USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Newtown > Newtown's bicentennial : an account of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the purchase from the Indians of the land of the town of Newtown, Connecticut, held August fifth, 1905 > Part 2
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REV. JAMES HARDIN GEORGE Rector of Trinity Church, President of the Day.
THE ANNIVERSARY DAY
August fifth was a perfect summer day, and as the sun showed his rim over the Zoar hills he was greeted with a salute of twenty-one guns and the ringing of the church bells. Every one was early astir, for there was much to be done to prepare for the first event of the day-the parade.
STORY OF THE PARADE.
The Bicentennial parade, Saturday morning, August 5, was a notable success. The parade was artistic, attractive, and when the five hundred school children are considered, it was beautiful. The parade astonished and delighted the visitors, who had no idea of witnessing so spectacular and beautiful an exhibition. It certainly reflected marked credit on Charles G. Peck, the efficient chairman, and his hard working committee, every one of whom were heartily con- gratulated on all sides.
All along the line of parade His Excellency, Governor Roberts, received a hearty greeting in hand-clapping and the waving of flags. This was especially noticeable at points in Sandy Hook, where numbers of young women were massed together, and in front of the Newtown Inn and Grand Central hotel, where his greeting was most enthu- siastic. Mr Peck received much praise for the fact that notwithstanding the parade left the Fair grounds thirteen minutes late, the grand stand was reached only five minutes behind the scheduled time. The Woodbury band, leading the parade, in their new suits, presented a handsome appear-
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ance, and rendered excellent music. They numbered twenty- one men.
The forming of the parade took place on the Fair grounds and by 9.13 was ready for the start, going up as far as the watering tank, south through Queen street to the C. B. Sher- man place, west through Glover street to the four corners, up Main street to the North Center schoolhouse, counter- marching through the street to the depot road, down to Sandy Hook, through Dayton street, across Dayton street bridge, south to iron bridge, up Sandy Hook Main street to Depot street and back to the Fair grounds, arriving at the grand stand five minutes later than the scheduled time. The parade was led by the grand marshal, C. G. Peck, who presented a fine appearance on his trained horse, which kept step to the music, attracting attention all along the line. The marshal and his aides wore military cloaks loaned by P. L. Ronalds, giving them a striking appearance. The first division was made up of C. G. Peck and aides, on black horses, the Woodbury band, followed by hacks, the first carriage being occupied by Governor Roberts, E. L. Johnson, Rev. J. H. George and Hon. M. J. Houlihan. Others occupying seats in the carriages were: Rev. O. W. Barker, Robert H. Beers, Allison P. Smith and Patrick H. McCarthy, members of the Executive Committee, and the following guests of the day : Hon. A. W. Mitchell of Wood- bury, State Comptroller, Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart of Middle- town, Hon. Daniel N. Morgan of Bridgeport, Dr. W. C. Wile, First Selectman Samuel A. Blackman of Newtown, Selectman E. C. Page of Newtown, Judge of Probate William J. Beecher of Newtown, Town Treasurer Charles H. Northrop of Newtown, Rev. J. F. George of Rockville, Rev. Patrick Fox and Rev. P. J. O'Reilly of Newtown, Rev. T. B. Smith of Danbury, Representatives John J. Northrop and E. W. Troy, Tax Collector John F. Houlihan, Rev. Frederick Foote Johnson, Rev. Clarence Beers,
CHARLES G. PECK Chairman of the Parade Committee.
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of Madison, S. D., Frederick Marble of Lowell, Mass., Admiral Prindle of Washington, D. C., Rev. E. L. Whit- come of Brookfield, Rev. O. O. Wright of Sandy Hook, Elliott H. Morse of New Haven, ex-Senator William N. Northrop of Newtown, Homer Keeler of Waterbury and Rev. Arthur Parsons of Thomaston.
The second division was led by Marshal Charles B. John- son and aides, who were mounted on white horses. In this division, in decorated wagons, rode the members of the Newtown High school, class of 1905. The pupils from the twenty-three school districts in Newtown, riding in handsomely decorated wagons, followed. The parochial schools connected with St. Rose's Church were represented by several wagons loaded with happy children. Fully five hundred school children were in the procession, and they presented a beautiful sight as they passed along, waving their flags and singing.
