. The ideal +volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett. He was a student +at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out. In April he enlisted +as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in +his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment. He was +a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men. Before the close of +the war he had been brevetted Major-general. In peace he made his +influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the +elevation of politics. + +Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned +towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who +had died on the field of battle. The result was a monument, one of the +most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose. It is placed on the +Park, a short distance from the Athenæum. A bronze statue of a +Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite +pillar. He looks earnestly into the distance. The entire effect of the +expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of +intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers. +On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the +arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth. + +On the others are two shields, engraved with the names of those in honor +of whom this memorial was erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face: + + "FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE--FOR + THE LIVING, A MEMORY--FOR + POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM + OF LOYALTY TO THE + FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY." + +On the east face: + + "WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION + OF THE SERVICES OF ALL + HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE + HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF + OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN + HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE + TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS + THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING + MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED + THAT THE NATION MIGHT + LIVE." + +At the dedication the national flags of the two political parties were +removed from the streets and with them the statue was draped. The town +was crowded with visitors, and a long procession marched through the +streets. A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches by General Bartlett and +Honorable Thomas Colt, President of the day, and an oration by George +William Curtis accompanied the unveiling. + +The four principal streets of the town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of West street is the building of the +Berkshire Life Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1851, and +has always included among its Directors and Managers the best business +men in the town and county, who naturally take great pride in it as one +of the soundest Life Insurance Companies of the country. + +In the same building are three national and one savings bank, besides +the town and other offices. Immediately beyond is Mr. Atwood's drug +store, an establishment of long standing, which would bear favorable +comparison with any similar store as regards either attention or +knowledge of a druggist's duties. Farther along the same street are +Central Block and the Academy of Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and shady horse-chestnut trees, +invite our footsteps. The dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, built in +the cottage and villa styles of architecture; many are stately edifices; +many are hospitable mansions; all show unmistakable evidence of being +comfortable homes. Scattered over the township, each springing up around +a mill or two, are miniature villages. Their population is largely made +up of foreigners, Irish and Germans, whose condition appears to be +somewhat better than that of the same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The mills, mostly small, are located +with a view to an opportunity for using water power, yet none are +without steam power as well. In the same neighborhood are the large +farms and expensive estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest class in +the community. Between the villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views which never repeat themselves or +become monotonous. The cemetery is itself one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighborhood. A massive granite gateway is being put up, +the gift of the late Thomas Allen. For a long distance the road leads +through a thick forest of maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless for a short time, birds and +squirrels show themselves in all directions, and fill his ears with the +sounds of the woods. Far away may be seen the white houses and the +church spires of the town. No resting place for the dead could be more +peaceful, more inspiring to meditation on the part of those who walk in +the light of day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all +covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of +flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving +hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it +is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: + + WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, + Brigadier General and Brevet Major General + UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. + BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, + June 6th, 1840. + DIED IN PITTSFIELD, + December 17th, 1876. + A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment. + A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation. + A Christian, strong in faith and charity, + His life was an inspiration, + His memory is a trust. + +Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not +ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was +procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on +the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before +public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where +a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take +the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real +Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an +energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the +practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character +combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and +conscience with religious sentiment. + +A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in +which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It +is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to +Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, +working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years +travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade +with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way +through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that +deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that +their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and +unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, +the examples set before them. + + * * * * * + +ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER. + +By JOSEPH B. WALKER. + + +No man has been universally great. Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited portions of their lives. +Particularly true is this remark when applied to Major Robert Rogers, +the Ranger, who, in our last French war, greatly distinguished himself +as a partisan commander, and gained as wide fame as did any other +soldier of equal rank and opportunity. + +I do not introduce him here as a saint, for, as is well known, no +quality of sanctity ever entered his composition; but rather, as the +resolute commander of resolute men, in desperate encounters with a +desperate foe; as a man eminently fitted for the rough work given him to +do. And just here and now I am reminded of a remark made in his old age +by the late Moody Kent, for a long period an able member of the New +Hampshire bar, and there the associate of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as well as of Jeremiah Mason, and +the two Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of whom he survived. Said Mr. +Kent, one day, evidently looking forward to the termination of his +career, "Could Zeke Webster have been living at my decease he would have +spoken as well of me, yes, as well of me as he could." If one can summon +to his mind and heart the kindly charity attributed to Mr. Webster, he +may, should he care for it, find a comfortable hour in the society of +this famous Ranger. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good old +Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1727.[A] At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier town, and its log houses were +the last civilized abodes which the traveller passed as he went up the +Merrimack valley on his way to Canada. It was the seed-town from which +were afterwards planted the ten or a dozen other Scotch-Irish townships +of New Hampshire.[B] It was the first to introduce and scatter abroad +Presbyterian principles and Irish potatoes over considerable sections of +this Province. + +[Footnote A: Stark's History of Dunbarton, p. 178.] + +[Footnote B: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 180.] + +Parson McGregor and his people had been in their new homes but four +years when they had ready for occupancy a log school-house, sixteen feet +long and twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in one like it, that +Robert Rogers acquired his scanty stock of "book-learning," as then +termed. But education consists in much besides book-learning, and he +supplemented his narrow stock of this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the rocks and stumps upon his father's +farm and in the hunter's camp. + +The woods, at this day, were full of game. The deer, the bear, the +moose, the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and various other wild animals +existed in great numbers. To a young man of hardy constitution, +possessed of enterprise, energy, and a fondness for forest sports, +hunting afforded not only an attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, and as a hunter, tramped +through large sections of the wilderness between the French and English +settlements. On such excursions he mingled much with the Indians, and +somewhat with the French, obtaining by such intercourse some knowledge +of their languages, of their modes of hunting, and their habits of life. +He also acquired a fondness for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, learning the portages between +their headwaters, many of the Indian trails and the general topography +of the great area just mentioned. + +During the French and Indian wars small bodies of soldiers were often +employed to "watch and ward" the frontiers, and protect their +defenceless communities from the barbarous assaults of Indians, turned +upon them from St. Francis and Crown Point. Robert Rogers had in him +just the stuff required in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, be +surprised to find him on scouting duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when he was but nineteen years of +age;[A] and, three years later, engaged in the same service, under +Captain Ebenezer Eastman, of Pennycook.[B] Six years afterwards, in +1753, the muster rolls show him to have been a member of Captain John +Goff's company, and doing like service.[C] Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique for the ranging service, in which +they were soon to be employed. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. +95.] + +[Footnote B: Same, p. 99.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 118.] + +I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in 1749, as Londonderry became filled +to overflowing with repeated immigrations from the North of Ireland, +James Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, and one of the early +settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton, +and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in +which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the +public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an +extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement, +afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich +uplands which surrounded it. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.] + +Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by +a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a +bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This +incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his +son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that +while in London, after the French war, being in company with several +persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story, +or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When +it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the +woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his +mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who +mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in +fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B] + +[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p. +240.] + +[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is +easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them. +They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven +miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and +the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and +Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills, +nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.] + +As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the +condition of things in the British Colonies and in Canada at the +beginning of this war. + +The thirteen American Colonies had, at that time, all told, of both +white and black, a population of about one million and a half of souls +(1,425,000.)[A] The French people of Canada numbered less than one +hundred thousand.[B] + +[Footnote A: Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 127.] + +[Footnote B: Encyclopedia Brittanica.] + +The respective claims to the Central part of the North American +Continent by England and France were conflicting and irreconcilable. The +former, by right of discovery, claimed all the territory upon the +Atlantic coast from New Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of numerous +grants the right to all west of this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, claimed Canada, a portion of New +England and New York, and the basins of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +together with all the territory upon the streams tributary to these, or +a large part of the indefinite West. + +To maintain her claims France had erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to +the Gulf of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, a line starting at +Louisburg, and thence running up this great river to Quebec and +Montreal, and thence up Lake Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, he will trace +the line across which the two nations looked in defiance at each other, +and see instantaneously that the claims of France were inadmissable, and +that another war was inevitable. It mattered little that of the +forty-five years immediately preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, had been years of war +between these two neighbors. They were now, after a peace of only half a +dozen years, as ready for a fresh contest as if they were to meet for +the first time upon the battle field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; of the old Church with the new; +of feudalism with democracy--a conflict which should settle the destiny +of North America, making it English and Protestant, or French and Roman +Catholic; a contest, too, in which the victor was to gain more than he +knew, and the vanquished was to loose more than he ever dreamed of. + +Hostilities may be said to have been commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed the Ohio company of the +fort which they were erecting at the forks of the Ohio River, afterwards +named Fort Du Quesne. + +The plan of a Colonial Confederation, formed at the Albany convention in +July of that year, having failed of acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by such others as the several +Provinces were willing to furnish. + +The campaign of the next year (1755) embraced: + +1st. An expedition, under General Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne. + +2d. A second, under General Shirley, for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted. + +3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture and deportation of the +Acadians. + +4th. A fourth, under General William Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the French, in the very heart of New +England and New York, whence innumerable bands of Indians had been +dispatched by the French to murder the defenceless dwellers upon the +English frontiers, particularly those of New Hampshire, to destroy their +cattle and to burn their buildings and other property. + +To the army of this latter expedition New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of ten companies, the first being a +company of Rangers, whose Captain was Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. [A] + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, vol. 2, 1866, p. +129.] + +But a few words just here in explanation of the character of this +ranging branch of the English army. It was a product of existing +necessities in the military service of that time. Most of the country +was covered with primeval forests and military operations were largely +prosecuted in the woods or in limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying in ambush for the perpetration +of any mischief for which they might have opportunity. + +It became necessary, therefore, in scouring the forests to drive these +miscreants back to their lairs, as well as in making military +reconnoissances, to have a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian life +and warfare; prepared, not only to meet the Indian upon his own ground, +but to fight him in his own fashion. The British Regular was good for +nothing at such work. If sent into the woods he was quite sure, either +not to return at all, or to come back without his scalp. And the +ordinary Provincial was not very much better. From this necessity, +therefore, was evolved the "Ranger." + +He was a man of vigorous constitution, inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, day after day, upon scant rations, +refreshed by short intervals of sleep while rolled in his blanket upon a +pile of boughs, with no other shelter but the sky. He knew the trails of +the Indians, as well as their ordinary haunts and likeliest places of +ambush. He knew, also, all the courses of the streams and the carrying +places between them. He understood Indian wiles and warfare, and was +prepared to meet them. + +Stand such a man in a pair of stout shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small clothes; give him a close-fitting +jacket and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet in his belt; hang a +good-sized powder-horn by his side, and upon his back buckle a blanket +and a knapsack stuffed with a moderate supply of bread and raw salt +pork; to these furnishings add a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and you have an average New +Hampshire Ranger of the Seven Year's war, ready for skirmish or pitched +battle; or, for the more common duty of reconnoitering the enemy's force +and movements, of capturing his scouts and provision trains, and getting +now and then a prisoner, from whom all information possible would be +extorted; and, in short, for annoying the French and Indian foe in every +possible way. + +If you will add three or four inches to the average height of such a +soldier, give him consummate courage, coolness, readiness of resource +in extremities, together with intuitive knowledge of the enemy's wiles, +supplemented with a passable knowledge of French and Indian speech, you +will have a tolerable portrait of Captain Robert Rogers at the beginning +of our Seven Year's war.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published +in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in +the costume of a Ranger, with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun +resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian +followers."--[Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiach, vol. I, p. 164.] + +He received his first Captain's commission in the early part of 1755, +and was employed by the New Hampshire government in building a fort at +the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and in guarding its Northern and +Western frontiers until July, when he was ordered to Albany to join the +army of Major General Johnson. His first service there was in furnishing +escort, with a company of one hundred men, to a provision train from +Albany to Fort Edward. From this latter point he was afterwards +repeatedly despatched, with smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson River +and down Lake George and Lake Champlain to reconnoiter the French forts. +Some of these expeditions extended as far north as Crown Point and were +enlivened with sharp skirmishes. He was absent up the Hudson upon one of +these when the French were defeated at the battle of Lake George and +Baron Dieskan was made prisoner. + +The efficiency of the campaign of the next year (1756), which +contemplated the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, was +seriously impaired by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; Major +General Shirley being superceded in June by General Abercrombie while +he, about a month later, yielded the command to the inefficient Lord +Londown. The only occurrences of particular note during this campaign +were the capture of our forts at Oswego by General Montcalm and the +formal declarations of war by the two belligents. + +Rogers and his men were stationed at Fort William Henry, and made +repeated visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point to ascertain the power of +the enemy and to annoy him as they had opportunity. They went down Lake +George, sometimes by land upon its shores, and sometimes by water and in +boats. In the winter their land marches were frequently upon snow-shoes, +and their boats were exchanged for skates. On such occasions each Ranger +was generally his own commissary and carried his own supplies. + +In his journal for this year (1756) Rogers notes thirteen of these +expeditions as worthy of record. The first was down Lake George on the +ice, in January, with seventeen men, resulting in the capture of two +prisoners and two sledges laden with provisions. + +The second was made in February with a party of fifty men to ascertain +the strength and operations of the French at Crown Point. Having +captured one prisoner at a little village near by the fort, they were +discovered and obliged to retire before the sallying troops of the +garrison. With very marked sang froid he closes his account of this +reconnoissance by saying: "We employed ourselves while we dared stay in +setting fire to the houses and barns in the village, with which were +consumed large quantities of wheat, and other grain; we also killed +about fifty cattle and then retired, leaving the whole village in +flames." + +There often appears a ludicrous kind of honesty in the simple narratives +of this journal. He occasionally seized certain stores of the enemy +which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in +narrating the capture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon +Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed: "We sunk +and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of +wheat and flour, wine, and brandy; some few casks of the latter we +carefully concealed." + +His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two +whole companies; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens +of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year. + +Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary severity of his +discipline. A story has come down to us which well illustrates this +trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal +muddled, one night, by liberal potations, became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor in consequence of inability +to discharge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at +length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering them in +their distress, at once relieved them by the remark: "I appreciate the +gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious one. +But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other +half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one +time common, "We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the English +nation." + +But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become apparent, and we shall not be +surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by +Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent +company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the +nucleus of the famous corps since known as "Roger's Rangers." + +In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, +thereby increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in +a little more than a year this was farther enlarged by the addition of +five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of +Rangers, becoming thus the commander of the whole corps. + +The character of the service expected of this branch of the army was set +forth in Major General Shirley's orders to its commander in 1756, as +follows, viz.: "From time to time, to use your best endeavors to +distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying their +houses, barns, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack +and destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of +the country where he could find them."[A] + +[Footnote A: Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.] + +On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French +forts; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning +snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point half +way between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they captured, together with six +horses and seven men. The others fled within the walls of Ticonderoga +and alarmed the garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his situation he +commenced at once his return. By two o'clock in the afternoon, his party +was attacked by two hundred and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of his men. The French, as was +subsequently ascertained, lost one hundred and sixteen. The proximity of +Ticonderoga rendered vain the continuance of the contest, and he availed +him of the shelter of the night to return to Fort William Henry. + +For this exploit he was highly complimented by General Abercrombie, and, +at a later period of this same year, was ordered by Lord Londown to +instruct and train for the ranging service a company of British +Regulars. To these he devoted much time and prepared for their use the +manual of instruction now found in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very succinctly and lucidly the rules +governing this mode of fighting. + +The campaign of 1757 contemplated only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown directed all his energies. Having +collected all the troops which could be spared for that purpose, he +sailed for Halifax on the twentieth of June with six thousand soldiers, +among them being four companies of Rangers under the command of Major +Rogers. Upon arriving at Halifax his army was augmented by the addition +of five thousand Regulars and a powerful naval armament. We have neither +time nor inclination to consider the conduct of Lord Londown on this +occassion farther than to say that his cowardice and imbecility seem +wonderful. Finding that, in all probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he returned to New York without +striking a blow. If about this time our heroic commander of the Rangers +used some strong language far from sacred, it will become us to remember +"Zeke Webster" and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives "as +we can." He returned to New York three weeks after the surrender of Fort +William Henry, where with his Rangers he might have done something, at +least, to prevent the horrible massacre which has tarnished the fair +fame of Montcalm indellibly. + +England and America both were humbled in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of sufficent resources is severe, but +how utterly insufferable when, with abundant means, incompetency to use +them brings defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation to Lord +Londown than we are wont to think. His imbecility helped rouse the +British nation and recall William Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other countries and promised an early +termination of French dominion in America. + +Lord Londown was succeeded in the early part of 1758 by General +Abercrombie and plans were matured for capturing the Lake forts, +Louisburg and Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, the two last, +with the addition of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The movement against +Crown Point and Ticonderoga did not succeed. In the assault upon the +latter Rogers and his Rangers fought in the van and in the retreat +brought up the rear. + +In the spring of this year (1758) Rogers went down Lake George at the +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, and near the foot of it had a +desperate battle with a superior body of French and Indians. He reported +on his return one hundred and fourteen of his party as killed or +missing. Why he was not annihilated is a wonder. General Montcalm, in a +letter dated less than a month after the encounter, says: "Our Indians +would give no quarter; they have brought back one hundred and forty-six +scalps." For his intrepidity on this occasion he was presented by +General Abercrombie with the commission of Major of Rangers, before +alluded to. + +The adroitness with which Rogers sometimes extricated himself from +extreme peril is illustrated by his conduct on one occasion, when +pursued by an overwhelming number of savages up the mountain, near the +south end of Lake George, which now bears his name. Upon reaching the +summit he advanced to the very verge of the precipice, on the east side, +which descends 550 feet to the lake. Having here reversed his snow shoes +he fled down the side opposite to that by which he had come up. Arriving +soon after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks of two men, apparently, +instead of one, and Rogers far below upon the ice, hastening towards +Fort Edward, concluded that he had slid down the precipice aided by the +Great Spirit, and that farther pursuit was vain. + +Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of 1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially accomplished. +Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned in July, Fort Niagara +capitulated the same month, and Quebec was surrendered in September. + +Their violation of a flag of truce in this last month now called +attention to the St. Francis Indians, who had been for a century the +terror of the New England frontiers, swooping down upon them when least +expected, burning their buildings, destroying their cattle, mercilessly +murdering their men, women, and children, or cruelly hurrying them away +into captivity. The time had now come for returning these bloody visits. +The proffering of this delicate attention was assigned by Major General +Amherst to Rogers. In his order, dated September 13, he says: "You are +this night to set out with the detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under your command and proceed to +Misisquey Bay, from whence you will march and attack the enemy's +settlements on the south side of the river St. Lawrence in such a manner +as you shall judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for the +success and honour of his majesty's arms. + + * * * * * + +"Take your revenge, but don't forget that tho' those villains have +dastardly and promiscuously murdered the women and children of all ages, +it is my orders that no women or children are killed or hurt." + +In pursuance of these orders Major Rogers started the same day at +evening. On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi Bay. On the +twenty-third, with one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he came, without +being discovered, to the environs of the village of St. Francis. The +Indians had a dance the evening following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an hour before sunrise, Rogers and +his men fell upon them on all sides, and in a few minutes, ere they had +time to arouse themselves and seize their arms, the warriors of that +village were dead. A few, attempting to escape by the river, were shot +in their canoes. The women and children were not molested. + +When light came it revealed to the Rangers lines of scalps, mostly +English, to the number of six hundred, strung upon poles above the +door-ways. Thereupon, every house except three containing supplies was +fired, and their destruction brought death to a few who had before +escaped it by concealing themselves in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their accursed village had been +obliterated. + +The operations of the next year (1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of Quebec by the French was their +final effort. The army of the Lakes embarked from Crown Point for +Montreal on the sixteenth day of August. "Six hundred Rangers and +seventy Indians in whale-boats, commanded by Major Rogers, all in a line +abreast, formed the advance guard." He and his men encountered some +fighting on the way from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no serious obstacle +retarded their progress. The day of their arrival Monsieur de Vaudveuil +proposed to Major General Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in North America. + +The English troops, as will be remembered, entered Montreal on the +evening of the eighth of September. On the morning of the twelfth Major +Rogers was ordered by General Amherst to proceed westward with two +companies of Rangers and take possession of the western forts, still +held by the French, which, by the terms of the capitulation, were to be +surrendered. + +He embarked about noon the next day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to the west by the St. Lawrence and +the Lakes. On the seventh of November they reached the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, where the beautiful city of Cleveland now stands. The cross of +St. George had never penetrated the wilderness so far before. Here they +encamped and were soon after waited upon by messengers from the great +chieftain Pontiac, asking by what right they entered upon his territory +and the object of their visit. Rogers informed them of the downfall of +the French in America, and that he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the English by the terms of the +capitulation. Pontiac received his message remarking that he should +stand in his path until morning, when he would return to him his answer. + +The next morning Pontiac came to the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, met face to face the bold, +self-possessed, clear-headed Major of the British Rangers. It is +interesting to note how calmly the astute ally of the French accepted +the new order of things and prepared for an alliance with his former +enemies. He and Rogers had several interviews and in the end smoked the +pipe of peace. With dignified courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, provisions for his +journey and an escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke camp on the twelfth +and pushed onward towards Detroit. By messenger sent forward in advance +he apprized Monsieur Belletre, Commandant of the fort, of his near +approach and the object of it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of the truth of the unwelcome news +thus brought, he surrendered his garrison. On the twenty-ninth of +November the British flag floated from the staff which ever before had +borne only the lillies of France. + +On the tenth of December, after disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of the forts Miamie and Gatanois, +with characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still farther westward for +Michilimackinac. But it was a vain attempt. The season was far advanced. +Indeed, the winter had already come, and while the ice prevented his +progress by water, the snows rendered impracticable his advance by land. +With reluctance he relinquished for the first time the completion of his +mission. Turning eastward, after a tedious journey, he reached New York +on the fourteenth of February, 1761. + +From New York, there is reason to suppose, that he went this same year +as Captain of one of the His Majesty's Independent Companies of Foot to +South Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant in subduing the Cherokees, +who had for a year or two been committing depredations upon the +Carolinian frontiers. + +From this time onward for the next two years we lose sight of Major +Rogers, but he re-appears at the siege of Detroit in 1763. Hither he +went with twenty Rangers as part of a body of soldiers sent from Fort +Niagara under the command of Captain Dalzell for the re-inforcement of +the beleagured fort. He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, and on the +thirty-first took an active part in the fierce battle of Bloody Bridge. +His valor was as useful as it was conspicuous on that occasion, and but +for his daring efforts the retreat of the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, for a time, in the house of +the Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a throng of savages which surrounded +it, his escape with a few followers at one door was hardly achieved ere +these burst in at another. + +The next glimpse we get of Major Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some four or five hundred acres. Good +old Parson Walker, who here kept open house, and for more than fifty +years watched with solicitude the interests of his parish and his +country, says, in his diary for 1764, against date of February 24: +"Major Rogers dined with us" and again December 22:--"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me." + +It is probable that his private affairs now occupied his attention. A +year or so after the surrender of Montreal he was married to Elizabeth, +daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John's Church, in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He considered this town his residence, and in +papers executed this very year (1764) sometimes designates himself "as +of Portsmouth," and at others, as "now residing at Portsmouth." + +For three or four years, between 1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous and some quite extensive +tracts. Some twenty-five different conveyances to him are on record in +the Recorder's office of Rockingham County, and half as many from him to +other parties. + +Some of these lands he seems to have purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as +Governor of New Hampshire, conveyed to him as "a reduced officer" a +tract of three thousand acres, lying in the southern part of Vermont. + +One[A] conveyance made by him and bearing date December 20, 1762, +arrests our attention. By it he transferred to his father-in-law, Rev. +Arthur Brown, before mentioned, some five hundred acres of land in +Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire) together with "one negro man, named +Castro Dickerson, aged about twenty-eight; one negro woman, named +Sylvia; one negro boy named Pomp, aged about twelve and one Indian boy, +named Billy, aged about thirteen." For what reason this property was +thus transferred I have no means of knowing. If the object of the +conveyance was to secure it as a home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular life, the end sought was +subsequently attained, as the land descended even to his +grand-children.[B] + +[Footnote A: The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing upon +the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east side and near the south +end of Main Street, in Concord, New Hampshire. It must be at least a +hundred years old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in the rear. It +was occupied for many years by Captain and Mrs. Roach, and later by +Arthur, son of Major Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.] + +[Footnote B: A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, New Hampshire.] + +And I may as well, perhaps, just here and now anticipate a little by +saying that Major Rogers did not prove a good husband, and that +seventeen years after their marriage his wife felt constrained, February +12, 1778, to petition the General Assembly of New Hampshire for a +divorce from him on the ground of desertion and infidelity. An act +granting the same passed the Assembly on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth of March following.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert Rogers and +Elizabeth, his wife. + +"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the County of Rockingham, +and State aforesaid, hath petitioned the General Assembly for said +State, setting forth that she was married to the said Robert Rogers +about seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time he had +absented himself from and totally neglected to support and maintain +her--and had, in the most flagrant manner, in a variety of ways, +violated the marriage contract--but especially by infidelity to her Bed; +For which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a vinculo +matrimonii, might be granted. The principal facts contained in said +petition being made to appear, upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore, + +"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said +State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between +the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."--[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.] + +I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.[A] After his marriage he lived with his wife +and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously +mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach +is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his +excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at +Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into +the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and +called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two +drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, +expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the +custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain +immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the +guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a +sufficiency for both, the host should call for more. + +[Footnote A: Bouton's History of Concord, p. 351.] + +Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they +neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.[A] + +[Footnote A: Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.] + +In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to +have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is +entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the +several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the +continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the +period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless +quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made under the Generals +who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late war. +From which may be collected the material circumstances of every campaign +upon that continent from the commencement to the conclusion of the war. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. viii; Journals, pp. 236. + +An American edition of Roger's Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, +was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell's Sons. Besides a +valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an +appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals +ever published.] + +The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the country at the time of its +publication.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account of +North America; Containing a description of the several British Colonies +on that Continent, including the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, +&c., as to their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number of Inhabitants +supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior and Westerly Parts of the +Country, upon the rivers St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and +the Great Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those Parts, as to their +Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, &c., Containing many useful and +Entertaining Facts, never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller, near +Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction and Advertisement, pp. viii; +Concise Account, pp. 264.] + +It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when +the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is +doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the +charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were +written by another's hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that +the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his +expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New +York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. +If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit +of their authorship. + +Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair +chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together +with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are +such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth +with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled +much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as +fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also +attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, +entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in +1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages of +America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for the Author, and sold by J. +Millan, opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."] + +On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King's command, General Gage +appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of +Michilimackinac.[A] Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. +He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately +ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly +the duties of this office.[B] But as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and +restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of +mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all +matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters +to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C] + +[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.] + +[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage, +dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in +1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his +readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and +got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up +with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some +of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing +else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that +service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215. + +The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him +(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as +a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at +home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must +appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never +confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you +mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in +time."--[Journals, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.] + +Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by +clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the +government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts +upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary +was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To +this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time +went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got +deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; +grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable +correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of +seeking of the home government an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders +thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.] + +His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was +arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be +there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground, +probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date +between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England. + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.] + +And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, +wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his +innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had +advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He +was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment +for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in +England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he +pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with £600 a +year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt +which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length +overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by +degrees to his true level. + +[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated +February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from +London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and +kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his +sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be +made a Baronet, with a pension of £600 sterling, and to be restored to +his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.] + +We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. +The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our +Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a +military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. +Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all +the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible +business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, +as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person. + +He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival +by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon +his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a +gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, +in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and +Great-Britain;"[A] yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he +makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter +addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.[B] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 259.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, p. 261.] + +On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in +shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. +After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had +fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered +his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the +close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the +night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 118.] + +Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, +but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see +him.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 263.] + +Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South +Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief +his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret +tender of his services to the American Congress.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 273.] + +However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few +days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of +Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,[A] which +was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of +proscription. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.] + +Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he +accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by +General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the +British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 277.] + +On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so +far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was +attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American +troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual +valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over. + +The next year he returned to England,[A] where, after a disreputable +life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, +he is said to have died in the year 1800. + +[Footnote A: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 238.] + +Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in +undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the +poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as +romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy +McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock +Lomond. + + * * * * * + +ROUSED FROM DREAMS. + +By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON. + + + Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder; + Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder; + On my window-pane, making wild refrain, + Sharply strikes the rain. + + Wind in furious gusts with angry railing + Follows the unhappy restless wailing + Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee + None to save nor see. + + Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers, + Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers; + Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate, + Shrieking prayers too late! + + * * * * * + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG + +By EBENEZER BAILEY. + + +On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, +consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding +a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua +River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These +people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, +over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox +carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own. + +Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of +Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town +set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town +meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until +January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain +an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third +of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay +signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the +rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of +Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the +General Court. + +A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to +form a part of the new town of Ashby. + +The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain +Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, +and other business necessary to the organization of a town government +transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put +in order was to provide for "Sabbath days' preaching," and the Rev. +Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed +sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located +between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land +was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had +purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt. + +In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue +of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. +Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a +kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the +Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and +rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in +arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, +whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with +characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one +Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe +struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he +finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to +Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone +through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely +forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great +degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first +Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been +erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston. + +Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and +to appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. And now the town of +Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East +energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new +homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to +eighty families, with a total valuation of £2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, and the rate was over ten per +cent. + +There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many +matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil +and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no +separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the +affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town +meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will +relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine +Providence, and abate her husband's rates on Isaac Gibson's and Ebenezer +Bridge's tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton's poll +tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles. + +Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a +comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the +inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were +preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so +frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging +to the actors, from whom the future was withheld. + +As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting +to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and +to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, +wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." +A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell +was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston. + +In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of +Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and +send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held +accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report +presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing +full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights +and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows: + + "And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now + informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have + made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, + subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, + it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and + the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in + their power to keep off all such infringement." + +The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the +Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. +The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South +and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in +preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim +Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the +armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and +regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was +appropriated for powder, lead and flints. + +The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the +little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at +nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of +Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at +the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few +volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, +under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became +Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged +in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large +wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they +arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. + +It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of +volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill +John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the +intrenchments. + +When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the +contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General +Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard +to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows: + + "Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress + should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them + independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the + inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and + fortunes, support them in the measure." + +In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his +Majesty's name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the +writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of +Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant +ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay." + +For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and +unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of +furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, +the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with +the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial +difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, +and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the +inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to +us under the name of Shay's Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg +deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an +active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah +Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should +be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in +an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." +Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did +everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the +authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a +military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; +and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have +followed. + +The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, +but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the +nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main +Street. One might see Cowdin's tavern, Kimball's saw and grist mill, +Fox's store, a baker's shop, and half a dozen houses between the +American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill +back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store +of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with +large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball +were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer +Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, +were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786. + +In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in +the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a +village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and +boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the +General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, +into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of +the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in +one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill +being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they +determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its +location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should +be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the +words _nearest, convenientest_, were a cause of furious contention. Town +meeting after town meeting was held--now victory rested with one +faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, +extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian +Church. + +But now the leaven of heterodoxy was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, turned from the theological doctrines +of their forefathers and adopted Unitarian views. In most places there +was a final division of the original Church, and the formation of two +societies, one of the Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox persuasion. + +Fitchburg was agitated in this way for about twenty-four years, during +which time many ecclesiastical councils were held, and debate and +dispute were almost continuous, both in and out of town meeting, for +neighbor was divided against neighbor, and one member of a household +against another. The result was the dissolution of the parochial powers +of the town, and a division into two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox built a new building on the corner +of Main and Rollstone streets. + +But while religious contention went on, worldly growth and prosperity +increased. Quite a number of manufacturing establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little stream that furnished the power +was beginning to be appreciated. + +In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton +mills, 1 scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 +taverns, 2 hat manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 tanneries, 2 +window blind manufactories, and 1 chair manufactory. There were a number +of stone bridges, and a dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, and Lowell, and left three times a week for +Worcester and Springfield, and returned on alternate days. + +Energetic, enterprising young men were attracted to Fitchburg as a +promising place for a home, and there was the exhilarating, hopeful +atmosphere of a new and growing town, where changes are rapid and +opportunities are many. It was about this time that Rufus C. Torrey +wrote his history of Fitchburg, in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, then a public spirited young +lawyer, who had already accumulated quite an amount of material from +records and conversations with the older residents These two men saved +from oblivion very many valuable facts in the history of the town. + +About this time, also, the Fitchburg High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the Fitchburg Library Association was +organized, both of which institutions were valuable educational +influences. + +From 1840 to 1860 the town continued to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair business enlarged greatly, the +iron business was introduced by the Putnam Brothers, and grew rapidly, +and various other branches of industry were begun and prospered. The +Fitchburg Railroad was built, followed by the Vermont and Massachusetts, +the Fitchburg and Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch Railroads, all +centreing in Fitchburg and bringing an increase of business. + +At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the town contained +nearly 8,000 inhabitants, and during the war Fitchburg did her part, +answering all calls promptly and sending her best men to the field. Her +history in that contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, in his history +of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion." Nine companies were +organized in the town, and 750 Fitchburg men sent into the field. + +The years immediately following the war were years of prosperity and +rapid growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was incorporated as a city. The +infant township of 108 years before had grown to a city of 12,000 +inhabitants. The little stream which then turned the wheel of the one +solitary saw and grist mill had since been harnessed to the work of many +mills and manufactories, and on either side were the homes of hundreds, +dependent on its power for their daily bread. Railroads carried the +products of these establishments to the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city from the East and from the West +all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life. Can it be that the +dead of past generations, who sleep on the hillside which overlooks the +valley, have seen this transformation, and if so, will they behold all +the changes of the future? Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life blood. + + * * * * * + +SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW. + +By CHESTER F. SANGER. + + +The Legislature of 1884 has placed an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking in the same direction passed by +the Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1884 provides that +"The provisions of chapter ninety-eight of the Public Statutes relating +to the observance of the Lord's day shall not constitute a defence to an +action for a tort or injury suffered by a person on that day." + +Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 provided that common carriers of +passengers should no longer escape liability for their negligence in +case of accidents to passengers, by reason of the injury being received +on Sunday. This act marked a long step forward in the policy of this +Commonwealth, and made it no longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences of its illegal acts by +saying to the injured passenger, "You were breaking the law yourself, +and therefore you have no redress against us." + +This was a condition of things which worked a confusion of relations, +and lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting on "no principle of +justice" or law, and creating a "species of judicial outlawry which +ignored alike the principles of humanity and the analogies of the law." + +The provisions more particularly referred to in these Acts are those +relating to travelling on the Lord's day, found in the Statutes as +follows:-- + +"Whoever travels on the Lord's day, except from necessity or charity, +shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten dollars for each +offence."--Pub. Stat., Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting and +curious study to follow the changes made in the Sunday law, so called, +with the accompanying judicial decisions, as one by one the hindrances +to the attainment of simple justice by travellers injured on the Lord's +day have been swept away. + +The Pilgrims brought many strange ideas with them to their new home, as +we all well know, and we find these reflected in their statute books in +the form of many "blue laws," some of which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded "dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general discussion of this subject is, +as showing the character and purposes of the founders of the Republic, +we can follow but one division of the Sunday law in its various forms +since it was first framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who intended that +the day should be not merely a day of rest from labor, but also a day +devoted to public and private worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only fit punishment for those who, as +they considered it, "prophaned" the Lord's day. + +As early as 1636 it was enacted by the Court of the Plymouth Colony +that, "Whereas, complaint is made of great abuses in sundry places of +this Government of prophaning the Lord's day by travellers, both horse +and foot, by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, etc., upon the +Lord's day to the great offence of the Godly welafected among us. It is, +therefore, enacted by the Court and the authoritie thereof that if any +person or persons shall be found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such a town and fined twenty shillings, +to the Collonie's use, or else shall sit in the stocks four hours, +except they can give a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; but they +that 'soe transgresse' must be apprehended on the Lord's day and 'paye +theire fine or sitt in the stockes as aforesaide' on the second day +thereafter." It seems, however, that in spite of the pious sentiments of +the framers of the law it was not, or could not be enforced, for in 1662 +it was further enacted that "This Court doth desire that the +transgression of the foregoing order may be carefully looked into and +p'r'vented if by any due course it may be." + +But even now it seems that the energies of the law-makers were of no +avail in preventing prophanation of the Holy day by "foraignors and +others," so that twenty years later, in 1683, we find that "To prevent +prophanation of the Lord's day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on that day. It is enacted by the Court +that a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, unto whom whosever hath +nessessity of travell on the Lord's day in case of danger of death, or +such necessitous occations shall repaire, and makeing out such occations +satisfyingly to him shall receive a Tickett from him to pas on about +such like occations;" but, "if he attende not to this," or "if it shall +appeare that his plea was falce," the hand of the law was likely to fall +upon him while he contributed twenty shillings "to the use of the +Collonie." + +In the Massachusetts Bay Province it was early enacted that "no +traveller ... shall travel on the Lord's day ... except by some +adversity they are belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, +or highways the night before, and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings. + +In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation of the Lord's day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, and so it was enacted that the +penalty for the first offense should be thirty shillings, and for the +second, three pounds, while the offender, presumably a "foraignor," was +to be put under a bond to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy +according to the ideas of the straight-laced Puritans. + +Even this did not put an end to the good fathers' troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions of the several laws now +in force relating to the observation of the Lord's day or Christain +Sabbath, the said laws have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the legislators, the Lord's Day hath been greatly +and frequently prophaned" all the laws relating to the observance +thereof were repealed and a new chapter enacted, one section of which, +and the only one in which we are now interested, was the same as the law +of 1727, above quoted. + +Thirty-one years later all these laws were again erased from the statute +book and a new attempt was made to frame a law which should leave no +loop-holes for foraignors or others, as follows: "Whereas the observance +of the Lord's day is highly promotive of the welfare of a community by +affording necessary seasons for relaxation from labor and the cares of +business; for moral reflections and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world; and for those acts of +charity which support and adorn a Christian society. Be it enacted that +no person shall travel on the Lord's day except from _necessity_ or +_charity_, upon penalty of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings and not +less than ten." Notice what an interesting and moral tone is given to +the otherwise dry statute book by these sermonizing preambles which +reflect so well the motives and aims of the men who moulded and formed +the statute laws of the Commonwealth. + +In this act appears for the first time that "charity" which since then +has truly "covered a multitude of sins," while it has as often been a +strong tower of defence to corporations clearly shown to have been +careless of their obligations to the public. One of the first cases to +arise in which these words "necessity or charity" must be judicially +construed was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 Mass., 76. + +One Josiah Paine had contracted with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail between Portland and Boston on +each day of the week for two years from October 1, 1808, and Knox, his +servant, was indicted for unlawfully travelling while carrying the mail +with a stage carriage through the town of Newburyport on November 20, +1808, the same being Sabbath or Lord's day, and the said travelling not +being from necessity or charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering the +opinion of the Supreme Court, after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices and post-roads, and the +consequent legality of Paine's contract, the statutue of his State +notwithstanding, says that "necessity ... cannot be understood as a +physical necessity ... and when this travelling is necessary to execute +a lawful contract it cannot be considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." But fearing that this decision +may open too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers the Chief Justice hastens +to add: "But let it be remembered that our opinion does not protect +travellers in the stage coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of serious people either at public +worship or in their own houses. The carrier may proceed with the mail on +the Lord's day to the post-office; he may go to any public house to +refresh himself and his horses; and he may take the mail from the +post-office and proceed on his route. _Any other liberties on the Lord's +day our opinion does not warrant_." + +The report naively says, that after this opinion the Attorney General +entered a _nolle proscqui_. + +In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, a case which arose in 1816 and +which attracted a great deal of notice at the time, Chief Justice Parker +says: "It is not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated by Moses, +in order to prove that the _Christian Sabbath_ ought to be observed by +_Christians_, as a day of holy rest and religious worship; and if it +were it would be difficult to make out the point contended for from that +source;" and then goes into a long disquisition upon the Mosaic law and +the precepts of the Saviour and finally says that "cases often arise in +which it will be both innocent and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose him suddenly called to visit a +child, or other near relative, in a distant town laboring under a +dangerous illness; or suppose him to be a physician; or suppose a man's +whole fortune and the future comfort of his family to depend upon his +being at a remote place early on Monday morning, he not having known the +necessity until Saturday evening; these are all cases which would +generally be considered as justifying the act of travelling." Certainly +a somewhat broader view than that taken by the Court seven years +earlier. + +The law remained thus and was re-enacted in the Revised Statutes of +1836, the penalty being raised, however, to ten dollars. In civil cases +arising out of damages sustained by travellers upon the Lord's day, +corporations defendant were quick to take advantage of the law and to +rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff's act of travelling, as a good +defence to his action. + +In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 +Metcalf, 363. Bosworth was travelling on the eleventh of June of that +year, being Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to Fall River on business +connected with a suit in the United States Court, and was injured by +reason of a defect in a highway in Swansey. + +The defendant town admitted that it was by law required to keep the +highway in repair. And plaintiffs counsel argued that as the statute +provided a penalty of ten dollars for travelling on Sunday it could not +be further maintained that there was the additional penalty that a man +could have no legal redress for damages suffered by reason of the +neglect or refusal of defendants to do that which the law required them +to do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion, +"that the plaintiff was plainly violating the law and that since he +could recover from the town only, if free from all just imputation of +negligence or fault," in this case he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not called upon to construe the terms +"necessity or charity," as affecting the liability of corporations +plainly shown to be negligent in the performance of their duties to +others; but many such cases soon arose. + +In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or charity ... that it comprehends +all acts which it is morally fit and proper should be done on the +Sabbath may itself require some explanation. To save life, or prevent +or relieve suffering; to prepare useful food for man and beast, to save +property, as in case of fire, flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the bay, or birds on the shore, +happened to be uncommonly abundant on the Lord's day, it is equally +clear that it would furnish no excuse for fishing or shooting on that +day. How it would be if a whale happened to be stranded on the shore we +need not determine." It is needless to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon the coast. + +In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., 109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting in Malden, and counsel for +defendant maintained that the meeting was attended for idolatry and +jugglery, and while it might be the right of the plaintiff to be an +idolater and to attend shows, yet she could not do so in violation of +the Statute, which was intended to protect the conscience of the +majority of the people from being offended upon the Lord's day. But the +Court ruled that it could not be said as matter of law that travelling +for such a purpose was not within the exception, and that it must be +left to the jury to say if the plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience. + +In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, the court held that it was not a +violation of the law to hire a horse and drive to a neighboring town to +attend the funeral of plaintiff's brother. + +But it was held in a later case that plaintiff, who had been to a +funeral on the Lord's day and was returning therefrom by a somewhat +_circuitous_ route for the purpose of calling upon a relative, was not +entitled to recover for damages sustained by reason of a defect in the +highway. This was the opinion of a divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of "necessity or charity" has been +a close one. + +Such are a few of the interesting cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally framed in 1636, and which +still makes it a criminal offence punishable by a fine of ten dollars to +walk or ride upon the Lord's day, save from necessity or charity, while +our cities furnish free concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement under the guise of "sacred" concerts, upon +the day which our fathers thought and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life ... and for public and +private worship of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world. + + * * * * * + +ELIZABETH. + +A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. + +BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STAB IN THE BACK. + + +A brighter morning for a wedding never dawned. The house was alive with +merry voices and the echo of footsteps hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to be present at the ceremony which +was to take place at noon. Then would come the festivities, the feast, +the dancing, and after that the drive of the newly-married pair to the +beautiful house three miles away, that Stephen Archdale had built and +furnished for his bride, and that had never yet been a home. + +Before the appointed hour the guests began to arrive and to fill the +great drawing-room. There each one on entering walked toward the huge +fire-place, in which on an immense bed of coals glowing with a +brilliancy that outshone the rich red furniture and hangings of the room +lay great logs, which blazed in their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from the heat that did not escape up +the chimney. The rich attire of the guests could bear the bright +sunlight that streamed in through the numberless little panes of the +windows, and the gay colors that they wore showed off well against the +dark wainscotting of the room and its antique tapestries. The ladies +were gorgeous in silks and velvets which were well displayed over +enormous hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered hair was built +up in a tower nearly a foot in height, were flowers or feathers. +Precious stones fastened the folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements of fans that, however +discreetly waved, betrayed their trappings once in a while by some +coquettish tremulousness. The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, or diamond shoe buckles, +powdered wigs and queues, and with ruffles of the richest lace about +their wrists. These guests, who were among the people that in +themselves, or their descendants, were destined to give the world a new +nation, strong and free, showed all that regard to the details of +fashion said to characterize incipient decay in races. But with them it +was only an accessory of position, everything was on a foundation of +reality, it all represented a substantial wealth displaying itself +without effort. The Sherburnes were there, the Atkinsons, the +Pickerings, Governor Wentworth, the first of the Governors after New +Hampshire separated from Massachusetts and went into business for +itself, and others of the Wentworth family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already proved that the heart of a strong +man beat under his laced coat. His wife, well-born and fine-looking, was +beside him, and his son, fresh from College honors, and sipping eagerly +the sparkling draught of life that was to be over for him so soon; his +daughter also, last year a bride, and her husband. These were leaders in +that brilliant assembly called together to the marriage of Katie and +Stephen Archdale. + +While waiting for the event of the morning they talked in low tones +among themselves of the wedding, or more audibly, of personal, or of +political affairs. + +"It wants only ten minutes of the hour," said one lady, "perhaps our +good parson may not come this morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked her companion. + +"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, will lock his study door upon him as +she did one Sabbath when we all went to the house of God and found the +pulpit empty. There's no end to all the malicious tricks she plays him. +Poor, good man." + +"Do you know," said a beruffled gentleman in another part of the room to +his next neighbor, "what a preposterous proposal that ragged fellow, +Bill Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth last week? He is a +good-for-nothing, and the whole scheme is thought to have been merely a +plan to talk with the Governor, whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine house, and he stalked about there +an hour looking at the pictures and the splendid furniture while its +owner was taking an airing. The general opinion is that the object of +his visit was accomplished before his Excellency's return." + +"Poor fellow! One can't blame him so very much," returned the listener +with a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted snuff-box to the +speaker before helping himself generously from it. "But what was his +scheme?" + +"Something the most absurd you ever listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish a public coach from this +city to Boston, to run as often as once a week, and, after the first +expense, to support itself from the travellers it carries; each one is +to pay a few shillings. Where did he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other than private conveyances?" And +these representatives of conservatism threw back their heads and laughed +over the absurdity of the lightning express in embryo. Governor +Wentworth standing before the fire was commenting on some of Governor +Shirley's measures, giving his own judgment on the matter, with a +directness more bold than wise, and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that Americans have always used in +political affairs, when a stir of expectation behind them made them take +breath, and glance at the person entering the room. It was the minister. + +"He has come, you see," whispered the lady to her neighbor of the +forebodings. After greeting him, the group about the fire went back to +their discussions. It had been the good parson's horse then, which they +had heard tearing up the road in hot haste; they had not dreamed that so +much speed was in the nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably a little +late and had been afraid of keeping the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; all the company, indeed, but +the four members of it most important that morning, Katie and Stephen, +the bridesmaid, Mistress Royal, and the best man, a young friend of +Archdale's. After a few moments in which conversation lagged through +expectancy, the door opened again. + +"Ah! here they are. No, only one, alone. How strange!" + +Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under which she was acting to see +anything about her. Without sign of recognition she glanced from one to +another, until her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff watching her +with a gentle wonder in his face. It was for him that she had been +looking. She went up to him immediately, and laid a tremulous hand upon +his arm. She tried to smile, but the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself through the assembly; it was felt +that her presence here alone showed that something had happened, and her +expression, that it was something bad. She did not seem even to hear the +minister's kind greeting, and she was as little moved by the wonder and +scrutiny about her as if she had been alone with him. At Mistress +Archdale's reiterated question if Katie were ill, she shook her head in +silence. Some thought held her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak. + +"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, "but it must be only a jest. +The man's horse is blown, he came so fast. And he insisted on seeing me +and would give this only into my own hands; his message was that it was +life and death, that I must read it at once before the--" She stopped +with a shudder, and held out a paper that she had been grasping; it was +crumpled by the tightening of her fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the minister looked toward the door, +and listened. "You must read it now, this instant, before they come in," +cried Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don't dare not to have you; and +tell me that it has no power, it is only a wicked jest; and throw it +into the fire. Oh, quick, be quick." + +Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper with the haste of age, youth's +deliberateness, and began to read at last. At the same instant a hand +outside was laid on the latch of the door. The room was in a breathless +hush. The door was swung slowly open by a servant and the bride and +bridegroom came in, stopping just beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering face waited for her to come to +her place. But the minister, not glancing up, went sternly on with the +paper; and Elizabeth's gaze was fixed on his face; she had drawn a step +away from him; and her hands were pressed over one another. All at once +he uttered an exclamation of dismay, and turned to her, a dread coming +into his face as he met her eyes. + +"What does it mean?" he gasped. "Heaven help us, is it true?" + +"Oh, it can't be, it can't be," she cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you've seen that it must be all false. Give it +to me. Look, they are coming," she entreated. "Think of her, be ready +for them. Oh, burn this. Can't you? Can't you?" and her eyes devoured +him in an agony of pleading. + +"Stop!" he said, drawing back his hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of it +true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? Was that all so?" + +"Yes." + +By this time the scene had become very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and groom had indeed gone across the room +and were standing before the minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin the ceremony, stood with his eyes +on the paper, his face more and more pale and perplexed. + +"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, laying a hand on his shoulder. + +"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked the Colonel, advancing toward the +minister, and showing his irritation by his frown, his flush, and the +abruptness of his speech usually so suave. + +"I hardly know myself," returned Shurtleff looking from one to the +other. + +"Let us have the ceremony at once, then," said Master Archdale +authoritatively. "Why should we delay?" + +"I cannot, until I have looked into this," answered the minister in a +respectful tone. + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with an authority that few contested. +"Proceed at once." + +"I cannot," repeated the minister, and his quiet voice had in it the +firmness, almost obstinacy, that often characterizes gentle people. His +opposition had seemed so disproportioned and was so gently uttered that +the hearers had felt as if a breath must blow it away, and interest +heightened to intense excitement when it proved invincible. + +"What is all this?" demanded Stephen, holding Katie's arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff with eyes of indignant +protest. As he received no immediate answer, he turned to Elizabeth. +"Mistress Royal," he said, "can you explain this unseemly interruption?" + +Then all the company, who for the moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her again. + +"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," she said, looking at him +an instant with a wildness of pain in her eyes. Then she turned to +Katie's fair, pale face full of wonder and distress at the unguessed +obstacle, and with a smothered cry dropped her face in her hands, and +stood motionless and unheeded in the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak. + +"You ask me," he said, "why I do not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts love has united. I do not dare to do +it until I understand the meaning of this strange paper I hold in my +hand. What do you remember," he said to Stephen, "of a singular game of +a wedding ceremony played one evening last summer?" + +The young man looked uncomprehending for a moment, then drew his breath +sharply. + +"That?" he said, "Why, that was only to give an example of something we +were talking about; that was nothing. Mistress,"--he stopped and glanced +at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, was hanging upon every word of his +denial as if it were music--"Mistress Royal knows that was so." + +"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do." + +"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, "it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded treatment of serious matters +must be. I hope with all my heart that a moment's frivolity will not +have life-long consequences of sorrow, but I cannot proceed in this +happy ceremony that I have been called here to perform until the point +is settled beyond dispute." + +"See how habit rules him like a second nature," whispered Colonel +Pepperrell aside to the Governor. "Nobody but a minister would stop to +give a homily with those poor creatures before him in an agony of +suspense." + +"My dear," said his wife softly in a tone of reproof, laying her hand +warningly on his arm. + +"Stephen Archdale isn't the man to stand this," retorted the Governor in +a higher key than he realized. But the words did not reach their object, +for he had already laid hold of the paper in Mr. Shurtleffs hand. + +"If this paper explains your conduct, give it to me," he said haughtily. + +The other drew back. + +"I will read it to you and to the company," he answered. "There can be +no wedding this morning. I trust there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter." + +Katie, whose face had grown rigid, swung heavily against Stephen. "She +has fainted," her mother cried coming forward. + +"Take her away," commanded the Colonel. "This is no place for her." But +the girl clung to Stephen. + +"I will stay," she said, with a tearless sob. "I must listen. I see it +all, and what he meant, too, that evil man." + +"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, "I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in your hand tells us the cause of +your refusal to marry these young people, I bid you read it to us +immediately." + +The parson, bowing with respect, cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth's commands had been his own intention from the +first. + +"It is a confession," he said, "made by one whom many of us have +welcomed to our homes as a gentleman of blameless character and +honorable dealing. Why it was sent to Mistress Royal instead of to +Master Archdale, or the bride, I am at a loss to understand." + +Elizabeth raised her head with a flash in her eyes, but anger died away +into despair, and she stood silent with the others, and listened to the +fate that fell upon her with those monotonous tones, each one heavy as +lead upon her heart. She wondered if it had been sent to her because it +had been feared that Stephen Archdale would keep silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFESSION. + + +"I write without knowing to whom I am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they will surely not grant it to me. +I don't know even that I can crave it of Heaven, for I have played with +sacred things, and used a power given me for good, in an evil way, to +further my own devices, and, after all, I have not furthered them. I am +a man loving and unloved, one who has perhaps thrown away his soul on +the chance of winning earthly joy,--but such joy,--and has lost it. If +any have ever done like me, let them pity and pardon. I appeal to them +for compassion. I shall receive it nowhere else, unless it be possible, +that the one for love of whom I have done the wrong will out of the +kindness of her heart spare me by and by a thought of pity for what was +the suggestion of a moment and acted on--" + +"Skip all that maundering," interrupted Stephen. "To the point. Who is +this man, and what has he done? Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don't us." + +"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge better of the case, and of the +writer's truthfulness." + +"Yes, you are right," answered the young man pressing Katie's arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to his impatience and his +defiance. + +"And acted on without premeditation," resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to this worthy city of +Portsmouth with letters of introduction to Master Archdale, and others, +I met the beautiful Mistress Archdale. From the first hour my fate was +sealed; I loved her as only a man of strong and deep emotions can love, +with a very different feeling from the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved that they ceased troubling me, +even with their presence at her side. Among the others were only two +worthy of attention, and only one whom I feared. I was reticent and +watched; it was too soon to speak. But as I watched my fear of that one +increased, for age, association, a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me his possibilities of success. With +that rival out of my path, my way to victory was clear. There came a day +when, without lifting my finger against him, I could effectually remove +him. I did it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation rushed upon me +suddenly with overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, for opposite +me sat Katie, more beautiful and lovable than ever, and beside her was +my rival, her cousin, with an air of security and satisfaction that +aroused the evil in me. It was August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale's suggestion had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be about a runaway match, and interested the +young people so much, that when I had finished they asked several +questions; one was in reference to a remark of mine, innocently made, +that the marriage ceremony itself, pure and simple, was something +unimaginably short. The story I had told illustrated this, and some of +the party asked me more particularly as to what the form was. Then I saw +my opportunity, and I took it. 'If one of the young ladies will permit +Master Archdale to take her hand a moment,' I said, 'I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how short the formula may be.' +Master Archdale was for holding Katie's hand, but happily, as it seemed +to me at the moment, she was on the wrong side. I requested him to take +the lady on the other hand, who seemed a trifle unready for the jest, +but was induced by the entreaties of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through the marriage service over them as +rapidly as I dared, my voice sounding to myself thick with the beating +of my heart. But no one noticed this; of course, it was all fun. And so +that summer evening, all in fun, except on my part, Stephen Archdale and +Elizabeth Royal were made man and wife, as fast as marriage vows could +make them. Nothing was omitted that would make the ceremony binding and +legal, not even its performance by a clergyman of the Church of +England." + +A cry of rage and despair interrupted the reader. But he went on +directly. + +"No one in America knew that I had been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my brother died and I inherited my +grandfather's property, I resigned my pastorate at once. This act shows +how unfit for it I was. But whatever my grief may be, my conscience +commands me to forbid this present marriage, and to declare with all +solemnity, that Stephen Archdale already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my letter, believed herself still +Mistres Royal." + +A burst of amazement and indignation, that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and voices expressed consternation. To +this confession had been added names and dates, the year of the writer's +entrance into the ministry, the time and place of his brief pastorate, +everything that was necessary to give his statement a reliable air, and +to verify it if one chose to do so. It was evident that there could be +no wedding that morning, and as the truth of the story impressed itself, +more and more upon the minds of the audience, a fear spread lest there +could be no wedding at all, such as they had been called together to +witness. For, if this amusement should turn out to have been a real +marriage, what help was there? It was in the days when amusements were +viewed seriously and were readily imagined to lead to fatal +consequences. Had Stephen Archdale really married? The people in the +drawing-room that December morning were able men and women, they were +among the best representatives of their time, an age that America will +always be proud of, but they held marriage vows so sacred, that even +made in jest there seemed to be a weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in waiting feared, for their part in +life was to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, that these +qualities flowing through mighty channels should conquer physical +strength and found a nation. To do a thing because it was pleasant was +no part of their creed,--although, even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice. + +That winter morning, therefore, the guests were ready to inveigh against +the sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all would be well, and to +shake their heads mournfully. + +"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so much, and trusted him so much. I +knew he loved my little girl, but I thought it was with an honorable +love that would rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot be true. We +must wait. But matters will come right at last." + +"Yes," assented the Colonel across whose face an incomprehensible +expression had passed more than once during the reading; "it will all +come right. We must make it so." + +A hum of conversation went on in the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, or if not near enough to them +for that, spoken to the first who were patient enough to listen instead +of themselves talking. + +In the midst of it all Stephen raised his head, for he had been bending +over Katie who still clung to him, and asked when the next ship left for +England. + +"In about three weeks," answered Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out +a person competent to make full inquiries; the matter shall be sifted." + +"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I shall make the necessary inquiries +myself, it will be doing something, and I may find the man. We need that +he should be found, Katie and I." + +Elizabeth drew back still more; some flash of feeling made the blood +come hotly to her face for a moment, then fade away again. + +Katie looked up, turned her eyes slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought. + +"Go, Stephen, since you will feel better," she said, "but it's of no +use, I am sure. I understand now something Master Harwin said to me when +he left me. I did not know then what he meant. He has taken you away +from me forever." And with a sob, again she hid her face upon his +shoulder. Then, slowly drawing away from him, she turned to Elizabeth, +and in her eyes was something of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed. + +"How could you," she said, "how could you consent to do it?" + +She had drawn toward Elizabeth every gaze and every thought in the room; +she had pointed out the substitute on whom might be emptied those vials +of wrath that the proper object of them had taken care to escape. +Elizabeth heard on all sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how could she +do it, how could she consent to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, and +herself alone, as it seemed, made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed to grow, and widen, and widen, +like the circles of water into which a stone is thrown, and she was +condemned by her friends, by the people who had known her and her +father, condemned as false to her friendship, as unwomanly. Katie she +could forgive on account of her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never dreamed of. These whispers that +her imagination multiplied seemed to roar in her ears. But innocence and +pride kept her erect, and at last made her raise her eyes which had +fallen and grown dim under the blow of Katie's words. She swept them +slowly around the room, turning her head slightly to do it. Not a look +of sympathy met her. Then, in the pain, a power awoke within her. + +"It is no less a disaster to me," she said. Her words fell with the +weight of truth. She had kept back her pain, no one thought of pitying +her as Katie was pitied, but she was vindicated. + +"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" asked Madam Pepperrell in a low +tone of Governor Wentworth at her elbow. + +"It is not probable she loves him much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl's haughty face. "I don't envy her, on the whole, I don't envy +either of them." By George, madam, it _is_ hard." + +"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, whose glance, having more +penetration, had at last brought a look of sympathy to his face. "Let us +go up to the poor thing, she stands so alone, and I'm not clear that she +has not the worst of it." + +"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned his wife as they moved forward. But +before they could reach her, being stopped by several who spoke to them, +there was a change in the group in that part of the room. Katie had +fallen, and there was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen stooped over +her, lifted her tenderly, and carried her from the room. He was followed +by Mistress Archdale and his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth their +eyes met, his glowed with a sullen rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of scorn, as she looked at him it +seemed to her that every fibre of his being was rejecting her. "You!" he +seemed to be saying with contemptuous emphasis. In answer her eyes +filled him with their haughtiness, they and the scornful curl of her +lip, as she stood motionless waiting for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion that he should pass near +her at all. He still saw her face as he bent over Katie. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + * * * * * + +GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. + +BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D. + + +It is not often that a Governor's objections to a measure, which his +veto has defeated, become, even indirectly, the subject of judicial +consideration. Such, however, has been the experience of Governor +Cleveland in connection with his veto of the appropriation, which was +made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a constitutional lawyer, to see the +principles of that veto entirely approved by all the judges of the Court +of Appeals, as well as by all the judges by whom those principles were +considered, before the case, in which they were involved, reached that +august tribunal, the highest in the judicial system of that State. + +By an amendment to the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1874, it is +provided that, "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be +given, or loaned to, or in aid of, any association, corporation, or +private undertaking." + +It would hardly seem possible to mistake the meaning of a prohibition +like this; but this prohibition is accompanied by the following +modification: "This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature +from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, +the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, now held by the State for +educational purposes." + +The question, how far this qualifying clause limits the proceeding +prohibition, arose first in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in +the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd's Fold of the +Protestant Episcopal Church _vs_. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of +the City of New York.[A] The Attorney-General of the State had given an +official opinion, tending to the conclusion that the prohibition is +almost entirely neutralized by the modification. The Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this case in either court, +differed widely upon the question, whether money raised by local +taxation by the City of New York, under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of the Shepherd's Fold, was, or was +not, "money of the State," and therefore included in the terms of this +prohibition; and when one sees how much is done in the discussions of +the able counsel before the Court of final resort, and by the learned +opinion of Judge Rapello, to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had a similar Court of Appeals, to +revise and clarify the decisions of her Supreme Court. About twenty-five +per cent, of all the decisions of the General Terms of the Supreme +Court, Superior Court, and Court of Common Pleas, which are carried to +the Court of Appeals, are there reversed; and can any lawyer doubt that, +at least, as large a proportion of the decisions of our Supreme Judicial +Court ought also to be revised and reversed? + +[Footnote A: See 10 Daly's Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. 137.] + +The Court of Appeals says: "It seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference to money raised by general +taxation throughout the State, or revenues of the State, or money +otherwise belonging to the State treasury, or payable out of it." + +The money claimed by the Shepherd's Fold being raised by local taxation +for a local purpose in the city of New York, and not "by general +taxation throughout the State," the Court of Appeals holds that it is +not within the terms of the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on that particular +point, while agreeing with it on the main question. + +As the money, appropriated to the Roman Catholic Protectory, was +unquestionably money of the State, "being raised by general taxation +throughout the State," that appropriation was unquestionably in conflict +with the prohibition of the Constitution, which the Governor was sworn +to support. + +Of the courage and independence displayed by Governor Cleveland in thus +vetoing a measure in which so large a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an interest, this is not the place to +speak. But it is creditable to him as a lawyer that alone without a +single precedent to guide him, relying upon his own judicial sense, and +rejecting the opinion of a former Attorney-General, he challenged "the +validity of this appropriation under that section of the Constitution." +The Protectory, he says, "appears to be local in its purposes and +operations." And being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public funds +should not be contributed to its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject the state treasury to demands in +behalf of all sorts of sectarian institutions, which a due care for the +money of the State, and a just economy, could not concede." + +In the higher and broader field of public service--"the grandest throne +on earth"--as the Presidency which he is about to enter, has been +grandiloquently called, let us hope that he will display the same +honesty, capability, and fidelity to the Constitution. We shall then be +assured that the interests of the Republic will suffer no detriment at +his hands. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 14131-8.txt or 14131-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/3/14131/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="text"> +<div class="front"> + +<div class="div"> +<h2 class="dgp">The Bay State Monthly</h2> +<h2 class="sub">A Massachusetts Magazine</h2> +<h2 class="sub">Volume II</h2> +<h2 class="sub">January, 1885.</h2> +<h2 class="sub">Number 4.</h2> +<p class="noindent"></p> +</div> + + <hr class="doublepage"> + +<div class="div" id="toc"><a name="toc_1"></a><h2 class="dgp">Contents</h2><ul class="toc"> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_1">Contents</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_2">GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_3">OLIVER AMES.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_4">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_5">ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_6">ROUSED FROM DREAMS.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_7">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_8">SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_9">ELIZABETH.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_10">CHAPTER VI.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_11">CHAPTER VII.</a></li> +<li class="dgp" style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_12">Notes</a></li> +</ul></div> + +</div> + +<div class="body"> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image1.png" alt="Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON"></p> +</div> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + + +<a name="toc_2"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.]</p> + + +<p class="dgp">His Excellency George D. Robinson, +at present the foremost citizen of Massachusetts, +by reason of his incumbency +of the highest office in the Commonwealth, +is the thirtieth in the line of +succession of the men who have held +the office of Governor under the Constitution. +In character, in ability, in +education, and in those things generally +which mark the representative citizen +of New England, he is a worthy +successor of the best men who have +been called to the Chief Magistracy. +His public career has been marked by +dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; +his life as a private citizen has been such +as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man +in whom the people who confer honor +upon him find themselves also honored. +He is a native of the Commonwealth, +of whose laws he is the chief administrator, +and comes of that sturdy stock +which wresting a new country from +savagery, fostered with patient industry +the germs of civilization it had planted, +and aided in developing into a nation +the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to +the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed +and existing by and with the consent +of the people. His ancestors +were probably of that Saxon race which +for centuries stood up against the encroachments +of Norman kings and nobles, +which was led with willingness into +the battle, the siege or the crusade that +meant the maintenance or advancement +of old England’s honor, or in the cause +of mother Church, and which was possessed +of that brave, independent spirit +that, when the old home was felt to be +too narrow an abode, sought a new-country +in which to plant and develop +its ideas of what government should be. +However this may be it is certain that +from the first settlement of the Massachusetts +Bay Colony the family was always +represented among the most honorable +of its yeomanry, and among its +members were pillars of both Church +and State. His immediate ancestors, +people of the historic town of Lexington, +were active citizens in the Revolutionary +period, and in the great struggle + +members of the family were among +those who did brave and effective service +in the cause of liberty.</p> + +<p class="dgp">George Dexter Robinson was born in +Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born +on a farm, his boyhood and youth were +spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor +exercise and labor which are part +of the life of the farmer’s boy. But the +future Governor did not intend to devote +himself to farming. With the aim +of obtaining a collegiate education he +attended the Academy in his native +town, and followed his studies there by +further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering +Harvard University he was graduated +at that institution in 1856, and +receiving an appointment as Principal +of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, +he accepted it, filling the position +with success during a period of +nine years. He retired from it in 1865. +Meanwhile he had devoted much +time to legal studies, which he continued +more fully during the next few +months, and in 1866 he was admitted to +the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the +town wherein his active career in life +had begun, he made his permanent +home, and with the various interests of +that town he identified himself closely +and pleasantly, exemplifying in many +ways the character of a true townsman, +and associating himself with every movement +for the good of his fellow citizens. +In 1873 he was elected to represent the +town the ensuing year in the State Legislature, +and as a member of the House +he was noted for the promptness and +fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he +was a member of the State Senate, and +here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous +ability as a legislator in addition +to that fidelity to his responsibilities +which had long been characteristic of +him in any and all positions. His qualifications +for public life received still wider +recognition the year he served in the +Senate, and he was nominated by the +Republicans of the old Eleventh District +as Representative in Congress. He +was re-elected for two successive terms, +and after the re-apportionment was +elected from the new Twelfth District +in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the +office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in +order to assist in the organization of the +new Congress, and, after that work was +accomplished, resigned to enter upon +the duties entrusted to him by the people +of the whole Commonwealth. He +had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. +Of his career in Washington it +would not be possible to give a better +summary than one given by "Webb," +the able Washington correspondent of +the Boston Journal, which is here given +in its entirety:</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Robinson took his seat in the +Forty-fifth Congress, which met in extra +session, in October, 1877. He was +prompt in his seat on the first day of +the first session. Regularity in attendance, +and constant attention to public +business, have been characteristics of +Mr. Robinson’s Congressional career. +He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until +the House adjourns at night. He does +not spend his time in importuning the +departments for clerkships, but he welcomes +the civil service law. He does +not take the public time, which belongs +to his constituents, for his private practice +in the United States Supreme Court. +He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in +discovering, and vigorous in denouncing + +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends +and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the +people’s money and has never cast his +vote for an extravagant expenditure; +but he does not oppose an appropriation +to gain a reputation for economy, or +aspire to secure the title of "watch dog +of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts +of a demagogue.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When he entered Congress, he went +there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, +peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority +in parliamentary law, and is one of +the ablest presiding officers in Congress.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Congress which he first entered +the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," +as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father’s house, and +come to stay." Mr. Randall was elected +Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one +of the minor standing committees—that +of Expenditures in the Department +of Justice—and subsequently placed +him near the foot of the list on the +Special Committee on the Mississippi +Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it +was discovered that where "McGregor +sits is the head of the table." Mr. +Robinson, at the extra session of the +Forty-fifth Congress, took little active +part in the public proceedings. He was +a student of Congressional rules and +practice.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the second session of the Forty-fifth +Congress he began to actively participate +in the debates, and from the +outset endeavored to secure a much +needed reform in Congressional proceedings. +He always insisted that, in +the discussion of important questions, +order should be maintained. He followed +every important bill in detail, and +the questions which he directed to those +who had these bills in charge showed +that he had made himself a master of +the subject. He took occasion to revise +upon the floor many of the calculations +of the Appropriations Committee, +and to urge the necessity of the most +rigid economy consistent with proper +administration.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It was at the third session of the +Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, 1879, +that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable +speech. It was upon the bill +relative to the improvement of the Mississippi +River. He was very deeply impressed +with the magnitude of the +problems presented by that great river, +and, while he was willing that the public +money should be wisely expended for +the improvement of the ’Father of +Waters,’ he did not wish that Congress +should be committed to any special +plan which might prove to be part of +a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which +this first speech was listened to, and +the endless questions with which the +Southern men who favored absolutely +the levee system plied him, showed that +they understood that great weight +would be given to Mr. Robinson’s +opinion, and that they did not wish him +to declare, unconditionally, against +their cause. The speech was a broad +and liberal one, but extremely just. It +had been intimated in the course of the +debate that Eastern members, who did +not favor the improvement of the river, +refused to do so on account of a narrow +provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed +them that New England is both just +and generous, and that the country is so +united that a substantial benefit to any +portion of it cannot be an injury to +another. He made some keen thrusts +at the Southern State rights advocates, +who were so eager for the old flag and + +an appropriation, and he reminded +them that whatever might be thought of +the dogma of State sovereignty, "the +great old river is regardless of State +lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee +in Arkansas, over it goes into Louisiana, +spreading devastation in its course." +Mr. Robinson insisted that "Congress +has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of +the public treasury immediately without +investigating a theory and a plan +which proposes to render such an expenditure +wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible +safe-guards should be provided against +any extravagant expenditure on the +part of the Government. The relations +of New England to such an undertaking +he thus broadly stated:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I am not deterred by any considerations +that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged +extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from +the great cities on the Atlantic shore. +I am willing that the whole country +shall be improved and opened for +its best and most profitable occupation. +This territory, whose interests +are affected by this, is greater +than the whole of New England. I +am not afraid that whatever improvements +may be made there New England +will be left out in the cold. Whatever +conduces to the prosperity of the +West or South will benefit the East and +North. We are parts of one great +whole, and, if it is necessary under a +proper policy to spend some money +from the Treasury of the United States +to meet the wants of those States lying +along the Mississippi River, I hope it +will not be begrudged to them, but it +should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the +plans, have received a careful consideration +and the indorsement of the +proper officers."</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the third session of the Forty-fifth +Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his minor +place on the Committee on Expenditures +in the Department of Justice, introduced +a bill relative to the mileage +of United States Marshals, which proposed +an important reform.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the +first session, Mr. Robinson, on account +of the marked abilities which he had +shown as a lawyer and a debater, was +appointed a member of the Judiciary +Committee, a position which he held +through the Forty-sixth Congress with +honor to his district and his State. From +the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress +Mr. Robinson, to the great surprise of +many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took +front rank as a debater on points of +order, and showed that his months of +silent observation and of earnest study +had brought their fruit. His discussion +of points of order and of the rules was +always characterized by good sense. +He did not seek to befog a question by +an extensive quotation of authorities. +He endeavored to strip the rules of +their technicalities and to apply to them +the principle of common sense. Sometimes, +however, he was almost in despair, +and once in the course of an intricate +discussion he exclaimed (March +28, 1879): "If there is a standing and +clear rule that guides the Chair, I have +not yet found it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the second session of the Forty-sixth +Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support +of an amendment to the "Culbertson +Court bill," which was designed to limit +the jurisdiction of the United States +courts. Some of the strongest advocates +of this amendment were men who, although +living in Northern States, were + +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since +the war, have been continuously aggressive +in their efforts to place limitations +upon national power. Mr. Robinson was +a member of the Judiciary Committee +and spoke upon the bill. His speech upon +this measure attracted more attention +than any speech he had delivered before +that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so +interested in it that, although the debate +was running in the valuable time of the +morning hour, Mr. Robinson, on motion +of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, +after the expiration of his time, was requested +to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of +the federal courts. A few extracts from +the general parts of this speech furnish +an excellent illustration of the abilities +of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He +spoke as the son of a Jackson Democrat +would be likely to speak. He vigorously +opposed the increase in the limit from +$500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern +and Western Democrats.</p> + +<p class="dgp">After quoting the opinions of Chief +Justices Story and Marshall to show that +the right of Congress to establish federal +courts could not be denied without defeating +the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional +provisions give to the citizens +of the different States their rights in the +federal courts. I say again, it is not within +the constitutional power of Congress +to make discriminations as to citizens in +this matter. It has been taken as settled +that the corporations of the States for +purposes of jurisdiction are citizens of +the States in which they are created. Can +you discriminate? Why, in the famous +Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro +was not a citizen within the meaning of +the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in +the Circuit Court of the United States. +The nation paused and held its breath, +and never recovered itself until after the +bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that +no such doctrine should ever be repeated +in this country. If Congress can exclude +the citizens of a locality, or the citizens +of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain +classes of wealth or industry, surely it can +exclude any other citizens. If you can, +in this bill and under our Constitution, +declare that the citizens, or any portion +of them, in this country, because they +act in their corporate capacity, shall lose +their rights in the federal courts, it is +but the next step to legislate that the +man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in +the manufacture of cotton, or of woolen +goods, or is banker, or ’bloated bond-holder,’ +shall not have any rights in the +federal courts. There is no step between +them. There may be a discrimination as +to subject-matter, but not as to citizens. +The distinction is very broad, and in +recognition of it my argument is made." +In the discussion of the apportionment +at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, +Mr. Robinson eloquently defended +the honor of Massachusetts against the +aspersions which had been cast upon +the Commonwealth by General Butler in +his brief as attorney in the Boynton-Loring +contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this +brief and suggested that if it were true +the representation of Massachusetts +should be curtailed. Mr. Robinson entered +into an explanation of the reading +and writing qualification for suffrage in +Massachusetts. As General Butler was +the assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson +said:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I propose to show this matter was +understood before 1874. Turn to the debates +in the Congressional Globe, volume + +75, and in 1869 in this House, and +within these walls. General Benjamin F. +Butler made this speech in reply to an +inquiry made by the gentleman from +New York, the Chairman of this Census +Committee. He says:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Everybody in Massachusetts can +vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in +its justice, and an ignorant white man +cannot vote there and a learned negro +be excluded; but in the Georgia Legislature +there was a white man who could +hardly read and write, if at all, voted in +because he was white, while a negro who +spoke and read two languages was voted +out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her +citizens should read and write before +being permitted to vote. Almost everybody +votes there under that rule, certainly +every native-born person of proper age +and sex votes there, and there are hundreds +and thousands in this country who +would thank God continually on their +bended knees if it could be provided +that voters in the city of New York +should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican +government in form and fact far more +safe than now."</p> + +<p class="dgp">After exposing the assertions of General +Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"For twenty-three years it has been +written before the people of that State +that to entitle them to vote and hold +office they shall first learn to read and +write. Near to every man’s dwelling +stands a public free school. Education +is brought to the door of every man. +These school-houses are supported with +almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and +have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education +of the people has been advanced.</p> + +<p class="dgp">* * * I will not take any time +in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in +the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. +People differ about that. Some time or +other that may be changed; but for +sixty years it has been the law, and it so +remains. Looking into the Constitution +and the laws of the sister States of +Virginia and Georgia and Delaware +and Pennsylvania we find similar provisions +of the same antiquity justified +by the communities that have adopted +such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions +of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. +Does any one claim that representation +should be reduced because of +insanity or idiocy, or because of convicts? +Does any one claim that all +laws requiring residence and registration +should be done away? And yet +they are on the same line, on the +same principle. There is not one of +these prerequsites, on which I have +commented, that it is not in the power +of the person who desires to get suffrage +to overcome and control and conquer +so that he may become a voter. But +if he be a black man he cannot put off +his color. He cannot, if he were born +a member of a particular race, strip +himself of that quality; nor can he, if +he has been in servitude; nor can he, if +he has been in rebellion, take out that +taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted +of other crimes, remove his record +of criminality. These are an inherent, +inseparable, indissoluble part of +that man. But his education, his registration, +his residence, his payment of a +portion of the burdens of the State, and +the other matters, are in his power and +his control. I find it to be in accord +with the wisdom of the people of the + +country that it is the true policy to let +the States govern those matters for +themselves. The Constitution of the +United States touches those things that +are out of the man’s control."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the filibustering contest over the +rules in the Forty-seventh Congress, +first session, Mr. Robinson made a very +earnest speech, which commended itself +to all except the extreme filibusters. +Stripping the contest of its technical +parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson +said: "Our rules are for orderly procedure, +not for disorderly obstruction; +not for resistance." Continuing he +said that no tyranny is one-half as +odious as that which comes from the +minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put +our Government upon the right of the +majority to rule." To the charge of +one of the minority that the purpose of +the majority to proceed to the consideration +of the election cases was tyranny, +Mr. Robinson said:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Tyranny! Because the majority of +this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, +they declare to be right and proper, and +in their judgment is to be vindicated, +you say that is tyranny! But it is not +tyranny for you in a minority forsooth +to say, unless it goes just the way we +want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have +thrown out here and have fulminated in +the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration +of this Congress rather than +you shall not have your way. I commend +to my friend some other dictionary +in which he will find a proper definition +of the word tyranny."