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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:47:48 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:47:48 -0700 |
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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/15924-8.txt b/15924-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6df114 --- /dev/null +++ b/15924-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3501 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume I, No. 2, +February, 1884, 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 I, No. 2, February, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: May 28, 2005 [EBook #15924] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: Alex H. Rice.] + + + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +A Massachusetts Magazine. + +VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1884. NO. II. + + * * * * * + + + + +Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D. + + +By Daniel B. Hagar, Ph.D. + +[Principal of the State Normal School, Salem.] + + +Massachusetts merchants have been among the most prominent men in +the nation through all periods of its history. From the days of John +Hancock down to the present time they have often been called by their +fellow-citizens to discharge the duties of the highest public offices. +Hancock was the first governor of the State. In the list of his +successors, the merchants who have distinguished themselves by honorable +and successful administrations occupy prominent places. Conspicuous +among them stands the subject of this sketch. + +Alexander Hamilton Rice, a son of Thomas Rice, Esq., a well-known +manufacturer of paper, was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, +August 30, 1818. He received his early education in the public schools +of his native town and in the academies of the Reverend Daniel Kimball, +of Needham, and Mr. Seth Davis, of Newton, a famous teacher in his +day, who is still living, in vigorous health, at the venerable age of +ninety-seven years. As a boy, young Rice was cheery, affectionate, and +thoughtful, and a favorite among his companions. His earliest ambition +was to become a Boston merchant. After leaving school he entered a +dry-goods store in the city. He there performed his duties with such +laborious zeal and energy that his health gave way, and he was compelled +to return to his home in Newton, where he suffered many months' illness +from a malignant fever, which nearly proved fatal. About two years later +he returned to Boston, and entered the establishment of Messrs. J.H. +Wilkins and R.B. Carter, then widely known as publishers of music books +and of dictionaries of various languages, as well as wholesale dealers +in printing and writing papers. Three years of service in their employ +laid the foundation of the excellent business habits which led to his +ultimate success. + +During this time he was a member of the Mercantile Library Association, +in company with such men as Edwin P. Whipple, James T. Fields, Thomas R. +Gould, afterward the distinguished sculptor, and many others who were, +active participants in its affairs, and who have become eminent in +literature or in public life. Young Rice was a careful student in the +association, though sharing less frequently in its exercises than some +others. His decided literary tastes finally led him to resolve upon the +enlargement of his education by a collegiate course of study. He +accordingly entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, then under the +presidency of the venerable Dr. Eliphalet Nott, where he was graduated +in 1844, receiving the highest honors of his class on Commencement Day. +His classmates bear testimony to the fact that his career in college was +in the highest degree honorable to himself and to the institution of +which he was one of the most respected and popular members. + +At the time of his graduation his purpose was to study law and to pursue +it as a profession; but soon afterward delicate health interposed a +serious obstacle, and a favorable offer of partnership in business with +his former employers induced him to join them in the firm which then +became known as Wilkins, Carter, and Company, the senior member of which +was a graduate of Harvard College, and, at one time, a member of its +Faculty. The present firm of Rice, Kendall, and Company, of which he is +the senior member, is its representative to-day, and is widely known as +one of the largest paper-warehouses in the country. + +In 1845, Mr. Rice married Miss Augusta E. McKim, daughter of John McKim, +Esq., of Washington, District of Columbia, and sister of Judge McKim, +of Boston, a highly-educated and accomplished lady, who died on a +voyage to the West Indies, in 1868, deeply lamented by a large circle of +acquaintances and friends, to whom she had become endeared by a life of +beneficence and courtesy. + +After his graduation from college, Mr. Rice, having again engaged in +mercantile business, pursued it with great earnestness, fidelity, and +success. These qualities, together with his intellectual culture and his +engaging address, eminently fitted him for public service, and early +attracted favorable attention. He first served the city of Boston as +a member of its school-board, in which capacity he gave much personal +attention to the schools in all their various interests. To his duties +in connection with the public schools were soon added those of a trustee +of the lunatic hospital and other public institutions. + +In 1853, Mr. Rice was elected a member of the common council, and a year +later he was president of that body. In 1855, he received, from a large +number of citizens of all parties, a flattering request that he would +permit them to nominate him for the mayoralty of Boston. He reluctantly +acceded to their request, and, after a sharply-contested campaign, +was elected by a handsome majority. His administration of city affairs +proved so satisfactory that he was re-elected, the following year, by +an increased majority. By his wisdom, energy, and rare administrative +ability, Mayor Rice gained a wide and enviable reputation. He was +instrumental in accomplishing many reforms in municipal administration, +among which were a thorough reorganization of the police; the +consolidation of the boards of governors of the public institutions, +by which much was gained in economy and efficiency; the amicable and +judicious settlement of many claims and controversies requiring rare +skill and sagacity in adjustment; and the initiation of some of the most +important improvements undertaken since Boston became a city. Among +these may be mentioned the laying out of Devonshire Street from Milk +Street to Franklin Street, which he first recommended, as well as the +opening of Winthrop Square and adjacent streets for business purposes, +the approaches to which had previously been by narrow alleys. The +magnificent improvements in the Back Bay, which territory had long been +the field of intermittent and fruitless effort and controversy, were +brought to successful negotiation during his municipal administration, +and largely through the ability, energy, and fairness with which he +espoused the great work. The public schools continued to hold prominence +in his attention, and he gave to them all the encouragement which his +office could command; while his active supervision of the various +charitable and reformatory institutions was universally recognized and +welcomed. The free city hospital was initiated, and the public library +building completed during his administration. + +Endowed with gifts of natural eloquence, his public addresses furnished +many examples of persuasive and graceful oratory. Among the conspicuous +occasions that made demands upon his ability as a public speaker was the +dedication of the public library building. On that occasion his address +was interposed between those of the Honorable Edward Everett ard the +Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, both of whom were men of the highest and +most elegant culture, possessing a national reputation for finished +eloquence. The position in which the young Boston merchant found +himself was an exceedingly difficult and trying one; but he rose +most successfully to its demands, and nobly surpassed the exacting +expectations of his warmest admirers. It was agreed on every hand that +Mayor Rice's address was fully equal, in scope and appropriateness of +thought and beauty of diction, to that of either of the eminent scholars +and orators with whom he was brought into comparison. It received +emphatic encomiums at home, and attracted the flattering attention of +the English press, by which it was extensively copied and adduced as +another evidence of the literary culture found in municipal officers in +this country, and of American advancement in eloquence and scholarship. + +At the close of Mr. Rice's second term in the mayoralty of Boston, he +declined a renommation. While in that office, he was faithful to the men +who had elected him, and abstained from participation in party politics +farther than in voting for selected candidates. Originally, he was an +anti-slavery Whig, and, upon the formation of the Republican party, he +became identified with it. + +When he retired from the office of mayor, in January, 1858, it was his +intention to devote himself exclusively to business; but an unexpected +concurrence of circumstances in the third congressional district led to +his nomination and election to Congress by the Republicans, although +the partisan opposition was largely in the majority. He continued to +represent the district for eight consecutive years, and until he +declined further service. He entered Congress just before the breaking +out of the Civil War, and became a participant in the momentous +legislative events of that period. He witnessed the secession of the +Southern members from the two houses of Congress, and served through the +whole period of the war and through one Congress after the war closed, +embracing one half of President Buchanan's administration, the whole of +Lincoln's, and one half of Johnson's. He served on the committees on the +Pacific Railroad, on the District of Columbia, and on naval affairs, of +which last important committee he was chairman during the two closing +years of the war. In this last position he won much reputation by his +mastery of information relating to naval affairs at home and abroad, and +by his thorough devotion to the interests of the American Navy. Mr. Rice +did not often partake in the general debates of Congress, but he had the +confidence of its members to an unusual degree, and the measures which +he presented were seldom successfully opposed. When occasion called, +however, he distinguished himself as a debater of first-class ability, +as was shown in his notable reply to the Honorable Henry Winter Davis, +of Maryland, one of the most brilliant speakers in Congress, in defence +of the navy, and especially of its administration during the war period. + +Notwithstanding his arduous labors as chairman of the naval committee, +Mr. Rice's business habits and industry enabled him to attend faithfully +to the general interests of his constituents, and to many details of +public affairs which are often delegated to unofficial persons or are +altogether neglected. All of his large correspondence was written by +himself, and was promptly despatched. Governor Andrew used to say that +whenever he needed information from Washington, and prompt action, he +always wrote to the representative of the third district. + +At home Mr. Rice has filled many positions of prominence in business +and social life. He was for some years president of the board of trade, +and of the National Sailors' Home. He was president of the great +Peace Jubilee, held in Boston in 1869, the most remarkable musical +entertainment ever held in America, embracing an orchestra of twelve +hundred instruments, and a chorus of twenty thousand voices. The opening +address of this jubilee was made by Mr. Rice. He was also the chairman +of the committee to procure the equestrian statue of Washington for the +Public Garden in Boston, and of the committee that erected the statue of +Charles Sumner. He delivered an appropriate address at the unveiling +of each of these works, and also at the unveiling of the statue of +Franklin, erected during his mayoralty in front of the City Hall. He has +also been president of the Boston Memorial Society, and of the Boston +Art Club, as well as of many other associations. + +Mr. Rice was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1875, and was twice +re-elected. His career as governor was characterized by a comprehensive +and liberal policy in State affairs. While he was always ready to listen +to the opinions and wishes of other men, his administration was strongly +marked by his own individuality. His messages to the Legislature were +clear and decisive in recommendation and discussion, and his policy in +regard to important measures was plainly defined. He never interfered +with the functions of the co-ordinate branches of the government; on the +other hand, he was equally mindful of the rights of the executive. +Always ready to co-operate with the Legislature in regard to measures +which the welfare and honor of the Commonwealth seemed to him to +justify, he did not hesitate to apply the executive veto when his +judgment dictated, even in relation to measures of current popularity. +He thoroughly reorganized the militia of the State, thereby greatly +improving its character and efficiency, besides largely diminishing its +annual cost. His appointments to office, though sometimes sharply +criticised, proved, almost without exception, to have been judiciously +made, and in many instances exhibited remarkable insight into the +character and aptitude of the persons appointed. + +Although elected a Republican, Governor Rice was thoroughly loyal to +the best interests of the State in the distribution of patronage. Every +faithful and competent officer whom he found in place was reappointed, +regardless of his politics, and the incompetent and unreliable were +retired, though belonging to his own party. It is, however, but fair +to say, that in making original appointments and in filling absolute +vacancies, he gave the preference, in cases of equal character and +competency, to men of his own party. + +During the centennial year, 1876, the special occasions, anniversaries, +and public celebrations were very numerous, and added greatly to the +demands upon the governor's time and services in semi-official +engagements, in all of which he acquitted himself with high credit to +himself and the Commonwealth. + +In 1877, he escorted President Hayes to Harvard University to receive +the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor which had been conferred upon +himself the previous year; and in 1878 he also escorted Lord Dufferin, +governor-general of Canada, to the university, on an occasion made +memorable by the visit of that distinguished statesman. + +During his whole administration, Governor Rice took a deep interest +in the cause of education in the State, as president of the board of +education, and in visiting schools and colleges for personal inspection. +He also carefully watched over the several State institutions for +correction, for reform, and for lunacy and charity, encouraging, as +opportunity offered, both officers and inmates, and, at the same time, +unsparing in merited criticism of negligence and unfaithfulness. + +In a word, Governor Rice's administration of State affairs justly ranks +among the administrations that have been the most useful and honorable +to the Commonwealth. + +In 1881, Mr. Rice was elected honorary chancellor of Union University, +his _alma mater_, and at the commencement anniversary of that year +he delivered an elaborate oration on _The Reciprocal Relations of +Education and Enterprise_, which was received with the highest favor +by the numerous statesmen and scholars who honored the occasion by their +presence, and was afterwards published and widely circulated. + +Mr. Rice is still actively engaged in business, and still maintains an +undiminished interest in the affairs of public and social life. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE OLD STORES AND THE POST-OFFICE OF GROTON. + +By the Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D. + + +Tradition has preserved little or nothing in regard to the earliest +trading stores of Groton. It is probable, however, that they were kept +in dwelling-houses, by the occupants, who sold articles in common use +for the convenience of the neighborhood, and at the same time pursued +their regular vocations. + +Jonas Cutler was keeping a shop on the site of Mr. Gerrish's store, +before the Revolution; and the following notice, signed by him, appears +in The Massachusetts Gazette (Boston), November 28, 1768:-- + + + A THEFT. + + Whereas on the 19th or 20th Night of November Instant, the Shop of the + Subscriber was broke open in _Groton_, and from thence was stollen + a large Sum of Cash, viz. four Half Johannes, two Guineas, Two Half + Ditto, One Pistole mill'd, nine Crowns, a Considerable Number of + Dollars, with a considerable Quantity of small Silver & Copper, together + with one Bever Hat, about fifteen Yards of Holland, eleven Bandannas, + blue Ground with white, twelve red ditto with white, Part of a Piece of + Silk Romails, 1 Pair black Worsted Hose, 1 strip'd Cap, 8 or 10 black + barcelona Handkerchiefs, Part of a Piece of red silver'd Ribband, blue + & white do, Part of three Pieces of black Sattin Ribband, Part of three + Pieces of black Tafferty ditto, two bundles of Razors, Part of 2 Dozen + Penknives, Part of 2 Dozen ditto with Seals, Part of 1 Dozen Snuff + Boxes, Part of 3 Dozen Shoe Buckels, Part of several Groce of Buttons, + one Piece of gellow [yellow?] Ribband, with sundry Articles not yet + known of---- Whoever will apprehend the said Thief or Thieves, so that + he or they may be brought to Justice, shall receive TEN DOLLARS Reward + and all necessary Charges paid. + + JONAS CUTLER. + + Groton, Nov. 22,1763 [8?]. + + ==> If any of the above mentioned Articles are offered to Sail, it + is desired they may be stop'd with the Thief, and Notice given to said + _Cutler_ or to the Printers. + + +On October 21, 1773, a noted burglar was hanged in Boston for various +robberies committed in different parts of the State, and covering a +period of some years. The unfortunate man was present at the delivery +of a sermon, preached at his own request, on the Sunday before his +execution; and to many of the printed copies is appended an account +of his life. In it the poor fellow states that he was only twenty-one +years old, and that he was born at Groton of a respectable family. He +confesses that he broke into Mr. Cutler's shop, and took away "a good +piece of broad-cloth, a quantity of silk mitts, and several pieces of +silk handkerchiefs." He was hardly seventeen years of age at the time of +this burglary. To the present generation it would seem cruel and wicked +to hang a misguided youth for offences of this character. + +Mr. Cutler died December 19, 1782; and he was succeeded in business +by Major Thomas Gardner, who erected the present building known as +Gerrish's block, which is soon to be removed. Major Gardner lived in the +house now owned by the Waters family. + +Near the end of the last century a store, situated a little north of the +late Mr. Dix's house, was kept by James Brazer, which had an extensive +trade for twenty miles in different directions. It was here that the +late Amos Lawrence served an apprenticeship of seven years, which ended +on April 22, 1807; and he often spoke of his success in business as due, +in part, to the experience in this store. Late in life he wrote that +"the knowledge of every-day affairs which I acquired in my business +apprenticeship at Groton has been a source of pleasure and profit even +in my last ten years' discipline." + +The quantity of New-England rum and other liquors sold at that period +would astonish the temperance people of the present day. Social drinking +was then a common practice, and each forenoon some stimulating beverage +was served up to the customers in order to keep their trade. There were +five clerks employed in the establishments; and many years later Mr. +Lawrence, in giving advice to a young student in college, wrote:-- + + "In the first place, take this for your motto at the commencement of + your journey, that the difference of going _just right_, or a + _little wrong_, will be the difference of finding yourself in good + quarters, or in a miserable bog or slough, at the end of it. Of the + whole number educated in the Groton stores for some years before and + after myself, no one else, to my knowledge, escaped the bog or slough; + and my escape I trace to the simple fact of my having put a restraint + upon my appetite. We five boys were in the habit, every forenoon, of + making a drink compounded of rum, raisins, sugar, nutmeg, &c., with + biscuit,--all palatable to eat and drink. After being in the store four + weeks, I found myself admonished by my appetite of the approach of the + hour for indulgence. Thinking the habit might make trouble if allowed + to grow stronger, without further apology to my seniors I declined + partaking with them. My first resolution was to abstain for a week, and, + when the week was out, for a month, and then for a year. Finally, I + resolved to abstain for the rest of my apprenticeship, which was for + five years longer. During that whole period, I never drank a spoonful, + though I mixed gallons daily for my old master and his customers."[1] + + +The following advertisement is found in the Columbian Centinel (Boston), +June 8, 1805:-- + + + _James Brazer_, + + Would inform the public that having dissolved the Copartnership lately + subsisting between AARON BROWN, Esq. SAMUEL HALE and the subscriber; he + has taken into Copartnership his son WILLIAM F. BRAZER, and the business + in future will be transacted under the firm of + + JAMES BRAZER & SON; + + They will offer for sale, at their store in _Groton_, within six + days a complete assortment of English, India, and W. India GOODS, which + they will sell for ready pay, at as low a rate as any store in the + Country. + + JAMES BRAZER. + + Groton, May 29, 1805. + + +"'Squire Brazer," as he was generally called, was a man of wealth +and position. He was one of the founders of Groton Academy, and his +subscription of £15 to the building-fund in the year 1792 was as large +as that given by any other person. In the early part of this century he +built the house now belonging to the Academy and situated just south of +it, where he lived until his death, which occurred on November 10, 1818. +His widow, also, took a deep interest in the institution, and at her +decease, April 14, 1826, bequeathed to it nearly five thousand dollars. + +After Mr. Brazer's death the store was moved across the street, where it +still remains, forming the ell of Gerrish's block. The post-office was +in the north end of it, during Mr. Butler's term as postmaster. About +this time the son, William Farwell Brazer, built a store nearly opposite +to the Academy, which he kept during some years. It was made finally +into a dwelling-house, and occupied by the late Jeremiah Kilburn, whose +family still own it. + +James Brazer's house was built on the site of one burnt down during the +winter season a year or two previously. There was no fire-engine then in +town, and the neighbors had to fight the flames, as best they could, +with snow as well as water. At that time Loammi Baldwin, Jr., a graduate +of Harvard College in the class of 1800, was a law-student in Timothy +Bigelow's office. He had a natural taste for mechanics; and he was +so impressed with the need of an engine that with his own hands he +constructed the first one the town ever had. This identical machine, now +known as Torrent, No. I, is still serviceable after a use of more than +eighty years, and will throw a stream of water over the highest roof in +the village. It was made in Jonathan Loring's shop, then opposite to Mr. +Boynton's blacksmith shop, where the iron work was done. The tub is of +copper, and bears the date of 1802. Mr. Baldwin, soon after this time, +gave up the profession of law, and became, like his father, a +distinguished civil engineer. + +The brick store, opposite to the High School, was built about the +year 1836, by Henry Woods, for his own place of business, and afterward +kept by him and George S. Boutwell, the style of the firm being Woods +and Boutwell. Mr. Woods died on January 12, 1841; and he was succeeded +by his surviving partner, who carried on the store for a long time, +even while holding the highest executive position in the State. The +post-office was in this building during the years 1839 and 1840. For the +past twenty-five years it has been occupied by various firms, and now is +kept by D.H. Shattuck and Company. + +During the last war with England, Eliphalet Wheeler had a store where +Miss Betsey Capell, in more modern times, kept a haberdasher's shop. It +is situated opposite to the Common, and now used as a dwelling-house. +She was the daughter of John Capell, who owned the sawmill and +gristmill, which formerly stood near the present site of the Tileston +and Hollingsworth paper-mills, on the Great Road, north of the village. +Afterward Wheeler and his brother, Abner, took Major Thomas Gardner's +store, where he was followed by Park and Woods, Park and Potter, Potter +and Gerrish, and lastly by Charles Gerrish, who has kept it for more +than thirty years. It is said that this building will soon give way to +modern improvements. + +Near the beginning of the present century there were three military +companies in town; the Artillery company, commanded at one time by +Captain James Lewis; the North company by Captain Jonas Gilson; and the +South company by Captain Abel Tarbell. Two of these officers were soon +promoted in the regimental service: Captain Tarbell to a colonelcy, and +Captain Lewis to a majorate. Captain Gilson resigned, and was succeeded +by Captain Noah Shattuck. They had their Spring and fall training-days, +when they drilled as a battalion on the Common,--there were no trees +there, then,--and marched through the village. They formed a very +respectable command, and sometimes would be drawn up before Esquire +Brazer's store, and at other times before Major Gardner's, to be treated +with toddy, which was then considered a harmless drink. + +David Child had a store, about the beginning of the century, at the +south corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, nearly opposite to the site +of the Orthodox meeting-house, though Pleasant Street was not then laid +out. It was afterward occupied by Deacon Jonathan Adams, then by Artemas +Wood, and lastly by Milo H. Shattuck. This was moved off twelve or +fifteen years ago, and a spacious building put up, a few rods north, on +the old tavern site across the way, by Mr. Shattuck, who still carries +on a large business. + +Alpheus Richardson kept a store, about the year 1815, in his +dwelling-house, at the south corner of Main and Elm Streets, besides +having a book-bindery in the same building. The binder's shop was +continued until about 1850. It is said that this house was built +originally by Colonel James Prescott, for the use of his son, Abijah, as +a store; but it never was so occupied. + +Joseph and Phineas Hemenway built a store on the north corner of Main +and Elm Streets, about the year 1815, where they carried on a trading +business. They were succeeded by one Richardson, then by David Childs; +and finally by John Spalter, who had for many years a bookstore and +binder's shop in the building, which is now used as a dwelling-house. +At the present time Mr. Spalter is living in Keene, New Hampshire. + +About the year 1826, General Thomas A. Staples built and kept a store +on Main Street, directly north of the Union Church. He was followed +successively by Benjamin Franklin Lawrence, Henry Hill, and Walter +Shattuck. The building was burned down about ten years ago, and its site +is now occupied by Dr. David R. Steere's house. + +In the year 1847 a large building was moved from Hollis Street to +the corner of Main and Court Streets. It was put up originally as a +meeting-house for the Second Adventists, or Millerites as they were +called in this neighborhood, after William Miller, one of the founders +of the sect; but after it was taken to the new site, it was fitted up in +a commodious manner, with shops in the basement and a spacious hall in +the second story. The building was known as Liberty Hall, and formed a +conspicuous structure in the village. The post-office was kept in it, +while Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Andruss were the postmasters. It was used as a +shoe shop, a grocery, and a bakery, when, on Sunday, March 31, 1878, it +was burned to the ground. + +The brick store, owned by the Dix family, was built and kept by Aaron +Brown, near the beginning of the century. He was followed by Moses +Parker, and after him came ---- and Merriam, and then Benjamin P. Dix. +It is situated at the corner of Main Street and Broad-Meadow Road, and +now used as a dwelling-house. A very good engraving of this building is +given in The Groton Herald, May 8, 1830, which is called by persons who +remember it at that time a faithful representation, though it has since +undergone some changes. + +Near the end of the last century, Major William Swan traded in the house +now occupied by Charles Woolley, Jr., north of the Common near the old +burying-ground. It was Major Swan who set out the elm-trees in front of +this house, which was the Reverend Dr. Chaplin's dwelling for many +years. + +Two daughters of Isaac Bowers, a son of Landlord Bowers, had a dry-goods +shop in the house owned and occupied by the late Samuel W. Rowe, Esq. +About the year 1825, Walter Shattuck opened a store in the building +originally intended for the Presbyterian Church, opposite to the present +entrance of the Groton Cemetery. There was formerly a store kept by one +Mr. Lewis, near the site of Captain Asa Stillman Lawrence's house, north +of the Town Hall. There was a trader in town, Thomas Sackville Tufton by +name, who died in the year 1778, though I do not know the site of his +shop. Captain Samuel Ward, a native of Worcester, and an officer in the +French and Indian War, was engaged in business at Groton some time +before the Revolution. He removed to Lancaster, where at one time he was +town-clerk, and died there on August 14, 1826. + +The Groton post-office was established at the very beginning of the +present century, and before that time letters intended for this town +were sent through private hands. Previous to the Revolution there were +only a few post-offices in the Province, and often persons in distant +parts of Massachusetts received their correspondence at Boston. In +the Supplement to The Boston Gazette, February 9, 1756, letters are +advertised as remaining uncalled for, at the Boston office, addressed to +William Lakin and Abigail Parker, both of Groton, as well as to Samuel +Manning, Townsend, William Gleany, Dunstable, and Jonathan Lawrence, +Littleton. Nearly five months afterward these same letters are +advertised in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, July 1, 1756, as still +uncalled for. The name of David Farnum, America, appears also in this +list, and it is hoped that wherever he was he received the missive. The +names of Oliver Lack (probably intended for Lakin) and Ebenezer Parker, +both of this town, are given in another list printed in the Gazette of +June 28, 1762; and in the same issue one is advertised for Samuel +Starling, America. In the Supplement to the Gazette, October 10, 1768, +Ebenezer Farnsworth, Jr., and George Peirce, of Groton, had letters +advertised; and in the Gazette, October 18, 1773, the names of Amos +Farnsworth, Jonas Farnsworth, and William Lawrence, all of this town, +appear in the list. + +I find no record of a post-rider passing through Groton, during the +period immediately preceding the establishment of the post-office; +but there was doubtless such a person who used to ride on horseback, +equipped with saddle-bags, and delivered at regular intervals the weekly +newspapers and letters along the way. In the year 1794, according to the +History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire (page 129), a post-rider, by the +name of Balch, rode from Boston to Keene one week and back the next. +Probably he passed through this town, and served the inhabitants with +his favors. + +Several years ago I procured, through the kindness of General Charles +Devens, at that time a member of President Hayes's cabinet, some +statistics of the Groton post-office, which are contained in the +following letter:-- + + +Post-Office Department, Appointment Office, + Washington, D.C., September 3, 1877. + +Hon. CHARLES DEVENS, Attorney-General, Department of Justice. + +_Sir_,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communication +from Samuel A. Green, of Boston, Massachusetts, with your endorsement +thereon, requesting to be furnished with a list of postmasters at the +office of Groton, in that State, from the date of its establishment to +the present time. + +In reply, I have the honor to inform you, that the fire which consumed +the department building, on the night of the fifteenth of December, +1836, destroyed three of the earliest record-books of this office; but +by the aid of the auditor's ledger-books, it is ascertained that the +office began to render accounts on the first of January, 1801, but the +exact day is not known, Samuel Dana, was the first postmaster, and the +following list furnishes the history of the office, as shown by the +old records. + +Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Office probably established in +November, 1800. Samuel Dana began rendering accounts January 1, 1801. +Wm. M. Richardson, October 1, 1804. + +From this time the exact dates are known. + +Abraham Moore, appointed postmaster January 31, 1812. + +Eliphalet Wheeler, August 20, 1815. + +James Lewis, September 9, 1815. + +Caleb Butler, July 1, 1826. + +Henry Woods, January 15, 1839. + +George S. Boutwell, January 22, 1841. + +Caleb Butler, April 15, 1841. + +Welcome Lothrop, December 21, 1846. + +Artemas Wood, February 22, 1849. + +George H. Brown, May 4, 1849. + +Theodore Andruss, April 11, 1853. + +George W. Fiske, April 22, 1861. + +Henry Woodcock, February 13, 1867. + +Miss Hattie E. Farnsworth, June 11, 1869, who is the present incumbent. + +Each postmaster held the office up to the appointment of his successor, +but it is probable that Mr. Boutwell and Mr. A. Wood, although regularly +appointed, did not accept, judging by the dates of the next postmasters. + +As to the "income" of the office, to which allusion is made, it is very +difficult to obtain any of the amounts; but the first year and the last +year are herewith appended, as follows:-- + + Fiscal Year + (1801) (1876) + First quarter, $1.91 First quarter, $314.15 + Second " 2.13 Second " 296.94 + Third " 2.93 Third " 305.71 + Fourth " 5.29 Fourth " 294.28 + + For the year, $12.26 For the y'r, $1,211.08 + + +Trusting the foregoing, which is believed to be correct, will be +acceptable to you, I am, sir, respectfully, + +Your ob't serv't, + +JAMES H. MARR, + +Acting First Ass't P.M. General. + + +It will be seen that the net income of the office, during the first +seventy-five years of its existence, increased one hundred fold. + +West Groton is a small settlement that has sprung up in the western part +of the town, dating back in its history to the last century. It is +pleasantly situated on the banks of the Squannacook River, and in my +boyhood was known as Squannacook, a much better name than the present +one. It is to be regretted that so many of the old Indian words, which +smack of the region, should have been crowded out of our local +nomenclature. There is a small water-power here, and formerly a sawmill, +gristmill, and a paper-mill were in operation; but these have now given +way to a factory, where leather-board is made. The Peterborough and +Shirley branch of the Fitchburg Railroad passes through the place, and +some local business is transacted in the neighborhood. As a matter of +course, a post-office was needed in the village, and one was established +on March 19, 1850. The first person to fill the office was Adams +Archibald, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, who kept it in the +railway-station. + +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:-- + + Adams Archibald, March 19, 1850. + Edmund Blood, May 25, 1868. + Charles H. Hill, July 31, 1871. + George H. Bixby, June, 1878. + + +During the postmastership of Mr. Blood, and since that time, the office +has been kept at the only store in the place. + +A post-office was established at South Groton, on June 1, 1849, and the +first postmaster was Andrew B. Gardner. The village was widely known +as Groton Junction, and resulted from the intersection of several +railroads. Here six passenger-trains coming from different points were +due in the same station at the same time, and they all were supposed to +leave as punctually. + +The trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, arriving from each direction, and +likewise the trains on the Worcester and Nashua Road from the north and +the south, passed each other at this place. There was also a train from +Lowell, on the Stony Brook Railroad, and another on the Peterborough and +Shirley branch, coming at that time from West Townsend. + +A busy settlement grew up, which was incorporated as a distinct town +under the name of Ayer, on February 14, 1871. + +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:-- + + Andrew B. Gardner, June 1, 1849. + Harvey A. Wood, August 11, 1853. + George H. Brown, December 30, 1861. + William H. Harlow, December 5, 1862. + George H. Brown, January 15, 1863. + William H. Harlow, July 18, 1865. + + +The name of the post-office was changed by the department at Washington, +from South Groton to Groton Junction, on March 1, 1862; and subsequently +this was changed to Ayer, on March 22, 1871, soon after the +incorporation of the town, during the postmastership of Mr. Harlow. + +The letter of the acting first assistant postmaster-general, printed +above, supplements the account in Butler's History of Groton (pages +249-251). According to Mr. Butler's statement, the post-office was +established on. September 29, 1800, and the Honorable Samuel Dana was +appointed the first postmaster. No mail, however, was delivered at the +office until the last week in November. For a while it came to Groton +by the way of Leominster, certainly a very indirect route. This fact +appears from a letter written to Judge Dana, by the Postmaster-General, +under date of December 18, 1800, apparently in answer to a request to +have the mail brought directly from Boston. In this communication the +writer says:-- + + It appears to me, that the arrangement which has been made for + carrying the mail to Groton is sufficient for the accommodation of + the inhabitants, as it gives them the opportunity of receiving their + letters regularly, and with despatch, once a week. The route from + Boston, by Leominster, to Groton is only twenty miles farther than by + the direct route, and the delay of half a day, which is occasioned + thereby, is not of much consequence to the inhabitants of Groton. + If it should prove that Groton produces as much postage as Lancaster + and Leominster, the new contract for carrying the mail, which is + to be in operation on the first of October next, will be made by + Concord and Groton to Walpole, and a branch from Concord to + Marlborough. + + I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, + + JOS. HABERSHAM. + + +The amount of postage received from the office, after deducting the +necessary expenses, including the postmaster's salary, was, for the +first year after its establishment, about twelve dollars, or three +dollars for three months. In the year 1802 it was thirty-six dollars, or +nine dollars for three months, a large proportional increase. At this +time the mail came once a week only, and was brought by the stage-coach. + +Samuel Dana, the first postmaster, was a prominent lawyer at the time of +his appointment. He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Dana, of Groton, +and born in this town, June 26, 1767. He occupied a high position in the +community, and exerted a wide influence in the neighborhood. At a later +period he was president of the Massachusetts Senate, a member of +Congress, and finally chief-justice of the circuit court of common +pleas. He died at Charlestown, on November 20, 1835. + +Judge Dana kept the post-office in his own office, which was in the same +building as that of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, another noted lawyer. +These eminent men were on opposite sides of the same entry; and they +were generally on opposite sides of all important cases in the northern +part of Middlesex County. The building stood on the site of Governor +Boutwell's house, and is still remembered as the medical office of the +venerable Dr. Amos Bancroft. It was afterward moved away, and now stands +near the railway-station, where it is occupied as a dwelling-house. +Judge Dana held the office during four years, and he was succeeded by +William M. Richardson, Esq., afterward the chief-justice of the superior +court of New Hampshire. Mr. Richardson was a graduate of Harvard College +in the class of 1797, and at the time of his appointment as postmaster +had recently finished his professional studies in Groton, under the +guidance of Judge Dana. After his admission to the bar, Mr. Richardson +entered into partnership with his former instructor, succeeding him as +postmaster in July, 1804; and the office was still kept in the same +building. During Judge Richardson's term, the net revenue to the +department rose from nine dollars to about twenty-eight dollars for +three months. He held the position nearly eight years, and was followed +by Abraham Moore, who was commissioned on January 31, 1812. + +Mr. Moore was a native of Bolton, Massachusetts, where he was born on +January 5, 1785. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1806, +and studied law at Groton with the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, and after +his admission to the bar settled here as a lawyer. His office was on +the site of the north end of Gerrish's block, and it was here that the +post-office was kept. During his administration the average income from +the office was about thirty-three dollars, for the quarter. In the +summer of 1815, Mr. Moore resigned the position and removed to Boston. + +Eliphalet Wheeler, who kept the store now occupied by Mr. Gerrish, was +appointed in Mr. Moore's stead, and the post-office was transferred to +his place of business. He, however, was not commissioned, owing, it is +thought, to his political views; and Major James Lewis, who was sound +in his politics, received the appointment in his stead. Major Lewis, +retained Mr. Wheeler for a short time as his assistant, and during this +period the duties were performed by him in his own store. Shortly +afterward Caleb Butler, Esq., was appointed the assistant, and he +continued to hold the position for eight years. During this time the +business was carried on in Mr. Butler's law office, and the revenue to +the government reached the sum of fifty dollars a quarter. His office +was then in a small building,--just south of Mr. Hoar's tavern,--which +was moved away about the year 1820, and taken to the lot where Colonel +Needham's house now stands, at the corner of Main and Hollis Streets. It +was fitted up as a dwelling, and subsequently moved away again. At this +time the old store of Mr. Brazer, who had previously died, was brought +from over the way, and occupied by Mr. Butler, on the site of his former +office. + +On July 1, 1826, Mr. Butler, who had been Major Lewis's assistant for +many years, and performed most of the duties of the office, was +commissioned postmaster. + +Mr. Butler was a native of Pelham, New Hampshire, where he was born on +September 13, 1776, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of +1800. He had been the preceptor of Groton Academy for some years, and +was widely known as a critical scholar. He had previously studied law +with the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, though his subsequent +practice was more in drawing up papers and settling estates than in +attendance at courts. His name is now identified with the town as its +historian. During his term of office as postmaster, the revenue rose +from fifty dollars to one hundred and ten dollars a quarter. He held the +position nearly thirteen years, to the entire satisfaction of the +public; but for political heresy was removed on January 15, 1839, when +Henry Woods was commissioned as his successor. + +Mr. Woods held the office until his death, which occurred on January 12, +1841; and he was followed by the Honorable George S. Boutwell, since the +Governor of the Commonwealth and a member of the United States Senate. +During the administration of Mr. Woods and Mr. Boutwell, the office was +kept in the brick store, opposite to the present High School. + +Upon the change in the administration of the National Government, +Mr. Butler was reinstated in office, and commissioned on April 15, 1841. +He continued to hold the position until December 21, 1846, when he was +again removed for political reasons. Mr. Butler was a most obliging man, +and his removal was received by the public with general regret. During +his two terms he filled the office for more than eighteen years, a +longer period than has fallen to the lot of any other postmaster of +the town. Near the end of his service a material change was made in the +rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus +comments on it:-- + + + The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to + December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four + dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the + first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars + and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the + natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and + fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before + had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon + the treasury. Whether the present rates will eventually raise a + sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures, remains to be seen. The + greatest difficulty to be overcome is evasion of the post-office laws + and fraud upon the department. + + +Like many other persons of that period, Mr. Butler did not appreciate +the fact that the best way to prevent evasions of the law is to reduce +the rates of postage so low that it will not pay to run the risk of +fraud. + +Captain Welcome Lothrop succeeded Mr. Butler as postmaster, and during +his administration the office was kept in Liberty Hall. Captain Lothrop +was a native of Easton, Massachusetts, and a land-surveyor of some +repute in this neighborhood. Artemas Wood followed him by appointment on +February 22, 1849; but he never entered upon the duties of his office. +He was succeeded by George H. Brown, who had published The Spirit of the +Times--a political newspaper--during the presidential canvass of 1848, +and in this way had become somewhat prominent as a local politician. Mr. +Brown was appointed on May 4, 1849; and during his term the office was +kept in an ell of his dwelling-house, which was situated nearly opposite +to the Orthodox meeting-house. He was afterward the postmaster of Ayer. +Mr. Brown was followed by Theodore Andruss, a native of Orford, New +Hampshire, who was commissioned on April 11, 1853. Mr. Andruss brought +the office back to Liberty Hall, and continued to be the incumbent until +April 22, 1861, when he was succeeded by George W. Fiske. On February +13, 1867, Henry Woodcock was appointed to the position, and the office +was then removed to the Town Hall, where most excellent accommodations +were given to the public. + +He was followed on June 11, 1869, by Miss Harriet E. Farnsworth, now +Mrs. Marion Putnam; and she in turn was succeeded on July 2, 1880, by +Mrs. Christina D. (Caryl) Fosdick, the widow of Samuel Woodbury Fosdick, +and the present incumbent. + +The office is still kept in the Town Hall, and there is no reason to +think that it will be removed from the spacious and commodious quarters +it now occupies, for a long time to come. Few towns in the Commonwealth +can present such an array of distinguished men among their postmasters +as those of Groton, including, as it does, the names of Judge Dana, +Judge Richardson, Mr. Butler, and Governor Boutwell. + +By the new postal law which went into operation on the first of last +October, the postage is now two cents to any part of the United States, +on all letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight. This rate +certainly seems cheap enough, but in time the public will demand the +same service for a cent. Less than forty years ago the charge was five +cents for any distance not exceeding three hundred miles, and ten cents +for any greater distance. This was the rate established by the law which +took effect on July 1, 1845; and it was not changed until July, 1851, +when it was reduced to three cents on single letters, prepaid, or five +cents, if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand miles. By +the law which went into operation on June 30, 1863, prepayment by stamps +was made compulsory, the rate remaining at three cents; though a special +clause was inserted, by which the letters of soldiers or sailors, then +fighting for the Union in the army or navy, might go without prepayment. + +[Footnote 1: Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence, pages 24, 25.] + + * * * * * + + + + +LOVEWELL'S WAR. + +By John N. McClintock, A.M. + + +On the morning of September 4, 1724, Thomas Blanchard and Nathan Cross, +of Dunstable, started from the Harbor and crossed the Nashua River, to +do a day's work in the pine forest to the northward. The day was wet +and drizzly. Arriving at their destination they placed their arms and +ammunition, as well as their lunch and accompanying jug, in a hollow +log, to keep them dry. During the day they were surrounded by a party of +Mohawks from Canada, who hurried them into captivity. + +Their continued absence aroused the anxiety of their friends and +neighbors and a relief party of ten was at once organized to make a +search for the absentees. This party, under the command of Lieutenant +French, soon arrived at the place where the men had been at work, and +found several barrels of turpentine spilled on the ground, and, to the +keen eyes of those hardy pioneers, unmistakable evidence of the presence +of unfriendly Indians. Other signs indicated that the prisoners had been +carried away alive. The party at once determined upon pursuit, and +following the trail up the banks of the Merrimack came to the outlet +of Horse-Shoe Pond in the present town of Merrimac, where they were +surprised and overwhelmed by a large force of the enemy. Josiah Farwell +alone of that little band escaped to report the fate of his companions. + +Blanchard and Cross were taken to Canada. After nearly a year's +confinement they succeeded in effecting their own ransom and returned to +their homes. The gun, jug, and lunch-basket were found in the hollow log +where they had been left the year before. + +Enraged by these and similar depredations, the whole frontier was +aroused to aggressive measures. John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and +Jonathan Robbins at once petitioned for, and were granted, the right to +raise a scouting party to carry the war into the enemy's country. + +At this time the settlements of New Hampshire were near the coast +outside of a line from Dover to Dunstable, except the lately planted +colony of Scotch-Irish at Londonderry. Hinsdale, or Dummer's Fort, was +the outpost on the Connecticut. To the north extended a wild, unbroken +wilderness to the French frontier in Canada. Through this vast region, +now overflowing with happy homes, wandered small bands of Indians +intent on the chase, or the surprise of their rivals, the white trappers +and hunters. + +A large section of this country, fifty miles in width, was opened for +peaceful settlement by the bravery of Captain John Lovewell and the +company under his command. In this view their acts become more important +than those of a mere scouting party, and demand, and have received, an +acknowledged place in New-England history. + +The company, which was raised by voluntary enlistments, was placed under +the command of John Lovewell. This redoubtable captain came of fighting +stock--his immediate ancestor serving as an ensign in the army of Oliver +Cromwell. Bravery and executive ability are evidently transmissible +qualities; for in one line of his direct descendants it is known that +the family have served their country in four wars, as commissioned +officers; in three wars holding the rank of general.[2] + +At this time Captain John Lovewell was in the prime of life, and burning +with zeal to perform some valiant exploit against the Indians. + +The first raid of the company resulted in one scalp and one captive, +taken December 10, 1724, and carried to Boston. + +The company started on their second expedition January 27, 1724-5, +crossing the Merrimack at Nashua, and pushing northward. They arrived +at the shores of Lake Winnipiseogee, Februrary 9, and scouted in that +neighborhood for a few days, when, from the scarcity of provisions, a +part of the force returned to their homes. + +Traces of Indians were discovered in the neighborhood of Tamworth by the +remaining force, and the trail was followed until, February 20, they +discovered the smoke of an Indian encampment. A surprise was quickly +planned and successfully executed, leading to the capture of ten scalps, +valued by the provincial authorities at one thousand ounces of silver. + +Captain Lovewell next conceived the bold design of attacking the village +of Pigwacket, near the head waters of the Saco, whose chief, Paugus, a +noted warrior, inspired terror along the whole northern frontier. + +Commanding a company of forty-six trained men, Captain Lovewell started +from Dunstable on his arduous undertaking, April 16, 1725. Toby, an +Indian ally, soon gave out and returned to the lower settlements. Near +the island at the mouth of the Contoocook, which will forever perpetuate +the memory of Hannah Dustin, William Cummings, disabled by an old wound, +was discharged and was sent home under the escort of Josiah Cummings, a +kinsman. On the west shore of Lake Ossipee, Benjamin Kidder was sick and +unable to proceed; and the commander of the expedition decided to build +a fort and leave a garrison to guard the provisions and afford a shelter +in case of defeat or retreat. Sergeant Nathaniel Woods was left in +command. The garrison consisted of Dr. William Aver, John Goffe, John +Gilson, Isaac Whitney, Zachariah Whitney, Zebadiah Austin, Edward +Spoony, and Ebenezer Halburt. With his company reduced to thirty-three +effective men, Captain Lovewell pushed on toward the enemy. On Saturday +morning, May 8, in the neighborhood of Fryeburg, Maine, while the +rangers were at prayers, they were startled by the discharge of a gun, +and were soon attacked by a force of about eighty Indians. Their rear +was protected by the lake, by the side of which they fought. All through +the day the unequal contest continued. As night settled upon the scene +the savages withdrew, and the scouts commenced their painful retreat of +forty miles toward their fort. Left dead upon the field of battle were +Captain John Lovewell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, John Harwood, Robert +Usher, Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel +Woods, John Jefts, Ichabod Johnson, and Jonathan Kittredge. Lieutenant +Josiah Farwell, Chaplain Jonathan Frye, and Elias Barron, were mortally +wounded, and perished in the wilderness. Solomon Keyes, Sergeant Noah +Johnson, Corporal Timothy Richardson, John Chamberlain, Isaac Lakin, +Eleazer Davis, and Josiah Jones, were seriously wounded, but escaped to +the lower settlements in company with their uninjured comrades, Seth +Wyman, Edward Lingfield, Thomas Richardson, Daniel Melvin, Eleazer +Melvin, Ebenezer Ayer, Abial Austin, Joseph Farrar, Benjamin Hassell, +and Joseph Gilson,--names which should be held in honor for all time. + +[Illustration: Township of Bow, NH, and vicinity.] + +Both parties seemed willing to retreat from this disastrous battle, each +with the loss of its chief. Paugus and many of his braves fell before +the unerring fire of the frontiersmen, and the tribe of Pigwacket, which +had so long menaced the borders, withdrew to Canada. + +The ambitious young men of the older settlements had seen with jealousy +a band of strangers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, granted a beautiful +and fruitful tract, which already blossomed under the industrious +work of the newcomers. They clamored for grants which they, too, could +cultivate. Every pretext was advanced to secure a claim. No petitioners +were better entitled to consideration than the representatives of those +who had rendered so large a section habitable. + +Massachusetts Bay Colony had long claimed as a northern boundary a line +three miles north of the Merrimack and parallel thereto, from its mouth +to its source, thence westward to the bounds of New York. Under the +pressure brought to bear by interested parties, the General Court of +Massachusetts granted, January 17, 1725-6, the township of Penacook, +embracing the city of Concord, New Hampshire. + +In May, 1727, a petition from the survivors of Lovewell's command was +favorably received by the General Court, and soon afterward Suncook, or +Lovewell's township, was granted. Only two of the company are known to +have settled in the town--Francis Doyen, who was with Lovewell on his +second expedition, and Noah Johnson. The latter was the last survivor of +the company. He was a deacon of the church in Suncook for many years, +received a pension from Massachusetts, and died in Plymouth, New +Hampshire, in 1798, in the one hundredth year of his age. + +Captain John Lovewell was represented in the township of Suncook by his +daughter Hannah, who married Joseph Baker, settled on her father's +right, raised a large family, and died at a good old age. A great +multitude of her descendants are scattered throughout the United States. + +The original grantees of the township, for the most part, assigned their +rights to persons who became actual settlers. + +In the year 1740, the King in council decided the present line as the +boundary between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, thus leaving Suncook, +and many other of the townships granted by the latter Province, within +the former. For a score of years following, the settlers were harassed +by the proprietors of the soil under the Masonian Claim, until, in 1759, +a compromise was effected, and Pembroke was incorporated. + +In 1774, a new township in the District of Maine, was granted, by the +General Court of Massachusetts, to the "proprietors of Suncook," to +recompense them for their losses. The township was called Sambrook, and +embraced the present towns of Lovell and New Sweden; it was located in +the neighborhood of the battle-field, where, a half century before, so +many brave lives had been sacrificed. + +NOTE.--The townships of Rumford and Suncook, both granted by +Massachusetts authorities, made a common cause in the defence of their +rights against the claimants under New Hampshire, known as the Bow +proprietors. The latter, who were, in fact, the New Hampshire Provincial +authorities, and who not only prosecuted but adjudicated the cases, +brought suits for such small extent of territory in each case, that +there was no legal appeal to the higher courts in England. The two towns +therefore authorized the Reverend Timothy Walker, the first settled +minister of Rumford, to represent their cause before the King in +council. By the employment of able counsel and judicious management of +the case, he was eminently successful, and obtained a decision favorable +to the Massachusetts settlers. In the meanwhile, the proprietors of +Suncook had compromised with the Bow proprietors, surrendering half of +their rights--for them the decision came too late. The Rumford +proprietors, however, were benefited, and Concord, under which name +Rumford was incorporated by New Hampshire laws, maintained its old +boundaries as originally granted,--which remain practically the same to +this day. + +[Footnote 2: General Timothy Bedel served during the Revolution; his +son, General Moody Bedel, served in the War of 1812; his son, General +John Bedel, was a lieutenant in the Mexican War, and brigadier-general +in the Rebellion.] + + * * * * * + + + + +HISTORIC TREES. + +By L.L. Dame. + + +THE WASHINGTON ELM. + +At the north end of the Common in Old Cambridge stands the famous +Washington Elm, which has been oftener visited, measured, sketched, and +written up for the press, than any other tree in America. It is of +goodly proportions, but, as far as girth of trunk and spread of branches +constitute the claim upon our respect, there are many nobler specimens +of the American elm in historic Middlesex. + +[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON ELM. [From D. Lothrop & Company's Young +Folks' Life of Washington.]] + +Extravagant claims have been made with regard to its age, but it is +extremely improbable that any tree of this species has ever rounded out +its third century. Under favorable conditions, the growth of the elm is +very rapid, a single century sometimes sufficing to develop a tree +larger than the Washington Elm. + +When Governor Winthrop and Lieutenant-Governor Dudley, in 1630, rode +along the banks of the Charles in quest of a suitable site for the +capital of their colony, it is barely possible the great elm was in +being. It would be a pleasant conceit to link the thrifty growth of +the young sapling with the steady advancement of the new settlement, +enshrining it as a sort of guardian genius of the place, the living +witness of progress in Cambridge from the first feeble beginnings. + +The life of the tree, however, probably does not date farther back than +the last quarter of the seventeenth century. In its early history there +was nothing to distinguish it from its peers of the greenwood. When the +surrounding forest fell beneath the axe of the woodman, the trees +conspicuous for size and beauty escaped the general destruction; among +these was the Washington Elm; but there is no evidence that it surpassed +its companions. + +Tradition states that another large elm once stood on the northwest +corner of the Common, under which the Reverend George Whitefield, the +Wesleyan evangelist, preached in 1745. Others claim that it was the +Washington Elm under which the sermon was delivered. The two trees stood +near each other, and the hearers were doubtless scattered under each. +But the great elm was destined to look down upon scenes that stirred the +blood even more than the vivid eloquence of a Whitefield. Troublous +times had come, and the mutterings of discontent were voicing themselves +in more and more articulate phrase. The old tree must have been privy +to a great deal of treasonable talk--at first, whispered with many +misgivings, under the cover of darkness; later, in broad daylight, +fearlessly spoken aloud. The smoke of bonfires, in which blazed the +futile proclamations of the King, was wafted through its branches. +It saw the hasty burial, by night, of the Cambridge men who were slain +upon the nineteenth of April, 1775; it saw the straggling arrival of +the beaten, but not disheartened, survivors of Bunker Hill; it saw the +Common--granted to the town as a training-field--suddenly transformed +to a camp, under General Artemas Ward, commander-in-chief of the +Massachusetts troops. + +The crowning glory in the life of the great elm was at hand. On the +twenty-first of June, Washington, without allowing himself time to take +leave of his family, set out on horseback from Philadelphia, arriving at +Cambridge on the second of July. Sprightly Dorothy Dudley in her Journal +describes the exercises of the third, with the florid eloquence of +youth. + +"To-day, he (Washington) formally took command, under _one of the +grand old elms_ on the Common. It was a magnificent sight. The +majestic figure of the General, mounted upon his horse beneath the +wide-spreading branches of the patriarch tree; the multitude thronging +the plain around, and the houses filled with interested spectators of +the scene, while the air rung with shouts of enthusiastic welcome, as he +drew his sword, and thus declared himself Commander-in-chief of the +Continental army." + +Dorothy does not specify under which elm Washington stood. It is safely +inferable from her language that our tree was one of several noble elms +which at this time were standing upon the Common. + +Although no contemporaneous pen seems to have pointed out the exact tree +beyond all question, happily the day is not so far distant from us that +oral testimony is inadmissible. Of this there is enough to satisfy the +most captious critic. + +Where the stone church is now situated, there was formerly an old +gambrel-roofed house, in which the Moore family lived during the +Revolution. The situation was very favorable for observation, commanding +the highroad from Watertown to Cambridge Common, and directly opposite +the great elm. From the windows of this house the spectators saw the +ceremony to good advantage, and one of them, styled, in 1848, the +"venerable Mrs. Moore," lived to point out the tree, and describe the +glories of the occasion, seventy-five years afterward. Fathers, who were +eyewitnesses standing beneath this tree, have told the story to their +sons, and those sons have not yet passed away. There is no possibility +that we are paying our vows at a counterfeit shrine. + +Great events which mark epochs in history, bestow an imperishable +dignity even upon the meanest objects with which they are associated. +When Washington drew his sword beneath the branches, the great elm, thus +distinguished above its fellows, passed at once into history, +henceforward to be known as the Washington Elm. + + "Under the brave old tree + Our fathers gathered in arms, and swore + They would follow the sign their banners bore, + And fight till the land was free."