The third division was in charge of Marshal James B. Nichols and aides, mounted on chestnut-colored horses. Included in this division were the decorated wagons and floats, gotten up by local citizens and business firms, as follows: The Fabric Fire Hose Company, two wagons ; Patrick Gannon, float representing his bee industry; the Newtown Fire Company, Patrick Gannon foreman, with the hook and ladder truck, hose cart and fire engine; G. F. Baker & Co., Hawleyville, float representing their furniture business; Levi C. Morris, decorated wagon representing his grocery business; Bee Publishing Company, decorated wagon with printer at work on press; H. C. Plumb, deco- rated wagon, filled with happy children from the Newtown Inn; Betts & Betts, two decorated wagons; John T. Sheehan, decorated float with blacksmith at work at anvil; H. P. Boyson, float with logs, representing the wood industry. There was an attractive Indian float, boys and girls dressed as Indians, followed by a number of mounted
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young men dressed to represent Indians, and four native Indian girls from Hampton. Herbert Flansburg, the actor, dressed in complete Indian costume, rode in this division. P. L. Ronalds loaned for the parade his stylish four-in-hand tally-ho, which was occupied by ladies and children.
The fourth division was in charge of Marshal Louis T. Briscoe and aides, mounted on bay horses. In this division were a number of citizens on horseback. Mrs. William C. Johnson and Miss Fannie Daniels, dressed in "costume of ye olden time," rode in a carriage about two hundred years old. Miss Jennie Briscoe also rode in a wagon which was built in 1700. O. F. Terrill of Hawleyville had a decorated wagon with a fat steer as a passenger.
When the column reached the Fair Grounds the carriages were driven to the speakers' stand, where seats were pro- vided for the Governor and other distinguished guests. The grand stand was already filled and the space about was crowded with spectators ; so it was but a few minutes before the President of the day, Rev. James H. George, called the gathering to order and announced the opening number, "Home Again," which was sung by the Chorus. There were fifty voices in the Chorus, which had seats on the platform adjoining the speakers' stand. Their music was a most enjoyable and inspiring feature of the day's pro- gramme. Prof. C. S. Platt was organist, and the director was Rev. O. O. Wright.
The Rev. Patrick Fox, Pastor of St. Rose's Church, was introduced to invoke the divine blessing, and offered the following prayer :
Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created,
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
REV. PATRICK FOX Pastor of St. Rose's Church.
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And let my supplication come to Thee.
O God, Who, by the light of the Holy Ghost, hast instructed the hearts of the faithful; grant that, by the same Spirit, we may have a right understanding of all things, and evermore rejoice in this holy consolation: through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth one God, world without end. Amen.
O God, to whom every heart is open, every will declares itself, and from Whom no secret lies concealed, purify, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the thoughts of our hearts, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily praise Thee: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Otis W. Barker was announced as one well known and always gladly heard to give the address of welcome. He was heard by the large audience with evident pleasure, and his witty remarks were greeted with frequent applause.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME
BY REV. OTIS W. BARKER.
Mr. President :- I am only a comma and not a full stop. I am here simply to catch the ripples of enthusiasm as they roll and hurry along. I am here but to make a tiny squeak in our great oratorio of sound. I am filling up a gap while the orators of the day are catching their breath. Has not our great chorus of welcome already grandly begun? As the first grey light of morning streaked these verdant hills, did you not hear the pounding of our wake-up gun? We meant that you should hear it. In ever increasing waves detonating thunderous welcome we shall say all through this day we are glad to see you until the zip-boom-ah of the shower-spreading rocket to-night loses itself as it dashes its spray of light among the stars.
Well, I am sure that our noisy demonstration has by this time fully waked us all up; and I rather have an inkling that Wacumseh or some other red man with unpronounce- able name has rolled over in his blanket, disturbed by the noise, and taken a fresh grip upon his tomahawk. You have seen Welcome spelt out for you in waving lines of light as our gay-hearted school children, 500 strong, have to enthusiasm's voice added the greeting of numberless flags, whose glories mingle themselves with the brightness of this glad morning and the blue sky. As those who have for six long months been pushing the machinery of Bicentennial celebration when the wheels stuck fast in mud and slough, we feel that we are now getting what we have put down on
REV. OTIS W. BARKER For twelve years Pastor of the Congregational Church, Member of the Bicentennial Executive Committee.
