USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > Centennial commemoration of the burning of Fairfield, Connecticut, by the British troops under Governor Tryon, July 8th, 1779 > Part 4
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We mean to remember the old days and worthies, and restore whatever has been lost, by careful record and faithful service. We do not expect great increase or startling prosperity, yet we have good expectations. These lovely hills must some day win residents and homes, and on either side, population must flow from the commercial and manufacturing cities to add to our numbers and to help us in our taste and aspiration. Especially do we insist upon keeping up the great heart that founded and has enobled this place and upon measuring life by itself and not by material things, caring more for the soul than the body, and finding the eternal spirit in all that is good, true and fair.
In this faith let us interpret the history and cheer the prospect of our town, remembering sacredly that the influence of the outrage upon our people here, and their great suffering, did much to nerve the whole country in the final struggle for liberty, and not for- getting that the service to culture and religion which has been rendered here by scholars, jurists and theo- logians, has given this quiet village a place in history
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beyond that which is held by many a field of battle with its memorial of cruelty. The town was burned but not destroyed. It lived and lives now, and its record is part of the history of the nation. In a true sense, the success of our thrifty neighbors is our success, and already the work done and the wealth won and the thought spoken in the communities that live within the old limits, are beyond the fondest dreams of the ancient founders or of the new pat- riots of a hundred years ago. As a summer resident here for thirty summers of health and privilege, I give thanks with you in the favored experience and good hope.
Let us this day lift up our banner and declare our platform. This is Fairfield, this is Connecticut, this is New England and we are Americans. So too we are men and we give and take the great blessing of our human kind. No hate now to England, and our united flags speak the blessings of the child to the mother. Would that some great English men of the stamp of Arthur P. Stanley and William E. Glad- stone, who have been such noble friends to us, could answer to this sentiment here and make the English speaking race feel its brotherhood of liberty and love to-day.
Even broader than that is our fellowship. Fair- field says here her own name in benediction. Fair- field let there be everywhere on earth, and Fair Play for all men, by justice, liberty, kindness and good
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works between all nations in the brotherhood of the race and under the Providence and Grace of God.
After an elaborate piece of music by the band, Dr. Osgood introduced His Excellency, Governor Andrews, with expressing his great pleasure in wel- coming the chief magistrate of Connecticut alike from respect to him personally and from reverence for the noble line of Governors that had presented such famous names as John Winthrop, the Puritan statesman, and Jonathan Trumbull, the friend of Washington, who was Governor a hundred years ago.
GOVERNOR ANDREWS' ADDRESS.
In the name of the State of Connecticut, whose servant I am, I greet this day. Such days as these should be commemorated and should be more gen- erally observed. Any day in which our patriotism and the patriotism of the younger generations may be strengthened should receive attention. By this, I do not mean to infer that your patriotism is deficient ; the heartiness of this commemorative service proves the contrary. I come, as the representative of the State, to give character to this duty of observing these days with patriotic devotion. When I awoke this morning and heard the rain pattering upon the roof, I thought if General Tryon could not find a better day than this to burn a town, he had better not burn it at all. It has been a mystery why Sir
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Henry Clinton sent that expedition up Long Island sound to ravage these towns. His object, it seems to me, was to suppress the onslaught made upon the supplies which he sent out for his army. The orator of this morning struck the right key to its solution when he said Fairfield's privateers and others of the coast towns cut off these supplies. But the object of the expedition failed, for a voice of horror went up from the whole civilized world at the atrocities perpetrated, so that he failed to receive the benefits which he had hoped from the campaign, and the re- capture of Stony Point by Mad Anthony Wayne soon after, was in some sense a retribution for the burning of Fairfield. But I did not intend to make a speech. I desire only to call your attention to these historic facts. I come to represent those of the state who are not here, and in their names I greet you, and bend in homage toward the memory of those patriots whose names we honor to-day.