</p> + +<p class="dgp">To show to what logical result the +theory of the right of the minority to +prevent legislation or the consideration +of public business would lead, the following +illustration was used: "But this +very day suppose by some great calamity +the chair of the Speaker was left +vacant and we were confronted with +the necessity of electing a Speaker. +Elect him under the rules, you say. +Yes, but under the Constitution, greater +than the rule. But, say one-fifth of +this House, you shall not proceed to +elect a Speaker unless you will take a +man from our number; and we will +move to adjourn, to adjourn over, and to +take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the +yeas and nays. Do you believe that we +are in that pitiable plight?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">On the subject of civil service Mr. +Robinson improved one minute to express +his views in this manner:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I am heartily in favor of this bill. +It is in the right direction. We have +read enough in the platforms of both +political parties; here is a chance to do +something.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In some of the States of this country +have just been inaugurated officers of +the Democratic party; and I have +noticed they have made haste, no matter +what their declarations have been in +recent platforms, to turn out well tried +public servants and put in some of their +own retainers and supporters. I want +this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in +accord with the sentiment of this +country.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I hear some gentlemen say, ’Oh, +yes, we are for reform, but this does not +reform enough,’ I am somewhat alarmed +when I find a man who says he wants to +reform but cannot begin at all unless he +can reform all over in one minute. If +there is not enough in this bill, still let us +take it gladly, give it a cordial welcome +and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far +as our most progressive friends want."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The position of Mr. Robinson on the +tariff and River and Harbor bills needs + +no explanation to Massachusetts readers. +He opposed the River and Harbor bill +and voted to sustain the President’s +veto.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The political campaign of 1883, +which resulted in Mr. Robinson’s election +as Governor, was an interesting and +somewhat exciting one. His Democratic +competitor for the office was +General Benjamin F. Butler, who was +then Governor, and who took the stump +in his peculiarly aggressive way, arraigning +bitterly the Republican administrations +which had preceded his own +and appealing to his own record in the +office as an argument for his re-election. +His elevation to the Governorship +the year before had been the result +of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible +cause of more, unless a candidate could +be found able to harmonize and draw +together again the inharmonious elements. +That Mr. Robinson was such +a man was indicated very clearly in the +fact that the nomination sought him, in +reality against his wish, and was accepted +in a spirit of duty. Accepting +the leadership of his party in the State +Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to +the further duty of making his candidacy +a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all +over the Commonwealth in a series of +addresses that were probably never +surpassed for excellence in any previous +political campaign. He is an interesting +and impressive speaker, an honest +man in the handling of facts, logical in +his arguments, choice in his language, +which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances +combines a clear and ready wit +that, never obtruding itself, is never +missing when the place for it exists. +He made himself thoroughly acquainted +with questions at issue, and with questions +in general connected with the interests +of the Commonwealth. His addresses +commanded attention and commended +themselves to the common +sense of the people, and the result was +inevitable. He entered upon the administration +of affairs with his customary +vigor, and during his first year in +office won the respect of men of all +shades of political opinion by the ability +and impartiality with which his +duties were performed. While neglecting +none of the details of official business +Governor Robinson found time to +attend to those social requirements +that have long been imposed upon +the Chief Magistrate, dignifying by his +presence and enlivening by his timely +remarks all kinds of gatherings, the aim +of which has been to broaden social relations, +or to advance the welfare of the +community in any way. In the election +of November, 1884, he was again +the Republican candidate for Governor, +and was re-elected. In his personal appearance +Governor Robinson is what +might be termed a clean-cut man. He +is of good stature, compactly built, with +a well-shaped head and a face in which +are seen both intelligence and determination. +His temperament is very +even, and though he does not appear to +be a man who could be easily excited, +he is one who can be very earnest. His +manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the +first to accord him, on the strength of +what he appears to be, full respect and +confidence.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image2.png" alt="Oliver Ames"></p> +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_3"></a> + + + +<h2 class="dgp">OLIVER AMES.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">[Editor of the Boston Traveller].</p> + + +<p class="dgp">The descendants of William Ames, the +Puritan, who settled in Braintree, are a +representative New England family. +Their history forms an honorable part +of the history of Massachusetts, and +fitly illustrates in its outlines the social +and material advancement of the people +from the poverty and hardships of the +early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early +days of the Colony they were poor, as +were their neighbors of other names, +but they honored toil and believed in +the dignity of honest labor. Industry +was with them coupled with thrift. +They recognized their duty to the State +and gave it such service as she demanded, +whether it were honest judgment +in the jury box, the town meeting +and the General Court, or bearing arms +against the Indian marauder, and the +foreign foe. State and Church were +virtually one in these primitive times, +and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, +or by the town, were accepted by +the members of this family as duties to +be unostentatiously performed, rather +than as bringing with their performance +either honor or emolument. With their +thrift they coupled temperance. They +labored subduing the forests, on the +clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and +they became skilled artisans. Muskets +were as indispensable to these pioneers +as hoes or spades; and so they made +guns, then farming tools. They made +shovels first for their neighbors, then +for their township, then for their State +and country. As their state advanced +they kept pace with it. They found an +outlet for the products of their skill at a +neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant +countries. Industries and enterprises +which would in time develop other +industries and enterprises became the +special objects of their encouragement. +Where avenues of prosperity and success +were lacking, they must be created; +and in recognition of this necessity this +family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and +the far, near, by building a railway +across the Continent. In this barest +and most meagre outline of the history +of a single family may be found in miniature +an outline of the history of the +development of Massachusetts, of New +England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the early part of the seventeenth +century the Ames family became prominently +identified with the Puritan movement +in England. William Ames, the +divine and author, was among those +who for conscience’s sake forsook his +home, finding refuge in Holland. He +became known to fame not only as an +able writer, but as Professor in the +Franeker University. Richard Ames +was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, +England. Neither of these cast in +their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers +of Massachusetts; but it is doubtful +if the sufferings for conscience’s sake +of those who remained behind were after +all less rigorous than were the sufferings +of those who, self-exiled, sought +homes in New England. The two +branches of the family were united by +marriage and from them descended the + +Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant +Governor of the Commonwealth of +Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Ames family commence their +genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son +of Richard Ames of Bruton, Somersetshire, +who came to this country in +1635, and settled in Braintree in 1638. +A few years later he was joined by his +brother, John Ames, who settled in +Bridgewater.</p> + +<p class="dgp">John Ames, only son of William +Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John +Willis; and in 1672 settled in Bridgewater +with his uncle, John Ames, who +was childless, and whose heir he became +in 1697. He had five sons, one of +whom was Nathaniel, the grandfather of +Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in +1723.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John +and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 +Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas +and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born +in Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 +Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Captain John Ames, second son of +Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, +was born in Bridgewater in 1738: married +in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned +officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he +also rendered the patriot cause service +by the manufacture of guns. His +account book, still in existence, also +proves that he was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels in 1775.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Oliver Ames, third son of Captain +John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, +was born in West Bridgewater April 11, +1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture +of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent +of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early +as 1800 was engaged in the manufacture +of shovels. In 1803 he married +Susannah Angier, a descendant of +President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, +and the same year he removed +to Easton where greater facilities were +afforded for carrying on his business. +At first his goods found an outlet to +markets at Newport, Rhode Island, and +at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was +sufficient for the transportation of the +raw material to, and the manufactured +goods from, his factory. He was a man +who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually +built up a large and flourishing business. +A great impetus was given to +manufacturing during the last war with +Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed +himself of every opportunity to enlarge +his business. The one-horse method +of transportation was soon supplanted +by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, +the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons was +formed, the business had grown to large +dimensions.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son +of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily +into the enterprises inaugurated by his +father. Under his supervision the manufacture +of shovels grew into giant proportions. +A railroad, constructed to the +very doors of the factories, furnished facilities +for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand +tons of steel and five thousand tons of +coal, and for carrying away from them + +more than one hundred and thirty thousand +dozen shovels, in the manufacture +of which employment had been given to +five hundred workmen. The fame of +the goods kept pace with the advance of +civilization; and on every frontier, in all +quarters of the globe, were found as instruments +of progress the Ames shovels.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is not so much as the successful +manufacturer, however, that Oakes Ames +will be remembered, as the master mind +through whose perseverance and indomitable +energy, and in the face of seemingly +insurmountable obstacles, was +forced to completion the pioneer railway +across the Western Continent. +He gained a deserved and enduring +fame as the builder of the Union Pacific +Railroad, and that magnificent work +will ever stand as his proudest monument. +During the former part of the +war of the Rebellion he rendered important +service to the Union cause by +his shrewd and sagacious counsels in +State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts +District in the National House +of Representatives. He died May 8, +1873.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Honorable Oliver Ames, second +son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, +February 4, 1831. [See genealogical +foot note]. He received his early +education in the public schools of +his native town and at the North Attleboro, +Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation +of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he +served an apprenticeship of five years, +thus mastering the business in all the +minuteness of its details. At the age of +twenty, appreciating the value of a more +thorough scholastic training, he took a +special course at Brown University, placing +himself under the special tutelage +of President Francis Wayland. The +bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, +is perhaps best seen from his favorite +branches of study, which were +history, geology, and political economy. +Having finished his collegiate studies, he +returned to North Easton where he soon +demonstrated that he was possessed of +the same splendid business qualities by +which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural +love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed +itself in several inventions; and +his inventive genius, coupled with his +perfect knowledge of the business, has +brought about important changes and +improvements in the business of the firm. +During this time he served honorably +in the State militia, rising from the +rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a +member of the firm of Oliver Ames +and Sons, and for several years personally +superintended the various departments +of the firm’s immense establishment +at North Easton. At his father’s +death in 1873 the numerous financial +trusts held by the latter devolved on +him, and he has been, and is, President, +Director, or Trustee of a large +number of institutions and corporations, +including railroads, national banks, savings +banks, and manufacturing corporations. +In 1880 Mr. Ames was elected to +the State Senate, and was re-elected in +1881. With the exception of having +served on the School Committee of +Easton this was the first office to which +he had been called by the suffrages of +his fellow-citizens. He had, however, +taken a deep and active interest in political +matters, and had rendered efficient +political service by his connection +with the Republican Town Committee +of Easton, as Chairman and Treasurer, +since the formation of the Republican + +party. As a member of the State Senate +he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, +and was known as one of the working +members of the body. He served during +each year of his membership on +the Committees on Railroads, and Education. +In 1882 he received the Republican +nomination for Lieutenant-Governor +upon the ticket headed by +the name of Honorable Robert R. +Bishop as the candidate for Governor. +In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop +was defeated by General Butler, but +Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome +plurality; and it is not too +much to say that by his courteous official +demeanor towards his Excellency, +Governor Butler, during the somewhat +phenomenal political year of 1883, +coupled with his firmness and good +judgment in opposing the more objectionable +schemes of that official, he contributed +much to the restoration of the +Republican party to power at the ensuing +State election. He was re-elected +in 1883, and again in 1884, and has +now entered upon his third term of service. +His political, like his business life, +has been characterized by a straightforward +honesty of purpose, by the strictest +integrity, and by an energetic, able, and +faithful performance of trusts accepted. +Mr. Ames is the possesor of large wealth, +but he has most conclusively proven +that such possession is in no sense a bar +to a faithful and efficient service of his +fellow citizens in positions of trust and +honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, +in whose affairs he has exercised +the same good judgment and marked +executive ability, as in his own.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver +Ames has won his widest reputation. +Upon the death of his father the +management of the vast enterprises +which the later had controlled, suddenly +devolved upon him. The greatness of +the man showed itself in that he found +himself equal to the emergency. The +Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he +took upon his shoulders its settlement, +not only one in which immense and +diversified interests were involved, scattered +throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with +obligations to the extent of eight millions +of dollars. The times were most +unpropitious, the country being just on +the eve of a great financial panic when +immense properties were crumbling to +pittances. He undertook the Herculean +task of rescuing at this time this estate +from threatened ruin, and of vindicating +the good name of his father from undeserved +censure. He had in this gigantic +work to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious +railroad wreckers, and schemers; +but his thorough mental discipline united +with his intensely practical business +training, and coupled with his native +energy, tact, good sense, and fertility +of resources, stood him in good stead. +He inspired capitalists with confidence, +money was forthcoming to further his +carefully matured plans, and the ship +freighted with the fortunes of his family, +was, by his steady hand, piloted securely +amidst the shoals and quicksands of +disaster, and by rocks strewn with the +wrecks of princely fortunes, to a safe +anchorage. He rescued the property +from peril, met and paid the enormous +indebtedness resting upon it, paid a million +of dollars or more of legacies, and +had still a large surplus to divide among +the heirs.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As a business man his sagacity seems +almost intuitive. As an illustration of +this, his work in developing the Central +Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad +may be instanced, a work which +at the same time gave him high rank + +as a railroad manager. At the time +he connected himself with the undertaking, +only the first hundred miles +of the road were in running order. He +first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying +himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise +through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and +fully equipping it for operation. His +judgment, which at the time was somewhat +questioned by other experienced +railroad managers and financiers, was +fully justified by the result, which was a +complete financial success.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One of the most impressive traits in +the character of Oliver Ames is his veneration +for the memory of his distinguished +father. He fully believes that +the hastily and unjustly formed verdict +of censure pronounced upon Oakes +Ames, both by public opinion and by +the United States House of Representatives, +will ere long be reversed, and that +his memory will be honored by the country, +as it so justly deserves. Indeed he +has already had the gratification of seeing +this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only +remains for Congress to remove its undeserved +vote of censure, for Oakes +Ames to take his appropriate and honored +place in American history. There +is little doubt that Mr. Ames will yet +see this ambition of his life realized. +As to this censure, Massachusetts, where +Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, +has spoken through her Legislature +by the following resolution, +which unanimously passed both House +and Senate in the spring of 1883:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"Resolved, in view of the great services +of Oakes Ames, representative from +the Massachusetts Second Congressional +District, for ten years ending March 4, +1873, in achieving the construction of +the Union Pacific Railroad, the most +vital contribution to the integrity and +growth of the National Union since the +war:</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In view of his unflinching truthfulness +and honesty, which refused to suppress, +in his own or any other interest, +any fact, and so made him the victim +of an intense and misdirected public excitement +and subjected him to a vote of +censure by the Forty-second Congress +at the close of its session;</p> + +<p class="dgp">"And in view of the later deliberate +public sentiment, which, upon a review of +all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable +with his condemnation, and +which, throughout the whole country +recognizes the value and patriotism of +his achievement and his innocence of +corrupt motive or conduct;</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts +hereby expresses its gratitude for +his work and its faith in his integrity of +purpose and character, and asks for like +recognition thereof on the part of the +National Congress." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial +Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial +devotion and respect. This village of +North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames +and other members of the Ames family, +as well as the seat of the extensive shovel +works, deserves more than a passing +notice, enriched and beautified as it has +been by this family, until it has become +one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which +deserves to be widely copied. The old +and substantial factories, built of granite, +present the neat appearance which +characterizes the buildings in some of +our oldest navy yards. The employes +have many of them grown old in the +service of the firm; and well paid, intelligent, +and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes +and take a just pride in the welfare of the +community. The concrete walks, macadamized +roadways, and well kept yards + +and lawns evince thrift. The elegant +railway station, a gift to the village from +one member of the family, is a model +of architectural beauty and convenience. +The Gothic church and parsonage +of the same style of architecture, +are befitting adjuncts of the +park-like cemetery, where rests the +dust of the blacksmith ancestor who +bravely struggled amid adverse surroundings +to found the fortunes of his +family, and build up a business which +has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, +is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by +is the elegant structure known and endowed +as the Ames Free Library; and +in another direction is the temple, dedicated +to the cause of popular education, +that emblem of New England’s +power, the school-house, all monuments +of the munificence of the Ames family, +and of the deep interest its members +take in the welfare of their native town. +In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of +the principal streets, is a declivity, +where art has so arranged the rough and +irregular forms of New England boulders +as to re-produce a unique scene +from some Scotch or Swiss village. +This "rockery," as it is called, is +clothed in summer with verdure and +flowers, and from its summit one finds +an extended and charming view of +the village, with its cottages, its workshops, +and the villas of the proprietors +of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural +elegance, and are surrounded +by most artistic landscape gardening. +Conspicuous among these is the residence +of the subject of this sketch, facing, +as it does, a spacious well-kept +lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite +gem in its emerald setting.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The public spirit of the Ames’s finds +one of its most marked illustrations in +this model and typical New England +village; and no small share of what has +been achieved for it is due to the +warm heart and open hand of Oliver +Ames. He has ever shown himself an +ardent friend of popular education, and +justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For +a period of twenty years he found time, +amid a multiplicity of weighty business +cares, to serve upon the School Committee +of his town and to give the benefit +of his experience, judgment, and +personal supervision to the promotion +of the efficiency of this one of the +very fundamental of American institutions, +the common school. Oakes Ames +left a fund of $50,000, the income to be +used for the benefit of the school children +of North Easton village. Through +the wise thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames +many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other +sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton +are among the objects of the fondest +pride of its citizens.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the +cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time +for the appreciative enjoyment of the +amenities and refinements of life. He +posesses a cultivated appreciation of +music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable +and choice collections of paintings and +statuary. Architecture has been with him +a special study, and his magnificent +winter residence, recently completed on +Commonwealth Avenue, in our city of +Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence +would be called a palace, here it is simply +the home of a representative American +citizen. Peculiarly happy in his domestic + +relations his home is beautified and +ennobled by the virtues of domestic life. +A generous hospitality is dispensed within +its portals, where on every hand are found +the evidences of the cultured refinement +of its occupants. A tour of a few months +in the Old World not only gave Mr. +Ames needed rest and relaxation from +business cares, but also furnished him +with opportunities for observation which +were most judiciously improved. In his +religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member +of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In his native town he is unusually respected +and beloved, and with the working-men +in his factories he enjoys an +unbounded popularity. This is but natural, +since he is himself a skilled artisan, +an inventive and ingenious mechanic, +familiar through a personal experience +with every detail of the work in which +they are engaged. This, coupled with +his native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious +manners, makes him the +model employer.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The custodian of great wealth, he +uses it in a spirit of wise benevolence, +and his public and private benefactions, +while large, are made without ostentation +or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in +his personal friendships, it is little wonder +that some of them now and then +impulsively speak of him as "the best +man in the world."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the full vigor of a robust manhood, +Mr. Ames attends to his vast private business +affairs, performs faithfully his official +and public duties, finds time for his favorite +authors, and keeps fully abreast with +current thought and the progress of the +age. His brow is yet unwrinkled and +cares rest lightly upon him. Free from +the pride of wealth, temperate, conservative, +clear-headed, and distinguished for +his strong common sense, his generous, +unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his +trust justly win for him a multitude of +friends.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Faithful in his devotion to the principles +of the Republican party, and in +his services to his native Commonwealth, +Massachusetts has reason for a +just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. +His name may yet stand the Republican +party of the State in good stead in +a political exigency not unlikely to arise +in the near future. Whatever may be +said of the causes of the defection from +the Republican ranks which took place +in the last national campaign, there is +no doubt about one of its results,—it +has driven the Republican party to seek +a closer alliance with the working-people +of the Commonwealth. The Republican +bolters were almost exclusively +drawn from the aristocratic end of the +party. It was Harvard and Beacon +Hill that revolted. To make good the +loss the Republican leaders had to appeal +for support to the same class of voters +which gave to Republican principles +their first triumphs,—the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring +men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard +now that Mr. Blaine is defeated +it is not likely that for many years +to come, if ever, the Republican +party in Massachusetts will be able, to +lean upon the immense majorities of +former years, that ran away up to +sixty, seventy, and eighty thousand. +With a Democratic administration installed +at Washington, and the power +and prestige which that fact will imply +and apply in the local politics of the +States,—and in no State more powerfully +than in Massachusetts, where the +shifting body of Independent voters, so-called, +is largely made up of the Hessian + +element that will incline to whichever +side has spoils to bestow,—the Republican +party in order to hold Massachusetts +will have to cultivate and strengthen +the alliance which it formed in the late +election with the laboring class of voters. +It will have to revert to the sympathetic +and liberal policy touching all +questions that affect labor, and the +welfare of the working people of the +State, which marked the earlier years of +its power. The Ames family is linked +in the popular mind with that policy. +And justly so, too! Oakes Ames +was a true friend to labor, as well +as one of the most practical; and the +fine instinct which guided him in making +of North Easton a model industrial +community, where the happiest +relations of mutual confidence and support +have subsisted between employer +and employed, he bequeathed to his +sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and +there is no element of exaggeration in +the statement, that if all our large capitalists +and manufacturers could succeed in +establishing the same rapport between +themselves and their employes which +the Ameses have always maintained at +North Easton, the vexed problem of +capital and labor would be solved; for +there would be no more conflict between +them. Oliver Ames is held in +the same high esteem and almost affectionate +regard by the working people of +the Old Colony district, where the interests +of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored +father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time +comes, and it is not far off, that the Republican +party in Massachusetts shall feel +the necessity of getting nearer to her +common people, and, in order to retain +its supremacy in the State, of offering to +their suffrages a man whose whole +life has been spent in close and friendly +relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, +if it shall not turn to the present +popular Lieutenant Governor, and present +the name of Oliver Ames as one +well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism +among the working-classes, +and certain, if presented to them, to be +endorsed by a splendid majority for the +first office in the popular gift.</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">[NOTE.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center">GENEALOGY.</p> + +<p class="dgp">RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I. William, who came to America and settled in +Braintree, Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="dgp">II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, +married Sarah Willis (daughter of John Willis of +Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In 1672 he +settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his +heir in 1697.</p> + +<p class="dgp">III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater +and married in 1706 Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon +Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, and granddaughter +of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, +the latter of whom came to America in the third +ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623)</p> + +<p class="dgp">IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah +Howard (daughter of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] +Howard, and granddaughter of John and Martha +[Haywood] Howard of Duxbury).</p> + +<p class="dgp">V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; +married in 1759 Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died +January 11, 1821). She was the daughter of +Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter +of John Howard of Duxbury and Rev. +James Keith.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September +11, 1863; married in April, 1803, Susannah Angier +(born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). Dr. +William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter +(2), Ruth, who came to America in 1637, and married +Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose son (3), +Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of +President Urian Oakes of Harvard College. Their +son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary Bourne, +granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), +Oakes Angier, a law student of President John Adams, +was the father of (6) Susannah Angier. Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. <em>Oakes</em>, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn.</p> + +<p class="dgp">6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October +10, 1836, Nathaniel Witherell, Jr.</p> + +<p class="dgp">7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844.</p> + +<p class="dgp">8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 +1839, Asa Mitchell.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, +1804; died May 8, 1873; married November 29, 1827, +Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; died +July 20, 1882). Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. <em>Oliver</em>, b. February 4, 1831.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry +W. French.</p> + +<p class="dgp">VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, +1831; married March 14, 1860, Anna C. Ray (born January +16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863.</p> + +<p class="dgp">3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864.</p> + +<p class="dgp">5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870.</p> + +<p class="dgp">6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: right">EDITOR.]</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image3.png" alt="THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN"></p> +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_4"></a> + +<h2 class="dgp">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By FRANK W. KAAN.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">We were changing cars about midnight +at Rotterdam Junction, New York, for +the Fitchburg Railroad connection. +"You might know we were near Boston," +said a passenger. "See what a +comfortable car this is." "Yes," remarked +a middle-aged gentleman, "I’ve +been away for three weeks, and I never +want to leave Boston for so long a time +again." And he gave a sigh of relief. +No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles +were called forth by this innocent confession. +Yet the sentiment found an +echo in our hearts. But a North Adams +man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, +Berkshire County is good enough for +me." The incident has a deeper meaning +than appears at first glance.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Going westward on the Boston and +Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is reached +at Chester. The rest of the way lies in +a country of hills. A pleasing prospect +meets the eye in every direction. There +is nothing sublime and majestic to inspire +the mind and exhilarate the +spirits, but the steadfast, sober hills and +the quiet valleys in nature’s soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul.</p> + +<p class="dgp">We cross a branch of the River +Housatonic, <em>alias</em> Ousatonac, Ausotunnoog, +Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, +and the train stops before a large, +handsome brick station, once the "best +in the State," now restricted to "west +of Boston." A broad street on the left +leads to the park in the centre of the +town. Here is the Berkshire Athenæum, +with its excellent public library, where + +we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by +Mr. J.E.A. Smith.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A century and a half ago an unbroken +wilderness stretched between the Hoosac +and Taconic ranges. The mountains +rose by steady degrees from the hills of +Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in +Vermont, 4,400 feet above the level of +the sea. The valley, however, dotted +with hundreds of hills, reached its +greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the +foot of Greylock, fourteen miles north +of Pittsfield; thence it sloped irregularly +north and south. The forests contained +deer in plenty for fifty years +longer. A few bears, with rather more +wolves and Indians, constituted the remainder +of the larger movable objects +of the landscape. The soil was well +fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service +to settlers.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image4.png" alt="LAKE ONATA."></p> + +<p class="dgp">This region remained uninhabited, +however, for many years later than would +ordinarily have been the case; not so +much from fear of hardships or Indian +troubles as on account of the uncertainty +of the land tenures which could +be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason +of the Royal Charter of 1691, claimed to +the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the +other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: +moreover, that the western boundary had +been agreed upon for special reasons; +furthermore, that her own territory, as +successor to the rights granted the Duke +of York in 1674, reached from the Connecticut +River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old +Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and +western limits. In return, attention was +called to the +clause in that +Charter, excepting +lands +in the possession +of any +other Christian +State. Now, in +consequence of +the discovery of +the Hudson in +1608, the +Dutch had occupied +the +country as far +east as the +Connecticut, +and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of +settlement. Thus the controversy was +prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run +parallel with the Hudson, at a distance +of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But +about the year 1720 it became evident +that the western boundary of Connecticut +would be established in favor of +that province. This arrangement, as +the New York representatives stated, +was a result of the boldness of settlers +in pushing westward and occupying the +district in dispute. Accordingly, Massachusetts +was encouraged to pursue a + +similar course, and the first settlement +on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield +in 1725. The occasion of the +next advance appears to have arisen +from the attention paid to free education +in Boston. That town, in 1735, +because of its large expenditures for +public schools, support of poor, and + +contribution to the State treasury, +petitioned the General Court for a +grant of three or four townships +within the "Hampshire wild lands." +Three lots, each six miles square, +were given, subject to certain conditions. +Within five years, sixty +Massachusetts families must be settled, +each possessing a house (at +least eighteen feet square and seven +stud), with five acres of improved +land. A house for public worship +must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably +supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image5.png" alt="THE PARK IN 1807."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image6.png" alt="THE OLD PARSONAGE."></p> + +<p class="dgp">One of these townships, Poontoosuck, +an Indian word, meaning "winter deer," +was bought at public auction for £1,320, +by Colonel Jacob Wendell, whose descendents +have earned lasting honor for +the family name. Philip Livingston, of +Albany, and John Stoddard, through +older claims, became associated with +him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied +with, and, after an unsuccessful attempt +to bring in Dutchmen, a company of +forty settlers from Westfield purchased +and took possession of the greater part +of the township. Difficulties with the +Indians soon drove them back. The +first permanent settlement was made in +1749, and three years later occurred +the birthday of the town.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image7.png" alt="MAPLEWOOD AVENUE."></p> + +<p class="dgp">In May, 1761, the first town meeting +was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William +Pitt, for his vigorous conduct of +the war against France. Slaves were +owned by many of the citizens, and +stocks and a whipping-post were set up. +Saw mills and grist mills were in operation; +fulling mills held an important +position, and shortly afterwards the production +of iron became considerable. +The first meeting-house +was completed in 1770. +The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long +House," owned by Colonel +Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two +pounds eight shillings, in 1762.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In resistance to British oppression +at the outbreak +of the Revolution, Berkshire +County required no one to lead the +way. "The popular rage," wrote Governor +Gage, "is very high in Berkshire +and makes its way rapidly to the rest." +In response to the Boston Port bill cattle +and money were sent to the sufferers. +Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English +goods at whatever time the American + +Congress should recommend such action. +In August, 1774, Berkshire set +the example of obstructing the King’s +Courts. In the expedition for the capture +of Ticonderoga, in the invasions of +Canada, and in Burgoyne’s campaign, +the town and the county held a place +among the foremost in efforts and sacrifices +for the cause of liberty. The +recommendations of the Continental +Congress were followed out with +promptness and zeal. A similar spirit +was displayed in the relations with the +Provincial Government, so far as they +affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State +Constitution in 1780, the county was +ruled in open resistance to the civil +authorities at Boston. Although representatives +were sent to the General +Court, the acts of that body were accepted +merely as advice. The judicial +and executive branches of the Government +were not recognized. It was +maintained that the new Government +should originate from the people on the +basis of a written Constitution and bill +of rights. To this end they "refused +the admission of the course of law +among them," until their demands +should be complied with. Furthermore, +the old Courts were objectionable +as being costly and cumbersome. +They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and +criminals convicted of trifling offences. +In the absence of the usual means of +enforcing the laws, the town Governments +took in charge the administration +of justice, acting either through +committees or in town meetings. Public +order appears to have been well preserved, +and in the condition of business +interests the want of civil courts was of +little consequence.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image8.png" alt="SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image9.png" alt="MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL."></p> + +<p class="dgp">An opposition of a different kind +broke out after the State authority had +been re-established under the new Constitution. +The national Government was +involved in difficulties; values were unsettled +by the excessive emission of +paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection +laws, numerous private debts, +and frequent cases of imprisonment for +debt, caused a wide-spread feeling of +discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a +clamor arose for the abolition of the +Senate, a change in the basis of representation, +and an annual grant of salaries +to all officers. This agitation, in + +1786, culminated in an appeal to force +of arms, known from its leader, as Shay’s +Rebellion. It is unnecessary to repeat +the story of its suppression. The leaders +of the former opposition held aloof. +There was a desire felt by the steadier +portion of the community to make a +fair trial of the State Constitution, which +afforded a legal means, however slow, +for redressing the heavier grievances. +Pittsfield in particular was now advancing +in material prosperity, and looked +with disfavor upon any radical changes.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image10.png" alt="BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early +ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this +period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant +countenance. Courteous, sincere +and just, he set his parishioners an example +of Christian morals. An application +of doctrines to the practical +questions of life was a favorite subject +of his sermons and private conversation. +He held small respect for any +religious faith which did not manifest + +itself in outward acts, and especially +those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and +wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation +in several battles of the Revolution +gained for him the title of "The +Fighting Parson." Once, when asked +whether he actually killed any man at +Bennington, he replied "that he did not +know; but, that observing a flash often +repeated from a certain bush, and that +it was generally followed by the fall of +one of Stark’s men, he fired that way +and put the flash out."</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image11.png" alt="FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH."></p> + +<p class="dgp">He was a firm friend of Democracy. +During the revolution he was a radical +Whig, and later on became an ardent +supporter of Jeffersonian doctrines. In +the second period partisan feelings were +very bitter in the community. When, +therefore, he gave full freedom to his +thoughts in articles published in the +Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with + +a practice more prevalent then than now, +mingled political subjects with his Sunday +discourses, the Federalist members +of the Congregational Church grew +restive under his pastorship. At this +time, it should be noted, Berkshire +differed in politics from the rest of the +State. Matters grew worse, until a division +of the parish was made and continued +for seven years. Thomas Allen +died in 1811, at the age of 67.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image12.png" alt="METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Contrary to the custom in almost +every other town of the State, and notwithstanding +the statute requirements, +public worship in 1809 ceased to be +supported by the town, and nearly an +equality of religious sects before the law +was produced. In 1817, after the re-union +of the Congregational Churches, the +parish system was revived. It should +be kept in mind that by far the larger +part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its +early history with that of the town. +Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, +a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the +general longing for a complete +reconciliation.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1821 a great revival took +place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey +believed it to be essential that, so +far as possible, the town should +preserve a solemn quiet, and he +endeavored to substitute religious +services in place of the ordinary +manner of celebrating the Fourth +of July. This plan was, to a considerable +number of citizens, by +no means acceptable, yet the exercises +in the Church were attended +by a large and reverent +congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square +where the people were wont +to collect on all anniversaries. +In consequence, there was a very annoying +disturbance from fire-crackers, +drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the +attempt to make this national holiday +quiet and serious was not repeated. +Mr. Humphrey two years later became +President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational +Society with the town came to +an end through the Constitutional +Amendment of that year. Two years +later business was in a state of depression, +and emigration went on at a rapid +rate. A missionary from the West +made known the need in that great +section of Christian emigrants to help +mould its character. From the Baptist +Church in one year more than a hundred +members set forth, leaving finally +but three men in the Congregation. +During the first half of the century +other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are +now supported by large Congregations, +composed of the best citizens of the +town.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">To turn back again +in the narrative of +events. Of the town’s +record in the war of +1812, little must be +said, although much is +deserved. In this matter, +as previously in others, +the county, by its +warm support of the +war party, showed its independence +in thought +and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was +made a place of meeting +for recruits; a cantonment +for United States +troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times +1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and +Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody +Ninth;" the latter was that regiment, +which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy’s +Lane, gained undying fame in a gallant +struggle for the enemy’s cannon.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image13.png" alt="RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The history of the Berkshire Agricultural +Society may be traced back to its +origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, +who had recently become an inhabitant +of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, +a ram and a ewe, on the green under +the Old Elm. Great interest was +aroused, and the importation of the best +foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited +and enterprising citizens. One +farmer came into possession of a cow, +in which he felt so much pride that it +formed the subject of his conversation +at all times and places, until his friends +feared to meet him. At last it gave +birth to a calf, but minus a tail, and +the wrathful owner carried the calf, with +his axe, to the back pasture. The Society +was organized in 1811. New +features were added from time to time; +standing crops were inspected; women +were interested to compete for premiums. +The plowing match became a +part of the Pittsfield show in 1818, when +a quarter of an acre of green sward was +plowed in thirty-five minutes by the +winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, Chairman +of the committee, read his poem, +"The Ploughman." Many years before, +William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in +Great Barrington, wrote an ode for the +cattle show. Improved agricultural implements +and better methods of cultivation +were some of the material benefits +produced by the fairs. The fame +and influence of the Society have reached +all parts of the country. In 1855, exhibition +grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits +at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those +emigrants from the county, who still +held their early home in loving memory. +Of the thousands that were present, +many were men of national reputation. +Among the exercises, a sermon of welcome +was delivered by the Rev. Mark +Hopkins, a prayer was offered by Rev. + +David Dudley Field, an address was +given by Governor Briggs, and a poem +was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image14.png" alt="CENTRAL BLOCK."></p> + +<p class="dgp">Governor Briggs had become a citizen +of Pittsfield two years before. He was +born at North Adams in 1796. When +seventeen years of age, after having spent +three years in learning the hatters’ trade, +he began the study of law with but five +dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven +consecutive terms as Governor, he was +defeated by a coalition of Democrats +and Free-Soilers. He was as true a +friend of a pure civil service as any man +of the present day. Like a well-known +English writer on political economy, and +for similar reasons, he refused to furnish +money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, +placing the burden upon the +shoulders of other members of his party, +a course which gave equal satisfaction +in both countries. He was distinguished +for the consistency of his life +with his religious and temperance +principles. Once, it is said, while exhorting +a friend who had already entered +the downward path of immoderate +drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced +to promise that so long as the +other would abstain from drinking, he, +himself, would give up the use of a collar; +and this agreement was kept by +both parties for life. The truth in regard +to the anecdote is rather as follows: +While County Commissioner he +was often obliged to make long drives, +so that besides the annoyance from +wearing a collar, he found great difficulty +in replacing it when soiled. From +this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the +subject by an old friend, he offered to +resume his collar if the other would +cease drinking gin, and would cut off +his cue. The gin and the cue carried +the day.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Berkshire Medical Institute was +established in 1822, mainly through the +exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The +charter provided that degrees should be +conferred only by the President and +Trustees of Williams’ College, and according +to the rules in force in the +school at Cambridge. The purpose + +was to secure a uniform practice throughout +the State, and to cause a degree of +confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The +tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one +dollar and seventy-five cents a week. +In 1825 it became necessary to defray +incidental expenses, and pay the salaries +of instructors out of the proceeds from +tuition fees. These were frequently paid +in notes, many of which read "when +said student shall be able to pay," and +having been distributed among the +members of the faculty, a large number +were found afterwards in the deserted +office of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation +of each instructor was about +one hundred and thirty dollars, hardly +enough to attract young, inexperienced +physicians. Therefore, the college came +to an end, having graduated in the course +of forty-four years over one thousand +doctors of medicine, who held rank in +their profession equal to that of those +sent out by any college in the country.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image15.png" alt="BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY’S BUILDING."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The Public Library Association was +founded in 1850, with a regulation excluding +forever all prose works of fiction, +and on the other hand, +theological writings, +unless admitted by a +unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a +few prosperous years +public interest had so +far died out that the +library consisted of a +few books and a small +room, open one +evening in the week +by the dim light of +a lantern. A timely +donation, and a liberal +construction of +the rule regarding +works of fiction, had +a favorable effect.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A Young Men’s Association was organized +in 1865, with a library, reading-room, +collection of curiosities, and provision +for amusement and exercise. It +had a very successful career for about +eight years. Meanwhile the Library +Association, its name having been +changed to the Berkshire Athenæum, +was put on a better footing by the +liberality and efforts of Thomas F. +Plunkett, who afterwards, together with +Calvin Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental +in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest +from Phinehas Allen, and the gift +of its present building from Thomas +Allen, the Berkshire Athenæum was +placed upon a firm foundation. For +the past eleven years it has been under +the efficient management of Mr. E.C. +Hubbel, Curator and Librarian. To-day +it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an +average annual circulation of 50,000; +less than ten volumes have been lost.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The history of the public schools is +in no important respect different from +that in hundreds of other towns. They +were first carefully graded in 1874, and + +have enjoyed an excellent reputation. +By far the greater proportion of the +young folks in town attend them. The +system of free text books was early +adopted. The High School, under the +care of an able scholar, Mr. Edward +H. Rice, has been steadily growing in +favor during the past few years. Graduates +yearly enter the various colleges, +and from neighboring towns a considerable +number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law.</p> + +<p class="dgp">For the higher education of young +women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss +Hinsdale as principal. It has continued +ever since, usually with a lady at the +head, and for the last few years especially +has done good work under Miss +Salisbury. The Maplewood Young +Ladies’ Institute, the most noted school +of education that has ever existed in +Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss +will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations +is given a view of the avenue +and the chapel; behind the latter stands +the meeting-house of 1793, of late years +used for a gymnasium.</p> + +<p class="dgp">About the time of Shay’s Rebellion +the first newspaper, the American Sentinel, +was published. It was printed on a +sheet ten by eighteen inches in size, and +gave the greater portion of its space to +two or three prosy essays. Three other +newspapers appeared and vanished in +turn until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield +Sun was established by Phinehas Allen. +It remained in his hands for nearly +three-quarters of a century, and to this +day gives its support to the Democratic +party. James Harding is the editor. +The Argus was started in 1827, as a +rival, by Henry K. Strong. Four years +later it was removed to Lenox, and +united with the Berkshire Journal. In +1838 the name was changed to the +Massachusetts Eagle, and soon afterwards +it was brought back to Pittsfield. +In 1852 it was given the name, The +Berkshire County Eagle, which it +bears to-day. Both of these papers +are weeklies. The Journal is of later +date, and is issued daily. Joseph +E. See is editor. In mentioning the +educational facilities of a community +it would be an act of thoughtlessness to +omit its bookstores. There is but one +in Pittsfield. It contains a large supply +of books, selected with judgment, and is +well managed by Mr. J.B. Harrison.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a +worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many +years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty +and ill health. It is interesting to +read his estimate of the new congregation +to which he was called after having +been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: +"It is a great, rich, proud, +enlightened, powerful people. They +move slowly, but they tread like the +elephant. They are cool, but kind, +sincere, great at hearing, but very critical. +I have never had an audience +who heard so critically. There is ten +times more intellect that is cultivated +than we have ever had before. You +would be surprised to see how much +they read. The ladies are abundant, +intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting +field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited +citizens of the town, jealous of its +honor. Educational matters, especially, +received his attention and assistance. +His reputation as an author is not +confined to his town, nor to his day. +The "Student’s Manual" is the best +known of his works; the lectures delivered +on returning from a visit to California + +are well worth +reading.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image16.png" alt="ON NORTH STREET."></p> + +<p class="dgp">The first manufactories +of the town date back +to within a few years +of its settlement. Agriculture +was, of course, +the leading industry, +and was carried on according +to the wasteful +and, apparently, unwise +methods usual in a +newly-settled country. +Great attention was paid +to breeding horses and +mules, of which many +were sent to the West +Indies and other markets. +The first carding +machine was set up in +1801 by Arthur Scholfield, +an Englishman. +Soon he set about making +and improving machines, +which he sold to +manufacturers in various +parts of the country. +The industry was subsequently +helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new +custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, +worth as many dollars, were produced +in the county in 1808. After the war +which followed came a season of depression +of manufactures; the cessation of +the unusual war demand and excessive +importations from abroad were the principal +causes.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At this period, when politics were +carried into private affairs, as religion +had been some hundred years before, +each party must have its factory. Thus +the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 +was offset a few years later by the Pittsfield +Woolen and Cotton Company in +Federalist hands. The former enterprise +languished before long for want of +sufficient water power. The latter, by +a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, +and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. +Other mills went gradually into operation. +But in this instance Yankee ingenuity +and versatility found a difficult +foe to master. The proprietors were +ambitious and determined to make +their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the +best imported goods. In this they succeeded, +but by a clumsy, wasteful +process, which destroyed all profit. +Moreover, instead of making a single +class of goods, each factory attempted +to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes + +of failures, for which remedies had to +be invented. A general business knowledge +did not immediately avail in an +industry where matters of detail were +of the greatest consequence. To-day +these mills are the principal sources of +wealth in the county. Another branch +of manufactures grew up in 1799 when +Lemuel Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, +and in addition to the ordinary labor of +a blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, +and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works +from the production of fowling pieces +to that of muskets. Large contracts +with State and National governments +brought a profitable business, until, in +1846, the percussion guns were introduced.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The independant spirit displayed by +Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire County, +in matters of the highest importance, +was largely due to the difficulty of communication +with other sections of the +country. For the first eighty years the +Worthington turnpike, running by way +of Northampton, was the only means of +passage to the east. In 1830 the Pontoosuc +turnpike going through Westfield +was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, +which led to Springfield. A little before +this time the Erie Canal project +was successfully carried out. Thereupon +arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread +desire for engaging in a similar +enterprise. Several routes were explored +for a canal from Boston to the Hudson. +One of them passed through Pittsfield +at an altitude of 1,000 feet, and the +route recommended as feasible was 178 +miles in length, and required a tunnel +of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed +that according to the Commissioner’s +data, fifty-two years would be required +in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam +locomotion in England, and a discussion +began as to the comparative merits of +railways and canals. For several years +horse-power was proposed to be employed, +but before actual work began +the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. +In the face of indifference, +skepticism, and active opposition, which +brought about discouraging delays, the +road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. +That week occurred the first accident. +An old man jumped off the train as it +approached his house, and was severely +injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through +the exertions of Lemuel Pomeroy, the +Western Railroad was completed, and +trains ran from Albany to Boston. +Several short local roads have since +been constructed, which have done +more to bind the county together, and +have contributed greatly to its wealth and +comfort. On the west the physical barriers +were less difficult to surmount, and +the advent of railroads has only diminished +the inequality. New York is still +the metropolis; the mass of travel, the +business relations, are turned in that +direction.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1844 what is known as the Fire +District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of +land, having the Park as a centre, and +includes most of the buildings of the +town. It originated from the unwillingness +of the outlying districts to help +support a suitable fire department, +of which they, themselves, felt little +need. Nevertheless, at its formation +the town granted land and a sum of +money. A Chief Engineer, with seven +assistants and a prudential committee +were constituted officers. Subsequently +the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were +assumed by the Fire District, and the + +duties were performed by commissioners. +A curious controversy, now settled, +arose with the town as to which +should look after the street crossings. +The fire department from the +start has been sustained by the zeal of +its members, and now, directed by its +Chief Engineer, George S. Willis, enjoys +an enviable reputation for efficiency.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image17.png" alt="THE PARK IN 1876."></p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/image18.png" alt="ACADEMY OF MUSIC."