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paper with painstaking care off into the realm where they live and move. Have you not seen the phalanxes of eat- ables that have been moving these few last hours into yonder buildings ; and may I rehearse the stale old joke that although our Fair Grounds may not seem very fertile, we'll have no desert here to-day, because of the sand-which-is there. Dame Hen has left her cackle and bold Chanti- cleer is missed from the barn yard convocation, and all have come to join their lusty shouts in our welcome here to-day.
Our program tells us we are two hundred years old; but as we saw last night our venerable ones loosen their rheumatic joints and shake out their Quaker foot, we all seemed again to have taken a draught from the elixir of life. Even our dignified Governor proves that he can, if need be, assume the roll of a spruce, dapper young man. It is pleasant to recall the past, to take out the jewels from memory's casket and let them glitter before our faces one by one.
On a bench in a park of a neighboring city sometime ago sat a young man. His clothes were dusty, but not shabby. His face wore a look of dejection. He evidently had cut loose the cable from life's helpfulness and cheer. A stranger, passing through the park, took in the situation at a glance. He sat down beside the young man, and look- ing steadily into his face, said: "I think, my good fellow, you just want a good grip of the hand." The young man had left his rural home to find work in the city. The old story had been gone over. He had run up against hard luck ; nobody wanted to employ him and worse still, nobody cared for him. He had come to the end of his endeavor and the future was a blank. This firm hand-clasp heart- ened him and soon he was employed, on his feet and fight- ing the battle of life as a man. Good friends, in our welcome this is the sort of hand-clasp we would give you to-day, one that brings cheer and encouragement. Are
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you down in the mouth? On this great day, brace up. Epictetus, the Greek slave, says there are two handles for everything ; by one handle a thing can be easily borne, grasped by the other handle it becomes a heavy weight. Grip the right handle to-day. Nothing is above our ambition. We invited President Roosevelt to come, and came within an ace of corralling him. If that had been the only thing lacking, we would even have produced the bear. We almost thought of asking the Japanese and Russian plenipotentiaries to make us a stopover on their way to Washington.
This is a big celebration, and we are all celebrated people too. New York is noted for its commerce, Boston for its literature, Philadelphia since the days of Franklin for its science, Washington for its politics, Baltimore (our bache- lors are planning a trip there next week) for its pretty girls, and Newtown for its good roads, small debt, fine high school and good citizens. In our stock market we deal almost wholly in futures ; we're going to be great some day. We have many lights in the way of Pecks set upon a hill ; but our splendid parade shows you that not under a bushel are our Pecks hid. They say that if you swing a cat by the tail, you sweep a wide circumference. Swinging our metaphorical cat, then, behold! what a wide circuit we take in. Yale appears first on our rim, and that is why we are so wise. Bridgeport next heaves into view, and that is why we are such "big guns." Shelton next throws out her light, and that is why we wear so many buttons. Danbury comes down the home stretch, and that is why all of us here to-day upon the platform have a new hat.
Good stranger, that comes to-day within our quiet vales, we extend to you the courtesies of a "wide open" town. The door of our houses over yonder on the hills are wide open ; we forgot to close them. Our pocketbooks will be open after we are through paying our bills. May your
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grips, too, be wide open as you leave us for some kindly memento of the occasion which your friends will give you. May your ears be wide open after I sit down for the words of wisdom which from our orator's lips like gentle dew will fall. The five sweetest words in the English language are said to be these : heart, home, hope, happiness and heaven. As through the dull monotony of life's grinding cares you listen with attentive ear for the lullaby of sweet strains that call into sunnier realms, may you hear to-day in the swelling of the tones of our five-stringed harp this one note ring loud and clear : We welcome you to-day with all our heart.