--_Holmes_. + + +The elm was often honored by the presence of Washington, who, it is +said, had a platform built among the branches, where, we may suppose, +he used to ponder over the plans of the campaign. The Continental army, +born within the shade of the old tree, overflowing the Common, converted +Cambridge into a fortified camp. Here, too, the flag of thirteen stripes +for the first time swung to the breeze. + +These were the palmy days of the elm. When the tide of war set away +from New England, the Washington Elm fell into unmerited neglect. The +struggling patriots had no time for sentiment; and when the war came to +an end they were too busy in shaping the conduct of the government, and +in repairing their shattered fortunes, to pay much attention to trees. +It was not until the great actors in those days were rapidly passing +away, that their descendants turned with an affectionate regard to the +enduring monuments inseparably associated with the fathers. Among these, +the Washington Elm deservedly holds a high rank. + +On the third of July, 1875, the citizens of Cambridge celebrated the one +hundredth anniversary of Washington's assuming the command of the army. +The old tree was the central figure of the occasion. The American flag +floated above the topmost branches, and a profusion of smaller flags +waved amid the foliage. Never tree received a more enthusiastic ovation. + +It is enclosed by a circular iron fence erected by the Reverend Daniel +Austin. Outside the fence, but under the branches, stands a granite +tablet erected by the city of Cambridge, upon which is cut an +inscription written by Longfellow:-- + + + UNDER THIS TREE + WASHINGTON + FIRST TOOK COMMAND + OF THE + AMERICAN ARMY, + JULY 3D, 1775. + + +In 1850, it still retained its graceful proportions; its great limbs +were intact, and it showed few traces of age. Within the past +twenty-five years, it has been gradually breaking up. + +In 1844, its girth, three feet from the ground, where its circumference +is least, was twelve feet two and a half inches. In 1884, at the same +point, it measures fourteen feet one inch; a gain so slight that the +rings of annual growth must be difficult to trace--an evidence of waning +vital force. The grand subdivisions of the trunk are all sadly crippled; +unsightly bandages of zinc mask the progress of decay; the symptoms of +approaching dissolution are painfully evident, especially in the winter +season. In summer, the remaining vitality expends itself in a host of +branchlets which feather the limbs, and give rise to a false impression +of vigor. + +Never has tree been cherished with greater care, but its days are +numbered. A few years more or less, and, like Penn's Treaty Elm and the +famous Charter Oak, it will be numbered with the things that were. + + +THE ELIOT OAK + +When John Eliot had become a power among the Indians, with far-reaching +sagacity he judged it best to separate his converts from the whites, and +accordingly, after much inquiry and toilsome search, gathered them into +a community at Natick--an old Indian name formerly interpreted as "a +place of hills," but now generally admitted to mean simply "my land." +Anticipating the policy which many believe must eventually be adopted +with regard to the entire Indian question, Eliot made his settlers +land-owners, conferred upon them the right to vote and hold office, +impressed upon them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and +taught them the rudiments of agriculture and the mechanic arts. + +In the summer of 1651, the Indians built a framed edifice, which +answered, as is the case to-day in many small country towns, the double +purpose of a schoolroom on week-days, and a sanctuary on the Sabbath. +Professor C.E. Stowe once called that building the first known +theological seminary of New England, and said that for real usefulness +it was on a level with, if not above, any other in the known world. + +It is assumed that two oaks, one of the red, and the other of the white, +species, of which the present Eliot Oak is the survivor, were standing +near this first Indian church. The early records of Eliot's labors make +no mention of these trees. Adams, in his Life of Eliot, says: "It would +be interesting if we could identify some of the favorite places of the +Indians in this vicinity," but fails to find sufficient data. Bigelow +(or Biglow, according to ancient spelling), in his History of Natick, +1830, states: "There are two oaks near the South Meeting-house, which +have undoubtedly stood there since the days of Eliot." It is greatly to +be regretted that the writer did not state the evidence upon which his +conclusion was based. + +Bacon, in his History of Natick, 1856, remarks: "The oak standing a few +rods to the east of the South Meeting-house bears every evidence of an +age greater than that of the town, and was probably a witness of Eliot's +first visit to the 'place of hills.'" It would be quite possible to +subscribe to this conclusion, while dissenting entirely from the +premises. It will be noticed that Bacon relies upon the appearance of +the tree as a proof of its age. His own measurement, fourteen and a half +feet circumference at two feet from the ground, is not necessarily +indicative of more than a century's growth. + +The writer upon Natick, in Drake's Historic Middlesex, avoids expressing +an opinion. "Tradition links these trees with the Indian Missionary." +For very long flights of time, tradition--as far as the age of trees is +concerned--cannot at all be relied upon; within the narrow limits +involved in the present case, it may be received with caution. + +The Red Oak which stood nearly in front of the old Newell Tavern, was +the original Eliot Oak. Mr. Austin Bacon, who is familiar with the early +history and legends of Natick, states that "Mr. Samuel Perry, a man who +could look back to 1749, often said that Mr. Peabody, the successor to +Eliot, used to hitch his horse by that tree every Sabbath, because Eliot +used to hitch his there." + +This oak was originally very tall; the top was probably broken off in +the tremendous September gale of 1815; as it was reported to be in a +mutilated condition in 1820. Time, however, partially concealed the +disaster by means of a vigorous growth of the remaining branches. In +1830, it measured seventeen feet in circumference two feet from the +ground. It had now become a tree of note, and would probably have +monopolized the honors to the exclusion of the present Eliot Oak, had it +not met with an untimely end. The keeper of the tavern in front of which +it stood had the tree cut down in May, 1842. This act occasioned great +indignation, and gave rise to a lawsuit at Framingham, "which was +settled by the offenders against public opinion paying the costs and +planting trees in the public green." A cartload of the wood was carried +to the trial, and much of it was taken home by the spectators to make +into canes and other relics, + + "The King is dead, long live the King!" + + +Upon the demise of the old monarch, the title naturally passed to the +White Oak, its neighbor, another of the race of Titans, standing +conveniently near, of whose early history very little is positively +known beyond the fact that it is an old tree; and with the title passed +the traditions and reverence that gather about crowned heads. + +Mrs. Stowe has given it a new claim to notice, for beneath it, according +to Drake's Historic Middlesex, "Sam Lawson, the good-natured, lazy +story-teller, in Oldtown Folks, put his blacksmith's shop. It was +removed when the church was built." + +The present Eliot Oak stands east of the Unitarian meeting-house, which +church is on or near the spot where Eliot's first church stood. It +measured, January, 1884, seventeen feet in circumference at the ground; +fourteen feet two inches at four feet above. It is a fine old tree, and +it is not improbable--though it is unproven--that it dates back to the +first settlement of Natick. + + "Thou ancient oak! whose myriad leaves are loud + With sounds of unintelligible speech, + Sounds as of surges on a shingly beach, + Or multitudinous murmurs of a crowd; + With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed + Thou speakest a different dialect to each. + To me a language that no man can teach, + Of a lost race long vanished like a cloud, + For underneath thy shade, in days remote, + Seated like Abraham at eventide, + Beneath the oak of Mamre, the unknown + Apostle of the Indian, Eliot, wrote + His Bible in a language that hath died. + And is forgotten save by thee alone."--_Longfellow_. + + * * * * * + + + + +HIS GREATEST TRIUMPH. + +By Henrietta E. Page. + + + Yet slept the wearied mæstro, and all around was still, + Though the sunlight danced on tree-top, on valley, and on hill; + The distant city's busy hum, just faintly heard afar, + Served but to lull to deeper rest Euterpe's brilliant star. + + Wilhelmj slept, for over-night his triumphs had been grand, + He had praised and fêted been by the noblest in the land, + And rich and poor had vied alike to honor Music's king, + Making the lofty rafters with the wildest plaudits ring. + + Now, brain and hand aweary, he had fled for peace and rest, + And he should be disturbed by none, not e'en a royal guest. + The porter nodded in his chair: I dare not say he slept: + But sprang upright, as through the door a fairy vision crept. + + A tiny girl with shining eyes, and wavy golden hair, + Tip-toed along the corridor, and close up to his chair, + And a bird-like voice sweet questioned, "Wilhelmj, where is he? + I've brought a little tribute for the great mæstro,--see!" + + Her looped-up dress she opened, displaying to his view + A mass of brilliant woodland flowers, wet with morning dew; + Placing his finger on his lip, he pointed out the door; + She smiled her thanks, and softly went and strewed them on the floor. + + Then like a vision of the morn, with eyes of heaven's own blue, + She slowly oped the outer door and gently glided through. + Hours after, when Wilhelmj woke he gazed in mute surprise + Upon those buds and blossoms fair, with softened, tender eyes. + + They took him back long years agone, when, as a happy child, + He wandered, too, amid the woods, on summer mornings mild; + Aye, back to his home and mother; back to his old home nest, + To the blessed scenes of childhood; back into peace and rest. + + And when he heard the story,--how the child had come and fled,-- + "This is my greatest triumph" (with tears the mæstro said), + "For no gift of king or princes, no praise could please me more. + Than this living mat of flowers a child laid at my door." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS. + +By Thomas W. Bicknell, LL.D. + + +The act of banishment which severed Roger Williams from the +Massachusetts Colony, in 1635, was the means of _advancing_, rather +than _hindering_, the spread of the so-called _heresies_ which +he so bravely advocated. As the persecutions which drove the disciples +of Christ from Jerusalem were the means of extending the cause of +Christianity, so the principles of toleration and of soul-liberty were +strengthened by opposition, in the mind of this apostle of freedom of +conscience in the New World. His Welsh birth and Puritan education made +him a bold and earnest advocate of whatever truth his conscience +approved, and he went everywhere "preaching the word" of individual +freedom. The sentence of exile could not silence his tongue, nor destroy +his influence. "The divers new and dangerous opinions" which he had +"broached and divulged," though hostile to the notions of the clergy and +the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, were at the same time quite +acceptable to a few brave souls, who, like himself, dared the censures, +and even the persecutions, of their brethren, for the sake of liberty of +conscience. + +The dwellers in old Rehoboth were the nearest white neighbors of Roger +Williams and his band at Providence. The Reverend Samuel Newman was the +pastor of the church in this ancient town, having removed with the first +settlers from Weymouth in 1643. Learned, godly, and hospitable, as he +was, he had not reached the "height of that great argument" concerning +human freedom; and while he cherished kindly feelings toward the +dwellers at Providence, he evidently feared the introduction of their +sentiments among his people. The jealous care of Newman to preserve what +he conscientiously regarded as the purity of religious faith and polity +was not a sufficient barrier against the teachings of the founder of +Rhode Island. + +Although the settlers of Plymouth Colony cherished more liberal +sentiments than their neighbors of the Bay Colony, and sanctioned the +expulsion of Mr. Williams from Seekonk only for the purpose of +preserving peace with those whom Blackstone called "the Lord Bretheren," +yet they guarded the prerogatives of the ruling church order as worthy +not only of the _respect_, but also the _support_, of all. +Rehoboth was the most liberal, as well as the most loyal, of the +children of Plymouth; but the free opinions which the planters brought +from Weymouth, where an attempt had already been made to establish a +Baptist church, enabled them to sympathize strongly with their neighbors +across the Seekonk River. "At this time," says Baylies, "so much +indifference as to the support of the clergy was manifested in Plymouth +Colony, as to excite the alarm of the other confederated colonies. The +complaint of Massachusetts against Plymouth on this subject was laid +before the Commissioners, and drew from them a severe reprehension. +Rehoboth had been afflicted with a severe schism, and by its proximity +to Providence and its plantations, where there was a universal +toleration, the practice of free inquiry was encouraged, and principle, +fancy, whim, and conscience, all conspired to lessen the veneration for +ecclesiastical authority." As the "serious schism" referred to above led +to the foundation of the first Baptist church within the Commonwealth of +Massachusetts, on New Meadow Neck in Old Swanzey, it is worthy of record +here. The leader in this church revolt was Obadiah Holmes, a native of +Preston, in Lancashire, England. He was connected with the church in +Salem from 1639 till 1646, when he was excommunicated, and removing with +his family to Rehoboth, he joined Mr. Newman's church. The doctrines and +the discipline of this church proved too severe for Mr. Holmes, and he, +with eight others, withdrew in 1649, and established a new church by +themselves. + +Mr. Newman's irascible temper was kindled into a persecuting zeal +against the offending brethren, and, after excommunicating them, he +aroused the civil authorities against them. So successful was he that +four petitions were presented to the Plymouth Court; one from Rehoboth, +signed by thirty-five persons; one from Taunton; one from all the +clergymen in the colony but two, and one from the government of +Massachusetts. How will the authorities at Plymouth treat this first +division in the ruling church of the colony? Will they punish by severe +fines, by imprisonment, by scourgings, or by banishment? By neither, for +a milder spirit of toleration prevailed, and the separatists were simply +directed to "refrain from practices disagreeable to their brethren, and +to appear before the Court." + +In 1651, some time after his trial at Plymouth, Mr. Holmes was arrested, +with Mr. Clarke, of Newport, and Mr. Crandall, for preaching and +worshiping God with some of their brethren at Lynn. They were condemned +by the Court at Boston to suffer fines or whippings. Holmes refused to +pay the fine, and would not allow his friends to pay it for him, saying +that "to pay it would be acknowledging himself to have done wrong, +whereas his conscience testified that he had done right." He was +accordingly punished with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip, with +such severity, says Governor Jenks, "that in many days, if not some +weeks, he could take no rest but as he lay upon his knees and elbows, +not being able to suffer any part of his body to touch the bed whereon +he lay." Soon after this, Holmes and his followers moved to Newport, and +on the death of the Reverend Mr. Clarke, in 1652, he succeeded him as +pastor of the First Baptist Church in that time. Mr. Holmes died at +Newport in 1682, aged seventy-six years. + +The persecution offered to the Rehoboth Baptists scattered their +church, but did not destroy their principles. Facing the obloquy +attached to their cause, and braving the trials imposed by the civil +and ecclesiastical powers, they must wait patiently God's time of +deliverance. That their lives were free from guile, none claim. That +their cause was righteous, none will deny; and while the elements +of a Baptist church were thus gathering strength on this side of the +Atlantic, a leader was prepared for them, by God's providence, on the +other. In the same year that Obadiah Holmes and his band established +their church in Massachusetts, in opposition to the Puritan order, +Charles I, the great English traitor, expiated his "high crimes and +misdemeanors" on the scaffold, at the hands of a Puritan Parliament. +Then followed the period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and then +the Restoration, when "there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew +not Joseph." The Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, under the sanction +of Charles II, though a fatal blow at the purity and piety of the +English Church, was a royal blessing to the cause of religion in +America. Two thousand bravely conscientious men, who feared God more +than the decrees of Pope, King, or Parliament, were driven from their +livings and from the kingdom. What was England's great loss was +America's great gain, for a grand tidal wave of emigration swept +westward across the Atlantic to our shores. Godly men and women, clergy +and laity, made up this exiled band, too true and earnest to yield a +base compliance to the edict of conformity. For thirteen years here the +Dissenters from Mr. Newman's church waited for a spiritual guide, but +not in vain. + +How our Baptist brethren here conducted themselves during these years, +and the difficulties they may have occasioned or encountered, we know +but little. Plymouth, liberal already, has grown more lenient towards +church offenders in matters of conscience. Mr. John Brown, a citizen of +Rehoboth, and one of the magistrates, has presented before the Court his +scruples at the expediency of coercing the people to support the +ministry, and has offered to pay from his own property the taxes of all +those of his townsmen who may refuse their support of the ministry. This +was in 1665. Massachusetts Bay has tried to correct the errors of her +sister colony on the subject of toleration, and has in turn been rebuked +by her example. + + +JOHN MYLES. + +Leaving the membership awhile, let us cross the sea to Wales to find +their future pastor and teacher--John Myles. + +Wales had been the asylum for the persecuted and oppressed for many +centuries. There freedom of religious thought was tolerated, and from +thence sprung three men of unusual vigor and power: Roger Williams, +Oliver Cromwell, and John Myles. About the year 1645, the Baptists in +that country who had previously been scattered and connected with other +churches, began to unite in the formation of separate churches, under +their own pastors. Prominent among these was the Reverend Mr. Myles, who +preached in various places with great success, until the year 1649, when +we find him pastor of a church which he organized in Swansea, in South +Wales. It is a singular coincidence that Mr. Myles's pastorate at +Swansea, and the separation of the members from the Rehoboth church, a +part of whom aided in establishing the church in Swanzey, Massachusetts, +occurred in the same year. + +During the Protectorate of Cromwell, all Dissenters enjoyed the largest +liberty of conscience, and, as a result, the church at Swansea grew from +forty-eight to three hundred souls. Around this centre of influence +sprang up several branch churches, and pastors were raised up to care +for them. Mr. Myles soon became the leader of his denomination in Wales, +and in 1651 he was sent as the representative of all the Baptist +churches in Wales to the Baptist ministers' meeting, at Glazier's Hall, +London, with a letter, giving an account of the peace, union, and +increase of the work. As a preacher and worker he had no equal in that +country, and his zeal enabled him to establish many new churches in his +native land. The act of the English Saint Bartholomew's Day, in 1662, +deprived Mr. Myles of the support which the government under Cromwell +had granted him, and he, with many others, chose the freedom of exile to +the tyranny of an unprincipled monarch. It would be interesting for us +to give an account of his leave-taking of his church at Swansea, and of +his associates in Christian labor, and to trace out his passage to +Massachusetts, and to relate the circumstances which led him to search +out and to find the little band of Baptists at Rehoboth. Surely some law +of spiritual gravitation or affinity, under the good hand of God, thus +raised up and brought this under-shepherd to the flock thus scattered in +the wilderness. Nicholas Tanner, Obadiah Brown, John Thomas, and others, +accompanied Mr. Myles in his exile from Swansea, Wales. The first that +is known of them in America was the formation of a Baptist church at the +house of John Butterworth in Rehoboth, whose residence is said to have +been near the Cove in the western part of the present town of East +Providence. Mr. Myles and his followers had probably learned at Boston, +or at Plymouth, of the treatment offered to Holmes and his party, ten +years before, and his sympathies led him to seek out and unite the +elements which persecution had scattered. Seven members made up this +infant church, namely: John Myles, pastor, James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, +Joseph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby. +The principles to which their assent was given were the same as those +held by the Welsh Baptists, as expounded by Mr. Myles. The original +record-book of the church contains a list of the members of Mr. Myles's +church in Swansea, from 1640 till 1660, with letters, decrees, +ordinances, etc., of the several churches of the denomination in England +and Wales. This book, now in the possession of the First Baptist Church +in Swanzey, Massachusetts, is probably a copy of the original Welsh +records, made by or for Mr. Myles's church in Massachusetts, the +sentiments of which controlled their actions here. + +Of the seven constituent members, only one was a member of Myles's +church in Wales--Nicholas Tanner. James Brown was a son of John Brown, +both of whom held high offices in the Plymouth colony. Mr. Newman and +his church were again aroused at the revival of this dangerous sect, and +they again united with the other orthodox churches of the colony in +soliciting the Court to interpose its influence against them, and the +members of this little church were each fined five pounds, for setting +up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the Court, +to the disturbance of the peace of the place,--ordered to desist from +their meeting for the space of a month, and advised to remove their +meeting to some other place where they might not prejudice any other +church. The worthy magistrates of Plymouth have not told us how these +few Baptist brethren "disturbed the peace" of quiet old Rehoboth. Good +old Rehoboth, that roomy place, was not big enough to contain this +church of seven members, and we have to-day to thank the spirit of +Newman and the order of Plymouth Court for the handful of seed-corn, +which they cast upon the waters, which here took root and has brought +forth the fruits of a sixty-fold growth. + +From a careful reading of the first covenant of the church, we judge +that it was a breach of ecclesiastical, rather than of civil, law, and +that the fines and banishment from the limits of Rehoboth were imposed +as a preventive against any further inroads upon the membership of Mr. +Newman's church. In obedience to the orders of the Court, the members of +Mr. Myles's church looked about for a more convenient dwelling-place, +and found it as near to the limits of the old town and their original +homes as the law would allow. Within the bounds of Old Swanzey, +Massachusetts, in the northern part of the present town of Barrington, +Rhode Island, they selected a site for a church edifice. The spot now +pointed out as the location of this building for public worship is near +the main road from Warren by Munro's Tavern to Providence, on the east +side of a by-way leading from said road to the residence of Joseph G. +West, Esq. A plain and simple structure, it was undoubtedly fitted up +quickly by their own labor, to meet the exigency of the times. Here they +planted their first spiritual home, and enjoyed a peace which pastor and +people had long sought for. + +The original covenant is a remarkable paper, toned with deep piety and a +broad and comprehensive spirit of Christian fellowship. + + +HOLY COVENANT. + +SWANSEY IN NEW ENGLAND.--A true coppy of the Holy Covenant the first +founders of Swansey Entred into at the first beginning and all the +members thereof for Divers years. + +Whereas we Poor Creatures are through the exceeding Riches of Gods +Infinite Grace Mercyfully snatched out of the Kingdom of darkness and by +his Infinite Power translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son, there to +be partakers with all Saints of all those Priviledges which Christ by +the Shedding of his Pretious Blood hath purchased for us, and that we do +find our Souls in Some good Measure wrought on by Divine Grace to desire +to be Conformable to Christ in all things, being also constrained by the +matchless love and wonderfull Distinguishing Mercies that we Abundantly +Injoy from his most free grace to Serve him according to our utmost +capacitys, and that we also know that it is our most bounden Duty to +Walk in Visible Communion with Christ and Each other according to the +Prescript Rule of his most holy word, and also that it is our undoubted +Right through Christ to Injoy all the Priviledges of Gods House which +our souls have for a long time panted after. And finding no other way at +Present by the all-working Providence of our only wise God and gracious +Father to us opened for the Injoyment of the same. We do therefore after +often and Solemn Seeking to the Lord for Help and direction in the fear +of his holy Name, and with hands lifted up to him the most High God, +Humbly and freely offer up ourselves this day a Living Sacrifice unto +him who is our God in Covenant through Christ our Lord and only Savior +to walk together according to his revealed word in the Visible Gospel +Relation both to Christ our only head, and to each other as +fellow-members and Brethren and of the Same Household faith. And we do +Humbly praye that that through his Strength we will henceforth Endeavor +to Perform all our Respective Duties towards God and each other and to +practice all the ordinances of Christ according to what is or shall be +revealed to us in our Respective Places to exercise Practice and Submit +to the Government of Christ in this his Church! viz. furthur Protesting +against all Rending or Dividing Principles or Practices from any of the +People of God as being most abominable and loathsome to our souls and +utterly inconsistent with that Christian Charity which declare men to be +Christ's Disciples. Indeed further declaring in that as Union in Christ +is the sole ground of our Communion, each with other, So we are ready to +accept of, Receive too and hold Communion with all such as by a judgment +of Charity we conceive to be fellow-members with us in our head Christ +Jesus tho Differing from us in Such Controversial Points as are not +absolutely and essencially necessary to salvation. We also hope that +though of ourselves we are altogether unworthy and unfit thus to offer +up ourselves to God or to do him a--or to expect any favor with, or +mercy from Him. He will graciously accept of this our free will offering +in and through the merit and mediation of our Dear Redeemer. And that he +will imploy and emprove us in his service to his Praise, to whom be all +Glory, Honor, now and forever, Amen. + +The names of the persons that first joyned themselves in the Covanant +aforesaid as a Church of Christ, + + JOHN MYLES, Elder, + JAMES BROWN, + NICHOLAS TANNER, + JOSEPH CARPENTER, + JOHN BUTTERWORTH, + ELDAD KINGSLEY, + BENJAMIN ALBY. + + +The catholic spirit of Mr. Myles soon drew to the new settlement on New +Meadow Neck many families who held to Baptist opinions, as well as some +of other church relations friendly to their interests. The opposition +which their principles had awakened, had brought the little company into +public notice, and their character had won for them the respect and +confidence of their neighbors. + +The Rehoboth church had come to regard Mr. Myles and his followers with +more kindly feelings, and, in 1666, after the death of the Reverend Mr. +Newman, it was voted by the town that Mr. Myles be invited to "preach, +namely: once in a fortnight on the week day, and once on the Sabbath +day." And in August of the same year the town voted "that Mr. Myles +shall still continue to lecture on the week day, and further on the +Sabbath, if he be thereunto legally called." + +This interchange of pulpit relations indicates a cordial sentiment +between the two parishes, which is in striking contrast to the hostility +manifested to the new church but three years before, when they were +warned out of the town, and suggests the probable fact that animosities +had been conquered by good will, and that sober judgment had taken the +place of passionate bigotry. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHURCH SERVICES IN PURITAN TIMES. + +_The Elders' Advice in Matrimonial Matters._ + + +From the Baptist Church records copied from the Welsh, which were +brought from Swansea, Wales, by the Reverend John Myles, we quote, as +follows:-- + +"The Sabbath meeting shall begin at 8 A.M., and on the fourth day of the +weeke begins at nine of the Clock."... + +"That one brother extemporize in Welsh for an hour, and after the said +Welsh brother there shall be a publick sermon to the world, after this +breaking bread."... + +"That such brethren or sisters as shall any way hereafter intend to +change their calling or condition of life by marriage or otherwise, do +propose their cases to the elders or ablest brethren of the church, to +have council from before they make any engagements, and in all difficult +cases, and before all marriages, the churches council be taken therein." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE RENT VEIL. + +By Henry B. Carrington. + + "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain." + + + I. + + The Great I AM,--that Presence, Infinite, + Which wrought creation by the breath + Of Sovereign Will,--and in His Image bright, + Brought man to life, to dwell in Paradise,-- + Took gracious pity on his lost estate, + When sin had marred that perfect image, + And Earth could pay no ransom for the soul. + + II. + + Jehovah,--God, effulgence bright,--august,-- + In majesty supreme, from Heaven stooped down, + And through His wondrous love, ineffable, + Enshrined Himself within that sacred place, + Which, once in each revolving year, + The type of the Redeemer, promised, + Might dare approach, with awe, with offerings + For the sins of Israel's children. + + III. + + As but a day, four thousand years, when told, + With Him, who was, and is to be,-- + Eternal--Three in One,--Omnipotent:-- + Such was the span of ripening promise, + Until the hour matured, and Saving Grace, + The full Redemption offered,--by gift + Of Spotless purity,--His Only Son. + + IV. + + Within the "Holy Place," the High Priest bowed, + While dread Shekinah lingered,--(ne'er again + To yield to Jewish rite or sacrifice, + The boon of pardoned guilt, for blood of goats + Or bullocks, without blemish);--and bowed, + While yet the echoes of his voice, profane, + Still quivered in the midnight air,--floating + Upward toward the Great White Throne,--crying, + O,--crucify the spotless Son of Man, + And let Barabbas, son of sin, go free. + + V. + + Where direst portents, solitude profound,-- + Place, awful with the bleaching types of death, + Had published forth Golgotha's cruel name. + The stately High Priest, from the "Holy Place" + Approached, to consummate prophetic crime,-- + To fill the measure of Judea's sin,-- + And bring Messiah to a dying race. + + VI. + + "IT IS FINISHED." + + VII. + + O,--light of day, whose now averted face, + As ne'er before, withholds thy cheer from man!-- + O,--quaking earth, whose bed of solid rock, + Is shivered by some pang of awful ill!-- + O,--graves, once sealed o'er loved ones, laid aside, + To answer only at Archangels' call!-- + What tragedy of creation's Master;-- + What spell upon creation's normal peace;-- + What overturn of laws immutable;-- + What contradictions in the mind Supreme; + Have wrought this pregnant ruin,--earth throughout! + + VIII. + + O,--priest, whose ministrations, laid aside + To bring fulfillment of the fearful curse + Upon thy race, have now that curse assured,-- + Look back!--and see the altar, bared to view + Of vulgar herd and phrenzied populace. + "_The veil in twain is rent_,"--and never more + Shall dread Shekinah show Himself to thee;-- + But where each humble soul, with sin oppressed, + Lifts up the cry of penitential grief, + A temple shall be found,--and deep within, + Shall dwell that sacred Presence,--evermore. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FIRST SCHOOLMASTER OF BOSTON. + +By Elizabeth Porter Gould. + + +When Agassiz requested to go down the ages with no other name than +"Teacher," he not only appropriately crowned his own life-work, but +stamped the vocation of teaching with a royalty which can never be +gainsaid. By this act he dignified with lasting honor all those to whom +the name "Teacher," in its truest meaning, can be applied. + +In this work of teaching, one man stands out in the history of New +England who should be better known to the present generation. He was a +benefactor in the colonial days when education was striving to keep her +lamp burning in the midst of the necessary practical work which engaged +the attention of most of the people of that time. His name was Ezekiel +Cheever. When a young man of twenty-three years, he came from +London--where he was born January 25, 1614--to Boston, seven years after +its settlement. The following spring he went to New Haven, where he soon +married, and became actively engaged in founding the colony there. Among +the men who went there the same year was a Mr. Wigglesworth, whose son, +in later years, as the Reverend Michael Wigglesworth, gave an account of +Mr. Cheever's success in the work of teaching, which he began soon after +reaching the place. "I was sent to school to Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, who at +that time taught school in his own house, and under him in a year or two +I profited so much through y'e blessing of God, that I began to make +Latin & to get forward apace." + +Mr. Cheever received as a salary for two or three years twenty pounds; +and in 1643, while receiving this salary, his name is sixth in the list +of planters and their estates, his estate being valued only at twenty +pounds. In the year following, his salary was raised to thirty pounds +a year. This probably was an actual necessity, for his family now +consisted, besides himself and wife, of a son Samuel, five years old, +and a daughter Mary of four years. Ezekiel, born two years before, had +died. This son, Samuel, it may be said in passing, was graduated at +Harvard College in 1659, and was settled as a clergyman at Marblehead, +Massachusetts, where he died at the age of eighty-five, having been +universally esteemed during his long life. + +Besides being the teacher of the new colony, Mr. Cheever entered into +other parts of its work. He was one of the twelve men chosen as "fitt +for the foundacon worke of the church." He was also chosen a member of +the Court for the plantation, at its first session, and in 1646 he was +one of the deputies to the General Court. It is supposed that during +this time he wrote his valuable little book called The Accidence. It +passed through seventeen editions before the Revolution. A copy of the +eighteenth edition, printed in Boston in 1785, is now in the Boston +Athenæum. It is a quaint little book of seventy-two pages, with one +cover gone, and is surely an object of interest to all loving students +of Latin. A copy of the tenth edition is found in Harvard College, while +it has been said that a copy of the seventh is in a private library in +Hartford, Connecticut. The last edition was published in Boston in 1838. +In a prospectus, containing commendations of the work from many eminent +men of learning, the Honorable Josiah Quincy, LL.D., president of +Harvard College, said of it: "A work which was used for more than a +century in the schools of New England, as the first elementary book for +learners of the Latin language; which held its place in some of the most +eminent of those schools, nearly, if not quite, to the end of the last +century; which has passed through at least twenty editions in this +country; which was the subject of the successive labor and improvement +of a man who spent seventy years in the business of instruction, and +whose fame is second to that of no schoolmaster New England has ever +produced, requires no additional testimony to its worth or its merits." +A copy of this edition is now in the library of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. Dr. David W. Cheever, of Boston, a descendant of the +schoolmaster, also has one in his possession. + +There is another old book in the Boston Athenæum, published in 1757, +containing three short essays under the title of Scripture Prophecies +Explained. The first one is "On the Restitution of All Things"; the +second is "On St. John's First Resurrection"; and the third, "On the +Personal Coming of Jesus Christ, as Commencing at the Beginning of the +Millenium described in the Apocalypse." These were written by Mr. +Cheever, but at what time of his life there seems to be some doubt. They +indicate his religious zeal, which at this time in New Haven was put +forth for the good of the church. Although he was never ordained to the +ministry, yet he occasionally preached. In 1649, however, he dissented +from the judgment of the church and elders in regard to some cases of +discipline, and for some comments on their action, which seemed to them +severe, they brought charges against him. Two of the principal ones +were: "1. His unseemly gestures and carriage before the church, in the +mixed assembly;" and "2. That when the church did agree to two charges +(namely, of assumption and partiality), he did not give his vote either +to the affirmative or the negative." + +As showing some of the phases of a common humanity, the reading of the +trial is interesting. Mr. Cheever, who was then thirty-five years old, +was desired to answer these charges of unseemly gestures, which his +accusers had brought down to a rather small point, such as holding down +his head into the seat, "then laughing or smiling," and also "wrapping +his handkerchief about his face, and then pulling it off again;" and +still another, "that his carriage was offensively uncomely," three +affirming "that he rather carried it as one acting a play, than as one +in the presence of God in an ordinance." + +In his answer to these, Mr. Cheever explained his actions as arising +from violent headaches, which, coming upon him usually "on the Lord's +day in the evening, and after church meeting," were mitigated by winding +his handkerchief around his head 'as a fillet.' As to his smiling or +laughing, "he knew not whether there was any more than a natural, +ordinary cheerfulness of countenance seeming to smile, which whether it +be sinful or avoidable by him, he knew not;" but he wished to humble +himself for the "least appearance of evil, and occasion of offence, and +to watch against it." As to his working with the church, he said: "I +must act with the church, and (which is uncomfortable) I must either act +with their light, or may expect to suffer, as I have done, and do at +this day, for conscience' sake; but I had rather suffer anything from +men than make a shipwreck of a good conscience or go against my present +light, though erroneous, when discovered." + +He then went on to say that, while he did not wholly free himself from +blame as to his carriage, and as to his "want of wisdom and coolness in +ordering and uttering his speeches," yet he could not be convinced as +yet that he had been guilty of "Miriam's sin," or deserved the censure +which the church had inflicted upon him; and he could not look upon it +"as dispensed according to the rules of Christ." Then he closed his +address with the following words, which will give some idea of his +Christian spirit: "Yet I wait upon God for the discovery of truth in His +own time, either to myself or church, that what is amiss may be repented +of and reformed; that His blessing and presence may be among them and +upon His holy ordinances rightly dispensed, to His glory and their +present and everlasting comfort, which I heartily pray for, and am so +bound, having received much good and comfort in that fellowship, though +I am now deprived of it." + +At about this time of his trial with the church he was afflicted by the +death of his wife. Three more children had been born to them--Elizabeth, +Sarah, and Hannah. Soon after this, in 1650,--and, it has been said, on +account of his troubles,--he removed to Ipswich, Massachusetts, to +become master of the grammar school there. His services as teacher in +New Haven must have been valued, if one can judge by the amount of +salary received, for, in the case of the teacher who followed him, the +people were not willing "to pay as large a salary as they had done to +Mr. Cheever," and so they gave him ten pounds a year. + +After Mr. Cheever had been in Ipswich two years, Robert Payne, a +philanthropic man, gave to the town a dwelling-house with two acres of +land for the schoolmaster; he also gave a new schoolhouse for the +school, of which this man was the appreciated teacher; for many +neighboring towns sent scholars to him, and it was said that those who +received "the Cheeverian education" were better fitted for college than +any others. + +In November of this same year he married Ellen Lathrop, sister of +Captain Thomas Lathrop, of Beverly, who two years before had brought her +from England to America with him, with the promise that he would be a +father to her. While living in Ipswich they had four children, Abigail, +Ezekiel, Nathaniel, and Thomas; two more, William and Susanna, were born +later, in Charlestown. Their son Ezekiel must have lived to a good old +age, at least seventy-seven years, for as late as 1731 his name appears +in the annals of the village parish of Salem, where he became heir to +Captain Lathrop's real estate; while their son Thomas, born in 1658, was +graduated at Harvard College in 1677, was settled as a minister at +Malden, Massachusetts, and later at Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), +Massachusetts, where he died at a good old age. + +After having thus lived in Ipswich eleven years, Mr. Cheever removed, +in 1661, to Charlestown, Massachusetts, to become master of the school +there at a salary of thirty pounds a year. The smallness of this salary +astonishes and suggests much to the modern reader; but when he is +informed that the worthy teacher was obliged during his teaching there +to petition the selectmen that his "yeerly salarie be paid to him, as +the counstables were much behind w'th him," the whole matter becomes +pathetic. Mr. Cheever also asked that the schoolhouse, which was much +out of order, be repaired. And in 1669 he is again before them asking +for a "peece of ground or house plott whereon to build an house for his +familie," which petition he left for the townsmen to consider. They +afterward voted that the selectmen should carry out the request, but as +Mr. Cheever removed in the following year to Boston, it is probable that +his successor had the benefit of it. + +When Mr. Cheever entered upon his work as head master of the Boston +Latin School, in 1670, he was fifty-seven years old; and he remained +master of this school until his death, thirty-seven years later. The +schoolhouse was, at this time, in School Street (it was not so named by +the town, however, until 1708) just behind King's Chapel, on a part of +the burying-ground. It has been said that the building was of two +stories to accommodate the teacher and his family. This seems probable +when we read that Mr. Cheever was to have a salary of sixty pounds a +year, and the "possession and use of y'e schoole house." But if he +lived in the building at all, it was not very long, for he is later +living in a house by himself; and in 1701 the selectmen voted that two +men should provide a house for him while his house was being built. The +agreement which the selectmen made with Captain John Barnet with +reference to this house is given in such curious detail in the old +records, and suggests so much, that it is well worth reading. It is as +follows:-- + + "That the said Barnet shall erect a House on the Land where Mr. Ezekiel + Cheever Lately dwelt, of forty foot Long Twenty foot wide and Twenty + foot stud with four foot Rise in the Roof, to make a cellar floor under + one half of S'd house and to build a Kitchen of Sixteen foot in + Length and twelve foot in breadth with a Chamber therein, and to Lay the + floors flush through out the maine house and to make three paire of + Stayers in y'e main house and one paire in the Kitchen and to Inclose + s'd house and to do and complete all carpenters worke and to find all + timber boards clapboards nayles glass and Glaziers worke and Iron worke + and to make one Cellar door and to finde one Lock for the Outer door of + said House, and also to make the Casements for S'd house, and perform + S'd worke and to finish S'd building by the first day of August + next. In consideration whereof the Selectmen do agree that the S'd + Capt. Barnet shall have the Old Timber boards Iron worke and glass of + the Old house now Standing on S'd Land and to pay unto him the Sum of + one hundred and thirty pounds money, that is to say forty pounds down in + hand and the rest as the worke goes on." + + +Then follows the agreement for the "masons' worke" in all its details. +Later on, in March, 1702, there is some discussion as to how far back +from the street the house should be placed. But in June of that year the +house is up, for the worthy dignities order that "Capt. John Barnard do +provide a Raysing Dinner for the Raysing the Schoolmasters House at the +Charge of the town not exceeding the Sum of Three pounds." This was +done, for later they order the "noat for three pounds, expended by him +for a dinner at Raysing the Schoolmasters House," be paid him. + +After Mr. Cheever's house had received all this painstaking attention +of the town, it was voted that the selectmen should see that a new +schoolhouse be built for him in the place of the old one; this to be +done with the advice of Mr. Cheever. The particulars of this work are +given in as much detail, and are interesting to show the style of +schoolhouse at that day. They are as follows, in the "Selectmen's +Minutes, under July 24, 1704":-- + + "Agreed w'th M'r John Barnerd as followeth, he to build a new School + House of forty foot Long Twenty five foot wide and Eleven foot Stud, + with eight windows below and five in the Roofe, with wooden Casements to + the eight Windows, to Lay the lower floor with Sleepers & double boards + So far as needful, and the Chamber floor with Single boards, to board + below the plate inside & inside and out, to Clapboard the Outside and + Shingle the Roof, to make a place to hang the Bell in, to make a paire + of Staires up to the Chamber, and from thence a Ladder to the bell, to + make one door next the Street, and a petition Cross the house below, and + to make three rows of benches for the boyes on each Side of the room, + to find all Timber, boards, Clapboards shingles nayles hinges. In + consideration whereof the s'd M'r John Barnerd is to be paid One + hundred pounds, and to have the Timber, Boards, and Iron worke of the + Old School House." + +Some interesting reminiscences are given, by some of his pupils, of +these school-days in Boston. The Reverend John Barnard, of Marblehead, +who was born in Boston in 1681, speaks of his early days at the Latin +School, in his Autobiography, which is now in the Massachusetts +Historical Society. Among other things he says: "I remember once, in +making a piece of Latin, my master found fault with the syntax of one +word, which was not used by me heedlessly, but designedly, and therefore +I told him there was a plain grammar rule for it. He angrily replied, +there was no such rule. I took the grammar and showed the rule to him. +Then he smilingly said, 'Thou art a brave boy; I had forgot it.' And no +wonder: for he was then above eighty years old." President Stiles of +Yale College, in his Diary, says that he had seen a man who said that he +"well knew a famous grammar-school master, Mr. E. Cheever, of Boston, +author of The Accidence; that he wore a long white beard, terminating in +a point; that when he stroked his beard to the point, it was a sign for +the boys to stand clear." + +Judge Sewall, in his Diary, often refers to him. He speaks of a visit +from him, at one time, when Mr. Cheever told him that he had entered his +eighty-eighth year, and was the oldest man in town; and another time, +when he says: "Master Chiever, his coming to me last Saturday January +31, on purpose to tell me he blessed God that I had stood up for the +Truth, is more comfort to me than Mr. Borland's unhandsomeness is +discomfort." He also speaks of him as being a bearer several times at +funerals, where, at one, with others, he received a scarf and ring which +were "given at the House after coming from the Grave." A peculiarity of +the venerable schoolmaster is seen where Judge Sewall says: "Mr. +Wadsworth appears at Lecture in his Perriwigg. Mr. Chiever is grieved at +it." In 1708, the judge gives in this Diary some touching particulars as +to the sickness and death of Mr. Cheever. They are valuable not only for +themselves, but as preserving in a literary form the close friendship +which existed between these two strong men of that day. Hence they are +given here:-- + +"_Aug_. 12, 1708.--Mr. Chiever is abroad and hears Mr. Cotton Mather +preach. This is the last of his going abroad. Was taken very sick, like +to die with a Flux. _Aug_. 13.--I go to see him, went in with his +son Thomas and Mr. Lewis. His Son spake to him and he knew him not; I +spake to him and he bid me speak again; then he said, Now I know you, +and speaking cheerily mentioned my name. I ask'd his Blessing for me and +my family; He said I was Bless'd, and it could not be Reversed. Yet at +my going away He pray'd for a Blessing for me. + +"_Aug_. 19.--I visited Mr. Chiever again, just before Lecture; +Thank'd him for his kindness to me and mine; desired his prayers for me, +my family, Boston, Salem, the Province. He rec'd me with abundance of +Affection, taking me by the hand several times. He said, The Afflictions +of God's people, God by them did as a Goldsmith, knock, knock, knock; +knock, knock, knock, to finish the plate; It was to perfect them not to +punish them. I went and told Mr. Pemberton (the Pastor of Old South) who +preached. + +"_Aug_. 20.--I visited Mr. Chiever who was now grown much weaker, +and his speech very low. He call'd Daughter! When his daughter Russel +came, He ask'd if the family were composed; They aprehended He was +uneasy because there had not been Prayer that morn; and solicited me to +Pray; I was loth and advised them to send for Mr. Williams, as most +natural, homogeneous; They declined it, and I went to Prayer. After, I +told him, The last enemy was Death, and God hath made that a friend too; +He put his hand out of the Bed, and held it up, to signify his Assent. +Observing he suck'd a piece of an Orange, put it orderly into his mouth +and chew'd it, and then took out the core. After dinner I carried a few +of the best Figs I could get and a dish Marmalet. I spake not to him +now. + +"_Aug_. 21.--Mr. Edward Oakes tells me Mr. Chiever died this last +night." + +Then in a note he tells the chief facts in his life, which he closes +with,-- + +"So that he has Laboured in that calling (teaching) skilfully, +diligently, constantly, Religiously, Seventy years. A rare Instance of +Piety, Health, Strength, Serviceableness. The Wellfare of the Province +was much upon his spirit. He abominated Perriwiggs." + +"_Aug_. 23, 1708.--Mr. Chiever was buried from the Schoolhouse. The +Gov'r, Councillors, Ministers, Justices, Gentlemen there. Mr. Williams +made a handsome Latin Oration in his Honour. Elder Bridgham, Copp, +Jackson, Dyer, Griggs, Hubbard, &c., Bearers. After the Funeral, Elder +Bridgham, Mr. Jackson, Hubbard, Dyer, Tim. Wadsworth, Edw. Procter, +Griggs, and two more came to me and earnestly solicited me to speak to a +place of Scripture, at the private Quarter Meeting in the room of Mr. +Chiever." + +Cotton Mather, who had been a pupil of his, preached a funeral sermon in +honor of his loved teacher. It was printed in Boston in 1708, and later +in 1774. A copy of it in the Athenæum is well worth a perusal. Some of +Mr. Cheever's Latin poems are attached to it. Cotton Mather precedes his +sermon by An Historical Introduction, in which, after referring to his +great privilege, he gives the main facts in the long life of the +schoolmaster of nearly ninety-four years. In closing it, he says: "After +he had been a Skilful, Painful, Faithful Schoolmaster for Seventy years; +and had the Singular Favours of Heaven that tho' he had Usefully spent +his Life among children, yet he was not become Twice a child but held +his Abilities, with his usefulness, in an unusual Degree to the very +last." Then follows the sermon, remarkable in its way as a eulogy. But +the Essay in Rhyme in Memory of his "Venerable Master," which follows +the sermon, is even more characteristic and remarkable. In it are some +couplets which are unique and interesting. + + + "Do but name _Cheever_, and the _Echo_ straight + Upon that name. _Good Latin_ will Repeat. + + "And in our _School_, a Miracle is wrought: + For the _Dead Languages_ to _Life_ are brought. + + "Who serv'd the _School_, the _Church_, did not forget, + But Thought and Prayed & often wept for it. + + "How oft we saw him tread the _Milky Way_ + Which to the Glorious _Throne of Mercy_ lay! + + "Come from the _Mount_ he shone with ancient Grace, + Awful the _Splendor_ of his Aged Face. + + "He _Liv'd_ and to vast age no Illness knew, + Till _Times_ Scythe waiting for him Rusty grew. + + "He _Liv'd_ and _Wrought_; His Labours were Immense, + But ne'r _Declined_ to _Præter-perfect Tense_." + + +He closes this eulogy with an epitaph in Latin. + +Mr. Cheever's will, found in the Suffolk probate office, was offered by +his son Thomas and his daughter Susanna, August 26, 1708, a few days +after his death. He wrote it two years previous, when he was ninety-one +years old, a short time before his "dear wife," whom he mentions, died. +In it his estate is appraised at £837:19:6. One handles reverently this +old piece of yellow paper, perhaps ten by twelve inches in size, with +red lines, on which is written in a clear handwriting the last will of +this dear old man. He characteristically begins it thus:-- + + "In nomine Domini Amen, I Ezekiel Cheever of the Towne of Boston in the + County of Suffolk in New England, Schoolmaster, living through great + mercy in good health and understanding wonderfull in my age, do make and + ordain this as my last Will & Testament as Followeth: I give up my soule + to God my Father in Jesus Christ, my body to the earth to be buried in a + decent manner according to my desires in hope of a Blessed part in y'e + first resurrection & glorious kingdom of Christ on earth a thousand + years." + +He then gives all his household goods "& of my plate y'e two-ear'd Cup, +my least tankard porringer a spoon," to his wife; "all my books saving +what Ezekiel may need & what godly books my wife may desire," to his son +Thomas; £10 to Mary Phillips; £20 to his grandchild, Ezekiel Russel; and +£5 to the poor. The remainder of the estate he leaves to his wife and +six children, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, Ezekiel, Thomas, and Susanna. + +One handles still more reverently a little brown, stiff-covered book, +kept in the safe in the Athenæum, of about one hundred and twenty +pages, yellow with age, on the first of which is the year "1631," and on +the second, "Ezekiel Cheever, his booke," both in his own handwriting. +Then come nearly fifty pages of finely-written Latin poems, composed and +written by himself, probably in London; then, there are scattered over +some of the remaining pages a few short-hand notes which have been +deciphered as texts of Scripture. On the last page of this quaint little +treasure--only three by four inches large--are written in English some +verses, one of which can be clearly read as, "Oh, first seek the kingdom +of God and his Righteousness, and all things else shall be added unto +you." + +Another MS. of Mr. Cheever's is in the possession of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. It is a book six by eight inches in size, of about +four hundred pages, all well filled with Latin dissertations, with +occasionally a mathematical figure drawn. One turns over the old leaves +with affectionate interest, even if the matter written upon them is +beyond his comprehension. It certainly is a pleasure to read on one of +them the date May 18, 1664. + +Verily, New England should treasure the memory of Ezekiel Cheever, the +man who called himself "Schoolmaster," for she owes much to him. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE POET OF THE BELLS. + +By E.H. Goss. + + +Longfellow may well be called the Poet of the Bells; for who has so +largely voiced their many uses as he, or interpreted the part they have +taken in the world's history. That he was a great lover of bells and +bell music is evinced by the many times he chose them as themes for his +poems; nearly a dozen of which are about them, containing some of the +sweetest of his thoughts; and allusions to them, like this from +Evangeline,-- + + Anon from the belfry + Softly the Angelus sounded,"-- + + +are sprinkled all through his longer poems, as well as his prose. The +Song of the Bell, beginning,-- + + "Bell! thou soundest merrily + When the bridal party + To the church doth hie!" + + +was among his earliest writings; and The Bells of San Blas was his last +poem, having been written March 15, 1882, nine days only before he +died:-- + + "What say the Bells of San Blas + To the ships that southward pass + From the harbor of Mazatlan?" + + +And this last stanza must contain the last words that came from his +pen:-- + + "O Bells of San Blas, in vain + Ye call back the Fast again! + The Past is deaf to your prayer: + Out of the shadows of night + The world rolls into light; + It is daybreak everywhere." + + +One of his latest sonnets is entitled Chimes. + + "Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night + Salute the passing hour, and in the dark + And silent chambers of the household mark + The movements of the myriad orbs of light!" + + +This was sung of the beautiful clock that + + "Half-way up the stairs it stands" + + +in his mansion at Cambridge, by so many thought to be the one referred +to in The Old Clock on the Stairs. But no; that one was in the "Gold +House" at Pittsfield, and is now in disuse; while this one is a fine +piece of mechanism, striking the coming hour on each half hour, and on +the hour itself sweet carillons are played for several moments, so +familiar to the poet that it is no wonder that to hear it he says,-- + + "Better than sleep it is to lie awake." + + +And who has not been entranced by the melody of his + + "In the ancient town of Bruges + In the quaint old Flemish city, + As the evening shades descended, + Low and loud and sweetly blended, + Low at times and loud at times, + And changing like a poet's rhymes, + Rang the beautiful wild chimes + From the belfry in the market + Of the ancient town of Bruges." + + +In the prologue to The Golden Legend, we have the attempt of Lucifer and +the Powers of the Air to tear down the cross from the spire of the +Strasburg Cathedral, with the remonstrance of the bells interwoven: + + + "Laudo Deum verum! Funera plango! + Plebem voco! Fulgura frango! + Congrego clerum! Sabbata pango! + + "Defunctus ploro! Excito lentos! + Pestem fugo! Dissipo ventos! + Festa decoro! Paco cruentos!" + + "I praise the true God, call the people, convene the clergy; + I mourn the dead, dispel the pestilence, and grace festivals; + I mourn at the burial, abate the lightnings, announce the Sabbath; + I arouse the indolent, dissipate the winds, and appease the avengeful." + + +Another rendering of the two last lines reads:-- + + "Men's death I tell, by doleful knell; + Lightnings and thunder I break asunder; + On Sabbath all to church I call; + The sleepy head, I raise from bed; + The winds so fierce I do disperse; + Men's cruel rage, I do assuage." + + +And in the Legend itself, an historical account of mediæval +bell-ringing is given by Friar Cuthbert, as he preaches to a crowd from +a pulpit in the open air, in front of the cathedral:-- + + "But hark! the bells are beginning to chime;... + For the bells themselves are the best of preachers; + Their brazen lips are learned teachers, + From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, + Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, + Shriller than trumpets under the Law, + Now a sermon and now a prayer."