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 9
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And how many of these delightful spots we have in Connecticut ! I have especially noted this since my induc- tion into office as your public servant. Who can ride through the broad Main street of Brooklyn in our state, with its fine equestrian statue of Putnam in its central square, its lofty overshadowing elms and the charming landscape in view, without rejoicing that God has made these goodly scenes for one to enjoy ; and who can look upon the Putnam monument without his soul being stirred to greater patriotism and higher resolve. This Brooklyn street, with your own, are fair examples of the many to which I might refer for their attractiveness and beauty.
It may not be out of place at this time to note the progress made in the past two hundred years in civili- zation, both by our state and nation, and the qualities and characteristics which have made our nation great and our State holding the position of high respect which she does among our sister states.
Two hundred years ago our state was sparsely settled and the inhabitants of our Union of States occupied only a small portion of its present area. There was early developed that love of freedom and justice among the inhabitants of the Connecticut Colony which afterward showed itself in such strong and vigorous force. For in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars Connecticut displayed her patriotic spirit, and at all times of crisis in our country's history has furnished distinguished examples of loyalty and devotion to every cause of righteousness and justice. Her love for education of her sons and daughters was a spirit quickly displayed and the church and school house were companion structures-a desire for learning which has been fostered in every hamlet within the bounds of the state and which has been the means of establishing a leading univer- sity and schools and colleges of wider than state fame, within whose walls are gathered students from every realm of the
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civilized world and from which are graduated men and women who have played large and distinguished parts in life's rôle and have, in the two centuries past, been distinctly advancing civilization and helpful to humanity. We are all justly proud of Connecticut in this respect and of the honored place she holds in matters of advanced and advanc- ing education, in all its branches.
Industrially and materially her progress has been even greater. From the time the first steamboat was built and launched (the invention of a Connecticut man), when a new era in the use of steam was noted, till to-day, the men of Connecticut have been signally noted for that fertility of brain and ingenuity which have made her name known far and wide for the invention and manufacture of those articles of utility and service which have eased the burden of labor and brought added comforts to thousands ; and our thriving towns, developed in those centuries, with their busy mills, fostered by this same ingenuity and genius, have given employment to thousands of respected and self-respecting men and women, than whom no state has better, and who have their proper place and share in the glory of the commonwealth. Our state during the time of which we speak has grown into a veritable hive of industry, from which have emanated many of the valuable products of the age.
No less has been the development in humanitarian and charitable helps for which our state is so justly noted,-a kindly and generous spirit for the unfortunate, feeble and the worthy poor is a growing characteristic and aim of our people-a broad, brotherly and catholic purpose which augurs much for good feeling, good order and good morals. In the foregoing and many other ways we may rejoice in this era of higher impulse, better equipment for nobler and more valuable service and help for mankind, as well in our great material prosperity and higher intellectuality.
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But what of our Nation's growth and progress? This has been simply stupendous and marvellous. It has out- stripped all other peoples in all that which pertains to the uplifting and civilizing of mankind. From an inferior power, but whose people have been controlled by noble motives and lofty ambitions, lovers of liberty and justice, with far-sighted and able leaders, it now ranks as the leading nation of the world, a power to be respected and a force to be reckoned with in the settlement of international affairs; a referee and a judge, to whom the disputes of other powers are brought for adjustment; a provider for the world's subsistence and comfort from its fertile-bearing fields and the products of its skilled industries; wonderful and startling the inventions of its artisans, and giving to the world in various other ways results of genius and professional ability which has made the world recognize in our people the leaders in thought and action and by which you and I, as individuals, have been so signally blessed and helped.
Truly these centuries have been those of astounding uplift and progress and periods during which so much has been accomplished that we wonder at it, and our forefathers could have no conception of the Republic they were found- ing and much less what it was destined to be in so compara- tively short a period as we view time in the lapse of the ages. For all this, we may thank a kind and overruling Provi- dence, who guided our forefathers to this rich heritage and who has verified to us as citizens of this commonwealth the motto of our beloved state, that "He who has brought over will sustain."