When the train is sweeping through the mountains around the great Horseshoe Curve, it does not for one moment slacken its speed. The massive driving wheels fly just as quickly, the mighty snorts from the cavernous smoke-stack come just as fiercely, the swaying of the speed- ing car from side to side is just as hazardous as before the curve was approached. To-day on this great anniversary we are swinging around the curve. The center of our circle is over yonder in the woods where the Indians bartered with wampum and beads for the land which once they owned. We do not relax our vigor for one moment as we face the future all untried. We may tighten our girth, but we do not take in our spread of sail. Under this great stretch of sky to-day we are Newtowners all. With com- mon heart and with linked hand we join to glorify the past and to make the future strong. Do not despise us who stay here near virgin sod. Those are necessary who hold the fort; the mother once was praised who only wound the yarn. If there was not something small, there would be nothing great. The river flows from the rill. They travel as well who merely talk at the family table of what has transpired on the way from school as those who belt the world. They succeed in moil of the city who have the granite of the hills in their blood. The historic address
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will show you how great we have been, but the cemetery over yonder does not contain all our greatness.
May you all enjoy the spirit of the day. A good minister (a Methodist, I believe, he was) once received a jar of brandy peaches from a doting parishioner. They were excellent, of the good kind our foremothers made, and the worthy man in acknowledging them wrote: "I appreciate very much your peaches, especially the spirit in which they were sent." The bass drum rolls out the deep notes of the spirit which is here. The music of the fife gives it another key. The merry prattle of the children shows our past comes not as a skeleton at the feast; it has a right good laugh. The spirit of the day is catching. It breathes in the air, it swells in our music, it tingles in our finger-tips, it loses itself among the clouds. It is lowed by the sleek kine that browse in the grateful shade ; it is grunted by the swine that express their satisfaction from the noxious sty. Spirit of the generations now sleeping, be with us to-day. This is the generosity we extend you that once said grace over the Thanksgiving table and made the ancestral home the rendezvous of happy-hearted fun. As the mists have rolled away from these hills this morning may our tear-drops now be banished and the gloom all chased away. A father was traveling with his little girl-a cripple. Seeing her asleep on the car seat, a kind lady slipped some roses in her hand and leaned the frail form against her arm. On return- ing from the smoker, the father found his little girl just awaked. Looking at the roses she said: "I have been in heaven, don't you see?" Catching the ozone that is wafted from these sunlit hills, may you not feel you have been at least near heaven to-day?
Two hundred years! Yes, a dream. The Indian has faded out of view. Long since he has climbed the hills and read his doom in the setting sun. Another race is here, the proud Anglo-Saxon, "inhabiting the greatest continuous
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empire ever devised by man," followed in the race to lead the world by the flower-loving Japanese and the phlegmatic dweller by the storied Rhine. Two hundred years! It is only a tick of the clock of eternity, only a rustling of the robes of the Infinite as He passes in the night. A dream? Yes ; but when one awaketh, he awaketh to light and duty. The swarthy Indian passed into the shadow ; the spirit of the hills that he worshipped changes for the God who weigheth the hills in scales and maketh the mountains to smoke as a furnace. Let us as children of the light walk in the light. Let us as those, though but born for a day, live as those who shall outlive the stars.
Here's a bumper, my friends, to the days that are gone ; here's a pledge of manhood strong for that which is to come; and here's our hand both kindly and true as we welcome you from city, from country, from dale, from vale, and open to you the best that we have.
"There are no days like the good old days- The days when we were youthful !
When humankind were pure of mind And speech and deeds were truthful; Before a love for sordid gold Became man's ruling passion,
And before each dame and maid became Slaves to the tyrant-fashion !
There are no girls like the good old girls- Against the world I'd stake 'em!
As buxom and smart and clean of heart- As the Lord knew how to make 'em!
They were rich in spirit and common sense, A piety all supportin'; They could bake and brew, and had taught school, too, And they made the likeliest courtin'!
There are no boys like the good old boys- When we were boys together !
When the grass was sweet to the brown bare feet That dimpled the laughing heather :
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When the peewee sung to the summer dawn Of the bee in the billowy clover, Or down by the mill the whip-poor-will Echoed his night-song over.
There is no love like the good old love- The love that mother gave us !
We are old, old men, yet we pine again For that precious grace-God save us ! So we dream and dream of the good old times, And our hearts grow tenderer, fonder,
As those dear old dreams bring soothing gleams Of heaven away off yonder."
After the singing by the Chorus of "Around the hearth," the President of the day said :
"We meet to-day to celebrate the beginnings of our town history, the transfer of the ownership of this beauti- ful country from the savage Indian to the civilized Anglo- Saxon. But this civilization did not originate here. It came across the water and by successive emigrations reached this place which is our home. It is fitting that, as an introduction to the history of the town itself, we should call to mind the larger movement of which the settlement of our town was an outcome, and learn some- thing of the colony of which it was a part.