></p> + +<p class="dgp">During the civil war the State and +County are found to have acted in harmony. +The old militia system had +died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized +under the name of the Allen +Guard, and in January of the following +year declared its readiness to respond +to any call from the government. On +April 19, within twenty-four hours from +the time of receiving word, the company +was on its way and became a portion +of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain +was Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier +General, and after the war elected State +Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until +the close of the war, the town sent men +to the front who fully maintained its +honorable reputation gained in former +wars. A Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society +was organized and has received +much merited praise for its useful services. +The ideal volunteer soldier of +the war was William F. Bartlett. He +was a student at Harvard, not yet of +age when the war broke out. In April +he enlisted as a private, was appointed +Captain before going to the front, and +in his first engagement showed great +coolness, bravery and judgment. He +was a strict disciplinarian and popular +with his men. Before the close of the +war he had been brevetted Major-general. +In peace he made his influence felt in +the interests of religion and education, +and in the elevation of politics.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Immediately after the war public attention +in the town was turned towards +taking suitable action for honoring the +memory of its sons who had died +on the field of battle. The result +was a monument, one of +the most appropriate ever erected +for a similar purpose. It is +placed on the Park, a short distance +from the Athenæum. A +bronze statue of a Color-sergeant, +as if in line of battle, stands upon +a square granite pillar. He looks +earnestly into the distance. The +entire effect of the expression of +the countenance and the attitude +conveys the impression of intelligent +self-reliance, a true type of +our best volunteer soldiers. On opposite +sides of the pillar, are represented +in bronze relief the arms of +the United States and of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="dgp">On the others are two shields, engraved +with the names of those in +honor of whom this memorial was +erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">"FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE—FOR +THE LIVING, A MEMORY—FOR +POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM +OF LOYALTY TO THE +FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY."</p> +</div> + + + +<p class="dgp">On the east face:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">"WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION +OF THE SERVICES OF ALL +HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE +HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF +OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN +HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE +TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS +THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING +MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED +THAT THE NATION MIGHT +LIVE."</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">At the dedication the national flags +of the two political parties were removed +from the streets and with them +the statue was draped. The town was +crowded with visitors, and a long procession +marched through the streets. +A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches +by General Bartlett and Honorable +Thomas Colt, President of the day, and +an oration by George William Curtis +accompanied the unveiling.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The four principal streets of the +town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North +street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of +West street is the building of the Berkshire +Life Insurance Company, which +was incorporated in 1851, and has always +included among its Directors and +Managers the best business men in the +town and county, who naturally take +great pride in it as one of the soundest +Life Insurance Companies of the +country.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the same building are three national +and one savings bank, besides the +town and other offices. Immediately +beyond is Mr. Atwood’s drug store, +an establishment of long standing, +which would bear favorable comparison +with any similar store as regards either +attention or knowledge of a druggist’s +duties. Farther along the same street +are Central Block and the Academy of +Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and +shady horse-chestnut trees, invite our +footsteps. The dwelling-houses are +mostly of wood, built in the cottage +and villa styles of architecture; many +are stately edifices; many are hospitable +mansions; all show unmistakable evidence +of being comfortable homes. +Scattered over the township, each +springing up around a mill or two, are +miniature villages. Their population +is largely made up of foreigners, Irish +and Germans, whose condition appears +to be somewhat better than that of the +same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The +mills, mostly small, are located with a +view to an opportunity for using water +power, yet none are without steam +power as well. In the same neighborhood +are the large farms and expensive +estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest +class in the community. Between the +villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views +which never repeat themselves or become +monotonous. The cemetery is itself +one of the most beautiful spots in +the neighborhood. A massive granite +gateway is being put up, the gift of the +late Thomas Allen. For a long distance +the road leads through a thick forest of +maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet +clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless +for a short time, birds and squirrels +show themselves in all directions, and +fill his ears with the sounds of the +woods. Far away may be seen the +white houses and the church spires +of the town. No resting place for +the dead could be more peaceful, +more inspiring to meditation on the +part of those who walk in the light of + +day. By the grave of General Bartlett +stands a cross all covered with graceful +hanging Southern moss. Below is a +beautiful bed of flowers, cared for with +a constant devotion, and by the same +loving hands has been added a large +natural rock, imbedded in the ground. +On it is fixed a large tablet with this +inscription:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent">WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT,</p> +<p class="dgp">Brigadier General and Brevet Major General</p> +<p class="dgp">UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS.</p> +<p class="dgp">BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS,</p> +<p class="dgp">June 6th, 1840.</p> +<p class="dgp">DIED IN PITTSFIELD,</p> +<p class="dgp">December 17th, 1876.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation.</p> +<p class="dgp">A Christian, strong in faith and charity,</p> +<p class="dgp">His life was an inspiration,</p> +<p class="dgp">His memory is a trust.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Pittsfield, although one of the largest +towns in the country, is not ambitious +to try a city form of government. Five +years ago a charter was procured, but +no action was taken upon it. There is +no disposition on the part of those who +favor the plan to force it into notice +before public opinion is ripe on the subject +At the annual town meetings +where a majority of the voters are +present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The +best portion of the community take the +most active share in the proceedings. +Thus there exists a real Democracy, an +inestimable educator of the people possible +only among an energetic people, +who, by inheritance, have acquired a +love for the practical; in the absence +of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political +rights, and from their character combine +in their thoughts and actions, reason +with understanding and conscience +with religious sentiment.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A review of the lives of these men, +who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one’s mind +the frequency of instances in which each +gained by his own exertions his influence +and reputation. It is one of the best +criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who +in 1799 brought his anvil to Pittsfield; +George N. Briggs, who served as an +apprentice four years, working for eight +dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, +who for five years travelled from town +to town in Eastern New York, carrying +on a trade with householders and +country dealers; John Todd, who +worked his way through college against +poverty and ill-health; these are names +that deserve to be handed down to following +generations, to the end that their +influence may still remain as an incitement +to honest and unwearied efforts by +successors ready to emulate, though not +to imitate, the examples set before them.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> + +<a name="toc_5"></a> + +<h2 class="dgp">ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By JOSEPH B. WALKER.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">No man has been universally great. +Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have +done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited +portions of their lives. Particularly +true is this remark when applied to +Major Robert Rogers, the Ranger, who, +in our last French war, greatly distinguished +himself as a partisan commander, +and gained as wide fame as +did any other soldier of equal rank and +opportunity.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I do not introduce him here as a +saint, for, as is well known, no quality +of sanctity ever entered his composition; +but rather, as the resolute commander +of resolute men, in desperate encounters +with a desperate foe; as a man +eminently fitted for the rough work given +him to do. And just here and now +I am reminded of a remark made in +his old age by the late Moody Kent, for +a long period an able member of the +New Hampshire bar, and there the associate +of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as +well as of Jeremiah Mason, and the two +Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of +whom he survived. Said Mr. Kent, +one day, evidently looking forward to +the termination of his career, "Could +Zeke Webster have been living at my +decease he would have spoken as well +of me, yes, as well of me as he could." +If one can summon to his mind and +heart the kindly charity attributed to +Mr. Webster, he may, should he care +for it, find a comfortable hour in the +society of this famous Ranger. He was +born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good +old Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, +New Hampshire, in the year 1727.<a href="#note_1"><span class="footnoteref">1</span></a> At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier +town, and its log houses were the last +civilized abodes which the traveller +passed as he went up the Merrimack +valley on his way to Canada. It was +the seed-town from which were afterwards +planted the ten or a dozen other +Scotch-Irish townships of New Hampshire.<a href="#note_2"><span class="footnoteref">2</span></a> +It was the first to introduce +and scatter abroad Presbyterian principles +and Irish potatoes over considerable +sections of this Province.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Parson McGregor and his people had +been in their new homes but four years +when they had ready for occupancy a +log school-house, sixteen feet long and +twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in +one like it, that Robert Rogers acquired +his scanty stock of "book-learning," +as then termed. But education consists +in much besides book-learning, and +he supplemented his narrow stock of +this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the +rocks and stumps upon his father’s +farm and in the hunter’s camp.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The woods, at this day, were full of +game. The deer, the bear, the moose, +the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and +various other wild animals existed in +great numbers. To a young man of +hardy constitution, possessed of enterprise, +energy, and a fondness for forest +sports, hunting afforded not only an +attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, +and as a hunter, tramped through +large sections of the wilderness between +the French and English settlements. + +On such excursions he mingled much +with the Indians, and somewhat with the +French, obtaining by such intercourse +some knowledge of their languages, of +their modes of hunting, and their habits +of life. He also acquired a fondness +for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, +learning the portages between their +headwaters, many of the Indian trails +and the general topography of the great +area just mentioned.</p> + +<p class="dgp">During the French and Indian wars +small bodies of soldiers were often employed +to "watch and ward" the frontiers, +and protect their defenceless communities +from the barbarous assaults of +Indians, turned upon them from St. +Francis and Crown Point. Robert +Rogers had in him just the stuff required +in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, +be surprised to find him on scouting +duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when +he was but nineteen years of age;<a href="#note_3"><span class="footnoteref">3</span></a> and, +three years later, engaged in the same +service, under Captain Ebenezer Eastman, +of Pennycook.<a href="#note_4"><span class="footnoteref">4</span></a> Six years afterwards, +in 1753, the muster rolls show +him to have been a member of Captain +John Goff’s company, and doing like +service.<a href="#note_5"><span class="footnoteref">5</span></a> Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique +for the ranging service, in which they +were soon to be employed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in +1749, as Londonderry became filled to +overflowing with repeated immigrations +from the North of Ireland, James +Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, +and one of the early settlers of +the township, removed therefrom to the +woods of Dunbarton, and settled anew +in a section named Montelony, from an +Irish place in which he had once lived.<a href="#note_6"><span class="footnoteref">6</span></a> +This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as +an unseparated part only of the public +domain. He may, quite likely, have +been attracted hither by an extensive +beaver meadow or pond, which would, +with little improvement, afford grass for +his cattle while he was engaged in clearing +the rich uplands which surrounded it.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Six years only after his removal (1755), +he was unintentionally shot by a neighbor +whom he was going to visit; the +latter mistaking him for a bear, as he +indistinctly saw him passing through the +woods. This incident was the foundation +of the story said to have been told +by his son, some years after, in a London +tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:<a href="#note_7"><span class="footnoteref">7</span></a> "It +is reported of Major Rogers, that while +in London, after the French war, being +in company with several persons, it was +agreed, that the one who told the most +improbable story, or the greatest falsehood, +should have his fare paid by the +others. When it came to his turn, he +told the company that his father was +shot in the woods of America by a person +who supposed him to be a bear; +and that his mother was followed several +miles through the snow by hunters, +who mistook her track for that of the +same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had +told the greatest lie, when in fact, he +had related nothing but the truth."<a href="#note_8"><span class="footnoteref">8</span></a></p> + + + +<p class="dgp">As the largest part of Roger’s fame +rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years’ War, +we must recall for a moment the condition +of things in the British Colonies +and in Canada at the beginning of this +war.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The thirteen American Colonies had, +at that time, all told, of both white and +black, a population of about one million +and a half of souls (1,425,000.)<a href="#note_9"><span class="footnoteref">9</span></a> +The French people of Canada numbered +less than one hundred thousand.<a href="#note_10"><span class="footnoteref">10</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">The respective claims to the Central +part of the North American Continent +by England and France were conflicting +and irreconcilable. The former, by +right of discovery, claimed all the territory +upon the Atlantic coast from New +Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of +numerous grants the right to all west of +this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, +claimed Canada, a portion of New England +and New York, and the basins of +the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, together +with all the territory upon the +streams tributary to these, or a large +part of the indefinite West.</p> + +<p class="dgp">To maintain her claims France had +erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the +mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf +of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, +a line starting at Louisburg, and thence +running up this great river to Quebec +and Montreal, and thence up Lake +Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward +to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi +to New Orleans, he will trace the +line across which the two nations looked +in defiance at each other, and see instantaneously +that the claims of France +were inadmissable, and that another +war was inevitable. It mattered little +that of the forty-five years immediately +preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, +had been years of war between these +two neighbors. They were now, after a +peace of only half a dozen years, as +ready for a fresh contest as if they were +to meet for the first time upon the battle +field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton +with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; +of the old Church with the new; of +feudalism with democracy—a conflict +which should settle the destiny of North +America, making it English and Protestant, +or French and Roman Catholic; +a contest, too, in which the victor was +to gain more than he knew, and the +vanquished was to loose more than he +ever dreamed of.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Hostilities may be said to have been +commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed +the Ohio company of the fort +which they were erecting at the forks +of the Ohio River, afterwards named +Fort Du Quesne.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The plan of a Colonial Confederation, +formed at the Albany convention +in July of that year, having failed of +acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government +was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by +such others as the several Provinces +were willing to furnish.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The campaign of the next year +(1755) embraced:</p> + +<p class="dgp">1st. An expedition, under General +Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne.</p> + +<p class="dgp">2d. A second, under General Shirley, +for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, +against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture +and deportation of the Acadians.</p> + +<p class="dgp">4th. A fourth, under General William +Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the +French, in the very heart of New England +and New York, whence innumerable +bands of Indians had been dispatched +by the French to murder the +defenceless dwellers upon the English +frontiers, particularly those of New +Hampshire, to destroy their cattle and +to burn their buildings and other +property.</p> + +<p class="dgp">To the army of this latter expedition +New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of +ten companies, the first being a company +of Rangers, whose Captain was +Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. <a href="#note_11"><span class="footnoteref">11</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">But a few words just here in explanation +of the character of this ranging +branch of the English army. It was a +product of existing necessities in the +military service of that time. Most of +the country was covered with primeval +forests and military operations were +largely prosecuted in the woods or in +limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying +in ambush for the perpetration of any +mischief for which they might have +opportunity.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It became necessary, therefore, in +scouring the forests to drive these miscreants +back to their lairs, as well as in +making military reconnoissances, to have +a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian +life and warfare; prepared, not +only to meet the Indian upon his own +ground, but to fight him in his own +fashion. The British Regular was good +for nothing at such work. If sent into +the woods he was quite sure, either not +to return at all, or to come back without +his scalp. And the ordinary Provincial +was not very much better. From +this necessity, therefore, was evolved +the "Ranger."</p> + +<p class="dgp">He was a man of vigorous constitution, +inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, +day after day, upon scant rations, refreshed +by short intervals of sleep +while rolled in his blanket upon a pile +of boughs, with no other shelter but the +sky. He knew the trails of the Indians, +as well as their ordinary haunts and +likeliest places of ambush. He knew, +also, all the courses of the streams and +the carrying places between them. He +understood Indian wiles and warfare, +and was prepared to meet them.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Stand such a man in a pair of stout +shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small +clothes; give him a close-fitting jacket +and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet +in his belt; hang a good-sized powder-horn +by his side, and upon his back +buckle a blanket and a knapsack stuffed +with a moderate supply of bread and +raw salt pork; to these furnishings add +a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and +you have an average New Hampshire +Ranger of the Seven Year’s war, ready +for skirmish or pitched battle; or, for +the more common duty of reconnoitering +the enemy’s force and movements, +of capturing his scouts and +provision trains, and getting now and +then a prisoner, from whom all information +possible would be extorted; and, +in short, for annoying the French and +Indian foe in every possible way.</p> + +<p class="dgp">If you will add three or four inches +to the average height of such a soldier, +give him consummate courage, + +coolness, readiness of resource in extremities, +together with intuitive knowledge +of the enemy’s wiles, supplemented +with a passable knowledge of +French and Indian speech, you will +have a tolerable portrait of Captain +Robert Rogers at the beginning of our +Seven Year’s war.<a href="#note_12"><span class="footnoteref">12</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">He received his first Captain’s commission +in the early part of 1755, and +was employed by the New Hampshire +government in building a fort at the +mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and +in guarding its Northern and Western +frontiers until July, when he was +ordered to Albany to join the army of +Major General Johnson. His first service +there was in furnishing escort, with +a company of one hundred men, to a +provision train from Albany to Fort Edward. +From this latter point he was +afterwards repeatedly despatched, with +smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson +River and down Lake George and Lake +Champlain to reconnoiter the French +forts. Some of these expeditions extended +as far north as Crown Point and +were enlivened with sharp skirmishes. +He was absent up the Hudson upon +one of these when the French were defeated +at the battle of Lake George +and Baron Dieskan was made prisoner.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The efficiency of the campaign of the +next year (1756), which contemplated +the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and +Fort Du Quesne, was seriously impaired +by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; +Major General Shirley +being superceded in June by +General Abercrombie while he, about +a month later, yielded the command +to the inefficient Lord Londown. +The only occurrences of particular +note during this campaign were +the capture of our forts at Oswego by +General Montcalm and the formal declarations +of war by the two belligents.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers and his men were stationed at +Fort William Henry, and made repeated +visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point +to ascertain the power of the enemy +and to annoy him as they had opportunity. +They went down Lake George, +sometimes by land upon its shores, and +sometimes by water and in boats. In +the winter their land marches were frequently +upon snow-shoes, and their +boats were exchanged for skates. On +such occasions each Ranger was generally +his own commissary and carried his +own supplies.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In his journal for this year (1756) +Rogers notes thirteen of these expeditions +as worthy of record. The first +was down Lake George on the ice, in +January, with seventeen men, resulting +in the capture of two prisoners and two +sledges laden with provisions.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The second was made in February +with a party of fifty men to ascertain the +strength and operations of the French +at Crown Point. Having captured one +prisoner at a little village near by the +fort, they were discovered and obliged +to retire before the sallying troops of +the garrison. With very marked sang +froid he closes his account of this reconnoissance +by saying: "We employed +ourselves while we dared stay in setting +fire to the houses and barns in the village, +with which were consumed large +quantities of wheat, and other grain; we +also killed about fifty cattle and then +retired, leaving the whole village in +flames."</p> + +<p class="dgp">There often appears a ludicrous kind +of honesty in the simple narratives of +this journal. He occasionally seized + +certain stores of the enemy which a +Ranger could destroy only with regret. +He naively remarks, in narrating the capture +in June, of this same year, of two +lighters upon Lake Champlain, +manned by twelve men, four of whom +they killed: "We sunk and destroyed +their vessels and cargoes, which consisted +chiefly of wheat and flour, wine, +and brandy; some few casks of the +latter we carefully concealed."</p> + +<p class="dgp">His commands on such occasions +varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way +from a squad of ten men to two whole +companies; and the excursions just +mentioned afford fair specimens of the +work done by the Rangers under Rogers +this year.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers possessed a ready wit and an +attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding +the necessary severity of his discipline. +A story has come down to us which +well illustrates this trait in his character. +Two British Regulars, it seems, a good +deal muddled, one night, by liberal potations, +became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor +in consequence of inability to discharge +its national debt, and their +loyal forebodings had, at length, become +painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering +them in their distress, at +once relieved them by the remark: "I +appreciate the gravity of your trouble, +my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious +one. But, happily, I can remove +it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine +will shortly pay the other half." From +this incident is said to have arisen the +expression, at one time common, "We +pay our debts as Rogers did that of the +English nation."</p> + +<p class="dgp">But Captain Rogers had qualities of +a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a +Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake +George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become +apparent, and we shall not be surprised +to learn that, in March, 1756, he was +summoned to Boston by Major General +Shirley and commissioned anew as +Captain of an independent company +of Rangers, to be paid by the King. +This company formed the nucleus of +the famous corps since known as "Roger’s +Rangers."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In July another company was raised, +and again in December two more, thereby +increasing the Ranger corps to four +companies. To anticipate, in a little +more than a year this was farther enlarged +by the addition of five more, +and Captain Rogers was promoted to +the rank of Major of Rangers, becoming +thus the commander of the whole +corps.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The character of the service expected +of this branch of the army was +set forth in Major General Shirley’s orders +to its commander in 1756, as follows, +viz.: "From time to time, to use your +best endeavors to distress the French +and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying +their houses, barns, barracks, +canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to +endeavour to way-lay, attack and destroy +their convoys of provisions by land +and water in any part of the country +where he could find them."<a href="#note_13"><span class="footnoteref">13</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the fifteenth of January of the +next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down +Lake George to reconnoiter the +French forts; travelling now for a +time upon the ice, and by and by +donning snow-shoes and following the +land. On the twenty-first, at a point + +half way between Ticonderoga and +Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they +captured, together with six horses and +seven men. The others fled within the +walls of Ticonderoga and alarmed the +garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his +situation he commenced at once his return. +By two o’clock in the afternoon, +his party was attacked by two hundred +and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight +was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of +his men. The French, as was subsequently +ascertained, lost one hundred +and sixteen. The proximity of Ticonderoga +rendered vain the continuance of +the contest, and he availed him of the +shelter of the night to return to Fort +William Henry.</p> + +<p class="dgp">For this exploit he was highly complimented +by General Abercrombie, and, at +a later period of this same year, was ordered +by Lord Londown to instruct and +train for the ranging service a company +of British Regulars. To these he devoted +much time and prepared for their +use the manual of instruction now found +in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very +succinctly and lucidly the rules governing +this mode of fighting.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The campaign of 1757 contemplated +only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown +directed all his energies. Having collected +all the troops which could be +spared for that purpose, he sailed for +Halifax on the twentieth of June with +six thousand soldiers, among them being +four companies of Rangers under the +command of Major Rogers. Upon arriving +at Halifax his army was augmented +by the addition of five thousand +Regulars and a powerful naval armament. +We have neither time nor inclination +to consider the conduct of Lord +Londown on this occassion farther than +to say that his cowardice and imbecility +seem wonderful. Finding that, in all +probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he +returned to New York without striking +a blow. If about this time our heroic +commander of the Rangers used some +strong language far from sacred, it will +become us to remember "Zeke Webster" +and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives +"as we can." He returned to +New York three weeks after the surrender +of Fort William Henry, where with his +Rangers he might have done something, +at least, to prevent the horrible massacre +which has tarnished the fair fame of +Montcalm indellibly.</p> + +<p class="dgp">England and America both were humbled +in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of +sufficent resources is severe, but how utterly +insufferable when, with abundant +means, incompetency to use them brings +defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation +to Lord Londown than we are +wont to think. His imbecility helped +rouse the British nation and recall William +Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other +countries and promised an early termination +of French dominion in America.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Lord Londown was succeeded in the +early part of 1758 by General Abercrombie +and plans were matured for +capturing the Lake forts, Louisburg and +Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, +the two last, with the addition +of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The +movement against Crown Point and Ticonderoga +did not succeed. In the assault +upon the latter Rogers and his +Rangers fought in the van and in the +retreat brought up the rear.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the spring of this year (1758) +Rogers went down Lake George at the + +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, +and near the foot of it had a desperate +battle with a superior body of +French and Indians. He reported on +his return one hundred and fourteen of +his party as killed or missing. Why +he was not annihilated is a wonder. +General Montcalm, in a letter dated +less than a month after the encounter, +says: "Our Indians would give no +quarter; they have brought back one +hundred and forty-six scalps." For +his intrepidity on this occasion he was +presented by General Abercrombie with +the commission of Major of Rangers, +before alluded to.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The adroitness with which Rogers +sometimes extricated himself from extreme +peril is illustrated by his conduct +on one occasion, when pursued by an +overwhelming number of savages up +the mountain, near the south end of +Lake George, which now bears his +name. Upon reaching the summit +he advanced to the very verge of +the precipice, on the east side, which +descends 550 feet to the lake. Having +here reversed his snow shoes he fled +down the side opposite to that by +which he had come up. Arriving soon +after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks +of two men, apparently, instead of one, +and Rogers far below upon the ice, +hastening towards Fort Edward, concluded +that he had slid down the precipice +aided by the Great Spirit, and that +farther pursuit was vain.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of +1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially +accomplished. Ticonderoga +and Crown Point were abandoned in +July, Fort Niagara capitulated the same +month, and Quebec was surrendered in +September.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Their violation of a flag of truce in +this last month now called attention to +the St. Francis Indians, who had been +for a century the terror of the New +England frontiers, swooping down upon +them when least expected, burning +their buildings, destroying their cattle, +mercilessly murdering their men, +women, and children, or cruelly hurrying +them away into captivity. The +time had now come for returning these +bloody visits. The proffering of this +delicate attention was assigned by +Major General Amherst to Rogers. In +his order, dated September 13, he says: +"You are this night to set out with the +detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under +your command and proceed to Misisquey +Bay, from whence you will march +and attack the enemy’s settlements on +the south side of the river St. Lawrence +in such a manner as you shall +judge most effectual to disgrace the +enemy, and for the success and honour +of his majesty’s arms.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: center"> * * * * *</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Take your revenge, but don’t forget +that tho’ those villains have dastardly +and promiscuously murdered the +women and children of all ages, it is +my orders that no women or children +are killed or hurt."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In pursuance of these orders Major +Rogers started the same day at evening. +On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi +Bay. On the twenty-third, with +one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he +came, without being discovered, to the +environs of the village of St. Francis. +The Indians had a dance the evening +following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an +hour before sunrise, Rogers and his +men fell upon them on all sides, and +in a few minutes, ere they had time to +arouse themselves and seize their arms, +the warriors of that village were dead. +A few, attempting to escape by the + +river, were shot in their canoes. The +women and children were not molested.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When light came it revealed to the +Rangers lines of scalps, mostly English, +to the number of six hundred, strung +upon poles above the door-ways. Thereupon, +every house except three containing +supplies was fired, and their destruction +brought death to a few who had +before escaped it by concealing themselves +in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their +accursed village had been obliterated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The operations of the next year +(1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of +Quebec by the French was their final +effort. The army of the Lakes embarked +from Crown Point for Montreal +on the sixteenth day of August. "Six +hundred Rangers and seventy Indians +in whale-boats, commanded by Major +Rogers, all in a line abreast, formed the +advance guard." He and his men encountered +some fighting on the way +from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no +serious obstacle retarded their progress. +The day of their arrival Monsieur de +Vaudveuil proposed to Major General +Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in +North America.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The English troops, as will be remembered, +entered Montreal on the evening of +the eighth of September. On the morning +of the twelfth Major Rogers was ordered +by General Amherst to proceed +westward with two companies of Rangers +and take possession of the western +forts, still held by the French, which, by +the terms of the capitulation, were to +be surrendered.</p> + +<p class="dgp">He embarked about noon the next +day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to +the west by the St. Lawrence and the +Lakes. On the seventh of November +they reached the mouth of the Cuyahoga, +where the beautiful city of Cleveland +now stands. The cross of St. George +had never penetrated the wilderness so +far before. Here they encamped and +were soon after waited upon by messengers +from the great chieftain Pontiac, +asking by what right they entered upon +his territory and the object of their visit. +Rogers informed them of the downfall +of the French in America, and that +he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the +English by the terms of the capitulation. +Pontiac received his message remarking +that he should stand in his path until +morning, when he would return to +him his answer.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next morning Pontiac came to +the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, +met face to face the bold, self-possessed, +clear-headed Major of the +British Rangers. It is interesting to +note how calmly the astute ally of the +French accepted the new order of things +and prepared for an alliance with his +former enemies. He and Rogers had +several interviews and in the end smoked +the pipe of peace. With dignified +courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, +provisions for his journey and an +escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke +camp on the twelfth and pushed onward +towards Detroit. By messenger sent +forward in advance he apprized Monsieur +Belletre, Commandant of the fort, +of his near approach and the object of +it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of +the truth of the unwelcome news thus +brought, he surrendered his garrison. +On the twenty-ninth of November the +British flag floated from the staff which +ever before had borne only the lillies of +France.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">On the tenth of December, after +disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of +the forts Miamie and Gatanois, with +characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still +farther westward for Michilimackinac. +But it was a vain attempt. The season +was far advanced. Indeed, the winter +had already come, and while the ice +prevented his progress by water, the +snows rendered impracticable his advance +by land. With reluctance he relinquished +for the first time the completion +of his mission. Turning eastward, +after a tedious journey, he +reached New York on the fourteenth of +February, 1761.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From New York, there is reason to +suppose, that he went this same year as +Captain of one of the His Majesty’s Independent +Companies of Foot to South +Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant +in subduing the Cherokees, who had for +a year or two been committing depredations +upon the Carolinian frontiers.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From this time onward for the next +two years we lose sight of Major Rogers, +but he re-appears at the siege of +Detroit in 1763. Hither he went with +twenty Rangers as part of a body of +soldiers sent from Fort Niagara under +the command of Captain Dalzell for the +re-inforcement of the beleagured fort. +He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, +and on the thirty-first took an active +part in the fierce battle of Bloody +Bridge. His valor was as useful as it +was conspicuous on that occasion, and +but for his daring efforts the retreat of +the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, +for a time, in the house of the +Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a +throng of savages which surrounded it, +his escape with a few followers at one +door was hardly achieved ere these +burst in at another.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next glimpse we get of Major +Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some +four or five hundred acres. Good old +Parson Walker, who here kept open +house, and for more than fifty years +watched with solicitude the interests of +his parish and his country, says, in his +diary for 1764, against date of February +24: "Major Rogers dined with us" and +again December 22:—"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me."</p> + +<p class="dgp">It is probable that his private affairs +now occupied his attention. A year or +so after the surrender of Montreal he +was married to Elizabeth, daughter of +Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John’s +Church, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. +He considered this town his residence, +and in papers executed this very +year (1764) sometimes designates himself +"as of Portsmouth," and at others, as +"now residing at Portsmouth."</p> + +<p class="dgp">For three or four years, between +1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous +and some quite extensive tracts. +Some twenty-five different conveyances +to him are on record in the Recorder’s +office of Rockingham County, and half +as many from him to other parties.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Some of these lands he seems to have +purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. +In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as Governor +of New Hampshire, conveyed to +him as "a reduced officer" a tract of +three thousand acres, lying in the southern +part of Vermont.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One<a href="#note_14"><span class="footnoteref">14</span></a> conveyance made by him and + +bearing date December 20, 1762, arrests +our attention. By it he transferred +to his father-in-law, Rev. Arthur Brown, +before mentioned, some five hundred +acres of land in Rumford (now Concord, +New Hampshire) together with "one +negro man, named Castro Dickerson, +aged about twenty-eight; one negro +woman, named Sylvia; one negro boy +named Pomp, aged about twelve and +one Indian boy, named Billy, aged +about thirteen." For what reason this +property was thus transferred I have no +means of knowing. If the object of +the conveyance was to secure it as a +home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular +life, the end sought was subsequently +attained, as the land descended +even to his grand-children.<a href="#note_15"><span class="footnoteref">15</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">And I may as well, perhaps, just +here and now anticipate a little by saying +that Major Rogers did not prove a +good husband, and that seventeen years +after their marriage his wife felt constrained, +February 12, 1778, to petition +the General Assembly of New Hampshire +for a divorce from him on the +ground of desertion and infidelity. An +act granting the same passed the Assembly +on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth +of March following.<a href="#note_16"><span class="footnoteref">16</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the +County of Rockingham, and State aforesaid, hath petitioned +the General Assembly for said State, setting forth +that she was married to the said Robert Rogers about +seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time +he had absented himself from and totally neglected to +support and maintain her—and had, in the most flagrant +manner, in a variety of ways, violated the marriage contract—but +especially by infidelity to her Bed; For +which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a +vinculo matrimonii, might be granted. The principal +facts contained in said petition being made to appear, +upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore,</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives +for said State in General Assembly convened, +That the Bonds of Matrimony between the said Robert +and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."—[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.]</p> + +<p class="dgp">I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant +remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the +subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her +divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel +in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for +London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in +Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to +himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.<a href="#note_17"><span class="footnoteref">17</span></a> After his +marriage he lived with his wife and her +son by the former marriage on the estate +in Concord, previously mentioned as +having been conveyed by Rogers to her +father. Captain Roach is said to have +been most famous for his unholy expletives +and his excessive potations. +The venerable Colonel William Kent, +now living at Concord in his nineties, +says that Captain Roach one day +brought into the store where he was a +clerk a friend who had offered to treat +him and called for spirit. Having +drawn from a barrel the usual quantity +of two drinks the clerk set the measure +containing it upon the counter, expecting +the contents to be poured into two +tumblers, as was then the custom. +Without waiting for this division the +thirsty Captain immediately seized the +gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously +remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks +another to take refreshment the guest +should be helped first, and should there +be found lacking a sufficiency for both, +the host should call for more.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her +exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing +from this to a land where "they + +neither marry nor are given in marriage," +it is easy to believe.<a href="#note_18"><span class="footnoteref">18</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">In returning to Major Rogers, we +must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have +been in England in 1765, and to have +there published two respectable volumes +of his writings. One is entitled "Journals +of Major Robert Rogers; containing +an account of the several excursions +he made under the Generals who +commanded upon the continent of +North America, during the late War," +and embraces the period from September +24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is +doubtless quite reliable and valuable as a +contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.<a href="#note_19"><span class="footnoteref">19</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">An American edition of Roger’s Journal, ably edited +by Dr. F.B. Hough, was published at Albany in 1883, by +J. Munsell’s Sons. Besides a valuable introduction, it +contains the whole text of the Journals, an appendix consisting +largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition +of the Journals ever published.]</p> + +<p class="dgp">The other is called "a concise view +of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the +country at the time of its publication.<a href="#note_20"><span class="footnoteref">20</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">It is less reliable than the former, but +is a readable book, and, when the author +keeps within the bounds of his personal +knowledge, is doubtless authentic. +Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. +To the charge that he was an illiterate +person and that these works were +written by another’s hand, it may be +urged, as to the "journals," that the +correspondence of their matter to the +written reports of his expeditions made +to his superior officers and now preserved +in the New York State Library, convincingly +show that this work is undoubtedly +his. If revised before publication by a +should not deprive him of the credit of +their authorship.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, +but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, +attest his possession of a fair chirography, +a pretty good knowledge of +grammar and spelling, together with a +style of expression both lucid and simple; +in short, these are such compositions as +come naturally from a man, who, favored +in youth with but a limited common +school education, has in mature life +mingled much with superiors and been +often called upon to draft such writings +as fall to the lot of a soldier or man of +business. Mr. Parkman also attributes to +Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy +long forgotten, entitled "Ponteach, or +the Savages in America," published in +London in 1766. It is a work of little +merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.<a href="#note_21"><span class="footnoteref">21</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the tenth of June, 1766, at the +King’s command, General Gage appointed +Major Rogers Captain Commandant +of the garrison of Michilimackinac.<a href="#note_22"><span class="footnoteref">22</span></a> + +Sir William Johnson, then +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, when +apprized of it was filled with astonishment +and disgust. He regarded Rogers +as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, +and inordinately ambitious, dishonest, +untruthful, and incompetent to discharge +properly the duties of this office.<a href="#note_23"><span class="footnoteref">23</span></a> But +as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined +to accept the inevitable and restrict +his power, thereby rendering him +as little capable of mismanagement as +possible. He was ordered by General +Gage to act in all matters pertaining to +the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to +report upon all other matters to the +Commandant at Detroit, to whom he +was made subordinate.<a href="#note_24"><span class="footnoteref">24</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Commander Rogers probably reached +Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness +for his position by clandestinely +engaging in the Indian trade,<a href="#note_25"><span class="footnoteref">25</span></a> and by +involving the government in unnecessary +expenses, which he sought to meet +by drafts upon the Superintendent of +Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further +curtail his power, a Commissary was +appointed to reside at the post and +regulate the Indian trade. To this +Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled +with the officer. As time went +on matters grew worse. He engaged +in foolish speculations; got deeply into +debt to the Indian traders; chafed under +his limitations; grew first discontented, +and then desperate; entered +into treasonable correspondence with a +French officer;<a href="#note_26"><span class="footnoteref">26</span></a> and finally conceived a +plan of seeking of the home government +an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure +to rob his post and the traders thereabout, +and then desert to the French on +the lower Mississippi.<a href="#note_27"><span class="footnoteref">27</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">His mismanagement and plottings +having grown insufferable he was arrested +and conveyed in irons to Montreal +in September, 1768, to be there +tried by court-martial for high treason.<a href="#note_28"><span class="footnoteref">28</span></a> +On some ground, probably a technical +one, he escaped conviction, and at +some date between May, 1769, and +February, 1770, he sailed for England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">And there, strange as it may seem, +the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, wily +ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal +had vindicated his innocence +and established his claim to martyrdom. +His books had advertised him as a hero. +His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in +hopes thereby of getting their dues. +He was gazed at by the commonalty. +He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss +his hand. He claimed payment for arrears +of salary and other expenses previously +disallowed in England and at +home, which was made. Encouraged by +his successes he pushed boldly on and + +asked to be made an English Baronet, +with £600 a year, and in addition to +that, a Major in the army.<a href="#note_29"><span class="footnoteref">29</span></a> One is in +doubt which to wonder at the most, the +audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But +vaulting ambition had at length overleaped +itself. He failed of the coveted +knighthood, and sank by degrees to his +true level.</p> + +<p class="dgp">We see nothing more of Major Rogers +until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the +British Army retired on half pay. The +object of his visit to his native land just +at the beginning of our Revolutionary +war was not satisfactorily apparent. +Some considered him a military adventurer, +anxious to sell his services to the +highest bidder. Others regarded him +as a British spy. He wandered over +the country all the way from Pennsylvania +to New Hampshire with very +little ostensible business. His improbable +statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his +visits to places of bad reputation, as +well as his whole general conduct, rendered +him a suspected person.</p> + +<p class="dgp">He was arrested on the twenty-second +of September following his arrival by the +Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but +was afterwards paroled upon his solemn +declaration and promise that "on the +honor of a soldier and a gentleman he +would not bear arms against the +American United Colonies, in any +manner whatever, during the present +contest between them and Great-Britain;"<a href="#note_30"><span class="footnoteref">30</span></a> +yet, on the twenty-sixth of +the next November, he makes a tender of +his services to the British government, in +a letter addressed to General Gage, and +was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.<a href="#note_31"><span class="footnoteref">31</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the second day of December, a +little more than a month later, in shabby +garb he calls upon President Wheelock, +at Hanover, New Hampshire. After +speaking of his absence in Europe, during +which, he said, he had fought two battles +in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously +tendered his aid in a proposed effort to +obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, +but treated him civilly. At the close of +the interview he returned to the tavern +where he passed the night, and left +the next morning without paying his +reckoning.<a href="#note_32"><span class="footnoteref">32</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Again, on the nineteenth of the +same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, +soliciting an interview, but his reputation +was such that the Commander-in-Chief +declined to see him.<a href="#note_33"><span class="footnoteref">33</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">Even this did not discourage him. +With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he +had been arrested in South Amboy and +brought to New York, he expressed to the +Commander-in-Chief his desire to pass +on to Philadelphia, that he might there +make a secret tender of his services to +the American Congress.<a href="#note_34"><span class="footnoteref">34</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">However, by this time, his duplicity +had become so manifest that a few days +after this interview (July 2, 1776) the +New Hampshire House of Representatives +passed a formal vote recommending +his arrest,<a href="#note_35"><span class="footnoteref">35</span></a> which was supplemented +two years later (November 19, 1778) +by a decree of proscription.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">Finding hypocrisy no longer available, +sometime in August, 1776, he accepted +a commission of Lieutenant Colonel +Commandant, signed by General Howe +and empowering him to raise a battalion +of Rangers for the British Army. +To this work he now applied himself +and with success.<a href="#note_36"><span class="footnoteref">36</span></a></p> + +<p class="dgp">On the twenty-first of October, 1776, +Rogers fought his last battle, so far as I +have been able to discover, on American +soil. His Regiment was attacked at +Mamaronec, New York, and routed by +a body of American troops. Contemporary +accounts state that he did not +display his usual valor in this action +and personally withdrew before it was +over.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The next year he returned to England,<a href="#note_37"><span class="footnoteref">37</span></a> +where, after a disreputable life of +some twenty-two or twenty-three years, +of which little is known, he is said to +have died in the year 1800.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Such are some of the more salient +points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another +century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan +commander will shine in undimmed +lustre. When the historian gives place +to the novelist and the poet, his desperate +achievements portrayed by their +pens will render as romantic the borders +of Lake George, as have the daring +deeds of Rob Roy McGregor, rehearsed +by Walter Scott, made enchanting the +Shores of Lock Lomond.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_6"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">ROUSED FROM DREAMS.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON.</p> + + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder;</p> +<p class="l">Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder;</p> +<p class="l">On my window-pane, making wild refrain,</p> +<p class="l">Sharply strikes the rain.</p> +</div> + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Wind in furious gusts with angry railing</p> +<p class="l">Follows the unhappy restless wailing</p> +<p class="l">Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee</p> +<p class="l">None to save nor see.</p> +</div> + +<div class="lg"> +<p class="l">Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers,</p> +<p class="l">Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers;</p> +<p class="l">Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate,</p> +<p class="l">Shrieking prayers too late!</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_7"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By EBENEZER BAILEY.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">On the opening of the year 1764 +there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a +settlement of about forty families, consisting +of a number of farms, located +mostly on the hills surrounding a narrow +valley through which flowed the north +branch of the Nashua River, almost +screened from view by a dense forest of +pines. These people were obliged to +go four or five miles to Church and +town meeting, over narrow, uneven +roads, travelled only on horseback or +rough ox carts. Most of them were +of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a +little town and parish of their own.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Accordingly they commenced a movement +for a division of the town of Lunenburg; +and the first petition to have the +westerly part of that town set off was +presented in town meeting in 1759. At +various other town meetings a like +petition was presented and always rejected, +until January, 1764, when it was +granted, and a committee appointed to +obtain an act of incorporation from the +Legislature; and at last, on the third of +February, 1764, the Governor of the +Colony of Massachusetts Bay signed the +Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated +town, with all the rights and privileges +usually granted, except that the +two towns of Lunenburg and Fitchburg +were to have but one representative +to the General Court.</p> + +<p class="dgp">A portion of the territory of Fitchburg +was set off a few years later to form +a part of the new town of Ashby.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The first town meeting in Fitchburg +was held in the tavern of Captain Samuel +Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, +when selectmen were chosen, and other +business necessary to the organization +of a town government transacted. The +next business after the necessary civil +affairs were put in order was to provide +for "Sabbath days’ preaching," and the +Rev. Peter Whitney was hired to preach +in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, +which was completed sufficiently +for occupancy in the autumn +of 1766, and was located between Blossom +and Mount Vernon Streets, near +Crescent Street. The land was presented +to the town by Thomas Cowdin, +a new resident, who had purchased the +tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In those days the tavern keeper was +a man of great importance by virtue of +his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in +himself a remarkable man. Energetic +and commanding by nature, his varied +experience had been of a kind to call +out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier +in the Provincial army, he served +actively in the French and Indian wars, +and rose from the ranks to the office of +captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent +soldiers to the army and in arresting +deserters. At one time he was set on +the track of a deserter, whom he found +was making his way to New York. He +followed him with characteristic celerity +and promptness, and at length found +him one Sabbath morning attending +divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but +entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation +of the congregation. A severe struggle +ensued, in which he barely escaped with + +his life, but he finally overpowered and +secured his prisoner. He then took him +to Boston, where he received orders +to deliver him at Crown Point. So +alone through the woods for that long +distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which +awaited him; threading each day the +lonely forest, and lying down each night +to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely +at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For +many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, +and enjoyed to a great degree the +confidence of his fellow citizens. He +was the first Representative to the General +Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. +A handsome monument has recently +been erected to his memory by his +grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of +Boston.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Preaching being provided for, it was +also voted to keep two schools, and to +appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. +And now the town of Fitchburg +was fairly started out in life. From the +towns to the East energetic young men +began to come in with their families, +to make new homes for themselves, so +that in 1771 there were from seventy-five +to eighty families, with a total valuation +of £2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, +and the rate was over ten per cent.</p> + +<p class="dgp">There were now, from time to time, +numerous town meetings and many matters, both +grave and trivial, to discuss and +settle. Matters civil and matters ecclesiastical +were inextricably blended. There +was no separation of Church and State, +but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand +interposed daily in all the affairs of life. +We may instance an article in the warrant +for town meeting, January, 1770, +which read as follows: "To see if the +town will relieve Widow Mary Upton +for Distress occasioned by frowns of +Divine Providence, and abate her husband’s +rates on Isaac Gibson’s and +Ebenezer Bridge’s tax lists." The result +of the article was that Mr. Upton’s +poll tax was abated, and the frowns +of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Time passed on, the town gaining in +wealth and numbers, and a comfortable, +prosperous future was the reasonable +hope of the inhabitants; but other +scenes than those of peace and quiet +were preparing; the opening scenes of +the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the +drama of seven long years, so frought +with great results, but so wearisome, +painful, and discouraging to the actors, +from whom the future was withheld.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As early as September, 1768, the +selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting +them to call a town meeting to +take into consideration the critical condition +of public affairs, and to choose +an agent to meet them in Boston and +show there the "views, wishes and determinations +of the people of Fitchburg +upon the subject." A town meeting +was accordingly called, and the Honorable +Edward Hartwell was sent jointly +by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be +their agent in Boston.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In December, 1773 the selectmen +received another letter from the town +of Boston, requesting them to meet and +pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing +to die in maintaining, and send them +to the Committee of Correspondence. +A town meeting was held accordingly, +and a committee appointed to draft +resolutions. The report presented by + +this committee at an adjourned meeting, +after expressing full sympathy in all +efforts to resist any encroachments on +the rights and liberties of the American +people, concluded as follows:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch +as we are now informed that the town +of Boston and the neighboring towns have +made such noble opposition to said teas being +brought into Boston, subject to a duty so +directly tending to the enslaving of America, +it is our opinion that your opposition is just and +equitable, and the people of this town are ready +to afford all the assistance in their power to +keep off all such infringement." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The time had now come when the +talk at the tavern, the town meeting, +the Church, and at the daily meeting +of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny +of the English Government. The fires +of Liberty were already kindled from +the North to the South and from the seaports +to the frontier. Fitchburg was +not behind in preparation for the coming +storm. In the store building of +Ephraim Kimball, which was near the +corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was +the armory of the minute men, about +forty of whom were enrolled and regularly +drilled; while by vote of the town +fifty dollars was appropriated for powder, +lead and flints.