... + + +In the Tales of the Wayside Inn occurs the pretty legend of The Bell of +Atri, "famous for all time"; and from his summer home in Nahant, from +across the waters he listens to + + "O curfew of the setting sun! O bells of Lynn! + O requiem of the dying day! O bells of Lynn!" + + +In the Curfew he quaintly and beautifully reminds us of the old +_couvre-feu_ bell of the days of William the Conqueror, a custom +still kept up in many of the towns and hamlets of England, and some of +our own towns and cities; and until recently the nine-o'clock bell +greeted the ears of Bostonians, year in and year out. And who does not +remember the sweet carol of Christmas Bells? + + "I heard the bells on Christmas Day + Their old familiar carols play, + And wild and sweet + The words repeat + Of peace on earth, good will to men! + + * * * * * + + "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: + 'God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! + The wrong shall fail, + The right prevail + With peace on earth, good will to men!'" + + +Indeed, many are the sweet and musical strains that he has sung about +the bells, and he often wished that "somebody would bring together all +the best things that have been written upon them, both in prose and +verse." + +Southey calls bells "the poetry of the steeples"; and the poets of all +ages have had more or less to say upon this subject. Quaint old George +Herbert told us to + + "Think when the bells do chime + 'Tis Angel's music!" + + +It was a curious theory of Frater Johannes Drabicius, that the principal +employment of the blessed in heaven will be the continual ringing of +bells; and he occupied four hundred and twenty-five pages of a work +printed at Mentz, in 1618, to prove the same. + +Truly has it been said: "From youth to age the sound of the bell is sent +forth through crowded streets, or floats with sweetest melody above the +quiet fields. It gives a tongue to time, which would otherwise pass over +our heads as silently as the clouds, and lends a warning to its +perpetual flight. It is the voice of rejoicing at festivals, at +christenings, at marriages, and of mourning at the departure of the +soul. From every church-tower it summons the faithful of distant valleys +to the house of God; and when life is ended they sleep within the bell's +deep sound. Its tone, therefore, comes to be fraught with memorial +associations, and we know what a throng of mental images of the past can +be aroused by the music of a peal of bells. + + 'O, what a preacher is the time-worn tower, + Reading great sermons with its iron tongues.'" + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHELSEA. + +By William E. McClintock, C.E. + +[City Engineer of Chelsea.] + + +Sheltered from the winds of the Atlantic by the outlying towns of Revere +and Winthrop, and that section of the metropolis known as East Boston, +Chelsea occupies a peninsula, once called Winnisimmet, fronting on the +Mystic River and its two tributaries, the Island End and Chelsea Rivers. +Its area of fourteen hundred acres presents an undulating surface, +rising from the level of the salt marshes to four considerable +elevations, known as Hospital Hill, Mount Bellingham, Powderhom Hill, +and Mount Washington. + +[Illustration: OLD FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. +Corner of Broadway and Third Street.] + +Originally it was included within the township of Boston, and was +settled as early as 1630; and a few years later was connected with +Boston by the Winnisimmet Ferry, whose charter, granted in 1639, makes +it the oldest chartered ferry company in the United States. + +In those early days the Winnisimmet Ferry connected the foot of Hanover +Street, in Boston, with the old road leading to Salem and the eastward, +which followed the course of Washington Avenue. + +Samuel Maverick, of Noddle's Island, an early settler, was the first +claimant of the land. Richard Bellingham, "the unbending, faithful old +man, skilled from his youth in English law, perhaps the draughtsman of +the charter [of the Massachusetts Colony], certainly familiar with it +from its beginning, was chosen to succeed Endicott," as governor. About +1634, he came into possession of most of Winnisimmet, but his title was +rather obscure; it was confirmed to him, however, by the town of Boston, +in 1640. He is not known to have lived upon his estate. He divided the +land into four farms, which he let to tenants,--subdivisions which +remained substantially the same for two centuries. The government +reservation is said to have remained in the possession of Samuel +Maverick. + +[Illustration: WINNISIMMET FERRY LANDING. +About forty years ago.] + +Governor Bellingham died in 1672, at the age of eighty, and, although +a lawyer and a good man, left behind him a will which gave rise to +litigation that continued for over a century. As this instrument affects +every title in Chelsea, it becomes of public interest. He bequeathed the +estate of Winnisimmet to trustees, to be devoted to the support of his +widow, his son, and his two nieces, during their lives, after which it +was to be used to build a meeting-house, support a minister, and educate +a limited number of young men for the ministry. + +The son, Dr. Samuel Bellingham, after the death of his father, contested +the will in court, and had it set aside. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. +Erected A.D. 1871.] + +After his death the trustees named in the will brought a suit to carry +into effect the directions of the old governor. One by one they dropped +out of the contest, silenced by death, until at length the town +authorities undertook to maintain their supposed rights. It was not +until 1788, after the close of the Revolution, that the case was finally +decided, and the town was defeated. + +After over a century of outlying dependence, and forced attendance in +all weathers at the churches in Boston, the good people of Winnisimmet, +Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, having demonstrated their willingness +and ability to support a minister, petitioned for and obtained the +privileges of a new parish and township, named Chelsea.[3] Rumney Marsh +is now known as Revere, and Pullen Point as Winthrop. The new township +also included a strip of land half a mile wide and four miles long, +extending north-westerly through what is now Maiden and Melrose, well +into the town of Wakefield, and at present forming a part of Saugus. + +[Illustration: OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH. +Site of present church; moved and used by Bellingham Methodists.] + +The old Town House, or meeting-house, built in 1710, and still standing, +was at Rumney Marsh. + +The earliest census of the town, on record, was taken in 1776, and +indicated a population of four hundred and thirty-nine. + +The Reverend Dr. Tuckerman was settled over the parish, which included +the whole township, in 1801, and for a quarter of a century ministered +to the people of an almost stationary community. During that time, only +three new buildings were erected; and they were built to replace as many +torn down. + +In 1802, the Chelsea Bridge was built, to form a part of the turnpike +(Broadway) leading from Charlestown to Salem. Before that time, the only +way to reach Boston from Chelsea, with a loaded team, was through +Malden, Medford, Cambridge, and Roxbury, over the Neck, requiring a +whole day to make the journey. + +As late as 1830, Winnisimmet was of no importance except as a +market-garden and thoroughfare. Of the seven hundred and seventy-one +inhabitants of Chelsea, but thirty lived within the present limits of +the city. The original Bellingham subdivisions were known as the Cary, +Carter, Shurtleff, and Williams Farms, and were owned and occupied by +those families. Three years previously, in 1827, the general government +had secured possession of the hospital reservation, which it still +occupies. About 1831, the value of Winnisimmet as the site for a future +city became apparent, and a land company was formed, which secured the +Shurtleff and Williams Farms, and laid out a very attractive city--on +paper. + +The ferry accommodations at this date consisted of two sailboats +of about forty tons each. During the following summer the steam +ferry-boats, Boston and Chelsea, were put on the line, and increased the +value of property in Chelsea. These boats were the first of the kind to +navigate the waters of Boston Harbor. + +In 1832, John Low built the first store, at the corner of Broadway and +Everett Avenue, and was the pioneer merchant of the city. The newcomers, +known to the older inhabitants as "roosters," settled principally in the +neighborhood of the landing. So many came, that in 1840 there were in +the town twenty-three hundred and ninety inhabitants. In 1832, the +omnibus, "North Ender," commenced running from Chelsea Ferry landing to +Boylston Market; the fare was twelve and one-half cents. The "Governor +Brooks," the first 'bus in Boston, had been running about a week before. +It was twenty years later when an omnibus line was established for the +convenience of the village. + +[Illustration: First Baptist Church. Gerrish's Block. First M.E. Church, +Winnisimmet Congregational Church. Park Street. +JUNCTION OF PARK AND WINNISIMMET STREETS--1859.] + +To town meetings at Rumney Marsh the settlers at the landing had to +tramp to vote on questions affecting the town. Right bravely would they +attend to their duties as citizens, to find their efforts of no avail on +account of the sharp practices of their neighbors of the Marsh and +Point, who would reverse their action at an adjourned meeting. At +length, in overwhelming numbers, they assembled once upon a time, and +voted a new Town House, near the site of the present Catholic church. As +a consequence, North Chelsea was set off in 1846, and Chelsea shrank to +its present boundaries. In 1850, notwithstanding the loss of so large an +extent of territory, Chelsea numbered sixty-seven hundred and one +inhabitants. Seven years later, in 1857, the town was granted a city +charter; it was divided into four wards, and Colonel Francis B. Fay was +inaugurated the first mayor. + +From that time the growth of the city has been rapid. In 1860, there +were 13,395 inhabitants; in 1870, 18,547; in 1880, 21,785; to-day there +are probably 24,000. The Honorable Hosea Ilsley was the second mayor; he +was succeeded by the Honorable Frank B. Fay, in 1861; by the Honorable +Eustace C. Fitz, in 1864; by the Honorable Rufus S. Frost, in 1867; by +the Honorable James B. Forsyth, M.D., in 1869; by the Honorable John W. +Fletcher, in 1871; by the Honorable Charles H. Ferson, in 1873; by the +Honorable Thomas Green, in 1876; by the Honorable Isaac Stebbins, in +1877; by the Honorable Andrew J. Bacon, in 1879; by the Honorable Samuel +P. Tenney, in 1881; by the Honorable Thomas Strahan, the present mayor, +in 1883. + +[Illustration: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.] + +In 1849, the railway connected Chelsea with Boston, and in 1857 the +horse-cars commenced running. + +During the Rebellion, Chelsea responded loyally for troops. In the Union +army there were sixteen hundred and fifty-one soldiers from Chelsea. Of +that number, forty-two were killed in battle; sixteen died of wounds; +seventy-five died in hospitals; nine died in Rebel prisons; besides one +hundred and four who were more or less seriously wounded. The city also +furnished one hundred and thirty-seven recruits for the navy during the +war. The city has commemorated those heroes who died for their country, +by a very appropriate monument in Union Park. + +The conservative character of the political fathers of the city may be +judged by the fact that Samuel Bassett, who was first elected town clerk +in 1849, has served the town and city continuously in that capacity to +the present time. For the half-century before his election there had +been only three incumbents of the office. + +[Illustration: Jonathan Bosson's house. Deacon Loring's house. +EPISCOPAL CHURCH. +Present site of D. & L. Slade's grain store; burned just after the late +war.] + +The efforts of the land company, who fostered the early growth of the +city, were directed to induce people doing business in Boston to select +homesteads in Chelsea; but manufacturing was gradually introduced, until +to-day many important industries have become established, which have +given the place a world-wide reputation. Chief among these are the works +of the Magee Furnace Company. Their buildings occupy a lot of several +acres, fronting on Chelsea River. Here the celebrated Magee stove, in +all its various forms and patterns, is manufactured from the crude iron. +The establishment consumes two thousand tons of coal annually, and +converts four thousand tons of pig-iron into graceful and useful +articles. John Magee, the organizer and president of the company, is the +patentee of all the improvements. The works were established in Chelsea +in 1864; they employ five hundred operatives, and produce thirty +thousand stoves and furnaces yearly. These are shipped by car-load all +through the Northern and Western States, to the Pacific slope, reaching +Oregon without breaking bulk. Their goods are sold in England, Sweden, +Turkey, Cape Colony, Australia, China, and the islands of the Pacific, +although the home demand almost forbids their seeking a foreign market. +The popularity of their work may be known from the fact that one hundred +and fifty thousand stoves of one pattern have been sold. The iron +entering into the manufacture of stoves must be of a peculiar fineness +of texture. The best of ore of three or four qualities is mixed, +frequently tested, and constantly watched during the manufacturing +process. + +[Illustration: OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH.] + +The beauty of their stove castings has led to a new industry,--the +fine-art castings,--in which the most marvelous results are produced. +Professional artists and art critics are constantly employed in the +establishment, and many thousand dollars are judiciously expended +yearly, for the purpose of forming and perfecting new designs to meet +the popular demand. + +[Illustration: NAVAL HOSPITAL. +Erected in 1836. Wing added in 1865.] + +Another celebrated industry of Chelsea is the manufacture of the Low +tiles, for household decoration. John G. Low, son of the pioneer +merchant, is the artist who has created this class of goods, and he has +succeeded in producing a tile of special artistic value. His work +surpasses anything of the kind made in the world, and finds a market +wherever works of art and beauty are appreciated. + +There are several establishments in the city, for the manufacture of +rubber goods of every variety, and many hundred operatives find +employment therein. + +The famous "Globe Works" are soon to be occupied by the extensive +establishment of the Forbes Lithograph Company. + +The Keramic Art Works of J. Robertson and Sons are noted throughout the +land for the beauty of their products. + +The pioneer manufacturers of the city are the firm of Bisbee, Endicott, +and Company, who established a machine-shop in 1836, and a foundry in +1846, and are still in business. + +Aside from these, Chelsea manufactures anchors, pilot-bread, mattresses, +bluing, boxes, bricks, britannia ware, brooms, cardigan jackets, +carriages, chairs, cigars, confectionery, enameled cloth, fire-brick, +furniture, hose, lamp-black, lumber, oils, wall-paper, planes, pottery, +roofing, salt, soap, spices, type, tinware, varnish, vaccine matter, +vessels, yeast, and window-shades,--giving employment to a very large +number of skilled artisans. + +There are two well-managed banks in the city, two ably-conducted +newspapers, one large and several small hotels, and an Academy of Music, +which is one of the finest provincial theatres in New England, boasting +of a fine auditorium and a well-appointed stage. + +The Naval Hospital, which generally accommodates about a dozen patients, +occupies eighty acres of the most desirable part of the city, the hill +upon which it is built overlooking Mystic River. + +The Marine Hospital, in the same neighborhood, which has usually from +seventy-five to eighty patients from the ranks of our mercantile marine, +occupies a lot of about ten acres. + +[Illustration: OLD MARINE HOSPITAL. +Fronting toward the water. Erected in 1827, and in 1857 converted +into a schoolhouse for the Hawthorne School.] + +Powderhorn Hill the summit of which is about two hundred feet above the +level of the sea, commands a fine view of Boston Harbor, the ocean, and +many miles of inland territory. Chelsea is spread out like a map at its +base. It has been the dream of enthusiastic admirers of the varied +scenery afforded from the top, to include it within the limits of a +public park, forever set apart for the benefit of the present and coming +generations. Half-way up the side of the hill stands the Soldiers' Home, +where many scarred veterans of the Union army find a safe haven, cared +for by those who appreciate their struggles in their country's cause. +The city, although occupying narrow limits, has become a very attractive +place for residence. The streets are broad, straight, and shaded by very +many thrifty trees. The water-works, organized in 1867, supply good +water; gas is furnished at reasonable rates, and the city has nearly +completed a system of sewerage, which adds to the comfort and health of +the people. The public buildings are commodious and ornamental. Churches +of pleasing architecture, of many religious denominations, appropriate +school buildings and good schools, spacious and elegant private +mansions, a well-organized fire and police department, a public library, +low death-rate, and good morals, serve to make the city of Chelsea a +very desirable place for those seeking a quiet home in a law-abiding +municipality. + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +All through the colonial period the civil affairs of the community were +intimately connected with the interests of the church; and +ecclesiastical history, when church and State were united, and the +minister was the greatest man of the parish, becomes of importance. + +As early as 1640, in the church of Boston, "a motion was made by such +as have farms at Rumney Marsh, that our Brother Oliver may be sent to +instruct our servants, and to be a help to them, because they cannot +many times come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn, and sometimes no where at +all." The piously disposed people of Boston evidently commiserated the +destitute condition of their poor dependents, and were desirous of +ministering to their spiritual wants. + +[Illustration: THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN.] + +[Illustration: AN INTERIOR IN THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN'S RESIDENCE.] + +[Illustration: GERRISH'S BLOCK.] + +For many years the inhabitants of this section received the benefit of +irregular preaching from Brother Oliver and other kindly disposed +ministers from neighboring parishes. The wishes of Governor Bellingham +to provide for their wants had been frustrated, as before narrated. +Prior to 1706, the people were nominally connected with some church in +Charlestown or Boston. In that year, at the March meeting of the town of +Boston, a committee was appointed to consider what they should think +proper to lay before the town relating to petitions of sundry of the +inhabitants of Rumney Marsh about the building of a meeting-house. +Action was postponed, from year to year, until August 29, 1709, when it +was voted to raise one hundred pounds, to be laid out "in building a +meeting-house at Rumney Marsh." The raising of the frame was in July of +the following year. + +The Reverend Thomas Cheever, son of the famous schoolmaster, was chosen +pastor October 17, 1715, and was dismissed December 21, 1748. At the +formation of the church, the Reverend Cotton Mather, D.D., was +moderator, and there were eight male members, including the pastor. + +The Reverend Thomas Cheever was born in 1658; was graduated at Harvard +College in 1677; was ordained and settled in Maiden, July 27, 1681; was +dismissed in 1686, "on the advice of an ecclesiastical council"; removed +to Rumney Marsh and lived in the Newgate House; taught school many +years, and preached occasionally; died December 27, 1749, aged about +ninety-two years. + +[Illustration: CITY HOTEL.] + +Toward the close of his ministry, the Reverend William McClenachan was +installed as Mr. Cheever's colleague, although considerable opposition +was manifested, and several prominent members withdrew to other +churches. The connection of the pastor with the church continued until +December 25, 1754, when Mr. McClenachan left them and joined the +Established Church of England. He was a man of remarkable eloquence, and +soon after his resignation of the pastorate of the Chelsea parish, he +went to England. + +[Illustration: C.A. CAMPBELL'S COAL OFFICE.] + +The Reverend Phillips Payson was settled as pastor, October 26, 1757. He +was a noted scholar and teacher, and was a man of much influence in his +day. He was an active patriot during the Revolution, led his +parishioners in person, and held a commission from the Massachusetts +authorities. He preached the Election Sermon in 1778, and died in +office, January 11, 1801. He was born in Walpole, January 18, 1730, and +was graduated at Harvard College in 1754. + +The Reverend Joseph Tuckerman, D.D., was ordained and settled over the +parish November 4, 1801, and maintained this relation for just one +quarter of a century, preaching his farewell sermon November 4, 1826. He +was born in Boston, January 18, 1778; was graduated at Harvard College +in 1798; died in Havana, April 20, 1840. + +The First Baptist Church, the first religious society at Ferry Village, +was organized in 1836. + +The Unitarian Church was organized in 1838. + +The First Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1839. The +meeting-house they first occupied was on Park Street; it has been +recently sold to the Grand Army of the Republic. The edifice they now +occupy is on Walnut Street. + +[Illustration: REVERE RUBBER COMPANY.] + +The St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church were +organized in 1841. + +The First Universalist Church was organized in 1842. + +The Central Congregational Church was organized in 1843, under the name +of Winnisimmet. + +The St. Rose Catholic Church was organized in 1849. + +The Mount Bellingham Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1853. + +The Cary-avenue Baptist Church was organized in 1859. + +The Third Congregational Church was organized in 1877. + +[Illustration: T.H. BUCK & BROTHER'S LUMBER YARD.] + +The importance of education for the children was recognized at an early +date by the settlers of Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh. Brother Oliver may +have given instruction; Thomas Cheever certainly did, and for his +services received twenty pounds per annum from the town of Boston, as +shown by the vote of January 24, 1709. + +In 1833, the town of Chelsea was divided into three districts, known as +the Ferry, Centre, and Point. In 1834, Point Shirley district was set +off from the Point; and in 1838 the northern district was set off from +the Centre. The school committee, first elected in 1797, made their +first written report in 1839; their first printed report in 1841. + +The first schoolhouse in Ferry district was built in 1833, near the +corner of Chestnut Street and Washington Avenue. + +[Illustration: BOSTON RUBBER COMPANY, WINNISIMETT STREET.] + +In 1837, the Park-street schoolhouse was built, and the following year a +grammar school was kept. + +In 1839, a primary school was started at Prattville. From the +committee's report one is led to infer "that a stump with a piece of +board on top for a seat, having no back attached, affords no enviable +resting-place." + +In 1840, there were two primary schools in Ferry village, one occupying +the site of the Pioneer newspaper office, the other near the corner of +Shawmut Street and Central Avenue. + +The question of starting a high school was agitated in 1840, but no +action was taken until 1845. In 1850, a high school building was erected +on Second and Walnut Streets. + +In January, 1873, the present high school building, on Bellingham +Street, was dedicated with appropriate exercises, Tracy P. Cheever +delivering the address. + +The tithingmen were the ancient conservators of the peace, and were +chosen annually as late as 1834; after that date their duties devolved +upon the constables. In 1847, a night-watch was first deemed necessary. + +In 1854, the first steps were taken toward organizing a police force. +During the year occurred the memorable Know-Nothing riot, which resulted +in the pulling down of a cross. + +The first city government established a police department, and appointed +a city marshal and six assistants. As at present organized, there is a +chief-of-police, two deputies, and fifteen patrol-men, whose duties are +to keep watch over the city day and night, keep the peace, and protect +property, and observe and report any defects in the public way which +could by any chance result in injury to either man or beast. + +In 1842, at the annual town-meeting the selectmen were authorized to +erect twelve street-lamps. Their number has been increased from time to +time until there are now over five hundred and fifty lamps, besides two +large lanterns: one on the Square, the other in front of the Academy of +Music. + +[Illustration: MAGEE FURNACE COMPANY'S FOUNDRY.] + +[Illustration: HIGH SCHOOL. ERECTED IN 1872. F.A. HILL, PRINCIPAL.] + +[Illustration: FIRING THE KILN. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +A board of health was first elected in 1846. From 1850, to the +organization of the city government, the selectmen acted as the board. +From 1857 to 1878 the duties of the board were in the hands of the mayor +and board of aldermen. Since 1878, a board has been annually elected. +Their supervision and oversight have been of great advantage to the +city. + +In 1863, the Chelsea Library Association presented the city with about +one thousand volumes, which became the nucleus of the Public Library. +Eight thousand books have already been collected; they are soon to be +gathered within an appropriate and spacious building generously donated +to the city. + +There is much of romance in the history of such an ancient settlement as +Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh, although most of the incidents worthy of +note have long since passed into oblivion. + +The Indian wars never affected directly the early settlers, for before +hostilities commenced the frontier had been advanced some miles into the +interior; but the brave sons of the pioneers were called upon for the +defence of more exposed localities, and promptly responded. + +"In military affairs Rumney Marsh, for many years, was associated with +the neighboring towns in Essex and Middlesex, in an organization called +the 'Three County Troop.'" The company appears to have been formed as +early as May, 1659. Edward Hutchinson was confirmed as the first +captain. Captain John Tuttle was in command of the company in 1673. + +In the war of 1676, the Three County Troop sent ten men, "well fitted +with long arms," to the rendezvous at Concord. + +"In the year 1677, about April the 7th, six or seven men were slain by +the Indians, near York, while they were at work two miles from the town, +whereof one was the son of Lieutenant Smith of Winnisimmet, a hopeful +young man.... Five Indians paddled their canoes down towards York, where +they killed six of the English, and took one captive, May 19 following; +and, May 23, four days after, one was killed at Wells, and one taken by +them betwixt York and Wells; amongst whom was the eldest son of +Lieutenant Smith, forementioned; his younger brother was slain in the +same town not long before." + +The company was disbanded in 1690. A company of sixty soldiers under +command of Captain John Floyd, a citizen of Rumney Marsh, was sent as a +garrison to protect the frontier at Portsmouth, about this date. + +[Illustration: ORNAMENTAL JUG. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +"While the regulars were on their retreat from Lexington, on the 19th of +April, 1775, protected by reinforcements under command of Lord Percy, a +detached party who were carrying stores and provisions were attacked at +Metonomy by Rev. Phillips Payson, leading a party of his parishioners, +whom he had hastily gathered on the alarm. One of the regulars was +killed and some were taken prisoners, together with arms and stores, +without loss to the attacking party." + +Captain Samuel Sprague had command of a Chelsea company of twenty-eight +men, which was mustered into the service April 19, 1775. At a later date +Chelsea furnished the patriot army with a company of fifty-two men, +under the same commander. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF TILES. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +"On the 27th of May, 1775, as a party of the Massachusetts forces, +together with a party of New Hampshire forces, In all about six hundred +men, were attempting to bring off the stock upon Hog Island, and about +thirty men upon Noddle's Island were doing the same, when above a +hundred regulars landed upon the last-mentioned island and pursued our +men till they got safely back to Hog Island." + +A spirited engagement ensued, attended, however, with no serious loss to +the American forces. The regulars were supported by an armed schooner +which the enemy were obliged to abandon, having first set the vessel on +fire. + +[Illustration: A TILED FIREPLACE. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +General Putnam, Colonel Stark, and Dr. Joseph Warren, are said to have +been present during the contest, either as actors or witnesses. + +"During the siege of Boston, Chelsea formed the extreme left of the line +of circumvallation; and on the south-eastern slope of Mount Washington +stands the house of Robert Pratt, which occupies the site of an earlier +house at which Washington lunched when inspecting the lines." + +In closing this sketch, the writer wishes to give credit to the +Honorable Mellen Chamberlain, an honored resident of Chelsea, for +information relating to the early history of the town, which he has +kindly furnished, and to the researches embodied in his valuable +article, "Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, Pullen Point, and Chelsea, in the +Provincial Period," printed in the second volume of the Memorial History +of Boston, published by James R. Osgood and Company, in 1881. + +It is not difficult to predict the future of Chelsea. Situated as it is +on navigable waters, with an extensive waterfront, near to the +metropolis of New England, and already the site of many important +industries, prosperity awaits it. Time alone can tell whether, like its +namesake in the Mother-Country, it becomes absorbed in the neighboring +and growing city, or develops into a great manufacturing suburb, like +Newark and Patterson. + +[Illustration] + +[Footnote 3: Date of Act, January 10, 1739. + +Chelsea, as every Englishman is aware, is the name of a suburb of +London, where are situated the great national hospitals of Great Briton. +It was in existence as a village as early as A.D. 785, but was long +since absorbed by the expanding city.] + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN WISWALL, THE OBJURGATORY BOSTON BOY. + + +John Wiswall, a "young man with somewhat original objurgatory +tendencies," was not of the meaner sort of families. His grandfather, +John Wiswall, then some eighty-three years old, ever took an active +interest in the church and social affairs, first in Dorchester, and +afterward in Boston. Mr. Savage says that he was a brother of Thomas +Wiswall, a public-spirited man of Cambridge, Dorchester, and Newton; but +John Wiswall was ruling elder of the First Church, Boston, made so the +third month, fourth day, 1669, the day John Oxenbridge was ordained +pastor. He also was one of the town's committee to act with the +selectmen, to receive the legacy of Captain Robert Keayne, in 1668. +"Elder Wiswall died, August 15, 1687, aged eighty-six years." + +Elder John Wiswall left one son--John, Jr. This John, Jr., was a man of +life and zeal in the community. He is mentioned as "a well-known and +wealthy citizen." Among his children, by his wife Hannah, was one John, +born March 21, 1667, who became the "young man with somewhat original +objurgatory tendencies," and in the autumn of 1684 was rising seventeen +years of age. John Wiswall was a Boston boy, full of the animation which +has ever characterized the youth of that town. If he had been entirely +of the plastic sort, and represented not one of the leading families, he +never would have been made an example of to the youth of the community. +An example was needed. The new government felt that stringency was +demanded. If data serve us well, would say that John Wiswall, "a +mariner," died about 1700, leaving a widow, Mary, who afterward married +a White. None of the Wiswall name of to-day are from this line, but the +Wiswall blood is infused in the Emmons, the Fisher, the Cutler, and the +Johnson families. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume I, No. 2, +February, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + +***** This file should be named 15924-8.txt or 15924-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/2/15924/ + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the 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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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 I, No. 2, February, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: May 28, 2005 [EBook #15924] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/001.jpg"><img src="images/001.jpg" style="height: 36em;" +alt="Alex H. Rice." /></a> +<br /> +Alex H. Rice. +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[65]</span> + +<hr /> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0002">Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0003">THE OLD STORES AND THE POST-OFFICE OF GROTON.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0004">LOVEWELL'S WAR.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0005">HISTORIC TREES.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0006">HIS GREATEST TRIUMPH.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0007">THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0008">CHURCH SERVICES IN PURITAN TIMES.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0009">THE RENT VEIL.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0010">THE FIRST SCHOOLMASTER OF BOSTON.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0011">THE POET OF THE BELLS.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0012">CHELSEA.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0013">JOHN WISWALL, THE OBJURGATORY BOSTON BOY.</a></p> +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. +</h1> +<h2> + A Massachusetts Magazine. +</h2> +<h3> +<span class="sc">Vol. I. February, 1884. No. II.</span> +</h3> +<hr /> +<a name="h2H_4_0002" id="h2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D. +</h2> +<h3> +<span class="sc">By Daniel B. Hagar, Ph.D.</span> +</h3> +<h4> +[Principal of the State Normal School, Salem.] +</h4> +<p> +Massachusetts merchants have been among the most prominent men in +the nation through all periods of its history. From the days of John +Hancock down to the present time they have often been called by their +fellow-citizens to discharge the duties of the highest public offices. +Hancock was the first governor of the State. In the list of his +successors, the merchants who have distinguished themselves by honorable +and successful administrations occupy prominent places. Conspicuous +among them stands the subject of this sketch. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Alexander Hamilton Rice</span>, a son of Thomas Rice, Esq., a well-known +manufacturer of paper, was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, +August 30, 1818. He received his early education in the public schools +of his native town and in the academies of the Reverend Daniel Kimball, +of Needham, and Mr. Seth Davis, of Newton, a famous teacher in his +day, who is still living, in vigorous health, at the venerable age of +ninety-seven years. As a boy, young Rice was cheery, affectionate, and +thoughtful, and a favorite among his companions. His earliest ambition +was to become a Boston merchant. After leaving school he entered a +dry-goods store in the city. He there performed his duties with such +laborious zeal and energy that his health gave way, and he was compelled +to return to his home in Newton, where he suffered many months' illness +from a malignant fever, which nearly proved fatal. About two years later +he returned to Boston, and entered the establishment of Messrs. J.H. +Wilkins and R.B. Carter, then widely known as publishers of music books +and of dictionaries of various languages, as well as wholesale dealers +in printing and writing papers. Three years of service in their employ +laid the foundation of the excellent business habits which led to his +ultimate success. +</p> +<p> +During this time he was a member of the Mercantile Library Association, +in company with such men as Edwin P. Whipple, James T. Fields, Thomas R. +Gould, afterward the distinguished sculptor, and many others who were, +active participants in its affairs, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[66]</span> + + who have become eminent in literature or in public life. Young Rice was +a careful student in the association, though sharing less frequently in +its exercises than some others. His decided literary tastes finally led +him to resolve upon the enlargement of his education by a collegiate +course of study. He accordingly entered Union College, Schenectady, New +York, then under the presidency of the venerable Dr. Eliphalet Nott, +where he was graduated in 1844, receiving the highest honors of his +class on Commencement Day. His classmates bear testimony to the fact +that his career in college was in the highest degree honorable to +himself and to the institution of which he was one of the most respected +and popular members. +</p> +<p> +At the time of his graduation his purpose was to study law and to pursue +it as a profession; but soon afterward delicate health interposed a +serious obstacle, and a favorable offer of partnership in business with +his former employers induced him to join them in the firm which then +became known as Wilkins, Carter, and Company, the senior member of which +was a graduate of Harvard College, and, at one time, a member of its +Faculty. The present firm of Rice, Kendall, and Company, of which he is +the senior member, is its representative to-day, and is widely known as +one of the largest paper-warehouses in the country. +</p> +<p> +In 1845, Mr. Rice married Miss Augusta E. McKim, daughter of John McKim, +Esq., of Washington, District of Columbia, and sister of Judge McKim, +of Boston, a highly-educated and accomplished lady, who died on a +voyage to the West Indies, in 1868, deeply lamented by a large circle of +acquaintances and friends, to whom she had become endeared by a life of +beneficence and courtesy. +</p> +<p> +After his graduation from college, Mr. Rice, having again engaged in +mercantile business, pursued it with great earnestness, fidelity, and +success. These qualities, together with his intellectual culture and his +engaging address, eminently fitted him for public service, and early +attracted favorable attention. He first served the city of Boston as +a member of its school-board, in which capacity he gave much personal +attention to the schools in all their various interests. To his duties +in connection with the public schools were soon added those of a trustee +of the lunatic hospital and other public institutions. +</p> +<p> +In 1853, Mr. Rice was elected a member of the common council, and a year +later he was president of that body. In 1855, he received, from a large +number of citizens of all parties, a flattering request that he would +permit them to nominate him for the mayoralty of Boston. He reluctantly +acceded to their request, and, after a sharply-contested campaign, +was elected by a handsome majority. His administration of city affairs +proved so satisfactory that he was re-elected, the following year, by +an increased majority. By his wisdom, energy, and rare administrative +ability, Mayor Rice gained a wide and enviable reputation. He was +instrumental in accomplishing many reforms in municipal administration, +among which were a thorough reorganization of the police; the +consolidation of the boards of governors of the public institutions, +by which much was gained in economy and efficiency; the amicable and +judicious settlement of many claims and controversies requiring rare +skill and sagacity in + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[67]</span> + + adjustment; and the initiation of some of the most important +improvements undertaken since Boston became a city. Among these may be +mentioned the laying out of Devonshire Street from Milk Street to +Franklin Street, which he first recommended, as well as the opening of +Winthrop Square and adjacent streets for business purposes, the +approaches to which had previously been by narrow alleys. The +magnificent improvements in the Back Bay, which territory had long been +the field of intermittent and fruitless effort and controversy, were +brought to successful negotiation during his municipal administration, +and largely through the ability, energy, and fairness with which he +espoused the great work. The public schools continued to hold prominence +in his attention, and he gave to them all the encouragement which his +office could command; while his active supervision of the various +charitable and reformatory institutions was universally recognized and +welcomed. The free city hospital was initiated, and the public library +building completed during his administration. +</p> +<p> +Endowed with gifts of natural eloquence, his public addresses furnished +many examples of persuasive and graceful oratory. Among the conspicuous +occasions that made demands upon his ability as a public speaker was the +dedication of the public library building. On that occasion his address +was interposed between those of the Honorable Edward Everett ard the +Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, both of whom were men of the highest and +most elegant culture, possessing a national reputation for finished +eloquence. The position in which the young Boston merchant found +himself was an exceedingly difficult and trying one; but he rose +most successfully to its demands, and nobly surpassed the exacting +expectations of his warmest admirers. It was agreed on every hand that +Mayor Rice's address was fully equal, in scope and appropriateness of +thought and beauty of diction, to that of either of the eminent scholars +and orators with whom he was brought into comparison. It received +emphatic encomiums at home, and attracted the flattering attention of +the English press, by which it was extensively copied and adduced as +another evidence of the literary culture found in municipal officers in +this country, and of American advancement in eloquence and scholarship. +</p> +<p> +At the close of Mr. Rice's second term in the mayoralty of Boston, he +declined a renommation. While in that office, he was faithful to the men +who had elected him, and abstained from participation in party politics +farther than in voting for selected candidates. Originally, he was an +anti-slavery Whig, and, upon the formation of the Republican party, he +became identified with it. +</p> +<p> +When he retired from the office of mayor, in January, 1858, it was his +intention to devote himself exclusively to business; but an unexpected +concurrence of circumstances in the third congressional district led to +his nomination and election to Congress by the Republicans, although +the partisan opposition was largely in the majority. He continued to +represent the district for eight consecutive years, and until he +declined further service. He entered Congress just before the breaking +out of the Civil War, and became a participant in the momentous +legislative events of that period. He witnessed the secession of the +Southern members + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[68]</span> + + from the two houses of Congress, and served through the whole period of +the war and through one Congress after the war closed, embracing one +half of President Buchanan's administration, the whole of Lincoln's, and +one half of Johnson's. He served on the committees on the Pacific +Railroad, on the District of Columbia, and on naval affairs, of which +last important committee he was chairman during the two closing years of +the war. In this last position he won much reputation by his mastery of +information relating to naval affairs at home and abroad, and by his +thorough devotion to the interests of the American Navy. Mr. Rice did +not often partake in the general debates of Congress, but he had the +confidence of its members to an unusual degree, and the measures which +he presented were seldom successfully opposed. When occasion called, +however, he distinguished himself as a debater of first-class ability, +as was shown in his notable reply to the Honorable Henry Winter Davis, +of Maryland, one of the most brilliant speakers in Congress, in defence +of the navy, and especially of its administration during the war period. +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding his arduous labors as chairman of the naval committee, +Mr. Rice's business habits and industry enabled him to attend faithfully +to the general interests of his constituents, and to many details of +public affairs which are often delegated to unofficial persons or are +altogether neglected. All of his large correspondence was written by +himself, and was promptly despatched. Governor Andrew used to say that +whenever he needed information from Washington, and prompt action, he +always wrote to the representative of the third district. +</p> +<p> +At home Mr. Rice has filled many positions of prominence in business +and social life. He was for some years president of the board of trade, +and of the National Sailors' Home. He was president of the great +Peace Jubilee, held in Boston in 1869, the most remarkable musical +entertainment ever held in America, embracing an orchestra of twelve +hundred instruments, and a chorus of twenty thousand voices. The opening +address of this jubilee was made by Mr. Rice. He was also the chairman +of the committee to procure the equestrian statue of Washington for the +Public Garden in Boston, and of the committee that erected the statue of +Charles Sumner. He delivered an appropriate address at the unveiling +of each of these works, and also at the unveiling of the statue of +Franklin, erected during his mayoralty in front of the City Hall. He has +also been president of the Boston Memorial Society, and of the Boston +Art Club, as well as of many other associations. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Rice was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1875, and was twice +re-elected. His career as governor was characterized by a comprehensive +and liberal policy in State affairs. While he was always ready to listen +to the opinions and wishes of other men, his administration was strongly +marked by his own individuality. His messages to the Legislature were +clear and decisive in recommendation and discussion, and his policy in +regard to important measures was plainly defined. He never interfered +with the functions of the co-ordinate branches of the government; on the +other hand, he was equally mindful of the rights of the executive. +Always ready to co-operate with the Legislature in regard to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>[69]</span> + + measures which the welfare and honor of the Commonwealth seemed to him +to justify, he did not hesitate to apply the executive veto when his +judgment dictated, even in relation to measures of current popularity. +He thoroughly reorganized the militia of the State, thereby greatly +improving its character and efficiency, besides largely diminishing its +annual cost. His appointments to office, though sometimes sharply +criticised, proved, almost without exception, to have been judiciously +made, and in many instances exhibited remarkable insight into the +character and aptitude of the persons appointed. +</p> +<p> +Although elected a Republican, Governor Rice was thoroughly loyal to +the best interests of the State in the distribution of patronage. Every +faithful and competent officer whom he found in place was reappointed, +regardless of his politics, and the incompetent and unreliable were +retired, though belonging to his own party. It is, however, but fair +to say, that in making original appointments and in filling absolute +vacancies, he gave the preference, in cases of equal character and +competency, to men of his own party. +</p> +<p> +During the centennial year, 1876, the special occasions, anniversaries, +and public celebrations were very numerous, and added greatly to the +demands upon the governor's time and services in semi-official +engagements, in all of which he acquitted himself with high credit to +himself and the Commonwealth. +</p> +<p> +In 1877, he escorted President Hayes to Harvard University to receive +the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor which had been conferred upon +himself the previous year; and in 1878 he also escorted Lord Dufferin, +governor-general of Canada, to the university, on an occasion made +memorable by the visit of that distinguished statesman. +</p> +<p> +During his whole administration, Governor Rice took a deep interest +in the cause of education in the State, as president of the board of +education, and in visiting schools and colleges for personal inspection. +He also carefully watched over the several State institutions for +correction, for reform, and for lunacy and charity, encouraging, as +opportunity offered, both officers and inmates, and, at the same time, +unsparing in merited criticism of negligence and unfaithfulness. +</p> +<p> +In a word, Governor Rice's administration of State affairs justly ranks +among the administrations that have been the most useful and honorable +to the Commonwealth. +</p> +<p> +In 1881, Mr. Rice was elected honorary chancellor of Union University, +his <i>alma mater</i>, and at the commencement anniversary of that year +he delivered an elaborate oration on <i>The Reciprocal Relations of +Education and Enterprise</i>, which was received with the highest favor +by the numerous statesmen and scholars who honored the occasion by their +presence, and was afterwards published and widely circulated. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Rice is still actively engaged in business, and still maintains an +undiminished interest in the affairs of public and social life. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[70]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0003" id="h2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE OLD STORES AND THE POST-OFFICE OF GROTON. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By the Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D.</span> +</h3> +<p> +Tradition has preserved little or nothing in regard to the earliest +trading stores of Groton. It is probable, however, that they were kept +in dwelling-houses, by the occupants, who sold articles in common use +for the convenience of the neighborhood, and at the same time pursued +their regular vocations. +</p> +<p> +Jonas Cutler was keeping a shop on the site of Mr. Gerrish's store, +before the Revolution; and the following notice, signed by him, appears +in The Massachusetts Gazette (Boston), November 28, 1768:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + A THEFT. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Whereas on the 19th or 20th Night of November Instant, the Shop of the + Subscriber was broke open in <i>Groton</i>, and from thence was stollen + a large Sum of Cash, viz. four Half Johannes, two Guineas, Two Half + Ditto, One Pistole mill'd, nine Crowns, a Considerable Number of + Dollars, with a considerable Quantity of small Silver & Copper, together + with one Bever Hat, about fifteen Yards of Holland, eleven Bandannas, + blue Ground with white, twelve red ditto with white, Part of a Piece of + Silk Romails, 1 Pair black Worsted Hose, 1 strip'd Cap, 8 or 10 black + barcelona Handkerchiefs, Part of a Piece of red silver'd Ribband, blue + & white do, Part of three Pieces of black Sattin Ribband, Part of three + Pieces of black Tafferty ditto, two bundles of Razors, Part of 2 Dozen + Penknives, Part of 2 Dozen ditto with Seals, Part of 1 Dozen Snuff + Boxes, Part of 3 Dozen Shoe Buckels, Part of several Groce of Buttons, + one Piece of gellow [yellow?] Ribband, with sundry Articles not yet + known of—— Whoever will apprehend the said Thief or Thieves, so that + he or they may be brought to Justice, shall receive TEN DOLLARS Reward + and all necessary Charges paid. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + JONAS CUTLER. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Groton, Nov. 22,1763 [8?]. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + <span style="font-size: 150%;"><b>☞</b></span> If any of the above mentioned Articles are offered to Sail, it + is desired they may be stop'd with the Thief, and Notice given to said + <i>Cutler</i> or to the Printers. +</p> +<p> +On October 21, 1773, a noted burglar was hanged in Boston for various +robberies committed in different parts of the State, and covering a +period of some years. The unfortunate man was present at the delivery +of a sermon, preached at his own request, on the Sunday before his +execution; and to many of the printed copies is appended an account +of his life. In it the poor fellow states that he was only twenty-one +years old, and that he was born at Groton of a respectable family. He +confesses that he broke into Mr. Cutler's shop, and took away "a good +piece of broad-cloth, a quantity of silk mitts, and several pieces of +silk handkerchiefs." He was hardly seventeen years of age at the time of +this burglary. To the present generation it would seem cruel and wicked +to hang a misguided youth for offences of this character. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Cutler died December 19, 1782; and he was succeeded in business +by Major Thomas Gardner, who erected the present building known as +Gerrish's block, which is soon to be removed. Major Gardner lived in the +house now owned by the Waters family. +</p> +<p> +Near the end of the last century a store, situated a little north of the +late + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>[71]</span> + + Mr. Dix's house, was kept by James Brazer, which had an extensive trade +for twenty miles in different directions. It was here that the late Amos +Lawrence served an apprenticeship of seven years, which ended on April +22, 1807; and he often spoke of his success in business as due, in part, +to the experience in this store. Late in life he wrote that "the +knowledge of every-day affairs which I acquired in my business +apprenticeship at Groton has been a source of pleasure and profit even +in my last ten years' discipline." +</p> +<p> +The quantity of New-England rum and other liquors sold at that period +would astonish the temperance people of the present day. Social drinking +was then a common practice, and each forenoon some stimulating beverage +was served up to the customers in order to keep their trade. There were +five clerks employed in the establishments; and many years later Mr. +Lawrence, in giving advice to a young student in college, wrote:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "In the first place, take this for your motto at the commencement of + your journey, that the difference of going <i>just right</i>, or a + <i>little wrong</i>, will be the difference of finding yourself in good + quarters, or in a miserable bog or slough, at the end of it. Of the + whole number educated in the Groton stores for some years before and + after myself, no one else, to my knowledge, escaped the bog or slough; + and my escape I trace to the simple fact of my having put a restraint + upon my appetite. We five boys were in the habit, every forenoon, of + making a drink compounded of rum, raisins, sugar, nutmeg, &c., with + biscuit,—all palatable to eat and drink. After being in the store four + weeks, I found myself admonished by my appetite of the approach of the + hour for indulgence. Thinking the habit might make trouble if allowed + to grow stronger, without further apology to my seniors I declined + partaking with them. My first resolution was to abstain for a week, and, + when the week was out, for a month, and then for a year. Finally, I + resolved to abstain for the rest of my apprenticeship, which was for + five years longer. During that whole period, I never drank a spoonful, + though I mixed gallons daily for my old master and his customers."<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The following advertisement is found in the Columbian Centinel (Boston), +June 8, 1805:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + <i>James Brazer</i>, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Would inform the public that having dissolved the Copartnership lately + subsisting between AARON BROWN, Esq. SAMUEL HALE and the subscriber; he + has taken into Copartnership his son WILLIAM F. BRAZER, and the business + in future will be transacted under the firm of +</p> +<p class="quote"> + JAMES BRAZER & SON; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + They will offer for sale, at their store in <i>Groton</i>, within six + days a complete assortment of English, India, and W. India GOODS, which + they will sell for ready pay, at as low a rate as any store in the + Country. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + JAMES BRAZER. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Groton, May 29, 1805. +</p> +<p> +"'Squire Brazer," as he was generally called, was a man of wealth +and position. He was one of the founders of Groton Academy, and his +subscription of £15 to the building-fund in the year 1792 was as large +as that given by any other person. In the early part of this century he +built the house now belonging to the Academy and situated just south of +it, where he lived until his death, which occurred on November 10, 1818. +His widow, also, took a deep interest in the institution, and at her + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[72]</span> + + decease, April 14, 1826, bequeathed to it nearly five thousand dollars. +</p> +<p> +After Mr. Brazer's death the store was moved across the street, where it +still remains, forming the ell of Gerrish's block. The post-office was +in the north end of it, during Mr. Butler's term as postmaster. About +this time the son, William Farwell Brazer, built a store nearly opposite +to the Academy, which he kept during some years. It was made finally +into a dwelling-house, and occupied by the late Jeremiah Kilburn, whose +family still own it. +</p> +<p> +James Brazer's house was built on the site of one burnt down during the +winter season a year or two previously. There was no fire-engine then in +town, and the neighbors had to fight the flames, as best they could, +with snow as well as water. At that time Loammi Baldwin, Jr., a graduate +of Harvard College in the class of 1800, was a law-student in Timothy +Bigelow's office. He had a natural taste for mechanics; and he was +so impressed with the need of an engine that with his own hands he +constructed the first one the town ever had. This identical machine, now +known as Torrent, No. I, is still serviceable after a use of more than +eighty years, and will throw a stream of water over the highest roof in +the village. It was made in Jonathan Loring's shop, then opposite to Mr. +Boynton's blacksmith shop, where the iron work was done. The tub is of +copper, and bears the date of 1802. Mr. Baldwin, soon after this time, +gave up the profession of law, and became, like his father, a +distinguished civil engineer. +</p> +<p> +The brick store, opposite to the High School, was built about the +year 1836, by Henry Woods, for his own place of business, and afterward +kept by him and George S. Boutwell, the style of the firm being Woods +and Boutwell. Mr. Woods died on January 12, 1841; and he was succeeded +by his surviving partner, who carried on the store for a long time, +even while holding the highest executive position in the State. The +post-office was in this building during the years 1839 and 1840. For the +past twenty-five years it has been occupied by various firms, and now is +kept by D.H. Shattuck and Company. +</p> +<p> +During the last war with England, Eliphalet Wheeler had a store where +Miss Betsey Capell, in more modern times, kept a haberdasher's shop. It +is situated opposite to the Common, and now used as a dwelling-house. +She was the daughter of John Capell, who owned the sawmill and +gristmill, which formerly stood near the present site of the Tileston +and Hollingsworth paper-mills, on the Great Road, north of the village. +Afterward Wheeler and his brother, Abner, took Major Thomas Gardner's +store, where he was followed by Park and Woods, Park and Potter, Potter +and Gerrish, and lastly by Charles Gerrish, who has kept it for more +than thirty years. It is said that this building will soon give way to +modern improvements. +</p> +<p> +Near the beginning of the present century there were three military +companies in town; the Artillery company, commanded at one time by +Captain James Lewis; the North company by Captain Jonas Gilson; and the +South company by Captain Abel Tarbell. Two of these officers were soon +promoted in the regimental service: Captain Tarbell to a colonelcy, and +Captain Lewis to a majorate. Captain Gilson resigned, and was succeeded +by Captain Noah Shattuck. They had their Spring and fall training-days, +when they + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>[73]</span> + + drilled as a battalion on the Common,—there were no trees there, +then,—and marched through the village. They formed a very respectable +command, and sometimes would be drawn up before Esquire Brazer's store, +and at other times before Major Gardner's, to be treated with toddy, +which was then considered a harmless drink. +</p> +<p> +David Child had a store, about the beginning of the century, at the +south corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, nearly opposite to the site +of the Orthodox meeting-house, though Pleasant Street was not then laid +out. It was afterward occupied by Deacon Jonathan Adams, then by Artemas +Wood, and lastly by Milo H. Shattuck. This was moved off twelve or +fifteen years ago, and a spacious building put up, a few rods north, on +the old tavern site across the way, by Mr. Shattuck, who still carries +on a large business. +</p> +<p> +Alpheus Richardson kept a store, about the year 1815, in his +dwelling-house, at the south corner of Main and Elm Streets, besides +having a book-bindery in the same building. The binder's shop was +continued until about 1850. It is said that this house was built +originally by Colonel James Prescott, for the use of his son, Abijah, as +a store; but it never was so occupied. +</p> +<p> +Joseph and Phineas Hemenway built a store on the north corner of Main +and Elm Streets, about the year 1815, where they carried on a trading +business. They were succeeded by one Richardson, then by David Childs; +and finally by John Spalter, who had for many years a bookstore and +binder's shop in the building, which is now used as a dwelling-house. +At the present time Mr. Spalter is living in Keene, New Hampshire. +</p> +<p> +About the year 1826, General Thomas A. Staples built and kept a store +on Main Street, directly north of the Union Church. He was followed +successively by Benjamin Franklin Lawrence, Henry Hill, and Walter +Shattuck. The building was burned down about ten years ago, and its site +is now occupied by Dr. David R. Steere's house. +</p> +<p> +In the year 1847 a large building was moved from Hollis Street to +the corner of Main and Court Streets. It was put up originally as a +meeting-house for the Second Adventists, or Millerites as they were +called in this neighborhood, after William Miller, one of the founders +of the sect; but after it was taken to the new site, it was fitted up in +a commodious manner, with shops in the basement and a spacious hall in +the second story. The building was known as Liberty Hall, and formed a +conspicuous structure in the village. The post-office was kept in it, +while Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Andruss were the postmasters. It was used as a +shoe shop, a grocery, and a bakery, when, on Sunday, March 31, 1878, it +was burned to the ground. +</p> +<p> +The brick store, owned by the Dix family, was built and kept by Aaron +Brown, near the beginning of the century. He was followed by Moses +Parker, and after him came —— and Merriam, and then Benjamin P. Dix. +It is situated at the corner of Main Street and Broad-Meadow Road, and +now used as a dwelling-house. A very good engraving of this building is +given in The Groton Herald, May 8, 1830, which is called by persons who +remember it at that time a faithful representation, though it has since +undergone some changes. +</p> +<p> +Near the end of the last century, Major William Swan traded in the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>[74]</span> + + house now occupied by Charles Woolley, Jr., north of the Common near the +old burying-ground. It was Major Swan who set out the elm-trees in front +of this house, which was the Reverend Dr. Chaplin's dwelling for many +years. +</p> +<p> +Two daughters of Isaac Bowers, a son of Landlord Bowers, had a dry-goods +shop in the house owned and occupied by the late Samuel W. Rowe, Esq. +About the year 1825, Walter Shattuck opened a store in the building +originally intended for the Presbyterian Church, opposite to the present +entrance of the Groton Cemetery. There was formerly a store kept by one +Mr. Lewis, near the site of Captain Asa Stillman Lawrence's house, north +of the Town Hall. There was a trader in town, Thomas Sackville Tufton by +name, who died in the year 1778, though I do not know the site of his +shop. Captain Samuel Ward, a native of Worcester, and an officer in the +French and Indian War, was engaged in business at Groton some time +before the Revolution. He removed to Lancaster, where at one time he was +town-clerk, and died there on August 14, 1826. +</p> +<p> +The Groton post-office was established at the very beginning of the +present century, and before that time letters intended for this town +were sent through private hands. Previous to the Revolution there were +only a few post-offices in the Province, and often persons in distant +parts of Massachusetts received their correspondence at Boston. In +the Supplement to The Boston Gazette, February 9, 1756, letters are +advertised as remaining uncalled for, at the Boston office, addressed to +William Lakin and Abigail Parker, both of Groton, as well as to Samuel +Manning, Townsend, William Gleany, Dunstable, and Jonathan Lawrence, +Littleton. Nearly five months afterward these same letters are +advertised in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, July 1, 1756, as still +uncalled for. The name of David Farnum, America, appears also in this +list, and it is hoped that wherever he was he received the missive. The +names of Oliver Lack (probably intended for Lakin) and Ebenezer Parker, +both of this town, are given in another list printed in the Gazette of +June 28, 1762; and in the same issue one is advertised for Samuel +Starling, America. In the Supplement to the Gazette, October 10, 1768, +Ebenezer Farnsworth, Jr., and George Peirce, of Groton, had letters +advertised; and in the Gazette, October 18, 1773, the names of Amos +Farnsworth, Jonas Farnsworth, and William Lawrence, all of this town, +appear in the list. +</p> +<p> +I find no record of a post-rider passing through Groton, during the +period immediately preceding the establishment of the post-office; +but there was doubtless such a person who used to ride on horseback, +equipped with saddle-bags, and delivered at regular intervals the weekly +newspapers and letters along the way. In the year 1794, according to the +History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire (page 129), a post-rider, by the +name of Balch, rode from Boston to Keene one week and back the next. +Probably he passed through this town, and served the inhabitants with +his favors. +</p> +<p> +Several years ago I procured, through the kindness of General Charles +Devens, at that time a member of President Hayes's cabinet, some +statistics of the Groton post-office, which are contained in the +following letter:— +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>[75]</span> +</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +Post-Office Department, Appointment Office, <br /> +Washington, D.C., September 3, 1877. +</p> +<p> +Hon. CHARLES DEVENS, Attorney-General, Department of Justice. +</p> +<p> +<i>Sir</i>,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communication +from Samuel A. Green, of Boston, Massachusetts, with your endorsement +thereon, requesting to be furnished with a list of postmasters at the +office of Groton, in that State, from the date of its establishment to +the present time. +</p> +<p> +In reply, I have the honor to inform you, that the fire which consumed +the department building, on the night of the fifteenth of December, +1836, destroyed three of the earliest record-books of this office; but +by the aid of the auditor's ledger-books, it is ascertained that the +office began to render accounts on the first of January, 1801, but the +exact day is not known, Samuel Dana, was the first postmaster, and the +following list furnishes the history of the office, as shown by the +old records. +</p> +<p> +Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Office probably established in +November, 1800. Samuel Dana began rendering accounts January 1, 1801. +Wm. M. Richardson, October 1, 1804. +</p> +<p> +From this time the exact dates are known. +</p> +<p> +Abraham Moore, appointed postmaster January 31, 1812. +</p> +<p> +Eliphalet Wheeler, August 20, 1815. +</p> +<p> +James Lewis, September 9, 1815. +</p> +<p> +Caleb Butler, July 1, 1826. +</p> +<p> +Henry Woods, January 15, 1839. +</p> +<p> +George S. Boutwell, January 22, 1841. +</p> +<p> +Caleb Butler, April 15, 1841. +</p> +<p> +Welcome Lothrop, December 21, 1846. +</p> +<p> +Artemas Wood, February 22, 1849. +</p> +<p> +George H. Brown, May 4, 1849. +</p> +<p> +Theodore Andruss, April 11, 1853. +</p> +<p> +George W. Fiske, April 22, 1861. +</p> +<p> +Henry Woodcock, February 13, 1867. +</p> +<p> +Miss Hattie E. Farnsworth, June 11, 1869, who is the present incumbent. +</p> +<p> +Each postmaster held the office up to the appointment of his successor, +but it is probable that Mr. Boutwell and Mr. A. Wood, although regularly +appointed, did not accept, judging by the dates of the next postmasters. +</p> +<p> +As to the "income" of the office, to which allusion is made, it is very +difficult to obtain any of the amounts; but the first year and the last +year are herewith appended, as follows:— +</p> +<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" summary="Income by fiscal quarter"> +<tr><th colspan="4"> Fiscal Year</th></tr> +<tr><th colspan="2"> (1801) </th><th colspan="2"> (1876) </th></tr> +<tr><td> First quarter,</td><td align="right"> $1.91 </td><td>First quarter,</td><td align="right"> $314.15 </td></tr> +<tr><td> Second " </td><td align="right"> 2.13 </td><td>Second " </td><td align="right"> 296.94 </td></tr> +<tr><td> Third " </td><td align="right"> 2.93 </td><td>Third " </td><td align="right"> 305.71 </td></tr> +<tr><td> Fourth " </td><td align="right"> 5.29 </td><td>Fourth " </td><td align="right"> 294.28 </td></tr> +<tr><td> For the year, </td><td align="right">$12.26 </td><td>For the y'r, </td><td align="right">$1,211.08 </td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +Trusting the foregoing, which is believed to be correct, will be +acceptable to you, I am, sir, respectfully, +</p> +<p> +Your ob't serv't, +</p> +<p> +JAMES H. MARR, +<br /> +Acting First Ass't P.M. General. +</p> +<p> +It will be seen that the net income of the office, during the first +seventy-five years of its existence, increased one hundred fold. +</p> +<p> +West Groton is a small settlement that has sprung up in the western part +of the town, dating back in its history to the last century. It is +pleasantly situated on the banks of the Squannacook River, and in my +boyhood was known as Squannacook, a much better name than the present +one. It is to be regretted that so many of the old Indian words, which +smack of the region, should have been crowded out of our local +nomenclature. There is a small water-power here, and formerly a sawmill, +gristmill, and a paper-mill were in operation; but these have now given +way to a factory, where leather-board is made. The Peterborough and +Shirley branch of the Fitchburg Railroad passes through the place, and +some local business is transacted in the neighborhood. As a matter of +course, a post-office was needed in the village, and one was established +on March 19, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>[76]</span> + + 1850. The first person to fill the office was Adams Archibald, a native +of Truro, Nova Scotia, who kept it in the railway-station. +</p> +<p> +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:— +</p> +<p><br /> +Adams Archibald, March 19, 1850. <br /> +Edmund Blood, May 25, 1868. <br /> +Charles H. Hill, July 31, 1871. <br /> +George H. Bixby, June, 1878. +</p> + +<p> +During the postmastership of Mr. Blood, and since that time, the office +has been kept at the only store in the place. +</p> +<p> +A post-office was established at South Groton, on June 1, 1849, and the +first postmaster was Andrew B. Gardner. The village was widely known +as Groton Junction, and resulted from the intersection of several +railroads. Here six passenger-trains coming from different points were +due in the same station at the same time, and they all were supposed to +leave as punctually. +</p> +<p> +The trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, arriving from each direction, and +likewise the trains on the Worcester and Nashua Road from the north and +the south, passed each other at this place. There was also a train from +Lowell, on the Stony Brook Railroad, and another on the Peterborough and +Shirley branch, coming at that time from West Townsend. +</p> +<p> +A busy settlement grew up, which was incorporated as a distinct town +under the name of Ayer, on February 14, 1871. +</p> +<p> +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:— +</p> +<p><br /> +Andrew B. Gardner, June 1, 1849. <br /> +Harvey A. Wood, August 11, 1853. <br /> +George H. Brown, December 30, 1861. <br /> +William H. Harlow, December 5, 1862. <br /> +George H. Brown, January 15, 1863. <br /> +William H. Harlow, July 18, 1865. +</p> + +<p> +The name of the post-office was changed by the department at Washington, +from South Groton to Groton Junction, on March 1, 1862; and subsequently +this was changed to Ayer, on March 22, 1871, soon after the +incorporation of the town, during the postmastership of Mr. Harlow. +</p> +<p> +The letter of the acting first assistant postmaster-general, printed +above, supplements the account in Butler's History of Groton (pages +249-251). According to Mr. Butler's statement, the post-office was +established on. September 29, 1800, and the Honorable Samuel Dana was +appointed the first postmaster. No mail, however, was delivered at the +office until the last week in November. For a while it came to Groton +by the way of Leominster, certainly a very indirect route. This fact +appears from a letter written to Judge Dana, by the Postmaster-General, +under date of December 18, 1800, apparently in answer to a request to +have the mail brought directly from Boston. In this communication the +writer says:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + It appears to me, that the arrangement which has been made for + carrying the mail to Groton is sufficient for the accommodation of + the inhabitants, as it gives them the opportunity of receiving their + letters regularly, and with despatch, once a week. The route from + Boston, by Leominster, to Groton is only twenty miles farther than by + the direct route, and the delay of half a day, which is occasioned + thereby, is not of much consequence to the inhabitants of Groton. + If it should prove that Groton produces as much postage as Lancaster + and Leominster, the new contract for carrying the mail, which is to + be in operation on the first of October next, will be made by + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>[77]</span> + + Concord and Groton to Walpole, and a branch from Concord to Marlborough. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + JOS. HABERSHAM. +</p> +<p> +The amount of postage received from the office, after deducting the +necessary expenses, including the postmaster's salary, was, for the +first year after its establishment, about twelve dollars, or three +dollars for three months. In the year 1802 it was thirty-six dollars, or +nine dollars for three months, a large proportional increase. At this +time the mail came once a week only, and was brought by the stage-coach. +</p> +<p> +Samuel Dana, the first postmaster, was a prominent lawyer at the time of +his appointment. He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Dana, of Groton, +and born in this town, June 26, 1767. He occupied a high position in the +community, and exerted a wide influence in the neighborhood. At a later +period he was president of the Massachusetts Senate, a member of +Congress, and finally chief-justice of the circuit court of common +pleas. He died at Charlestown, on November 20, 1835. +</p> +<p> +Judge Dana kept the post-office in his own office, which was in the same +building as that of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, another noted lawyer. +These eminent men were on opposite sides of the same entry; and they +were generally on opposite sides of all important cases in the northern +part of Middlesex County. The building stood on the site of Governor +Boutwell's house, and is still remembered as the medical office of the +venerable Dr. Amos Bancroft. It was afterward moved away, and now stands +near the railway-station, where it is occupied as a dwelling-house. +Judge Dana held the office during four years, and he was succeeded by +William M. Richardson, Esq., afterward the chief-justice of the superior +court of New Hampshire. Mr. Richardson was a graduate of Harvard College +in the class of 1797, and at the time of his appointment as postmaster +had recently finished his professional studies in Groton, under the +guidance of Judge Dana. After his admission to the bar, Mr. Richardson +entered into partnership with his former instructor, succeeding him as +postmaster in July, 1804; and the office was still kept in the same +building. During Judge Richardson's term, the net revenue to the +department rose from nine dollars to about twenty-eight dollars for +three months. He held the position nearly eight years, and was followed +by Abraham Moore, who was commissioned on January 31, 1812. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Moore was a native of Bolton, Massachusetts, where he was born on +January 5, 1785. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1806, +and studied law at Groton with the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, and after +his admission to the bar settled here as a lawyer. His office was on +the site of the north end of Gerrish's block, and it was here that the +post-office was kept. During his administration the average income from +the office was about thirty-three dollars, for the quarter. In the +summer of 1815, Mr. Moore resigned the position and removed to Boston. +</p> +<p> +Eliphalet Wheeler, who kept the store now occupied by Mr. Gerrish, was +appointed in Mr. Moore's stead, and the post-office was transferred to +his place of business. He, however, was not commissioned, owing, it is +thought, to his political views; and Major James Lewis, who was sound in +his politics, received the appointment in his stead. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>[78]</span> + + Major Lewis, retained Mr. Wheeler for a short time as his assistant, and +during this period the duties were performed by him in his own store. +Shortly afterward Caleb Butler, Esq., was appointed the assistant, and +he continued to hold the position for eight years. During this time the +business was carried on in Mr. Butler's law office, and the revenue to +the government reached the sum of fifty dollars a quarter. His office +was then in a small building,—just south of Mr. Hoar's tavern,—which +was moved away about the year 1820, and taken to the lot where Colonel +Needham's house now stands, at the corner of Main and Hollis Streets. It +was fitted up as a dwelling, and subsequently moved away again. At this +time the old store of Mr. Brazer, who had previously died, was brought +from over the way, and occupied by Mr. Butler, on the site of his former +office. +</p> +<p> +On July 1, 1826, Mr. Butler, who had been Major Lewis's assistant for +many years, and performed most of the duties of the office, was +commissioned postmaster. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Butler was a native of Pelham, New Hampshire, where he was born on +September 13, 1776, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of +1800. He had been the preceptor of Groton Academy for some years, and +was widely known as a critical scholar. He had previously studied law +with the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, though his subsequent +practice was more in drawing up papers and settling estates than in +attendance at courts. His name is now identified with the town as its +historian. During his term of office as postmaster, the revenue rose +from fifty dollars to one hundred and ten dollars a quarter. He held the +position nearly thirteen years, to the entire satisfaction of the +public; but for political heresy was removed on January 15, 1839, when +Henry Woods was commissioned as his successor. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Woods held the office until his death, which occurred on January 12, +1841; and he was followed by the Honorable George S. Boutwell, since the +Governor of the Commonwealth and a member of the United States Senate. +During the administration of Mr. Woods and Mr. Boutwell, the office was +kept in the brick store, opposite to the present High School. +</p> +<p> +Upon the change in the administration of the National Government, +Mr. Butler was reinstated in office, and commissioned on April 15, 1841. +He continued to hold the position until December 21, 1846, when he was +again removed for political reasons. Mr. Butler was a most obliging man, +and his removal was received by the public with general regret. During +his two terms he filled the office for more than eighteen years, a +longer period than has fallen to the lot of any other postmaster of +the town. Near the end of his service a material change was made in the +rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus +comments on it:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to + December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four + dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the + first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars + and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the + natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and + fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before + had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon + the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>[79]</span> + + treasury. Whether the present rates will eventually raise a sufficient + revenue to meet the expenditures, remains to be seen. The greatest + difficulty to be overcome is evasion of the post-office laws and fraud + upon the department. +</p> +<p> +Like many other persons of that period, Mr. Butler did not appreciate +the fact that the best way to prevent evasions of the law is to reduce +the rates of postage so low that it will not pay to run the risk of +fraud. +</p> +<p> +Captain Welcome Lothrop succeeded Mr. Butler as postmaster, and during +his administration the office was kept in Liberty Hall. Captain Lothrop +was a native of Easton, Massachusetts, and a land-surveyor of some +repute in this neighborhood. Artemas Wood followed him by appointment on +February 22, 1849; but he never entered upon the duties of his office. +He was succeeded by George H. Brown, who had published The Spirit of the +Times—a political newspaper—during the presidential canvass of 1848, +and in this way had become somewhat prominent as a local politician. Mr. +Brown was appointed on May 4, 1849; and during his term the office was +kept in an ell of his dwelling-house, which was situated nearly opposite +to the Orthodox meeting-house. He was afterward the postmaster of Ayer. +Mr. Brown was followed by Theodore Andruss, a native of Orford, New +Hampshire, who was commissioned on April 11, 1853. Mr. Andruss brought +the office back to Liberty Hall, and continued to be the incumbent until +April 22, 1861, when he was succeeded by George W. Fiske. On February +13, 1867, Henry Woodcock was appointed to the position, and the office +was then removed to the Town Hall, where most excellent accommodations +were given to the public. +</p> +<p> +He was followed on June 11, 1869, by Miss Harriet E. Farnsworth, now +Mrs. Marion Putnam; and she in turn was succeeded on July 2, 1880, by +Mrs. Christina D. (Caryl) Fosdick, the widow of Samuel Woodbury Fosdick, +and the present incumbent. +</p> +<p> +The office is still kept in the Town Hall, and there is no reason to +think that it will be removed from the spacious and commodious quarters +it now occupies, for a long time to come. Few towns in the Commonwealth +can present such an array of distinguished men among their postmasters +as those of Groton, including, as it does, the names of Judge Dana, +Judge Richardson, Mr. Butler, and Governor Boutwell. +</p> +<p> +By the new postal law which went into operation on the first of last +October, the postage is now two cents to any part of the United States, +on all letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight. This rate +certainly seems cheap enough, but in time the public will demand the +same service for a cent. Less than forty years ago the charge was five +cents for any distance not exceeding three hundred miles, and ten cents +for any greater distance. This was the rate established by the law which +took effect on July 1, 1845; and it was not changed until July, 1851, +when it was reduced to three cents on single letters, prepaid, or five +cents, if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand miles. By +the law which went into operation on June 30, 1863, prepayment by stamps +was made compulsory, the rate remaining at three cents; though a special +clause was inserted, by which the letters of soldiers or sailors, then +fighting for the Union in the army or navy, might go without prepayment. +</p> +<hr /> +<a name="note-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>1</u> (<a href="#noteref-1">return</a>)<br /> +Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence, pages 24, 25. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>[80]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + LOVEWELL'S WAR. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By John N. McClintock, A.M.</span> +</h3> +<p> +On the morning of September 4, 1724, Thomas Blanchard and Nathan Cross, +of Dunstable, started from the Harbor and crossed the Nashua River, to +do a day's work in the pine forest to the northward. The day was wet +and drizzly. Arriving at their destination they placed their arms and +ammunition, as well as their lunch and accompanying jug, in a hollow +log, to keep them dry. During the day they were surrounded by a party of +Mohawks from Canada, who hurried them into captivity. +</p> +<p> +Their continued absence aroused the anxiety of their friends and +neighbors and a relief party of ten was at once organized to make a +search for the absentees. This party, under the command of Lieutenant +French, soon arrived at the place where the men had been at work, and +found several barrels of turpentine spilled on the ground, and, to the +keen eyes of those hardy pioneers, unmistakable evidence of the presence +of unfriendly Indians. Other signs indicated that the prisoners had been +carried away alive. The party at once determined upon pursuit, and +following the trail up the banks of the Merrimack came to the outlet +of Horse-Shoe Pond in the present town of Merrimac, where they were +surprised and overwhelmed by a large force of the enemy. Josiah Farwell +alone of that little band escaped to report the fate of his companions. +</p> +<p> +Blanchard and Cross were taken to Canada. After nearly a year's +confinement they succeeded in effecting their own ransom and returned to +their homes. The gun, jug, and lunch-basket were found in the hollow log +where they had been left the year before. +</p> +<p> +Enraged by these and similar depredations, the whole frontier was +aroused to aggressive measures. John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and +Jonathan Robbins at once petitioned for, and were granted, the right to +raise a scouting party to carry the war into the enemy's country. +</p> +<p> +At this time the settlements of New Hampshire were near the coast +outside of a line from Dover to Dunstable, except the lately planted +colony of Scotch-Irish at Londonderry. Hinsdale, or Dummer's Fort, was +the outpost on the Connecticut. To the north extended a wild, unbroken +wilderness to the French frontier in Canada. Through this vast region, +now overflowing with happy homes, wandered small bands of Indians +intent on the chase, or the surprise of their rivals, the white trappers +and hunters. +</p> +<p> +A large section of this country, fifty miles in width, was opened for +peaceful settlement by the bravery of Captain John Lovewell and the +company under his command. In this view their acts become more important +than those of a mere scouting party, and demand, and have received, an +acknowledged place in New-England history. +</p> +<p> +The company, which was raised by voluntary enlistments, was placed under +the command of John Lovewell. This redoubtable captain came of fighting +stock—his immediate ancestor serving as an ensign in the army of Oliver +Cromwell. Bravery and executive + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>[81]</span> + + ability are evidently transmissible qualities; for in one line of his +direct descendants it is known that the family have served their country +in four wars, as commissioned officers; in three wars holding the rank +of general.<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> +</p> +<p> +At this time Captain John Lovewell was in the prime of life, and burning +with zeal to perform some valiant exploit against the Indians. +</p> +<p> +The first raid of the company resulted in one scalp and one captive, +taken December 10, 1724, and carried to Boston. +</p> +<p> +The company started on their second expedition January 27, 1724-5, +crossing the Merrimack at Nashua, and pushing northward. They arrived +at the shores of Lake Winnipiseogee, Februrary 9, and scouted in that +neighborhood for a few days, when, from the scarcity of provisions, a +part of the force returned to their homes. +</p> +<p> +Traces of Indians were discovered in the neighborhood of Tamworth by the +remaining force, and the trail was followed until, February 20, they +discovered the smoke of an Indian encampment. A surprise was quickly +planned and successfully executed, leading to the capture of ten scalps, +valued by the provincial authorities at one thousand ounces of silver. +</p> +<p> +Captain Lovewell next conceived the bold design of attacking the village +of Pigwacket, near the head waters of the Saco, whose chief, Paugus, a +noted warrior, inspired terror along the whole northern frontier. +</p> +<p> +Commanding a company of forty-six trained men, Captain Lovewell started +from Dunstable on his arduous undertaking, April 16, 1725. Toby, an +Indian ally, soon gave out and returned to the lower settlements. Near +the island at the mouth of the Contoocook, which will forever perpetuate +the memory of Hannah Dustin, William Cummings, disabled by an old wound, +was discharged and was sent home under the escort of Josiah Cummings, a +kinsman. On the west shore of Lake Ossipee, Benjamin Kidder was sick and +unable to proceed; and the commander of the expedition decided to build +a fort and leave a garrison to guard the provisions and afford a shelter +in case of defeat or retreat. Sergeant Nathaniel Woods was left in +command. The garrison consisted of Dr. William Aver, John Goffe, John +Gilson, Isaac Whitney, Zachariah Whitney, Zebadiah Austin, Edward +Spoony, and Ebenezer Halburt. With his company reduced to thirty-three +effective men, Captain Lovewell pushed on toward the enemy. On Saturday +morning, May 8, in the neighborhood of Fryeburg, Maine, while the +rangers were at prayers, they were startled by the discharge of a gun, +and were soon attacked by a force of about eighty Indians. Their rear +was protected by the lake, by the side of which they fought. All through +the day the unequal contest continued. As night settled upon the scene +the savages withdrew, and the scouts commenced their painful retreat of +forty miles toward their fort. Left dead upon the field of battle were +Captain John Lovewell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, John Harwood, Robert +Usher, Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel +Woods, John Jefts, Ichabod Johnson, and Jonathan Kittredge. Lieutenant +Josiah Farwell, Chaplain Jonathan Frye, and Elias Barron, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>[82]</span> + + were mortally wounded, and perished in the wilderness. Solomon Keyes, +Sergeant Noah Johnson, Corporal Timothy Richardson, John Chamberlain, +Isaac Lakin, Eleazer Davis, and Josiah Jones, were seriously wounded, +but escaped to the lower settlements in company with their uninjured +comrades, Seth Wyman, Edward Lingfield, Thomas Richardson, Daniel +Melvin, Eleazer Melvin, Ebenezer Ayer, Abial Austin, Joseph Farrar, +Benjamin Hassell, and Joseph Gilson,—names which should be held in +honor for all time. +</p> +<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/019.png"><img src="images/019.png" style="height: 28em;" +alt="Township of Bow, NH, and vicinity." /></a> +<br /> +Township of Bow, NH, and vicinity. +</div> +<p> +Both parties seemed willing to retreat from this disastrous battle, each +with the loss of its chief. Paugus and many of his braves fell before +the unerring fire of the frontiersmen, and the tribe of Pigwacket, which +had so long menaced the borders, withdrew to Canada. +</p> +<p> +The ambitious young men of the older settlements had seen with jealousy +a band of strangers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, granted a beautiful and +fruitful tract, which already blossomed under the industrious work of +the newcomers. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>[83]</span> + + They clamored for grants which they, too, could cultivate. Every pretext +was advanced to secure a claim. No petitioners were better entitled to +consideration than the representatives of those who had rendered so +large a section habitable. +</p> +<p> +Massachusetts Bay Colony had long claimed as a northern boundary a line +three miles north of the Merrimack and parallel thereto, from its mouth +to its source, thence westward to the bounds of New York. Under the +pressure brought to bear by interested parties, the General Court of +Massachusetts granted, January 17, 1725-6, the township of Penacook, +embracing the city of Concord, New Hampshire. +</p> +<p> +In May, 1727, a petition from the survivors of Lovewell's command was +favorably received by the General Court, and soon afterward Suncook, or +Lovewell's township, was granted. Only two of the company are known to +have settled in the town—Francis Doyen, who was with Lovewell on his +second expedition, and Noah Johnson. The latter was the last survivor of +the company. He was a deacon of the church in Suncook for many years, +received a pension from Massachusetts, and died in Plymouth, New +Hampshire, in 1798, in the one hundredth year of his age. +</p> +<p> +Captain John Lovewell was represented in the township of Suncook by his +daughter Hannah, who married Joseph Baker, settled on her father's +right, raised a large family, and died at a good old age. A great +multitude of her descendants are scattered throughout the United States. +</p> +<p> +The original grantees of the township, for the most part, assigned their +rights to persons who became actual settlers. +</p> +<p> +In the year 1740, the King in council decided the present line as the +boundary between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, thus leaving Suncook, +and many other of the townships granted by the latter Province, within +the former. For a score of years following, the settlers were harassed +by the proprietors of the soil under the Masonian Claim, until, in 1759, +a compromise was effected, and Pembroke was incorporated. +</p> +<p> +In 1774, a new township in the District of Maine, was granted, by the +General Court of Massachusetts, to the "proprietors of Suncook," to +recompense them for their losses. The township was called Sambrook, and +embraced the present towns of Lovell and New Sweden; it was located in +the neighborhood of the battle-field, where, a half century before, so +many brave lives had been sacrificed. +</p> +<p> +NOTE.—The townships of Rumford and Suncook, both granted by +Massachusetts authorities, made a common cause in the defence of their +rights against the claimants under New Hampshire, known as the Bow +proprietors. The latter, who were, in fact, the New Hampshire Provincial +authorities, and who not only prosecuted but adjudicated the cases, +brought suits for such small extent of territory in each case, that +there was no legal appeal to the higher courts in England. The two towns +therefore authorized the Reverend Timothy Walker, the first settled +minister of Rumford, to represent their cause before the King in +council. By the employment of able counsel and judicious management of +the case, he was eminently successful, and obtained a decision favorable +to the Massachusetts settlers. In the meanwhile, the proprietors of +Suncook had compromised with the Bow proprietors, surrendering half of +their rights—for them the decision came too late. The Rumford +proprietors, however, were benefited, and Concord, under which name +Rumford was incorporated by New Hampshire laws, maintained its old +boundaries as originally granted,—which remain practically the same to +this day. +</p> +<hr /> +<a name="note-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>2</u> (<a href="#noteref-2">return</a>)<br /> +General Timothy Bedel served during the Revolution; his +son, General Moody Bedel, served in the War of 1812; his son, General +John Bedel, was a lieutenant in the Mexican War, and brigadier-general +in the Rebellion. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>[84]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0005" id="h2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + HISTORIC TREES. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By L.L. Dame.</span> +</h3> +<h3> +THE WASHINGTON ELM. +</h3> +<p> +At the north end of the Common in Old Cambridge stands the famous +Washington Elm, which has been oftener visited, measured, sketched, and +written up for the press, than any other tree in America. It is of +goodly proportions, but, as far as girth of trunk and spread of branches +constitute the claim upon our respect, there are many nobler specimens +of the American elm in historic Middlesex. +</p> +<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/021.png"><img src="images/021.png" style="height: 24em;" +alt="THE WASHINGTON ELM. [From D. Lothrop & Company's Young +Folks' Life of Washington.]" /></a> +<br /> +THE WASHINGTON ELM. [From D. Lothrop & Company's Young +Folks' Life of Washington.] +</div> +<p> +Extravagant claims have been made with regard to its age, but it is +extremely improbable that any tree of this species has ever rounded out +its third century. Under favorable conditions, the growth of the elm is +very rapid, a single century sometimes sufficing to develop a tree +larger than the Washington Elm. +</p> +<p> +When Governor Winthrop and Lieutenant-Governor Dudley, in 1630, rode +along the banks of the Charles in quest of a suitable site for the +capital of their colony, it is barely possible the great elm was in +being. It would be a pleasant conceit to link the thrifty growth of +the young sapling with the steady advancement of the new settlement, +enshrining it as a sort of guardian genius of the place, the living +witness of progress in Cambridge from the first feeble beginnings. +</p> +<p> +The life of the tree, however, probably does not date farther back than +the last quarter of the seventeenth century. In its early history there +was nothing + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>[85]</span> + + to distinguish it from its peers of the greenwood. When the surrounding +forest fell beneath the axe of the woodman, the trees conspicuous for +size and beauty escaped the general destruction; among these was the +Washington Elm; but there is no evidence that it surpassed its +companions. +</p> +<p> +Tradition states that another large elm once stood on the northwest +corner of the Common, under which the Reverend George Whitefield, the +Wesleyan evangelist, preached in 1745. Others claim that it was the +Washington Elm under which the sermon was delivered. The two trees stood +near each other, and the hearers were doubtless scattered under each. +But the great elm was destined to look down upon scenes that stirred the +blood even more than the vivid eloquence of a Whitefield. Troublous +times had come, and the mutterings of discontent were voicing themselves +in more and more articulate phrase. The old tree must have been privy +to a great deal of treasonable talk—at first, whispered with many +misgivings, under the cover of darkness; later, in broad daylight, +fearlessly spoken aloud. The smoke of bonfires, in which blazed the +futile proclamations of the King, was wafted through its branches. +It saw the hasty burial, by night, of the Cambridge men who were slain +upon the nineteenth of April, 1775; it saw the straggling arrival of +the beaten, but not disheartened, survivors of Bunker Hill; it saw the +Common—granted to the town as a training-field—suddenly transformed +to a camp, under General Artemas Ward, commander-in-chief of the +Massachusetts troops. +</p> +<p> +The crowning glory in the life of the great elm was at hand. On the +twenty-first of June, Washington, without allowing himself time to take +leave of his family, set out on horseback from Philadelphia, arriving at +Cambridge on the second of July. Sprightly Dorothy Dudley in her Journal +describes the exercises of the third, with the florid eloquence of +youth. +</p> +<p> +"To-day, he (Washington) formally took command, under <i>one of the +grand old elms</i> on the Common. It was a magnificent sight. The +majestic figure of the General, mounted upon his horse beneath the +wide-spreading branches of the patriarch tree; the multitude thronging +the plain around, and the houses filled with interested spectators of +the scene, while the air rung with shouts of enthusiastic welcome, as he +drew his sword, and thus declared himself Commander-in-chief of the +Continental army." +</p> +<p> +Dorothy does not specify under which elm Washington stood. It is safely +inferable from her language that our tree was one of several noble elms +which at this time were standing upon the Common. +</p> +<p> +Although no contemporaneous pen seems to have pointed out the exact tree +beyond all question, happily the day is not so far distant from us that +oral testimony is inadmissible. Of this there is enough to satisfy the +most captious critic. +</p> +<p> +Where the stone church is now situated, there was formerly an old +gambrel-roofed house, in which the Moore family lived during the +Revolution. The situation was very favorable for observation, commanding +the highroad from Watertown to Cambridge Common, and directly opposite +the great elm. From the windows of this house the spectators saw the +ceremony to good advantage, and one of them, styled, in 1848, the +"venerable Mrs. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>[86]</span> + + Moore," lived to point out the tree, and describe the glories of the +occasion, seventy-five years afterward. Fathers, who were eyewitnesses +standing beneath this tree, have told the story to their sons, and those +sons have not yet passed away. There is no possibility that we are +paying our vows at a counterfeit shrine. +</p> +<p> +Great events which mark epochs in history, bestow an imperishable +dignity even upon the meanest objects with which they are associated. +When Washington drew his sword beneath the branches, the great elm, thus +distinguished above its fellows, passed at once into history, +henceforward to be known as the Washington Elm. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> "Under the brave old tree </p> +<p class="i2"> Our fathers gathered in arms, and swore </p> +<p class="i2"> They would follow the sign their banners bore, </p> +<p class="i4"> And fight till the land was free."—<i>Holmes</i>. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +The elm was often honored by the presence of Washington, who, it is +said, had a platform built among the branches, where, we may suppose, +he used to ponder over the plans of the campaign. The Continental army, +born within the shade of the old tree, overflowing the Common, converted +Cambridge into a fortified camp. Here, too, the flag of thirteen stripes +for the first time swung to the breeze. +</p> +<p> +These were the palmy days of the elm. When the tide of war set away +from New England, the Washington Elm fell into unmerited neglect. The +struggling patriots had no time for sentiment; and when the war came to +an end they were too busy in shaping the conduct of the government, and +in repairing their shattered fortunes, to pay much attention to trees. +It was not until the great actors in those days were rapidly passing +away, that their descendants turned with an affectionate regard to the +enduring monuments inseparably associated with the fathers. Among these, +the Washington Elm deservedly holds a high rank. +</p> +<p> +On the third of July, 1875, the citizens of Cambridge celebrated the one +hundredth anniversary of Washington's assuming the command of the army. +The old tree was the central figure of the occasion. The American flag +floated above the topmost branches, and a profusion of smaller flags +waved amid the foliage. Never tree received a more enthusiastic ovation. +</p> +<p> +It is enclosed by a circular iron fence erected by the Reverend Daniel +Austin. Outside the fence, but under the branches, stands a granite +tablet erected by the city of Cambridge, upon which is cut an +inscription written by Longfellow:— +</p> +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0;"> +UNDER THIS TREE <br /> +WASHINGTON <br /> +FIRST TOOK COMMAND <br /> +OF THE <br /> +AMERICAN ARMY, <br /> +JULY 3D, 1775. +</p> +<p> +In 1850, it still retained its graceful proportions; its great limbs +were intact, and it showed few traces of age. Within the past +twenty-five years, it has been gradually breaking up. +</p> +<p> +In 1844, its girth, three feet from the ground, where its circumference +is least, was twelve feet two and a half inches. In 1884, at the same +point, it measures fourteen feet one inch; a gain so slight that the +rings of annual growth must be difficult to trace—an evidence of waning +vital force. The grand subdivisions of the trunk are all sadly crippled; +unsightly bandages of zinc mask the progress of decay; the symptoms of +approaching dissolution are painfully evident, especially in the winter +season. In summer, the remaining vitality expends + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>[87]</span> + + itself in a host of branchlets which feather the limbs, and give rise to +a false impression of vigor. +</p> +<p> +Never has tree been cherished with greater care, but its days are +numbered. A few years more or less, and, like Penn's Treaty Elm and the +famous Charter Oak, it will be numbered with the things that were. +</p> +<h3> +THE ELIOT OAK +</h3> +<p> +When John Eliot had become a power among the Indians, with far-reaching +sagacity he judged it best to separate his converts from the whites, and +accordingly, after much inquiry and toilsome search, gathered them into +a community at Natick—an old Indian name formerly interpreted as "a +place of hills," but now generally admitted to mean simply "my land." +Anticipating the policy which many believe must eventually be adopted +with regard to the entire Indian question, Eliot made his settlers +land-owners, conferred upon them the right to vote and hold office, +impressed upon them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and +taught them the rudiments of agriculture and the mechanic arts. +</p> +<p> +In the summer of 1651, the Indians built a framed edifice, which +answered, as is the case to-day in many small country towns, the double +purpose of a schoolroom on week-days, and a sanctuary on the Sabbath. +Professor C.E. Stowe once called that building the first known +theological seminary of New England, and said that for real usefulness +it was on a level with, if not above, any other in the known world. +</p> +<p> +It is assumed that two oaks, one of the red, and the other of the white, +species, of which the present Eliot Oak is the survivor, were standing +near this first Indian church. The early records of Eliot's labors make +no mention of these trees. Adams, in his Life of Eliot, says: "It would +be interesting if we could identify some of the favorite places of the +Indians in this vicinity," but fails to find sufficient data. Bigelow +(or Biglow, according to ancient spelling), in his History of Natick, +1830, states: "There are two oaks near the South Meeting-house, which +have undoubtedly stood there since the days of Eliot." It is greatly to +be regretted that the writer did not state the evidence upon which his +conclusion was based. +</p> +<p> +Bacon, in his History of Natick, 1856, remarks: "The oak standing a few +rods to the east of the South Meeting-house bears every evidence of an +age greater than that of the town, and was probably a witness of Eliot's +first visit to the 'place of hills.'" It would be quite possible to +subscribe to this conclusion, while dissenting entirely from the +premises. It will be noticed that Bacon relies upon the appearance of +the tree as a proof of its age. His own measurement, fourteen and a half +feet circumference at two feet from the ground, is not necessarily +indicative of more than a century's growth. +</p> +<p> +The writer upon Natick, in Drake's Historic Middlesex, avoids expressing +an opinion. "Tradition links these trees with the Indian Missionary." +For very long flights of time, tradition—as far as the age of trees is +concerned—cannot at all be relied upon; within the narrow limits +involved in the present case, it may be received with caution. +</p> +<p> +The Red Oak which stood nearly in front of the old Newell Tavern, was +the original Eliot Oak. Mr. Austin Bacon, who is familiar with the early + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>[88]</span> + + history and legends of Natick, states that "Mr. Samuel Perry, a man who +could look back to 1749, often said that Mr. Peabody, the successor to +Eliot, used to hitch his horse by that tree every Sabbath, because Eliot +used to hitch his there." +</p> +<p> +This oak was originally very tall; the top was probably broken off in +the tremendous September gale of 1815; as it was reported to be in a +mutilated condition in 1820. Time, however, partially concealed the +disaster by means of a vigorous growth of the remaining branches. In +1830, it measured seventeen feet in circumference two feet from the +ground. It had now become a tree of note, and would probably have +monopolized the honors to the exclusion of the present Eliot Oak, had it +not met with an untimely end. The keeper of the tavern in front of which +it stood had the tree cut down in May, 1842. This act occasioned great +indignation, and gave rise to a lawsuit at Framingham, "which was +settled by the offenders against public opinion paying the costs and +planting trees in the public green." A cartload of the wood was carried +to the trial, and much of it was taken home by the spectators to make +into canes and other relics, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "The King is dead, long live the King!" +</p> +<p> +Upon the demise of the old monarch, the title naturally passed to the +White Oak, its neighbor, another of the race of Titans, standing +conveniently near, of whose early history very little is positively +known beyond the fact that it is an old tree; and with the title passed +the traditions and reverence that gather about crowned heads. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Stowe has given it a new claim to notice, for beneath it, according +to Drake's Historic Middlesex, "Sam Lawson, the good-natured, lazy +story-teller, in Oldtown Folks, put his blacksmith's shop. It was +removed when the church was built." +</p> +<p> +The present Eliot Oak stands east of the Unitarian meeting-house, which +church is on or near the spot where Eliot's first church stood. It +measured, January, 1884, seventeen feet in circumference at the ground; +fourteen feet two inches at four feet above. It is a fine old tree, and +it is not improbable—though it is unproven—that it dates back to the +first settlement of Natick. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Thou ancient oak! whose myriad leaves are loud </p> +<p class="i2"> With sounds of unintelligible speech, </p> +<p class="i2"> Sounds as of surges on a shingly beach, </p> +<p class="i2"> Or multitudinous murmurs of a crowd; </p> +<p class="i2"> With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed </p> +<p class="i2"> Thou speakest a different dialect to each. </p> +<p class="i2"> To me a language that no man can teach, </p> +<p class="i2"> Of a lost race long vanished like a cloud, </p> +<p class="i2"> For underneath thy shade, in days remote, </p> +<p class="i2"> Seated like Abraham at eventide, </p> +<p class="i2"> Beneath the oak of Mamre, the unknown </p> +<p class="i2"> Apostle of the Indian, Eliot, wrote </p> +<p class="i2"> His Bible in a language that hath died. </p> +<p class="i2"> And is forgotten save by thee alone."—<i>Longfellow</i>. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>[89]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0006" id="h2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + HIS GREATEST TRIUMPH. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By Henrietta E. Page.</span> +</h3> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Yet slept the wearied mæstro, and all around was still, </p> +<p class="i2"> Though the sunlight danced on tree-top, on valley, and on hill; </p> +<p class="i2"> The distant city's busy hum, just faintly heard afar, </p> +<p class="i2"> Served but to lull to deeper rest Euterpe's brilliant star. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Wilhelmj slept, for over-night his triumphs had been grand, </p> +<p class="i2"> He had praised and fêted been by the noblest in the land, </p> +<p class="i2"> And rich and poor had vied alike to honor Music's king, </p> +<p class="i2"> Making the lofty rafters with the wildest plaudits ring. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Now, brain and hand aweary, he had fled for peace and rest, </p> +<p class="i2"> And he should be disturbed by none, not e'en a royal guest. </p> +<p class="i2"> The porter nodded in his chair: I dare not say he slept: </p> +<p class="i2"> But sprang upright, as through the door a fairy vision crept. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> A tiny girl with shining eyes, and wavy golden hair, </p> +<p class="i2"> Tip-toed along the corridor, and close up to his chair, </p> +<p class="i2"> And a bird-like voice sweet questioned, "Wilhelmj, where is he? </p> +<p class="i2"> I've brought a little tribute for the great mæstro,—see!" </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Her looped-up dress she opened, displaying to his view </p> +<p class="i2"> A mass of brilliant woodland flowers, wet with morning dew; </p> +<p class="i2"> Placing his finger on his lip, he pointed out the door; </p> +<p class="i2"> She smiled her thanks, and softly went and strewed them on the floor. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Then like a vision of the morn, with eyes of heaven's own blue, </p> +<p class="i2"> She slowly oped the outer door and gently glided through. </p> +<p class="i2"> Hours after, when Wilhelmj woke he gazed in mute surprise </p> +<p class="i2"> Upon those buds and blossoms fair, with softened, tender eyes. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> They took him back long years agone, when, as a happy child, </p> +<p class="i2"> He wandered, too, amid the woods, on summer mornings mild; </p> +<p class="i2"> Aye, back to his home and mother; back to his old home nest, </p> +<p class="i2"> To the blessed scenes of childhood; back into peace and rest. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> And when he heard the story,—how the child had come and fled,— </p> +<p class="i2"> "This is my greatest triumph" (with tears the mæstro said), </p> +<p class="i2"> "For no gift of king or princes, no praise could please me more. </p> +<p class="i2"> Than this living mat of flowers a child laid at my door." </p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>[90]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0007" id="h2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By Thomas W. Bicknell, LL.D.</span> +</h3> +<p> +The act of banishment which severed Roger Williams from the +Massachusetts Colony, in 1635, was the means of <i>advancing</i>, rather +than <i>hindering</i>, the spread of the so-called <i>heresies</i> which +he so bravely advocated. As the persecutions which drove the disciples +of Christ from Jerusalem were the means of extending the cause of +Christianity, so the principles of toleration and of soul-liberty were +strengthened by opposition, in the mind of this apostle of freedom of +conscience in the New World. His Welsh birth and Puritan education made +him a bold and earnest advocate of whatever truth his conscience +approved, and he went everywhere "preaching the word" of individual +freedom. The sentence of exile could not silence his tongue, nor destroy +his influence. "The divers new and dangerous opinions" which he had +"broached and divulged," though hostile to the notions of the clergy and +the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, were at the same time quite +acceptable to a few brave souls, who, like himself, dared the censures, +and even the persecutions, of their brethren, for the sake of liberty of +conscience. +</p> +<p> +The dwellers in old Rehoboth were the nearest white neighbors of Roger +Williams and his band at Providence. The Reverend Samuel Newman was the +pastor of the church in this ancient town, having removed with the first +settlers from Weymouth in 1643. Learned, godly, and hospitable, as he +was, he had not reached the "height of that great argument" concerning +human freedom; and while he cherished kindly feelings toward the +dwellers at Providence, he evidently feared the introduction of their +sentiments among his people. The jealous care of Newman to preserve what +he conscientiously regarded as the purity of religious faith and polity +was not a sufficient barrier against the teachings of the founder of +Rhode Island. +</p> +<p> +Although the settlers of Plymouth Colony cherished more liberal +sentiments than their neighbors of the Bay Colony, and sanctioned the +expulsion of Mr. Williams from Seekonk only for the purpose of +preserving peace with those whom Blackstone called "the Lord Bretheren," +yet they guarded the prerogatives of the ruling church order as worthy +not only of the <i>respect</i>, but also the <i>support</i>, of all. +Rehoboth was the most liberal, as well as the most loyal, of the +children of Plymouth; but the free opinions which the planters brought +from Weymouth, where an attempt had already been made to establish a +Baptist church, enabled them to sympathize strongly with their neighbors +across the Seekonk River. "At this time," says Baylies, "so much +indifference as to the support of the clergy was manifested in Plymouth +Colony, as to excite the alarm of the other confederated colonies. The +complaint of Massachusetts against Plymouth on this subject was laid +before the Commissioners, and drew from them a severe reprehension. +Rehoboth had been afflicted with a severe schism, and by its proximity +to Providence and its plantations, where there was a universal +toleration, the practice of free inquiry + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>[91]</span> + + was encouraged, and principle, fancy, whim, and conscience, all +conspired to lessen the veneration for ecclesiastical authority." As the +"serious schism" referred to above led to the foundation of the first +Baptist church within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on New Meadow +Neck in Old Swanzey, it is worthy of record here. The leader in this +church revolt was Obadiah Holmes, a native of Preston, in Lancashire, +England. He was connected with the church in Salem from 1639 till 1646, +when he was excommunicated, and removing with his family to Rehoboth, he +joined Mr. Newman's church. The doctrines and the discipline of this +church proved too severe for Mr. Holmes, and he, with eight others, +withdrew in 1649, and established a new church by themselves. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Newman's irascible temper was kindled into a persecuting zeal +against the offending brethren, and, after excommunicating them, he +aroused the civil authorities against them. So successful was he that +four petitions were presented to the Plymouth Court; one from Rehoboth, +signed by thirty-five persons; one from Taunton; one from all the +clergymen in the colony but two, and one from the government of +Massachusetts. How will the authorities at Plymouth treat this first +division in the ruling church of the colony? Will they punish by severe +fines, by imprisonment, by scourgings, or by banishment? By neither, for +a milder spirit of toleration prevailed, and the separatists were simply +directed to "refrain from practices disagreeable to their brethren, and +to appear before the Court." +</p> +<p> +In 1651, some time after his trial at Plymouth, Mr. Holmes was arrested, +with Mr. Clarke, of Newport, and Mr. Crandall, for preaching and +worshiping God with some of their brethren at Lynn. They were condemned +by the Court at Boston to suffer fines or whippings. Holmes refused to +pay the fine, and would not allow his friends to pay it for him, saying +that "to pay it would be acknowledging himself to have done wrong, +whereas his conscience testified that he had done right." He was +accordingly punished with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip, with +such severity, says Governor Jenks, "that in many days, if not some +weeks, he could take no rest but as he lay upon his knees and elbows, +not being able to suffer any part of his body to touch the bed whereon +he lay." Soon after this, Holmes and his followers moved to Newport, and +on the death of the Reverend Mr. Clarke, in 1652, he succeeded him as +pastor of the First Baptist Church in that time. Mr. Holmes died at +Newport in 1682, aged seventy-six years. +</p> +<p> +The persecution offered to the Rehoboth Baptists scattered their church, +but did not destroy their principles. Facing the obloquy attached to +their cause, and braving the trials imposed by the civil and +ecclesiastical powers, they must wait patiently God's time of +deliverance. That their lives were free from guile, none claim. That +their cause was righteous, none will deny; and while the elements of a +Baptist church were thus gathering strength on this side of the +Atlantic, a leader was prepared for them, by God's providence, on the +other. In the same year that Obadiah Holmes and his band established +their church in Massachusetts, in opposition to the Puritan order, +Charles I, the great English traitor, expiated his "high crimes and +misdemeanors" on the scaffold, at the hands of a Puritan Parliament. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>[92]</span> + + Then followed the period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and then +the Restoration, when "there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew +not Joseph." The Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, under the sanction +of Charles II, though a fatal blow at the purity and piety of the +English Church, was a royal blessing to the cause of religion in +America. Two thousand bravely conscientious men, who feared God more +than the decrees of Pope, King, or Parliament, were driven from their +livings and from the kingdom. What was England's great loss was +America's great gain, for a grand tidal wave of emigration swept +westward across the Atlantic to our shores. Godly men and women, clergy +and laity, made up this exiled band, too true and earnest to yield a +base compliance to the edict of conformity. For thirteen years here the +Dissenters from Mr. Newman's church waited for a spiritual guide, but +not in vain. +</p> +<p> +How our Baptist brethren here conducted themselves during these years, +and the difficulties they may have occasioned or encountered, we know +but little. Plymouth, liberal already, has grown more lenient towards +church offenders in matters of conscience. Mr. John Brown, a citizen of +Rehoboth, and one of the magistrates, has presented before the Court his +scruples at the expediency of coercing the people to support the +ministry, and has offered to pay from his own property the taxes of all +those of his townsmen who may refuse their support of the ministry. This +was in 1665. Massachusetts Bay has tried to correct the errors of her +sister colony on the subject of toleration, and has in turn been rebuked +by her example. +</p> +<h3> +JOHN MYLES. +</h3> +<p> +Leaving the membership awhile, let us cross the sea to Wales to find +their future pastor and teacher—John Myles. +</p> +<p> +Wales had been the asylum for the persecuted and oppressed for many +centuries. There freedom of religious thought was tolerated, and from +thence sprung three men of unusual vigor and power: Roger Williams, +Oliver Cromwell, and John Myles. About the year 1645, the Baptists in +that country who had previously been scattered and connected with other +churches, began to unite in the formation of separate churches, under +their own pastors. Prominent among these was the Reverend Mr. Myles, who +preached in various places with great success, until the year 1649, when +we find him pastor of a church which he organized in Swansea, in South +Wales. It is a singular coincidence that Mr. Myles's pastorate at +Swansea, and the separation of the members from the Rehoboth church, a +part of whom aided in establishing the church in Swanzey, Massachusetts, +occurred in the same year. +</p> +<p> +During the Protectorate of Cromwell, all Dissenters enjoyed the largest +liberty of conscience, and, as a result, the church at Swansea grew from +forty-eight to three hundred souls. Around this centre of influence +sprang up several branch churches, and pastors were raised up to care +for them. Mr. Myles soon became the leader of his denomination in Wales, +and in 1651 he was sent as the representative of all the Baptist +churches in Wales to the Baptist ministers' meeting, at Glazier's Hall, +London, with a letter, giving an account of the peace, union, and +increase of the work. As a preacher and worker he + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>[93]</span> + + had no equal in that country, and his zeal enabled him to establish many +new churches in his native land. The act of the English Saint +Bartholomew's Day, in 1662, deprived Mr. Myles of the support which the +government under Cromwell had granted him, and he, with many others, +chose the freedom of exile to the tyranny of an unprincipled monarch. It +would be interesting for us to give an account of his leave-taking of +his church at Swansea, and of his associates in Christian labor, and to +trace out his passage to Massachusetts, and to relate the circumstances +which led him to search out and to find the little band of Baptists at +Rehoboth. Surely some law of spiritual gravitation or affinity, under +the good hand of God, thus raised up and brought this under-shepherd to +the flock thus scattered in the wilderness. Nicholas Tanner, Obadiah +Brown, John Thomas, and others, accompanied Mr. Myles in his exile from +Swansea, Wales. The first that is known of them in America was the +formation of a Baptist church at the house of John Butterworth in +Rehoboth, whose residence is said to have been near the Cove in the +western part of the present town of East Providence. Mr. Myles and his +followers had probably learned at Boston, or at Plymouth, of the +treatment offered to Holmes and his party, ten years before, and his +sympathies led him to seek out and unite the elements which persecution +had scattered. Seven members made up this infant church, namely: John +Myles, pastor, James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter, John +Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby. The principles to which +their assent was given were the same as those held by the Welsh +Baptists, as expounded by Mr. Myles. The original record-book of the +church contains a list of the members of Mr. Myles's church in Swansea, +from 1640 till 1660, with letters, decrees, ordinances, etc., of the +several churches of the denomination in England and Wales. This book, +now in the possession of the First Baptist Church in Swanzey, +Massachusetts, is probably a copy of the original Welsh records, made by +or for Mr. Myles's church in Massachusetts, the sentiments of which +controlled their actions here. +</p> +<p> +Of the seven constituent members, only one was a member of Myles's +church in Wales—Nicholas Tanner. James Brown was a son of John Brown, +both of whom held high offices in the Plymouth colony. Mr. Newman and +his church were again aroused at the revival of this dangerous sect, and +they again united with the other orthodox churches of the colony in +soliciting the Court to interpose its influence against them, and the +members of this little church were each fined five pounds, for setting +up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the Court, +to the disturbance of the peace of the place,—ordered to desist from +their meeting for the space of a month, and advised to remove their +meeting to some other place where they might not prejudice any other +church. The worthy magistrates of Plymouth have not told us how these +few Baptist brethren "disturbed the peace" of quiet old Rehoboth. Good +old Rehoboth, that roomy place, was not big enough to contain this +church of seven members, and we have to-day to thank the spirit of +Newman and the order of Plymouth Court for the handful of seed-corn, +which they cast upon the waters, which here took root + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>[94]</span> + + and has brought forth the fruits of a sixty-fold growth. +</p> +<p> +From a careful reading of the first covenant of the church, we judge +that it was a breach of ecclesiastical, rather than of civil, law, and +that the fines and banishment from the limits of Rehoboth were imposed +as a preventive against any further inroads upon the membership of Mr. +Newman's church. In obedience to the orders of the Court, the members of +Mr. Myles's church looked about for a more convenient dwelling-place, +and found it as near to the limits of the old town and their original +homes as the law would allow. Within the bounds of Old Swanzey, +Massachusetts, in the northern part of the present town of Barrington, +Rhode Island, they selected a site for a church edifice. The spot now +pointed out as the location of this building for public worship is near +the main road from Warren by Munro's Tavern to Providence, on the east +side of a by-way leading from said road to the residence of Joseph G. +West, Esq. A plain and simple structure, it was undoubtedly fitted up +quickly by their own labor, to meet the exigency of the times. Here they +planted their first spiritual home, and enjoyed a peace which pastor and +people had long sought for. +</p> +<p> +The original covenant is a remarkable paper, toned with deep piety and a +broad and comprehensive spirit of Christian fellowship. +</p> +<h3> +HOLY COVENANT. +</h3> +<p> +SWANSEY IN NEW ENGLAND.—A true coppy of the Holy Covenant the first +founders of Swansey Entred into at the first beginning and all the +members thereof for Divers years. +</p> +<p> +Whereas we Poor Creatures are through the exceeding Riches of Gods +Infinite Grace Mercyfully snatched out of the Kingdom of darkness and by +his Infinite Power translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son, there to +be partakers with all Saints of all those Priviledges which Christ by +the Shedding of his Pretious Blood hath purchased for us, and that we do +find our Souls in Some good Measure wrought on by Divine Grace to desire +to be Conformable to Christ in all things, being also constrained by the +matchless love and wonderfull Distinguishing Mercies that we Abundantly +Injoy from his most free grace to Serve him according to our utmost +capacitys, and that we also know that it is our most bounden Duty to +Walk in Visible Communion with Christ and Each other according to the +Prescript Rule of his most holy word, and also that it is our undoubted +Right through Christ to Injoy all the Priviledges of Gods House which +our souls have for a long time panted after. And finding no other way at +Present by the all-working Providence of our only wise God and gracious +Father to us opened for the Injoyment of the same. We do therefore after +often and Solemn Seeking to the Lord for Help and direction in the fear +of his holy Name, and with hands lifted up to him the most High God, +Humbly and freely offer up ourselves this day a Living Sacrifice unto +him who is our God in Covenant through Christ our Lord and only Savior +to walk together according to his revealed word in the Visible Gospel +Relation both to Christ our only head, and to each other as +fellow-members and Brethren and of the Same Household faith. And we do +Humbly praye that that through his Strength we will henceforth Endeavor +to Perform all our Respective Duties towards God and each other and to +practice all the ordinances of Christ according to what is or shall be +revealed to us in our Respective Places to exercise Practice and Submit +to the Government of Christ in this his Church! viz. furthur Protesting +against all Rending or Dividing Principles or Practices from any of the +People of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>[95]</span> + + God as being most abominable and loathsome to our souls and utterly +inconsistent with that Christian Charity which declare men to be +Christ's Disciples. Indeed further declaring in that as Union in Christ +is the sole ground of our Communion, each with other, So we are ready to +accept of, Receive too and hold Communion with all such as by a judgment +of Charity we conceive to be fellow-members with us in our head Christ +Jesus tho Differing from us in Such Controversial Points as are not +absolutely and essencially necessary to salvation. We also hope that +though of ourselves we are altogether unworthy and unfit thus to offer +up ourselves to God or to do him a—or to expect any favor with, or +mercy from Him. He will graciously accept of this our free will offering +in and through the merit and mediation of our Dear Redeemer. And that he +will imploy and emprove us in his service to his Praise, to whom be all +Glory, Honor, now and forever, Amen. +</p> +<p> +The names of the persons that first joyned themselves in the Covanant +aforesaid as a Church of Christ, +</p> +<p><br /> + <span class="sc">John Myles</span>, Elder,<br /> + <span class="sc">James Brown</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">Nicholas Tanner</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">Joseph Carpenter</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">John Butterworth</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">Eldad Kingsley</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">Benjamin Alby</span>.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The catholic spirit of Mr. Myles soon drew to the new settlement on New +Meadow Neck many families who held to Baptist opinions, as well as some +of other church relations friendly to their interests. The opposition +which their principles had awakened, had brought the little company into +public notice, and their character had won for them the respect and +confidence of their neighbors. +</p> +<p> +The Rehoboth church had come to regard Mr. Myles and his followers with +more kindly feelings, and, in 1666, after the death of the Reverend Mr. +Newman, it was voted by the town that Mr. Myles be invited to "preach, +namely: once in a fortnight on the week day, and once on the Sabbath +day." And in August of the same year the town voted "that Mr. Myles +shall still continue to lecture on the week day, and further on the +Sabbath, if he be thereunto legally called." +</p> +<p> +This interchange of pulpit relations indicates a cordial sentiment +between the two parishes, which is in striking contrast to the hostility +manifested to the new church but three years before, when they were +warned out of the town, and suggests the probable fact that animosities +had been conquered by good will, and that sober judgment had taken the +place of passionate bigotry. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="h2H_4_0008" id="h2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHURCH SERVICES IN PURITAN TIMES. +</h2> +<h3> + <i>The Elders' Advice in Matrimonial Matters.</i> +</h3> +<p> +From the Baptist Church records copied from the Welsh, which were +brought from Swansea, Wales, by the Reverend John Myles, we quote, as +follows:— +</p> +<p> +"The Sabbath meeting shall begin at 8 A.M., and on the fourth day of the +weeke begins at nine of the Clock."... +</p> +<p> +"That one brother extemporize in Welsh for an hour, and after the said +Welsh brother there shall be a publick sermon to the world, after this +breaking bread."... +</p> +<p> +"That such brethren or sisters as shall any way hereafter intend to +change their calling or condition of life by marriage or otherwise, do +propose their cases to the elders or ablest brethren of the church, to +have council from before they make any engagements, and in all difficult +cases, and before all marriages, the churches council be taken therein." +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>[96]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0009" id="h2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE RENT VEIL. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By Henry B. Carrington.</span> +</h3> +<p class="quote"> + "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain." +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> I. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> The Great I AM,—that Presence, Infinite, </p> +<p class="i2"> Which wrought creation by the breath </p> +<p class="i2"> Of Sovereign Will,—and in His Image bright, </p> +<p class="i2"> Brought man to life, to dwell in Paradise,— </p> +<p class="i2"> Took gracious pity on his lost estate, </p> +<p class="i2"> When sin had marred that perfect image, </p> +<p class="i2"> And Earth could pay no ransom for the soul. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> II. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Jehovah,—God, effulgence bright,—august,— </p> +<p class="i2"> In majesty supreme, from Heaven stooped down, </p> +<p class="i2"> And through His wondrous love, ineffable, </p> +<p class="i2"> Enshrined Himself within that sacred place, </p> +<p class="i2"> Which, once in each revolving year, </p> +<p class="i2"> The type of the Redeemer, promised, </p> +<p class="i2"> Might dare approach, with awe, with offerings </p> +<p class="i2"> For the sins of Israel's children. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> III. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> As but a day, four thousand years, when told, </p> +<p class="i2"> With Him, who was, and is to be,— </p> +<p class="i2"> Eternal—Three in One,—Omnipotent:— </p> +<p class="i2"> Such was the span of ripening promise, </p> +<p class="i2"> Until the hour matured, and Saving Grace, </p> +<p class="i2"> The full Redemption offered,—by gift </p> +<p class="i2"> Of Spotless purity,—His Only Son. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> IV. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Within the "Holy Place," the High Priest bowed, </p> +<p class="i2"> While dread Shekinah lingered,—(ne'er again </p> +<p class="i2"> To yield to Jewish rite or sacrifice, </p> +<p class="i2"> The boon of pardoned guilt, for blood of goats </p> +<p class="i2"> Or bullocks, without blemish);—and bowed, </p> +<p class="i2"> While yet the echoes of his voice, profane, </p> +<p class="i2"> Still quivered in the midnight air,—floating </p> +<p class="i2"> Upward toward the Great White Throne,—crying, </p> +<p class="i2"> O,—crucify the spotless Son of Man, </p> +<p class="i2"> And let Barabbas, son of sin, go free. </p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>[97]</span> +</p> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> V. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Where direst portents, solitude profound,— </p> +<p class="i2"> Place, awful with the bleaching types of death, </p> +<p class="i2"> Had published forth Golgotha's cruel name. </p> +<p class="i2"> The stately High Priest, from the "Holy Place" </p> +<p class="i2"> Approached, to consummate prophetic crime,— </p> +<p class="i2"> To fill the measure of Judea's sin,— </p> +<p class="i2"> And bring Messiah to a dying race. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> VI. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "<span class="sc">It is finished.</span>" </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> VII. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> O,—light of day, whose now averted face, </p> +<p class="i2"> As ne'er before, withholds thy cheer from man!— </p> +<p class="i2"> O,—quaking earth, whose bed of solid rock, </p> +<p class="i2"> Is shivered by some pang of awful ill!— </p> +<p class="i2"> O,—graves, once sealed o'er loved ones, laid aside, </p> +<p class="i2"> To answer only at Archangels' call!— </p> +<p class="i2"> What tragedy of creation's Master;— </p> +<p class="i2"> What spell upon creation's normal peace;— </p> +<p class="i2"> What overturn of laws immutable;— </p> +<p class="i2"> What contradictions in the mind Supreme; </p> +<p class="i2"> Have wrought this pregnant ruin,—earth throughout! </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> VIII. </p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> O,—priest, whose ministrations, laid aside </p> +<p class="i2"> To bring fulfillment of the fearful curse </p> +<p class="i2"> Upon thy race, have now that curse assured,— </p> +<p class="i2"> Look back!—and see the altar, bared to view </p> +<p class="i2"> Of vulgar herd and phrenzied populace. </p> +<p class="i2"> "<i>The veil in twain is rent</i>,"—and never more </p> +<p class="i2"> Shall dread Shekinah show Himself to thee;— </p> +<p class="i2"> But where each humble soul, with sin oppressed, </p> +<p class="i2"> Lifts up the cry of penitential grief, </p> +<p class="i2"> A temple shall be found,—and deep within, </p> +<p class="i2"> Shall dwell that sacred Presence,—evermore. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>[98]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE FIRST SCHOOLMASTER OF BOSTON. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By Elizabeth Porter Gould.</span> +</h3> +<p> +When Agassiz requested to go down the ages with no other name than +"Teacher," he not only appropriately crowned his own life-work, but +stamped the vocation of teaching with a royalty which can never be +gainsaid. By this act he dignified with lasting honor all those to whom +the name "Teacher," in its truest meaning, can be applied. +</p> +<p> +In this work of teaching, one man stands out in the history of New +England who should be better known to the present generation. He was a +benefactor in the colonial days when education was striving to keep her +lamp burning in the midst of the necessary practical work which engaged +the attention of most of the people of that time. His name was Ezekiel +Cheever. When a young man of twenty-three years, he came from +London—where he was born January 25, 1614—to Boston, seven years after +its settlement. The following spring he went to New Haven, where he soon +married, and became actively engaged in founding the colony there. Among +the men who went there the same year was a Mr. Wigglesworth, whose son, +in later years, as the Reverend Michael Wigglesworth, gave an account of +Mr. Cheever's success in the work of teaching, which he began soon after +reaching the place. "I was sent to school to Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, who at +that time taught school in his own house, and under him in a year or two +I profited so much through y<sup>e</sup> blessing of God, that I began to make +Latin & to get forward apace." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Cheever received as a salary for two or three years twenty pounds; +and in 1643, while receiving this salary, his name is sixth in the list +of planters and their estates, his estate being valued only at twenty +pounds. In the year following, his salary was raised to thirty pounds +a year. This probably was an actual necessity, for his family now +consisted, besides himself and wife, of a son Samuel, five years old, +and a daughter Mary of four years. Ezekiel, born two years before, had +died. This son, Samuel, it may be said in passing, was graduated at +Harvard College in 1659, and was settled as a clergyman at Marblehead, +Massachusetts, where he died at the age of eighty-five, having been +universally esteemed during his long life. +</p> +<p> +Besides being the teacher of the new colony, Mr. Cheever entered into +other parts of its work. He was one of the twelve men chosen as "fitt +for the foundacon worke of the church." He was also chosen a member of +the Court for the plantation, at its first session, and in 1646 he was +one of the deputies to the General Court. It is supposed that during +this time he wrote his valuable little book called The Accidence. It +passed through seventeen editions before the Revolution. A copy of the +eighteenth edition, printed in Boston in 1785, is now in the Boston +Athenæum. It is a quaint little book of seventy-two pages, with one +cover gone, and is surely an object of interest to all loving students +of Latin. A copy of the tenth edition is found in Harvard College, while +it has been said that a copy of the seventh is in a private library in +Hartford, Connecticut. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>[99]</span> + + The last edition was published in Boston in 1838. In a prospectus, +containing commendations of the work from many eminent men of learning, +the Honorable Josiah Quincy, LL.D., president of Harvard College, said +of it: "A work which was used for more than a century in the schools of +New England, as the first elementary book for learners of the Latin +language; which held its place in some of the most eminent of those +schools, nearly, if not quite, to the end of the last century; which has +passed through at least twenty editions in this country; which was the +subject of the successive labor and improvement of a man who spent +seventy years in the business of instruction, and whose fame is second +to that of no schoolmaster New England has ever produced, requires no +additional testimony to its worth or its merits." A copy of this edition +is now in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr. David +W. Cheever, of Boston, a descendant of the schoolmaster, also has one in +his possession. +</p> +<p> +There is another old book in the Boston Athenæum, published in 1757, +containing three short essays under the title of Scripture Prophecies +Explained. The first one is "On the Restitution of All Things"; the +second is "On St. John's First Resurrection"; and the third, "On the +Personal Coming of Jesus Christ, as Commencing at the Beginning of the +Millenium described in the Apocalypse." These were written by Mr. +Cheever, but at what time of his life there seems to be some doubt. They +indicate his religious zeal, which at this time in New Haven was put +forth for the good of the church. Although he was never ordained to the +ministry, yet he occasionally preached. In 1649, however, he dissented +from the judgment of the church and elders in regard to some cases of +discipline, and for some comments on their action, which seemed to them +severe, they brought charges against him. Two of the principal ones +were: "1. His unseemly gestures and carriage before the church, in the +mixed assembly;" and "2. That when the church did agree to two charges +(namely, of assumption and partiality), he did not give his vote either +to the affirmative or the negative." +</p> +<p> +As showing some of the phases of a common humanity, the reading of the +trial is interesting. Mr. Cheever, who was then thirty-five years old, +was desired to answer these charges of unseemly gestures, which his +accusers had brought down to a rather small point, such as holding down +his head into the seat, "then laughing or smiling," and also "wrapping +his handkerchief about his face, and then pulling it off again;" and +still another, "that his carriage was offensively uncomely," three +affirming "that he rather carried it as one acting a play, than as one +in the presence of God in an ordinance." +</p> +<p> +In his answer to these, Mr. Cheever explained his actions as arising +from violent headaches, which, coming upon him usually "on the Lord's +day in the evening, and after church meeting," were mitigated by winding +his handkerchief around his head 'as a fillet.' As to his smiling or +laughing, "he knew not whether there was any more than a natural, +ordinary cheerfulness of countenance seeming to smile, which whether it +be sinful or avoidable by him, he knew not;" but he wished to humble +himself for the "least appearance of evil, and occasion of offence, and +to watch against it." As to his working with the church, he said: "I +must act with the church, and (which + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>[100]</span> + + is uncomfortable) I must either act with their light, or may expect to +suffer, as I have done, and do at this day, for conscience' sake; but I +had rather suffer anything from men than make a shipwreck of a good +conscience or go against my present light, though erroneous, when +discovered." +</p> +<p> +He then went on to say that, while he did not wholly free himself from +blame as to his carriage, and as to his "want of wisdom and coolness in +ordering and uttering his speeches," yet he could not be convinced as +yet that he had been guilty of "Miriam's sin," or deserved the censure +which the church had inflicted upon him; and he could not look upon it +"as dispensed according to the rules of Christ." Then he closed his +address with the following words, which will give some idea of his +Christian spirit: "Yet I wait upon God for the discovery of truth in His +own time, either to myself or church, that what is amiss may be repented +of and reformed; that His blessing and presence may be among them and +upon His holy ordinances rightly dispensed, to His glory and their +present and everlasting comfort, which I heartily pray for, and am so +bound, having received much good and comfort in that fellowship, though +I am now deprived of it." +</p> +<p> +At about this time of his trial with the church he was afflicted by the +death of his wife. Three more children had been born to them—Elizabeth, +Sarah, and Hannah. Soon after this, in 1650,—and, it has been said, on +account of his troubles,—he removed to Ipswich, Massachusetts, to +become master of the grammar school there. His services as teacher in +New Haven must have been valued, if one can judge by the amount of +salary received, for, in the case of the teacher who followed him, the +people were not willing "to pay as large a salary as they had done to +Mr. Cheever," and so they gave him ten pounds a year. +</p> +<p> +After Mr. Cheever had been in Ipswich two years, Robert Payne, a +philanthropic man, gave to the town a dwelling-house with two acres of +land for the schoolmaster; he also gave a new schoolhouse for the +school, of which this man was the appreciated teacher; for many +neighboring towns sent scholars to him, and it was said that those who +received "the Cheeverian education" were better fitted for college than +any others. +</p> +<p> +In November of this same year he married Ellen Lathrop, sister of +Captain Thomas Lathrop, of Beverly, who two years before had brought her +from England to America with him, with the promise that he would be a +father to her. While living in Ipswich they had four children, Abigail, +Ezekiel, Nathaniel, and Thomas; two more, William and Susanna, were born +later, in Charlestown. Their son Ezekiel must have lived to a good old +age, at least seventy-seven years, for as late as 1731 his name appears +in the annals of the village parish of Salem, where he became heir to +Captain Lathrop's real estate; while their son Thomas, born in 1658, was +graduated at Harvard College in 1677, was settled as a minister at +Malden, Massachusetts, and later at Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), +Massachusetts, where he died at a good old age. +</p> +<p> +After having thus lived in Ipswich eleven years, Mr. Cheever removed, in +1661, to Charlestown, Massachusetts, to become master of the school +there at a salary of thirty pounds a year. The smallness of this salary +astonishes and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>[101]</span> + + suggests much to the modern reader; but when he is informed that the +worthy teacher was obliged during his teaching there to petition the +selectmen that his "yeerly salarie be paid to him, as the counstables +were much behind w<sup>th</sup> him," the whole matter becomes pathetic. Mr. +Cheever also asked that the schoolhouse, which was much out of order, be +repaired. And in 1669 he is again before them asking for a "peece of +ground or house plott whereon to build an house for his familie," which +petition he left for the townsmen to consider. They afterward voted that +the selectmen should carry out the request, but as Mr. Cheever removed +in the following year to Boston, it is probable that his successor had +the benefit of it. +</p> +<p> +When Mr. Cheever entered upon his work as head master of the Boston +Latin School, in 1670, he was fifty-seven years old; and he remained +master of this school until his death, thirty-seven years later. The +schoolhouse was, at this time, in School Street (it was not so named by +the town, however, until 1708) just behind King's Chapel, on a part of +the burying-ground. It has been said that the building was of two +stories to accommodate the teacher and his family. This seems probable +when we read that Mr. Cheever was to have a salary of sixty pounds a +year, and the "possession and use of y<sup>e</sup> schoole house." But if he +lived in the building at all, it was not very long, for he is later +living in a house by himself; and in 1701 the selectmen voted that two +men should provide a house for him while his house was being built. The +agreement which the selectmen made with Captain John Barnet with +reference to this house is given in such curious detail in the old +records, and suggests so much, that it is well worth reading. It is as +follows:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "That the said Barnet shall erect a House on the Land where Mr. Ezekiel + Cheever Lately dwelt, of forty foot Long Twenty foot wide and Twenty + foot stud with four foot Rise in the Roof, to make a cellar floor under + one half of S<sup>d</sup> house and to build a Kitchen of Sixteen foot in + Length and twelve foot in breadth with a Chamber therein, and to Lay the + floors flush through out the maine house and to make three paire of + Stayers in y<sup>e</sup> main house and one paire in the Kitchen and to Inclose + s<sup>d</sup> house and to do and complete all carpenters worke and to find all + timber boards clapboards nayles glass and Glaziers worke and Iron worke + and to make one Cellar door and to finde one Lock for the Outer door of + said House, and also to make the Casements for S<sup>d</sup> house, and perform + S<sup>d</sup> worke and to finish S<sup>d</sup> building by the first day of August + next. In consideration whereof the Selectmen do agree that the S<sup>d</sup> + Capt. Barnet shall have the Old Timber boards Iron worke and glass of + the Old house now Standing on S<sup>d</sup> Land and to pay unto him the Sum of + one hundred and thirty pounds money, that is to say forty pounds down in + hand and the rest as the worke goes on." +</p> +<p> +Then follows the agreement for the "masons' worke" in all its details. +Later on, in March, 1702, there is some discussion as to how far back +from the street the house should be placed. But in June of that year the +house is up, for the worthy dignities order that "Capt. John Barnard do +provide a Raysing Dinner for the Raysing the Schoolmasters House at the +Charge of the town not exceeding the Sum of Three pounds." This was +done, for later they order the "noat for three pounds, expended by him +for a dinner at Raysing the Schoolmasters House," be paid him. +</p> +<p> +After Mr. Cheever's house had + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>[102]</span> + + received all this painstaking attention of the town, it was voted that +the selectmen should see that a new schoolhouse be built for him in the +place of the old one; this to be done with the advice of Mr. Cheever. +The particulars of this work are given in as much detail, and are +interesting to show the style of schoolhouse at that day. They are as +follows, in the "Selectmen's Minutes, under July 24, 1704":— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Agreed w<sup>th</sup> M<sup>r</sup> John Barnerd as followeth, he to build a new School + House of forty foot Long Twenty five foot wide and Eleven foot Stud, + with eight windows below and five in the Roofe, with wooden Casements to + the eight Windows, to Lay the lower floor with Sleepers & double boards + So far as needful, and the Chamber floor with Single boards, to board + below the plate inside & inside and out, to Clapboard the Outside and + Shingle the Roof, to make a place to hang the Bell in, to make a paire + of Staires up to the Chamber, and from thence a Ladder to the bell, to + make one door next the Street, and a petition Cross the house below, and + to make three rows of benches for the boyes on each Side of the room, to + find all Timber, boards, Clapboards shingles nayles hinges. In + consideration whereof the s<sup>d</sup> M<sup>r</sup> John Barnerd is to be paid One hundred + pounds, and to have the Timber, Boards, and Iron worke of the Old School + House." +</p> +<p> +Some interesting reminiscences are given, by some of his pupils, of +these school-days in Boston. The Reverend John Barnard, of Marblehead, +who was born in Boston in 1681, speaks of his early days at the Latin +School, in his Autobiography, which is now in the Massachusetts +Historical Society. Among other things he says: "I remember once, in +making a piece of Latin, my master found fault with the syntax of one +word, which was not used by me heedlessly, but designedly, and therefore +I told him there was a plain grammar rule for it. He angrily replied, +there was no such rule. I took the grammar and showed the rule to him. +Then he smilingly said, 'Thou art a brave boy; I had forgot it.' And no +wonder: for he was then above eighty years old." President Stiles of +Yale College, in his Diary, says that he had seen a man who said that he +"well knew a famous grammar-school master, Mr. E. Cheever, of Boston, +author of The Accidence; that he wore a long white beard, terminating in +a point; that when he stroked his beard to the point, it was a sign for +the boys to stand clear." +</p> +<p> +Judge Sewall, in his Diary, often refers to him. He speaks of a visit +from him, at one time, when Mr. Cheever told him that he had entered his +eighty-eighth year, and was the oldest man in town; and another time, +when he says: "Master Chiever, his coming to me last Saturday January +31, on purpose to tell me he blessed God that I had stood up for the +Truth, is more comfort to me than Mr. Borland's unhandsomeness is +discomfort." He also speaks of him as being a bearer several times at +funerals, where, at one, with others, he received a scarf and ring which +were "given at the House after coming from the Grave." A peculiarity of +the venerable schoolmaster is seen where Judge Sewall says: "Mr. +Wadsworth appears at Lecture in his Perriwigg. Mr. Chiever is grieved at +it." In 1708, the judge gives in this Diary some touching particulars as +to the sickness and death of Mr. Cheever. They are valuable not only for +themselves, but as preserving in a literary form the close friendship +which existed between these two strong men of that day. Hence they are +given here:— +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>[103]</span> +</p> +<p> +"<i>Aug</i>. 12, 1708.—Mr. Chiever is abroad and hears Mr. Cotton Mather +preach. This is the last of his going abroad. Was taken very sick, like +to die with a Flux. <i>Aug</i>. 13.—I go to see him, went in with his +son Thomas and Mr. Lewis. His Son spake to him and he knew him not; I +spake to him and he bid me speak again; then he said, Now I know you, +and speaking cheerily mentioned my name. I ask'd his Blessing for me and +my family; He said I was Bless'd, and it could not be Reversed. Yet at +my going away He pray'd for a Blessing for me. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Aug</i>. 19.—I visited Mr. Chiever again, just before Lecture; +Thank'd him for his kindness to me and mine; desired his prayers for me, +my family, Boston, Salem, the Province. He rec'd me with abundance of +Affection, taking me by the hand several times. He said, The Afflictions +of God's people, God by them did as a Goldsmith, knock, knock, knock; +knock, knock, knock, to finish the plate; It was to perfect them not to +punish them. I went and told Mr. Pemberton (the Pastor of Old South) who +preached. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Aug</i>. 20.—I visited Mr. Chiever who was now grown much weaker, +and his speech very low. He call'd Daughter! When his daughter Russel +came, He ask'd if the family were composed; They aprehended He was +uneasy because there had not been Prayer that morn; and solicited me to +Pray; I was loth and advised them to send for Mr. Williams, as most +natural, homogeneous; They declined it, and I went to Prayer. After, I +told him, The last enemy was Death, and God hath made that a friend too; +He put his hand out of the Bed, and held it up, to signify his Assent. +Observing he suck'd a piece of an Orange, put it orderly into his mouth +and chew'd it, and then took out the core. After dinner I carried a few +of the best Figs I could get and a dish Marmalet. I spake not to him +now. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Aug</i>. 21.—Mr. Edward Oakes tells me Mr. Chiever died this last +night." +</p> +<p> +Then in a note he tells the chief facts in his life, which he closes +with,— +</p> +<p> +"So that he has Laboured in that calling (teaching) skilfully, +diligently, constantly, Religiously, Seventy years. A rare Instance of +Piety, Health, Strength, Serviceableness. The Wellfare of the Province +was much upon his spirit. He abominated Perriwiggs." +</p> +<p> +"<i>Aug</i>. 23, 1708.—Mr. Chiever was buried from the Schoolhouse. The +Gov'r, Councillors, Ministers, Justices, Gentlemen there. Mr. Williams +made a handsome Latin Oration in his Honour. Elder Bridgham, Copp, +Jackson, Dyer, Griggs, Hubbard, &c., Bearers. After the Funeral, Elder +Bridgham, Mr. Jackson, Hubbard, Dyer, Tim. Wadsworth, Edw. Procter, +Griggs, and two more came to me and earnestly solicited me to speak to a +place of Scripture, at the private Quarter Meeting in the room of Mr. +Chiever." +</p> +<p> +Cotton Mather, who had been a pupil of his, preached a funeral sermon in +honor of his loved teacher. It was printed in Boston in 1708, and later +in 1774. A copy of it in the Athenæum is well worth a perusal. Some of +Mr. Cheever's Latin poems are attached to it. Cotton Mather precedes his +sermon by An Historical Introduction, in which, after referring to his +great privilege, he gives the main facts in the long life of the +schoolmaster of nearly ninety-four years. In closing it, he says: "After +he had been a Skilful, Painful, Faithful Schoolmaster for Seventy years; +and had the Singular Favours of Heaven that tho' he had Usefully spent +his Life among children, yet he was not become Twice a child but held +his Abilities, with his usefulness, in an unusual Degree to the very +last." Then follows the sermon, remarkable in its way as a eulogy. But +the Essay in Rhyme in Memory of his "Venerable Master," which follows +the sermon, is even more characteristic and remarkable. In it are some +couplets which are unique and interesting. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>[104]</span> +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Do but name <i>Cheever</i>, and the <i>Echo</i> straight</p> +<p class="i2"> Upon that name. <i>Good Latin</i> will Repeat.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "And in our <i>School</i>, a Miracle is wrought:</p> +<p class="i2"> For the <i>Dead Languages</i> to <i>Life</i> are brought.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Who serv'd the <i>School</i>, the <i>Church</i>, did not forget,</p> +<p class="i2"> But Thought and Prayed & often wept for it.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "How oft we saw him tread the <i>Milky Way</i></p> +<p class="i2"> Which to the Glorious <i>Throne of Mercy</i> lay!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Come from the <i>Mount</i> he shone with ancient Grace,</p> +<p class="i2"> Awful the <i>Splendor</i> of his Aged Face.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "He <i>Liv'd</i> and to vast age no Illness knew,</p> +<p class="i2"> Till <i>Times</i> Scythe waiting for him Rusty grew.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "He <i>Liv'd</i> and <i>Wrought</i>; His Labours were Immense,</p> +<p class="i2"> But ne'r <i>Declined</i> to <i>Præter-perfect Tense</i>."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +He closes this eulogy with an epitaph in Latin. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Cheever's will, found in the Suffolk probate office, was offered by +his son Thomas and his daughter Susanna, August 26, 1708, a few days +after his death. He wrote it two years previous, when he was ninety-one +years old, a short time before his "dear wife," whom he mentions, died. +In it his estate is appraised at £837:19:6. One handles reverently this +old piece of yellow paper, perhaps ten by twelve inches in size, with +red lines, on which is written in a clear handwriting the last will of +this dear old man. He characteristically begins it thus:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "In nomine Domini Amen, I Ezekiel Cheever of the Towne of Boston in the + County of Suffolk in New England, Schoolmaster, living through great + mercy in good health and understanding wonderfull in my age, do make and + ordain this as my last Will & Testament as Followeth: I give up my soule + to God my Father in Jesus Christ, my body to the earth to be buried in a + decent manner according to my desires in hope of a Blessed part in y<sup>e</sup> + first resurrection & glorious kingdom of Christ on earth a thousand + years." +</p> +<p> +He then gives all his household goods "& of my plate y<sup>e</sup> two-ear'd Cup, +my least tankard porringer a spoon," to his wife; "all my books saving +what Ezekiel may need & what godly books my wife may desire," to his son +Thomas; £10 to Mary Phillips; £20 to his grandchild, Ezekiel Russel; and +£5 to the poor. The remainder of the estate he leaves to his wife and +six children, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, Ezekiel, Thomas, and Susanna. +</p> +<p> +One handles still more reverently a little brown, stiff-covered book, +kept in the safe in the Athenæum, of about one hundred and twenty +pages, yellow with age, on the first of which is the year "1631," and on +the second, "Ezekiel Cheever, his booke," both in his own handwriting. +Then come nearly fifty pages of finely-written Latin poems, composed and +written by himself, probably in London; then, there are scattered over +some of the remaining pages a few short-hand notes which have been +deciphered as texts of Scripture. On the last page of this quaint little +treasure—only three by four inches large—are written in English some +verses, one of which can be clearly read as, "Oh, first seek the kingdom +of God and his Righteousness, and all things else shall be added unto +you." +</p> +<p> +Another MS. of Mr. Cheever's is in the possession of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. It is a book six by eight inches in size, of about +four hundred pages, all well filled with Latin dissertations, with +occasionally a mathematical figure drawn. One turns over the old leaves +with affectionate interest, even if the matter written upon them is +beyond his comprehension. It certainly is a pleasure to read on one of +them the date May 18, 1664. +</p> +<p> +Verily, New England should treasure the memory of Ezekiel Cheever, the +man who called himself "Schoolmaster," for she owes much to him. +</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>[105]</span> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0011" id="h2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE POET OF THE BELLS. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By E.H. Goss.</span> +</h3> +<p> +Longfellow may well be called the Poet of the Bells; for who has so +largely voiced their many uses as he, or interpreted the part they have +taken in the world's history. That he was a great lover of bells and +bell music is evinced by the many times he chose them as themes for his +poems; nearly a dozen of which are about them, containing some of the +sweetest of his thoughts; and allusions to them, like this from +Evangeline,— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Anon from the belfry </p> +<p class="i2"> Softly the Angelus sounded,"— </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +are sprinkled all through his longer poems, as well as his prose. The +Song of the Bell, beginning,— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Bell! thou soundest merrily </p> +<p class="i2"> When the bridal party </p> +<p class="i2"> To the church doth hie!" </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +was among his earliest writings; and The Bells of San Blas was his last +poem, having been written March 15, 1882, nine days only before he +died:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "What say the Bells of San Blas </p> +<p class="i2"> To the ships that southward pass </p> +<p class="i2"> From the harbor of Mazatlan?" </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +And this last stanza must contain the last words that came from his +pen:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "O Bells of San Blas, in vain </p> +<p class="i2"> Ye call back the Fast again! </p> +<p class="i4"> The Past is deaf to your prayer: </p> +<p class="i2"> Out of the shadows of night </p> +<p class="i2"> The world rolls into light; </p> +<p class="i4"> It is daybreak everywhere." </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +One of his latest sonnets is entitled Chimes. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night </p> +<p class="i2"> Salute the passing hour, and in the dark </p> +<p class="i2"> And silent chambers of the household mark </p> +<p class="i2"> The movements of the myriad orbs of light!" </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +This was sung of the beautiful clock that +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Half-way up the stairs it stands" +</p> +<p> +in his mansion at Cambridge, by so many thought to be the one referred +to in The Old Clock on the Stairs. But no; that one was in the "Gold +House" at Pittsfield, and is now in disuse; while this one is a fine +piece of mechanism, striking the coming hour on each half hour, and on +the hour itself sweet carillons are played for several moments, so +familiar to the poet that it is no wonder that to hear it he says,— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Better than sleep it is to lie awake." +</p> +<p> +And who has not been entranced by the melody of his +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "In the ancient town of Bruges </p> +<p class="i2"> In the quaint old Flemish city, </p> +<p class="i2"> As the evening shades descended, </p> +<p class="i2"> Low and loud and sweetly blended, </p> +<p class="i2"> Low at times and loud at times, </p> +<p class="i2"> And changing like a poet's rhymes, </p> +<p class="i2"> Rang the beautiful wild chimes </p> +<p class="i2"> From the belfry in the market </p> +<p class="i2"> Of the ancient town of Bruges." </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +In the prologue to The Golden Legend, we have the attempt of Lucifer and +the Powers of the Air to tear down the cross from the spire of the +Strasburg Cathedral, with the remonstrance of the bells interwoven: +</p> + +<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" border="0" align="center" width="90%" summary="poem"> +<tr><td> "Laudo Deum verum!</td><td> Funera plango! </td></tr> +<tr><td> Plebem voco! </td><td> Fulgura frango! </td></tr> +<tr><td> Congrego clerum! </td><td> Sabbata pango! </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td> "Defunctus ploro! </td><td> Excito lentos! </td></tr> +<tr><td> Pestem fugo! </td><td> Dissipo ventos! </td></tr> +<tr><td> Festa decoro! </td><td> Paco cruentos!" </td></tr> +</table> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "I praise the true God, call the people, convene the clergy; </p> +<p class="i2"> I mourn the dead, dispel the pestilence, and grace festivals; </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>[106]</span> +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> I mourn at the burial, abate the lightnings, announce the Sabbath;</p> +<p class="i2"> I arouse the indolent, dissipate the winds, and appease the avengeful."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Another rendering of the two last lines reads:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Men's death I tell, by doleful knell; </p> +<p class="i2"> Lightnings and thunder I break asunder; </p> +<p class="i2"> On Sabbath all to church I call; </p> +<p class="i2"> The sleepy head, I raise from bed; </p> +<p class="i2"> The winds so fierce I do disperse; </p> +<p class="i2"> Men's cruel rage, I do assuage." </p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +And in the Legend itself, an historical account of mediæval +bell-ringing is given by Friar Cuthbert, as he preaches to a crowd from +a pulpit in the open air, in front of the cathedral:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "But hark! the bells are beginning to chime;... </p> +<p class="i2"> For the bells themselves are the best of preachers; </p> +<p class="i2"> Their brazen lips are learned teachers, </p> +<p class="i2"> From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, </p> +<p class="i2"> Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, </p> +<p class="i2"> Shriller than trumpets under the Law, </p> +<p class="i2"> Now a sermon and now a prayer."... </p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +In the Tales of the Wayside Inn occurs the pretty legend of The Bell of +Atri, "famous for all time"; and from his summer home in Nahant, from +across the waters he listens to +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "O curfew of the setting sun! O bells of Lynn!</p> +<p class="i2"> O requiem of the dying day! O bells of Lynn!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +In the Curfew he quaintly and beautifully reminds us of the old +<i>couvre-feu</i> bell of the days of William the Conqueror, a custom +still kept up in many of the towns and hamlets of England, and some of +our own towns and cities; and until recently the nine-o'clock bell +greeted the ears of Bostonians, year in and year out. And who does not +remember the sweet carol of Christmas Bells? +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "I heard the bells on Christmas Day </p> +<p class="i2"> Their old familiar carols play, </p> +<p class="i6"> And wild and sweet </p> +<p class="i6"> The words repeat </p> +<p class="i2"> Of peace on earth, good will to men! </p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: </p> +<p class="i2"> 'God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! </p> +<p class="i6"> The wrong shall fail, </p> +<p class="i6"> The right prevail </p> +<p class="i2"> With peace on earth, good will to men!'" </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Indeed, many are the sweet and musical strains that he has sung about +the bells, and he often wished that "somebody would bring together all +the best things that have been written upon them, both in prose and +verse." +</p> +<p> +Southey calls bells "the poetry of the steeples"; and the poets of all +ages have had more or less to say upon this subject. Quaint old George +Herbert told us to +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Think when the bells do chime</p> +<p class="i2"> 'Tis Angel's music!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +It was a curious theory of Frater Johannes Drabicius, that the principal +employment of the blessed in heaven will be the continual ringing of +bells; and he occupied four hundred and twenty-five pages of a work +printed at Mentz, in 1618, to prove the same. +</p> +<p> +Truly has it been said: "From youth to age the sound of the bell is sent +forth through crowded streets, or floats with sweetest melody above the +quiet fields. It gives a tongue to time, which would otherwise pass over +our heads as silently as the clouds, and lends a warning to its +perpetual flight. It is the voice of rejoicing at festivals, at +christenings, at marriages, and of mourning at the departure of the +soul. From every church-tower it summons the faithful of distant valleys +to the house of God; and when life is ended they sleep within the bell's +deep sound. Its tone, therefore, comes to be fraught with memorial +associations, and we know what a throng of mental images of the past can +be aroused by the music of a peal of bells. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> 'O, what a preacher is the time-worn tower, </p> +<p class="i2"> Reading great sermons with its iron tongues.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>[107]</span> +</p> +<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/044.jpg"><img src="images/044.jpg" style="height: 36em;" +alt="" /></a> +<br /> +</div> +<a name="h2H_4_0012" id="h2H_4_0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHELSEA. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">By William E. McClintock, C.E.</span> +</h3> +<h4> +[City Engineer of Chelsea.] +</h4> +<p> +Sheltered from the winds of the Atlantic by the outlying towns of Revere +and Winthrop, and that section of the metropolis known as East Boston, +Chelsea occupies a peninsula, once called Winnisimmet, fronting on the +Mystic River and its two tributaries, the Island End and Chelsea Rivers. +Its area of fourteen hundred acres presents an undulating surface, +rising from the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>[108]</span> + + level of the salt marshes to four considerable elevations, known as +Hospital Hill, Mount Bellingham, Powderhom Hill, and Mount Washington. +</p> +<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; height: 16em;"> +<a href="images/045a.jpg"><img src="images/045a.jpg" height="100%" +alt="OLD FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. +Corner of Broadway and Third Street." /></a> +<br /> +OLD FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.<br /> +Corner of Broadway and Third Street. + +</div> +<p> +Originally it was included within the township of Boston, and was +settled as early as 1630; and a few years later was connected with +Boston by the Winnisimmet Ferry, whose charter, granted in 1639, makes +it the oldest chartered ferry company in the United States. +</p> +<p> +In those early days the Winnisimmet Ferry connected the foot of Hanover +Street, in Boston, with the old road leading to Salem and the eastward, +which followed the course of Washington Avenue. +</p> +<p> +Samuel Maverick, of Noddle's Island, an early settler, was the first +claimant of the land. Richard Bellingham, "the unbending, faithful old +man, skilled from his youth in English law, perhaps the draughtsman of +the charter [of the Massachusetts Colony], certainly familiar with it +from its beginning, was chosen to succeed Endicott," as governor. About +1634, he came into possession of most of Winnisimmet, but his title was +rather obscure; it was confirmed to him, however, by the town of Boston, +in 1640. He is not known to have lived upon his estate. He divided the +land into four farms, which he let to tenants,—subdivisions which +remained substantially the same for two centuries. The government +reservation is said to have remained in the possession of Samuel +Maverick. +</p> +<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:right; height: 16em;"> +<a href="images/045b.jpg"><img src="images/045b.jpg" style="height: 100%" +alt="WINNISIMMET FERRY LANDING. +About forty years ago." /></a> +<br /> +WINNISIMMET FERRY LANDING.<br /> +About forty years ago. +</div> +<p> +Governor Bellingham died in 1672, at the age of eighty, and, although a +lawyer and a good man, left behind him a will which gave rise to +litigation that continued for over a century. As this instrument affects +every title in Chelsea, it becomes of public interest. He bequeathed the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>[109]</span> + + estate of Winnisimmet to trustees, to be devoted to the support of his +widow, his son, and his two nieces, during their lives, after which it +was to be used to build a meeting-house, support a minister, and educate +a limited number of young men for the ministry. +</p> +<p> +The son, Dr. Samuel Bellingham, after the death of his father, contested +the will in court, and had it set aside. +</p> +<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="clear:both;"> +<a href="images/046.jpg"><img src="images/046.jpg" style="height: 36em;" +alt="CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. +Erected A.D. 1871." /></a> +<br /> +CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.<br /> +Erected A.D. 1871. +</div> +<p> +After his death the trustees named in the will brought a suit to carry +into effect the directions of the old governor. One by one they dropped +out of the contest, silenced by death, until at length the town +authorities undertook to maintain their supposed rights. It was not +until 1788, after the close of the Revolution, that the case was finally +decided, and the town was defeated. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>[110]</span> +</p> +<p> +After over a century of outlying dependence, and forced attendance in +all weathers at the churches in Boston, the good people of Winnisimmet, +Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, having demonstrated their willingness +and ability to support a minister, petitioned for and obtained the +privileges of a new parish and township, named Chelsea.<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> Rumney Marsh +is now known as Revere, and Pullen Point as Winthrop. The new township +also included a strip of land half a mile wide and four miles long, +extending north-westerly through what is now Maiden and Melrose, well +into the town of Wakefield, and at present forming a part of Saugus. +</p> +<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/047.png"><img src="images/047.png" style="height: 16em;" +alt="OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH. +Site of present church; moved and used by Bellingham Methodists." /></a> +<br /> +OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH.<br /> +Site of present church; moved and used by Bellingham Methodists. +</div> +<p> +The old Town House, or meeting-house, built in 1710, and still standing, +was at Rumney Marsh. +</p> +<p> +The earliest census of the town, on record, was taken in 1776, and +indicated a population of four hundred and thirty-nine. +</p> +<p> +The Reverend Dr. Tuckerman was settled over the parish, which included +the whole township, in 1801, and for a quarter of a century ministered +to the people of an almost stationary community. During that time, only +three new buildings were erected; and they were built to replace as many +torn down. +</p> +<p> +In 1802, the Chelsea Bridge was built, to form a part of the turnpike +(Broadway) leading from Charlestown to Salem. Before that time, the only +way to reach Boston from Chelsea, with a loaded team, was through +Malden, Medford, Cambridge, and Roxbury, over the Neck, requiring a +whole day to make the journey. +</p> +<p> +As late as 1830, Winnisimmet was of no importance except as a +market-garden and thoroughfare. Of the seven hundred and seventy-one +inhabitants of Chelsea, but thirty lived within the present limits of +the city. The original Bellingham subdivisions were known as the Cary, +Carter, Shurtleff, and Williams Farms, and were owned and occupied by +those families. Three years previously, in 1827, the general government +had secured possession of the hospital reservation, which it still +occupies. About 1831, the value of Winnisimmet as the site for a future +city became apparent, and a land company was formed, which secured the +Shurtleff and Williams Farms, and laid out a very attractive city—on +paper. +</p> +<p> +The ferry accommodations at this date consisted of two sailboats of +about forty tons each. During the following summer the steam +ferry-boats, Boston and Chelsea, were put on the line, and increased the +value of property + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>[111]</span> + + in Chelsea. These boats were the first of the kind to navigate the +waters of Boston Harbor. +</p> +<p> +In 1832, John Low built the first store, at the corner of Broadway and +Everett Avenue, and was the pioneer merchant of the city. The newcomers, +known to the older inhabitants as "roosters," settled principally in the +neighborhood of the landing. So many came, that in 1840 there were in +the town twenty-three hundred and ninety inhabitants. In 1832, the +omnibus, "North Ender," commenced running from Chelsea Ferry landing to +Boylston Market; the fare was twelve and one-half cents. The "Governor +Brooks," the first 'bus in Boston, had been running about a week before. +It was twenty years later when an omnibus line was established for the +convenience of the village. +</p> +<a name="image-0009"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/048.png"><img src="images/048.png" style="height: 16em;" +alt="First Baptist Church. Gerrish's Block. First M.E. Church, +Winnisimmet Congregational Church. Park Street. +JUNCTION OF PARK AND WINNISIMMET STREETS--1859." /></a> +<br /> +First Baptist Church. Gerrish's Block. First M.E. Church,<br /> +Winnisimmet Congregational Church. Park Street.