"It is especially fitting that this should be done for us by one who in position and attainments is best qualified for that task, a ripe scholar in many lines, but particularly in the history of our own State, and the head of the organization which has done invaluable service in preserving the records of our State and Colony. I have the great privilege of introducing the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart, President of the Connecticut Historical Society."
Dr. Hart's paper, including as it did much that was new even to those who felt familiar with the history of the Colony, was listened to with the closest interest.
REV. SAMUEL HART, D.D.
President of the Connecticut Historical Society.
ADDRESS ON "THE COLONY "
BY REV. SAMUEL HART, D.D., MIDDLETOWN. President of the Connecticut Historical Society.
Your Newtown was not the first place in the Colony of Connecticut to bear its name. Seventy years before these fair hillsides and valleys were secured as a home for your ancestors, a company of earnest men and women had moved to the westward from Massachusetts Bay to seek a new abode on the farther side of the Connecticut. It was for them a journey through forests and over ridges and across streams ; they went along in the wilderness wherein was no way; and their passage of the Great River was for them in a very real sense what the passage of the great river of the eastern world was to the Father of all the Faith- ful. They were warned by those whom they left behind that in the bounds of the west, where they were minded to dwell, they would meet with strange experiences, and that they must expect to contend there in the great battle with Antichrist, whose abode was in the ends of the earth. But they were sturdy men and brave women, who believed that they had a call to found a new commonwealth, and who were convinced that at a safe distance from their brethren they could put into operation certain principles of associa- tion and government which did not quite commend them- selves to those whom they left behind. Turning their steps a little to the south as they went westward, they crossed the river below the line which bounded the Massachusetts pat- ent in a fair valley, of the beauty and fertility of which
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they had heard before. They had come from the New Town just across from the older town of Boston, a place which was soon to become the seat of a college and to adopt a name that should recall the seat of an ancient university in England; but when they left it, the Massachusetts Cam- bridge was still New Town. They went through the wilds and came to the sight of their new home; and there, as those who settled above them continued for a time the name Dorchester and those who took up their abode a little below brought the name of Watertown, they founded a new New- town. In some sense indeed they might have said that theirs was the original Newtown; for the organized church of their former home came with them, and was not the church the most important part of their organization? But at any rate, such was the name which they brought; and for a short time there was a Newtown in Connecticut established in the sight of the Dutch fort of slightly earlier foundations and guided in matters ecclesiastical and civil by Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone. But soon the thoughts of the settlers went back past their recent abode on the Bay to their old home in England ; and after two years they agreed that Newtown should be called Hartford-they doubtless called it Har'ford-from the name of the old dwelling-place of one of their ministers. The former name lapsed; but it was after a while suggested for adoption in the eastern part of the colony, and was actually renewed by those who fixed on this place as a home for themselves and their children; and at the end of two centuries we find the name perpetuated here. We may feel obliged to apologize for it, as one apologized for the name of the venerable founda- tion of New College at Oxford, by saying, "It was new once"; but we gladly keep the word which has almost lost the significance of its derivation, and has come to mean, for many who live here and many more who are scattered in divers parts of the country and (it may well be) in remote
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parts of the earth, all that is denoted by the name of an ancestral home or of their own home in childhood or of their only home in youth and active life and happy age. One who speaks for the State Historical Society, which has its local abode in the capital city of the State, may venture to say that he brings to-day a salutation from the old Newtown of 1635 to the new Newtown of the comparatively recent date of 1705, seventy years its junior.
Seventy years pass beyond the limit of the active life of man in these degenerate days, save in a few extraordinary cases; but seventy years is not a long time in the life of a family or a church or a nation. Still, it is a period which often marks the occurrence of important events, the passage of important actions, the influence of strong men. Espe- cially the first three score years and ten in the history of a commonwealth cannot but determine in great part its future life. The Connecticut into which the settlement which was made here two hundred years ago was soon admitted as a town, was already the Connecticut of an important history. Let me remind you-it must be briefly and almost by suggestion-of some of the events by which that history was marked and its issues determined.
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