In view of these advantages that have accrued to us and this rich heritage that has been bequeathed to us from achievements of the past two centuries, a great obligation rests upon us to maintain, foster and strengthen the privi- leges and blessings that are ours; and this can best be
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accomplished, I am sure you will agree with me, by pursu- ing the same course and living up to the same high stand- ards which have been characteristic of our forerunners- stimulating patriotism and devotion to all worthy and national and state purposes and causes, being lovers of good order and good morals-always assisting the weak to a higher and better manhood and womanhood ;- and in this respect we should not forget that there are coming to our shores thousands yearly who, attracted by the benefits and privileges this country affords and often landing at our ports with an exaggerated and false idea of what our word liberty means, too often confounding its meaning with that of license, would tend to disturbance and lawlessness-let us by contact with them, by forbearance, patience and help- ful instruction teach what our liberties really mean, as viewed in the light of the rights of the individual and of property, so that they shall never be a menace to our free institutions, but shall rather be harmonized to our ways and become a part of our liberty-loving, loyal people; and who will be taught with us to hold our privileges sacredly and enjoy them with due respect to the rights of others as law- abiding, law-respecting citizens.
I conceive it to be the duty of every loyal citizen of the community and state to be helpful to his state, country and community, to have a loyal and devoted zeal in their best interests, that is to have a community and state spirit and pride which shall desire ever and always that they shall advance along the best lines, and to put forth earnest endeavor persistently to this end and not spasmodically when evil threatens. May we all so live and so strive and so attain that our day and generation shall leave to the future genera- tions equally valuable results as have been received by us from the past, and manifold more in proportion as our advanced and bettered condition enables us to give.
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Permit me in closing these cursory remarks to thank my fellow citizens of Newtown for their cordial invitation to attend this very interesting anniversary, and to say to you how heartily I have enjoyed it, and to wish you every blessing and all prosperity for the future.
At the close of the Governor's address the Chorus sang "March of the Men of Columbia."
In introducing the next speaker the President of the day said :
"We have in the past sent forth men of intellectual ability who have been lights in the professional world. No less has this country town produced men of business capacity and integrity. When we can trust a man with our pocket books we must have a high sense of his financial ability and that rarer character, genuine honesty. To a former fellow-townsman did Uncle Sam at one time commit his purse. I have the pleasure of introducing the Honorable Daniel N. Morgan, former Treasurer of the United States."
Prefacing his address with some personal reminiscences of special interest to the older persons in the audience, Mr. Morgan spoke as follows:
HON. DANIEL N. MORGAN
Treasurer of the United States under President Cleveland.