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, +at last arrived and found the little town +ready for action. So rapidly did the +news spread that at nine o’clock in the +morning the alarm was fired in front of +the store of Deacon Kimball. The +company had spent the previous day in +drill, and at the summons the members +promptly assembled, and being joined +by a few volunteers, about fifty men took +up their line of march for Concord, under +the command of Captain Ebenezer +Bridge, who afterwards became Colonel, +and whose regiment, in the battle of +Bunker Hill, was engaged in the fiercest +of the contest. With the minute men +was sent a large wagon loaded with +provisions, which followed them to Concord, +where they arrived in the evening, +too late to take any part in the fight.</p> + +<p class="dgp">It was now necessary to organize a +permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster +enlisted a company of volunteers +to serve for eighteen months. At +the battle of Bunker Hill John Gibson +of Fitchburg was killed while fighting +bravely in the intrenchments.</p> + +<p class="dgp">When the Continental Congress asked +the support of the Colonies to the contemplated +Declaration of Independence, +the Massachusetts General Court sent +circulars, asking the opinion of the +several towns in regard to the measure. +The answer of Fitchburg was as follows:</p> + +<div class="display"> +<p class="noindent"> +"Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable +Continental Congress should for the safety +of these United Colonies declare them independent +of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that +we, the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, +will, with our lives and fortunes, support them +in the measure." +</p> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">In February, 1776, the warrant for +town meeting ran thus: "In his Majesty’s +name." In May the warrant ran +as follows: "In the name of the writ to +us directed, these are in the name of +the Governor and people of Massachusetts +Bay." After the declaration +of independence the warrant ran thus: +"In the name of the State of the +Colony of Massachusetts Bay."</p> + +<p class="dgp">For seven long years the little town +of Fitchburg bore bravely and unflinchingly +the hardships of the war. The +burden to the inhabitants of furnishing +their quota of men, money, and provisions, +was a heavy one, the depreciation +of the currency was ruinous; and +they, in common with the rest of the + +people, found themselves in serious +financial difficulties at the close of the +war. Taxes were high and money +scarce, and the efforts of the authorities +to collect the sums levied on the inhabitants +finally led to organized resistance, +which has come down to us under +the name of Shay’s Rebellion. With it +the people of Fitchburg deeply sympathized, +and in the initiatory proceedings +they took an active, though a prudent +part. In June, 1786, the town sent +Elijah Willard as a delegate to a +convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to +defend his property if he should be +taken in person for his attendance, +"provided he behaves himself in an orderly +and peaceable manner; otherwise +he is to risk it himself." Deeply sympathizing +with the Shayites, the people +of Fitchburg did everything in their +power to prevent the collection of taxes +by the authorities, short of armed +resistance; and the consequence was that +a military company was quartered among +them, much to their indignation; and +had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, +bloodshed might have followed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The population of Fitchburg had not +remained stationary during the war, but +had increased from 650 to about 1,000. +At its close there was the nucleus of a +village scattered along the road near the +river, now Main Street. One might see +Cowdin’s tavern, Kimball’s saw and grist +mill, Fox’s store, a baker’s shop, and +half a dozen houses between the American +house and the upper Common. +The meeting-house upon the hill back +of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow +structure; the red store of Joseph +Fox was below, and in the rear of his +store his house with large projecting +eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon +Ephraim Kimball were near by. Up +the road, and near the present residence +of Ebenezer Torrey, was a bakery and a +dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the +west, were two or three houses and a +blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by +the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In addition, however, to this little +centre of population there was in the +westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood +of Dean Hill, a village which +boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith +shop, and boldly sat up a claim of +rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. +Its people petitioned to the General +Court, to be set off, with a part of +Ashburnham and Westminster, into a +new town. However, a vigorous opposition +from the inhabitants of the remainder +of the town prevented its being +granted. But, defeated in one +point, the Dean Hill people turned +to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, +the little old meeting-house on the +hill being too small to accommodate +the increased population. So +they determined to have the new +Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a +protracted struggle to fix upon its location. +A vote was passed in town meeting +that the new Church should be located +"on the nearest convenientest +spot to the centre," but the words +<em>nearest, convenientest</em>, were a cause of +furious contention. Town meeting after +town meeting was held—now victory +rested with one faction, now with the +other. Finally, after ninety-nine town +meetings, extending through a period of +ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the +location of the present Unitarian +Church.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But now the leaven of heterodoxy + +was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, +turned from the theological doctrines of +their forefathers and adopted Unitarian +views. In most places there was a final +division of the original Church, and the +formation of two societies, one of the +Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox +persuasion.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Fitchburg was agitated in this way for +about twenty-four years, during which +time many ecclesiastical councils were +held, and debate and dispute were almost +continuous, both in and out of +town meeting, for neighbor was divided +against neighbor, and one member of a +household against another. The result +was the dissolution of the parochial +powers of the town, and a division into +two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox +built a new building on the corner of +Main and Rollstone streets.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But while religious contention went +on, worldly growth and prosperity increased. +Quite a number of manufacturing +establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little +stream that furnished the power was beginning +to be appreciated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 +dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing +office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton mills, 1 +scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist +mills, 10 saw mills, 3 taverns, 2 hat +manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 +tanneries, 2 window blind manufactories, +and 1 chair manufactory. There +were a number of stone bridges, and a +dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, +and Lowell, and left three times a week +for Worcester and Springfield, and returned +on alternate days.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Energetic, enterprising young men +were attracted to Fitchburg as a promising +place for a home, and there was +the exhilarating, hopeful atmosphere of +a new and growing town, where changes +are rapid and opportunities are many. +It was about this time that Rufus C. +Torrey wrote his history of Fitchburg, +in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, +then a public spirited young lawyer, who +had already accumulated quite an +amount of material from records and +conversations with the older residents +These two men saved from oblivion +very many valuable facts in the history +of the town.</p> + +<p class="dgp">About this time, also, the Fitchburg +High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the +Fitchburg Library Association was organized, +both of which institutions +were valuable educational influences.</p> + +<p class="dgp">From 1840 to 1860 the town continued +to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair +business enlarged greatly, the iron business +was introduced by the Putnam +Brothers, and grew rapidly, and various +other branches of industry were begun +and prospered. The Fitchburg Railroad +was built, followed by the Vermont +and Massachusetts, the Fitchburg and +Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch +Railroads, all centreing in Fitchburg and +bringing an increase of business.</p> + +<p class="dgp">At the breaking out of the war of the +Rebellion the town contained nearly +8,000 inhabitants, and during the war +Fitchburg did her part, answering all +calls promptly and sending her best +men to the field. Her history in that +contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, +in his history of "Fitchburg in the War +of the Rebellion." Nine companies +were organized in the town, and 750 +Fitchburg men sent into the field.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The years immediately following the +war were years of prosperity and rapid + +growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was +incorporated as a city. The infant +township of 108 years before had +grown to a city of 12,000 inhabitants. +The little stream which then turned the +wheel of the one solitary saw and grist +mill had since been harnessed to the +work of many mills and manufactories, +and on either side were the homes +of hundreds, dependent on its power +for their daily bread. Railroads carried +the products of these establishments to +the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city +from the East and from the West all +the necessaries and all the luxuries of +life. Can it be that the dead of past +generations, who sleep on the hillside +which overlooks the valley, have seen +this transformation, and if so, will they +behold all the changes of the future? +Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those +who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life +blood.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_8"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">By CHESTER F. SANGER.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">The Legislature of 1884 has placed +an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking +in the same direction passed by the +Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the +Acts of 1884 provides that "The provisions +of chapter ninety-eight of the +Public Statutes relating to the observance +of the Lord’s day shall not constitute +a defence to an action for a tort or +injury suffered by a person on that day."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 +provided that common carriers of passengers +should no longer escape liability +for their negligence in case of accidents +to passengers, by reason of the injury +being received on Sunday. This act +marked a long step forward in the policy +of this Commonwealth, and made it no +longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences +of its illegal acts by saying to +the injured passenger, "You were +breaking the law yourself, and therefore +you have no redress against us."</p> + +<p class="dgp">This was a condition of things which +worked a confusion of relations, and +lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting +on "no principle of justice" or law, and +creating a "species of judicial outlawry +which ignored alike the principles of +humanity and the analogies of the law."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The provisions more particularly referred +to in these Acts are those relating +to travelling on the Lord’s day, +found in the Statutes as follows:—</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Whoever travels on the Lord’s day, +except from necessity or charity, shall +be punished by fine not exceeding ten +dollars for each offence."—Pub. Stat., +Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting +and curious study to follow the changes +made in the Sunday law, so called, with +the accompanying judicial decisions, as +one by one the hindrances to the attainment +of simple justice by travellers injured +on the Lord’s day have been swept +away.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Pilgrims brought many strange +ideas with them to their new home, as + +we all well know, and we find these reflected +in their statute books in the +form of many "blue laws," some of +which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded +"dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general +discussion of this subject is, as +showing the character and purposes of +the founders of the Republic, we can +follow but one division of the Sunday +law in its various forms since it was first +framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who +intended that the day should be not +merely a day of rest from labor, but +also a day devoted to public and private +worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or +amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only +fit punishment for those who, as they +considered it, "prophaned" the Lord’s +day.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As early as 1636 it was enacted by +the Court of the Plymouth Colony that, +"Whereas, complaint is made of +great abuses in sundry places of this +Government of prophaning the Lord’s +day by travellers, both horse and foot, +by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, +etc., upon the Lord’s day to the great +offence of the Godly welafected +among us. It is, therefore, enacted by +the Court and the authoritie thereof +that if any person or persons shall be +found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, +he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such +a town and fined twenty shillings, to the +Collonie’s use, or else shall sit in the +stocks four hours, except they can give +a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; +but they that ’soe transgresse’ must be +apprehended on the Lord’s day and +’paye theire fine or sitt in the stockes +as aforesaide’ on the second day thereafter." +It seems, however, that in +spite of the pious sentiments of the +framers of the law it was not, or could +not be enforced, for in 1662 it was further +enacted that "This Court doth desire +that the transgression of the foregoing +order may be carefully looked +into and p’r’vented if by any due +course it may be."</p> + +<p class="dgp">But even now it seems that the energies +of the law-makers were of no avail +in preventing prophanation of the Holy +day by "foraignors and others," so that +twenty years later, in 1683, we find that +"To prevent prophanation of the Lord’s +day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on +that day. It is enacted by the Court that +a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, +unto whom whosever hath nessessity of +travell on the Lord’s day in case of +danger of death, or such necessitous +occations shall repaire, and makeing out +such occations satisfyingly to him shall +receive a Tickett from him to pas on +about such like occations;" but, "if he +attende not to this," or "if it shall appeare +that his plea was falce," the hand +of the law was likely to fall upon him +while he contributed twenty shillings +"to the use of the Collonie."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the Massachusetts Bay Province +it was early enacted that "no traveller +... shall travel on the Lord’s day ... +except by some adversity they are belated +and forced to lodge in the woods, +wilderness, or highways the night before, +and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding +the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation +of the Lord’s day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, +and so it was enacted that the penalty +for the first offense should be thirty +shillings, and for the second, three + +pounds, while the offender, presumably +a "foraignor," was to be put under a +bond to observe the Sabbath day and +keep it holy according to the ideas of +the straight-laced Puritans.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Even this did not put an end to the +good fathers’ troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions +of the several laws now in force +relating to the observation of the Lord’s +day or Christain Sabbath, the said laws +have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the +legislators, the Lord’s Day hath been +greatly and frequently prophaned" all the +laws relating to the observance thereof +were repealed and a new chapter enacted, +one section of which, and the +only one in which we are now interested, +was the same as the law of 1727, above +quoted.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Thirty-one years later all these laws +were again erased from the statute book +and a new attempt was made to frame a +law which should leave no loop-holes +for foraignors or others, as follows: +"Whereas the observance of the Lord’s +day is highly promotive of the welfare of +a community by affording necessary seasons +for relaxation from labor and the +cares of business; for moral reflections +and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; +for public and private worship of +the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the +world; and for those acts of charity +which support and adorn a Christian +society. Be it enacted that no person +shall travel on the Lord’s day except +from <em>necessity</em> or <em>charity</em>, upon penalty +of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings +and not less than ten." Notice +what an interesting and moral tone +is given to the otherwise dry statute +book by these sermonizing preambles +which reflect so well the motives and +aims of the men who moulded and +formed the statute laws of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In this act appears for the first time +that "charity" which since then has +truly "covered a multitude of sins," +while it has as often been a strong tower +of defence to corporations clearly shown +to have been careless of their obligations +to the public. One of the first cases +to arise in which these words "necessity +or charity" must be judicially construed +was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 +Mass., 76.</p> + +<p class="dgp">One Josiah Paine had contracted +with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail +between Portland and Boston on each +day of the week for two years from October +1, 1808, and Knox, his servant, +was indicted for unlawfully travelling +while carrying the mail with a stage +carriage through the town of Newburyport +on November 20, 1808, the same +being Sabbath or Lord’s day, and the +said travelling not being from necessity or +charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering +the opinion of the Supreme Court, +after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices +and post-roads, and the consequent +legality of Paine’s contract, the +statutue of his State notwithstanding, +says that "necessity ... cannot be understood +as a physical necessity ... +and when this travelling is necessary to +execute a lawful contract it cannot be +considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." +But fearing that this decision may open +too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers +the Chief Justice hastens to add: "But +let it be remembered that our opinion +does not protect travellers in the stage +coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to +receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of + +serious people either at public worship +or in their own houses. The carrier may +proceed with the mail on the Lord’s +day to the post-office; he may go to +any public house to refresh himself and +his horses; and he may take the mail +from the post-office and proceed on his +route. <em>Any other liberties on the Lord’s +day our opinion does not warrant</em>."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The report naively says, that after this +opinion the Attorney General entered +a <em>nolle proscqui</em>.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, +a case which arose in 1816 and which +attracted a great deal of notice at the +time, Chief Justice Parker says: "It is +not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated +by Moses, in order to prove +that the <em>Christian Sabbath</em> ought to be +observed by <em>Christians</em>, as a day of holy +rest and religious worship; and if it were +it would be difficult to make out the point +contended for from that source;" and +then goes into a long disquisition upon +the Mosaic law and the precepts of the +Saviour and finally says that "cases often +arise in which it will be both innocent +and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose +him suddenly called to visit a child, or +other near relative, in a distant town +laboring under a dangerous illness; or +suppose him to be a physician; or suppose +a man’s whole fortune and the +future comfort of his family to depend +upon his being at a remote place early on +Monday morning, he not having known +the necessity until Saturday evening; +these are all cases which would generally +be considered as justifying the act +of travelling." Certainly a somewhat +broader view than that taken by the +Court seven years earlier.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The law remained thus and was re-enacted +in the Revised Statutes of 1836, +the penalty being raised, however, to ten +dollars. In civil cases arising out of +damages sustained by travellers upon the +Lord’s day, corporations defendant were +quick to take advantage of the law and +to rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff’s +act of travelling, as a good defence +to his action.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth +vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 Metcalf, +363. Bosworth was travelling on the +eleventh of June of that year, being +Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to +Fall River on business connected with a +suit in the United States Court, and was +injured by reason of a defect in a highway +in Swansey.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The defendant town admitted that it +was by law required to keep the highway +in repair. And plaintiffs counsel +argued that as the statute provided a +penalty of ten dollars for travelling on +Sunday it could not be further maintained +that there was the additional penalty +that a man could have no legal redress +for damages suffered by reason of +the neglect or refusal of defendants to +do that which the law required them to +do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice +Shaw delivering the opinion, "that the +plaintiff was plainly violating the law +and that since he could recover from the +town only, if free from all just imputation +of negligence or fault," in this case +he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not +called upon to construe the terms "necessity +or charity," as affecting the liability +of corporations plainly shown to be negligent +in the performance of their duties +to others; but many such cases soon +arose.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge +Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or +charity ... that it comprehends all +acts which it is morally fit and proper +should be done on the Sabbath may itself +require some explanation. To + +save life, or prevent or relieve suffering; +to prepare useful food for man and +beast, to save property, as in case of fire, +flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the +bay, or birds on the shore, happened to +be uncommonly abundant on the Lord’s +day, it is equally clear that it would furnish +no excuse for fishing or shooting on +that day. How it would be if a whale +happened to be stranded on the shore +we need not determine." It is needless +to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon +the coast.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., +109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting +in Malden, and counsel for defendant +maintained that the meeting was +attended for idolatry and jugglery, +and while it might be the right of the +plaintiff to be an idolater and to attend +shows, yet she could not do so in violation +of the Statute, which was intended +to protect the conscience of the majority +of the people from being offended +upon the Lord’s day. But the Court +ruled that it could not be said as matter +of law that travelling for such a purpose +was not within the exception, and that +it must be left to the jury to say if the +plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, +the court held that it was not a violation +of the law to hire a horse and +drive to a neighboring town to attend +the funeral of plaintiff’s brother.</p> + +<p class="dgp">But it was held in a later case that +plaintiff, who had been to a funeral on +the Lord’s day and was returning therefrom +by a somewhat <em>circuitous</em> route +for the purpose of calling upon a relative, +was not entitled to recover for damages +sustained by reason of a defect in +the highway. This was the opinion of a +divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of +"necessity or charity" has been a close +one.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Such are a few of the interesting +cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally +framed in 1636, and which still +makes it a criminal offence punishable +by a fine of ten dollars to walk or ride +upon the Lord’s day, save from necessity +or charity, while our cities furnish free +concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement +under the guise of "sacred" concerts, +upon the day which our fathers thought +and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life +... and for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of +the world.</p> +</div> + + + +<hr class="page"> + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_9"></a> +<h2 class="dgp">ELIZABETH.</h2> + +<h2 class="sub">A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man’s Work."</p> + + + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_10"></a> +<h3 class="dgp">CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h3 class="sub">THE STAB IN THE BACK.</h3> + + +<p class="noindent">A brighter morning for a wedding +never dawned. The house was alive +with merry voices and the echo of footsteps +hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to +be present at the ceremony which was +to take place at noon. Then would +come the festivities, the feast, the dancing, +and after that the drive of the +newly-married pair to the beautiful +house three miles away, that Stephen +Archdale had built and furnished for his +bride, and that had never yet been a +home.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Before the appointed hour the guests +began to arrive and to fill the great +drawing-room. There each one on entering +walked toward the huge fire-place, +in which on an immense bed of coals +glowing with a brilliancy that outshone +the rich red furniture and hangings of +the room lay great logs, which blazed in +their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from +the heat that did not escape up the +chimney. The rich attire of the guests +could bear the bright sunlight that +streamed in through the numberless +little panes of the windows, and the gay +colors that they wore showed off well +against the dark wainscotting of the +room and its antique tapestries. The +ladies were gorgeous in silks and velvets +which were well displayed over enormous +hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered +hair was built up in a tower +nearly a foot in height, were flowers or +feathers. Precious stones fastened the +folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements +of fans that, however discreetly waved, +betrayed their trappings once in a while +by some coquettish tremulousness. +The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, +or diamond shoe buckles, powdered wigs +and queues, and with ruffles of the +richest lace about their wrists. These +guests, who were among the people that +in themselves, or their descendants, were +destined to give the world a new nation, +strong and free, showed all that regard +to the details of fashion said to characterize +incipient decay in races. But +with them it was only an accessory of +position, everything was on a foundation +of reality, it all represented a substantial +wealth displaying itself without +effort. The Sherburnes were there, the +Atkinsons, the Pickerings, Governor +Wentworth, the first of the Governors +after New Hampshire separated from +Massachusetts and went into business +for itself, and others of the Wentworth +family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already +proved that the heart of a strong man +beat under his laced coat. His wife, +well-born and fine-looking, was beside +him, and his son, fresh from College +honors, and sipping eagerly the sparkling +draught of life that was to be over +for him so soon; his daughter also, last +year a bride, and her husband. These +were leaders in that brilliant assembly +called together to the marriage of Katie +and Stephen Archdale.</p> + +<p class="dgp">While waiting for the event of the +morning they talked in low tones among +themselves of the wedding, or more + +audibly, of personal, or of political +affairs.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It wants only ten minutes of the +hour," said one lady, "perhaps our good +parson may not come this morning."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What do you mean?" asked her +companion.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, +will lock his study door upon him as she +did one Sabbath when we all went to the +house of God and found the pulpit empty. +There’s no end to all the malicious tricks +she plays him. Poor, good man."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Do you know," said a beruffled +gentleman in another part of the room +to his next neighbor, "what a preposterous +proposal that ragged fellow, Bill +Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth +last week? He is a good-for-nothing, and +the whole scheme is thought to have been +merely a plan to talk with the Governor, +whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine +house, and he stalked about there an +hour looking at the pictures and the +splendid furniture while its owner was +taking an airing. The general opinion +is that the object of his visit was accomplished +before his Excellency’s return."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Poor fellow! One can’t blame him +so very much," returned the listener with +a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted +snuff-box to the speaker before +helping himself generously from it. "But +what was his scheme?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Something the most absurd you ever +listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish +a public coach from this city to +Boston, to run as often as once a week, +and, after the first expense, to support +itself from the travellers it carries; each +one is to pay a few shillings. Where did +he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other +than private conveyances?" And these +representatives of conservatism threw +back their heads and laughed over the +absurdity of the lightning express in +embryo. Governor Wentworth standing +before the fire was commenting on +some of Governor Shirley’s measures, +giving his own judgment on the matter, +with a directness more bold than wise, +and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that +Americans have always used in political +affairs, when a stir of expectation behind +them made them take breath, and glance +at the person entering the room. It was +the minister.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"He has come, you see," whispered +the lady to her neighbor of the forebodings. +After greeting him, the group +about the fire went back to their discussions. +It had been the good parson’s +horse then, which they had heard tearing +up the road in hot haste; they had not +dreamed that so much speed was in the +nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably +a little late and had been afraid of keeping +the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; +all the company, indeed, but the four +members of it most important that +morning, Katie and Stephen, the bridesmaid, +Mistress Royal, and the best man, +a young friend of Archdale’s. After a few +moments in which conversation lagged +through expectancy, the door opened +again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Ah! here they are. No, only one, +alone. How strange!"</p> + +<p class="dgp">Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth +Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under +which she was acting to see anything +about her. Without sign of recognition +she glanced from one to another, until +her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff +watching her with a gentle wonder in +his face. It was for him that she had +been looking. She went up to him immediately, + +and laid a tremulous hand +upon his arm. She tried to smile, but +the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself +through the assembly; it was felt that +her presence here alone showed that +something had happened, and her expression, +that it was something bad. +She did not seem even to hear the minister’s +kind greeting, and she was as +little moved by the wonder and scrutiny +about her as if she had been alone with +him. At Mistress Archdale’s reiterated +question if Katie were ill, she shook her +head in silence. Some thought held +her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, +"but it must be only a jest. The man’s +horse is blown, he came so fast. And +he insisted on seeing me and would +give this only into my own hands; his +message was that it was life and death, +that I must read it at once before the—" +She stopped with a shudder, and held +out a paper that she had been grasping; +it was crumpled by the tightening of her +fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the +minister looked toward the door, and +listened. "You must read it now, this +instant, before they come in," cried +Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don’t +dare not to have you; and tell me +that it has no power, it is only a +wicked jest; and throw it into the fire. +Oh, quick, be quick."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper +with the haste of age, youth’s deliberateness, +and began to read at last. At the +same instant a hand outside was laid on +the latch of the door. The room was in a +breathless hush. The door was swung +slowly open by a servant and the bride +and bridegroom came in, stopping just +beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering +face waited for her to come to her place. +But the minister, not glancing up, went +sternly on with the paper; and Elizabeth’s +gaze was fixed on his face; she +had drawn a step away from him; and her +hands were pressed over one another. +All at once he uttered an exclamation +of dismay, and turned to her, a dread +coming into his face as he met her eyes.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What does it mean?" he gasped. +"Heaven help us, is it true?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Oh, it can’t be, it can’t be," she +cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you’ve seen that +it must be all false. Give it to me. +Look, they are coming," she entreated. +"Think of her, be ready for them. Oh, +burn this. Can’t you? Can’t you?" +and her eyes devoured him in an agony +of pleading.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Stop!" he said, drawing back his +hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of +it true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? +Was that all so?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="dgp">By this time the scene had become +very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and +groom had indeed gone across the +room and were standing before the +minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin +the ceremony, stood with his eyes on +the paper, his face more and more pale +and perplexed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, +laying a hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked +the Colonel, advancing toward the minister, +and showing his irritation by his +frown, his flush, and the abruptness of +his speech usually so suave.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I hardly know myself," returned +Shurtleff looking from one to the other.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Let us have the ceremony at once, +then," said Master Archdale authoritatively. +"Why should we delay?"</p> + + +<p class="dgp">"I cannot, until I have looked into +this," answered the minister in a respectful +tone.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with +an authority that few contested. "Proceed +at once."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I cannot," repeated the minister, +and his quiet voice had in it the firmness, +almost obstinacy, that often characterizes +gentle people. His opposition +had seemed so disproportioned and was +so gently uttered that the hearers had +felt as if a breath must blow it away, +and interest heightened to intense excitement +when it proved invincible.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"What is all this?" demanded +Stephen, holding Katie’s arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff +with eyes of indignant protest. As +he received no immediate answer, he +turned to Elizabeth. "Mistress Royal," +he said, "can you explain this unseemly +interruption?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">Then all the company, who for the +moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her +again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," +she said, looking at him an instant +with a wildness of pain in her eyes. +Then she turned to Katie’s fair, pale +face full of wonder and distress at the +unguessed obstacle, and with a smothered +cry dropped her face in her hands, +and stood motionless and unheeded in +the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"You ask me," he said, "why I do +not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts +love has united. I do not dare to do it +until I understand the meaning of this +strange paper I hold in my hand. +What do you remember," he said to +Stephen, "of a singular game of a wedding +ceremony played one evening last +summer?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">The young man looked uncomprehending +for a moment, then drew his +breath sharply.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"That?" he said, "Why, that was +only to give an example of something +we were talking about; that was nothing. +Mistress,"—he stopped and +glanced at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, +was hanging upon every word of +his denial as if it were music—"Mistress +Royal knows that was so."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, +"it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded +treatment of serious matters must be. +I hope with all my heart that a moment’s +frivolity will not have life-long +consequences of sorrow, but I cannot +proceed in this happy ceremony that I +have been called here to perform until +the point is settled beyond dispute."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"See how habit rules him like a second +nature," whispered Colonel Pepperrell +aside to the Governor. "Nobody +but a minister would stop to give a +homily with those poor creatures before +him in an agony of suspense."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"My dear," said his wife softly in a +tone of reproof, laying her hand warningly +on his arm.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Stephen Archdale isn’t the man to +stand this," retorted the Governor in a +higher key than he realized. But the +words did not reach their object, for he +had already laid hold of the paper in +Mr. Shurtleffs hand.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"If this paper explains your conduct, +give it to me," he said haughtily.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The other drew back.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I will read it to you and to the +company," he answered. "There can +be no wedding this morning. I trust +there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Katie, whose face had grown rigid, +swung heavily against Stephen.</p> + + + +<p class="dgp">"She has fainted," her mother cried +coming forward.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Take her away," commanded the +Colonel. "This is no place for her." +But the girl clung to Stephen.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I will stay," she said, with a tearless +sob. "I must listen. I see it all, and +what he meant, too, that evil man."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, +"I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in +your hand tells us the cause of your refusal +to marry these young people, I +bid you read it to us immediately."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The parson, bowing with respect, +cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth’s commands +had been his own intention from the +first.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is a confession," he said, "made +by one whom many of us have welcomed +to our homes as a gentleman of +blameless character and honorable dealing. +Why it was sent to Mistress Royal +instead of to Master Archdale, or the +bride, I am at a loss to understand."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Elizabeth raised her head with a flash +in her eyes, but anger died away into +despair, and she stood silent with the +others, and listened to the fate that fell +upon her with those monotonous tones, +each one heavy as lead upon her heart. +She wondered if it had been sent to her +because it had been feared that Stephen +Archdale would keep silence.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="div"> +<a name="toc_11"></a> +<h3 class="dgp">CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h3 class="sub">CONFESSION.</h3> + + +<p class="noindent">"I write without knowing to whom I +am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some +whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they +will surely not grant it to me. I don’t +know even that I can crave it of Heaven, +for I have played with sacred things, and +used a power given me for good, in an +evil way, to further my own devices, +and, after all, I have not furthered +them. I am a man loving and unloved, +one who has perhaps thrown away his +soul on the chance of winning earthly +joy,—but such joy,—and has lost it. +If any have ever done like me, let them +pity and pardon. I appeal to them for +compassion. I shall receive it nowhere +else, unless it be possible, that the one +for love of whom I have done the wrong +will out of the kindness of her heart +spare me by and by a thought of pity +for what was the suggestion of a moment +and acted on—"</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Skip all that maundering," interrupted +Stephen. "To the point. Who +is this man, and what has he done? +Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don’t us."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called +out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge +better of the case, and of the writer’s +truthfulness."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes, you are right," answered the +young man pressing Katie’s arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to +his impatience and his defiance.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"And acted on without premeditation," +resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to +this worthy city of Portsmouth with letters +of introduction to Master Archdale, +and others, I met the beautiful Mistress +Archdale. From the first hour my +fate was sealed; I loved her as only a +man of strong and deep emotions can +love, with a very different feeling from +the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered +themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved +that they ceased troubling me, even with +their presence at her side. Among the +others were only two worthy of attention, +and only one whom I feared. I was reticent + +and watched; it was too soon to +speak. But as I watched my fear of +that one increased, for age, association, +a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me +his possibilities of success. With that +rival out of my path, my way to victory +was clear. There came a day when, +without lifting my finger against him, I +could effectually remove him. I did +it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation +rushed upon me suddenly with +overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, +for opposite me sat Katie, +more beautiful and lovable than ever, +and beside her was my rival, her cousin, +with an air of security and satisfaction +that aroused the evil in me. It was +August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale’s suggestion +had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be +about a runaway match, and interested +the young people so much, that when I +had finished they asked several questions; +one was in reference to a remark +of mine, innocently made, that +the marriage ceremony itself, pure and +simple, was something unimaginably +short. The story I had told illustrated +this, and some of the party asked me +more particularly as to what the form +was. Then I saw my opportunity, and +I took it. ’If one of the young ladies +will permit Master Archdale to take her +hand a moment,’ I said, ’I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how +short the formula may be.’ Master +Archdale was for holding Katie’s hand, +but happily, as it seemed to me at the +moment, she was on the wrong side. I +requested him to take the lady on the +other hand, who seemed a trifle unready +for the jest, but was induced by the entreaties +of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through +the marriage service over them as rapidly +as I dared, my voice sounding to +myself thick with the beating of my +heart. But no one noticed this; of +course, it was all fun. And so that +summer evening, all in fun, except on +my part, Stephen Archdale and Elizabeth +Royal were made man and wife, as +fast as marriage vows could make them. +Nothing was omitted that would make +the ceremony binding and legal, not +even its performance by a clergyman +of the Church of England."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A cry of rage and despair interrupted +the reader. But he went on directly.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"No one in America knew that I had +been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never +preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my +brother died and I inherited my grandfather’s +property, I resigned my pastorate +at once. This act shows how unfit for it +I was. But whatever my grief may be, +my conscience commands me to forbid +this present marriage, and to declare +with all solemnity, that Stephen Archdale +already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my +letter, believed herself still Mistres +Royal."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A burst of amazement and indignation, +that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and +voices expressed consternation. To this +confession had been added names and +dates, the year of the writer’s entrance +into the ministry, the time and place of +his brief pastorate, everything that was +necessary to give his statement a reliable +air, and to verify it if one chose to +do so. It was evident that there could +be no wedding that morning, and as the +truth of the story impressed itself, more +and more upon the minds of the audience, +a fear spread lest there could be +no wedding at all, such as they had been +called together to witness. For, if this + +amusement should turn out to have been +a real marriage, what help was there? +It was in the days when amusements +were viewed seriously and were readily +imagined to lead to fatal consequences. +Had Stephen Archdale really married? +The people in the drawing-room that +December morning were able men and +women, they were among the best representatives +of their time, an age that +America will always be proud of, but +they held marriage vows so sacred, that +even made in jest there seemed to be a +weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in +waiting feared, for their part in life was +to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, +that these qualities flowing +through mighty channels should conquer +physical strength and found a nation. +To do a thing because it was pleasant +was no part of their creed,—although, +even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice.</p> + +<p class="dgp">That winter morning, therefore, the +guests were ready to inveigh against the +sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all +would be well, and to shake their heads +mournfully.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as +he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so +much, and trusted him so much. I knew +he loved my little girl, but I thought it +was with an honorable love that would +rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot +be true. We must wait. But matters +will come right at last."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Yes," assented the Colonel across +whose face an incomprehensible expression +had passed more than once during +the reading; "it will all come right. +We must make it so."</p> + +<p class="dgp">A hum of conversation went on in +the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, +or if not near enough to them for that, +spoken to the first who were patient +enough to listen instead of themselves +talking.</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the midst of it all Stephen raised +his head, for he had been bending over +Katie who still clung to him, and asked +when the next ship left for England.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"In about three weeks," answered +Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out a +person competent to make full inquiries; +the matter shall be sifted."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I +shall make the necessary inquiries myself, +it will be doing something, and I +may find the man. We need that he +should be found, Katie and I."</p> + +<p class="dgp">Elizabeth drew back still more; some +flash of feeling made the blood come +hotly to her face for a moment, then +fade away again.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Katie looked up, turned her eyes +slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Go, Stephen, since you will feel +better," she said, "but it’s of no use, I +am sure. I understand now something +Master Harwin said to me when he left +me. I did not know then what he meant. +He has taken you away from me forever." +And with a sob, again she hid her +face upon his shoulder. Then, slowly +drawing away from him, she turned to +Elizabeth, and in her eyes was something +of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"How could you," she said, "how +could you consent to do it?"</p> + +<p class="dgp">She had drawn toward Elizabeth every +gaze and every thought in the room; she +had pointed out the substitute on whom +might be emptied those vials of wrath +that the proper object of them had taken +care to escape. Elizabeth heard on all +sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how +could she do it, how could she consent +to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, +and herself alone, as it seemed, + +made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed +to grow, and widen, and widen, like +the circles of water into which a stone is +thrown, and she was condemned by her +friends, by the people who had known +her and her father, condemned as +false to her friendship, as unwomanly. +Katie she could forgive on account of +her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never +dreamed of. These whispers that her +imagination multiplied seemed to roar +in her ears. But innocence and pride +kept her erect, and at last made her +raise her eyes which had fallen and grown +dim under the blow of Katie’s words. +She swept them slowly around the room, +turning her head slightly to do it. Not +a look of sympathy met her. Then, in +the pain, a power awoke within her.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is no less a disaster to me," she +said. Her words fell with the weight of +truth. She had kept back her pain, no +one thought of pitying her as Katie was +pitied, but she was vindicated.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" +asked Madam Pepperrell in a low tone +of Governor Wentworth at her elbow.</p> + +<p class="dgp">"It is not probable she loves him +much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl’s haughty face. "I don’t envy +her, on the whole, I don’t envy either of +them." By George, madam, it <em>is</em> hard."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, +whose glance, having more penetration, +had at last brought a look of +sympathy to his face. "Let us go up to +the poor thing, she stands so alone, and +I’m not clear that she has not the worst +of it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned +his wife as they moved forward. But before +they could reach her, being stopped +by several who spoke to them, there was +a change in the group in that part of +the room. Katie had fallen, and there +was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen +stooped over her, lifted her tenderly, +and carried her from the room. He +was followed by Mistress Archdale and +his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth +their eyes met, his glowed with a sullen +rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of +scorn, as she looked at him it seemed to +her that every fibre of his being was rejecting +her. "You!" he seemed to be +saying with contemptuous emphasis. In +answer her eyes filled him with their +haughtiness, they and the scornful curl +of her lip, as she stood motionless waiting +for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion +that he should pass near her at all. +He still saw her face as he bent over +Katie.</p> + +<p class="dgp" style="text-align: right">[TO BE CONTINUED.]</p> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class="div"> + +<h2 class="dgp">GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC +PROTECTORY.</h2> + +<p class="noindent" style="text-align: center">BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D.</p> + + +<p class="dgp">It is not often that a Governor’s objections +to a measure, which his veto +has defeated, become, even indirectly, +the subject of judicial consideration. +Such, however, has been the experience +of Governor Cleveland in connection +with his veto of the appropriation, which +was made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic +Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a +constitutional lawyer, to see the principles +of that veto entirely approved by +all the judges of the Court of Appeals, +as well as by all the judges by whom +those principles were considered, before +the case, in which they were involved, +reached that august tribunal, the highest +in the judicial system of that State.</p> + +<p class="dgp">By an amendment to the Constitution +of New York, adopted in 1874, it is provided +that, "Neither the credit nor the +money of the State shall be given, or +loaned to, or in aid of, any association, +corporation, or private undertaking."</p> + +<p class="dgp">It would hardly seem possible to mistake +the meaning of a prohibition like +this; but this prohibition is accompanied +by the following modification: "This + +section shall not, however, prevent the +Legislature from making such provision +for the education and support of the +blind, the deaf and dumb, and juvenile +delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, +now held by the State for educational +purposes."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The question, how far this qualifying +clause limits the proceeding prohibition, +arose first in the Court of Common +Pleas, and afterwards in the Court of +Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd’s +Fold of the Protestant Episcopal Church +<em>vs</em>. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty +of the City of New York.<a href="#note_38"><span class="footnoteref">38</span></a> The +Attorney-General of the State had given +an official opinion, tending to the conclusion +that the prohibition is almost entirely +neutralized by the modification. +The Judges of the Court of Common +Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this +case in either court, differed widely upon +the question, whether money raised by +local taxation by the City of New York, +under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of +the Shepherd’s Fold, was, or was not, +"money of the State," and therefore included +in the terms of this prohibition; +and when one sees how much is done in +the discussions of the able counsel before +the Court of final resort, and by +the learned opinion of Judge Rapello, +to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had +a similar Court of Appeals, to revise +and clarify the decisions of her Supreme +Court. About twenty-five per +cent, of all the decisions of the General +Terms of the Supreme Court, Superior +Court, and Court of Common +Pleas, which are carried to the Court of +Appeals, are there reversed; and can +any lawyer doubt that, at least, as large +a proportion of the decisions of our +Supreme Judicial Court ought also to be +revised and reversed?</p> + +<p class="dgp">The Court of Appeals says: "It +seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference +to money raised by general taxation +throughout the State, or revenues of +the State, or money otherwise belonging +to the State treasury, or payable out +of it."</p> + +<p class="dgp">The money claimed by the Shepherd’s +Fold being raised by local taxation for a +local purpose in the city of New York, +and not "by general taxation throughout +the State," the Court of Appeals +holds that it is not within the terms of +the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of +Common Pleas on that particular point, +while agreeing with it on the main question.</p> + +<p class="dgp">As the money, appropriated to the +Roman Catholic Protectory, was unquestionably +money of the State, "being +raised by general taxation throughout the +State," that appropriation was unquestionably +in conflict with the prohibition +of the Constitution, which the Governor +was sworn to support.</p> + +<p class="dgp">Of the courage and independence +displayed by Governor Cleveland in +thus vetoing a measure in which so large +a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an +interest, this is not the place to speak. +But it is creditable to him as a lawyer +that alone without a single precedent to +guide him, relying upon his own judicial +sense, and rejecting the opinion of a +former Attorney-General, he challenged +"the validity of this appropriation under +that section of the Constitution." The +Protectory, he says, "appears to be local +in its purposes and operations." And +being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public +funds should not be contributed to +its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject +the state treasury to demands in behalf +of all sorts of sectarian institutions, +which a due care for the money of the +State, and a just economy, could not +concede."</p> + +<p class="dgp">In the higher and broader field of +public service—"the grandest throne on +earth"—as the Presidency which he is +about to enter, has been grandiloquently +called, let us hope that he will display +the same honesty, capability, and fidelity +to the Constitution. We shall then +be assured that the interests of the Republic +will suffer no detriment at his +hands.</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<hr class="doublepage"> + +<div class="back"> + <div class="div" id="footnotes"><a name="toc_12"></a><h2 class="dgp">Notes</h2><dl class="footnote"> +<dt><a name="note_1">1.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Stark’s History of Dunbarton, p. 178.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_2">2.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Parker’s History of Londonderry, p. 180.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_3">3.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Adjutant General’s Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. 95.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_4">4.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 99.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_5">5.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 118.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_6">6.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_7">7.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. +1, p. 240.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_8">8.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers’ +house is easily accessible to any person possessed of a +curiosity to visit them. They are in the South-Easterly +section of Dunbarton, some six or seven miles only from +Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, +and the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, +in Farmer and Moore’s New Hampshire Gazeteer, that +he will find there but "few hills, nor any mountains." +He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is +a "pimply" one.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_9">9.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Bancroft’s History of the United States, vol. 4, p. +127.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_10">10.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Encyclopedia Brittanica.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_11">11.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Adjutant General’s Report, vol. 2, +1866, p. 129.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_12">12.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">"An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was +published in London in 1776. He is represented as a +tall, strong man, dressed in the costume of a Ranger, +with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun resting in +the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand +his Indian followers."—[Parkman’s Conspiracy of Pontiach, +vol. I, p. 164.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_13">13.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Roger’s Journal (Hough’s edition), p. 46.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_14">14.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing +upon the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east +side and near the south end of Main Street, in Concord, +New Hampshire. It must be at least a hundred years +old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in +the rear. It was occupied for many years by Captain +and Mrs. Roach, and later by Arthur, son of Major +Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_15">15.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, +New Hampshire.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_16">16.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">"An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert +Rogers and Elizabeth, his wife.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_17">17.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Bouton’s History of Concord, p. 351.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_18">18.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_19">19.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made +under the Generals who commanded upon the Continent +of North America during the late war. From which +may be collected the material circumstances of every +campaign upon that continent from the commencement +to the conclusion of the war. London: Printed for +the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. +viii; Journals, pp. 236.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_20">20.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account +of North America; Containing a description of +the several British Colonies on that Continent, including +the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, &c., as to +their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number +of Inhabitants supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior +and Westerly Parts of the Country, upon the rivers +St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and the Great +Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those +Parts, as to their Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, +&c., Containing many useful and Entertaining Facts, +never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, +bookseller, near Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction +and Advertisement, pp. viii; Concise Account, +pp. 264.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_21">21.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages +of America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for +the Author, and sold by J. Millan, opposite the Admiralty, +Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."</p></dd><dt><a name="note_22">22.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, Hough’s edition, p. 218.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_23">23.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas +Gage, dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He +was a soldier in my army in 1755, and, as we were in +great want of active men at that time, his readiness +recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer +and got him continued in the Ranging service, where +he soon became puffed up with pride and folly from the +extravagant encomiums and notices of some of the +Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was +fit for nothing else—neither has nature calculated him +for a large command in that service."—[Journals, +Hough’s edition, p. 215.</p> + +<p class="dgp">The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, +says: "I raised him (Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest +station on account of his abilities as a Ranger, for +which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people +at home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any +other purpose must appear surprising to those acquainted +with him. I believe he never confined himself +within the <em>disagreeable bounds of truth</em>, as you mention, +but I wonder much they did not see through him +in time."—[Journals, p. 241.]</p></dd><dt><a name="note_24">24.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 217.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_25">25.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 242.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_26">26.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_27">27.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 231.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_28">28.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 231.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_29">29.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, +dated February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a +most extraordinary letter from London, which says that +Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and kissed +his hand—that he demanded redress and retaliation for +his sufferings. The minister asked what would content +him. He desired to be made a Baronet, with a pension +of £600 sterling, and to be restored to his government at +Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."—[Journals, p. 256.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_30">30.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 259.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_31">31.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 261.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_32">32.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 118.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_33">33.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 263.