Dr. Osgood then announced that a telegram had been received from the President of the United States, whom all Americans honor in his office, and who regretted his inability to be present. He also read a telegram from George William Curtis, ex- pressing his regret at his necessary absence. Many letters from distinguished men, such as Robert C. Winthrop, Bishop Williams and President Porter had been received, and would be published in the pamphlet which is to contain the proceedings of the day.
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THE CENTENNIAL HYMN.
BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.
Our fathers' God! from out whose hand The centuries fall like grains of sand, We meet to-day, united, free, And loyal to our land and Thee, To thank Thee for the era done, And trust Thee for the opening one.
Here where of old, by Thy design, The fathers spake that word of Thine, Whose echo is the glad refrain Of rended bolt and falling chain, To grace our festal time, from all The zones of earth our guests we call.
Be with us while the New World greets The Old World, thronging all its streets, Unveiling all the triumphs won By art or toil beneath the sun; And unto common good ordain This rivalship of hand and brain.
Thou who hast here in concord furled The war flags of a gathered world, Beneath our western skies fulfill, The Orient's mission of good will, And, freighted with Love's golden fleece, Send back the Argonauts of peace.
For art and labor met in truce, For beauty made the bride of use, We thank Thee, while withal we crave The austere virtues strong to save, The honor proof to place or gold, The manhood never bought nor sold ! Oh ! make Thou us, through centuries long, In peace secure, and justice strong ; Around our gift of freedom draw The safeguards of Thy righteous law, And, cast in some diviner mould, Let the new cycle shame the old !
C
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Dr. Osgood then spoke of Rev. Augustus F. Hewit, D.D., as a distinguished scholar and preacher whom Amherst College, his alma mater, had con- spicuously honored, and who was a native of Fairfield, and son of an eminent pastor here. He regretted that Dr. Hewit could not fulfill the hope which his pleasant letter in reply to the invitation to speak had given. The Rev. Dr. E. P. Rogers, of New York, a former resident and always welcome guest, was next called upon, and he responded in some very pleasant remarks and reminiscences.
He began his address by relating the story of an old minister who always had one formula to open all his sermons. This was, after announcing the text, to say, "My subject naturally divides itself into three parts." Taking as his text one time, " Adam, where art thou," he divided it as follows : " Man is generally somewhere ; he is usually where he had no business to be ; and thirdly, if he did not look out he would find himself where he would not want to be." He had found himself where he did not want to be, called upon to make a speech. He spoke touchingly of his early residence in the town, of the impressions which he had received in his youth, of the old church, the old academy, the noble history, and the hallowed associations which clustered about the old town. He recalled the great advance that had been made during the past one hundred years, in everything that exalts and educates a people, and said he was thankful to be present as one of the old Fairfield boys, and
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tender his congratulations to the ten thousand friends around him upon the history of the town. He closed with a strong appeal for protection and devotion to the cause of liberty and human rights, adding, " May God bless this town forever, and may the principles of its fathers, be the principles of their children."
Stirring music was then given by the band, after which Dr. Osgood introduced the Rev. Horatio N. Powers, D. D., of Bridgeport, as the next speaker, and upon a topic congenial with him as the friend of Bry- ant, and the author of successful books of thought and sentiment in prose and poetry. It is to be hoped he said, that good would come from urging the im- provement of country towns, and that a new and charming avenue may be opened along our shore from Sea Side Park to Sasco Hill.
DR. POWERS ON PUBLIC SPIRIT IN OLD RURAL TOWNS.
A genuine public spirit is as desirable and becom- ing in old country towns as in more populous com- munities, and one expression of it is a cultivated taste that concerns itself in the appropriate orna- mentation of a place. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, that accomplished Englishman to whom the art of the present in both hemispheres is so much indebted, reports a curious but actual conversation that he had once while engaged in sketching in a wild region in Scotland with a British nobleman, who was there fish- ing for trout. His lordship who was a pious person, expressed his utter contempt for all art as sinful folly,
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and his belief that those who engaged in such vani- ties were in danger of Hell fire. " Hell is real, sir," he exclaimed, "there it is gaping before us." This anxious nobleman finished his edifying exhortation to the artist by singing an air from the opera of the Traviata and taking a good drink of whiskey. The same kind of consistency has sometimes been observed among our own people in days gone by. New England has produced persons,-I suppose the race is dying out-who could manage to tolerate for a few days flowers on apple trees-(I don't know whether they could detect the odor of cider in the blossoms)-and flowers on the clover and the potato vines, and possibly a few sunflowers with a view to the seed, but who would have no such trifles as flow- ers about the house for ornament; indeed, they gravely doubted the piety of any who took a real delight in such things as roses and carnations.