<br /> +JUNCTION OF PARK AND WINNISIMMET STREETS—1859. +</div> +<p> +To town meetings at Rumney Marsh the settlers at the landing had to +tramp to vote on questions affecting the town. Right bravely would they +attend to their duties as citizens, to find their efforts of no avail on +account of the sharp practices of their neighbors of the Marsh and +Point, who would reverse their action at an adjourned meeting. At +length, in overwhelming numbers, they assembled once upon a time, and +voted a new Town House, near the site of the present Catholic church. As +a consequence, North Chelsea was set off in 1846, and Chelsea shrank to +its present boundaries. In 1850, notwithstanding the loss of so large an +extent of territory, Chelsea numbered sixty-seven hundred and one +inhabitants. Seven years later, in 1857, the town was granted a city +charter; it was divided into four wards, and Colonel Francis B. Fay was +inaugurated the first mayor. +</p> +<p> +From that time the growth of the city has been rapid. In 1860, there +were 13,395 inhabitants; in 1870, 18,547; in 1880, 21,785; to-day there +are probably 24,000. The Honorable Hosea Ilsley was the second mayor; he +was succeeded by the Honorable + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>[112]</span> + + Frank B. Fay, in 1861; by the Honorable Eustace C. Fitz, in 1864; by the +Honorable Rufus S. Frost, in 1867; by the Honorable James B. Forsyth, +M.D., in 1869; by the Honorable John W. Fletcher, in 1871; by the +Honorable Charles H. Ferson, in 1873; by the Honorable Thomas Green, in +1876; by the Honorable Isaac Stebbins, in 1877; by the Honorable Andrew +J. Bacon, in 1879; by the Honorable Samuel P. Tenney, in 1881; by the +Honorable Thomas Strahan, the present mayor, in 1883. +</p> +<a name="image-0010"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/049.png"><img src="images/049.png" style="height: 36em;" +alt="FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH." /></a> +<br /> +FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. +</div> +<p> +In 1849, the railway connected Chelsea with Boston, and in 1857 the +horse-cars commenced running. +</p> +<p> +During the Rebellion, Chelsea responded loyally for troops. In the Union +army there were sixteen hundred and fifty-one soldiers from Chelsea. Of +that number, forty-two were killed in battle; sixteen died of wounds; +seventy-five died in hospitals; nine died in Rebel prisons; besides one +hundred and four who were more or less seriously wounded. The city also +furnished one hundred and thirty-seven recruits for the navy during the +war. The city has commemorated those heroes who died for their country, +by a very appropriate monument in Union Park. +</p> +<p> +The conservative character of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>[113]</span> + + political fathers of the city may be judged by the fact that Samuel +Bassett, who was first elected town clerk in 1849, has served the town +and city continuously in that capacity to the present time. For the +half-century before his election there had been only three incumbents of +the office. +</p> +<a name="image-0011"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/050a.png"><img src="images/050a.png" style="height: 10em;" +alt="Jonathan Bosson's house. Deacon Loring's house. +EPISCOPAL CHURCH. +Present site of D. & L. Slade's grain store; burned just after the late +war." /></a> +<br /> +Jonathan Bosson's house. Deacon Loring's house.<br /> +EPISCOPAL CHURCH.<br /> +Present site of D. & L. Slade's grain store; burned just after the late war. +</div> +<p> +The efforts of the land company, who fostered the early growth of the +city, were directed to induce people doing business in Boston to select +homesteads in Chelsea; but manufacturing was gradually introduced, until +to-day many important industries have become established, which have +given the place a world-wide reputation. Chief among these are the works +of the Magee Furnace Company. Their buildings occupy a lot of several +acres, fronting on Chelsea River. Here the celebrated Magee stove, in +all its various forms and patterns, is manufactured from the crude iron. +The establishment consumes two thousand tons of coal annually, and +converts four thousand tons of pig-iron into graceful and useful +articles. John Magee, the organizer and president of the company, is the +patentee of all the improvements. The works were established in Chelsea +in 1864; they employ five hundred operatives, and produce thirty +thousand stoves and furnaces yearly. These are shipped by car-load all +through the Northern and Western States, to the Pacific slope, reaching +Oregon without breaking bulk. Their goods are sold in England, Sweden, +Turkey, Cape Colony, Australia, China, and the islands of the Pacific, +although the home demand almost forbids their seeking a foreign market. +The popularity of their work may be known from the fact that one hundred +and fifty thousand stoves of one pattern have been sold. The iron +entering into the manufacture of stoves must be of a peculiar fineness +of texture. The best of ore of three or four qualities is mixed, +frequently tested, and constantly watched during the manufacturing +process. +</p> +<a name="image-0012"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:right; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/050b.png"><img src="images/050b.png" style="height: 10em;" +alt="OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH." /></a> +<br /> +OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH. +</div> +<p> +The beauty of their stove castings has led to a new industry,—the +fine-art castings,—in which the most marvelous results are produced. +Professional artists and art critics are constantly employed in the +establishment, and many thousand dollars are judiciously expended +yearly, for the purpose of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>[114]</span> + + forming and perfecting new designs to meet the popular demand. +</p> +<a name="image-0013"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/051a.png"><img src="images/051a.png" style="height: 10em;" +alt="NAVAL HOSPITAL. +Erected in 1836. Wing added in 1865." /></a> +<br /> +NAVAL HOSPITAL.<br /> +Erected in 1836. Wing added in 1865. +</div> +<p> +Another celebrated industry of Chelsea is the manufacture of the Low +tiles, for household decoration. John G. Low, son of the pioneer +merchant, is the artist who has created this class of goods, and he has +succeeded in producing a tile of special artistic value. His work +surpasses anything of the kind made in the world, and finds a market +wherever works of art and beauty are appreciated. +</p> +<p> +There are several establishments in the city, for the manufacture of +rubber goods of every variety, and many hundred operatives find +employment therein. +</p> +<p> +The famous "Globe Works" are soon to be occupied by the extensive +establishment of the Forbes Lithograph Company. +</p> +<p> +The Keramic Art Works of J. Robertson and Sons are noted throughout the +land for the beauty of their products. +</p> +<p> +The pioneer manufacturers of the city are the firm of Bisbee, Endicott, +and Company, who established a machine-shop in 1836, and a foundry in +1846, and are still in business. +</p> +<p> +Aside from these, Chelsea manufactures anchors, pilot-bread, mattresses, +bluing, boxes, bricks, britannia ware, brooms, cardigan jackets, +carriages, chairs, cigars, confectionery, enameled cloth, fire-brick, +furniture, hose, lamp-black, lumber, oils, wall-paper, planes, pottery, +roofing, salt, soap, spices, type, tinware, varnish, vaccine matter, +vessels, yeast, and window-shades,—giving employment to a very large +number of skilled artisans. +</p> +<p> +There are two well-managed banks in the city, two ably-conducted +newspapers, one large and several small hotels, and an Academy of Music, +which is one of the finest provincial theatres in New England, boasting +of a fine auditorium and a well-appointed stage. +</p> +<p> +The Naval Hospital, which generally accommodates about a dozen patients, +occupies eighty acres of the most desirable part of the city, the hill +upon which it is built overlooking Mystic River. +</p> +<p> +The Marine Hospital, in the same neighborhood, which has usually from +seventy-five to eighty patients from the ranks of our mercantile marine, +occupies a lot of about ten acres. +</p> +<a name="image-0014"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/051b.png"><img src="images/051b.png" style="height: 10em;" +alt="OLD MARINE HOSPITAL. +Fronting toward the water. Erected in 1827, and in 1857 converted +into a schoolhouse for the Hawthorne School." /></a> +<br /> +OLD MARINE HOSPITAL.<br /> +Fronting toward the water. Erected in 1827, and in 1857 converted +into a schoolhouse for the Hawthorne School. +</div> +<p> +Powderhorn Hill the summit + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>[115]</span> + + of which is about two hundred feet above the level of the sea, commands +a fine view of Boston Harbor, the ocean, and many miles of inland +territory. Chelsea is spread out like a map at its base. It has been the +dream of enthusiastic admirers of the varied scenery afforded from the +top, to include it within the limits of a public park, forever set apart +for the benefit of the present and coming generations. Half-way up the +side of the hill stands the Soldiers' Home, where many scarred veterans +of the Union army find a safe haven, cared for by those who appreciate +their struggles in their country's cause. The city, although occupying +narrow limits, has become a very attractive place for residence. The +streets are broad, straight, and shaded by very many thrifty trees. The +water-works, organized in 1867, supply good water; gas is furnished at +reasonable rates, and the city has nearly completed a system of +sewerage, which adds to the comfort and health of the people. The public +buildings are commodious and ornamental. Churches of pleasing +architecture, of many religious denominations, appropriate school +buildings and good schools, spacious and elegant private mansions, a +well-organized fire and police department, a public library, low +death-rate, and good morals, serve to make the city of Chelsea a very +desirable place for those seeking a quiet home in a law-abiding +municipality. +</p> +<a name="image-0015"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/052.png"><img src="images/052.png" style="height: 18em;" +alt="ACADEMY OF MUSIC." /></a> +<br /> +ACADEMY OF MUSIC. +</div> +<p> +All through the colonial period the civil affairs of the community were +intimately connected with the interests of the church; and +ecclesiastical history, when church and State were united, and the +minister was the greatest man of the parish, becomes of importance. +</p> +<p> +As early as 1640, in the church of Boston, "a motion was made by such as +have farms at Rumney Marsh, that our Brother Oliver may be sent to +instruct our servants, and to be a help to them, because they cannot +many times + come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn, and sometimes no where at all." The +piously disposed people of Boston evidently commiserated the destitute +condition of their poor dependents, and were desirous of ministering to +their spiritual wants. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>[116]</span> +</p> +<a name="image-0016"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/053.jpg"><img src="images/053.jpg" style="height: 18em;" +alt="THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN." /></a> +<br /> +THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN. +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>[117]</span> +</p> +<a name="image-0017"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/054.jpg"><img src="images/054.jpg" style="height: 18em;" +alt="AN INTERIOR IN THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN'S RESIDENCE." /></a> +<br /> +AN INTERIOR IN THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN'S RESIDENCE. +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>[118]</span> +</p> + +<a name="image-0018"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:left; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/055a.png"><img src="images/055a.png" style="height: 12em;" +alt="GERRISH'S BLOCK." /></a> +<br /> +GERRISH'S BLOCK. +</div> +<p> +For many years the inhabitants of this section received the benefit of +irregular preaching from Brother Oliver and other kindly disposed +ministers from neighboring parishes. The wishes of Governor Bellingham +to provide for their wants had been frustrated, as before narrated. +Prior to 1706, the people were nominally connected with some church in +Charlestown or Boston. In that year, at the March meeting of the town of +Boston, a committee was appointed to consider what they should think +proper to lay before the town relating to petitions of sundry of the +inhabitants of Rumney Marsh about the building of a meeting-house. +Action was postponed, from year to year, until August 29, 1709, when it +was voted to raise one hundred pounds, to be laid out "in building a +meeting-house at Rumney Marsh." The raising of the frame was in July of +the following year. +</p> +<p> +The Reverend Thomas Cheever, son of the famous schoolmaster, was chosen +pastor October 17, 1715, and was dismissed December 21, 1748. At the +formation of the church, the Reverend Cotton Mather, D.D., was +moderator, and there were eight male members, including the pastor. +</p> +<p> +The Reverend Thomas Cheever was born in 1658; was graduated at Harvard +College in 1677; was ordained and settled in Maiden, July 27, 1681; was +dismissed in 1686, "on the advice of an ecclesiastical council"; removed +to Rumney Marsh and lived in the Newgate House; taught school many +years, and preached occasionally; died December 27, 1749, aged about +ninety-two years. +</p> +<a name="image-0019"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:right; width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/055b.png"><img src="images/055b.png" style="height: 12em;" +alt="CITY HOTEL." /></a> +<br /> +CITY HOTEL. +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>[119]</span> +</p> +<p> +Toward the close of his ministry, the Reverend William McClenachan was +installed as Mr. Cheever's colleague, although considerable opposition +was manifested, and several prominent members withdrew to other +churches. The connection of the pastor with the church continued until +December 25, 1754, when Mr. McClenachan left them and joined the +Established Church of England. He was a man of remarkable eloquence, and +soon after his resignation of the pastorate of the Chelsea parish, he +went to England. +</p> +<a name="image-0020"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="clear:both;"> +<a href="images/056.png"><img src="images/056.png" style="height: 30em;" +alt="C.A. CAMPBELL'S COAL OFFICE." /></a> +<br /> +C.A. CAMPBELL'S COAL OFFICE. +</div> +<p> +The Reverend Phillips Payson was settled as pastor, October 26, 1757. He +was a noted scholar and teacher, and was a man of much influence in his +day. He was an active patriot during the Revolution, led his +parishioners in person, and held a commission from the Massachusetts +authorities. He preached the Election Sermon in 1778, and died in +office, January 11, 1801. He was born in Walpole, January 18, 1730, and +was graduated at Harvard College in 1754. +</p> +<p> +The Reverend Joseph Tuckerman, D.D., was ordained and settled over the +parish November 4, 1801, and maintained this relation for just one +quarter of a century, preaching his farewell sermon November 4, 1826. He +was born in Boston, January 18, 1778; was graduated at Harvard College +in 1798; died in Havana, April 20, 1840. +</p> +<p> +The First Baptist Church, the first religious society at Ferry Village, +was organized in 1836. +</p> +<p> +The Unitarian Church was organized in 1838. +</p> +<p> +The First Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1839. The +meeting-house they first occupied was on + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>[120]</span> + + Park Street; it has been recently sold to the Grand Army of the +Republic. The edifice they now occupy is on Walnut Street. +</p> +<a name="image-0021"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/057a.png"><img src="images/057a.png" style="height: 14em;" +alt="REVERE RUBBER COMPANY." /></a> +<br /> +REVERE RUBBER COMPANY. +</div> +<p> +The St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church were +organized in 1841. +</p> +<p> +The First Universalist Church was organized in 1842. +</p> +<p> +The Central Congregational Church was organized in 1843, under the name +of Winnisimmet. +</p> +<p> +The St. Rose Catholic Church was organized in 1849. +</p> +<p> +The Mount Bellingham Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1853. +</p> +<p> +The Cary-avenue Baptist Church was organized in 1859. +</p> +<p> +The Third Congregational Church was organized in 1877. +</p> +<a name="image-0022"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/057b.png"><img src="images/057b.png" style="height: 14em;" +alt="T.H. BUCK & BROTHER'S LUMBER YARD." /></a> +<br /> +T.H. BUCK & BROTHER'S LUMBER YARD. +</div> +<p> +The importance of education for the children was recognized at an early +date by the settlers of Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh. Brother Oliver may +have given instruction; Thomas Cheever certainly did, and for his +services received twenty pounds per annum from the town of Boston, as +shown by the vote of January 24, 1709. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>[121]</span> +</p> +<p> +In 1833, the town of Chelsea was divided into three districts, known as +the Ferry, Centre, and Point. In 1834, Point Shirley district was set +off from the Point; and in 1838 the northern district was set off from +the Centre. The school committee, first elected in 1797, made their +first written report in 1839; their first printed report in 1841. +</p> +<p> +The first schoolhouse in Ferry district was built in 1833, near the +corner of Chestnut Street and Washington Avenue. +</p> +<a name="image-0023"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/058.png"><img src="images/058.png" style="height: 14em;" +alt="BOSTON RUBBER COMPANY, WINNISIMETT STREET." /></a> +<br /> +BOSTON RUBBER COMPANY, WINNISIMETT STREET. +</div> +<p> +In 1837, the Park-street schoolhouse was built, and the following year a +grammar school was kept. +</p> +<p> +In 1839, a primary school was started at Prattville. From the +committee's report one is led to infer "that a stump with a piece of +board on top for a seat, having no back attached, affords no enviable +resting-place." +</p> +<p> +In 1840, there were two primary schools in Ferry village, one occupying +the site of the Pioneer newspaper office, the other near the corner of +Shawmut Street and Central Avenue. +</p> +<p> +The question of starting a high school was agitated in 1840, but no +action was taken until 1845. In 1850, a high school building was erected +on Second and Walnut Streets. +</p> +<p> +In January, 1873, the present high school building, on Bellingham +Street, was dedicated with appropriate exercises, Tracy P. Cheever +delivering the address. +</p> +<p> +The tithingmen were the ancient conservators of the peace, and were +chosen annually as late as 1834; after that date their duties devolved +upon the constables. In 1847, a night-watch was first deemed necessary. +</p> +<p> +In 1854, the first steps were taken toward organizing a police force. +During the year occurred the memorable Know-Nothing riot, which resulted +in the pulling down of a cross. +</p> +<p> +The first city government established a police department, and appointed +a city marshal and six assistants. As at present organized, there is a +chief-of-police, two deputies, and fifteen patrol-men, whose duties are +to keep watch over the city day and night, keep the peace, and protect +property, and observe and report any defects in the public way which +could by any chance result in injury to either man or beast. +</p> +<p> +In 1842, at the annual town-meeting the selectmen were authorized to +erect twelve street-lamps. Their number has been increased from time to +time until there are now over five hundred and + fifty lamps, besides two large lanterns: one on the Square, the other in +front of the Academy of Music. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>[122]</span> +</p> +<a name="image-0024"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/059.jpg"><img src="images/059.jpg" style="height: 14em;" +alt="MAGEE FURNACE COMPANY'S FOUNDRY." /></a> +<br /> +MAGEE FURNACE COMPANY'S FOUNDRY. +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>[123]</span> +</p> +<a name="image-0025"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/060.jpg"><img src="images/060.jpg" style="height: 14em;" +alt="HIGH SCHOOL. ERECTED IN 1872. F.A. HILL, PRINCIPAL." /></a> +<br /> +HIGH SCHOOL. ERECTED IN 1872. F.A. HILL, PRINCIPAL. +</div> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>[124]</span> +</p> + +<a name="image-0026"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/061.jpg"><img src="images/061.jpg" style="height: 32em;" +alt="FIRING THE KILN. (Low's Art Tile Works.)" /></a> +<br /> +FIRING THE KILN. (Low's Art Tile Works.) +</div> +<p> +A board of health was first elected in 1846. From 1850, to the +organization of the city government, the selectmen acted as the board. +From 1857 to 1878 the duties of the board were in the hands of the mayor +and board of aldermen. Since 1878, a board has been annually elected. +Their supervision and oversight have been of great advantage to the +city. +</p> +<p> +In 1863, the Chelsea Library Association presented the city with about +one thousand volumes, which became the nucleus of the Public Library. +Eight thousand books have already been collected; they are soon to be +gathered within an appropriate and spacious building generously donated +to the city. +</p> +<p> +There is much of romance in the history of such an ancient settlement as +Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh, although most of the incidents worthy of +note have long since passed into oblivion. +</p> +<p> +The Indian wars never affected directly the early settlers, for before +hostilities commenced the frontier had been advanced some miles into the +interior; but the brave sons of the pioneers were called upon for the +defence of more exposed localities, and promptly responded. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>[125]</span> +</p> +<p> +"In military affairs Rumney Marsh, for many years, was associated with +the neighboring towns in Essex and Middlesex, in an organization called +the 'Three County Troop.'" The company appears to have been formed as +early as May, 1659. Edward Hutchinson was confirmed as the first +captain. Captain John Tuttle was in command of the company in 1673. +</p> +<p> +In the war of 1676, the Three County Troop sent ten men, "well fitted +with long arms," to the rendezvous at Concord. +</p> +<p> +"In the year 1677, about April the 7th, six or seven men were slain by +the Indians, near York, while they were at work two miles from the town, +whereof one was the son of Lieutenant Smith of Winnisimmet, a hopeful +young man.... Five Indians paddled their canoes down towards York, where +they killed six of the English, and took one captive, May 19 following; +and, May 23, four days after, one was killed at Wells, and one taken by +them betwixt York and Wells; amongst whom was the eldest son of +Lieutenant Smith, forementioned; his younger brother was slain in the +same town not long before." +</p> +<p> +The company was disbanded in 1690. A company of sixty soldiers under +command of Captain John Floyd, a citizen of Rumney Marsh, was sent as a +garrison to protect the frontier at Portsmouth, about this date. +</p> +<a name="image-0027"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="float:right; width: 40%;"> +<a href="images/062.png"><img src="images/062.png" style="height: 14em;" +alt="ORNAMENTAL JUG. (Low's Art Tile Works.)" /></a> +<br /> +ORNAMENTAL JUG. (Low's Art Tile Works.) +</div> +<p> +"While the regulars were on their retreat from Lexington, on the 19th of +April, 1775, protected by reinforcements under command of Lord Percy, a +detached party who were carrying stores and provisions were attacked at +Metonomy by Rev. Phillips Payson, leading a party of his parishioners, +whom he had hastily gathered on the alarm. One of the regulars was +killed and some were taken prisoners, together with arms and stores, +without loss to the attacking party." +</p> +<p> +Captain Samuel Sprague had command + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>[126]</span> + + of a Chelsea company of twenty-eight men, which was mustered into +the service April 19, 1775. At a later date Chelsea furnished the +patriot army with a company of fifty-two men, under the same commander. +</p> +<a name="image-0028"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="clear:both;"> +<a href="images/063.jpg"><img src="images/063.jpg" style="height: 32em;" +alt="A GROUP OF TILES. (Low's Art Tile Works.)" /></a> +<br /> +A GROUP OF TILES. (Low's Art Tile Works.) +</div> +<p> +"On the 27th of May, 1775, as a party of the Massachusetts forces, +together with a party of New Hampshire forces, In all about six hundred +men, were attempting to bring off the stock upon Hog Island, and about +thirty men upon Noddle's Island were doing the same, when above a +hundred regulars landed upon the last-mentioned island and pursued our +men till they got safely back to Hog Island." +</p> +<p> +A spirited engagement ensued, attended, however, with no serious loss to +the American forces. The regulars + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>[127]</span> + + were supported by an armed schooner which the enemy were obliged to +abandon, having first set the vessel on fire. +</p> +<a name="image-0029"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/064.jpg"><img src="images/064.jpg" style="height: 32em;" +alt="A TILED FIREPLACE. (Low's Art Tile Works.)" /></a> +<br /> +A TILED FIREPLACE. (Low's Art Tile Works.) +</div> +<p> +General Putnam, Colonel Stark, and Dr. Joseph Warren, are said to have +been present during the contest, either as actors or witnesses. +</p> +<p> +"During the siege of Boston, Chelsea formed the extreme left of the line +of circumvallation; and on the south-eastern slope of Mount Washington +stands the house of Robert Pratt, which occupies the site of an earlier +house at which Washington lunched when inspecting the lines." +</p> +<p> +In closing this sketch, the writer + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>[128]</span> + + wishes to give credit to the Honorable Mellen Chamberlain, an honored +resident of Chelsea, for information relating to the early history of +the town, which he has kindly furnished, and to the researches embodied +in his valuable article, "Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, Pullen Point, and +Chelsea, in the Provincial Period," printed in the second volume of the +Memorial History of Boston, published by James R. Osgood and Company, in +1881. +</p> +<p> +It is not difficult to predict the future of Chelsea. Situated as it is +on navigable waters, with an extensive waterfront, near to the +metropolis of New England, and already the site of many important +industries, prosperity awaits it. Time alone can tell whether, like its +namesake in the Mother-Country, it becomes absorbed in the neighboring +and growing city, or develops into a great manufacturing suburb, like +Newark and Patterson. +</p> +<a name="image-0030"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/065.png"><img src="images/065.png" style="height: 8em;" +alt="" /></a> +<br /> +</div> +<hr /> +<a name="note-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>3</u> (<a href="#noteref-3">return</a>)<br /> +Date of Act, January 10, 1739. +</p> +<p> +Chelsea, as every Englishman is aware, is the name of a suburb of +London, where are situated the great national hospitals of Great Briton. +It was in existence as a village as early as A.D. 785, but was long +since absorbed by the expanding city. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<a name="h2H_4_0013" id="h2H_4_0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + JOHN WISWALL, THE OBJURGATORY BOSTON BOY. +</h2> +<p> +John Wiswall, a "young man with somewhat original objurgatory +tendencies," was not of the meaner sort of families. His grandfather, +John Wiswall, then some eighty-three years old, ever took an active +interest in the church and social affairs, first in Dorchester, and +afterward in Boston. Mr. Savage says that he was a brother of Thomas +Wiswall, a public-spirited man of Cambridge, Dorchester, and Newton; but +John Wiswall was ruling elder of the First Church, Boston, made so the +third month, fourth day, 1669, the day John Oxenbridge was ordained +pastor. He also was one of the town's committee to act with the +selectmen, to receive the legacy of Captain Robert Keayne, in 1668. +"Elder Wiswall died, August 15, 1687, aged eighty-six years." +</p> +<p> +Elder John Wiswall left one son—John, Jr. This John, Jr., was a man of +life and zeal in the community. He is mentioned as "a well-known and +wealthy citizen." Among his children, by his wife Hannah, was one John, +born March 21, 1667, who became the "young man with somewhat original +objurgatory tendencies," and in the autumn of 1684 was rising seventeen +years of age. John Wiswall was a Boston boy, full of the animation which +has ever characterized the youth of that town. If he had been entirely +of the plastic sort, and represented not one of the leading families, he +never would have been made an example of to the youth of the community. +An example was needed. The new government felt that stringency was +demanded. If data serve us well, would say that John Wiswall, "a +mariner," died about 1700, leaving a widow, Mary, who afterward married +a White. None of the Wiswall name of to-day are from this line, but the +Wiswall blood is infused in the Emmons, the Fisher, the Cutler, and the +Johnson families. +</p> +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume I, No. 2, +February, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + +***** This file should be named 15924-h.htm or 15924-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/2/15924/ + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the 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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index 0000000..b3ef918 --- /dev/null +++ b/15924-h/images/062.png diff --git a/15924-h/images/063.jpg b/15924-h/images/063.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..45a1608 --- /dev/null +++ b/15924-h/images/063.jpg diff --git a/15924-h/images/064.jpg b/15924-h/images/064.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35c9883 --- /dev/null +++ b/15924-h/images/064.jpg diff --git a/15924-h/images/065.png b/15924-h/images/065.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..008416b --- /dev/null +++ b/15924-h/images/065.png diff --git a/15924.txt b/15924.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70b5bca --- /dev/null +++ b/15924.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3501 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume I, No. 2, +February, 1884, 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 I, No. 2, February, 1884 + A Massachusetts Magazine + +Author: Various + +Release Date: May 28, 2005 [EBook #15924] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: Alex H. Rice.] + + + + + + +THE BAY STATE MONTHLY. + +A Massachusetts Magazine. + +VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1884. NO. II. + + * * * * * + + + + +Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D. + + +By Daniel B. Hagar, Ph.D. + +[Principal of the State Normal School, Salem.] + + +Massachusetts merchants have been among the most prominent men in +the nation through all periods of its history. From the days of John +Hancock down to the present time they have often been called by their +fellow-citizens to discharge the duties of the highest public offices. +Hancock was the first governor of the State. In the list of his +successors, the merchants who have distinguished themselves by honorable +and successful administrations occupy prominent places. Conspicuous +among them stands the subject of this sketch. + +Alexander Hamilton Rice, a son of Thomas Rice, Esq., a well-known +manufacturer of paper, was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, +August 30, 1818. He received his early education in the public schools +of his native town and in the academies of the Reverend Daniel Kimball, +of Needham, and Mr. Seth Davis, of Newton, a famous teacher in his +day, who is still living, in vigorous health, at the venerable age of +ninety-seven years. As a boy, young Rice was cheery, affectionate, and +thoughtful, and a favorite among his companions. His earliest ambition +was to become a Boston merchant. After leaving school he entered a +dry-goods store in the city. He there performed his duties with such +laborious zeal and energy that his health gave way, and he was compelled +to return to his home in Newton, where he suffered many months' illness +from a malignant fever, which nearly proved fatal. About two years later +he returned to Boston, and entered the establishment of Messrs. J.H. +Wilkins and R.B. Carter, then widely known as publishers of music books +and of dictionaries of various languages, as well as wholesale dealers +in printing and writing papers. Three years of service in their employ +laid the foundation of the excellent business habits which led to his +ultimate success. + +During this time he was a member of the Mercantile Library Association, +in company with such men as Edwin P. Whipple, James T. Fields, Thomas R. +Gould, afterward the distinguished sculptor, and many others who were, +active participants in its affairs, and who have become eminent in +literature or in public life. Young Rice was a careful student in the +association, though sharing less frequently in its exercises than some +others. His decided literary tastes finally led him to resolve upon the +enlargement of his education by a collegiate course of study. He +accordingly entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, then under the +presidency of the venerable Dr. Eliphalet Nott, where he was graduated +in 1844, receiving the highest honors of his class on Commencement Day. +His classmates bear testimony to the fact that his career in college was +in the highest degree honorable to himself and to the institution of +which he was one of the most respected and popular members. + +At the time of his graduation his purpose was to study law and to pursue +it as a profession; but soon afterward delicate health interposed a +serious obstacle, and a favorable offer of partnership in business with +his former employers induced him to join them in the firm which then +became known as Wilkins, Carter, and Company, the senior member of which +was a graduate of Harvard College, and, at one time, a member of its +Faculty. The present firm of Rice, Kendall, and Company, of which he is +the senior member, is its representative to-day, and is widely known as +one of the largest paper-warehouses in the country. + +In 1845, Mr. Rice married Miss Augusta E. McKim, daughter of John McKim, +Esq., of Washington, District of Columbia, and sister of Judge McKim, +of Boston, a highly-educated and accomplished lady, who died on a +voyage to the West Indies, in 1868, deeply lamented by a large circle of +acquaintances and friends, to whom she had become endeared by a life of +beneficence and courtesy. + +After his graduation from college, Mr. Rice, having again engaged in +mercantile business, pursued it with great earnestness, fidelity, and +success. These qualities, together with his intellectual culture and his +engaging address, eminently fitted him for public service, and early +attracted favorable attention. He first served the city of Boston as +a member of its school-board, in which capacity he gave much personal +attention to the schools in all their various interests. To his duties +in connection with the public schools were soon added those of a trustee +of the lunatic hospital and other public institutions. + +In 1853, Mr. Rice was elected a member of the common council, and a year +later he was president of that body. In 1855, he received, from a large +number of citizens of all parties, a flattering request that he would +permit them to nominate him for the mayoralty of Boston. He reluctantly +acceded to their request, and, after a sharply-contested campaign, +was elected by a handsome majority. His administration of city affairs +proved so satisfactory that he was re-elected, the following year, by +an increased majority. By his wisdom, energy, and rare administrative +ability, Mayor Rice gained a wide and enviable reputation. He was +instrumental in accomplishing many reforms in municipal administration, +among which were a thorough reorganization of the police; the +consolidation of the boards of governors of the public institutions, +by which much was gained in economy and efficiency; the amicable and +judicious settlement of many claims and controversies requiring rare +skill and sagacity in adjustment; and the initiation of some of the most +important improvements undertaken since Boston became a city. Among +these may be mentioned the laying out of Devonshire Street from Milk +Street to Franklin Street, which he first recommended, as well as the +opening of Winthrop Square and adjacent streets for business purposes, +the approaches to which had previously been by narrow alleys. The +magnificent improvements in the Back Bay, which territory had long been +the field of intermittent and fruitless effort and controversy, were +brought to successful negotiation during his municipal administration, +and largely through the ability, energy, and fairness with which he +espoused the great work. The public schools continued to hold prominence +in his attention, and he gave to them all the encouragement which his +office could command; while his active supervision of the various +charitable and reformatory institutions was universally recognized and +welcomed. The free city hospital was initiated, and the public library +building completed during his administration. + +Endowed with gifts of natural eloquence, his public addresses furnished +many examples of persuasive and graceful oratory. Among the conspicuous +occasions that made demands upon his ability as a public speaker was the +dedication of the public library building. On that occasion his address +was interposed between those of the Honorable Edward Everett ard the +Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, both of whom were men of the highest and +most elegant culture, possessing a national reputation for finished +eloquence. The position in which the young Boston merchant found +himself was an exceedingly difficult and trying one; but he rose +most successfully to its demands, and nobly surpassed the exacting +expectations of his warmest admirers. It was agreed on every hand that +Mayor Rice's address was fully equal, in scope and appropriateness of +thought and beauty of diction, to that of either of the eminent scholars +and orators with whom he was brought into comparison. It received +emphatic encomiums at home, and attracted the flattering attention of +the English press, by which it was extensively copied and adduced as +another evidence of the literary culture found in municipal officers in +this country, and of American advancement in eloquence and scholarship. + +At the close of Mr. Rice's second term in the mayoralty of Boston, he +declined a renommation. While in that office, he was faithful to the men +who had elected him, and abstained from participation in party politics +farther than in voting for selected candidates. Originally, he was an +anti-slavery Whig, and, upon the formation of the Republican party, he +became identified with it. + +When he retired from the office of mayor, in January, 1858, it was his +intention to devote himself exclusively to business; but an unexpected +concurrence of circumstances in the third congressional district led to +his nomination and election to Congress by the Republicans, although +the partisan opposition was largely in the majority. He continued to +represent the district for eight consecutive years, and until he +declined further service. He entered Congress just before the breaking +out of the Civil War, and became a participant in the momentous +legislative events of that period. He witnessed the secession of the +Southern members from the two houses of Congress, and served through the +whole period of the war and through one Congress after the war closed, +embracing one half of President Buchanan's administration, the whole of +Lincoln's, and one half of Johnson's. He served on the committees on the +Pacific Railroad, on the District of Columbia, and on naval affairs, of +which last important committee he was chairman during the two closing +years of the war. In this last position he won much reputation by his +mastery of information relating to naval affairs at home and abroad, and +by his thorough devotion to the interests of the American Navy. Mr. Rice +did not often partake in the general debates of Congress, but he had the +confidence of its members to an unusual degree, and the measures which +he presented were seldom successfully opposed. When occasion called, +however, he distinguished himself as a debater of first-class ability, +as was shown in his notable reply to the Honorable Henry Winter Davis, +of Maryland, one of the most brilliant speakers in Congress, in defence +of the navy, and especially of its administration during the war period. + +Notwithstanding his arduous labors as chairman of the naval committee, +Mr. Rice's business habits and industry enabled him to attend faithfully +to the general interests of his constituents, and to many details of +public affairs which are often delegated to unofficial persons or are +altogether neglected. All of his large correspondence was written by +himself, and was promptly despatched. Governor Andrew used to say that +whenever he needed information from Washington, and prompt action, he +always wrote to the representative of the third district. + +At home Mr. Rice has filled many positions of prominence in business +and social life. He was for some years president of the board of trade, +and of the National Sailors' Home. He was president of the great +Peace Jubilee, held in Boston in 1869, the most remarkable musical +entertainment ever held in America, embracing an orchestra of twelve +hundred instruments, and a chorus of twenty thousand voices. The opening +address of this jubilee was made by Mr. Rice. He was also the chairman +of the committee to procure the equestrian statue of Washington for the +Public Garden in Boston, and of the committee that erected the statue of +Charles Sumner. He delivered an appropriate address at the unveiling +of each of these works, and also at the unveiling of the statue of +Franklin, erected during his mayoralty in front of the City Hall. He has +also been president of the Boston Memorial Society, and of the Boston +Art Club, as well as of many other associations. + +Mr. Rice was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1875, and was twice +re-elected. His career as governor was characterized by a comprehensive +and liberal policy in State affairs. While he was always ready to listen +to the opinions and wishes of other men, his administration was strongly +marked by his own individuality. His messages to the Legislature were +clear and decisive in recommendation and discussion, and his policy in +regard to important measures was plainly defined. He never interfered +with the functions of the co-ordinate branches of the government; on the +other hand, he was equally mindful of the rights of the executive. +Always ready to co-operate with the Legislature in regard to measures +which the welfare and honor of the Commonwealth seemed to him to +justify, he did not hesitate to apply the executive veto when his +judgment dictated, even in relation to measures of current popularity. +He thoroughly reorganized the militia of the State, thereby greatly +improving its character and efficiency, besides largely diminishing its +annual cost. His appointments to office, though sometimes sharply +criticised, proved, almost without exception, to have been judiciously +made, and in many instances exhibited remarkable insight into the +character and aptitude of the persons appointed. + +Although elected a Republican, Governor Rice was thoroughly loyal to +the best interests of the State in the distribution of patronage. Every +faithful and competent officer whom he found in place was reappointed, +regardless of his politics, and the incompetent and unreliable were +retired, though belonging to his own party. It is, however, but fair +to say, that in making original appointments and in filling absolute +vacancies, he gave the preference, in cases of equal character and +competency, to men of his own party. + +During the centennial year, 1876, the special occasions, anniversaries, +and public celebrations were very numerous, and added greatly to the +demands upon the governor's time and services in semi-official +engagements, in all of which he acquitted himself with high credit to +himself and the Commonwealth. + +In 1877, he escorted President Hayes to Harvard University to receive +the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor which had been conferred upon +himself the previous year; and in 1878 he also escorted Lord Dufferin, +governor-general of Canada, to the university, on an occasion made +memorable by the visit of that distinguished statesman. + +During his whole administration, Governor Rice took a deep interest +in the cause of education in the State, as president of the board of +education, and in visiting schools and colleges for personal inspection. +He also carefully watched over the several State institutions for +correction, for reform, and for lunacy and charity, encouraging, as +opportunity offered, both officers and inmates, and, at the same time, +unsparing in merited criticism of negligence and unfaithfulness. + +In a word, Governor Rice's administration of State affairs justly ranks +among the administrations that have been the most useful and honorable +to the Commonwealth. + +In 1881, Mr. Rice was elected honorary chancellor of Union University, +his _alma mater_, and at the commencement anniversary of that year +he delivered an elaborate oration on _The Reciprocal Relations of +Education and Enterprise_, which was received with the highest favor +by the numerous statesmen and scholars who honored the occasion by their +presence, and was afterwards published and widely circulated. + +Mr. Rice is still actively engaged in business, and still maintains an +undiminished interest in the affairs of public and social life. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE OLD STORES AND THE POST-OFFICE OF GROTON. + +By the Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, M.D. + + +Tradition has preserved little or nothing in regard to the earliest +trading stores of Groton. It is probable, however, that they were kept +in dwelling-houses, by the occupants, who sold articles in common use +for the convenience of the neighborhood, and at the same time pursued +their regular vocations. + +Jonas Cutler was keeping a shop on the site of Mr. Gerrish's store, +before the Revolution; and the following notice, signed by him, appears +in The Massachusetts Gazette (Boston), November 28, 1768:-- + + + A THEFT. + + Whereas on the 19th or 20th Night of November Instant, the Shop of the + Subscriber was broke open in _Groton_, and from thence was stollen + a large Sum of Cash, viz. four Half Johannes, two Guineas, Two Half + Ditto, One Pistole mill'd, nine Crowns, a Considerable Number of + Dollars, with a considerable Quantity of small Silver & Copper, together + with one Bever Hat, about fifteen Yards of Holland, eleven Bandannas, + blue Ground with white, twelve red ditto with white, Part of a Piece of + Silk Romails, 1 Pair black Worsted Hose, 1 strip'd Cap, 8 or 10 black + barcelona Handkerchiefs, Part of a Piece of red silver'd Ribband, blue + & white do, Part of three Pieces of black Sattin Ribband, Part of three + Pieces of black Tafferty ditto, two bundles of Razors, Part of 2 Dozen + Penknives, Part of 2 Dozen ditto with Seals, Part of 1 Dozen Snuff + Boxes, Part of 3 Dozen Shoe Buckels, Part of several Groce of Buttons, + one Piece of gellow [yellow?] Ribband, with sundry Articles not yet + known of---- Whoever will apprehend the said Thief or Thieves, so that + he or they may be brought to Justice, shall receive TEN DOLLARS Reward + and all necessary Charges paid. + + JONAS CUTLER. + + Groton, Nov. 22,1763 [8?]. + + ==> If any of the above mentioned Articles are offered to Sail, it + is desired they may be stop'd with the Thief, and Notice given to said + _Cutler_ or to the Printers. + + +On October 21, 1773, a noted burglar was hanged in Boston for various +robberies committed in different parts of the State, and covering a +period of some years. The unfortunate man was present at the delivery +of a sermon, preached at his own request, on the Sunday before his +execution; and to many of the printed copies is appended an account +of his life. In it the poor fellow states that he was only twenty-one +years old, and that he was born at Groton of a respectable family. He +confesses that he broke into Mr. Cutler's shop, and took away "a good +piece of broad-cloth, a quantity of silk mitts, and several pieces of +silk handkerchiefs." He was hardly seventeen years of age at the time of +this burglary. To the present generation it would seem cruel and wicked +to hang a misguided youth for offences of this character. + +Mr. Cutler died December 19, 1782; and he was succeeded in business +by Major Thomas Gardner, who erected the present building known as +Gerrish's block, which is soon to be removed. Major Gardner lived in the +house now owned by the Waters family. + +Near the end of the last century a store, situated a little north of the +late Mr. Dix's house, was kept by James Brazer, which had an extensive +trade for twenty miles in different directions. It was here that the +late Amos Lawrence served an apprenticeship of seven years, which ended +on April 22, 1807; and he often spoke of his success in business as due, +in part, to the experience in this store. Late in life he wrote that +"the knowledge of every-day affairs which I acquired in my business +apprenticeship at Groton has been a source of pleasure and profit even +in my last ten years' discipline." + +The quantity of New-England rum and other liquors sold at that period +would astonish the temperance people of the present day. Social drinking +was then a common practice, and each forenoon some stimulating beverage +was served up to the customers in order to keep their trade. There were +five clerks employed in the establishments; and many years later Mr. +Lawrence, in giving advice to a young student in college, wrote:-- + + "In the first place, take this for your motto at the commencement of + your journey, that the difference of going _just right_, or a + _little wrong_, will be the difference of finding yourself in good + quarters, or in a miserable bog or slough, at the end of it. Of the + whole number educated in the Groton stores for some years before and + after myself, no one else, to my knowledge, escaped the bog or slough; + and my escape I trace to the simple fact of my having put a restraint + upon my appetite. We five boys were in the habit, every forenoon, of + making a drink compounded of rum, raisins, sugar, nutmeg, &c., with + biscuit,--all palatable to eat and drink. After being in the store four + weeks, I found myself admonished by my appetite of the approach of the + hour for indulgence. Thinking the habit might make trouble if allowed + to grow stronger, without further apology to my seniors I declined + partaking with them. My first resolution was to abstain for a week, and, + when the week was out, for a month, and then for a year. Finally, I + resolved to abstain for the rest of my apprenticeship, which was for + five years longer. During that whole period, I never drank a spoonful, + though I mixed gallons daily for my old master and his customers."[1] + + +The following advertisement is found in the Columbian Centinel (Boston), +June 8, 1805:-- + + + _James Brazer_, + + Would inform the public that having dissolved the Copartnership lately + subsisting between AARON BROWN, Esq. SAMUEL HALE and the subscriber; he + has taken into Copartnership his son WILLIAM F. BRAZER, and the business + in future will be transacted under the firm of + + JAMES BRAZER & SON; + + They will offer for sale, at their store in _Groton_, within six + days a complete assortment of English, India, and W. India GOODS, which + they will sell for ready pay, at as low a rate as any store in the + Country. + + JAMES BRAZER. + + Groton, May 29, 1805. + + +"'Squire Brazer," as he was generally called, was a man of wealth +and position. He was one of the founders of Groton Academy, and his +subscription of L15 to the building-fund in the year 1792 was as large +as that given by any other person. In the early part of this century he +built the house now belonging to the Academy and situated just south of +it, where he lived until his death, which occurred on November 10, 1818. +His widow, also, took a deep interest in the institution, and at her +decease, April 14, 1826, bequeathed to it nearly five thousand dollars. + +After Mr. Brazer's death the store was moved across the street, where it +still remains, forming the ell of Gerrish's block. The post-office was +in the north end of it, during Mr. Butler's term as postmaster. About +this time the son, William Farwell Brazer, built a store nearly opposite +to the Academy, which he kept during some years. It was made finally +into a dwelling-house, and occupied by the late Jeremiah Kilburn, whose +family still own it. + +James Brazer's house was built on the site of one burnt down during the +winter season a year or two previously. There was no fire-engine then in +town, and the neighbors had to fight the flames, as best they could, +with snow as well as water. At that time Loammi Baldwin, Jr., a graduate +of Harvard College in the class of 1800, was a law-student in Timothy +Bigelow's office. He had a natural taste for mechanics; and he was +so impressed with the need of an engine that with his own hands he +constructed the first one the town ever had. This identical machine, now +known as Torrent, No. I, is still serviceable after a use of more than +eighty years, and will throw a stream of water over the highest roof in +the village. It was made in Jonathan Loring's shop, then opposite to Mr. +Boynton's blacksmith shop, where the iron work was done. The tub is of +copper, and bears the date of 1802. Mr. Baldwin, soon after this time, +gave up the profession of law, and became, like his father, a +distinguished civil engineer. + +The brick store, opposite to the High School, was built about the +year 1836, by Henry Woods, for his own place of business, and afterward +kept by him and George S. Boutwell, the style of the firm being Woods +and Boutwell. Mr. Woods died on January 12, 1841; and he was succeeded +by his surviving partner, who carried on the store for a long time, +even while holding the highest executive position in the State. The +post-office was in this building during the years 1839 and 1840. For the +past twenty-five years it has been occupied by various firms, and now is +kept by D.H. Shattuck and Company. + +During the last war with England, Eliphalet Wheeler had a store where +Miss Betsey Capell, in more modern times, kept a haberdasher's shop. It +is situated opposite to the Common, and now used as a dwelling-house. +She was the daughter of John Capell, who owned the sawmill and +gristmill, which formerly stood near the present site of the Tileston +and Hollingsworth paper-mills, on the Great Road, north of the village. +Afterward Wheeler and his brother, Abner, took Major Thomas Gardner's +store, where he was followed by Park and Woods, Park and Potter, Potter +and Gerrish, and lastly by Charles Gerrish, who has kept it for more +than thirty years. It is said that this building will soon give way to +modern improvements. + +Near the beginning of the present century there were three military +companies in town; the Artillery company, commanded at one time by +Captain James Lewis; the North company by Captain Jonas Gilson; and the +South company by Captain Abel Tarbell. Two of these officers were soon +promoted in the regimental service: Captain Tarbell to a colonelcy, and +Captain Lewis to a majorate. Captain Gilson resigned, and was succeeded +by Captain Noah Shattuck. They had their Spring and fall training-days, +when they drilled as a battalion on the Common,--there were no trees +there, then,--and marched through the village. They formed a very +respectable command, and sometimes would be drawn up before Esquire +Brazer's store, and at other times before Major Gardner's, to be treated +with toddy, which was then considered a harmless drink. + +David Child had a store, about the beginning of the century, at the +south corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, nearly opposite to the site +of the Orthodox meeting-house, though Pleasant Street was not then laid +out. It was afterward occupied by Deacon Jonathan Adams, then by Artemas +Wood, and lastly by Milo H. Shattuck. This was moved off twelve or +fifteen years ago, and a spacious building put up, a few rods north, on +the old tavern site across the way, by Mr. Shattuck, who still carries +on a large business. + +Alpheus Richardson kept a store, about the year 1815, in his +dwelling-house, at the south corner of Main and Elm Streets, besides +having a book-bindery in the same building. The binder's shop was +continued until about 1850. It is said that this house was built +originally by Colonel James Prescott, for the use of his son, Abijah, as +a store; but it never was so occupied. + +Joseph and Phineas Hemenway built a store on the north corner of Main +and Elm Streets, about the year 1815, where they carried on a trading +business. They were succeeded by one Richardson, then by David Childs; +and finally by John Spalter, who had for many years a bookstore and +binder's shop in the building, which is now used as a dwelling-house. +At the present time Mr. Spalter is living in Keene, New Hampshire. + +About the year 1826, General Thomas A. Staples built and kept a store +on Main Street, directly north of the Union Church. He was followed +successively by Benjamin Franklin Lawrence, Henry Hill, and Walter +Shattuck. The building was burned down about ten years ago, and its site +is now occupied by Dr. David R. Steere's house. + +In the year 1847 a large building was moved from Hollis Street to +the corner of Main and Court Streets. It was put up originally as a +meeting-house for the Second Adventists, or Millerites as they were +called in this neighborhood, after William Miller, one of the founders +of the sect; but after it was taken to the new site, it was fitted up in +a commodious manner, with shops in the basement and a spacious hall in +the second story. The building was known as Liberty Hall, and formed a +conspicuous structure in the village. The post-office was kept in it, +while Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Andruss were the postmasters. It was used as a +shoe shop, a grocery, and a bakery, when, on Sunday, March 31, 1878, it +was burned to the ground. + +The brick store, owned by the Dix family, was built and kept by Aaron +Brown, near the beginning of the century. He was followed by Moses +Parker, and after him came ---- and Merriam, and then Benjamin P. Dix. +It is situated at the corner of Main Street and Broad-Meadow Road, and +now used as a dwelling-house. A very good engraving of this building is +given in The Groton Herald, May 8, 1830, which is called by persons who +remember it at that time a faithful representation, though it has since +undergone some changes. + +Near the end of the last century, Major William Swan traded in the house +now occupied by Charles Woolley, Jr., north of the Common near the old +burying-ground. It was Major Swan who set out the elm-trees in front of +this house, which was the Reverend Dr. Chaplin's dwelling for many +years. + +Two daughters of Isaac Bowers, a son of Landlord Bowers, had a dry-goods +shop in the house owned and occupied by the late Samuel W. Rowe, Esq. +About the year 1825, Walter Shattuck opened a store in the building +originally intended for the Presbyterian Church, opposite to the present +entrance of the Groton Cemetery. There was formerly a store kept by one +Mr. Lewis, near the site of Captain Asa Stillman Lawrence's house, north +of the Town Hall. There was a trader in town, Thomas Sackville Tufton by +name, who died in the year 1778, though I do not know the site of his +shop. Captain Samuel Ward, a native of Worcester, and an officer in the +French and Indian War, was engaged in business at Groton some time +before the Revolution. He removed to Lancaster, where at one time he was +town-clerk, and died there on August 14, 1826. + +The Groton post-office was established at the very beginning of the +present century, and before that time letters intended for this town +were sent through private hands. Previous to the Revolution there were +only a few post-offices in the Province, and often persons in distant +parts of Massachusetts received their correspondence at Boston. In +the Supplement to The Boston Gazette, February 9, 1756, letters are +advertised as remaining uncalled for, at the Boston office, addressed to +William Lakin and Abigail Parker, both of Groton, as well as to Samuel +Manning, Townsend, William Gleany, Dunstable, and Jonathan Lawrence, +Littleton. Nearly five months afterward these same letters are +advertised in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, July 1, 1756, as still +uncalled for. The name of David Farnum, America, appears also in this +list, and it is hoped that wherever he was he received the missive. The +names of Oliver Lack (probably intended for Lakin) and Ebenezer Parker, +both of this town, are given in another list printed in the Gazette of +June 28, 1762; and in the same issue one is advertised for Samuel +Starling, America. In the Supplement to the Gazette, October 10, 1768, +Ebenezer Farnsworth, Jr., and George Peirce, of Groton, had letters +advertised; and in the Gazette, October 18, 1773, the names of Amos +Farnsworth, Jonas Farnsworth, and William Lawrence, all of this town, +appear in the list. + +I find no record of a post-rider passing through Groton, during the +period immediately preceding the establishment of the post-office; +but there was doubtless such a person who used to ride on horseback, +equipped with saddle-bags, and delivered at regular intervals the weekly +newspapers and letters along the way. In the year 1794, according to the +History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire (page 129), a post-rider, by the +name of Balch, rode from Boston to Keene one week and back the next. +Probably he passed through this town, and served the inhabitants with +his favors. + +Several years ago I procured, through the kindness of General Charles +Devens, at that time a member of President Hayes's cabinet, some +statistics of the Groton post-office, which are contained in the +following letter:-- + + +Post-Office Department, Appointment Office, + Washington, D.C., September 3, 1877. + +Hon. CHARLES DEVENS, Attorney-General, Department of Justice. + +_Sir_,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communication +from Samuel A. Green, of Boston, Massachusetts, with your endorsement +thereon, requesting to be furnished with a list of postmasters at the +office of Groton, in that State, from the date of its establishment to +the present time. + +In reply, I have the honor to inform you, that the fire which consumed +the department building, on the night of the fifteenth of December, +1836, destroyed three of the earliest record-books of this office; but +by the aid of the auditor's ledger-books, it is ascertained that the +office began to render accounts on the first of January, 1801, but the +exact day is not known, Samuel Dana, was the first postmaster, and the +following list furnishes the history of the office, as shown by the +old records. + +Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Office probably established in +November, 1800. Samuel Dana began rendering accounts January 1, 1801. +Wm. M. Richardson, October 1, 1804. + +From this time the exact dates are known. + +Abraham Moore, appointed postmaster January 31, 1812. + +Eliphalet Wheeler, August 20, 1815. + +James Lewis, September 9, 1815. + +Caleb Butler, July 1, 1826. + +Henry Woods, January 15, 1839. + +George S. Boutwell, January 22, 1841. + +Caleb Butler, April 15, 1841. + +Welcome Lothrop, December 21, 1846. + +Artemas Wood, February 22, 1849. + +George H. Brown, May 4, 1849. + +Theodore Andruss, April 11, 1853. + +George W. Fiske, April 22, 1861. + +Henry Woodcock, February 13, 1867. + +Miss Hattie E. Farnsworth, June 11, 1869, who is the present incumbent. + +Each postmaster held the office up to the appointment of his successor, +but it is probable that Mr. Boutwell and Mr. A. Wood, although regularly +appointed, did not accept, judging by the dates of the next postmasters. + +As to the "income" of the office, to which allusion is made, it is very +difficult to obtain any of the amounts; but the first year and the last +year are herewith appended, as follows:-- + + Fiscal Year + (1801) (1876) + First quarter, $1.91 First quarter, $314.15 + Second " 2.13 Second " 296.94 + Third " 2.93 Third " 305.71 + Fourth " 5.29 Fourth " 294.28 + + For the year, $12.26 For the y'r, $1,211.08 + + +Trusting the foregoing, which is believed to be correct, will be +acceptable to you, I am, sir, respectfully, + +Your ob't serv't, + +JAMES H. MARR, + +Acting First Ass't P.M. General. + + +It will be seen that the net income of the office, during the first +seventy-five years of its existence, increased one hundred fold. + +West Groton is a small settlement that has sprung up in the western part +of the town, dating back in its history to the last century. It is +pleasantly situated on the banks of the Squannacook River, and in my +boyhood was known as Squannacook, a much better name than the present +one. It is to be regretted that so many of the old Indian words, which +smack of the region, should have been crowded out of our local +nomenclature. There is a small water-power here, and formerly a sawmill, +gristmill, and a paper-mill were in operation; but these have now given +way to a factory, where leather-board is made. The Peterborough and +Shirley branch of the Fitchburg Railroad passes through the place, and +some local business is transacted in the neighborhood. As a matter of +course, a post-office was needed in the village, and one was established +on March 19, 1850. The first person to fill the office was Adams +Archibald, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, who kept it in the +railway-station. + +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:-- + + Adams Archibald, March 19, 1850. + Edmund Blood, May 25, 1868. + Charles H. Hill, July 31, 1871. + George H. Bixby, June, 1878. + + +During the postmastership of Mr. Blood, and since that time, the office +has been kept at the only store in the place. + +A post-office was established at South Groton, on June 1, 1849, and the +first postmaster was Andrew B. Gardner. The village was widely known +as Groton Junction, and resulted from the intersection of several +railroads. Here six passenger-trains coming from different points were +due in the same station at the same time, and they all were supposed to +leave as punctually. + +The trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, arriving from each direction, and +likewise the trains on the Worcester and Nashua Road from the north and +the south, passed each other at this place. There was also a train from +Lowell, on the Stony Brook Railroad, and another on the Peterborough and +Shirley branch, coming at that time from West Townsend. + +A busy settlement grew up, which was incorporated as a distinct town +under the name of Ayer, on February 14, 1871. + +The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their +appointment:-- + + Andrew B. Gardner, June 1, 1849. + Harvey A. Wood, August 11, 1853. + George H. Brown, December 30, 1861. + William H. Harlow, December 5, 1862. + George H. Brown, January 15, 1863. + William H. Harlow, July 18, 1865. + + +The name of the post-office was changed by the department at Washington, +from South Groton to Groton Junction, on March 1, 1862; and subsequently +this was changed to Ayer, on March 22, 1871, soon after the +incorporation of the town, during the postmastership of Mr. Harlow. + +The letter of the acting first assistant postmaster-general, printed +above, supplements the account in Butler's History of Groton (pages +249-251). According to Mr. Butler's statement, the post-office was +established on. September 29, 1800, and the Honorable Samuel Dana was +appointed the first postmaster. No mail, however, was delivered at the +office until the last week in November. For a while it came to Groton +by the way of Leominster, certainly a very indirect route. This fact +appears from a letter written to Judge Dana, by the Postmaster-General, +under date of December 18, 1800, apparently in answer to a request to +have the mail brought directly from Boston. In this communication the +writer says:-- + + It appears to me, that the arrangement which has been made for + carrying the mail to Groton is sufficient for the accommodation of + the inhabitants, as it gives them the opportunity of receiving their + letters regularly, and with despatch, once a week. The route from + Boston, by Leominster, to Groton is only twenty miles farther than by + the direct route, and the delay of half a day, which is occasioned + thereby, is not of much consequence to the inhabitants of Groton. + If it should prove that Groton produces as much postage as Lancaster + and Leominster, the new contract for carrying the mail, which is + to be in operation on the first of October next, will be made by + Concord and Groton to Walpole, and a branch from Concord to + Marlborough. + + I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, + + JOS. HABERSHAM. + + +The amount of postage received from the office, after deducting the +necessary expenses, including the postmaster's salary, was, for the +first year after its establishment, about twelve dollars, or three +dollars for three months. In the year 1802 it was thirty-six dollars, or +nine dollars for three months, a large proportional increase. At this +time the mail came once a week only, and was brought by the stage-coach. + +Samuel Dana, the first postmaster, was a prominent lawyer at the time of +his appointment. He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Dana, of Groton, +and born in this town, June 26, 1767. He occupied a high position in the +community, and exerted a wide influence in the neighborhood. At a later +period he was president of the Massachusetts Senate, a member of +Congress, and finally chief-justice of the circuit court of common +pleas. He died at Charlestown, on November 20, 1835. + +Judge Dana kept the post-office in his own office, which was in the same +building as that of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, another noted lawyer. +These eminent men were on opposite sides of the same entry; and they +were generally on opposite sides of all important cases in the northern +part of Middlesex County. The building stood on the site of Governor +Boutwell's house, and is still remembered as the medical office of the +venerable Dr. Amos Bancroft. It was afterward moved away, and now stands +near the railway-station, where it is occupied as a dwelling-house. +Judge Dana held the office during four years, and he was succeeded by +William M. Richardson, Esq., afterward the chief-justice of the superior +court of New Hampshire. Mr. Richardson was a graduate of Harvard College +in the class of 1797, and at the time of his appointment as postmaster +had recently finished his professional studies in Groton, under the +guidance of Judge Dana. After his admission to the bar, Mr. Richardson +entered into partnership with his former instructor, succeeding him as +postmaster in July, 1804; and the office was still kept in the same +building. During Judge Richardson's term, the net revenue to the +department rose from nine dollars to about twenty-eight dollars for +three months. He held the position nearly eight years, and was followed +by Abraham Moore, who was commissioned on January 31, 1812. + +Mr. Moore was a native of Bolton, Massachusetts, where he was born on +January 5, 1785. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1806, +and studied law at Groton with the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, and after +his admission to the bar settled here as a lawyer. His office was on +the site of the north end of Gerrish's block, and it was here that the +post-office was kept. During his administration the average income from +the office was about thirty-three dollars, for the quarter. In the +summer of 1815, Mr. Moore resigned the position and removed to Boston. + +Eliphalet Wheeler, who kept the store now occupied by Mr. Gerrish, was +appointed in Mr. Moore's stead, and the post-office was transferred to +his place of business. He, however, was not commissioned, owing, it is +thought, to his political views; and Major James Lewis, who was sound +in his politics, received the appointment in his stead. Major Lewis, +retained Mr. Wheeler for a short time as his assistant, and during this +period the duties were performed by him in his own store. Shortly +afterward Caleb Butler, Esq., was appointed the assistant, and he +continued to hold the position for eight years. During this time the +business was carried on in Mr. Butler's law office, and the revenue to +the government reached the sum of fifty dollars a quarter. His office +was then in a small building,--just south of Mr. Hoar's tavern,--which +was moved away about the year 1820, and taken to the lot where Colonel +Needham's house now stands, at the corner of Main and Hollis Streets. It +was fitted up as a dwelling, and subsequently moved away again. At this +time the old store of Mr. Brazer, who had previously died, was brought +from over the way, and occupied by Mr. Butler, on the site of his former +office. + +On July 1, 1826, Mr. Butler, who had been Major Lewis's assistant for +many years, and performed most of the duties of the office, was +commissioned postmaster. + +Mr. Butler was a native of Pelham, New Hampshire, where he was born on +September 13, 1776, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of +1800. He had been the preceptor of Groton Academy for some years, and +was widely known as a critical scholar. He had previously studied law +with the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, though his subsequent +practice was more in drawing up papers and settling estates than in +attendance at courts. His name is now identified with the town as its +historian. During his term of office as postmaster, the revenue rose +from fifty dollars to one hundred and ten dollars a quarter. He held the +position nearly thirteen years, to the entire satisfaction of the +public; but for political heresy was removed on January 15, 1839, when +Henry Woods was commissioned as his successor. + +Mr. Woods held the office until his death, which occurred on January 12, +1841; and he was followed by the Honorable George S. Boutwell, since the +Governor of the Commonwealth and a member of the United States Senate. +During the administration of Mr. Woods and Mr. Boutwell, the office was +kept in the brick store, opposite to the present High School. + +Upon the change in the administration of the National Government, +Mr. Butler was reinstated in office, and commissioned on April 15, 1841. +He continued to hold the position until December 21, 1846, when he was +again removed for political reasons. Mr. Butler was a most obliging man, +and his removal was received by the public with general regret. During +his two terms he filled the office for more than eighteen years, a +longer period than has fallen to the lot of any other postmaster of +the town. Near the end of his service a material change was made in the +rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus +comments on it:-- + + + The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to + December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four + dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the + first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars + and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the + natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and + fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before + had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon + the treasury. Whether the present rates will eventually raise a + sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures, remains to be seen. The + greatest difficulty to be overcome is evasion of the post-office laws + and fraud upon the department. + + +Like many other persons of that period, Mr. Butler did not appreciate +the fact that the best way to prevent evasions of the law is to reduce +the rates of postage so low that it will not pay to run the risk of +fraud. + +Captain Welcome Lothrop succeeded Mr. Butler as postmaster, and during +his administration the office was kept in Liberty Hall. Captain Lothrop +was a native of Easton, Massachusetts, and a land-surveyor of some +repute in this neighborhood. Artemas Wood followed him by appointment on +February 22, 1849; but he never entered upon the duties of his office. +He was succeeded by George H. Brown, who had published The Spirit of the +Times--a political newspaper--during the presidential canvass of 1848, +and in this way had become somewhat prominent as a local politician. Mr. +Brown was appointed on May 4, 1849; and during his term the office was +kept in an ell of his dwelling-house, which was situated nearly opposite +to the Orthodox meeting-house. He was afterward the postmaster of Ayer. +Mr. Brown was followed by Theodore Andruss, a native of Orford, New +Hampshire, who was commissioned on April 11, 1853. Mr. Andruss brought +the office back to Liberty Hall, and continued to be the incumbent until +April 22, 1861, when he was succeeded by George W. Fiske. On February +13, 1867, Henry Woodcock was appointed to the position, and the office +was then removed to the Town Hall, where most excellent accommodations +were given to the public. + +He was followed on June 11, 1869, by Miss Harriet E. Farnsworth, now +Mrs. Marion Putnam; and she in turn was succeeded on July 2, 1880, by +Mrs. Christina D. (Caryl) Fosdick, the widow of Samuel Woodbury Fosdick, +and the present incumbent. + +The office is still kept in the Town Hall, and there is no reason to +think that it will be removed from the spacious and commodious quarters +it now occupies, for a long time to come. Few towns in the Commonwealth +can present such an array of distinguished men among their postmasters +as those of Groton, including, as it does, the names of Judge Dana, +Judge Richardson, Mr. Butler, and Governor Boutwell. + +By the new postal law which went into operation on the first of last +October, the postage is now two cents to any part of the United States, +on all letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight. This rate +certainly seems cheap enough, but in time the public will demand the +same service for a cent. Less than forty years ago the charge was five +cents for any distance not exceeding three hundred miles, and ten cents +for any greater distance. This was the rate established by the law which +took effect on July 1, 1845; and it was not changed until July, 1851, +when it was reduced to three cents on single letters, prepaid, or five +cents, if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand miles. By +the law which went into operation on June 30, 1863, prepayment by stamps +was made compulsory, the rate remaining at three cents; though a special +clause was inserted, by which the letters of soldiers or sailors, then +fighting for the Union in the army or navy, might go without prepayment. + +[Footnote 1: Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence, pages 24, 25.] + + * * * * * + + + + +LOVEWELL'S WAR. + +By John N. McClintock, A.M. + + +On the morning of September 4, 1724, Thomas Blanchard and Nathan Cross, +of Dunstable, started from the Harbor and crossed the Nashua River, to +do a day's work in the pine forest to the northward. The day was wet +and drizzly. Arriving at their destination they placed their arms and +ammunition, as well as their lunch and accompanying jug, in a hollow +log, to keep them dry. During the day they were surrounded by a party of +Mohawks from Canada, who hurried them into captivity. + +Their continued absence aroused the anxiety of their friends and +neighbors and a relief party of ten was at once organized to make a +search for the absentees. This party, under the command of Lieutenant +French, soon arrived at the place where the men had been at work, and +found several barrels of turpentine spilled on the ground, and, to the +keen eyes of those hardy pioneers, unmistakable evidence of the presence +of unfriendly Indians. Other signs indicated that the prisoners had been +carried away alive. The party at once determined upon pursuit, and +following the trail up the banks of the Merrimack came to the outlet +of Horse-Shoe Pond in the present town of Merrimac, where they were +surprised and overwhelmed by a large force of the enemy. Josiah Farwell +alone of that little band escaped to report the fate of his companions. + +Blanchard and Cross were taken to Canada. After nearly a year's +confinement they succeeded in effecting their own ransom and returned to +their homes. The gun, jug, and lunch-basket were found in the hollow log +where they had been left the year before. + +Enraged by these and similar depredations, the whole frontier was +aroused to aggressive measures. John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and +Jonathan Robbins at once petitioned for, and were granted, the right to +raise a scouting party to carry the war into the enemy's country. + +At this time the settlements of New Hampshire were near the coast +outside of a line from Dover to Dunstable, except the lately planted +colony of Scotch-Irish at Londonderry. Hinsdale, or Dummer's Fort, was +the outpost on the Connecticut. To the north extended a wild, unbroken +wilderness to the French frontier in Canada. Through this vast region, +now overflowing with happy homes, wandered small bands of Indians +intent on the chase, or the surprise of their rivals, the white trappers +and hunters. + +A large section of this country, fifty miles in width, was opened for +peaceful settlement by the bravery of Captain John Lovewell and the +company under his command. In this view their acts become more important +than those of a mere scouting party, and demand, and have received, an +acknowledged place in New-England history. + +The company, which was raised by voluntary enlistments, was placed under +the command of John Lovewell. This redoubtable captain came of fighting +stock--his immediate ancestor serving as an ensign in the army of Oliver +Cromwell. Bravery and executive ability are evidently transmissible +qualities; for in one line of his direct descendants it is known that +the family have served their country in four wars, as commissioned +officers; in three wars holding the rank of general.[2] + +At this time Captain John Lovewell was in the prime of life, and burning +with zeal to perform some valiant exploit against the Indians. + +The first raid of the company resulted in one scalp and one captive, +taken December 10, 1724, and carried to Boston. + +The company started on their second expedition January 27, 1724-5, +crossing the Merrimack at Nashua, and pushing northward. They arrived +at the shores of Lake Winnipiseogee, Februrary 9, and scouted in that +neighborhood for a few days, when, from the scarcity of provisions, a +part of the force returned to their homes. + +Traces of Indians were discovered in the neighborhood of Tamworth by the +remaining force, and the trail was followed until, February 20, they +discovered the smoke of an Indian encampment. A surprise was quickly +planned and successfully executed, leading to the capture of ten scalps, +valued by the provincial authorities at one thousand ounces of silver. + +Captain Lovewell next conceived the bold design of attacking the village +of Pigwacket, near the head waters of the Saco, whose chief, Paugus, a +noted warrior, inspired terror along the whole northern frontier. + +Commanding a company of forty-six trained men, Captain Lovewell started +from Dunstable on his arduous undertaking, April 16, 1725. Toby, an +Indian ally, soon gave out and returned to the lower settlements. Near +the island at the mouth of the Contoocook, which will forever perpetuate +the memory of Hannah Dustin, William Cummings, disabled by an old wound, +was discharged and was sent home under the escort of Josiah Cummings, a +kinsman. On the west shore of Lake Ossipee, Benjamin Kidder was sick and +unable to proceed; and the commander of the expedition decided to build +a fort and leave a garrison to guard the provisions and afford a shelter +in case of defeat or retreat. Sergeant Nathaniel Woods was left in +command. The garrison consisted of Dr. William Aver, John Goffe, John +Gilson, Isaac Whitney, Zachariah Whitney, Zebadiah Austin, Edward +Spoony, and Ebenezer Halburt. With his company reduced to thirty-three +effective men, Captain Lovewell pushed on toward the enemy. On Saturday +morning, May 8, in the neighborhood of Fryeburg, Maine, while the +rangers were at prayers, they were startled by the discharge of a gun, +and were soon attacked by a force of about eighty Indians. Their rear +was protected by the lake, by the side of which they fought. All through +the day the unequal contest continued. As night settled upon the scene +the savages withdrew, and the scouts commenced their painful retreat of +forty miles toward their fort. Left dead upon the field of battle were +Captain John Lovewell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, John Harwood, Robert +Usher, Jacob Fullam, Jacob Farrar, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel +Woods, John Jefts, Ichabod Johnson, and Jonathan Kittredge. Lieutenant +Josiah Farwell, Chaplain Jonathan Frye, and Elias Barron, were mortally +wounded, and perished in the wilderness. Solomon Keyes, Sergeant Noah +Johnson, Corporal Timothy Richardson, John Chamberlain, Isaac Lakin, +Eleazer Davis, and Josiah Jones, were seriously wounded, but escaped to +the lower settlements in company with their uninjured comrades, Seth +Wyman, Edward Lingfield, Thomas Richardson, Daniel Melvin, Eleazer +Melvin, Ebenezer Ayer, Abial Austin, Joseph Farrar, Benjamin Hassell, +and Joseph Gilson,--names which should be held in honor for all time. + +[Illustration: Township of Bow, NH, and vicinity.] + +Both parties seemed willing to retreat from this disastrous battle, each +with the loss of its chief. Paugus and many of his braves fell before +the unerring fire of the frontiersmen, and the tribe of Pigwacket, which +had so long menaced the borders, withdrew to Canada. + +The ambitious young men of the older settlements had seen with jealousy +a band of strangers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, granted a beautiful +and fruitful tract, which already blossomed under the industrious +work of the newcomers. They clamored for grants which they, too, could +cultivate. Every pretext was advanced to secure a claim. No petitioners +were better entitled to consideration than the representatives of those +who had rendered so large a section habitable. + +Massachusetts Bay Colony had long claimed as a northern boundary a line +three miles north of the Merrimack and parallel thereto, from its mouth +to its source, thence westward to the bounds of New York. Under the +pressure brought to bear by interested parties, the General Court of +Massachusetts granted, January 17, 1725-6, the township of Penacook, +embracing the city of Concord, New Hampshire. + +In May, 1727, a petition from the survivors of Lovewell's command was +favorably received by the General Court, and soon afterward Suncook, or +Lovewell's township, was granted. Only two of the company are known to +have settled in the town--Francis Doyen, who was with Lovewell on his +second expedition, and Noah Johnson. The latter was the last survivor of +the company. He was a deacon of the church in Suncook for many years, +received a pension from Massachusetts, and died in Plymouth, New +Hampshire, in 1798, in the one hundredth year of his age. + +Captain John Lovewell was represented in the township of Suncook by his +daughter Hannah, who married Joseph Baker, settled on her father's +right, raised a large family, and died at a good old age. A great +multitude of her descendants are scattered throughout the United States. + +The original grantees of the township, for the most part, assigned their +rights to persons who became actual settlers. + +In the year 1740, the King in council decided the present line as the +boundary between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, thus leaving Suncook, +and many other of the townships granted by the latter Province, within +the former. For a score of years following, the settlers were harassed +by the proprietors of the soil under the Masonian Claim, until, in 1759, +a compromise was effected, and Pembroke was incorporated. + +In 1774, a new township in the District of Maine, was granted, by the +General Court of Massachusetts, to the "proprietors of Suncook," to +recompense them for their losses. The township was called Sambrook, and +embraced the present towns of Lovell and New Sweden; it was located in +the neighborhood of the battle-field, where, a half century before, so +many brave lives had been sacrificed. + +NOTE.--The townships of Rumford and Suncook, both granted by +Massachusetts authorities, made a common cause in the defence of their +rights against the claimants under New Hampshire, known as the Bow +proprietors. The latter, who were, in fact, the New Hampshire Provincial +authorities, and who not only prosecuted but adjudicated the cases, +brought suits for such small extent of territory in each case, that +there was no legal appeal to the higher courts in England. The two towns +therefore authorized the Reverend Timothy Walker, the first settled +minister of Rumford, to represent their cause before the King in +council. By the employment of able counsel and judicious management of +the case, he was eminently successful, and obtained a decision favorable +to the Massachusetts settlers. In the meanwhile, the proprietors of +Suncook had compromised with the Bow proprietors, surrendering half of +their rights--for them the decision came too late. The Rumford +proprietors, however, were benefited, and Concord, under which name +Rumford was incorporated by New Hampshire laws, maintained its old +boundaries as originally granted,--which remain practically the same to +this day. + +[Footnote 2: General Timothy Bedel served during the Revolution; his +son, General Moody Bedel, served in the War of 1812; his son, General +John Bedel, was a lieutenant in the Mexican War, and brigadier-general +in the Rebellion.] + + * * * * * + + + + +HISTORIC TREES. + +By L.L. Dame. + + +THE WASHINGTON ELM. + +At the north end of the Common in Old Cambridge stands the famous +Washington Elm, which has been oftener visited, measured, sketched, and +written up for the press, than any other tree in America. It is of +goodly proportions, but, as far as girth of trunk and spread of branches +constitute the claim upon our respect, there are many nobler specimens +of the American elm in historic Middlesex. + +[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON ELM. [From D. Lothrop & Company's Young +Folks' Life of Washington.]] + +Extravagant claims have been made with regard to its age, but it is +extremely improbable that any tree of this species has ever rounded out +its third century. Under favorable conditions, the growth of the elm is +very rapid, a single century sometimes sufficing to develop a tree +larger than the Washington Elm. + +When Governor Winthrop and Lieutenant-Governor Dudley, in 1630, rode +along the banks of the Charles in quest of a suitable site for the +capital of their colony, it is barely possible the great elm was in +being. It would be a pleasant conceit to link the thrifty growth of +the young sapling with the steady advancement of the new settlement, +enshrining it as a sort of guardian genius of the place, the living +witness of progress in Cambridge from the first feeble beginnings. + +The life of the tree, however, probably does not date farther back than +the last quarter of the seventeenth century. In its early history there +was nothing to distinguish it from its peers of the greenwood. When the +surrounding forest fell beneath the axe of the woodman, the trees +conspicuous for size and beauty escaped the general destruction; among +these was the Washington Elm; but there is no evidence that it surpassed +its companions. + +Tradition states that another large elm once stood on the northwest +corner of the Common, under which the Reverend George Whitefield, the +Wesleyan evangelist, preached in 1745. Others claim that it was the +Washington Elm under which the sermon was delivered. The two trees stood +near each other, and the hearers were doubtless scattered under each. +But the great elm was destined to look down upon scenes that stirred the +blood even more than the vivid eloquence of a Whitefield. Troublous +times had come, and the mutterings of discontent were voicing themselves +in more and more articulate phrase. The old tree must have been privy +to a great deal of treasonable talk--at first, whispered with many +misgivings, under the cover of darkness; later, in broad daylight, +fearlessly spoken aloud. The smoke of bonfires, in which blazed the +futile proclamations of the King, was wafted through its branches. +It saw the hasty burial, by night, of the Cambridge men who were slain +upon the nineteenth of April, 1775; it saw the straggling arrival of +the beaten, but not disheartened, survivors of Bunker Hill; it saw the +Common--granted to the town as a training-field--suddenly transformed +to a camp, under General Artemas Ward, commander-in-chief of the +Massachusetts troops. + +The crowning glory in the life of the great elm was at hand. On the +twenty-first of June, Washington, without allowing himself time to take +leave of his family, set out on horseback from Philadelphia, arriving at +Cambridge on the second of July. Sprightly Dorothy Dudley in her Journal +describes the exercises of the third, with the florid eloquence of +youth. + +"To-day, he (Washington) formally took command, under _one of the +grand old elms_ on the Common. It was a magnificent sight. The +majestic figure of the General, mounted upon his horse beneath the +wide-spreading branches of the patriarch tree; the multitude thronging +the plain around, and the houses filled with interested spectators of +the scene, while the air rung with shouts of enthusiastic welcome, as he +drew his sword, and thus declared himself Commander-in-chief of the +Continental army." + +Dorothy does not specify under which elm Washington stood. It is safely +inferable from her language that our tree was one of several noble elms +which at this time were standing upon the Common. + +Although no contemporaneous pen seems to have pointed out the exact tree +beyond all question, happily the day is not so far distant from us that +oral testimony is inadmissible. Of this there is enough to satisfy the +most captious critic. + +Where the stone church is now situated, there was formerly an old +gambrel-roofed house, in which the Moore family lived during the +Revolution. The situation was very favorable for observation, commanding +the highroad from Watertown to Cambridge Common, and directly opposite +the great elm. From the windows of this house the spectators saw the +ceremony to good advantage, and one of them, styled, in 1848, the +"venerable Mrs. Moore," lived to point out the tree, and describe the +glories of the occasion, seventy-five years afterward. Fathers, who were +eyewitnesses standing beneath this tree, have told the story to their +sons, and those sons have not yet passed away. There is no possibility +that we are paying our vows at a counterfeit shrine. + +Great events which mark epochs in history, bestow an imperishable +dignity even upon the meanest objects with which they are associated. +When Washington drew his sword beneath the branches, the great elm, thus +distinguished above its fellows, passed at once into history, +henceforward to be known as the Washington Elm. + + "Under the brave old tree + Our fathers gathered in arms, and swore + They would follow the sign their banners bore, + And fight till the land was free."--_Holmes_. + + +The elm was often honored by the presence of Washington, who, it is +said, had a platform built among the branches, where, we may suppose, +he used to ponder over the plans of the campaign. The Continental army, +born within the shade of the old tree, overflowing the Common, converted +Cambridge into a fortified camp. Here, too, the flag of thirteen stripes +for the first time swung to the breeze. + +These were the palmy days of the elm. When the tide of war set away +from New England, the Washington Elm fell into unmerited neglect. The +struggling patriots had no time for sentiment; and when the war came to +an end they were too busy in shaping the conduct of the government, and +in repairing their shattered fortunes, to pay much attention to trees. +It was not until the great actors in those days were rapidly passing +away, that their descendants turned with an affectionate regard to the +enduring monuments inseparably associated with the fathers. Among these, +the Washington Elm deservedly holds a high rank. + +On the third of July, 1875, the citizens of Cambridge celebrated the one +hundredth anniversary of Washington's assuming the command of the army. +The old tree was the central figure of the occasion. The American flag +floated above the topmost branches, and a profusion of smaller flags +waved amid the foliage. Never tree received a more enthusiastic ovation. + +It is enclosed by a circular iron fence erected by the Reverend Daniel +Austin. Outside the fence, but under the branches, stands a granite +tablet erected by the city of Cambridge, upon which is cut an +inscription written by Longfellow:-- + + + UNDER THIS TREE + WASHINGTON + FIRST TOOK COMMAND + OF THE + AMERICAN ARMY, + JULY 3D, 1775. + + +In 1850, it still retained its graceful proportions; its great limbs +were intact, and it showed few traces of age. Within the past +twenty-five years, it has been gradually breaking up. + +In 1844, its girth, three feet from the ground, where its circumference +is least, was twelve feet two and a half inches. In 1884, at the same +point, it measures fourteen feet one inch; a gain so slight that the +rings of annual growth must be difficult to trace--an evidence of waning +vital force. The grand subdivisions of the trunk are all sadly crippled; +unsightly bandages of zinc mask the progress of decay; the symptoms of +approaching dissolution are painfully evident, especially in the winter +season. In summer, the remaining vitality expends itself in a host of +branchlets which feather the limbs, and give rise to a false impression +of vigor. + +Never has tree been cherished with greater care, but its days are +numbered. A few years more or less, and, like Penn's Treaty Elm and the +famous Charter Oak, it will be numbered with the things that were. + + +THE ELIOT OAK + +When John Eliot had become a power among the Indians, with far-reaching +sagacity he judged it best to separate his converts from the whites, and +accordingly, after much inquiry and toilsome search, gathered them into +a community at Natick--an old Indian name formerly interpreted as "a +place of hills," but now generally admitted to mean simply "my land." +Anticipating the policy which many believe must eventually be adopted +with regard to the entire Indian question, Eliot made his settlers +land-owners, conferred upon them the right to vote and hold office, +impressed upon them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and +taught them the rudiments of agriculture and the mechanic arts. + +In the summer of 1651, the Indians built a framed edifice, which +answered, as is the case to-day in many small country towns, the double +purpose of a schoolroom on week-days, and a sanctuary on the Sabbath. +Professor C.E. Stowe once called that building the first known +theological seminary of New England, and said that for real usefulness +it was on a level with, if not above, any other in the known world. + +It is assumed that two oaks, one of the red, and the other of the white, +species, of which the present Eliot Oak is the survivor, were standing +near this first Indian church. The early records of Eliot's labors make +no mention of these trees. Adams, in his Life of Eliot, says: "It would +be interesting if we could identify some of the favorite places of the +Indians in this vicinity," but fails to find sufficient data. Bigelow +(or Biglow, according to ancient spelling), in his History of Natick, +1830, states: "There are two oaks near the South Meeting-house, which +have undoubtedly stood there since the days of Eliot." It is greatly to +be regretted that the writer did not state the evidence upon which his +conclusion was based. + +Bacon, in his History of Natick, 1856, remarks: "The oak standing a few +rods to the east of the South Meeting-house bears every evidence of an +age greater than that of the town, and was probably a witness of Eliot's +first visit to the 'place of hills.'" It would be quite possible to +subscribe to this conclusion, while dissenting entirely from the +premises. It will be noticed that Bacon relies upon the appearance of +the tree as a proof of its age. His own measurement, fourteen and a half +feet circumference at two feet from the ground, is not necessarily +indicative of more than a century's growth. + +The writer upon Natick, in Drake's Historic Middlesex, avoids expressing +an opinion. "Tradition links these trees with the Indian Missionary." +For very long flights of time, tradition--as far as the age of trees is +concerned--cannot at all be relied upon; within the narrow limits +involved in the present case, it may be received with caution. + +The Red Oak which stood nearly in front of the old Newell Tavern, was +the original Eliot Oak. Mr. Austin Bacon, who is familiar with the early +history and legends of Natick, states that "Mr. Samuel Perry, a man who +could look back to 1749, often said that Mr. Peabody, the successor to +Eliot, used to hitch his horse by that tree every Sabbath, because Eliot +used to hitch his there." + +This oak was originally very tall; the top was probably broken off in +the tremendous September gale of 1815; as it was reported to be in a +mutilated condition in 1820. Time, however, partially concealed the +disaster by means of a vigorous growth of the remaining branches. In +1830, it measured seventeen feet in circumference two feet from the +ground. It had now become a tree of note, and would probably have +monopolized the honors to the exclusion of the present Eliot Oak, had it +not met with an untimely end. The keeper of the tavern in front of which +it stood had the tree cut down in May, 1842. This act occasioned great +indignation, and gave rise to a lawsuit at Framingham, "which was +settled by the offenders against public opinion paying the costs and +planting trees in the public green." A cartload of the wood was carried +to the trial, and much of it was taken home by the spectators to make +into canes and other relics, + + "The King is dead, long live the King!" + + +Upon the demise of the old monarch, the title naturally passed to the +White Oak, its neighbor, another of the race of Titans, standing +conveniently near, of whose early history very little is positively +known beyond the fact that it is an old tree; and with the title passed +the traditions and reverence that gather about crowned heads. + +Mrs. Stowe has given it a new claim to notice, for beneath it, according +to Drake's Historic Middlesex, "Sam Lawson, the good-natured, lazy +story-teller, in Oldtown Folks, put his blacksmith's shop. It was +removed when the church was built." + +The present Eliot Oak stands east of the Unitarian meeting-house, which +church is on or near the spot where Eliot's first church stood. It +measured, January, 1884, seventeen feet in circumference at the ground; +fourteen feet two inches at four feet above. It is a fine old tree, and +it is not improbable--though it is unproven--that it dates back to the +first settlement of Natick. + + "Thou ancient oak! whose myriad leaves are loud + With sounds of unintelligible speech, + Sounds as of surges on a shingly beach, + Or multitudinous murmurs of a crowd; + With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed + Thou speakest a different dialect to each. + To me a language that no man can teach, + Of a lost race long vanished like a cloud, + For underneath thy shade, in days remote, + Seated like Abraham at eventide, + Beneath the oak of Mamre, the unknown + Apostle of the Indian, Eliot, wrote + His Bible in a language that hath died. + And is forgotten save by thee alone."--_Longfellow_. + + * * * * * + + + + +HIS GREATEST TRIUMPH. + +By Henrietta E. Page. + + + Yet slept the wearied maestro, and all around was still, + Though the sunlight danced on tree-top, on valley, and on hill; + The distant city's busy hum, just faintly heard afar, + Served but to lull to deeper rest Euterpe's brilliant star. + + Wilhelmj slept, for over-night his triumphs had been grand, + He had praised and feted been by the noblest in the land, + And rich and poor had vied alike to honor Music's king, + Making the lofty rafters with the wildest plaudits ring. + + Now, brain and hand aweary, he had fled for peace and rest, + And he should be disturbed by none, not e'en a royal guest. + The porter nodded in his chair: I dare not say he slept: + But sprang upright, as through the door a fairy vision crept. + + A tiny girl with shining eyes, and wavy golden hair, + Tip-toed along the corridor, and close up to his chair, + And a bird-like voice sweet questioned, "Wilhelmj, where is he? + I've brought a little tribute for the great maestro,--see!" + + Her looped-up dress she opened, displaying to his view + A mass of brilliant woodland flowers, wet with morning dew; + Placing his finger on his lip, he pointed out the door; + She smiled her thanks, and softly went and strewed them on the floor. + + Then like a vision of the morn, with eyes of heaven's own blue, + She slowly oped the outer door and gently glided through. + Hours after, when Wilhelmj woke he gazed in mute surprise + Upon those buds and blossoms fair, with softened, tender eyes. + + They took him back long years agone, when, as a happy child, + He wandered, too, amid the woods, on summer mornings mild; + Aye, back to his home and mother; back to his old home nest, + To the blessed scenes of childhood; back into peace and rest. + + And when he heard the story,--how the child had come and fled,-- + "This is my greatest triumph" (with tears the maestro said), + "For no gift of king or princes, no praise could please me more. + Than this living mat of flowers a child laid at my door." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MASSACHUSETTS. + +By Thomas W. Bicknell, LL.D. + + +The act of banishment which severed Roger Williams from the +Massachusetts Colony, in 1635, was the means of _advancing_, rather +than _hindering_, the spread of the so-called _heresies_ which +he so bravely advocated. As the persecutions which drove the disciples +of Christ from Jerusalem were the means of extending the cause of +Christianity, so the principles of toleration and of soul-liberty were +strengthened by opposition, in the mind of this apostle of freedom of +conscience in the New World. His Welsh birth and Puritan education made +him a bold and earnest advocate of whatever truth his conscience +approved, and he went everywhere "preaching the word" of individual +freedom. The sentence of exile could not silence his tongue, nor destroy +his influence. "The divers new and dangerous opinions" which he had +"broached and divulged," though hostile to the notions of the clergy and +the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, were at the same time quite +acceptable to a few brave souls, who, like himself, dared the censures, +and even the persecutions, of their brethren, for the sake of liberty of +conscience. + +The dwellers in old Rehoboth were the nearest white neighbors of Roger +Williams and his band at Providence. The Reverend Samuel Newman was the +pastor of the church in this ancient town, having removed with the first +settlers from Weymouth in 1643. Learned, godly, and hospitable, as he +was, he had not reached the "height of that great argument" concerning +human freedom; and while he cherished kindly feelings toward the +dwellers at Providence, he evidently feared the introduction of their +sentiments among his people. The jealous care of Newman to preserve what +he conscientiously regarded as the purity of religious faith and polity +was not a sufficient barrier against the teachings of the founder of +Rhode Island. + +Although the settlers of Plymouth Colony cherished more liberal +sentiments than their neighbors of the Bay Colony, and sanctioned the +expulsion of Mr. Williams from Seekonk only for the purpose of +preserving peace with those whom Blackstone called "the Lord Bretheren," +yet they guarded the prerogatives of the ruling church order as worthy +not only of the _respect_, but also the _support_, of all. +Rehoboth was the most liberal, as well as the most loyal, of the +children of Plymouth; but the free opinions which the planters brought +from Weymouth, where an attempt had already been made to establish a +Baptist church, enabled them to sympathize strongly with their neighbors +across the Seekonk River. "At this time," says Baylies, "so much +indifference as to the support of the clergy was manifested in Plymouth +Colony, as to excite the alarm of the other confederated colonies. The +complaint of Massachusetts against Plymouth on this subject was laid +before the Commissioners, and drew from them a severe reprehension. +Rehoboth had been afflicted with a severe schism, and by its proximity +to Providence and its plantations, where there was a universal +toleration, the practice of free inquiry was encouraged, and principle, +fancy, whim, and conscience, all conspired to lessen the veneration for +ecclesiastical authority." As the "serious schism" referred to above led +to the foundation of the first Baptist church within the Commonwealth of +Massachusetts, on New Meadow Neck in Old Swanzey, it is worthy of record +here. The leader in this church revolt was Obadiah Holmes, a native of +Preston, in Lancashire, England. He was connected with the church in +Salem from 1639 till 1646, when he was excommunicated, and removing with +his family to Rehoboth, he joined Mr. Newman's church. The doctrines and +the discipline of this church proved too severe for Mr. Holmes, and he, +with eight others, withdrew in 1649, and established a new church by +themselves. + +Mr. Newman's irascible temper was kindled into a persecuting zeal +against the offending brethren, and, after excommunicating them, he +aroused the civil authorities against them. So successful was he that +four petitions were presented to the Plymouth Court; one from Rehoboth, +signed by thirty-five persons; one from Taunton; one from all the +clergymen in the colony but two, and one from the government of +Massachusetts. How will the authorities at Plymouth treat this first +division in the ruling church of the colony? Will they punish by severe +fines, by imprisonment, by scourgings, or by banishment? By neither, for +a milder spirit of toleration prevailed, and the separatists were simply +directed to "refrain from practices disagreeable to their brethren, and +to appear before the Court." + +In 1651, some time after his trial at Plymouth, Mr. Holmes was arrested, +with Mr. Clarke, of Newport, and Mr. Crandall, for preaching and +worshiping God with some of their brethren at Lynn. They were condemned +by the Court at Boston to suffer fines or whippings. Holmes refused to +pay the fine, and would not allow his friends to pay it for him, saying +that "to pay it would be acknowledging himself to have done wrong, +whereas his conscience testified that he had done right." He was +accordingly punished with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip, with +such severity, says Governor Jenks, "that in many days, if not some +weeks, he could take no rest but as he lay upon his knees and elbows, +not being able to suffer any part of his body to touch the bed whereon +he lay." Soon after this, Holmes and his followers moved to Newport, and +on the death of the Reverend Mr. Clarke, in 1652, he succeeded him as +pastor of the First Baptist Church in that time. Mr. Holmes died at +Newport in 1682, aged seventy-six years. + +The persecution offered to the Rehoboth Baptists scattered their +church, but did not destroy their principles. Facing the obloquy +attached to their cause, and braving the trials imposed by the civil +and ecclesiastical powers, they must wait patiently God's time of +deliverance. That their lives were free from guile, none claim. That +their cause was righteous, none will deny; and while the elements +of a Baptist church were thus gathering strength on this side of the +Atlantic, a leader was prepared for them, by God's providence, on the +other. In the same year that Obadiah Holmes and his band established +their church in Massachusetts, in opposition to the Puritan order, +Charles I, the great English traitor, expiated his "high crimes and +misdemeanors" on the scaffold, at the hands of a Puritan Parliament. +Then followed the period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and then +the Restoration, when "there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew +not Joseph." The Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, under the sanction +of Charles II, though a fatal blow at the purity and piety of the +English Church, was a royal blessing to the cause of religion in +America. Two thousand bravely conscientious men, who feared God more +than the decrees of Pope, King, or Parliament, were driven from their +livings and from the kingdom. What was England's great loss was +America's great gain, for a grand tidal wave of emigration swept +westward across the Atlantic to our shores. Godly men and women, clergy +and laity, made up this exiled band, too true and earnest to yield a +base compliance to the edict of conformity. For thirteen years here the +Dissenters from Mr. Newman's church waited for a spiritual guide, but +not in vain. + +How our Baptist brethren here conducted themselves during these years, +and the difficulties they may have occasioned or encountered, we know +but little. Plymouth, liberal already, has grown more lenient towards +church offenders in matters of conscience. Mr. John Brown, a citizen of +Rehoboth, and one of the magistrates, has presented before the Court his +scruples at the expediency of coercing the people to support the +ministry, and has offered to pay from his own property the taxes of all +those of his townsmen who may refuse their support of the ministry. This +was in 1665. Massachusetts Bay has tried to correct the errors of her +sister colony on the subject of toleration, and has in turn been rebuked +by her example. + + +JOHN MYLES. + +Leaving the membership awhile, let us cross the sea to Wales to find +their future pastor and teacher--John Myles. + +Wales had been the asylum for the persecuted and oppressed for many +centuries. There freedom of religious thought was tolerated, and from +thence sprung three men of unusual vigor and power: Roger Williams, +Oliver Cromwell, and John Myles. About the year 1645, the Baptists in +that country who had previously been scattered and connected with other +churches, began to unite in the formation of separate churches, under +their own pastors. Prominent among these was the Reverend Mr. Myles, who +preached in various places with great success, until the year 1649, when +we find him pastor of a church which he organized in Swansea, in South +Wales. It is a singular coincidence that Mr. Myles's pastorate at +Swansea, and the separation of the members from the Rehoboth church, a +part of whom aided in establishing the church in Swanzey, Massachusetts, +occurred in the same year. + +During the Protectorate of Cromwell, all Dissenters enjoyed the largest +liberty of conscience, and, as a result, the church at Swansea grew from +forty-eight to three hundred souls. Around this centre of influence +sprang up several branch churches, and pastors were raised up to care +for them. Mr. Myles soon became the leader of his denomination in Wales, +and in 1651 he was sent as the representative of all the Baptist +churches in Wales to the Baptist ministers' meeting, at Glazier's Hall, +London, with a letter, giving an account of the peace, union, and +increase of the work. As a preacher and worker he had no equal in that +country, and his zeal enabled him to establish many new churches in his +native land. The act of the English Saint Bartholomew's Day, in 1662, +deprived Mr. Myles of the support which the government under Cromwell +had granted him, and he, with many others, chose the freedom of exile to +the tyranny of an unprincipled monarch. It would be interesting for us +to give an account of his leave-taking of his church at Swansea, and of +his associates in Christian labor, and to trace out his passage to +Massachusetts, and to relate the circumstances which led him to search +out and to find the little band of Baptists at Rehoboth. Surely some law +of spiritual gravitation or affinity, under the good hand of God, thus +raised up and brought this under-shepherd to the flock thus scattered in +the wilderness. Nicholas Tanner, Obadiah Brown, John Thomas, and others, +accompanied Mr. Myles in his exile from Swansea, Wales. The first that +is known of them in America was the formation of a Baptist church at the +house of John Butterworth in Rehoboth, whose residence is said to have +been near the Cove in the western part of the present town of East +Providence. Mr. Myles and his followers had probably learned at Boston, +or at Plymouth, of the treatment offered to Holmes and his party, ten +years before, and his sympathies led him to seek out and unite the +elements which persecution had scattered. Seven members made up this +infant church, namely: John Myles, pastor, James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, +Joseph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby. +The principles to which their assent was given were the same as those +held by the Welsh Baptists, as expounded by Mr. Myles. The original +record-book of the church contains a list of the members of Mr. Myles's +church in Swansea, from 1640 till 1660, with letters, decrees, +ordinances, etc., of the several churches of the denomination in England +and Wales. This book, now in the possession of the First Baptist Church +in Swanzey, Massachusetts, is probably a copy of the original Welsh +records, made by or for Mr. Myles's church in Massachusetts, the +sentiments of which controlled their actions here. + +Of the seven constituent members, only one was a member of Myles's +church in Wales--Nicholas Tanner. James Brown was a son of John Brown, +both of whom held high offices in the Plymouth colony. Mr. Newman and +his church were again aroused at the revival of this dangerous sect, and +they again united with the other orthodox churches of the colony in +soliciting the Court to interpose its influence against them, and the +members of this little church were each fined five pounds, for setting +up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the Court, +to the disturbance of the peace of the place,--ordered to desist from +their meeting for the space of a month, and advised to remove their +meeting to some other place where they might not prejudice any other +church. The worthy magistrates of Plymouth have not told us how these +few Baptist brethren "disturbed the peace" of quiet old Rehoboth. Good +old Rehoboth, that roomy place, was not big enough to contain this +church of seven members, and we have to-day to thank the spirit of +Newman and the order of Plymouth Court for the handful of seed-corn, +which they cast upon the waters, which here took root and has brought +forth the fruits of a sixty-fold growth. + +From a careful reading of the first covenant of the church, we judge +that it was a breach of ecclesiastical, rather than of civil, law, and +that the fines and banishment from the limits of Rehoboth were imposed +as a preventive against any further inroads upon the membership of Mr. +Newman's church. In obedience to the orders of the Court, the members of +Mr. Myles's church looked about for a more convenient dwelling-place, +and found it as near to the limits of the old town and their original +homes as the law would allow. Within the bounds of Old Swanzey, +Massachusetts, in the northern part of the present town of Barrington, +Rhode Island, they selected a site for a church edifice. The spot now +pointed out as the location of this building for public worship is near +the main road from Warren by Munro's Tavern to Providence, on the east +side of a by-way leading from said road to the residence of Joseph G. +West, Esq. A plain and simple structure, it was undoubtedly fitted up +quickly by their own labor, to meet the exigency of the times. Here they +planted their first spiritual home, and enjoyed a peace which pastor and +people had long sought for. + +The original covenant is a remarkable paper, toned with deep piety and a +broad and comprehensive spirit of Christian fellowship. + + +HOLY COVENANT. + +SWANSEY IN NEW ENGLAND.--A true coppy of the Holy Covenant the first +founders of Swansey Entred into at the first beginning and all the +members thereof for Divers years. + +Whereas we Poor Creatures are through the exceeding Riches of Gods +Infinite Grace Mercyfully snatched out of the Kingdom of darkness and by +his Infinite Power translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son, there to +be partakers with all Saints of all those Priviledges which Christ by +the Shedding of his Pretious Blood hath purchased for us, and that we do +find our Souls in Some good Measure wrought on by Divine Grace to desire +to be Conformable to Christ in all things, being also constrained by the +matchless love and wonderfull Distinguishing Mercies that we Abundantly +Injoy from his most free grace to Serve him according to our utmost +capacitys, and that we also know that it is our most bounden Duty to +Walk in Visible Communion with Christ and Each other according to the +Prescript Rule of his most holy word, and also that it is our undoubted +Right through Christ to Injoy all the Priviledges of Gods House which +our souls have for a long time panted after. And finding no other way at +Present by the all-working Providence of our only wise God and gracious +Father to us opened for the Injoyment of the same. We do therefore after +often and Solemn Seeking to the Lord for Help and direction in the fear +of his holy Name, and with hands lifted up to him the most High God, +Humbly and freely offer up ourselves this day a Living Sacrifice unto +him who is our God in Covenant through Christ our Lord and only Savior +to walk together according to his revealed word in the Visible Gospel +Relation both to Christ our only head, and to each other as +fellow-members and Brethren and of the Same Household faith. And we do +Humbly praye that that through his Strength we will henceforth Endeavor +to Perform all our Respective Duties towards God and each other and to +practice all the ordinances of Christ according to what is or shall be +revealed to us in our Respective Places to exercise Practice and Submit +to the Government of Christ in this his Church! viz. furthur Protesting +against all Rending or Dividing Principles or Practices from any of the +People of God as being most abominable and loathsome to our souls and +utterly inconsistent with that Christian Charity which declare men to be +Christ's Disciples. Indeed further declaring in that as Union in Christ +is the sole ground of our Communion, each with other, So we are ready to +accept of, Receive too and hold Communion with all such as by a judgment +of Charity we conceive to be fellow-members with us in our head Christ +Jesus tho Differing from us in Such Controversial Points as are not +absolutely and essencially necessary to salvation. We also hope that +though of ourselves we are altogether unworthy and unfit thus to offer +up ourselves to God or to do him a--or to expect any favor with, or +mercy from Him. He will graciously accept of this our free will offering +in and through the merit and mediation of our Dear Redeemer. And that he +will imploy and emprove us in his service to his Praise, to whom be all +Glory, Honor, now and forever, Amen. + +The names of the persons that first joyned themselves in the Covanant +aforesaid as a Church of Christ, + + JOHN MYLES, Elder, + JAMES BROWN, + NICHOLAS TANNER, + JOSEPH CARPENTER, + JOHN BUTTERWORTH, + ELDAD KINGSLEY, + BENJAMIN ALBY. + + +The catholic spirit of Mr. Myles soon drew to the new settlement on New +Meadow Neck many families who held to Baptist opinions, as well as some +of other church relations friendly to their interests. The opposition +which their principles had awakened, had brought the little company into +public notice, and their character had won for them the respect and +confidence of their neighbors. + +The Rehoboth church had come to regard Mr. Myles and his followers with +more kindly feelings, and, in 1666, after the death of the Reverend Mr. +Newman, it was voted by the town that Mr. Myles be invited to "preach, +namely: once in a fortnight on the week day, and once on the Sabbath +day." And in August of the same year the town voted "that Mr. Myles +shall still continue to lecture on the week day, and further on the +Sabbath, if he be thereunto legally called." + +This interchange of pulpit relations indicates a cordial sentiment +between the two parishes, which is in striking contrast to the hostility +manifested to the new church but three years before, when they were +warned out of the town, and suggests the probable fact that animosities +had been conquered by good will, and that sober judgment had taken the +place of passionate bigotry. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHURCH SERVICES IN PURITAN TIMES. + +_The Elders' Advice in Matrimonial Matters._ + + +From the Baptist Church records copied from the Welsh, which were +brought from Swansea, Wales, by the Reverend John Myles, we quote, as +follows:-- + +"The Sabbath meeting shall begin at 8 A.M., and on the fourth day of the +weeke begins at nine of the Clock."... + +"That one brother extemporize in Welsh for an hour, and after the said +Welsh brother there shall be a publick sermon to the world, after this +breaking bread."... + +"That such brethren or sisters as shall any way hereafter intend to +change their calling or condition of life by marriage or otherwise, do +propose their cases to the elders or ablest brethren of the church, to +have council from before they make any engagements, and in all difficult +cases, and before all marriages, the churches council be taken therein." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE RENT VEIL. + +By Henry B. Carrington. + + "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain." + + + I. + + The Great I AM,--that Presence, Infinite, + Which wrought creation by the breath + Of Sovereign Will,--and in His Image bright, + Brought man to life, to dwell in Paradise,-- + Took gracious pity on his lost estate, + When sin had marred that perfect image, + And Earth could pay no ransom for the soul. + + II. + + Jehovah,--God, effulgence bright,--august,-- + In majesty supreme, from Heaven stooped down, + And through His wondrous love, ineffable, + Enshrined Himself within that sacred place, + Which, once in each revolving year, + The type of the Redeemer, promised, + Might dare approach, with awe, with offerings + For the sins of Israel's children. + + III. + + As but a day, four thousand years, when told, + With Him, who was, and is to be,-- + Eternal--Three in One,--Omnipotent:-- + Such was the span of ripening promise, + Until the hour matured, and Saving Grace, + The full Redemption offered,--by gift + Of Spotless purity,--His Only Son. + + IV. + + Within the "Holy Place," the High Priest bowed, + While dread Shekinah lingered,--(ne'er again + To yield to Jewish rite or sacrifice, + The boon of pardoned guilt, for blood of goats + Or bullocks, without blemish);--and bowed, + While yet the echoes of his voice, profane, + Still quivered in the midnight air,--floating + Upward toward the Great White Throne,--crying, + O,--crucify the spotless Son of Man, + And let Barabbas, son of sin, go free. + + V. + + Where direst portents, solitude profound,-- + Place, awful with the bleaching types of death, + Had published forth Golgotha's cruel name. + The stately High Priest, from the "Holy Place" + Approached, to consummate prophetic crime,-- + To fill the measure of Judea's sin,-- + And bring Messiah to a dying race. + + VI. + + "IT IS FINISHED." + + VII. + + O,--light of day, whose now averted face, + As ne'er before, withholds thy cheer from man!