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_34">34.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Same, p. 273.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_35">35.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_36">36.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Journals, p. 277.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_37">37.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">Parker’s History of Londonderry, p. 238.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_38">38.</a></dt><dd><p class="noindent">See 10 Daly’s Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. +137.</p></dd></dl></div> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. 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No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 23, 2004 [EBook #14131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Illustration: Geo. D. Robinson Governor of Mass. 1884. + +B.H. RUSSELL BOSTON] + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +_A Massachusetts Magazine_. + +VOL. II. + +JANUARY, 1885. + +No. 4. + + * * * * * + +GEORGE DEXTER ROBINSON. + +BY FRED. W. WEBBER, A.M. + +[Assistant Editor of the Boston Journal.] + + +His Excellency George D. Robinson, at present the foremost citizen of +Massachusetts, by reason of his incumbency of the highest office in the +Commonwealth, is the thirtieth in the line of succession of the men who +have held the office of Governor under the Constitution. In character, +in ability, in education, and in those things generally which mark the +representative citizen of New England, he is a worthy successor of the +best men who have been called to the Chief Magistracy. His public career +has been marked by dignity and an untiring fidelity to duty; his life as +a private citizen has been such as to win for him the respect and good +will of all who know him. He is a man in whom the people who confer +honor upon him find themselves also honored. He is a native of the +Commonwealth, of whose laws he is the chief administrator, and comes of +that sturdy stock which wresting a new country from savagery, fostered +with patient industry the germs of civilization it had planted, and +aided in developing into a nation the colonies that, throwing off the +yoke of foreign tyranny, presented to the world an example of government +founded on the equal rights of the governed and existing by and with the +consent of the people. His ancestors were probably of that Saxon race +which for centuries stood up against the encroachments of Norman kings +and nobles, which was led with willingness into the battle, the siege or +the crusade that meant the maintenance or advancement of old England's +honor, or in the cause of mother Church, and which was possessed of that +brave, independent spirit that, when the old home was felt to be too +narrow an abode, sought a new-country in which to plant and develop its +ideas of what government should be. However this may be it is certain +that from the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the +family was always represented among the most honorable of its yeomanry, +and among its members were pillars of both Church and State. His +immediate ancestors, people of the historic town of Lexington, were +active citizens in the Revolutionary period, and in the great struggle +members of the family were among those who did brave and effective +service in the cause of liberty. + +George Dexter Robinson was born in Lexington, February 20, 1834. Born on +a farm, his boyhood and youth were spent there, and his naturally strong +constitution was improved by the outdoor exercise and labor which are +part of the life of the farmer's boy. But the future Governor did not +intend to devote himself to farming. With the aim of obtaining a +collegiate education he attended the Academy in his native town, and +followed his studies there by further preparation at the Hopkins +Classical School in Cambridge. Entering Harvard University he was +graduated at that institution in 1856, and receiving an appointment as +Principal of the High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he accepted it, +filling the position with success during a period of nine years. He +retired from it in 1865. Meanwhile he had devoted much time to legal +studies, which he continued more fully during the next few months, and +in 1866 he was admitted to the bar in Cambridge. Chicopee, the town +wherein his active career in life had begun, he made his permanent home, +and with the various interests of that town he identified himself +closely and pleasantly, exemplifying in many ways the character of a +true townsman, and associating himself with every movement for the good +of his fellow citizens. In 1873 he was elected to represent the town the +ensuing year in the State Legislature, and as a member of the House he +was noted for the promptness and fidelity with which he attended to his +legislative duties. Two years later he was a member of the State Senate, +and here, as in the House, he displayed conspicuous ability as a +legislator in addition to that fidelity to his responsibilities which +had long been characteristic of him in any and all positions. His +qualifications for public life received still wider recognition the year +he served in the Senate, and he was nominated by the Republicans of the +old Eleventh District as Representative in Congress. He was re-elected +for two successive terms, and after the re-apportionment was elected +from the new Twelfth District in 1882, but before taking his seat was +nominated by the Republicans for the office of Governor, to which he was +elected. He took his seat, however, in order to assist in the +organization of the new Congress, and, after that work was accomplished, +resigned to enter upon the duties entrusted to him by the people of the +whole Commonwealth. He had sat in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses. Of his career in Washington +it would not be possible to give a better summary than one given by +"Webb," the able Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal, which +is here given in its entirety: + +Mr. Robinson took his seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, which met in +extra session, in October, 1877. He was prompt in his seat on the first +day of the first session. Regularity in attendance, and constant +attention to public business, have been characteristics of Mr. +Robinson's Congressional career. He is in his seat when the gavel falls +in the morning; he never leaves it until the House adjourns at night. He +does not spend his time in importuning the departments for clerkships, +but he welcomes the civil service law. He does not take the public time, +which belongs to his constituents, for his private practice in the +United States Supreme Court. He is in the truest sense a representative +of the people. He is quick in discovering, and vigorous in denouncing +an abuse. He as quickly comprehends and as earnestly advocates a just +cause. He is a safe guardian of the people's money and has never cast +his vote for an extravagant expenditure; but he does not oppose an +appropriation to gain a reputation for economy, or aspire to secure the +title of "watch dog of the Treasury," by resorting to the arts of a +demagogue. + +When he entered Congress, he went there with the sincerity of a student, +determined to master the intricate, peculiar machinery of Congressional +legislation. He has become an authority in parliamentary law, and is one +of the ablest presiding officers in Congress. + +In the Congress which he first entered the Democrats were in power in +the House. "They had come back," as one of their Southern leaders (Ben +Hill) said, "to their father's house, and come to stay." Mr. Randall was +elected Speaker. He put Mr. Robinson on one of the minor standing +committees--that of Expenditures in the Department of Justice--and +subsequently placed him near the foot of the list on the Special +Committee on the Mississippi Levees. Before the latter committee had +made much progress with its business, it was discovered that where +"McGregor sits is the head of the table." Mr. Robinson, at the extra +session of the Forty-fifth Congress, took little active part in the +public proceedings. He was a student of Congressional rules and +practice. + +At the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress he began to actively +participate in the debates, and from the outset endeavored to secure a +much needed reform in Congressional proceedings. He always insisted +that, in the discussion of important questions, order should be +maintained. He followed every important bill in detail, and the +questions which he directed to those who had these bills in charge +showed that he had made himself a master of the subject. He took +occasion to revise upon the floor many of the calculations of the +Appropriations Committee, and to urge the necessity of the most rigid +economy consistent with proper administration. + +It was at the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, January 16, +1879, that Mr. Robinson made his first considerable speech. It was upon +the bill relative to the improvement of the Mississippi River. He was +very deeply impressed with the magnitude of the problems presented by +that great river, and, while he was willing that the public money should +be wisely expended for the improvement of the 'Father of Waters,' he did +not wish that Congress should be committed to any special plan which +might prove to be part of a great job, until an official investigation +could be had. The interest with which this first speech was listened to, +and the endless questions with which the Southern men who favored +absolutely the levee system plied him, showed that they understood that +great weight would be given to Mr. Robinson's opinion, and that they did +not wish him to declare, unconditionally, against their cause. The +speech was a broad and liberal one, but extremely just. It had been +intimated in the course of the debate that Eastern members, who did not +favor the improvement of the river, refused to do so on account of a +narrow provincialism. Mr. Robinson showed them that New England is both +just and generous, and that the country is so united that a substantial +benefit to any portion of it cannot be an injury to another. He made +some keen thrusts at the Southern State rights advocates, who were so +eager for the old flag and an appropriation, and he reminded them that +whatever might be thought of the dogma of State sovereignty, "the great +old river is regardless of State lines, of the existence of Louisiana, +and, whenever there is a defective levee in Arkansas, over it goes into +Louisiana, spreading devastation in its course." Mr. Robinson insisted +that "Congress has no right to spend $4,000,000 out of the public +treasury immediately without investigating a theory and a plan which +proposes to render such an expenditure wholly unnecessary," and he +maintained that the greatest possible safe-guards should be provided +against any extravagant expenditure on the part of the Government. The +relations of New England to such an undertaking he thus broadly stated: + +"I am not deterred by any considerations that when the great river is +open to commerce to an enlarged extent more freight will go down its +bosom and be diverted perhaps from the great cities on the Atlantic +shore. I am willing that the whole country shall be improved and opened +for its best and most profitable occupation. This territory, whose +interests are affected by this, is greater than the whole of New +England. I am not afraid that whatever improvements may be made there +New England will be left out in the cold. Whatever conduces to the +prosperity of the West or South will benefit the East and North. We are +parts of one great whole, and, if it is necessary under a proper policy +to spend some money from the Treasury of the United States to meet the +wants of those States lying along the Mississippi River, I hope it will +not be begrudged to them, but it should not be done, and the Government +should not be committed, until the plans, have received a careful +consideration and the indorsement of the proper officers." + +At the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress, Mr. Robinson, from his +minor place on the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of +Justice, introduced a bill relative to the mileage of United States +Marshals, which proposed an important reform. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress, at the first session, Mr. Robinson, on +account of the marked abilities which he had shown as a lawyer and a +debater, was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee, a position +which he held through the Forty-sixth Congress with honor to his +district and his State. From the outset of the Forty-sixth Congress Mr. +Robinson, to the great surprise of many older members, who were not able +to fathom the mystery of the rules, took front rank as a debater on +points of order, and showed that his months of silent observation and of +earnest study had brought their fruit. His discussion of points of order +and of the rules was always characterized by good sense. He did not seek +to befog a question by an extensive quotation of authorities. He +endeavored to strip the rules of their technicalities and to apply to +them the principle of common sense. Sometimes, however, he was almost in +despair, and once in the course of an intricate discussion he exclaimed +(March 28, 1879): "If there is a standing and clear rule that guides the +Chair, I have not yet found it." + +At the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Western and Southern +Democrats united their forces in support of an amendment to the +"Culbertson Court bill," which was designed to limit the jurisdiction of +the United States courts. Some of the strongest advocates of this +amendment were men who, although living in Northern States, were +unfriendly to the Union, and who, since the war, have been continuously +aggressive in their efforts to place limitations upon national power. +Mr. Robinson was a member of the Judiciary Committee and spoke upon the +bill. His speech upon this measure attracted more attention than any +speech he had delivered before that time. It commanded the undivided +attention of the House, which was so interested in it that, although the +debate was running in the valuable time of the morning hour, Mr. +Robinson, on motion of a Democrat, Mr. Randolph Tucker, after the +expiration of his time, was requested to continue. The speech was a +powerful, logical, patriotic defence of the federal courts. A few +extracts from the general parts of this speech furnish an excellent +illustration of the abilities of Mr. Robinson as a debater and orator, +as well as of his strong convictions. He spoke as the son of a Jackson +Democrat would be likely to speak. He vigorously opposed the increase in +the limit from $500 to $2,000 as proposed by the Southern and Western +Democrats. + +After quoting the opinions of Chief Justices Story and Marshall to show +that the right of Congress to establish federal courts could not be +denied without defeating the Constitution itself, Mr. Robinson +continued: "I say, then, that those constitutional provisions give to +the citizens of the different States their rights in the federal courts. +I say again, it is not within the constitutional power of Congress to +make discriminations as to citizens in this matter. It has been taken as +settled that the corporations of the States for purposes of jurisdiction +are citizens of the States in which they are created. Can you +discriminate? Why, in the famous Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court +did discriminate, and said that a negro was not a citizen within the +meaning of the Constitution, nor entitled to sue in the Circuit Court of +the United States. The nation paused and held its breath, and never +recovered itself until after the bloody strife of the war, when was put +into the Constitution that guaranty that no such doctrine should ever be +repeated in this country. If Congress can exclude the citizens of a +locality, or the citizens of one color, or the citizens of one +occupation, or the citizens of certain classes of wealth or industry, +surely it can exclude any other citizens. If you can, in this bill and +under our Constitution, declare that the citizens, or any portion of +them, in this country, because they act in their corporate capacity, +shall lose their rights in the federal courts, it is but the next step +to legislate that the man who is engaged in rolling iron, or in the +manufacture of cotton, or of woolen goods, or is banker, or 'bloated +bond-holder,' shall not have any rights in the federal courts. There is +no step between them. There may be a discrimination as to +subject-matter, but not as to citizens. The distinction is very broad, +and in recognition of it my argument is made." In the discussion of the +apportionment at the Forty-sixth Congress, third session, Mr. Robinson +eloquently defended the honor of Massachusetts against the aspersions +which had been cast upon the Commonwealth by General Butler in his brief +as attorney in the Boynton-Loring contest. In the course of the debate +Mr. Cox called attention to this brief and suggested that if it were +true the representation of Massachusetts should be curtailed. Mr. +Robinson entered into an explanation of the reading and writing +qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts. As General Butler was the +assailant in this case, Mr. Robinson said: + +"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the +debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this +House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this +speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the +Chairman of this Census Committee. He says: + +"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read +and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant +white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the +Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and +write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke +and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is +well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write +before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that +rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes +there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would +thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that +voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. +They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more +safe than now." + +After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded +as follows: + +"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that +State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first +learn to read and write. Near to every man's dwelling stands a public +free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These +school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children +have been born in that time and have attended school at the public +expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced. + +* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. +There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to +require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some +time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the +law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of +the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania +we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the +communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the +States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to +your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that +representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or +because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring +residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the +same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these +prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of +the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and +conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he +cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a +particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has +been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out +that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove +his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, +indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his +residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the +other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in +accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true +policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The +Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of +the man's control." + +In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh +Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which +commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the +contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our +rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for +resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as +that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our +Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one +of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the +consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said: + +"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to +action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and +proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is +tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, +unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is +to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have +fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this +Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend +some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the +word tyranny." + +To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority +to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would +lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by +some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were +confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the +rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. +But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a +Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to +adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize +this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that +we are in that pitiable plight?" + +On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to +express his views in this manner: + +"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We +have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a +chance to do something. + +"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated +officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made +haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, +to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own +retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express +itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of +this country. + +"I hear some gentlemen say, 'Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does +not reform enough,' I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he +wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in +one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it +gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some +other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends +want." + +The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills +needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and +Harbor bill and voted to sustain the President's veto. + +The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinson's +election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His +Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who +was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive +way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had +preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an +argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year +before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican +party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be +found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious +elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in +the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, +and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his +party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further +duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed +himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series +of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any +previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive +speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his +arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, +and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready +wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it +exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, +and with questions in general connected with the interests of the +Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves +to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He +entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and +during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of +political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties +were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official +business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social +requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, +dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all +kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social +relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the +election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for +Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor +Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, +compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen +both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and +though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is +one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting +him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the +strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Oliver Ames] + +OLIVER AMES. + +By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M. + +[Editor of the Boston Traveller]. + + +The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, +are a representative New England family. Their history forms an +honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in +its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the +poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and +culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, +as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and +believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled +with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such +service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury +box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the +Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually +one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to +individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were +accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously +performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor +or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored +subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as +well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. +Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and +so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their +neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As +their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for +the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this +and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and +enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises +became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of +prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in +recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the +seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a +railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of +the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of +the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became +prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William +Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for conscience's sake +forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not +only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. +Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither +of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of +Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for conscience's +sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were +the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. +The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them +descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + +The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New +England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, +Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in +Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John +Ames, who settled in Bridgewater. + +John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; +married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in +Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir +he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the +grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723. + +Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph +Hay ward. + +Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in +Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan +Howard; and died in 1774. + +Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was +born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter +of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the +Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause +service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in +existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels +in 1775. + +Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was +born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was +employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David +Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by +President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the +manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant +of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he +removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on +his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, +Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for +the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods +from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive +ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and +flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during +the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every +opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of +transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his +retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and +Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions. + +Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, +was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline +Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated +by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew +into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the +factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen +hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons +of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and +thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment +had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace +with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters +of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels. + +It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes +Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance +and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable +obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the +Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder +of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand +as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the +Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd +and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten +years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National +House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873. + +Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) +Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot +note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his +native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. +Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the +shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five +years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. +At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough +scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, +placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. +The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen +from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and +political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned +to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the +same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had +fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, +which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several +inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge +of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in +the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the +State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, +and for several years personally superintended the various departments +of the firm's immense establishment at North Easton. At his father's +death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved +on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a +large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, +national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 +Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. +With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton +this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages +of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active +interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political +service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, +as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. +As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in +attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the +working members of the body. He served during each year of his +membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he +received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the +ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate +for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General +Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not +too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his +Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political +year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing +the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to +the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State +election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now +entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business +life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by +the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful +performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large +wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in +no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow +citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has +been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has +exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his +own. + +It is, perhaps, as a financier that Oliver Ames has won his widest +reputation. Upon the death of his father the management of the vast +enterprises which the later had controlled, suddenly devolved upon him. +The greatness of the man showed itself in that he found himself equal to +the emergency. The Oakes Ames estate was, at the time he took upon his +shoulders its settlement, not only one in which immense and diversified +interests were involved, scattered throughout different states of the +Union, but it was also burdened with obligations to the extent of eight +millions of dollars. The times were most unpropitious, the country being +just on the eve of a great financial panic when immense properties were +crumbling to pittances. He undertook the Herculean task of rescuing at +this time this estate from threatened ruin, and of vindicating the good +name of his father from undeserved censure. He had in this gigantic work +to meet and thwart the plots of rapacious railroad wreckers, and +schemers; but his thorough mental discipline united with his intensely +practical business training, and coupled with his native energy, tact, +good sense, and fertility of resources, stood him in good stead. He +inspired capitalists with confidence, money was forthcoming to further +his carefully matured plans, and the ship freighted with the fortunes of +his family, was, by his steady hand, piloted securely amidst the shoals +and quicksands of disaster, and by rocks strewn with the wrecks of +princely fortunes, to a safe anchorage. He rescued the property from +peril, met and paid the enormous indebtedness resting upon it, paid a +million of dollars or more of legacies, and had still a large surplus to +divide among the heirs. + +As a business man his sagacity seems almost intuitive. As an +illustration of this, his work in developing the Central Branch of the +Union Pacific Railroad may be instanced, a work which at the same time +gave him high rank as a railroad manager. At the time he connected +himself with the undertaking, only the first hundred miles of the road +were in running order. He first made a thorough personal investigation +of the proposed line, and satisfying himself as to its capabilities for +business, he pushed the enterprise through to completion, building two +hundred and sixty miles of road, and fully equipping it for operation. +His judgment, which at the time was somewhat questioned by other +experienced railroad managers and financiers, was fully justified by the +result, which was a complete financial success. + +One of the most impressive traits in the character of Oliver Ames is his +veneration for the memory of his distinguished father. He fully believes +that the hastily and unjustly formed verdict of censure pronounced upon +Oakes Ames, both by public opinion and by the United States House of +Representatives, will ere long be reversed, and that his memory will be +honored by the country, as it so justly deserves. Indeed he has already +had the gratification of seeing this verdict reversed, so far as public +opinion is concerned; and it only remains for Congress to remove its +undeserved vote of censure, for Oakes Ames to take his appropriate and +honored place in American history. There is little doubt that Mr. Ames +will yet see this ambition of his life realized. As to this censure, +Massachusetts, where Oakes Ames was best known and appreciated, has +spoken through her Legislature by the following resolution, which +unanimously passed both House and Senate in the spring of 1883: + + "Resolved, in view of the great services of Oakes Ames, + representative from the Massachusetts Second Congressional + District, for ten years ending March 4, 1873, in achieving the + construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, the most vital + contribution to the integrity and growth of the National Union + since the war: + + "In view of his unflinching truthfulness and honesty, which refused + to suppress, in his own or any other interest, any fact, and so + made him the victim of an intense and misdirected public excitement + and subjected him to a vote of censure by the Forty-second Congress + at the close of its session; + + "And in view of the later deliberate public sentiment, which, upon + a review of all the facts, holds him in an esteem irreconciliable + with his condemnation, and which, throughout the whole country + recognizes the value and patriotism of his achievement and his + innocence of corrupt motive or conduct; + + "Therefore, the Legislature of Massachusetts hereby expresses its + gratitude for his work and its faith in his integrity of purpose + and character, and asks for like recognition thereof on the part of + the National Congress." + +The beautiful Oakes Ames Memorial Hall at North Easton, erected by his +sons, is an impressive monument of filial devotion and respect. This +village of North Easton, the home of Mr. Ames and other members of the +Ames family, as well as the seat of the extensive shovel works, deserves +more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by +this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England +villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The +old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat +appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy +yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the +firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the +owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the +welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and +well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a +gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of +architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of +the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like +cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely +struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family, +and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has +made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding +cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and +endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the +temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New +England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of +the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the +welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the +village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a +declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of +New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or +Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer +with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and +charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the +villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in +extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are +surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these +is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a +spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its +emerald setting. + +The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most marked +illustrations in this model and typical New England village; and no +small share of what has been achieved for it is due to the warm heart +and open hand of Oliver Ames. He has ever shown himself an ardent friend +of popular education, and justly holds that the New England common +school lies at its foundation. For a period of twenty years he found +time, amid a multiplicity of weighty business cares, to serve upon the +School Committee of his town and to give the benefit of his experience, +judgment, and personal supervision to the promotion of the efficiency of +this one of the very fundamental of American institutions, the common +school. Oakes Ames left a fund of $50,000, the income to be used for the +benefit of the school children of North Easton village. Through the wise +thoughtfulness of Oliver Ames many of the privileges arising from this +fund have been extended to the other sections of the town; and it hardly +need be said that the schools of Easton are among the objects of the +fondest pride of its citizens. + +Mr. Ames, though absorbed in the cares pertaining to the management of +gigantic business interests, yet finds time for the appreciative +enjoyment of the amenities and refinements of life. He posesses a +cultivated appreciation of music, literature and the drama, and his +artistic taste is evinced by his valuable and choice collections of +paintings and statuary. Architecture has been with him a special study, +and his magnificent winter residence, recently completed on Commonwealth +Avenue, in our city of Boston, is a monument of his own architectural +taste. In Europe this residence would be called a palace, here it is +simply the home of a representative American citizen. Peculiarly happy +in his domestic relations his home is beautified and ennobled by the +virtues of domestic life. A generous hospitality is dispensed within its +portals, where on every hand are found the evidences of the cultured +refinement of its occupants. A tour of a few months in the Old World not +only gave Mr. Ames needed rest and relaxation from business cares, but +also furnished him with opportunities for observation which were most +judiciously improved. In his religious belief he is a Unitarian, and has +for many years been an active member of the Unitarian Society of North +Easton. + +In his native town he is unusually respected and beloved, and with the +working-men in his factories he enjoys an unbounded popularity. This is +but natural, since he is himself a skilled artisan, an inventive and +ingenious mechanic, familiar through a personal experience with every +detail of the work in which they are engaged. This, coupled with his +native kindness of heart, and his unpretentious manners, makes him the +model employer. + +The custodian of great wealth, he uses it in a spirit of wise +benevolence, and his public and private benefactions, while large, are +made without ostentation or affectation. Affable, approachable, +companionable, devoted and faithful in his personal friendships, it is +little wonder that some of them now and then impulsively speak of him as +"the best man in the world." + +In the full vigor of a robust manhood, Mr. Ames attends to his vast +private business affairs, performs faithfully his official and public +duties, finds time for his favorite authors, and keeps fully abreast +with current thought and the progress of the age. His brow is yet +unwrinkled and cares rest lightly upon him. Free from the pride of +wealth, temperate, conservative, clear-headed, and distinguished for his +strong common sense, his generous, unsuspicious nature, and unswerving +fidelity to the interests committed to his trust justly win for him a +multitude of friends. + +Faithful in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party, and +in his services to his native Commonwealth, Massachusetts has reason for +a just pride in her Lieutenant Governor. His name may yet stand the +Republican party of the State in good stead in a political exigency not +unlikely to arise in the near future. Whatever may be said of the causes +of the defection from the Republican ranks which took place in the last +national campaign, there is no doubt about one of its results,--it has +driven the Republican party to seek a closer alliance with the +working-people of the Commonwealth. The Republican bolters were almost +exclusively drawn from the aristocratic end of the party. It was Harvard +and Beacon Hill that revolted. To make good the loss the Republican +leaders had to appeal for support to the same class of voters which gave +to Republican principles their first triumphs,--the intelligent +mechanics and artisans, the laboring men. However many or few of the +deserters of 1884 may re-join the standard now that Mr. Blaine is +defeated it is not likely that for many years to come, if ever, the +Republican party in Massachusetts will be able, to lean upon the immense +majorities of former years, that ran away up to sixty, seventy, and +eighty thousand. With a Democratic administration installed at +Washington, and the power and prestige which that fact will imply and +apply in the local politics of the States,--and in no State more +powerfully than in Massachusetts, where the shifting body of Independent +voters, so-called, is largely made up of the Hessian element that will +incline to whichever side has spoils to bestow,--the Republican party in +order to hold Massachusetts will have to cultivate and strengthen the +alliance which it formed in the late election with the laboring class of +voters. It will have to revert to the sympathetic and liberal policy +touching all questions that affect labor, and the welfare of the working +people of the State, which marked the earlier years of its power. The +Ames family is linked in the popular mind with that policy. And justly +so, too! Oakes Ames was a true friend to labor, as well as one of the +most practical; and the fine instinct which guided him in making of +North Easton a model industrial community, where the happiest relations +of mutual confidence and support have subsisted between employer and +employed, he bequeathed to his sons, and to Oliver in an especial and +marked degree. It has been said, and there is no element of exaggeration +in the statement, that if all our large capitalists and manufacturers +could succeed in establishing the same rapport between themselves and +their employes which the Ameses have always maintained at North Easton, +the vexed problem of capital and labor would be solved; for there would +be no more conflict between them. Oliver Ames is held in the same high +esteem and almost affectionate regard by the working people of the Old +Colony district, where the interests of the Ames Manufacturing Company +are centred, in which his honored father was held before him. As the +father so the sons! When the time comes, and it is not far off, that the +Republican party in Massachusetts shall feel the necessity of getting +nearer to her common people, and, in order to retain its supremacy in +the State, of offering to their suffrages a man whose whole life has +been spent in close and friendly relations with her working-men, it will +be strangely blind indeed, to its opportunity, if it shall not turn to +the present popular Lieutenant Governor, and present the name of Oliver +Ames as one well fitted to lead the revival of Republicanism among the +working-classes, and certain, if presented to them, to be endorsed by a +splendid majority for the first office in the popular gift. + +[NOTE. + +GENEALOGY. + +RICHARD AMES of Somersetshire, England. + +I. William, who came to America and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. + +II. JOHN AMES, born in 1651; son of William Ames, married Sarah Willis +(daughter of John Willis of Duxbury, whose will was proved in 1693). In +1672 he settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, and became his heir in +1697. + +III. THOMAS AMES, born in 1682; lived in Bridgewater and married in 1706 +Mary Hayward (daughter of Deacon Joseph and Sarah [Mitchell] Hayward, +and granddaughter of Thomas Hayward and of Ephraim Mitchell, the latter +of whom came to America in the third ship, arriving at Plymouth in 1623) + +IV. THOMAS AMES, born in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard (daughter +of Jonathan and Sarah [Dean] Howard, and granddaughter of John and +Martha [Haywood] Howard of Duxbury). + +V. CAPTAIN JOHN AMES, born 1738; died July 17, 1805; married in 1759 +Susannah Howard (born in 1735: died January 11, 1821). She was the +daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Keith) Howard; great granddaughter of John +Howard of Duxbury and Rev. James Keith. + +VI. OLIVER AMES, born April 11, 1779; died September 11, 1863; married +in April, 1803, Susannah Angier (born March, 1783; died March 27, 1847). +Dr. William Ames, the Franeker Professor, had a daughter (2), Ruth, who +came to America in 1637, and married Edmund Angier of Cambridge, whose +son (3), Rev. Samuel Angier, married Hannah, daughter of President Urian +Oakes of Harvard College. Their son (4), Rev. John Angier, married Mary +Bourne, granddaughter of Governor Hinckley. Their son (5), Oakes Angier, +a law student of President John Adams, was the father of (6) Susannah +Angier. Children: + +1. _Oakes_, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873. + +2. Horatio, b. November 18, 1805; d. Jan. 28, 1844. + +3. Oliver, Jr., b. November 5, 1807; d. March 9, 1877. + +4. Angier, b. February 19, 1810; d. July 27, 1811. + +5. William L., b. July 9, 1812; died in St. Paul, Minn. + +6. Sarah A., b. September 9, 1814; married October 10, 1836, Nathaniel +Witherell, Jr. + +7. John, 2d, b. April 18, 1817; d. May 14, 1844. + +8. Harriett, b. September 12, 1819; m. March 27 1839, Asa Mitchell. + +VII. HONORABLE OAKES AMES, born January 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873; +married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore (born June 14, 1809; +died July 20, 1882). Children: + +1. Oakes Angier, born April 15, 1829. + +2. _Oliver_, b. February 4, 1831. + +3. Frank Morton, b. August 14, 1833. + +4. Henry G., b. April 10, 1839; died September, 1841. + +5. Susan Eveline, b. May 14, 1842; married Henry W. French. + +VIII. HONORABLE OLIVER AMES, born February 4, 1831; married March 14, +1860, Anna C. Ray (born January 16, 1840, in Nantucket). Children: + +1. William Hadwen, born March 1, 1861. + +2. Evelyn Orville, b. April 4, 1863. + +3. Anna Lee, b. September 6, 1864. + +5. Lillian, b. January 4, 1870. + +6. Oakes, b. September 26, 1874. + +EDITOR.] + + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BERKSHIRE HILLS, PITTSFIELD FROM POTTER MOUNTAIN] + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PITTSFIELD. + +By FRANK W. KAAN. + + +We were changing cars about midnight at Rotterdam Junction, New York, +for the Fitchburg Railroad connection. "You might know we were near +Boston," said a passenger. "See what a comfortable car this is." "Yes," +remarked a middle-aged gentleman, "I've been away for three weeks, and I +never want to leave Boston for so long a time again." And he gave a sigh +of relief. No doubt many highly enjoyable smiles were called forth by +this innocent confession. Yet the sentiment found an echo in our hearts. +But a North Adams man spoke up rather sharply, "Well, Berkshire County +is good enough for me." The incident has a deeper meaning than appears +at first glance. + +Going westward on the Boston and Albany, a heavy up-hill grade is +reached at Chester. The rest of the way lies in a country of hills. A +pleasing prospect meets the eye in every direction. There is nothing +sublime and majestic to inspire the mind and exhilarate the spirits, but +the steadfast, sober hills and the quiet valleys in nature's soft colors +are restful alike to body and soul. + +We cross a branch of the River Housatonic, _alias_ Ousatonac, +Ausotunnoog, Awoostenok, Asotonik, Westenhok, and the train stops before +a large, handsome brick station, once the "best in the State," now +restricted to "west of Boston." A broad street on the left leads to the +park in the centre of the town. Here is the Berkshire Athenaeum, with its +excellent public library, where we must stay long enough to glance +through the town history, compiled by Mr. J.E.A. Smith. + +A century and a half ago an unbroken wilderness stretched between the +Hoosac and Taconic ranges. The mountains rose by steady degrees from the +hills of Connecticut to Mount Mansfield, in Vermont, 4,400 feet above +the level of the sea. The valley, however, dotted with hundreds of +hills, reached its greatest elevation, 1,100 feet, at the foot of +Greylock, fourteen miles north of Pittsfield; thence it sloped +irregularly north and south. The forests contained deer in plenty for +fifty years longer. A few bears, with rather more wolves and Indians, +constituted the remainder of the larger movable objects of the +landscape. The soil was well fitted for agriculture: numerous small +streams were ready to offer their service to settlers. + +[Illustration: LAKE ONATA.] + +This region remained uninhabited, however, for many years later than +would ordinarily have been the case; not so much from fear of hardships +or Indian troubles as on account of the uncertainty of the land tenures +which could be acquired. Massachusetts, by reason of the Royal Charter +of 1691, claimed to the west as far as the Province of Connecticut +extended. New York, on the other hand, maintained that the eastern +boundary of Connecticut was meant: moreover, that the western boundary +had been agreed upon for special reasons; furthermore, that her own +territory, as successor to the rights granted the Duke of York in 1674, +reached from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. Thereupon +Massachusetts referred to the old Charter in force in 1674, which made +the Atlantic and Pacific her eastern and western limits. In return, +attention was called to the clause in that Charter, excepting lands in +the possession of any other Christian State. Now, in consequence of the +discovery of the Hudson in 1608, the Dutch had occupied the country as +far east as the Connecticut, and to their title New York succeeded. +Massachusetts then denied the fact of settlement. Thus the controversy +was prolonged until, in 1773, a line to be run parallel with the Hudson, +at a distance of twenty miles, was agreed upon. But about the year 1720 +it became evident that the western boundary of Connecticut would be +established in favor of that province. This arrangement, as the New York +representatives stated, was a result of the boldness of settlers in +pushing westward and occupying the district in dispute. Accordingly, +Massachusetts was encouraged to pursue a similar course, and the first +settlement on the Housatonic was made at Sheffield in 1725. The occasion +of the next advance appears to have arisen from the attention paid to +free education in Boston. That town, in 1735, because of its large +expenditures for public schools, support of poor, and contribution to +the State treasury, petitioned the General Court for a grant of three or +four townships within the "Hampshire wild lands." Three lots, each six +miles square, were given, subject to certain conditions. Within five +years, sixty Massachusetts families must be settled, each possessing a +house (at least eighteen feet square and seven stud), with five acres of +improved land. A house for public worship must be erected, and a learned +Orthodox minister be honorably supported; lastly, a school must be +maintained. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1807.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD PARSONAGE.] + +One of these townships, Poontoosuck, an Indian word, meaning "winter +deer," was bought at public auction for L1,320, by Colonel Jacob +Wendell, whose descendents have earned lasting honor for the family +name. Philip Livingston, of Albany, and John Stoddard, through older +claims, became associated with him as joint proprietors. The terms of +the grant were not strictly complied with, and, after an unsuccessful +attempt to bring in Dutchmen, a company of forty settlers from Westfield +purchased and took possession of the greater part of the township. +Difficulties with the Indians soon drove them back. The first permanent +settlement was made in 1749, and three years later occurred the birthday +of the town. + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD AVENUE.] + +In May, 1761, the first town meeting was held. At this time the name was +changed to Pittsfield in honor of William Pitt, for his vigorous conduct +of the war against France. Slaves were owned by many of the citizens, +and stocks and a whipping-post were set up. Saw mills and grist mills +were in operation; fulling mills held an important position, and shortly +afterwards the production of iron became considerable. The first +meeting-house was completed in 1770. The most pretentious dwelling-house +was "The Long House," owned by Colonel Williams. The first appropriation +for schools was twenty-two pounds eight shillings, in 1762. + +In resistance to British oppression at the outbreak of the Revolution, +Berkshire County required no one to lead the way. "The popular rage," +wrote Governor Gage, "is very high in Berkshire and makes its way +rapidly to the rest." In response to the Boston Port bill cattle and +money were sent to the sufferers. Resolutions were passed to discontinue +the consumption of English goods at whatever time the American Congress +should recommend such action. In August, 1774, Berkshire set the example +of obstructing the King's Courts. In the expedition for the capture of +Ticonderoga, in the invasions of Canada, and in Burgoyne's campaign, the +town and the county held a place among the foremost in efforts and +sacrifices for the cause of liberty. The recommendations of the +Continental Congress were followed out with promptness and zeal. A +similar spirit was displayed in the relations with the Provincial +Government, so far as they affected the carrying on of the war. Yet, +from 1775 to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, the county +was ruled in open resistance to the civil authorities at Boston. +Although representatives were sent to the General Court, the acts of +that body were accepted merely as advice. The judicial and executive +branches of the Government were not recognized. It was maintained that +the new Government should originate from the people on the basis of a +written Constitution and bill of rights. To this end they "refused the +admission of the course of law among them," until their demands should +be complied with. Furthermore, the old Courts were objectionable as +being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness +exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling +offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the +town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting +either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to +have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the +want of civil courts was of little consequence. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] + +[Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] + +An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority +had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national +Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the +excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, +numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, +caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was +found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of +the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant +of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an +appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It +is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of +the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the +steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State +Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing +the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in +material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM.] + +Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively +engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium +height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and +just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An +application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a +favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small +respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in +outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed +with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained +it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the +Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when +asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that +he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a +certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of +Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." + +[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.] + +He was a firm friend of Democracy. During the revolution he was a +radical Whig, and later on became an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian +doctrines. In the second period partisan feelings were very bitter in +the community. When, therefore, he gave full freedom to his thoughts in +articles published in the Pittsfield Sun, and, in accordance with a +practice more prevalent then than now, mingled political subjects with +his Sunday discourses, the Federalist members of the Congregational +Church grew restive under his pastorship. At this time, it should be +noted, Berkshire differed in politics from the rest of the State. +Matters grew worse, until a division of the parish was made and +continued for seven years. Thomas Allen died in 1811, at the age of 67. + +[Illustration: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.] + +Contrary to the custom in almost every other town of the State, and +notwithstanding the statute requirements, public worship in 1809 ceased +to be supported by the town, and nearly an equality of religious sects +before the law was produced. In 1817, after the re-union of the +Congregational Churches, the parish system was revived. It should be +kept in mind that by far the larger part of the population were members +of that denomination, identifying its early history with that of the +town. Rev. Heman Humphrey became pastor, a man of scholarly attainments, +and well fitted to encourage the general longing for a complete +reconciliation. + +In 1821 a great revival took place, and to strengthen the religious +interest Mr. Humphrey believed it to be essential that, so far as +possible, the town should preserve a solemn quiet, and he endeavored to +substitute religious services in place of the ordinary manner of +celebrating the Fourth of July. This plan was, to a considerable number +of citizens, by no means acceptable, yet the exercises in the Church +were attended by a large and reverent congregation. The meeting-house +stood upon the little square where the people were wont to collect on +all anniversaries. In consequence, there was a very annoying disturbance +from fire-crackers, drums, fifes, and even cannon, and the attempt to +make this national holiday quiet and serious was not repeated. Mr. +Humphrey two years later became President of Amherst College. In 1833 +the corporate connection of the Congregational Society with the town +came to an end through the Constitutional Amendment of that year. Two +years later business was in a state of depression, and emigration went +on at a rapid rate. A missionary from the West made known the need in +that great section of Christian emigrants to help mould its character. +From the Baptist Church in one year more than a hundred members set +forth, leaving finally but three men in the Congregation. During the +first half of the century other sects acquired a foot-hold, and are now +supported by large Congregations, composed of the best citizens of the +town. + +To turn back again in the narrative of events. Of the town's record in +the war of 1812, little must be said, although much is deserved. In this +matter, as previously in others, the county, by its warm support of the +war party, showed its independence in thought and action of the rest of +the State. Pittsfield was made a place of meeting for recruits; a +cantonment for United States troops was established, and a depot for +prisoners of war, who numbered at times 1,500 or more. The town was most +largely represented in the Ninth and Twenty-first Regiments. The former +won for itself the name of "The Bloody Ninth;" the latter was that +regiment, which, under Colonel Miller at Lundy's Lane, gained undying +fame in a gallant struggle for the enemy's cannon. + +[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF E.S. FRANCIS.] + +The history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society may be traced back to +its origin in 1807, when Elkanah Watson, who had recently become an +inhabitant of the town, exhibited two fine merinoes, a ram and a ewe, on +the green under the Old Elm. Great interest was aroused, and the +importation of the best foreign breeds of cattle and sheep was +encouraged and carried on by public-spirited and enterprising citizens. +One farmer came into possession of a cow, in which he felt so much pride +that it formed the subject of his conversation at all times and places, +until his friends feared to meet him. At last it gave birth to a calf, +but minus a tail, and the wrathful owner carried the calf, with his axe, +to the back pasture. The Society was organized in 1811. New features +were added from time to time; standing crops were inspected; women were +interested to compete for premiums. The plowing match became a part of +the Pittsfield show in 1818, when a quarter of an acre of green sward +was plowed in thirty-five minutes by the winner. Dr. Holmes, in 1849, +Chairman of the committee, read his poem, "The Ploughman." Many years +before, William Cullen Bryant, then a lawyer in Great Barrington, wrote +an ode for the cattle show. Improved agricultural implements and better +methods of cultivation were some of the material benefits produced by +the fairs. The fame and influence of the Society have reached all parts +of the country. In 1855, exhibition grounds, thirty acres in extent, +were purchased in Pittsfield. + +The Berkshire Jubilee of 1844 merits at least a brief mention. It was a +gathering from far and near of those emigrants from the county, who +still held their early home in loving memory. Of the thousands that were +present, many were men of national reputation. Among the exercises, a +sermon of welcome was delivered by the Rev. Mark Hopkins, a prayer was +offered by Rev. David Dudley Field, an address was given by Governor +Briggs, and a poem was read by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL BLOCK.] + +Governor Briggs had become a citizen of Pittsfield two years before. He +was born at North Adams in 1796. When seventeen years of age, after +having spent three years in learning the hatters' trade, he began the +study of law with but five dollars in his possession, which he had +earned at haying. In 1850, after seven consecutive terms as Governor, he +was defeated by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He was as +true a friend of a pure civil service as any man of the present day. +Like a well-known English writer on political economy, and for similar +reasons, he refused to furnish money for his own election expenses, +however legitimate; thus, although unwillingly, placing the burden upon +the shoulders of other members of his party, a course which gave equal +satisfaction in both countries. He was distinguished for the consistency +of his life with his religious and temperance principles. Once, it is +said, while exhorting a friend who had already entered the downward path +of immoderate drinking, Mr. Briggs was induced to promise that so long +as the other would abstain from drinking, he, himself, would give up the +use of a collar; and this agreement was kept by both parties for life. +The truth in regard to the anecdote is rather as follows: While County +Commissioner he was often obliged to make long drives, so that besides +the annoyance from wearing a collar, he found great difficulty in +replacing it when soiled. From this arose a habit of dispensing with it +altogether. Once, being rallied on the subject by an old friend, he +offered to resume his collar if the other would cease drinking gin, and +would cut off his cue. The gin and the cue carried the day. + +The Berkshire Medical Institute was established in 1822, mainly through +the exertions of Dr. H.H. Childs. The charter provided that degrees +should be conferred only by the President and Trustees of Williams' +College, and according to the rules in force in the school at Cambridge. +The purpose was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and +to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement +continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and +board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a +week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay +the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These +were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student +shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of +the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office +of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one +hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, +inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having +graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of +medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent +out by any college in the country. + +[Illustration: BERKSHIRE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING.] + +The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation +excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, +theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the +Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died +out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one +evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, +and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a +favorable effect. + +A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, +reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and +exercise. It had a very successful career for about eight years. +Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the +Berkshire Athenaeum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and +efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin +Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free +library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the +gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenaeum +was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been +under the efficient management of Mr. E.C. Hubbel, Curator and +Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual +circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost. + +The history of the public schools is in no important respect different +from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded +in 1874, and have enjoyed an excellent reputation. By far the greater +proportion of the young folks in town attend them. The system of free +text books was early adopted. The High School, under the care of an able +scholar, Mr. Edward H. Rice, has been steadily growing in favor during +the past few years. Graduates yearly enter the various colleges, and +from neighboring towns a considerable number of its pupils come and pay +the tuition required by law. + +For the higher education of young women the Pittsfield Female Academy +was incorporated in 1806, with Miss Hinsdale as principal. It has +continued ever since, usually with a lady at the head, and for the last +few years especially has done good work under Miss Salisbury. The +Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, the most noted school of education +that has ever existed in Pittsfield, has this year closed an existence +of forty-three years. Its loss will be mourned by many friends in the +town and elsewhere. Among the illustrations is given a view of the +avenue and the chapel; behind the latter stands the meeting-house of +1793, of late years used for a gymnasium. + +About the time of Shay's Rebellion the first newspaper, the American +Sentinel, was published. It was printed on a sheet ten by eighteen +inches in size, and gave the greater portion of its space to two or +three prosy essays. Three other newspapers appeared and vanished in turn +until, in the year 1800, the Pittsfield Sun was established by Phinehas +Allen. It remained in his hands for nearly three-quarters of a century, +and to this day gives its support to the Democratic party. James Harding +is the editor. The Argus was started in 1827, as a rival, by Henry K. +Strong. Four years later it was removed to Lenox, and united with the +Berkshire Journal. In 1838 the name was changed to the Massachusetts +Eagle, and soon afterwards it was brought back to Pittsfield. In 1852 it +was given the name, The Berkshire County Eagle, which it bears to-day. +Both of these papers are weeklies. The Journal is of later date, and is +issued daily. Joseph E. See is editor. In mentioning the educational +facilities of a community it would be an act of thoughtlessness to omit +its bookstores. There is but one in Pittsfield. It contains a large +supply of books, selected with judgment, and is well managed by Mr. J.B. +Harrison. + +Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over +which Thomas Allen presided many years before. His early life had been a +struggle for an education against poverty and ill health. It is +interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was +called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia: "It is a +great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people. They move slowly, but +they tread like the elephant. They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at +hearing, but very critical. I have never had an audience who heard so +critically. There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we +have ever had before. You would be surprised to see how much they read. +The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind. A wider, +better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire." Dr. Todd +became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of +its honor. Educational matters, especially, received his attention and +assistance. His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor +to his day. The "Student's Manual" is the best known of his works; the +lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well +worth reading. + +[Illustration: ON NORTH STREET.] + +The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of +its settlement. Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and +was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods +usual in a newly-settled country. Great attention was paid to breeding +horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other +markets. The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur +Scholfield, an Englishman. Soon he set about making and improving +machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the +country. The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality +of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of +sheep. About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were +produced in the county in 1808. After the war which followed came a +season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war +demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes. + +At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as +religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its +factory. Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years +later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands. +The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient +water power. The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the +control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the +tariffs of 1824 and following years. Other mills went gradually into +operation. But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a +difficult foe to master. The proprietors were ambitious and determined +to make their fabrics as firm and as heavy as the best imported goods. +In this they succeeded, but by a clumsy, wasteful process, which +destroyed all profit. Moreover, instead of making a single class of +goods, each factory attempted to satisfy the various demands of the +market. Hence arose multiplied causes of failures, for which remedies +had to be invented. A general business knowledge did not immediately +avail in an industry where matters of detail were of the greatest +consequence. To-day these mills are the principal sources of wealth in +the county. Another branch of manufactures grew up in 1799 when Lemuel +Pomeroy came to Pittsfield, and in addition to the ordinary labor of a +blacksmith began to make plows, wagons, and sleighs. He bought the old +Whitney forge and extended the works from the production of fowling +pieces to that of muskets. Large contracts with State and National +governments brought a profitable business, until, in 1846, the +percussion guns were introduced. + +The independant spirit displayed by Pittsfield, or rather by Berkshire +County, in matters of the highest importance, was largely due to the +difficulty of communication with other sections of the country. For the +first eighty years the Worthington turnpike, running by way of +Northampton, was the only means of passage to the east. In 1830 the +Pontoosuc turnpike going through Westfield was completed and transferred +traffic from the old road to the new, which led to Springfield. A little +before this time the Erie Canal project was successfully carried out. +Thereupon arose in Massachusetts a wide-spread desire for engaging in a +similar enterprise. Several routes were explored for a canal from Boston +to the Hudson. One of them passed through Pittsfield at an altitude of +1,000 feet, and the route recommended as feasible was 178 miles in +length, and required a tunnel of four miles under the Hoosac mountain. +One of its opponents showed that according to the Commissioner's data, +fifty-two years would be required in which to finish the tunnel. At this +point came the news of successful steam locomotion in England, and a +discussion began as to the comparative merits of railways and canals. +For several years horse-power was proposed to be employed, but before +actual work began the superiority of steam had been demonstrated. In the +face of indifference, skepticism, and active opposition, which brought +about discouraging delays, the road was built, and the first railroad +train entered Pittsfield May 4, 1841. That week occurred the first +accident. An old man jumped off the train as it approached his house, +and was severely injured. Thus, in 1842, chiefly through the exertions +of Lemuel Pomeroy, the Western Railroad was completed, and trains ran +from Albany to Boston. Several short local roads have since been +constructed, which have done more to bind the county together, and have +contributed greatly to its wealth and comfort. On the west the physical +barriers were less difficult to surmount, and the advent of railroads +has only diminished the inequality. New York is still the metropolis; +the mass of travel, the business relations, are turned in that +direction. + +In 1844 what is known as the Fire District was organized. Its territory +consists of about two square miles of land, having the Park as a centre, +and includes most of the buildings of the town. It originated from the +unwillingness of the outlying districts to help support a suitable fire +department, of which they, themselves, felt little need. Nevertheless, +at its formation the town granted land and a sum of money. A Chief +Engineer, with seven assistants and a prudential committee were +constituted officers. Subsequently the care of sewers, sidewalks, +water-works, and lighting of streets were assumed by the Fire District, +and the duties were performed by commissioners. A curious controversy, +now settled, arose with the town as to which should look after the +street crossings. The fire department from the start has been sustained +by the zeal of its members, and now, directed by its Chief Engineer, +George S. Willis, enjoys an enviable reputation for efficiency. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN 1876.] + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +During the civil war the State and County are found to have acted in +harmony. The old militia system had died out many years before; in 1860 +the Pittsfield Guards of 1853 was re-organized under the name of the +Allen Guard, and in January of the following year declared its readiness +to respond to any call from the government. On April 19, within +twenty-four hours from the time of receiving word, the company was on +its way and became a portion of the Eighth regiment. Its Captain was +Henry S. Briggs, later Brigadier General, and after the war elected +State Auditor. Then, at short intervals, until the close of the war, the +town sent men to the front who fully maintained its honorable reputation +gained in former wars. A Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was organized and +has received much merited praise for its useful services. The ideal +volunteer soldier of the war was William F. Bartlett. He was a student +at Harvard, not yet of age when the war broke out. In April he enlisted +as a private, was appointed Captain before going to the front, and in +his first engagement showed great coolness, bravery and judgment. He was +a strict disciplinarian and popular with his men. Before the close of +the war he had been brevetted Major-general. In peace he made his +influence felt in the interests of religion and education, and in the +elevation of politics. + +Immediately after the war public attention in the town was turned +towards taking suitable action for honoring the memory of its sons who +had died on the field of battle. The result was a monument, one of the +most appropriate ever erected for a similar purpose. It is placed on the +Park, a short distance from the Athenaeum. A bronze statue of a +Color-sergeant, as if in line of battle, stands upon a square granite +pillar. He looks earnestly into the distance. The entire effect of the +expression of the countenance and the attitude conveys the impression of +intelligent self-reliance, a true type of our best volunteer soldiers. +On opposite sides of the pillar, are represented in bronze relief the +arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth. + +On the others are two shields, engraved with the names of those in honor +of whom this memorial was erected. The shaft bears the following +inscriptions. On the west face: + + "FOR THE DEAD, A TRIBUTE--FOR + THE LIVING, A MEMORY--FOR + POSTERITY, AN EMBLEM + OF LOYALTY TO THE + FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY." + +On the east face: + + "WITH GRATEFUL RECOGNITION + OF THE SERVICES OF ALL + HER SONS WHO UPHELD THE + HONOR AND INTEGRITY OF + OUR BELOVED COUNTRY IN + HER HOUR OF PERIL, THE + TOWN OF PITTSFIELD ERECTS + THIS MONUMENT IN LOVING + MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED + THAT THE NATION MIGHT + LIVE." + +At the dedication the national flags of the two political parties were +removed from the streets and with them the statue was draped. The town +was crowded with visitors, and a long procession marched through the +streets. A prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd, speeches by General Bartlett and +Honorable Thomas Colt, President of the day, and an oration by George +William Curtis accompanied the unveiling. + +The four principal streets of the town, named from the points of the +compass, meet at the Park. North street contains the bulk of the stores +and business places. On the corner of West street is the building of the +Berkshire Life Insurance Company, which was incorporated in 1851, and +has always included among its Directors and Managers the best business +men in the town and county, who naturally take great pride in it as one +of the soundest Life Insurance Companies of the country. + +In the same building are three national and one savings bank, besides +the town and other offices. Immediately beyond is Mr. Atwood's drug +store, an establishment of long standing, which would bear favorable +comparison with any similar store as regards either attention or +knowledge of a druggist's duties. Farther along the same street are +Central Block and the Academy of Music. In other parts of Pittsfield +broad streets, lined with tall elms and shady horse-chestnut trees, +invite our footsteps. The dwelling-houses are mostly of wood, built in +the cottage and villa styles of architecture; many are stately edifices; +many are hospitable mansions; all show unmistakable evidence of being +comfortable homes. Scattered over the township, each springing up around +a mill or two, are miniature villages. Their population is largely made +up of foreigners, Irish and Germans, whose condition appears to be +somewhat better than that of the same class in cities. Both sexes are +represented among the operatives. The mills, mostly small, are located +with a view to an opportunity for using water power, yet none are +without steam power as well. In the same neighborhood are the large +farms and expensive estates of the mill-owners, the wealthiest class in +the community. Between the villages, in fact, upon all the roads, every +turn brings in sight pleasing views which never repeat themselves or +become monotonous. The cemetery is itself one of the most beautiful +spots in the neighborhood. A massive granite gateway is being put up, +the gift of the late Thomas Allen. For a long distance the road leads +through a thick forest of maple, pine and oak trees. A swiftly-running +brook crosses the path; a quiet clear pond with grassy banks lies to one +side. If the visitor will remain motionless for a short time, birds and +squirrels show themselves in all directions, and fill his ears with the +sounds of the woods. Far away may be seen the white houses and the +church spires of the town. No resting place for the dead could be more +peaceful, more inspiring to meditation on the part of those who walk in +the light of day. By the grave of General Bartlett stands a cross all +covered with graceful hanging Southern moss. Below is a beautiful bed of +flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving +hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it +is fixed a large tablet with this inscription: + + WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, + Brigadier General and Brevet Major General + UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. + BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, + June 6th, 1840. + DIED IN PITTSFIELD, + December 17th, 1876. + A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment. + A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation. + A Christian, strong in faith and charity, + His life was an inspiration, + His memory is a trust. + +Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not +ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was +procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on +the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before +public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where +a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few +attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take +the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real +Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an +energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the +practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long +accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character +combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and +conscience with religious sentiment. + +A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable +history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in +which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It +is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political +institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to +Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years, +working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years +travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade +with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way +through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that +deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that +their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and +unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate, +the examples set before them. + + * * * * * + +ROBERT ROGERS, THE RANGER. + +By JOSEPH B. WALKER. + + +No man has been universally great. Individuals who have made themselves +prominent among their fellows have done so by achievements in special +directions only, and confined to limited portions of their lives. +Particularly true is this remark when applied to Major Robert Rogers, +the Ranger, who, in our last French war, greatly distinguished himself +as a partisan commander, and gained as wide fame as did any other +soldier of equal rank and opportunity. + +I do not introduce him here as a saint, for, as is well known, no +quality of sanctity ever entered his composition; but rather, as the +resolute commander of resolute men, in desperate encounters with a +desperate foe; as a man eminently fitted for the rough work given him to +do. And just here and now I am reminded of a remark made in his old age +by the late Moody Kent, for a long period an able member of the New +Hampshire bar, and there the associate of Governor Plummer, George +Sullivan, and Judge Jeremiah Smith, as well as of Jeremiah Mason, and +the two Websters, Ezekiel and Daniel, all of whom he survived. Said Mr. +Kent, one day, evidently looking forward to the termination of his +career, "Could Zeke Webster have been living at my decease he would have +spoken as well of me, yes, as well of me as he could." If one can summon +to his mind and heart the kindly charity attributed to Mr. Webster, he +may, should he care for it, find a comfortable hour in the society of +this famous Ranger. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in the good old +Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1727.[A] At +the time of his birth, this was a frontier town, and its log houses were +the last civilized abodes which the traveller passed as he went up the +Merrimack valley on his way to Canada. It was the seed-town from which +were afterwards planted the ten or a dozen other Scotch-Irish townships +of New Hampshire.[B] It was the first to introduce and scatter abroad +Presbyterian principles and Irish potatoes over considerable sections of +this Province. + +[Footnote A: Stark's History of Dunbarton, p. 178.] + +[Footnote B: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 180.] + +Parson McGregor and his people had been in their new homes but four +years when they had ready for occupancy a log school-house, sixteen feet +long and twelve feet wide. It was in this, or in one like it, that +Robert Rogers acquired his scanty stock of "book-learning," as then +termed. But education consists in much besides book-learning, and he +supplemented his narrow stock of this by a wider and more practical +knowledge, which he obtained amid the rocks and stumps upon his father's +farm and in the hunter's camp. + +The woods, at this day, were full of game. The deer, the bear, the +moose, the beaver, the fox, the muskrat, and various other wild animals +existed in great numbers. To a young man of hardy constitution, +possessed of enterprise, energy, and a fondness for forest sports, +hunting afforded not only an attractive, but a profitable employment. +Young Rogers had all these characteristics, and as a hunter, tramped +through large sections of the wilderness between the French and English +settlements. On such excursions he mingled much with the Indians, and +somewhat with the French, obtaining by such intercourse some knowledge +of their languages, of their modes of hunting, and their habits of life. +He also acquired a fondness for the woods and streams, tracing the +latter well up towards their sources, learning the portages between +their headwaters, many of the Indian trails and the general topography +of the great area just mentioned. + +During the French and Indian wars small bodies of soldiers were often +employed to "watch and ward" the frontiers, and protect their +defenceless communities from the barbarous assaults of Indians, turned +upon them from St. Francis and Crown Point. Robert Rogers had in him +just the stuff required in such a soldier. We shall not, therefore, be +surprised to find him on scouting duty in the Merrimack Valley, under +Captain Ladd, as early as 1746, when he was but nineteen years of +age;[A] and, three years later, engaged in the same service, under +Captain Ebenezer Eastman, of Pennycook.[B] Six years afterwards, in +1753, the muster rolls show him to have been a member of Captain John +Goff's company, and doing like service.[C] Such was the training of a +self-reliant mind and a hardy physique for the ranging service, in which +they were soon to be employed. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, 1866, vol. 2, p. +95.] + +[Footnote B: Same, p. 99.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 118.] + +I ought, perhaps, to mention, that in 1749, as Londonderry became filled +to overflowing with repeated immigrations from the North of Ireland, +James Rogers, the father of Robert, a proprietor, and one of the early +settlers of the township, removed therefrom to the woods of Dunbarton, +and settled anew in a section named Montelony, from an Irish place in +which he had once lived.[A] This was before the settlement of the +township, when its territory existed as an unseparated part only of the +public domain. He may, quite likely, have been attracted hither by an +extensive beaver meadow or pond, which would, with little improvement, +afford grass for his cattle while he was engaged in clearing the rich +uplands which surrounded it. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Gazeteer, 1833, p. 121.] + +Six years only after his removal (1755), he was unintentionally shot by +a neighbor whom he was going to visit; the latter mistaking him for a +bear, as he indistinctly saw him passing through the woods. This +incident was the foundation of the story said to have been told by his +son, some years after, in a London tavern. The version given by Farmer +and Moore is as follows, viz.:[A] "It is reported of Major Rogers, that +while in London, after the French war, being in company with several +persons, it was agreed, that the one who told the most improbable story, +or the greatest falsehood, should have his fare paid by the others. When +it came to his turn, he told the company that his father was shot in the +woods of America by a person who supposed him to be a bear; and that his +mother was followed several miles through the snow by hunters, who +mistook her track for that of the same animal. It was acknowledged by +the whole company that the Major had told the greatest lie, when in +fact, he had related nothing but the truth."[B] + +[Footnote A: Historical Collections, by Farmer and Moore, vol. 1, p. +240.] + +[Footnote B: The Great Meadow and the site of the elder Rogers' house is +easily accessible to any person possessed of a curiosity to visit them. +They are in the South-Easterly section of Dunbarton, some six or seven +miles only from Concord. The whole town is of very uneven surface, and +the visitor will smile when he reads upon the ground, in Farmer and +Moore's New Hampshire Gazeteer, that he will find there but "few hills, +nor any mountains." He soon learns that the declaration of its people is +more correct when they assure him that its surface is a "pimply" one.] + +As the largest part of Roger's fame rests upon his achievements in the +ranging service of our Seven Years' War, we must recall for a moment the +condition of things in the British Colonies and in Canada at the +beginning of this war. + +The thirteen American Colonies had, at that time, all told, of both +white and black, a population of about one million and a half of souls +(1,425,000.)[A] The French people of Canada numbered less than one +hundred thousand.[B] + +[Footnote A: Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 127.] + +[Footnote B: Encyclopedia Brittanica.] + +The respective claims to the Central part of the North American +Continent by England and France were conflicting and irreconcilable. The +former, by right of discovery, claimed all the territory upon the +Atlantic coast from New Foundland to Florida, and by virtue of numerous +grants the right to all west of this to the Pacific Ocean. The latter, +by right of occupation and exploration, claimed Canada, a portion of New +England and New York, and the basins of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, +together with all the territory upon the streams tributary to these, or +a large part of the indefinite West. + +To maintain her claims France had erected a cordon of forts extending +diagonally across the continent from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to +the Gulf of Mexico. If one will follow, in thought, a line starting at +Louisburg, and thence running up this great river to Quebec and +Montreal, and thence up Lake Champlain to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, +and on westward and south-westward to Frontenac, Niagara and Detroit, +and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, he will trace +the line across which the two nations looked in defiance at each other, +and see instantaneously that the claims of France were inadmissable, and +that another war was inevitable. It mattered little that of the +forty-five years immediately preceding the treaty of Aix La Chapelle, +fourteen, or one-third of the whole number, had been years of war +between these two neighbors. They were now, after a peace of only half a +dozen years, as ready for a fresh contest as if they were to meet for +the first time upon the battle field. In fact, another conflict was +unavoidable; a conflict of the Teuton with the Gaul; of medievalism with +daylight; of conservatism with progress; of the old Church with the new; +of feudalism with democracy--a conflict which should settle the destiny +of North America, making it English and Protestant, or French and Roman +Catholic; a contest, too, in which the victor was to gain more than he +knew, and the vanquished was to loose more than he ever dreamed of. + +Hostilities may be said to have been commenced by the French, when, on +the 18th day of April, 1754, they dispossessed the Ohio company of the +fort which they were erecting at the forks of the Ohio River, afterwards +named Fort Du Quesne. + +The plan of a Colonial Confederation, formed at the Albany convention in +July of that year, having failed of acceptance by the mother country and +the Colonies both, the Home government was forced to meet the exigency +by the use of British troops, aided by such others as the several +Provinces were willing to furnish. + +The campaign of the next year (1755) embraced: + +1st. An expedition, under General Braddock, for the capture of Fort Du +Quesne. + +2d. A second, under General Shirley, for the reduction of Fort Niagara, +which was not prosecuted. + +3d. A third, under Colonel Moncton, against the French settlements on +the Bay of Fundy, resulting in the capture and deportation of the +Acadians. + +4th. A fourth, under General William Johnson, against Crown Point, a +strong fortification, erected by the French, in the very heart of New +England and New York, whence innumerable bands of Indians had been +dispatched by the French to murder the defenceless dwellers upon the +English frontiers, particularly those of New Hampshire, to destroy their +cattle and to burn their buildings and other property. + +To the army of this latter expedition New Hampshire contributed, in the +early part of this year, a regiment of ten companies, the first being a +company of Rangers, whose Captain was Robert Rogers, and whose Second +Lieutenant was John Stark. [A] + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Adjutant General's Report, vol. 2, 1866, p. +129.] + +But a few words just here in explanation of the character of this +ranging branch of the English army. It was a product of existing +necessities in the military service of that time. Most of the country +was covered with primeval forests and military operations were largely +prosecuted in the woods or in limited clearings. The former were +continually infested with Indians, lying in ambush for the perpetration +of any mischief for which they might have opportunity. + +It became necessary, therefore, in scouring the forests to drive these +miscreants back to their lairs, as well as in making military +reconnoissances, to have a class of soldiers acquainted with Indian life +and warfare; prepared, not only to meet the Indian upon his own ground, +but to fight him in his own fashion. The British Regular was good for +nothing at such work. If sent into the woods he was quite sure, either +not to return at all, or to come back without his scalp. And the +ordinary Provincial was not very much better. From this necessity, +therefore, was evolved the "Ranger." + +He was a man of vigorous constitution, inured to the hardships of forest +life. He was capable of long marches, day after day, upon scant rations, +refreshed by short intervals of sleep while rolled in his blanket upon a +pile of boughs, with no other shelter but the sky. He knew the trails of +the Indians, as well as their ordinary haunts and likeliest places of +ambush. He knew, also, all the courses of the streams and the carrying +places between them. He understood Indian wiles and warfare, and was +prepared to meet them. + +Stand such a man in a pair of stout shoes or moccasins; cover his lower +limbs with leggins and coarse small clothes; give him a close-fitting +jacket and a warm cap; stick a small hatchet in his belt; hang a +good-sized powder-horn by his side, and upon his back buckle a blanket +and a knapsack stuffed with a moderate supply of bread and raw salt +pork; to these furnishings add a good-sized hunting-knife, a trusty +musket and a small flask of spirits, and you have an average New +Hampshire Ranger of the Seven Year's war, ready for skirmish or pitched +battle; or, for the more common duty of reconnoitering the enemy's force +and movements, of capturing his scouts and provision trains, and getting +now and then a prisoner, from whom all information possible would be +extorted; and, in short, for annoying the French and Indian foe in every +possible way. + +If you will add three or four inches to the average height of such a +soldier, give him consummate courage, coolness, readiness of resource +in extremities, together with intuitive knowledge of the enemy's wiles, +supplemented with a passable knowledge of French and Indian speech, you +will have a tolerable portrait of Captain Robert Rogers at the beginning +of our Seven Year's war.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published +in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in +the costume of a Ranger, with a powder-horn strung at his side, a gun +resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means +prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian +followers."--[Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiach, vol. I, p. 164.] + +He received his first Captain's commission in the early part of 1755, +and was employed by the New Hampshire government in building a fort at +the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River and in guarding its Northern and +Western frontiers until July, when he was ordered to Albany to join the +army of Major General Johnson. His first service there was in furnishing +escort, with a company of one hundred men, to a provision train from +Albany to Fort Edward. From this latter point he was afterwards +repeatedly despatched, with smaller bodies of men, up the Hudson River +and down Lake George and Lake Champlain to reconnoiter the French forts. +Some of these expeditions extended as far north as Crown Point and were +enlivened with sharp skirmishes. He was absent up the Hudson upon one of +these when the French were defeated at the battle of Lake George and +Baron Dieskan was made prisoner. + +The efficiency of the campaign of the next year (1756), which +contemplated the taking of Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, was +seriously impaired by the repeated changes of Commander-in-Chief; Major +General Shirley being superceded in June by General Abercrombie while +he, about a month later, yielded the command to the inefficient Lord +Londown. The only occurrences of particular note during this campaign +were the capture of our forts at Oswego by General Montcalm and the +formal declarations of war by the two belligents. + +Rogers and his men were stationed at Fort William Henry, and made +repeated visits to Ticonderoga and Crown Point to ascertain the power of +the enemy and to annoy him as they had opportunity. They went down Lake +George, sometimes by land upon its shores, and sometimes by water and in +boats. In the winter their land marches were frequently upon snow-shoes, +and their boats were exchanged for skates. On such occasions each Ranger +was generally his own commissary and carried his own supplies. + +In his journal for this year (1756) Rogers notes thirteen of these +expeditions as worthy of record. The first was down Lake George on the +ice, in January, with seventeen men, resulting in the capture of two +prisoners and two sledges laden with provisions. + +The second was made in February with a party of fifty men to ascertain +the strength and operations of the French at Crown Point. Having +captured one prisoner at a little village near by the fort, they were +discovered and obliged to retire before the sallying troops of the +garrison. With very marked sang froid he closes his account of this +reconnoissance by saying: "We employed ourselves while we dared stay in +setting fire to the houses and barns in the village, with which were +consumed large quantities of wheat, and other grain; we also killed +about fifty cattle and then retired, leaving the whole village in +flames." + +There often appears a ludicrous kind of honesty in the simple narratives +of this journal. He occasionally seized certain stores of the enemy +which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in +narrating the capture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon +Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed: "We sunk +and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of +wheat and flour, wine, and brandy; some few casks of the latter we +carefully concealed." + +His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to +the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two +whole companies; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens +of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year. + +Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him +agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary severity of his +discipline. A story has come down to us which well illustrates this +trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal +muddled, one night, by liberal potations, became greatly concerned lest +their beloved country should suffer dishonor in consequence of inability +to discharge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at +length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, encountering them in +their distress, at once relieved them by the remark: "I appreciate the +gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a serious one. +But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once +one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other +half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one +time common, "We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the English +nation." + +But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him +to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the +notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this +branch of the service had also become apparent, and we shall not be +surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by +Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent +company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the +nucleus of the famous corps since known as "Roger's Rangers." + +In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, +thereby increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in +a little more than a year this was farther enlarged by the addition of +five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of +Rangers, becoming thus the commander of the whole corps. + +The character of the service expected of this branch of the army was set +forth in Major General Shirley's orders to its commander in 1756, as +follows, viz.: "From time to time, to use your best endeavors to +distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and destroying their +houses, barns, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their +cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack +and destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of +the country where he could find them."[A] + +[Footnote A: Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.] + +On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with +seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French +forts; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning +snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point half +way between Ticonderoga and Crown Point, they discovered a train of +provision sledges, three of which they captured, together with six +horses and seven men. The others fled within the walls of Ticonderoga +and alarmed the garrison. Feeling the insecurity of his situation he +commenced at once his return. By two o'clock in the afternoon, his party +was attacked by two hundred and fifty French and Indians, who endeavored +to surround it. A vigorous fight was kept up until dark. Rogers was +wounded twice and lost some twenty of his men. The French, as was +subsequently ascertained, lost one hundred and sixteen. The proximity of +Ticonderoga rendered vain the continuance of the contest, and he availed +him of the shelter of the night to return to Fort William Henry. + +For this exploit he was highly complimented by General Abercrombie, and, +at a later period of this same year, was ordered by Lord Londown to +instruct and train for the ranging service a company of British +Regulars. To these he devoted much time and prepared for their use the +manual of instruction now found in his journals. It is clearly drawn up +in twenty-eight sections and gives very succinctly and lucidly the rules +governing this mode of fighting. + +The campaign of 1757 contemplated only the capture of Louisburg. To the +requisite preparations Lord Londown directed all his energies. Having +collected all the troops which could be spared for that purpose, he +sailed for Halifax on the twentieth of June with six thousand soldiers, +among them being four companies of Rangers under the command of Major +Rogers. Upon arriving at Halifax his army was augmented by the addition +of five thousand Regulars and a powerful naval armament. We have neither +time nor inclination to consider the conduct of Lord Londown on this +occassion farther than to say that his cowardice and imbecility seem +wonderful. Finding that, in all probability, Louisburg could not be +taken without some one getting hurt, he returned to New York without +striking a blow. If about this time our heroic commander of the Rangers +used some strong language far from sacred, it will become us to remember +"Zeke Webster" and think as charitably of his patriotic expletives "as +we can." He returned to New York three weeks after the surrender of Fort +William Henry, where with his Rangers he might have done something, at +least, to prevent the horrible massacre which has tarnished the fair +fame of Montcalm indellibly. + +England and America both were humbled in the dust by the events of 1757 +and 1758. Failure, due to the want of sufficent resources is severe, but +how utterly insufferable when, with abundant means, incompetency to use +them brings defeat. Still, we are under greater obligation to Lord +Londown than we are wont to think. His imbecility helped rouse the +British nation and recall William Pitt to power, whose vigor of purpose +animated anew the people of other countries and promised an early +termination of French dominion in America. + +Lord Londown was succeeded in the early part of 1758 by General +Abercrombie and plans were matured for capturing the Lake forts, +Louisburg and Fort Du Quesne. By the close of November, the two last, +with the addition of Fort Frontenac, were ours. The movement against +Crown Point and Ticonderoga did not succeed. In the assault upon the +latter Rogers and his Rangers fought in the van and in the retreat +brought up the rear. + +In the spring of this year (1758) Rogers went down Lake George at the +head of about one hundred and eighty-men, and near the foot of it had a +desperate battle with a superior body of French and Indians. He reported +on his return one hundred and fourteen of his party as killed or +missing. Why he was not annihilated is a wonder. General Montcalm, in a +letter dated less than a month after the encounter, says: "Our Indians +would give no quarter; they have brought back one hundred and forty-six +scalps." For his intrepidity on this occasion he was presented by +General Abercrombie with the commission of Major of Rangers, before +alluded to. + +The adroitness with which Rogers sometimes extricated himself from +extreme peril is illustrated by his conduct on one occasion, when +pursued by an overwhelming number of savages up the mountain, near the +south end of Lake George, which now bears his name. Upon reaching the +summit he advanced to the very verge of the precipice, on the east side, +which descends 550 feet to the lake. Having here reversed his snow shoes +he fled down the side opposite to that by which he had come up. Arriving +soon after the Indians, upon seeing the tracks of two men, apparently, +instead of one, and Rogers far below upon the ice, hastening towards +Fort Edward, concluded that he had slid down the precipice aided by the +Great Spirit, and that farther pursuit was vain. + +Mr. Pitt proposed in the campaign of 1759 the entire conquest of Canada. +Bold as was the undertaking it was substantially accomplished. +Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned in July, Fort Niagara +capitulated the same month, and Quebec was surrendered in September. + +Their violation of a flag of truce in this last month now called +attention to the St. Francis Indians, who had been for a century the +terror of the New England frontiers, swooping down upon them when least +expected, burning their buildings, destroying their cattle, mercilessly +murdering their men, women, and children, or cruelly hurrying them away +into captivity. The time had now come for returning these bloody visits. +The proffering of this delicate attention was assigned by Major General +Amherst to Rogers. In his order, dated September 13, he says: "You are +this night to set out with the detachment, as ordered yesterday, viz., +of 200 men, which you will take under your command and proceed to +Misisquey Bay, from whence you will march and attack the enemy's +settlements on the south side of the river St. Lawrence in such a manner +as you shall judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for the +success and honour of his majesty's arms. + + * * * * * + +"Take your revenge, but don't forget that tho' those villains have +dastardly and promiscuously murdered the women and children of all ages, +it is my orders that no women or children are killed or hurt." + +In pursuance of these orders Major Rogers started the same day at +evening. On the tenth day after he reached Missisquoi Bay. On the +twenty-third, with one hundred and forty-two Rangers, he came, without +being discovered, to the environs of the village of St. Francis. The +Indians had a dance the evening following his arrival and slept heavily +afterwards. The next morning, half an hour before sunrise, Rogers and +his men fell upon them on all sides, and in a few minutes, ere they had +time to arouse themselves and seize their arms, the warriors of that +village were dead. A few, attempting to escape by the river, were shot +in their canoes. The women and children were not molested. + +When light came it revealed to the Rangers lines of scalps, mostly +English, to the number of six hundred, strung upon poles above the +door-ways. Thereupon, every house except three containing supplies was +fired, and their destruction brought death to a few who had before +escaped it by concealing themselves in the cellars. Ere noon two hundred +Indian braves had perished and their accursed village had been +obliterated. + +The operations of the next year (1760) ended this long and fierce +struggle. The attempted re-capture of Quebec by the French was their +final effort. The army of the Lakes embarked from Crown Point for +Montreal on the sixteenth day of August. "Six hundred Rangers and +seventy Indians in whale-boats, commanded by Major Rogers, all in a line +abreast, formed the advance guard." He and his men encountered some +fighting on the way from Isle a Mot to Montreal, but no serious obstacle +retarded their progress. The day of their arrival Monsieur de Vaudveuil +proposed to Major General Amherst a capitulation, which soon after +terminated the French dominion in North America. + +The English troops, as will be remembered, entered Montreal on the +evening of the eighth of September. On the morning of the twelfth Major +Rogers was ordered by General Amherst to proceed westward with two +companies of Rangers and take possession of the western forts, still +held by the French, which, by the terms of the capitulation, were to be +surrendered. + +He embarked about noon the next day with some two hundred Rangers in +fifteen whale-boats, and advanced to the west by the St. Lawrence and +the Lakes. On the seventh of November they reached the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, where the beautiful city of Cleveland now stands. The cross of +St. George had never penetrated the wilderness so far before. Here they +encamped and were soon after waited upon by messengers from the great +chieftain Pontiac, asking by what right they entered upon his territory +and the object of their visit. Rogers informed them of the downfall of +the French in America, and that he had been sent to take possession of +the French forts surrendered to the English by the terms of the +capitulation. Pontiac received his message remarking that he should +stand in his path until morning, when he would return to him his answer. + +The next morning Pontiac came to the camp and the great chief of the +Ottawas, haughty, shrewd, politic, ambitious, met face to face the bold, +self-possessed, clear-headed Major of the British Rangers. It is +interesting to note how calmly the astute ally of the French accepted +the new order of things and prepared for an alliance with his former +enemies. He and Rogers had several interviews and in the end smoked the +pipe of peace. With dignified courtesy the politic Indian gave to his +new friend free transit through his territory, provisions for his +journey and an escort of Indian braves. Rogers broke camp on the twelfth +and pushed onward towards Detroit. By messenger sent forward in advance +he apprized Monsieur Belletre, Commandant of the fort, of his near +approach and the object of it. The astonished officer received him +Cautiously. Soon satisfied, however, of the truth of the unwelcome news +thus brought, he surrendered his garrison. On the twenty-ninth of +November the British flag floated from the staff which ever before had +borne only the lillies of France. + +On the tenth of December, after disposing of the French force found in +the fort, and having taken possession of the forts Miamie and Gatanois, +with characteristic ardor Rogers pushed still farther westward for +Michilimackinac. But it was a vain attempt. The season was far advanced. +Indeed, the winter had already come, and while the ice prevented his +progress by water, the snows rendered impracticable his advance by land. +With reluctance he relinquished for the first time the completion of his +mission. Turning eastward, after a tedious journey, he reached New York +on the fourteenth of February, 1761. + +From New York, there is reason to suppose, that he went this same year +as Captain of one of the His Majesty's Independent Companies of Foot to +South Carolina, and there aided Colonel Grant in subduing the Cherokees, +who had for a year or two been committing depredations upon the +Carolinian frontiers. + +From this time onward for the next two years we lose sight of Major +Rogers, but he re-appears at the siege of Detroit in 1763. Hither he +went with twenty Rangers as part of a body of soldiers sent from Fort +Niagara under the command of Captain Dalzell for the re-inforcement of +the beleagured fort. He arrived on the twenty-ninth of July, and on the +thirty-first took an active part in the fierce battle of Bloody Bridge. +His valor was as useful as it was conspicuous on that occasion, and but +for his daring efforts the retreat of the British troops would have been +more disastrous even than it was. Having, for a time, in the house of +the Frenchman, Campean, held at bay a throng of savages which surrounded +it, his escape with a few followers at one door was hardly achieved ere +these burst in at another. + +The next glimpse we get of Major Rogers is at Rumford (now Concord) +where he had a landed estate of some four or five hundred acres. Good +old Parson Walker, who here kept open house, and for more than fifty +years watched with solicitude the interests of his parish and his +country, says, in his diary for 1764, against date of February 24: +"Major Rogers dined with us" and again December 22:--"Major Rogers and +Mr. Scales, Jr., dined with me." + +It is probable that his private affairs now occupied his attention. A +year or so after the surrender of Montreal he was married to Elizabeth, +daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of St. John's Church, in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He considered this town his residence, and in +papers executed this very year (1764) sometimes designates himself "as +of Portsmouth," and at others, as "now residing at Portsmouth." + +For three or four years, between 1762 and 1765, he trafficked a good +deal in lands, buying and selling numerous and some quite extensive +tracts. Some twenty-five different conveyances to him are on record in +the Recorder's office of Rockingham County, and half as many from him to +other parties. + +Some of these lands he seems to have purchased and some to have received +in consideration of military services. In 1764 Benning Wentworth, as +Governor of New Hampshire, conveyed to him as "a reduced officer" a +tract of three thousand acres, lying in the southern part of Vermont. + +One[A] conveyance made by him and bearing date December 20, 1762, +arrests our attention. By it he transferred to his father-in-law, Rev. +Arthur Brown, before mentioned, some five hundred acres of land in +Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire) together with "one negro man, named +Castro Dickerson, aged about twenty-eight; one negro woman, named +Sylvia; one negro boy named Pomp, aged about twelve and one Indian boy, +named Billy, aged about thirteen." For what reason this property was +thus transferred I have no means of knowing. If the object of the +conveyance was to secure it as a home to his wife and children against +any liabilites he might incur in his irregular life, the end sought was +subsequently attained, as the land descended even to his +grand-children.[B] + +[Footnote A: The old "Rogers house," so called, is still standing upon +the former estate of Major Rogers, on the east side and near the south +end of Main Street, in Concord, New Hampshire. It must be at least a +hundred years old, and faces the South, being two stories high on the +front side and descending by a long sloping roof to one in the rear. It +was occupied for many years by Captain and Mrs. Roach, and later by +Arthur, son of Major Rogers, who was a lawyer by profession and died at +Portsmouth, in 1841.] + +[Footnote B: A portion of this estate was subsequently sold by his +descendants to the late Governor Isaac Hill, of Concord, New Hampshire.] + +And I may as well, perhaps, just here and now anticipate a little by +saying that Major Rogers did not prove a good husband, and that +seventeen years after their marriage his wife felt constrained, February +12, 1778, to petition the General Assembly of New Hampshire for a +divorce from him on the ground of desertion and infidelity. An act +granting the same passed the Assembly on the twenty-eighth day of +February and the Council on the fourth of March following.[A] + +[Footnote A: "An act to dissolve the marriage between Robert Rogers and +Elizabeth, his wife. + +"Whereas, Elizabeth Rogers of Portsmouth, in the County of Rockingham, +and State aforesaid, hath petitioned the General Assembly for said +State, setting forth that she was married to the said Robert Rogers +about seventeen years ago; for the greater part of which time he had +absented himself from and totally neglected to support and maintain +her--and had, in the most flagrant manner, in a variety of ways, +violated the marriage contract--but especially by infidelity to her Bed; +For which reasons praying that a divorce from said Rogers, a vinculo +matrimonii, might be granted. The principal facts contained in said +petition being made to appear, upon a full hearing thereof. Therefore, + +"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said +State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between +the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."--[New +Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.] + +I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes +do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in +evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John +Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is +that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost +his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. +Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own +account and quit sea life.[A] After his marriage he lived with his wife +and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously +mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach +is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his +excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at +Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into +the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and +called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two +drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, +expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the +custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain +immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully +returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished +friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the +guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a +sufficiency for both, the host should call for more. + +[Footnote A: Bouton's History of Concord, p. 351.] + +Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard +to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they +neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.[A] + +[Footnote A: Captain Roach died at Concord in May, 1811.] + +In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author +as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to +have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is +entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the +several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the +continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the +period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless +quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army +of the Lakes during the old French war.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title is "Journals of Major Robert Rogers: +containing an account of several excursions he made under the Generals +who commanded upon the Continent of North America during the late war. +From which may be collected the material circumstances of every campaign +upon that continent from the commencement to the conclusion of the war. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller near +Whitehall, MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction, pp. viii; Journals, pp. 236. + +An American edition of Roger's Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, +was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell's Sons. Besides a +valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an +appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to +Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals +ever published.] + +The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much +interesting information relative to the country at the time of its +publication.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this volume is "A Concise Account of +North America; Containing a description of the several British Colonies +on that Continent, including the islands of New Foundland, Cape Breton, +&c., as to their Situation, Extent, Climate, Soil, Produce, Rise, +Government, Religion, Present Boundaries and the number of Inhabitants +supposed to be in each. Also of the Interior and Westerly Parts of the +Country, upon the rivers St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, Christino and +the Great Lakes. To which is subjoined, An account of the several +Nations and Tribes of Indians residing in those Parts, as to their +Customs, Manners, Government, Numbers, &c., Containing many useful and +Entertaining Facts, never before treated of. By Major Robert Rogers. +London: Printed for the Author, and sold by J. Millan, bookseller, near +Whitehall. MDCCLXV." 8vo., Introduction and Advertisement, pp. viii; +Concise Account, pp. 264.] + +It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when +the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is +doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the +charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were +written by another's hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that +the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his +expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New +York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. +If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit +of their authorship. + +Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, +written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair +chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together +with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are +such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth +with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled +much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as +fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also +attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, +entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in +1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been +preserved.[A] + +[Footnote A: The full title of this book is "Ponteach; or the Savages of +America. A Tragedy. London. Printed for the Author, and sold by J. +Millan, opposite the Admiralty, Whitehall, MDCCLXVI."] + +On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King's command, General Gage +appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of +Michilimackinac.[A] Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. +He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately +ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly +the duties of this office.[B] But as the appointment had been made and +could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and +restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of +mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all +matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the +Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters +to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C] + +[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.] + +[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage, +dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in +1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his +readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and +got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up +with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some +of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing +else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that +service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215. + +The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him +(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as +a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at +home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must +appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never +confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you +mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in +time."--[Journals, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.] + +Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He +soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by +clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the +government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts +upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was +obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary +was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To +this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time +went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got +deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; +grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable +correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of +seeking of the home government an independent governorship of +Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders +thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, pp. 234, 235, 236.] + +[Footnote C: Same, p. 231.] + +His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was +arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be +there tried by court-martial for high treason.[A] On some ground, +probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date +between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England. + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 231.] + +And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, +wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his +innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had +advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable +amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He +was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was +received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment +for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in +England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he +pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with L600 a +year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.