ADDRESS
HON. DANIEL N. MORGAN, BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
Mr. President, Friends of my native town and your Guests :- When one has seen two generations of the pano- rama of life move rapidly by, that "our days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle" can be fully realized. Although two centuries have elapsed since Newtown began its existence with forty-eight square miles of territory, during that period its history entitles it, from what has been accom- plished by its God-fearing, sturdy inhabitants, to a full rec- ognition from the sister towns of the state. It has been regarded a farming town that would well repay the husbandmen for their efforts, and there does not exist in this country a more independent class of citizens than the prosperous and contented farmers. Some manufacturing has been carried on much of the time at different points. The town has an enviable name as a health resort, and in the years gone by students came here from different places of the Union to avail themselves of the school privilege. In its earlier history, as later, it had its men of note, who were reared, educated and have located here for a time, among them the Rev. Thomas Toucey, who lived in 1714, near the present residence of Mrs. Charles H. Peck. Oliver Toucey, Jr.'s, home was at the homestead of the late Charles Morehouse. Isaac Toucey, his son, was Governor of Connecticut in 1846, and later Attorney General and Secretary of the United States navy. Henry Dutton was
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Governor of Connecticut in 1854. He began housekeeping in the house located on what is now known as the Morgan homestead. Rev. John Beach, who was rector of Trinity parish from 1732 to 1782, lived at the Harris place at the foot of the street. The donor of your fine library building, Miss Rebecca D. Beach, is a descendant of that noted man. History informs us that Charles R. Sherman, the father of Gen. William T. and John Sherman, and Governor Clark Bissell, among others, pursued their study of law here. The late Governor of Connecticut, Luzon B. Morris, was a native of the town, and you must all regard with pride that your former townsman, Rev. Frederick F. Johnson, has recently been elected a Bishop. Leaving this interesting train of thought, for your historians have presented to you many valuable facts of the past years, allow me to mention some of the conditions existing in my own day and genera- tion, noting some of the marked changes. If Newtown could proclaim to the world its past, what has transpired during the last sixty years, worthy of mention, and in the country at large, which has in a measure revolutionized the living in this agricultural town, what a wonderful story it would unfold. Permit me to digress a moment, as it is most interesting to me to state that the lady who was my first school teacher in the Flat Swamp district when I was three years old fifty-seven years ago, is now living in Bridgeport, and two more of my lady teachers before I was ten years of age are now living in Newtown, one of them of a family of five sisters and brothers, relatives of the late Gov. Isaac Toucey, now living together at the old home, who were the long ago neighbors of my father's family.
Having learned all the mysteries of farming and mer- chandising as then conducted, it was evident in those days what it meant to exchange all that could be spared from the farms for the articles needed from the stores.
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Barter was the principal basis of trade for the merchants, and they in turn must send it to the cities and with the pro- ceeds purchase supplies for replenishing their stock. I recall that one year 175 bushels of chestnuts were sent from the store at Morgan's Four Corners to Bridgeport, 16 miles distant, to be sold in New York at one dollar a bushel, and the clerks who had to keep shoveling them over and over to prevent their spoiling, never forgot their experience. All goods bought out of town prior to any, or limited rail- road facilities, necessitated long hauls. There is no ques- tion that there were one hundred cents in every dollar made. Hats, combs and buttons were among the articles manufac- tured hereabouts, and those industries brought some cash into circulation in shillings and sixpences, besides the United States coins and the bills of the state banks. Busi- ness methods have changed since my long past experience in clerking, so that clerks now in the stores in town cannot enjoy such pastimes as weighing many things with the old time steelyards, or digging out the dark yellow sugar from a great hogshead and then grinding it in a mill. Neither can they get up long before day of a winter's morning to see a drove of fat cattle being driven to the New York market by the then well known drovers, Lemuel and Her- mon Beers. We recall that the late Henry Beers in the war days sold $10,000 worth yearly of beef cattle. They will not see the droves of cattle in great numbers as were then brought to the town to be fattened in the fertile fields where one steer could thrive on one acre of grass. The buying of poultry was done on a large scale by well known dealers, and the trading in horses had no limit. The mer- chant of to-day does not watch for the delivery of the Bridgeport Weekly Farmer and Standard to be brought to the store for a few subscribers, when the limited amount of news then procurable was awaited for and read with avid- ity. If you wished the correct time from the watchmaker,
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set by the sun dial, you went to Uncle Ziba Blakeslee's, at the head of the street, for it. He advertised his business in the Farmer's Journal, then at Danbury, in December, 1792. The Bridgeport papers informed us that P. T. Barnum took Tom Thumb to Europe in 1844, also that the first telegraphic dispatch was sent, May 24, 1844, from Wash- ington to Baltimore, Maryland, by Prof. Daniel F. B. Morse, the inventor, in these words, "What hath God wrought." Always regarded as a wonderful invention, Newtown has enjoyed the great conveniences pertaining to telegraphy and the more recent achievements now in vogue of telephones, wireless telegraphy and electricity in its manifold workings, with its indefinable, immeasurable power and scope, which places you in touch with the whole civilized world. With access to all the daily papers far and near, you value your industrious, news-gathering, wide- awake Newtown Bee, edited and issued since June 27,1877, right at home, which is certainly a credit and benefit to the town. With the railroad facilities so fully developed, since the Housatonic railroad traversed through the town in 1840, and was followed by the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford in 1848, you are given extended transportation through and beyond the state. The latter corporation has now absorbed all the railroads in the state and might properly be called the New York and New England. What changes it has wrought for a town like this as an outlet to the whole world !