These characters would give abundant attention to the cattle pen, but precious little to the door-yard ; they admired the friskiness of young lambs, but kept the little children awfully quiet. Their parlors were not particularly inspiring to cheerfulness, but then they were seldom open except for funerals ! I do not suppose that we ought to infer that a decadence of religion is going on just because this spirit is not peculiar to the present generation. The fact is we have witnessed a great improvement in the ornamen- tation of our county towns in the last two or three decades which is as creditable to the character of
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their inhabitants, as it is to their advantage in many ways. I am not advocating the use of ornament to the neglect of the practical economies. To pet a curious plant and neglect a household duty is no compliment to the æsthetic spirit. To decorate the piazza and leave the back-yard a maze of ugly litter and unwholesome fixtures is as repugnant to a right moral sense as to good taste. Judicious ornament
can and should go along with industrial improvement and sanitary precautions. It is plain that the more conspicuous the beauty of a village, other things being equal, the higher it will stand in the general esteem, and the more eagerly it will be sought by those who long for rural repose. Wide streets with abundant shade, suitable sidewalks, an open gener- ous green or park, tasty dwellings with well-kept lawns and a variety of shrubbery and flowers, at- tractive school houses and churches, the cemeteries properly located and embellished, good drives and good drainage-all these are important features of a pleasant and prosperous country town, and should enlist the general attention. The example of a few energetic citizens like the distinguished president of this occasion, in this direction will have a wholesome effect upon the public mind. I am acquainted with no place that illustrates more fully what good taste can do than the village of Fairfield, which is con- spicuous among New England towns for its rare and engaging beauty. There are special reasons, it is true, why it should be superior in this regard. But
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our inland towns, however remote, will find it to their advantage to cultivate their rural charms. Some of them are already reaping the rewards of such com- mendable endeavor. Beauty has a powerful and gracious ministry, and no utilities of industry need be dwarfed or paralyzed by its presence.
One of the most encouraging evidences of an en- lightened public spirit in a country town, is a due regard to its sanitary interests ; but I must leave this point with the simple assertion of their vast impor- tance-an importance which is assuming something like its proper proportions in the minds of educated citizens.
Another expression of this desirable public spirit is an active social element. The days of husking and apple-paring bees, quiltings and old-fashioned singing schools are about over. Sitting around the bar-room stove and lounging on dry goods boxes and grocery counters, is hardly to be accepted as proof of eminent enterprise or sociability. Where good books are read, where schools are influential, where religion is more than a mechanical routine, there will be a tendency among the people towards intercommunion. Conversation will be something more than twaddle and gossip. There will be neighborly kindness, an interest in the higher questions of life, sympathies that bring citizens into pleasant and helpful inter- course. There is danger in our country towns, that this cordial social spirit be allowed to languish, or rather, that it fail to have adequate expression.
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There is often a great deal of kind feeling, hearty good will among people that is not sufficiently demonstrative. Visiting should be kept up among neighbors. Practical benevolence should be culti- vated. Social gatherings should be encouraged, and intellectual and spiritual interests should be suppor- ted by the contact of mind with mind and heart with heart. People don't know how rich their stores of enjoyment and improvement are until they get into intimate relations.