-- + O,--quaking earth, whose bed of solid rock, + Is shivered by some pang of awful ill!-- + O,--graves, once sealed o'er loved ones, laid aside, + To answer only at Archangels' call!-- + What tragedy of creation's Master;-- + What spell upon creation's normal peace;-- + What overturn of laws immutable;-- + What contradictions in the mind Supreme; + Have wrought this pregnant ruin,--earth throughout! + + VIII. + + O,--priest, whose ministrations, laid aside + To bring fulfillment of the fearful curse + Upon thy race, have now that curse assured,-- + Look back!--and see the altar, bared to view + Of vulgar herd and phrenzied populace. + "_The veil in twain is rent_,"--and never more + Shall dread Shekinah show Himself to thee;-- + But where each humble soul, with sin oppressed, + Lifts up the cry of penitential grief, + A temple shall be found,--and deep within, + Shall dwell that sacred Presence,--evermore. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FIRST SCHOOLMASTER OF BOSTON. + +By Elizabeth Porter Gould. + + +When Agassiz requested to go down the ages with no other name than +"Teacher," he not only appropriately crowned his own life-work, but +stamped the vocation of teaching with a royalty which can never be +gainsaid. By this act he dignified with lasting honor all those to whom +the name "Teacher," in its truest meaning, can be applied. + +In this work of teaching, one man stands out in the history of New +England who should be better known to the present generation. He was a +benefactor in the colonial days when education was striving to keep her +lamp burning in the midst of the necessary practical work which engaged +the attention of most of the people of that time. His name was Ezekiel +Cheever. When a young man of twenty-three years, he came from +London--where he was born January 25, 1614--to Boston, seven years after +its settlement. The following spring he went to New Haven, where he soon +married, and became actively engaged in founding the colony there. Among +the men who went there the same year was a Mr. Wigglesworth, whose son, +in later years, as the Reverend Michael Wigglesworth, gave an account of +Mr. Cheever's success in the work of teaching, which he began soon after +reaching the place. "I was sent to school to Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, who at +that time taught school in his own house, and under him in a year or two +I profited so much through y'e blessing of God, that I began to make +Latin & to get forward apace." + +Mr. Cheever received as a salary for two or three years twenty pounds; +and in 1643, while receiving this salary, his name is sixth in the list +of planters and their estates, his estate being valued only at twenty +pounds. In the year following, his salary was raised to thirty pounds +a year. This probably was an actual necessity, for his family now +consisted, besides himself and wife, of a son Samuel, five years old, +and a daughter Mary of four years. Ezekiel, born two years before, had +died. This son, Samuel, it may be said in passing, was graduated at +Harvard College in 1659, and was settled as a clergyman at Marblehead, +Massachusetts, where he died at the age of eighty-five, having been +universally esteemed during his long life. + +Besides being the teacher of the new colony, Mr. Cheever entered into +other parts of its work. He was one of the twelve men chosen as "fitt +for the foundacon worke of the church." He was also chosen a member of +the Court for the plantation, at its first session, and in 1646 he was +one of the deputies to the General Court. It is supposed that during +this time he wrote his valuable little book called The Accidence. It +passed through seventeen editions before the Revolution. A copy of the +eighteenth edition, printed in Boston in 1785, is now in the Boston +Athenaeum. It is a quaint little book of seventy-two pages, with one +cover gone, and is surely an object of interest to all loving students +of Latin. A copy of the tenth edition is found in Harvard College, while +it has been said that a copy of the seventh is in a private library in +Hartford, Connecticut. The last edition was published in Boston in 1838. +In a prospectus, containing commendations of the work from many eminent +men of learning, the Honorable Josiah Quincy, LL.D., president of +Harvard College, said of it: "A work which was used for more than a +century in the schools of New England, as the first elementary book for +learners of the Latin language; which held its place in some of the most +eminent of those schools, nearly, if not quite, to the end of the last +century; which has passed through at least twenty editions in this +country; which was the subject of the successive labor and improvement +of a man who spent seventy years in the business of instruction, and +whose fame is second to that of no schoolmaster New England has ever +produced, requires no additional testimony to its worth or its merits." +A copy of this edition is now in the library of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. Dr. David W. Cheever, of Boston, a descendant of the +schoolmaster, also has one in his possession. + +There is another old book in the Boston Athenaeum, published in 1757, +containing three short essays under the title of Scripture Prophecies +Explained. The first one is "On the Restitution of All Things"; the +second is "On St. John's First Resurrection"; and the third, "On the +Personal Coming of Jesus Christ, as Commencing at the Beginning of the +Millenium described in the Apocalypse." These were written by Mr. +Cheever, but at what time of his life there seems to be some doubt. They +indicate his religious zeal, which at this time in New Haven was put +forth for the good of the church. Although he was never ordained to the +ministry, yet he occasionally preached. In 1649, however, he dissented +from the judgment of the church and elders in regard to some cases of +discipline, and for some comments on their action, which seemed to them +severe, they brought charges against him. Two of the principal ones +were: "1. His unseemly gestures and carriage before the church, in the +mixed assembly;" and "2. That when the church did agree to two charges +(namely, of assumption and partiality), he did not give his vote either +to the affirmative or the negative." + +As showing some of the phases of a common humanity, the reading of the +trial is interesting. Mr. Cheever, who was then thirty-five years old, +was desired to answer these charges of unseemly gestures, which his +accusers had brought down to a rather small point, such as holding down +his head into the seat, "then laughing or smiling," and also "wrapping +his handkerchief about his face, and then pulling it off again;" and +still another, "that his carriage was offensively uncomely," three +affirming "that he rather carried it as one acting a play, than as one +in the presence of God in an ordinance." + +In his answer to these, Mr. Cheever explained his actions as arising +from violent headaches, which, coming upon him usually "on the Lord's +day in the evening, and after church meeting," were mitigated by winding +his handkerchief around his head 'as a fillet.' As to his smiling or +laughing, "he knew not whether there was any more than a natural, +ordinary cheerfulness of countenance seeming to smile, which whether it +be sinful or avoidable by him, he knew not;" but he wished to humble +himself for the "least appearance of evil, and occasion of offence, and +to watch against it." As to his working with the church, he said: "I +must act with the church, and (which is uncomfortable) I must either act +with their light, or may expect to suffer, as I have done, and do at +this day, for conscience' sake; but I had rather suffer anything from +men than make a shipwreck of a good conscience or go against my present +light, though erroneous, when discovered." + +He then went on to say that, while he did not wholly free himself from +blame as to his carriage, and as to his "want of wisdom and coolness in +ordering and uttering his speeches," yet he could not be convinced as +yet that he had been guilty of "Miriam's sin," or deserved the censure +which the church had inflicted upon him; and he could not look upon it +"as dispensed according to the rules of Christ." Then he closed his +address with the following words, which will give some idea of his +Christian spirit: "Yet I wait upon God for the discovery of truth in His +own time, either to myself or church, that what is amiss may be repented +of and reformed; that His blessing and presence may be among them and +upon His holy ordinances rightly dispensed, to His glory and their +present and everlasting comfort, which I heartily pray for, and am so +bound, having received much good and comfort in that fellowship, though +I am now deprived of it." + +At about this time of his trial with the church he was afflicted by the +death of his wife. Three more children had been born to them--Elizabeth, +Sarah, and Hannah. Soon after this, in 1650,--and, it has been said, on +account of his troubles,--he removed to Ipswich, Massachusetts, to +become master of the grammar school there. His services as teacher in +New Haven must have been valued, if one can judge by the amount of +salary received, for, in the case of the teacher who followed him, the +people were not willing "to pay as large a salary as they had done to +Mr. Cheever," and so they gave him ten pounds a year. + +After Mr. Cheever had been in Ipswich two years, Robert Payne, a +philanthropic man, gave to the town a dwelling-house with two acres of +land for the schoolmaster; he also gave a new schoolhouse for the +school, of which this man was the appreciated teacher; for many +neighboring towns sent scholars to him, and it was said that those who +received "the Cheeverian education" were better fitted for college than +any others. + +In November of this same year he married Ellen Lathrop, sister of +Captain Thomas Lathrop, of Beverly, who two years before had brought her +from England to America with him, with the promise that he would be a +father to her. While living in Ipswich they had four children, Abigail, +Ezekiel, Nathaniel, and Thomas; two more, William and Susanna, were born +later, in Charlestown. Their son Ezekiel must have lived to a good old +age, at least seventy-seven years, for as late as 1731 his name appears +in the annals of the village parish of Salem, where he became heir to +Captain Lathrop's real estate; while their son Thomas, born in 1658, was +graduated at Harvard College in 1677, was settled as a minister at +Malden, Massachusetts, and later at Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), +Massachusetts, where he died at a good old age. + +After having thus lived in Ipswich eleven years, Mr. Cheever removed, +in 1661, to Charlestown, Massachusetts, to become master of the school +there at a salary of thirty pounds a year. The smallness of this salary +astonishes and suggests much to the modern reader; but when he is +informed that the worthy teacher was obliged during his teaching there +to petition the selectmen that his "yeerly salarie be paid to him, as +the counstables were much behind w'th him," the whole matter becomes +pathetic. Mr. Cheever also asked that the schoolhouse, which was much +out of order, be repaired. And in 1669 he is again before them asking +for a "peece of ground or house plott whereon to build an house for his +familie," which petition he left for the townsmen to consider. They +afterward voted that the selectmen should carry out the request, but as +Mr. Cheever removed in the following year to Boston, it is probable that +his successor had the benefit of it. + +When Mr. Cheever entered upon his work as head master of the Boston +Latin School, in 1670, he was fifty-seven years old; and he remained +master of this school until his death, thirty-seven years later. The +schoolhouse was, at this time, in School Street (it was not so named by +the town, however, until 1708) just behind King's Chapel, on a part of +the burying-ground. It has been said that the building was of two +stories to accommodate the teacher and his family. This seems probable +when we read that Mr. Cheever was to have a salary of sixty pounds a +year, and the "possession and use of y'e schoole house." But if he +lived in the building at all, it was not very long, for he is later +living in a house by himself; and in 1701 the selectmen voted that two +men should provide a house for him while his house was being built. The +agreement which the selectmen made with Captain John Barnet with +reference to this house is given in such curious detail in the old +records, and suggests so much, that it is well worth reading. It is as +follows:-- + + "That the said Barnet shall erect a House on the Land where Mr. Ezekiel + Cheever Lately dwelt, of forty foot Long Twenty foot wide and Twenty + foot stud with four foot Rise in the Roof, to make a cellar floor under + one half of S'd house and to build a Kitchen of Sixteen foot in + Length and twelve foot in breadth with a Chamber therein, and to Lay the + floors flush through out the maine house and to make three paire of + Stayers in y'e main house and one paire in the Kitchen and to Inclose + s'd house and to do and complete all carpenters worke and to find all + timber boards clapboards nayles glass and Glaziers worke and Iron worke + and to make one Cellar door and to finde one Lock for the Outer door of + said House, and also to make the Casements for S'd house, and perform + S'd worke and to finish S'd building by the first day of August + next. In consideration whereof the Selectmen do agree that the S'd + Capt. Barnet shall have the Old Timber boards Iron worke and glass of + the Old house now Standing on S'd Land and to pay unto him the Sum of + one hundred and thirty pounds money, that is to say forty pounds down in + hand and the rest as the worke goes on." + + +Then follows the agreement for the "masons' worke" in all its details. +Later on, in March, 1702, there is some discussion as to how far back +from the street the house should be placed. But in June of that year the +house is up, for the worthy dignities order that "Capt. John Barnard do +provide a Raysing Dinner for the Raysing the Schoolmasters House at the +Charge of the town not exceeding the Sum of Three pounds." This was +done, for later they order the "noat for three pounds, expended by him +for a dinner at Raysing the Schoolmasters House," be paid him. + +After Mr. Cheever's house had received all this painstaking attention +of the town, it was voted that the selectmen should see that a new +schoolhouse be built for him in the place of the old one; this to be +done with the advice of Mr. Cheever. The particulars of this work are +given in as much detail, and are interesting to show the style of +schoolhouse at that day. They are as follows, in the "Selectmen's +Minutes, under July 24, 1704":-- + + "Agreed w'th M'r John Barnerd as followeth, he to build a new School + House of forty foot Long Twenty five foot wide and Eleven foot Stud, + with eight windows below and five in the Roofe, with wooden Casements to + the eight Windows, to Lay the lower floor with Sleepers & double boards + So far as needful, and the Chamber floor with Single boards, to board + below the plate inside & inside and out, to Clapboard the Outside and + Shingle the Roof, to make a place to hang the Bell in, to make a paire + of Staires up to the Chamber, and from thence a Ladder to the bell, to + make one door next the Street, and a petition Cross the house below, and + to make three rows of benches for the boyes on each Side of the room, + to find all Timber, boards, Clapboards shingles nayles hinges. In + consideration whereof the s'd M'r John Barnerd is to be paid One + hundred pounds, and to have the Timber, Boards, and Iron worke of the + Old School House." + +Some interesting reminiscences are given, by some of his pupils, of +these school-days in Boston. The Reverend John Barnard, of Marblehead, +who was born in Boston in 1681, speaks of his early days at the Latin +School, in his Autobiography, which is now in the Massachusetts +Historical Society. Among other things he says: "I remember once, in +making a piece of Latin, my master found fault with the syntax of one +word, which was not used by me heedlessly, but designedly, and therefore +I told him there was a plain grammar rule for it. He angrily replied, +there was no such rule. I took the grammar and showed the rule to him. +Then he smilingly said, 'Thou art a brave boy; I had forgot it.' And no +wonder: for he was then above eighty years old." President Stiles of +Yale College, in his Diary, says that he had seen a man who said that he +"well knew a famous grammar-school master, Mr. E. Cheever, of Boston, +author of The Accidence; that he wore a long white beard, terminating in +a point; that when he stroked his beard to the point, it was a sign for +the boys to stand clear." + +Judge Sewall, in his Diary, often refers to him. He speaks of a visit +from him, at one time, when Mr. Cheever told him that he had entered his +eighty-eighth year, and was the oldest man in town; and another time, +when he says: "Master Chiever, his coming to me last Saturday January +31, on purpose to tell me he blessed God that I had stood up for the +Truth, is more comfort to me than Mr. Borland's unhandsomeness is +discomfort." He also speaks of him as being a bearer several times at +funerals, where, at one, with others, he received a scarf and ring which +were "given at the House after coming from the Grave." A peculiarity of +the venerable schoolmaster is seen where Judge Sewall says: "Mr. +Wadsworth appears at Lecture in his Perriwigg. Mr. Chiever is grieved at +it." In 1708, the judge gives in this Diary some touching particulars as +to the sickness and death of Mr. Cheever. They are valuable not only for +themselves, but as preserving in a literary form the close friendship +which existed between these two strong men of that day. Hence they are +given here:-- + +"_Aug_. 12, 1708.--Mr. Chiever is abroad and hears Mr. Cotton Mather +preach. This is the last of his going abroad. Was taken very sick, like +to die with a Flux. _Aug_. 13.--I go to see him, went in with his +son Thomas and Mr. Lewis. His Son spake to him and he knew him not; I +spake to him and he bid me speak again; then he said, Now I know you, +and speaking cheerily mentioned my name. I ask'd his Blessing for me and +my family; He said I was Bless'd, and it could not be Reversed. Yet at +my going away He pray'd for a Blessing for me. + +"_Aug_. 19.--I visited Mr. Chiever again, just before Lecture; +Thank'd him for his kindness to me and mine; desired his prayers for me, +my family, Boston, Salem, the Province. He rec'd me with abundance of +Affection, taking me by the hand several times. He said, The Afflictions +of God's people, God by them did as a Goldsmith, knock, knock, knock; +knock, knock, knock, to finish the plate; It was to perfect them not to +punish them. I went and told Mr. Pemberton (the Pastor of Old South) who +preached. + +"_Aug_. 20.--I visited Mr. Chiever who was now grown much weaker, +and his speech very low. He call'd Daughter! When his daughter Russel +came, He ask'd if the family were composed; They aprehended He was +uneasy because there had not been Prayer that morn; and solicited me to +Pray; I was loth and advised them to send for Mr. Williams, as most +natural, homogeneous; They declined it, and I went to Prayer. After, I +told him, The last enemy was Death, and God hath made that a friend too; +He put his hand out of the Bed, and held it up, to signify his Assent. +Observing he suck'd a piece of an Orange, put it orderly into his mouth +and chew'd it, and then took out the core. After dinner I carried a few +of the best Figs I could get and a dish Marmalet. I spake not to him +now. + +"_Aug_. 21.--Mr. Edward Oakes tells me Mr. Chiever died this last +night." + +Then in a note he tells the chief facts in his life, which he closes +with,-- + +"So that he has Laboured in that calling (teaching) skilfully, +diligently, constantly, Religiously, Seventy years. A rare Instance of +Piety, Health, Strength, Serviceableness. The Wellfare of the Province +was much upon his spirit. He abominated Perriwiggs." + +"_Aug_. 23, 1708.--Mr. Chiever was buried from the Schoolhouse. The +Gov'r, Councillors, Ministers, Justices, Gentlemen there. Mr. Williams +made a handsome Latin Oration in his Honour. Elder Bridgham, Copp, +Jackson, Dyer, Griggs, Hubbard, &c., Bearers. After the Funeral, Elder +Bridgham, Mr. Jackson, Hubbard, Dyer, Tim. Wadsworth, Edw. Procter, +Griggs, and two more came to me and earnestly solicited me to speak to a +place of Scripture, at the private Quarter Meeting in the room of Mr. +Chiever." + +Cotton Mather, who had been a pupil of his, preached a funeral sermon in +honor of his loved teacher. It was printed in Boston in 1708, and later +in 1774. A copy of it in the Athenaeum is well worth a perusal. Some of +Mr. Cheever's Latin poems are attached to it. Cotton Mather precedes his +sermon by An Historical Introduction, in which, after referring to his +great privilege, he gives the main facts in the long life of the +schoolmaster of nearly ninety-four years. In closing it, he says: "After +he had been a Skilful, Painful, Faithful Schoolmaster for Seventy years; +and had the Singular Favours of Heaven that tho' he had Usefully spent +his Life among children, yet he was not become Twice a child but held +his Abilities, with his usefulness, in an unusual Degree to the very +last." Then follows the sermon, remarkable in its way as a eulogy. But +the Essay in Rhyme in Memory of his "Venerable Master," which follows +the sermon, is even more characteristic and remarkable. In it are some +couplets which are unique and interesting. + + + "Do but name _Cheever_, and the _Echo_ straight + Upon that name. _Good Latin_ will Repeat. + + "And in our _School_, a Miracle is wrought: + For the _Dead Languages_ to _Life_ are brought. + + "Who serv'd the _School_, the _Church_, did not forget, + But Thought and Prayed & often wept for it. + + "How oft we saw him tread the _Milky Way_ + Which to the Glorious _Throne of Mercy_ lay! + + "Come from the _Mount_ he shone with ancient Grace, + Awful the _Splendor_ of his Aged Face. + + "He _Liv'd_ and to vast age no Illness knew, + Till _Times_ Scythe waiting for him Rusty grew. + + "He _Liv'd_ and _Wrought_; His Labours were Immense, + But ne'r _Declined_ to _Praeter-perfect Tense_." + + +He closes this eulogy with an epitaph in Latin. + +Mr. Cheever's will, found in the Suffolk probate office, was offered by +his son Thomas and his daughter Susanna, August 26, 1708, a few days +after his death. He wrote it two years previous, when he was ninety-one +years old, a short time before his "dear wife," whom he mentions, died. +In it his estate is appraised at L837:19:6. One handles reverently this +old piece of yellow paper, perhaps ten by twelve inches in size, with +red lines, on which is written in a clear handwriting the last will of +this dear old man. He characteristically begins it thus:-- + + "In nomine Domini Amen, I Ezekiel Cheever of the Towne of Boston in the + County of Suffolk in New England, Schoolmaster, living through great + mercy in good health and understanding wonderfull in my age, do make and + ordain this as my last Will & Testament as Followeth: I give up my soule + to God my Father in Jesus Christ, my body to the earth to be buried in a + decent manner according to my desires in hope of a Blessed part in y'e + first resurrection & glorious kingdom of Christ on earth a thousand + years." + +He then gives all his household goods "& of my plate y'e two-ear'd Cup, +my least tankard porringer a spoon," to his wife; "all my books saving +what Ezekiel may need & what godly books my wife may desire," to his son +Thomas; L10 to Mary Phillips; L20 to his grandchild, Ezekiel Russel; and +L5 to the poor. The remainder of the estate he leaves to his wife and +six children, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, Ezekiel, Thomas, and Susanna. + +One handles still more reverently a little brown, stiff-covered book, +kept in the safe in the Athenaeum, of about one hundred and twenty +pages, yellow with age, on the first of which is the year "1631," and on +the second, "Ezekiel Cheever, his booke," both in his own handwriting. +Then come nearly fifty pages of finely-written Latin poems, composed and +written by himself, probably in London; then, there are scattered over +some of the remaining pages a few short-hand notes which have been +deciphered as texts of Scripture. On the last page of this quaint little +treasure--only three by four inches large--are written in English some +verses, one of which can be clearly read as, "Oh, first seek the kingdom +of God and his Righteousness, and all things else shall be added unto +you." + +Another MS. of Mr. Cheever's is in the possession of the Massachusetts +Historical Society. It is a book six by eight inches in size, of about +four hundred pages, all well filled with Latin dissertations, with +occasionally a mathematical figure drawn. One turns over the old leaves +with affectionate interest, even if the matter written upon them is +beyond his comprehension. It certainly is a pleasure to read on one of +them the date May 18, 1664. + +Verily, New England should treasure the memory of Ezekiel Cheever, the +man who called himself "Schoolmaster," for she owes much to him. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE POET OF THE BELLS. + +By E.H. Goss. + + +Longfellow may well be called the Poet of the Bells; for who has so +largely voiced their many uses as he, or interpreted the part they have +taken in the world's history. That he was a great lover of bells and +bell music is evinced by the many times he chose them as themes for his +poems; nearly a dozen of which are about them, containing some of the +sweetest of his thoughts; and allusions to them, like this from +Evangeline,-- + + Anon from the belfry + Softly the Angelus sounded,"-- + + +are sprinkled all through his longer poems, as well as his prose. The +Song of the Bell, beginning,-- + + "Bell! thou soundest merrily + When the bridal party + To the church doth hie!" + + +was among his earliest writings; and The Bells of San Blas was his last +poem, having been written March 15, 1882, nine days only before he +died:-- + + "What say the Bells of San Blas + To the ships that southward pass + From the harbor of Mazatlan?" + + +And this last stanza must contain the last words that came from his +pen:-- + + "O Bells of San Blas, in vain + Ye call back the Fast again! + The Past is deaf to your prayer: + Out of the shadows of night + The world rolls into light; + It is daybreak everywhere." + + +One of his latest sonnets is entitled Chimes. + + "Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night + Salute the passing hour, and in the dark + And silent chambers of the household mark + The movements of the myriad orbs of light!" + + +This was sung of the beautiful clock that + + "Half-way up the stairs it stands" + + +in his mansion at Cambridge, by so many thought to be the one referred +to in The Old Clock on the Stairs. But no; that one was in the "Gold +House" at Pittsfield, and is now in disuse; while this one is a fine +piece of mechanism, striking the coming hour on each half hour, and on +the hour itself sweet carillons are played for several moments, so +familiar to the poet that it is no wonder that to hear it he says,-- + + "Better than sleep it is to lie awake." + + +And who has not been entranced by the melody of his + + "In the ancient town of Bruges + In the quaint old Flemish city, + As the evening shades descended, + Low and loud and sweetly blended, + Low at times and loud at times, + And changing like a poet's rhymes, + Rang the beautiful wild chimes + From the belfry in the market + Of the ancient town of Bruges." + + +In the prologue to The Golden Legend, we have the attempt of Lucifer and +the Powers of the Air to tear down the cross from the spire of the +Strasburg Cathedral, with the remonstrance of the bells interwoven: + + + "Laudo Deum verum! Funera plango! + Plebem voco! Fulgura frango! + Congrego clerum! Sabbata pango! + + "Defunctus ploro! Excito lentos! + Pestem fugo! Dissipo ventos! + Festa decoro! Paco cruentos!" + + "I praise the true God, call the people, convene the clergy; + I mourn the dead, dispel the pestilence, and grace festivals; + I mourn at the burial, abate the lightnings, announce the Sabbath; + I arouse the indolent, dissipate the winds, and appease the avengeful." + + +Another rendering of the two last lines reads:-- + + "Men's death I tell, by doleful knell; + Lightnings and thunder I break asunder; + On Sabbath all to church I call; + The sleepy head, I raise from bed; + The winds so fierce I do disperse; + Men's cruel rage, I do assuage." + + +And in the Legend itself, an historical account of mediaeval +bell-ringing is given by Friar Cuthbert, as he preaches to a crowd from +a pulpit in the open air, in front of the cathedral:-- + + "But hark! the bells are beginning to chime;... + For the bells themselves are the best of preachers; + Their brazen lips are learned teachers, + From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, + Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, + Shriller than trumpets under the Law, + Now a sermon and now a prayer."... + + +In the Tales of the Wayside Inn occurs the pretty legend of The Bell of +Atri, "famous for all time"; and from his summer home in Nahant, from +across the waters he listens to + + "O curfew of the setting sun! O bells of Lynn! + O requiem of the dying day! O bells of Lynn!" + + +In the Curfew he quaintly and beautifully reminds us of the old +_couvre-feu_ bell of the days of William the Conqueror, a custom +still kept up in many of the towns and hamlets of England, and some of +our own towns and cities; and until recently the nine-o'clock bell +greeted the ears of Bostonians, year in and year out. And who does not +remember the sweet carol of Christmas Bells? + + "I heard the bells on Christmas Day + Their old familiar carols play, + And wild and sweet + The words repeat + Of peace on earth, good will to men! + + * * * * * + + "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: + 'God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! + The wrong shall fail, + The right prevail + With peace on earth, good will to men!'" + + +Indeed, many are the sweet and musical strains that he has sung about +the bells, and he often wished that "somebody would bring together all +the best things that have been written upon them, both in prose and +verse." + +Southey calls bells "the poetry of the steeples"; and the poets of all +ages have had more or less to say upon this subject. Quaint old George +Herbert told us to + + "Think when the bells do chime + 'Tis Angel's music!" + + +It was a curious theory of Frater Johannes Drabicius, that the principal +employment of the blessed in heaven will be the continual ringing of +bells; and he occupied four hundred and twenty-five pages of a work +printed at Mentz, in 1618, to prove the same. + +Truly has it been said: "From youth to age the sound of the bell is sent +forth through crowded streets, or floats with sweetest melody above the +quiet fields. It gives a tongue to time, which would otherwise pass over +our heads as silently as the clouds, and lends a warning to its +perpetual flight. It is the voice of rejoicing at festivals, at +christenings, at marriages, and of mourning at the departure of the +soul. From every church-tower it summons the faithful of distant valleys +to the house of God; and when life is ended they sleep within the bell's +deep sound. Its tone, therefore, comes to be fraught with memorial +associations, and we know what a throng of mental images of the past can +be aroused by the music of a peal of bells. + + 'O, what a preacher is the time-worn tower, + Reading great sermons with its iron tongues.'" + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHELSEA. + +By William E. McClintock, C.E. + +[City Engineer of Chelsea.] + + +Sheltered from the winds of the Atlantic by the outlying towns of Revere +and Winthrop, and that section of the metropolis known as East Boston, +Chelsea occupies a peninsula, once called Winnisimmet, fronting on the +Mystic River and its two tributaries, the Island End and Chelsea Rivers. +Its area of fourteen hundred acres presents an undulating surface, +rising from the level of the salt marshes to four considerable +elevations, known as Hospital Hill, Mount Bellingham, Powderhom Hill, +and Mount Washington. + +[Illustration: OLD FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. +Corner of Broadway and Third Street.] + +Originally it was included within the township of Boston, and was +settled as early as 1630; and a few years later was connected with +Boston by the Winnisimmet Ferry, whose charter, granted in 1639, makes +it the oldest chartered ferry company in the United States. + +In those early days the Winnisimmet Ferry connected the foot of Hanover +Street, in Boston, with the old road leading to Salem and the eastward, +which followed the course of Washington Avenue. + +Samuel Maverick, of Noddle's Island, an early settler, was the first +claimant of the land. Richard Bellingham, "the unbending, faithful old +man, skilled from his youth in English law, perhaps the draughtsman of +the charter [of the Massachusetts Colony], certainly familiar with it +from its beginning, was chosen to succeed Endicott," as governor. About +1634, he came into possession of most of Winnisimmet, but his title was +rather obscure; it was confirmed to him, however, by the town of Boston, +in 1640. He is not known to have lived upon his estate. He divided the +land into four farms, which he let to tenants,--subdivisions which +remained substantially the same for two centuries. The government +reservation is said to have remained in the possession of Samuel +Maverick. + +[Illustration: WINNISIMMET FERRY LANDING. +About forty years ago.] + +Governor Bellingham died in 1672, at the age of eighty, and, although +a lawyer and a good man, left behind him a will which gave rise to +litigation that continued for over a century. As this instrument affects +every title in Chelsea, it becomes of public interest. He bequeathed the +estate of Winnisimmet to trustees, to be devoted to the support of his +widow, his son, and his two nieces, during their lives, after which it +was to be used to build a meeting-house, support a minister, and educate +a limited number of young men for the ministry. + +The son, Dr. Samuel Bellingham, after the death of his father, contested +the will in court, and had it set aside. + +[Illustration: CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. +Erected A.D. 1871.] + +After his death the trustees named in the will brought a suit to carry +into effect the directions of the old governor. One by one they dropped +out of the contest, silenced by death, until at length the town +authorities undertook to maintain their supposed rights. It was not +until 1788, after the close of the Revolution, that the case was finally +decided, and the town was defeated. + +After over a century of outlying dependence, and forced attendance in +all weathers at the churches in Boston, the good people of Winnisimmet, +Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, having demonstrated their willingness +and ability to support a minister, petitioned for and obtained the +privileges of a new parish and township, named Chelsea.[3] Rumney Marsh +is now known as Revere, and Pullen Point as Winthrop. The new township +also included a strip of land half a mile wide and four miles long, +extending north-westerly through what is now Maiden and Melrose, well +into the town of Wakefield, and at present forming a part of Saugus. + +[Illustration: OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH. +Site of present church; moved and used by Bellingham Methodists.] + +The old Town House, or meeting-house, built in 1710, and still standing, +was at Rumney Marsh. + +The earliest census of the town, on record, was taken in 1776, and +indicated a population of four hundred and thirty-nine. + +The Reverend Dr. Tuckerman was settled over the parish, which included +the whole township, in 1801, and for a quarter of a century ministered +to the people of an almost stationary community. During that time, only +three new buildings were erected; and they were built to replace as many +torn down. + +In 1802, the Chelsea Bridge was built, to form a part of the turnpike +(Broadway) leading from Charlestown to Salem. Before that time, the only +way to reach Boston from Chelsea, with a loaded team, was through +Malden, Medford, Cambridge, and Roxbury, over the Neck, requiring a +whole day to make the journey. + +As late as 1830, Winnisimmet was of no importance except as a +market-garden and thoroughfare. Of the seven hundred and seventy-one +inhabitants of Chelsea, but thirty lived within the present limits of +the city. The original Bellingham subdivisions were known as the Cary, +Carter, Shurtleff, and Williams Farms, and were owned and occupied by +those families. Three years previously, in 1827, the general government +had secured possession of the hospital reservation, which it still +occupies. About 1831, the value of Winnisimmet as the site for a future +city became apparent, and a land company was formed, which secured the +Shurtleff and Williams Farms, and laid out a very attractive city--on +paper. + +The ferry accommodations at this date consisted of two sailboats +of about forty tons each. During the following summer the steam +ferry-boats, Boston and Chelsea, were put on the line, and increased the +value of property in Chelsea. These boats were the first of the kind to +navigate the waters of Boston Harbor. + +In 1832, John Low built the first store, at the corner of Broadway and +Everett Avenue, and was the pioneer merchant of the city. The newcomers, +known to the older inhabitants as "roosters," settled principally in the +neighborhood of the landing. So many came, that in 1840 there were in +the town twenty-three hundred and ninety inhabitants. In 1832, the +omnibus, "North Ender," commenced running from Chelsea Ferry landing to +Boylston Market; the fare was twelve and one-half cents. The "Governor +Brooks," the first 'bus in Boston, had been running about a week before. +It was twenty years later when an omnibus line was established for the +convenience of the village. + +[Illustration: First Baptist Church. Gerrish's Block. First M.E. Church, +Winnisimmet Congregational Church. Park Street. +JUNCTION OF PARK AND WINNISIMMET STREETS--1859.] + +To town meetings at Rumney Marsh the settlers at the landing had to +tramp to vote on questions affecting the town. Right bravely would they +attend to their duties as citizens, to find their efforts of no avail on +account of the sharp practices of their neighbors of the Marsh and +Point, who would reverse their action at an adjourned meeting. At +length, in overwhelming numbers, they assembled once upon a time, and +voted a new Town House, near the site of the present Catholic church. As +a consequence, North Chelsea was set off in 1846, and Chelsea shrank to +its present boundaries. In 1850, notwithstanding the loss of so large an +extent of territory, Chelsea numbered sixty-seven hundred and one +inhabitants. Seven years later, in 1857, the town was granted a city +charter; it was divided into four wards, and Colonel Francis B. Fay was +inaugurated the first mayor. + +From that time the growth of the city has been rapid. In 1860, there +were 13,395 inhabitants; in 1870, 18,547; in 1880, 21,785; to-day there +are probably 24,000. The Honorable Hosea Ilsley was the second mayor; he +was succeeded by the Honorable Frank B. Fay, in 1861; by the Honorable +Eustace C. Fitz, in 1864; by the Honorable Rufus S. Frost, in 1867; by +the Honorable James B. Forsyth, M.D., in 1869; by the Honorable John W. +Fletcher, in 1871; by the Honorable Charles H. Ferson, in 1873; by the +Honorable Thomas Green, in 1876; by the Honorable Isaac Stebbins, in +1877; by the Honorable Andrew J. Bacon, in 1879; by the Honorable Samuel +P. Tenney, in 1881; by the Honorable Thomas Strahan, the present mayor, +in 1883. + +[Illustration: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.] + +In 1849, the railway connected Chelsea with Boston, and in 1857 the +horse-cars commenced running. + +During the Rebellion, Chelsea responded loyally for troops. In the Union +army there were sixteen hundred and fifty-one soldiers from Chelsea. Of +that number, forty-two were killed in battle; sixteen died of wounds; +seventy-five died in hospitals; nine died in Rebel prisons; besides one +hundred and four who were more or less seriously wounded. The city also +furnished one hundred and thirty-seven recruits for the navy during the +war. The city has commemorated those heroes who died for their country, +by a very appropriate monument in Union Park. + +The conservative character of the political fathers of the city may be +judged by the fact that Samuel Bassett, who was first elected town clerk +in 1849, has served the town and city continuously in that capacity to +the present time. For the half-century before his election there had +been only three incumbents of the office. + +[Illustration: Jonathan Bosson's house. Deacon Loring's house. +EPISCOPAL CHURCH. +Present site of D. & L. Slade's grain store; burned just after the late +war.] + +The efforts of the land company, who fostered the early growth of the +city, were directed to induce people doing business in Boston to select +homesteads in Chelsea; but manufacturing was gradually introduced, until +to-day many important industries have become established, which have +given the place a world-wide reputation. Chief among these are the works +of the Magee Furnace Company. Their buildings occupy a lot of several +acres, fronting on Chelsea River. Here the celebrated Magee stove, in +all its various forms and patterns, is manufactured from the crude iron. +The establishment consumes two thousand tons of coal annually, and +converts four thousand tons of pig-iron into graceful and useful +articles. John Magee, the organizer and president of the company, is the +patentee of all the improvements. The works were established in Chelsea +in 1864; they employ five hundred operatives, and produce thirty +thousand stoves and furnaces yearly. These are shipped by car-load all +through the Northern and Western States, to the Pacific slope, reaching +Oregon without breaking bulk. Their goods are sold in England, Sweden, +Turkey, Cape Colony, Australia, China, and the islands of the Pacific, +although the home demand almost forbids their seeking a foreign market. +The popularity of their work may be known from the fact that one hundred +and fifty thousand stoves of one pattern have been sold. The iron +entering into the manufacture of stoves must be of a peculiar fineness +of texture. The best of ore of three or four qualities is mixed, +frequently tested, and constantly watched during the manufacturing +process. + +[Illustration: OLD UNITARIAN CHURCH.] + +The beauty of their stove castings has led to a new industry,--the +fine-art castings,--in which the most marvelous results are produced. +Professional artists and art critics are constantly employed in the +establishment, and many thousand dollars are judiciously expended +yearly, for the purpose of forming and perfecting new designs to meet +the popular demand. + +[Illustration: NAVAL HOSPITAL. +Erected in 1836. Wing added in 1865.] + +Another celebrated industry of Chelsea is the manufacture of the Low +tiles, for household decoration. John G. Low, son of the pioneer +merchant, is the artist who has created this class of goods, and he has +succeeded in producing a tile of special artistic value. His work +surpasses anything of the kind made in the world, and finds a market +wherever works of art and beauty are appreciated. + +There are several establishments in the city, for the manufacture of +rubber goods of every variety, and many hundred operatives find +employment therein. + +The famous "Globe Works" are soon to be occupied by the extensive +establishment of the Forbes Lithograph Company. + +The Keramic Art Works of J. Robertson and Sons are noted throughout the +land for the beauty of their products. + +The pioneer manufacturers of the city are the firm of Bisbee, Endicott, +and Company, who established a machine-shop in 1836, and a foundry in +1846, and are still in business. + +Aside from these, Chelsea manufactures anchors, pilot-bread, mattresses, +bluing, boxes, bricks, britannia ware, brooms, cardigan jackets, +carriages, chairs, cigars, confectionery, enameled cloth, fire-brick, +furniture, hose, lamp-black, lumber, oils, wall-paper, planes, pottery, +roofing, salt, soap, spices, type, tinware, varnish, vaccine matter, +vessels, yeast, and window-shades,--giving employment to a very large +number of skilled artisans. + +There are two well-managed banks in the city, two ably-conducted +newspapers, one large and several small hotels, and an Academy of Music, +which is one of the finest provincial theatres in New England, boasting +of a fine auditorium and a well-appointed stage. + +The Naval Hospital, which generally accommodates about a dozen patients, +occupies eighty acres of the most desirable part of the city, the hill +upon which it is built overlooking Mystic River. + +The Marine Hospital, in the same neighborhood, which has usually from +seventy-five to eighty patients from the ranks of our mercantile marine, +occupies a lot of about ten acres. + +[Illustration: OLD MARINE HOSPITAL. +Fronting toward the water. Erected in 1827, and in 1857 converted +into a schoolhouse for the Hawthorne School.] + +Powderhorn Hill the summit of which is about two hundred feet above the +level of the sea, commands a fine view of Boston Harbor, the ocean, and +many miles of inland territory. Chelsea is spread out like a map at its +base. It has been the dream of enthusiastic admirers of the varied +scenery afforded from the top, to include it within the limits of a +public park, forever set apart for the benefit of the present and coming +generations. Half-way up the side of the hill stands the Soldiers' Home, +where many scarred veterans of the Union army find a safe haven, cared +for by those who appreciate their struggles in their country's cause. +The city, although occupying narrow limits, has become a very attractive +place for residence. The streets are broad, straight, and shaded by very +many thrifty trees. The water-works, organized in 1867, supply good +water; gas is furnished at reasonable rates, and the city has nearly +completed a system of sewerage, which adds to the comfort and health of +the people. The public buildings are commodious and ornamental. Churches +of pleasing architecture, of many religious denominations, appropriate +school buildings and good schools, spacious and elegant private +mansions, a well-organized fire and police department, a public library, +low death-rate, and good morals, serve to make the city of Chelsea a +very desirable place for those seeking a quiet home in a law-abiding +municipality. + +[Illustration: ACADEMY OF MUSIC.] + +All through the colonial period the civil affairs of the community were +intimately connected with the interests of the church; and +ecclesiastical history, when church and State were united, and the +minister was the greatest man of the parish, becomes of importance. + +As early as 1640, in the church of Boston, "a motion was made by such +as have farms at Rumney Marsh, that our Brother Oliver may be sent to +instruct our servants, and to be a help to them, because they cannot +many times come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn, and sometimes no where at +all." The piously disposed people of Boston evidently commiserated the +destitute condition of their poor dependents, and were desirous of +ministering to their spiritual wants. + +[Illustration: THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN.] + +[Illustration: AN INTERIOR IN THE HON. THOMAS STRAHAN'S RESIDENCE.] + +[Illustration: GERRISH'S BLOCK.] + +For many years the inhabitants of this section received the benefit of +irregular preaching from Brother Oliver and other kindly disposed +ministers from neighboring parishes. The wishes of Governor Bellingham +to provide for their wants had been frustrated, as before narrated. +Prior to 1706, the people were nominally connected with some church in +Charlestown or Boston. In that year, at the March meeting of the town of +Boston, a committee was appointed to consider what they should think +proper to lay before the town relating to petitions of sundry of the +inhabitants of Rumney Marsh about the building of a meeting-house. +Action was postponed, from year to year, until August 29, 1709, when it +was voted to raise one hundred pounds, to be laid out "in building a +meeting-house at Rumney Marsh." The raising of the frame was in July of +the following year. + +The Reverend Thomas Cheever, son of the famous schoolmaster, was chosen +pastor October 17, 1715, and was dismissed December 21, 1748. At the +formation of the church, the Reverend Cotton Mather, D.D., was +moderator, and there were eight male members, including the pastor. + +The Reverend Thomas Cheever was born in 1658; was graduated at Harvard +College in 1677; was ordained and settled in Maiden, July 27, 1681; was +dismissed in 1686, "on the advice of an ecclesiastical council"; removed +to Rumney Marsh and lived in the Newgate House; taught school many +years, and preached occasionally; died December 27, 1749, aged about +ninety-two years. + +[Illustration: CITY HOTEL.] + +Toward the close of his ministry, the Reverend William McClenachan was +installed as Mr. Cheever's colleague, although considerable opposition +was manifested, and several prominent members withdrew to other +churches. The connection of the pastor with the church continued until +December 25, 1754, when Mr. McClenachan left them and joined the +Established Church of England. He was a man of remarkable eloquence, and +soon after his resignation of the pastorate of the Chelsea parish, he +went to England. + +[Illustration: C.A. CAMPBELL'S COAL OFFICE.] + +The Reverend Phillips Payson was settled as pastor, October 26, 1757. He +was a noted scholar and teacher, and was a man of much influence in his +day. He was an active patriot during the Revolution, led his +parishioners in person, and held a commission from the Massachusetts +authorities. He preached the Election Sermon in 1778, and died in +office, January 11, 1801. He was born in Walpole, January 18, 1730, and +was graduated at Harvard College in 1754. + +The Reverend Joseph Tuckerman, D.D., was ordained and settled over the +parish November 4, 1801, and maintained this relation for just one +quarter of a century, preaching his farewell sermon November 4, 1826. He +was born in Boston, January 18, 1778; was graduated at Harvard College +in 1798; died in Havana, April 20, 1840. + +The First Baptist Church, the first religious society at Ferry Village, +was organized in 1836. + +The Unitarian Church was organized in 1838. + +The First Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1839. The +meeting-house they first occupied was on Park Street; it has been +recently sold to the Grand Army of the Republic. The edifice they now +occupy is on Walnut Street. + +[Illustration: REVERE RUBBER COMPANY.] + +The St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church were +organized in 1841. + +The First Universalist Church was organized in 1842. + +The Central Congregational Church was organized in 1843, under the name +of Winnisimmet. + +The St. Rose Catholic Church was organized in 1849. + +The Mount Bellingham Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1853. + +The Cary-avenue Baptist Church was organized in 1859. + +The Third Congregational Church was organized in 1877. + +[Illustration: T.H. BUCK & BROTHER'S LUMBER YARD.] + +The importance of education for the children was recognized at an early +date by the settlers of Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh. Brother Oliver may +have given instruction; Thomas Cheever certainly did, and for his +services received twenty pounds per annum from the town of Boston, as +shown by the vote of January 24, 1709. + +In 1833, the town of Chelsea was divided into three districts, known as +the Ferry, Centre, and Point. In 1834, Point Shirley district was set +off from the Point; and in 1838 the northern district was set off from +the Centre. The school committee, first elected in 1797, made their +first written report in 1839; their first printed report in 1841. + +The first schoolhouse in Ferry district was built in 1833, near the +corner of Chestnut Street and Washington Avenue. + +[Illustration: BOSTON RUBBER COMPANY, WINNISIMETT STREET.] + +In 1837, the Park-street schoolhouse was built, and the following year a +grammar school was kept. + +In 1839, a primary school was started at Prattville. From the +committee's report one is led to infer "that a stump with a piece of +board on top for a seat, having no back attached, affords no enviable +resting-place." + +In 1840, there were two primary schools in Ferry village, one occupying +the site of the Pioneer newspaper office, the other near the corner of +Shawmut Street and Central Avenue. + +The question of starting a high school was agitated in 1840, but no +action was taken until 1845. In 1850, a high school building was erected +on Second and Walnut Streets. + +In January, 1873, the present high school building, on Bellingham +Street, was dedicated with appropriate exercises, Tracy P. Cheever +delivering the address. + +The tithingmen were the ancient conservators of the peace, and were +chosen annually as late as 1834; after that date their duties devolved +upon the constables. In 1847, a night-watch was first deemed necessary. + +In 1854, the first steps were taken toward organizing a police force. +During the year occurred the memorable Know-Nothing riot, which resulted +in the pulling down of a cross. + +The first city government established a police department, and appointed +a city marshal and six assistants. As at present organized, there is a +chief-of-police, two deputies, and fifteen patrol-men, whose duties are +to keep watch over the city day and night, keep the peace, and protect +property, and observe and report any defects in the public way which +could by any chance result in injury to either man or beast. + +In 1842, at the annual town-meeting the selectmen were authorized to +erect twelve street-lamps. Their number has been increased from time to +time until there are now over five hundred and fifty lamps, besides two +large lanterns: one on the Square, the other in front of the Academy of +Music. + +[Illustration: MAGEE FURNACE COMPANY'S FOUNDRY.] + +[Illustration: HIGH SCHOOL. ERECTED IN 1872. F.A. HILL, PRINCIPAL.] + +[Illustration: FIRING THE KILN. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +A board of health was first elected in 1846. From 1850, to the +organization of the city government, the selectmen acted as the board. +From 1857 to 1878 the duties of the board were in the hands of the mayor +and board of aldermen. Since 1878, a board has been annually elected. +Their supervision and oversight have been of great advantage to the +city. + +In 1863, the Chelsea Library Association presented the city with about +one thousand volumes, which became the nucleus of the Public Library. +Eight thousand books have already been collected; they are soon to be +gathered within an appropriate and spacious building generously donated +to the city. + +There is much of romance in the history of such an ancient settlement as +Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh, although most of the incidents worthy of +note have long since passed into oblivion. + +The Indian wars never affected directly the early settlers, for before +hostilities commenced the frontier had been advanced some miles into the +interior; but the brave sons of the pioneers were called upon for the +defence of more exposed localities, and promptly responded. + +"In military affairs Rumney Marsh, for many years, was associated with +the neighboring towns in Essex and Middlesex, in an organization called +the 'Three County Troop.'" The company appears to have been formed as +early as May, 1659. Edward Hutchinson was confirmed as the first +captain. Captain John Tuttle was in command of the company in 1673. + +In the war of 1676, the Three County Troop sent ten men, "well fitted +with long arms," to the rendezvous at Concord. + +"In the year 1677, about April the 7th, six or seven men were slain by +the Indians, near York, while they were at work two miles from the town, +whereof one was the son of Lieutenant Smith of Winnisimmet, a hopeful +young man.... Five Indians paddled their canoes down towards York, where +they killed six of the English, and took one captive, May 19 following; +and, May 23, four days after, one was killed at Wells, and one taken by +them betwixt York and Wells; amongst whom was the eldest son of +Lieutenant Smith, forementioned; his younger brother was slain in the +same town not long before." + +The company was disbanded in 1690. A company of sixty soldiers under +command of Captain John Floyd, a citizen of Rumney Marsh, was sent as a +garrison to protect the frontier at Portsmouth, about this date. + +[Illustration: ORNAMENTAL JUG. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +"While the regulars were on their retreat from Lexington, on the 19th of +April, 1775, protected by reinforcements under command of Lord Percy, a +detached party who were carrying stores and provisions were attacked at +Metonomy by Rev. Phillips Payson, leading a party of his parishioners, +whom he had hastily gathered on the alarm. One of the regulars was +killed and some were taken prisoners, together with arms and stores, +without loss to the attacking party." + +Captain Samuel Sprague had command of a Chelsea company of twenty-eight +men, which was mustered into the service April 19, 1775. At a later date +Chelsea furnished the patriot army with a company of fifty-two men, +under the same commander. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF TILES. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +"On the 27th of May, 1775, as a party of the Massachusetts forces, +together with a party of New Hampshire forces, In all about six hundred +men, were attempting to bring off the stock upon Hog Island, and about +thirty men upon Noddle's Island were doing the same, when above a +hundred regulars landed upon the last-mentioned island and pursued our +men till they got safely back to Hog Island." + +A spirited engagement ensued, attended, however, with no serious loss to +the American forces. The regulars were supported by an armed schooner +which the enemy were obliged to abandon, having first set the vessel on +fire. + +[Illustration: A TILED FIREPLACE. (Low's Art Tile Works.)] + +General Putnam, Colonel Stark, and Dr. Joseph Warren, are said to have +been present during the contest, either as actors or witnesses. + +"During the siege of Boston, Chelsea formed the extreme left of the line +of circumvallation; and on the south-eastern slope of Mount Washington +stands the house of Robert Pratt, which occupies the site of an earlier +house at which Washington lunched when inspecting the lines." + +In closing this sketch, the writer wishes to give credit to the +Honorable Mellen Chamberlain, an honored resident of Chelsea, for +information relating to the early history of the town, which he has +kindly furnished, and to the researches embodied in his valuable +article, "Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, Pullen Point, and Chelsea, in the +Provincial Period," printed in the second volume of the Memorial History +of Boston, published by James R. Osgood and Company, in 1881. + +It is not difficult to predict the future of Chelsea. Situated as it is +on navigable waters, with an extensive waterfront, near to the +metropolis of New England, and already the site of many important +industries, prosperity awaits it. Time alone can tell whether, like its +namesake in the Mother-Country, it becomes absorbed in the neighboring +and growing city, or develops into a great manufacturing suburb, like +Newark and Patterson. + +[Illustration] + +[Footnote 3: Date of Act, January 10, 1739. + +Chelsea, as every Englishman is aware, is the name of a suburb of +London, where are situated the great national hospitals of Great Briton. +It was in existence as a village as early as A.D. 785, but was long +since absorbed by the expanding city.] + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN WISWALL, THE OBJURGATORY BOSTON BOY. + + +John Wiswall, a "young man with somewhat original objurgatory +tendencies," was not of the meaner sort of families. His grandfather, +John Wiswall, then some eighty-three years old, ever took an active +interest in the church and social affairs, first in Dorchester, and +afterward in Boston. Mr. Savage says that he was a brother of Thomas +Wiswall, a public-spirited man of Cambridge, Dorchester, and Newton; but +John Wiswall was ruling elder of the First Church, Boston, made so the +third month, fourth day, 1669, the day John Oxenbridge was ordained +pastor. He also was one of the town's committee to act with the +selectmen, to receive the legacy of Captain Robert Keayne, in 1668. +"Elder Wiswall died, August 15, 1687, aged eighty-six years." + +Elder John Wiswall left one son--John, Jr. This John, Jr., was a man of +life and zeal in the community. He is mentioned as "a well-known and +wealthy citizen." Among his children, by his wife Hannah, was one John, +born March 21, 1667, who became the "young man with somewhat original +objurgatory tendencies," and in the autumn of 1684 was rising seventeen +years of age. John Wiswall was a Boston boy, full of the animation which +has ever characterized the youth of that town. If he had been entirely +of the plastic sort, and represented not one of the leading families, he +never would have been made an example of to the youth of the community. +An example was needed. The new government felt that stringency was +demanded. If data serve us well, would say that John Wiswall, "a +mariner," died about 1700, leaving a widow, Mary, who afterward married +a White. None of the Wiswall name of to-day are from this line, but the +Wiswall blood is infused in the Emmons, the Fisher, the Cutler, and the +Johnson families. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bay State Monthly, Volume I, No. 2, +February, 1884, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BAY STATE MONTHLY, VOLUME I *** + +***** This file should be named 15924.txt or 15924.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/2/15924/ + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David +Garcia and the 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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