[A] One is in doubt +which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the +stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length +overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by +degrees to his true level. + +[Footnote A: Benjamin Roberts in a letter to Sir William Johnson, dated +February 19, 1770, says: "Kingston has a most extraordinary letter from +London, which says that Major Rogers was presented to His majesty and +kissed his hand--that he demanded redress and retaliation for his +sufferings. The minister asked what would content him. He desired to be +made a Baronet, with a pension of L600 sterling, and to be restored to +his government at Michilimackinac, and have all his accounts paid. Mr. +Fitzherbert is his particular friend."--[Journals, p. 256.] + +We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again +appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. +The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our +Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a +military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. +Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all +the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible +business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons +hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, +as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person. + +He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival +by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon +his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a +gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, +in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and +Great-Britain;"[A] yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he +makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter +addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more +definitely his proposals.[B] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 259.] + +[Footnote B: Journals, p. 261.] + +On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in +shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. +After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had +fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered +his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth +College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the +close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the +night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 118.] + +Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, +he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, +but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see +him.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 263.] + +Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on +the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South +Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief +his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret +tender of his services to the American Congress.[A] + +[Footnote A: Same, p. 273.] + +However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few +days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of +Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,[A] which +was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of +proscription. + +[Footnote A: New Hampshire Prov. Papers vol. VIII, p. 185.] + +Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he +accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by +General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the +British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.[A] + +[Footnote A: Journals, p. 277.] + +On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so +far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was +attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American +troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual +valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over. + +The next year he returned to England,[A] where, after a disreputable +life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, +he is said to have died in the year 1800. + +[Footnote A: Parker's History of Londonderry, p. 238.] + +Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert +Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion +his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in +undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the +poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as +romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy +McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock +Lomond. + + * * * * * + +ROUSED FROM DREAMS. + +By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRON. + + + Through the gorges leaps the pealing thunder; + Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder; + On my window-pane, making wild refrain, + Sharply strikes the rain. + + Wind in furious gusts with angry railing + Follows the unhappy restless wailing + Of the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-lee + None to save nor see. + + Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers, + Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers; + Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate, + Shrieking prayers too late! + + * * * * * + +HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG + +By EBENEZER BAILEY. + + +On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the +town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, +consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding +a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua +River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These +people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, +over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox +carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of +character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own. + +Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of +Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town +set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town +meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until +January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain +an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third +of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay +signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the +rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of +Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the +General Court. + +A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to +form a part of the new town of Ashby. + +The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain +Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, +and other business necessary to the organization of a town government +transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put +in order was to provide for "Sabbath days' preaching," and the Rev. +Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a +time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed +sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located +between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land +was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had +purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt. + +In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue +of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. +Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a +kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the +Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and +rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he +was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in +arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, +whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with +characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one +Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. +Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, +much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe +struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he +finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to +Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone +through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, +who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely +forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed +man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was +taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most +influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great +degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first +Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, +and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been +erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston. + +Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and +to appropriate the sum of L8 for that purpose. And now the town of +Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East +energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new +homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to +eighty families, with a total valuation of L2,508,105. The highest tax +payer was taxed on a valuation of L121, and the rate was over ten per +cent. + +There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many +matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil +and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no +separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a +personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the +affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town +meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will +relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine +Providence, and abate her husband's rates on Isaac Gibson's and Ebenezer +Bridge's tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton's poll +tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless +changed to smiles. + +Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a +comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the +inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were +preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and +the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so +frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging +to the actors, from whom the future was withheld. + +As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from +the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting +to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and +to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, +wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." +A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell +was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston. + +In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of +Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their +rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and +send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held +accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report +presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing +full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights +and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows: + + "And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now + informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have + made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, + subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, + it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and + the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in + their power to keep off all such infringement." + +The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the +Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the +rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. +The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South +and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in +preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim +Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the +armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and +regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was +appropriated for powder, lead and flints. + +The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the +little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at +nine o'clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of +Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at +the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few +volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, +under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became +Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged +in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large +wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they +arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight. + +It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns +around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of +volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill +John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the +intrenchments. + +When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the +contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General +Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard +to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows: + + "Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress + should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them + independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the + inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and + fortunes, support them in the measure." + +In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his +Majesty's name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the +writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of +Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant +ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay." + +For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and +unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of +furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, +the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with +the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial +difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, +and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the +inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to +us under the name of Shay's Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg +deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an +active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah +Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the +grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should +be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in +an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." +Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did +everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the +authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a +military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; +and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have +followed. + +The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, +but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the +nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main +Street. One might see Cowdin's tavern, Kimball's saw and grist mill, +Fox's store, a baker's shop, and half a dozen houses between the +American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill +back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store +of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with +large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball +were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer +Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, +were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, +and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the +village of Fitchburg in 1786. + +In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in +the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a +village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and +boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little +cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the +General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, +into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of +the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in +one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come +when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill +being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they +determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this +determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its +location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should +be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the +words _nearest, convenientest_, were a cause of furious contention. Town +meeting after town meeting was held--now victory rested with one +faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, +extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, +and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian +Church. + +But now the leaven of heterodoxy was creeping into New England society, +and the people, to a great extent, turned from the theological doctrines +of their forefathers and adopted Unitarian views. In most places there +was a final division of the original Church, and the formation of two +societies, one of the Unitarian, and the other of Orthodox persuasion. + +Fitchburg was agitated in this way for about twenty-four years, during +which time many ecclesiastical councils were held, and debate and +dispute were almost continuous, both in and out of town meeting, for +neighbor was divided against neighbor, and one member of a household +against another. The result was the dissolution of the parochial powers +of the town, and a division into two societies. The Unitarians remained +in the old Church, and the Orthodox built a new building on the corner +of Main and Rollstone streets. + +But while religious contention went on, worldly growth and prosperity +increased. Quite a number of manufacturing establishments had commenced +operations, and the value of the little stream that furnished the power +was beginning to be appreciated. + +In 1830 there were in Fitchburg 235 dwelling-houses, 2 meeting-houses, 1 +academy, 12 school-houses, 1 printing office, 2 woolen mills, 4 cotton +mills, 1 scythe factory, 2 paper mills, 4 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 +taverns, 2 hat manufactories, 1 bellows manufactory, 2 tanneries, 2 +window blind manufactories, and 1 chair manufactory. There were a number +of stone bridges, and a dozen dams on the river; stages communicated +daily with Boston, Keene, and Lowell, and left three times a week for +Worcester and Springfield, and returned on alternate days. + +Energetic, enterprising young men were attracted to Fitchburg as a +promising place for a home, and there was the exhilarating, hopeful +atmosphere of a new and growing town, where changes are rapid and +opportunities are many. It was about this time that Rufus C. Torrey +wrote his history of Fitchburg, in which work he was most substantially +aided by his friend, Nathaniel Wood, then a public spirited young +lawyer, who had already accumulated quite an amount of material from +records and conversations with the older residents These two men saved +from oblivion very many valuable facts in the history of the town. + +About this time, also, the Fitchburg High School Association was formed +and an academy built, and in 1838 the Fitchburg Library Association was +organized, both of which institutions were valuable educational +influences. + +From 1840 to 1860 the town continued to grow steadily. New paper mills +were built in West Fitchburg, the chair business enlarged greatly, the +iron business was introduced by the Putnam Brothers, and grew rapidly, +and various other branches of industry were begun and prospered. The +Fitchburg Railroad was built, followed by the Vermont and Massachusetts, +the Fitchburg and Worcester, and the Agricultural Branch Railroads, all +centreing in Fitchburg and bringing an increase of business. + +At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the town contained +nearly 8,000 inhabitants, and during the war Fitchburg did her part, +answering all calls promptly and sending her best men to the field. Her +history in that contest is well told by Henry A. Willis, in his history +of "Fitchburg in the War of the Rebellion." Nine companies were +organized in the town, and 750 Fitchburg men sent into the field. + +The years immediately following the war were years of prosperity and +rapid growth. March 8, 1872, Fitchburg was incorporated as a city. The +infant township of 108 years before had grown to a city of 12,000 +inhabitants. The little stream which then turned the wheel of the one +solitary saw and grist mill had since been harnessed to the work of many +mills and manufactories, and on either side were the homes of hundreds, +dependent on its power for their daily bread. Railroads carried the +products of these establishments to the limits of our own and to foreign +countries, and brought to the busy city from the East and from the West +all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life. Can it be that the +dead of past generations, who sleep on the hillside which overlooks the +valley, have seen this transformation, and if so, will they behold all +the changes of the future? Then may this and the coming generations +prove themselves worthy of those who, during the years that have passed, +have been its bone and sinew and life blood. + + * * * * * + +SUNDAY TRAVEL AND THE LAW. + +By CHESTER F. SANGER. + + +The Legislature of 1884 has placed an act upon our statute book which +rounds out and completes an act looking in the same direction passed by +the Legislature of 1877. Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1884 provides that +"The provisions of chapter ninety-eight of the Public Statutes relating +to the observance of the Lord's day shall not constitute a defence to an +action for a tort or injury suffered by a person on that day." + +Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1877 provided that common carriers of +passengers should no longer escape liability for their negligence in +case of accidents to passengers, by reason of the injury being received +on Sunday. This act marked a long step forward in the policy of this +Commonwealth, and made it no longer possible for a corporation openly +violating the law to escape the consequences of its illegal acts by +saying to the injured passenger, "You were breaking the law yourself, +and therefore you have no redress against us." + +This was a condition of things which worked a confusion of relations, +and lent "doubtful aid to morality;" resting on "no principle of +justice" or law, and creating a "species of judicial outlawry which +ignored alike the principles of humanity and the analogies of the law." + +The provisions more particularly referred to in these Acts are those +relating to travelling on the Lord's day, found in the Statutes as +follows:-- + +"Whoever travels on the Lord's day, except from necessity or charity, +shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten dollars for each +offence."--Pub. Stat., Chap. 98, sect. 2. It is an interesting and +curious study to follow the changes made in the Sunday law, so called, +with the accompanying judicial decisions, as one by one the hindrances +to the attainment of simple justice by travellers injured on the Lord's +day have been swept away. + +The Pilgrims brought many strange ideas with them to their new home, as +we all well know, and we find these reflected in their statute books in +the form of many "blue laws," some of which may yet be found in changed +garb in the form of constantly disregarded "dead letter" laws in our own +Public Statutes. Interesting as a general discussion of this subject is, +as showing the character and purposes of the founders of the Republic, +we can follow but one division of the Sunday law in its various forms +since it was first framed by our "Puritan ancestors, who intended that +the day should be not merely a day of rest from labor, but also a day +devoted to public and private worship and to religious meditation and +repose, undisturbed by secular cares or amusements," and among whom were +found some who thought death the only fit punishment for those who, as +they considered it, "prophaned" the Lord's day. + +As early as 1636 it was enacted by the Court of the Plymouth Colony +that, "Whereas, complaint is made of great abuses in sundry places of +this Government of prophaning the Lord's day by travellers, both horse +and foot, by bearing of burdens, carrying of packs, etc., upon the +Lord's day to the great offence of the Godly welafected among us. It is, +therefore, enacted by the Court and the authoritie thereof that if any +person or persons shall be found transgressing in any of the precincts +of any township within this Government, he or they shall be forthwith +apprehended by the Constable of such a town and fined twenty shillings, +to the Collonie's use, or else shall sit in the stocks four hours, +except they can give a sufficient reason for theire soe doeing; but they +that 'soe transgresse' must be apprehended on the Lord's day and 'paye +theire fine or sitt in the stockes as aforesaide' on the second day +thereafter." It seems, however, that in spite of the pious sentiments of +the framers of the law it was not, or could not be enforced, for in 1662 +it was further enacted that "This Court doth desire that the +transgression of the foregoing order may be carefully looked into and +p'r'vented if by any due course it may be." + +But even now it seems that the energies of the law-makers were of no +avail in preventing prophanation of the Holy day by "foraignors and +others," so that twenty years later, in 1683, we find that "To prevent +prophanation of the Lord's day by foraignors or any others unessesary +travelling through our Townes on that day. It is enacted by the Court +that a fitt man in each Towne be chosen, unto whom whosever hath +nessessity of travell on the Lord's day in case of danger of death, or +such necessitous occations shall repaire, and makeing out such occations +satisfyingly to him shall receive a Tickett from him to pas on about +such like occations;" but, "if he attende not to this," or "if it shall +appeare that his plea was falce," the hand of the law was likely to fall +upon him while he contributed twenty shillings "to the use of the +Collonie." + +In the Massachusetts Bay Province it was early enacted that "no +traveller ... shall travel on the Lord's day ... except by some +adversity they are belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, +or highways the night before, and then only to the next inn," under a +penalty of twenty shillings. + +In 1727 it was found that notwithstanding the many good and wholesome +laws made to prevent the "prophanation of the Lord's day," this same +"prophanation" was on the increase, and so it was enacted that the +penalty for the first offense should be thirty shillings, and for the +second, three pounds, while the offender, presumably a "foraignor," was +to be put under a bond to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy +according to the ideas of the straight-laced Puritans. + +Even this did not put an end to the good fathers' troubles, for in 1760, +"whereas, by reason of different constructions of the several laws now +in force relating to the observation of the Lord's day or Christain +Sabbath, the said laws have not been duly executed, and notwithstanding +the pious intention of the legislators, the Lord's Day hath been greatly +and frequently prophaned" all the laws relating to the observance +thereof were repealed and a new chapter enacted, one section of which, +and the only one in which we are now interested, was the same as the law +of 1727, above quoted. + +Thirty-one years later all these laws were again erased from the statute +book and a new attempt was made to frame a law which should leave no +loop-holes for foraignors or others, as follows: "Whereas the observance +of the Lord's day is highly promotive of the welfare of a community by +affording necessary seasons for relaxation from labor and the cares of +business; for moral reflections and conversation on the duties of life, +and the frequent errors of human conduct; for public and private worship +of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world; and for those acts of +charity which support and adorn a Christian society. Be it enacted that +no person shall travel on the Lord's day except from _necessity_ or +_charity_, upon penalty of a sum not exceeding twenty shillings and not +less than ten." Notice what an interesting and moral tone is given to +the otherwise dry statute book by these sermonizing preambles which +reflect so well the motives and aims of the men who moulded and formed +the statute laws of the Commonwealth. + +In this act appears for the first time that "charity" which since then +has truly "covered a multitude of sins," while it has as often been a +strong tower of defence to corporations clearly shown to have been +careless of their obligations to the public. One of the first cases to +arise in which these words "necessity or charity" must be judicially +construed was Commonwealth vs. James Knox, 6 Mass., 76. + +One Josiah Paine had contracted with the Post Master General of the +United States to carry the public mail between Portland and Boston on +each day of the week for two years from October 1, 1808, and Knox, his +servant, was indicted for unlawfully travelling while carrying the mail +with a stage carriage through the town of Newburyport on November 20, +1808, the same being Sabbath or Lord's day, and the said travelling not +being from necessity or charity. Chief Justice Parsons in delivering the +opinion of the Supreme Court, after showing the authority of Congress +under the Constitution to establish post-offices and post-roads, and the +consequent legality of Paine's contract, the statutue of his State +notwithstanding, says that "necessity ... cannot be understood as a +physical necessity ... and when this travelling is necessary to execute +a lawful contract it cannot be considered as unnecessary travelling, +against the prohibition of the Statute." But fearing that this decision +may open too wide the gate to Sabbath breakers the Chief Justice hastens +to add: "But let it be remembered that our opinion does not protect +travellers in the stage coach, or the carrier of the mail in driving +about any town to discharge or to receive passengers; and much less in +blowing his horn to the disturbance of serious people either at public +worship or in their own houses. The carrier may proceed with the mail on +the Lord's day to the post-office; he may go to any public house to +refresh himself and his horses; and he may take the mail from the +post-office and proceed on his route. _Any other liberties on the Lord's +day our opinion does not warrant_." + +The report naively says, that after this opinion the Attorney General +entered a _nolle proscqui_. + +In Pearce vs. Atwood, 13 Mass., 324, a case which arose in 1816 and +which attracted a great deal of notice at the time, Chief Justice Parker +says: "It is not necessary to resort to the laws promulgated by Moses, +in order to prove that the _Christian Sabbath_ ought to be observed by +_Christians_, as a day of holy rest and religious worship; and if it +were it would be difficult to make out the point contended for from that +source;" and then goes into a long disquisition upon the Mosaic law and +the precepts of the Saviour and finally says that "cases often arise in +which it will be both innocent and laudable for the most exemplary +citizen to travel on Sunday. Suppose him suddenly called to visit a +child, or other near relative, in a distant town laboring under a +dangerous illness; or suppose him to be a physician; or suppose a man's +whole fortune and the future comfort of his family to depend upon his +being at a remote place early on Monday morning, he not having known the +necessity until Saturday evening; these are all cases which would +generally be considered as justifying the act of travelling." Certainly +a somewhat broader view than that taken by the Court seven years +earlier. + +The law remained thus and was re-enacted in the Revised Statutes of +1836, the penalty being raised, however, to ten dollars. In civil cases +arising out of damages sustained by travellers upon the Lord's day, +corporations defendant were quick to take advantage of the law and to +rely upon the illegality of the plaintiff's act of travelling, as a good +defence to his action. + +In 1843 arose the case of Bosworth vs. Inhabitants of Swansey, 10 +Metcalf, 363. Bosworth was travelling on the eleventh of June of that +year, being Sunday, from Warren, Rhode Island, to Fall River on business +connected with a suit in the United States Court, and was injured by +reason of a defect in a highway in Swansey. + +The defendant town admitted that it was by law required to keep the +highway in repair. And plaintiffs counsel argued that as the statute +provided a penalty of ten dollars for travelling on Sunday it could not +be further maintained that there was the additional penalty that a man +could have no legal redress for damages suffered by reason of the +neglect or refusal of defendants to do that which the law required them +to do. But the court ruled, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion, +"that the plaintiff was plainly violating the law and that since he +could recover from the town only, if free from all just imputation of +negligence or fault," in this case he could recover nothing. In deciding +this case, however, the Court was not called upon to construe the terms +"necessity or charity," as affecting the liability of corporations +plainly shown to be negligent in the performance of their duties to +others; but many such cases soon arose. + +In Commonwealth vs. Sampson, Judge Hoar said, "the definition which has +been given of the phrase necessity or charity ... that it comprehends +all acts which it is morally fit and proper should be done on the +Sabbath may itself require some explanation. To save life, or prevent +or relieve suffering; to prepare useful food for man and beast, to save +property, as in case of fire, flood, or tempest ... unquestionably fall +within the exception ... But if fish in the bay, or birds on the shore, +happened to be uncommonly abundant on the Lord's day, it is equally +clear that it would furnish no excuse for fishing or shooting on that +day. How it would be if a whale happened to be stranded on the shore we +need not determine." It is needless to remark that this was a decision +affecting the interests of a town upon the coast. + +In Feital vs. Middlesex R.R. Co., 109 Mass., 398, plaintiff was injured +while returning from a Spiritualist meeting in Malden, and counsel for +defendant maintained that the meeting was attended for idolatry and +jugglery, and while it might be the right of the plaintiff to be an +idolater and to attend shows, yet she could not do so in violation of +the Statute, which was intended to protect the conscience of the +majority of the people from being offended upon the Lord's day. But the +Court ruled that it could not be said as matter of law that travelling +for such a purpose was not within the exception, and that it must be +left to the jury to say if the plaintiff was in attendance in good faith +for devotional exercise as matter of conscience. + +In How vs. Meakin, 115 Mass., 326, the court held that it was not a +violation of the law to hire a horse and drive to a neighboring town to +attend the funeral of plaintiff's brother. + +But it was held in a later case that plaintiff, who had been to a +funeral on the Lord's day and was returning therefrom by a somewhat +_circuitous_ route for the purpose of calling upon a relative, was not +entitled to recover for damages sustained by reason of a defect in the +highway. This was the opinion of a divided court as has been the case in +several decisions where the question of "necessity or charity" has been +a close one. + +Such are a few of the interesting cases which have arisen in our Courts +involving discussion of the law originally framed in 1636, and which +still makes it a criminal offence punishable by a fine of ten dollars to +walk or ride upon the Lord's day, save from necessity or charity, while +our cities furnish free concerts and license all sorts of performances +in places of public amusement under the guise of "sacred" concerts, upon +the day which our fathers thought and meant should be set apart for +moral reflection ... on the duties of life ... and for public and +private worship of the Maker, Governor, and Judge of the world. + + * * * * * + +ELIZABETH. + +A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. + +BY FRANCES C. SPARHAWK, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STAB IN THE BACK. + + +A brighter morning for a wedding never dawned. The house was alive with +merry voices and the echo of footsteps hurrying to and fro. The most +fashionable society of the city was to be present at the ceremony which +was to take place at noon. Then would come the festivities, the feast, +the dancing, and after that the drive of the newly-married pair to the +beautiful house three miles away, that Stephen Archdale had built and +furnished for his bride, and that had never yet been a home. + +Before the appointed hour the guests began to arrive and to fill the +great drawing-room. There each one on entering walked toward the huge +fire-place, in which on an immense bed of coals glowing with a +brilliancy that outshone the rich red furniture and hangings of the room +lay great logs, which blazed in their fervor of hospitable intent and +radiated a small circle of comfort from the heat that did not escape up +the chimney. The rich attire of the guests could bear the bright +sunlight that streamed in through the numberless little panes of the +windows, and the gay colors that they wore showed off well against the +dark wainscotting of the room and its antique tapestries. The ladies +were gorgeous in silks and velvets which were well displayed over +enormous hoops. On their heads, where the well-powdered hair was built +up in a tower nearly a foot in height, were flowers or feathers. +Precious stones fastened the folds of rich kerchiefs, sparkled on dainty +fingers, or flashed with stray movements of fans that, however +discreetly waved, betrayed their trappings once in a while by some +coquettish tremulousness. The gentlemen were resplendent also in +gold-laced coats and small clothes, gold, or diamond shoe buckles, +powdered wigs and queues, and with ruffles of the richest lace about +their wrists. These guests, who were among the people that in +themselves, or their descendants, were destined to give the world a new +nation, strong and free, showed all that regard to the details of +fashion said to characterize incipient decay in races. But with them it +was only an accessory of position, everything was on a foundation of +reality, it all represented a substantial wealth displaying itself +without effort. The Sherburnes were there, the Atkinsons, the +Pickerings, Governor Wentworth, the first of the Governors after New +Hampshire separated from Massachusetts and went into business for +itself, and others of the Wentworth family. Conspicuous among the guests +was Colonel Pepperrell who had already proved that the heart of a strong +man beat under his laced coat. His wife, well-born and fine-looking, was +beside him, and his son, fresh from College honors, and sipping eagerly +the sparkling draught of life that was to be over for him so soon; his +daughter also, last year a bride, and her husband. These were leaders in +that brilliant assembly called together to the marriage of Katie and +Stephen Archdale. + +While waiting for the event of the morning they talked in low tones +among themselves of the wedding, or more audibly, of personal, or of +political affairs. + +"It wants only ten minutes of the hour," said one lady, "perhaps our +good parson may not come this morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked her companion. + +"Why, this; that his wife, perhaps, will lock his study door upon him as +she did one Sabbath when we all went to the house of God and found the +pulpit empty. There's no end to all the malicious tricks she plays him. +Poor, good man." + +"Do you know," said a beruffled gentleman in another part of the room to +his next neighbor, "what a preposterous proposal that ragged fellow, +Bill Goulding, made to Governor Wentworth last week? He is a +good-for-nothing, and the whole scheme is thought to have been merely a +plan to talk with the Governor, whom he has wanted to see for a long +time. It gave him access to the fine house, and he stalked about there +an hour looking at the pictures and the splendid furniture while its +owner was taking an airing. The general opinion is that the object of +his visit was accomplished before his Excellency's return." + +"Poor fellow! One can't blame him so very much," returned the listener +with a complacent smile, offering his gold-mounted snuff-box to the +speaker before helping himself generously from it. "But what was his +scheme?" + +"Something the most absurd you ever listened to. He proposed, if other +people would furnish the money, to establish a public coach from this +city to Boston, to run as often as once a week, and, after the first +expense, to support itself from the travellers it carries; each one is +to pay a few shillings. Where did he expect the travellers to come from? +Gentlemen would never travel in other than private conveyances?" And +these representatives of conservatism threw back their heads and laughed +over the absurdity of the lightning express in embryo. Governor +Wentworth standing before the fire was commenting on some of Governor +Shirley's measures, giving his own judgment on the matter, with a +directness more bold than wise, and the circle about him were discussing +affairs with the freedom of speech that Americans have always used in +political affairs, when a stir of expectation behind them made them take +breath, and glance at the person entering the room. It was the minister. + +"He has come, you see," whispered the lady to her neighbor of the +forebodings. After greeting him, the group about the fire went back to +their discussions. It had been the good parson's horse then, which they +had heard tearing up the road in hot haste; they had not dreamed that so +much speed was in the nag. But Master Shurtleff was probably a little +late and had been afraid of keeping the bride and groom waiting for him. +Master and Mistress Archdale were there; all the company, indeed, but +the four members of it most important that morning, Katie and Stephen, +the bridesmaid, Mistress Royal, and the best man, a young friend of +Archdale's. After a few moments in which conversation lagged through +expectancy, the door opened again. + +"Ah! here they are. No, only one, alone. How strange!" + +Every eye was turned upon Elizabeth Royal as she came in with a face too +concentrated upon the suggestion under which she was acting to see +anything about her. Without sign of recognition she glanced from one to +another, until her eyes fell upon good Parson Shurtleff watching her +with a gentle wonder in his face. It was for him that she had been +looking. She went up to him immediately, and laid a tremulous hand upon +his arm. She tried to smile, but the effort was so plain and her face so +pale that an anxiety diffused itself through the assembly; it was felt +that her presence here alone showed that something had happened, and her +expression, that it was something bad. She did not seem even to hear the +minister's kind greeting, and she was as little moved by the wonder and +scrutiny about her as if she had been alone with him. At Mistress +Archdale's reiterated question if Katie were ill, she shook her head in +silence. Some thought held her in its grasp, some fear that she was +struggling to speak. + +"It is a cruel jest," she cried at last, "but it must be only a jest. +The man's horse is blown, he came so fast. And he insisted on seeing me +and would give this only into my own hands; his message was that it was +life and death, that I must read it at once before the--" She stopped +with a shudder, and held out a paper that she had been grasping; it was +crumpled by the tightening of her fingers over it. There was a sound of +footsteps and voices in the hall; the minister looked toward the door, +and listened. "You must read it now, this instant, before they come in," +cried Elizabeth: "it must be done; I don't dare not to have you; and +tell me that it has no power, it is only a wicked jest; and throw it +into the fire. Oh, quick, be quick." + +Parson Shurtleff unfolded the paper with the haste of age, youth's +deliberateness, and began to read at last. At the same instant a hand +outside was laid on the latch of the door. The room was in a breathless +hush. The door was swung slowly open by a servant and the bride and +bridegroom came in, stopping just beyond the threshold as Katie caught +sight of Elizabeth, and with a wondering face waited for her to come to +her place. But the minister, not glancing up, went sternly on with the +paper; and Elizabeth's gaze was fixed on his face; she had drawn a step +away from him; and her hands were pressed over one another. All at once +he uttered an exclamation of dismay, and turned to her, a dread coming +into his face as he met her eyes. + +"What does it mean?" he gasped. "Heaven help us, is it true?" + +"Oh, it can't be, it can't be," she cried. "Give me the paper. I had to +show it to you, but now you've seen that it must be all false. Give it +to me. Look, they are coming," she entreated. "Think of her, be ready +for them. Oh, burn this. Can't you? Can't you?" and her eyes devoured +him in an agony of pleading. + +"Stop!" he said, drawing back his hand. Then in a moment, "Is any of it +true, this wicked jest at a sacred thing? Was that all so?" + +"Yes." + +By this time the scene had become very different from the programme so +carefully arranged. The bride and groom had indeed gone across the room +and were standing before the minister. But the latter, so far from +having made any preparations to begin the ceremony, stood with his eyes +on the paper, his face more and more pale and perplexed. + +"What is it?" cried Master Archdale, laying a hand on his shoulder. + +"Yes, what does it all mean?" asked the Colonel, advancing toward the +minister, and showing his irritation by his frown, his flush, and the +abruptness of his speech usually so suave. + +"I hardly know myself," returned Shurtleff looking from one to the +other. + +"Let us have the ceremony at once, then," said Master Archdale +authoritatively. "Why should we delay?" + +"I cannot, until I have looked into this," answered the minister in a +respectful tone. + +"Nonsense," cried the Colonel with an authority that few contested. +"Proceed at once." + +"I cannot," repeated the minister, and his quiet voice had in it the +firmness, almost obstinacy, that often characterizes gentle people. His +opposition had seemed so disproportioned and was so gently uttered that +the hearers had felt as if a breath must blow it away, and interest +heightened to intense excitement when it proved invincible. + +"What is all this?" demanded Stephen, holding Katie's arm still more +firmly in his own and facing Mr. Shurtleff with eyes of indignant +protest. As he received no immediate answer, he turned to Elizabeth. +"Mistress Royal," he said, "can you explain this unseemly interruption?" + +Then all the company, who for the moment had forgotten her share in the +transaction, turned their eyes upon her again. + +"That wicked jest that we had all forgotten," she said, looking at him +an instant with a wildness of pain in her eyes. Then she turned to +Katie's fair, pale face full of wonder and distress at the unguessed +obstacle, and with a smothered cry dropped her face in her hands, and +stood motionless and unheeded in the greater excitement. For now Mr. +Shurtleff had begun to speak. + +"You ask me," he said, "why I do not perform the ceremony and marry +these two young people whose hearts love has united. I do not dare to do +it until I understand the meaning of this strange paper I hold in my +hand. What do you remember," he said to Stephen, "of a singular game of +a wedding ceremony played one evening last summer?" + +The young man looked uncomprehending for a moment, then drew his breath +sharply. + +"That?" he said, "Why, that was only to give an example of something we +were talking about; that was nothing. Mistress,"--he stopped and glanced +at Elizabeth who, leaning forward, was hanging upon every word of his +denial as if it were music--"Mistress Royal knows that was so." + +"Yes," cried Elizabeth, "indeed I do." + +"Nevertheless," returned Mr. Shurtleff, "it may have been a jest to be +eternally remembered, as all light-minded treatment of serious matters +must be. I hope with all my heart that a moment's frivolity will not +have life-long consequences of sorrow, but I cannot proceed in this +happy ceremony that I have been called here to perform until the point +is settled beyond dispute." + +"See how habit rules him like a second nature," whispered Colonel +Pepperrell aside to the Governor. "Nobody but a minister would stop to +give a homily with those poor creatures before him in an agony of +suspense." + +"My dear," said his wife softly in a tone of reproof, laying her hand +warningly on his arm. + +"Stephen Archdale isn't the man to stand this," retorted the Governor in +a higher key than he realized. But the words did not reach their object, +for he had already laid hold of the paper in Mr. Shurtleffs hand. + +"If this paper explains your conduct, give it to me," he said haughtily. + +The other drew back. + +"I will read it to you and to the company," he answered. "There can be +no wedding this morning. I trust there will be soon. But first it is my +personal duty to look into this matter." + +Katie, whose face had grown rigid, swung heavily against Stephen. "She +has fainted," her mother cried coming forward. + +"Take her away," commanded the Colonel. "This is no place for her." But +the girl clung to Stephen. + +"I will stay," she said, with a tearless sob. "I must listen. I see it +all, and what he meant, too, that evil man." + +"Master Shurtleff," cried the Governor, "I command you to make all this +clear to us at once. If that paper in your hand tells us the cause of +your refusal to marry these young people, I bid you read it to us +immediately." + +The parson, bowing with respect, cleared his throat and began, premising +that Governor Wentworth's commands had been his own intention from the +first. + +"It is a confession," he said, "made by one whom many of us have +welcomed to our homes as a gentleman of blameless character and +honorable dealing. Why it was sent to Mistress Royal instead of to +Master Archdale, or the bride, I am at a loss to understand." + +Elizabeth raised her head with a flash in her eyes, but anger died away +into despair, and she stood silent with the others, and listened to the +fate that fell upon her with those monotonous tones, each one heavy as +lead upon her heart. She wondered if it had been sent to her because it +had been feared that Stephen Archdale would keep silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFESSION. + + +"I write without knowing to whom I am writing," began the paper, "except +that among the readers must be some whom I have wronged. I can scarcely +crave forgiveness of them, because they will surely not grant it to me. +I don't know even that I can crave it of Heaven, for I have played with +sacred things, and used a power given me for good, in an evil way, to +further my own devices, and, after all, I have not furthered them. I am +a man loving and unloved, one who has perhaps thrown away his soul on +the chance of winning earthly joy,--but such joy,--and has lost it. If +any have ever done like me, let them pity and pardon. I appeal to them +for compassion. I shall receive it nowhere else, unless it be possible, +that the one for love of whom I have done the wrong will out of the +kindness of her heart spare me by and by a thought of pity for what was +the suggestion of a moment and acted on--" + +"Skip all that maundering," interrupted Stephen. "To the point. Who is +this man, and what has he done? Let him keep his feelings to himself, or +if they concern you, they don't us." + +"No, no, Stephen. Fair play," called out Governor Wentworth. "Let us +hear every word, then we can judge better of the case, and of the +writer's truthfulness." + +"Yes, you are right," answered the young man pressing Katie's arm more +firmly in his own to give silent vent to his impatience and his +defiance. + +"And acted on without premeditation," resumed Master Shurtleff. "I left +England early in the spring, and coming to this worthy city of +Portsmouth with letters of introduction to Master Archdale, and others, +I met the beautiful Mistress Archdale. From the first hour my fate was +sealed; I loved her as only a man of strong and deep emotions can love, +with a very different feeling from the devotion her young admirers gave +her, ardent though they considered themselves. I had many rivals, some +the young lady herself so disapproved that they ceased troubling me, +even with their presence at her side. Among the others were only two +worthy of attention, and only one whom I feared. I was reticent and +watched; it was too soon to speak. But as I watched my fear of that one +increased, for age, association, a sternness of manner that unbent only +to her, many things in him showed me his possibilities of success. With +that rival out of my path, my way to victory was clear. There came a day +when, without lifting my finger against him, I could effectually remove +him. I did it. It was unjustifiable, but the temptation rushed upon me +suddenly with overwhelming force, and it was irresistible, for opposite +me sat Katie, more beautiful and lovable than ever, and beside her was +my rival, her cousin, with an air of security and satisfaction that +aroused the evil in me. It was August; we were on the river in a dead +calm, and at Mistress Archdale's suggestion had been telling stories for +amusement. Mine happened to be about a runaway match, and interested the +young people so much, that when I had finished they asked several +questions; one was in reference to a remark of mine, innocently made, +that the marriage ceremony itself, pure and simple, was something +unimaginably short. The story I had told illustrated this, and some of +the party asked me more particularly as to what the form was. Then I saw +my opportunity, and I took it. 'If one of the young ladies will permit +Master Archdale to take her hand a moment,' I said, 'I think I can +recollect the words; I will show you how short the formula may be.' +Master Archdale was for holding Katie's hand, but happily, as it seemed +to me at the moment, she was on the wrong side. I requested him to take +the lady on the other hand, who seemed a trifle unready for the jest, +but was induced by the entreaties of the others, and especially of +Mistress Katie herself. I went through the marriage service over them as +rapidly as I dared, my voice sounding to myself thick with the beating +of my heart. But no one noticed this; of course, it was all fun. And so +that summer evening, all in fun, except on my part, Stephen Archdale and +Elizabeth Royal were made man and wife, as fast as marriage vows could +make them. Nothing was omitted that would make the ceremony binding and +legal, not even its performance by a clergyman of the Church of +England." + +A cry of rage and despair interrupted the reader. But he went on +directly. + +"No one in America knew that I had been educated for the Church and had +taken orders, though I have never preached except one month; the work +was distasteful to me, and when my brother died and I inherited my +grandfather's property, I resigned my pastorate at once. This act shows +how unfit for it I was. But whatever my grief may be, my conscience +commands me to forbid this present marriage, and to declare with all +solemnity, that Stephen Archdale already has a wife, and that she is +that lady, who, until she opened my letter, believed herself still +Mistres Royal." + +A burst of amazement and indignation, that could no longer be repressed, +interrupted the reading. Faces and voices expressed consternation. To +this confession had been added names and dates, the year of the writer's +entrance into the ministry, the time and place of his brief pastorate, +everything that was necessary to give his statement a reliable air, and +to verify it if one chose to do so. It was evident that there could be +no wedding that morning, and as the truth of the story impressed itself, +more and more upon the minds of the audience, a fear spread lest there +could be no wedding at all, such as they had been called together to +witness. For, if this amusement should turn out to have been a real +marriage, what help was there? It was in the days when amusements were +viewed seriously and were readily imagined to lead to fatal +consequences. Had Stephen Archdale really married? The people in the +drawing-room that December morning were able men and women, they were +among the best representatives of their time, an age that America will +always be proud of, but they held marriage vows so sacred, that even +made in jest there seemed to be a weight in them. Proofs must be found, +law must speak, yet these people in waiting feared, for their part in +life was to be so great in uprightness and self-restraint, that these +qualities flowing through mighty channels should conquer physical +strength and found a nation. To do a thing because it was pleasant was +no part of their creed,--although, even then, there were occasional +examples of it in practice. + +That winter morning, therefore, the guests were ready to inveigh against +the sin of unseemly jesting, to hope that all would be well, and to +shake their heads mournfully. + +"Harwin!" cried Master Archdale as he heard the name of the writer; "it +seems impossible. I liked that man so much, and trusted him so much. I +knew he loved my little girl, but I thought it was with an honorable +love that would rejoice to see her happy. No, no, it cannot be true. We +must wait. But matters will come right at last." + +"Yes," assented the Colonel across whose face an incomprehensible +expression had passed more than once during the reading; "it will all +come right. We must make it so." + +A hum of conversation went on in the room, comment, inquiry, sympathy, +spoken to the chief actors in this scene, or if not near enough to them +for that, spoken to the first who were patient enough to listen instead +of themselves talking. + +In the midst of it all Stephen raised his head, for he had been bending +over Katie who still clung to him, and asked when the next ship left for +England. + +"In about three weeks," answered Col. Pepperrell, "and we will send out +a person competent to make full inquiries; the matter shall be sifted." + +"I shall go," returned Stephen. "I shall make the necessary inquiries +myself, it will be doing something, and I may find the man. We need that +he should be found, Katie and I." + +Elizabeth drew back still more; some flash of feeling made the blood +come hotly to her face for a moment, then fade away again. + +Katie looked up, turned her eyes slowly from one to another, finding +everywhere the sympathy she sought. + +"Go, Stephen, since you will feel better," she said, "but it's of no +use, I am sure. I understand now something Master Harwin said to me when +he left me. I did not know then what he meant. He has taken you away +from me forever." And with a sob, again she hid her face upon his +shoulder. Then, slowly drawing away from him, she turned to Elizabeth, +and in her eyes was something of the fury of a jealous woman mixed with +the bitter reproach of friendship betrayed. + +"How could you," she said, "how could you consent to do it?" + +She had drawn toward Elizabeth every gaze and every thought in the room; +she had pointed out the substitute on whom might be emptied those vials +of wrath that the proper object of them had taken care to escape. +Elizabeth heard on all sides of her the whispered, "Yes, how could she +do it, how could she consent to do it?" Suddenly she found herself, and +herself alone, as it seemed, made responsible for this disaster; for +the feeling beginning with Katie seemed to grow, and widen, and widen, +like the circles of water into which a stone is thrown, and she was +condemned by her friends, by the people who had known her and her +father, condemned as false to her friendship, as unwomanly. Katie she +could forgive on account of her misery, but the others! She stood +motionless in a world that she had never dreamed of. These whispers that +her imagination multiplied seemed to roar in her ears. But innocence and +pride kept her erect, and at last made her raise her eyes which had +fallen and grown dim under the blow of Katie's words. She swept them +slowly around the room, turning her head slightly to do it. Not a look +of sympathy met her. Then, in the pain, a power awoke within her. + +"It is no less a disaster to me," she said. Her words fell with the +weight of truth. She had kept back her pain, no one thought of pitying +her as Katie was pitied, but she was vindicated. + +"Does she hate him, do you suppose?" asked Madam Pepperrell in a low +tone of Governor Wentworth at her elbow. + +"It is not probable she loves him much," replied that gentleman studying +the girl's haughty face. "I don't envy her, on the whole, I don't envy +either of them." By George, madam, it _is_ hard." + +"Very hard," assented Colonel Pepperrell, whose glance, having more +penetration, had at last brought a look of sympathy to his face. "Let us +go up to the poor thing, she stands so alone, and I'm not clear that she +has not the worst of it." + +"Oh, no, indeed, not that," returned his wife as they moved forward. But +before they could reach her, being stopped by several who spoke to them, +there was a change in the group in that part of the room. Katie had +fallen, and there was a cry that she had fainted. Stephen stooped over +her, lifted her tenderly, and carried her from the room. He was followed +by Mistress Archdale and his own mother. As he passed Elizabeth their +eyes met, his glowed with a sullen rage, born of pain and despair, they +seemed to sweep her with a glance of scorn, as she looked at him it +seemed to her that every fibre of his being was rejecting her. "You!" he +seemed to be saying with contemptuous emphasis. In answer her eyes +filled him with their haughtiness, they and the scornful curl of her +lip, as she stood motionless waiting for him to pass, haunted him; it +seemed to him as if she felt it an intrusion that he should pass near +her at all. He still saw her face as he bent over Katie. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + * * * * * + +GOVERNOR CLEVELAND AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY. + +BY CHARLES COWLEY, LL.D. + + +It is not often that a Governor's objections to a measure, which his +veto has defeated, become, even indirectly, the subject of judicial +consideration. Such, however, has been the experience of Governor +Cleveland in connection with his veto of the appropriation, which was +made in 1883, to the Roman Catholic Protectory of the City of New York. +And it must be gratifying to him as a constitutional lawyer, to see the +principles of that veto entirely approved by all the judges of the Court +of Appeals, as well as by all the judges by whom those principles were +considered, before the case, in which they were involved, reached that +august tribunal, the highest in the judicial system of that State. + +By an amendment to the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1874, it is +provided that, "Neither the credit nor the money of the State shall be +given, or loaned to, or in aid of, any association, corporation, or +private undertaking." + +It would hardly seem possible to mistake the meaning of a prohibition +like this; but this prohibition is accompanied by the following +modification: "This section shall not, however, prevent the Legislature +from making such provision for the education and support of the blind, +the deaf and dumb, and juvenile delinquents, as to it may seem proper; +nor shall it apply to any fund or property, now held by the State for +educational purposes." + +The question, how far this qualifying clause limits the proceeding +prohibition, arose first in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards in +the Court of Appeals, in the case of the Shepherd's Fold of the +Protestant Episcopal Church _vs_. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of +the City of New York.[A] The Attorney-General of the State had given an +official opinion, tending to the conclusion that the prohibition is +almost entirely neutralized by the modification. The Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and the lawyers who argued this case in either court, +differed widely upon the question, whether money raised by local +taxation by the City of New York, under the authority of the State law, +for the maintainance of the children of the Shepherd's Fold, was, or was +not, "money of the State," and therefore included in the terms of this +prohibition; and when one sees how much is done in the discussions of +the able counsel before the Court of final resort, and by the learned +opinion of Judge Rapello, to reconcile these differences, one can not +but wish that the Old Bay State had a similar Court of Appeals, to +revise and clarify the decisions of her Supreme Court. About twenty-five +per cent, of all the decisions of the General Terms of the Supreme +Court, Superior Court, and Court of Common Pleas, which are carried to +the Court of Appeals, are there reversed; and can any lawyer doubt that, +at least, as large a proportion of the decisions of our Supreme Judicial +Court ought also to be revised and reversed? + +[Footnote A: See 10 Daly's Reports, 319; and 96 New York Reports. 137.] + +The Court of Appeals says: "It seems to us that that section [to wit, +the prohibition above quoted] had reference to money raised by general +taxation throughout the State, or revenues of the State, or money +otherwise belonging to the State treasury, or payable out of it." + +The money claimed by the Shepherd's Fold being raised by local taxation +for a local purpose in the city of New York, and not "by general +taxation throughout the State," the Court of Appeals holds that it is +not within the terms of the Constitutional prohibition, and therefore +reverses the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on that particular +point, while agreeing with it on the main question. + +As the money, appropriated to the Roman Catholic Protectory, was +unquestionably money of the State, "being raised by general taxation +throughout the State," that appropriation was unquestionably in conflict +with the prohibition of the Constitution, which the Governor was sworn +to support. + +Of the courage and independence displayed by Governor Cleveland in thus +vetoing a measure in which so large a number of his political supporters +might be supposed to feel so deep an interest, this is not the place to +speak. But it is creditable to him as a lawyer that alone without a +single precedent to guide him, relying upon his own judicial sense, and +rejecting the opinion of a former Attorney-General, he challenged "the +validity of this appropriation under that section of the Constitution." +The Protectory, he says, "appears to be local in its purposes and +operations." And being a sectarian charity, he adds, "Public funds +should not be contributed to its support. A violation of this principle +in this case would tend to subject the state treasury to demands in +behalf of all sorts of sectarian institutions, which a due care for the +money of the State, and a just economy, could not concede." + +In the higher and broader field of public service--"the grandest throne +on earth"--as the Presidency which he is about to enter, has been +grandiloquently called, let us hope that he will display the same +honesty, capability, and fidelity to the Constitution. We shall then be +assured that the interests of the Republic will suffer no detriment at +his hands. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, +January, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 14131.txt or 14131.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/3/14131/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, Cornell University +and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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