Finally, every town almost has a history which the pride of its inhabitants ought to keep in lively remem- brance. There are enough who will preserve the tra- ditions of horrors and follies, comic extravagances, ill- odored scandal. But the men who have gone forth to act noble parts in life should not be forgotten. The significance of important local events should be per- petuated. That is a sad state of the popular mind where there is no spirit that appreciates and honors what is creditable and venerable in the annals of the town. Suitable commemorations tend to keep alive in the common heart a sense of obligation to the past ; they stimulate the best mind of the present with examples of noble citizenship and foster the reverence that should be paid to the illustrious dead, This phrase of public spirit cannot be too much com- mended. For one I heartily rejoice in such a becom- ing and inspiring illustration of it as that which signalizes this occasion. May Fairfield forever be an example of what a rural town ought to be.
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After Hail Columbia by the band, the President referred to the welcome presence of our own towns- people from Greenfield and Southport, and called upon Rev. Edward H. Wells of Southport, whose delicate health did not allow him to speak at length.
Remarks of Rev. Edward H. Wells :
He spoke for Southport and for good neighbor- hood, also for the whole Union. He rejoiced he said, with Gov. Hampton, whom he had heard say he "was glad that the war of 1861 turned out as it did ; that the Union ought never to have been touched." This occasion he said was a national one, and he, a southerner, rejoiced with the people of Fairfield. He was proud of Connecticut, and there was not a state in the Union but what had felt its power and influ- ence. He quoted the late John C. Calhoun, as say- ing he owed to New England all the might and power he possessed. He hoped that the people of the north and of the south would present such a solid front for the perpetuity of the Union that no hand would dare to again assail its flag or tamper with its constitution. . "God bless you all here to-day, God bless Connecticut, God bless my Country."
After this "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean " was sung by the united Choirs.
Then Dr. Osgood said that the next speaker had been brought by express, a fifteen hours journey to meet this occasion, and alike as an old Fairfield resi- dent and representative, and as a typical American, he belonged here now. It had been his task to give
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our people innocent recreation-to make Americans laugh without being foolish. His motto had been "laugh and be wise " by amusement without impro- priety or excess. He had reason to thank Mr. Bar- num for the finest music he had ever had, and for allowing the American people to hear Jenny Lind sing " I know that my Redeemer liveth." Mr. Bar- num will now speak upon "Self control essential in a Republic."
MR. BARNUM ON SELF CONTROL IN REPUBLICS.
Mr. Barnum said he supposed he should have to make a spread-eagle speech, but he thought it would be hard to squeeze the eagle into five minutes ; it generally took orators an hour and a half. In 1844 I was present in Glasgow, Scotland, when the free- dom of the city was presented to Lord John Russell. His lordship in the course of his reply to the "Ad- dress " .said, " Great Britain clothes America and I am willing that America should continue in part to feed Great Britain."
In those days we imported most of our cloth and other manufactures from England. But if Gen. Tryon could see the progress which we have made as a nation in one hundred years, his government would hesitate before they again let him " try on " the firing of our towns and cities. The World's Fairs of Lon- don, Paris, Vienna and Philadelphia have opened the eyes of the old world. We supply them with our agricultural implements, sewing machines and watch- es, our muslins and calicos are selling in Manchester,
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and our cutlery is competing in Sheffield with the manufacturers of that city. Our inventions and " Yankee Notions," are spread all over the civilized world, the ocean is covered with ships carrying to Europe our grain, beef, horses, cattle, cheese, and even fresh oysters, lobsters, peaches and melons.
England, which for scores of years has boasted of her high bred race horses sees the prizes carried off by Mr. Lorillard's Parole-and although she still sings " Britannia rules the waves," and glories in her annual Oxford and Cambridge boat races, Hanlan goes across the water and with his scull and oars whips them all out of their boots. England sends her " walkist " to America and takes the "belt" but scarcely has he touched the British shores before our American Weston triumphantly captures it again.
No nation on earth has progressed in material and other respects as has this nation since the beautiful town of Fairfield was burned by the British one hundred years ago to-day.
No nation on the face of the earth to-day is so happy and prosperous as ours, and no nation pos- sesses the same elements of future greatness-of peace and plenty.
But "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," es- pecially under a Republican government. A govern- ment of the people by the people, must be charac- terized by honesty, wisdom and justice. The wise man truly said : " Righteousness exalteth a nation." Rome was a great and proud Republic, but her wickedness and folly brought her to the dust.
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No republic can live, nor had ought to live, whose laws are made under the influence of hatred, selfish- ness or bad whiskey. The rum traffic and rum- drinking habits exercise an almost omnipotent power and influence over our political elections. This giant evil of our land concentrates and combines the crim- inal and vicious classes, and delivers the government of our cities into their hands. Consequently many members of city " Common Councils," and even of Legislatures and of Congress, elected by the vile votes of the rum power, would be a disgrace to a government of African savages. The votes of American citizens are counted and not weighed ; the ballot of the poor drunkard in the ditch, bought with a pint of whiskey, counts as much as the vote of His Excellency, our worthy Governor, hence if we would live as a Republic we must reform, re- fine and elevate the poor victims of the rum delu- sion. The whole essence of the Gospel and the Christian religion consists of love to God and to man; and on these two commandments our Sa- viour said hung "all the law and the prophets." As American citizens then, if we would guard and pre- serve our liberties, our happiness and our true great- ness, we must work for public good. Not only our churches and schools must correctly teach total ab- stinence from all that intoxicates, but our personal efforts must be devoted to educating the people, en- couraging them to honor and practice labor, to deal with each other as brethren of one great family, and
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to instill into the minds of the rising generation the great truth that the human brain (which gives us reason and distinguishes us from the brute creation whose instinct only guides them) must be kept clear, and unmuddled, if we aspire to be a great noble free people governing ourselves. Business success comes from three things, industry, perseverance, and a clear intellect to lay plans and to execute them. To pre- serve this great nation we must continually work and act and do. It is a glorious practice to celebrate such days as this and our national birth-day, for it keeps up our enthusiasm for self government, but talk without labor will set the nation asleep and betray her into the hands of the enemy. It is very nice to run up our flags and bunting, to play Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle, but to make our liberties and national happiness permanent, Yankee Doodle is not enough, it must be Yankee Doodle-do.
The band then played the old Yankee tune with remarkable spirit, and the President introduced Pro- fessor Dwight, of Yale College, grandson of the celebrated President Dwight, who for years taught and preached in Greenfield Hill, and who wrote the poem of that name.
Professor Dwight spoke in substance as follows :
The People, said he, believed in self-government but had been unable to exercise it or he should not be there to make a speech. He said that the only two poems President Dwight had written were "Greenfield Hill" and the " Road to Canaan." What-
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ever attribute had been transmitted to the speaker it had not been the poetic. The speaker said he had endeavored in his humble way to teach men that they might lead men to Canaan. An able New Haven clergyman once, preaching upon the character of Peter, remarked that he received his remarkable energy from his mother. When the members of the congregation returned home they referred to their Bibles and found that Peter's remarkable energy came from his wife's mother, and so he had come and had received energy to make a speech from his wife's mother, a very pleasant relation, however.
The President then referred to the close relation existing between Fairfield and Green's Farms, once called the West Parish of Fairfield, and suffering with this town in the raid of Tryon. Rev. B. J. Relyea of Green's Farms responded :
He said that he thought it was the glory of those who repelled the British that they had such worthy descendants. It would not be to their credit if there were none who esteemed their valor and patriotism enough to commemorate their brave deeds. People go to Rome and Athens, not to see what has been accomplished in modern times, but to see what the fathers did. He was glad General Tryon had not left any old ruins to be gazed at in Fairfield. He spoke a word for the brave women of 1779, who, when the men were away fighting, dared to face the enemy at home.
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The President showed a cannon ball that had been fired from the American guns upon the British from the hills and said that was a sugar plum for Tryon's men that was well deserved. Sweeter missiles were now interchanged, and our programme indicates our spirit now towards England as Sir Edward Thornton's kind letter indicates Englands' sentiment towards America. There is to be held, August 11th, at Guild Hall, Lon- don, an International Code Congress to which some persons present, like himself, had been invited, under the presidency of the Chief Justice of England. This day's proceedings might tell a little upon the future law and policy of Nations.
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