The lines of life have had a marked transition from those existing two generations ago. The goods manufac- tured here have the whole country for a market. The sur- plus of crops and stock derived from your farms is readily disposed of near by, and doubtless at satisfactory prices. You depend on the railroads to bring to your doors your coal as needed, the kerosene oil instead of whale oil or candle as of yore, the flour, the grain, and much of the
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beef and other meats used, without enumerating other pro- visions and many other articles from the long list of the necessities of life as they are generally regarded to-day, which were deemed luxuries within the time just mentioned. I believe fully the statement that it requires about four times the amount called for a half century ago for the multitude of the fairly well-to-do people to live on in these days. That is, what were deemed luxuries then we all consider necessities now. Money at interest does not return more than half the interest it did then.
With the changes and vicissitudes to which the town has been subjected it has stood the test well, and without ques- tion this home gathering, most hospitable occasion, will arouse new interest and ambition for a continuing pros- perous future, so that the patriotic spirit for your native or adopted town will thoroughly pervade your minds and feelings. I trust that all who can claim Newtown as their birthplace will do so with pride and pleasure, as it is my privilege to do. I realize that after an absence from among you, as a resident, for thirty-six years I come as a stranger to most of you. Still I ask you to remember that I am always interested in Newtown and its residents, and wish for you each and all a full measure of success and happiness in the coming years.
At the conclusion of Mr. Morgan's address the President of the day said :
"During the intermission, as we were walking about the grounds, I overheard one of our ladies belonging to one of the old Newtown families enquire of a fashion- ably dressed young lady whom she had just met, "Are your family early settlers?" "O yes," was the prompt reply, "Pa always pays every bill on the first of the month."
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There are some who, though not Newtown born, have generously helped this celebration in advance,-which is even better. It gives me great pleasure to introduce one who is not only a generous public-spirited gentleman, but well remembered here as a successful medical practitioner, Dr. W. C. Wile, of Danbury."
After telling some apt and taking stories, the Doctor delivered the following address :
م
DR. WILLIAM C. WILE Editor of the New England Medical Monthly.
ADDRESS
DR. W. C. WILE, DANBURY.
Had I the gift of choosing words, and the power of knitting those words into such pregnant and polished phrases as my distinguished and good friend, Governor Roberts, has, I might be able to properly present to you the thoughts that lie deep down in my heart on this memorable occasion. That I am glad to be here is evidenced by my presence. I am delighted to be home again and mingle with those of you who still live in dear old Newtown and to assist those who, like myself, have returned to help you to fittingly celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the purchase of these grand hills and beautiful valleys from the Indians. That we are having the time of our lives goes without saying, for the hospitality of your citizens is pro- verbial, and is of the most open-handed kind.
We come back to you, older and, we hope, better men. Some of us have been shorn of our fleecy locks so closely that an Indian of 1705 might think that we had met some hostile tribe and that our scalps were hanging from the belt of some friendly Indian; while we all have grown grey-and, barring the ladies, grown older.
For sixteen years I resided in your midst ministering to your physical wants, while the clergy were looking after your spiritual ones. Which was the most successful I am afraid we shall have to leave to the decision of St. Peter at a later date. That we all tried to do our duty to you, I am quite sure you will all admit.
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In going through the town, almost every house I passed recalled some detail of my experience, for the doctor stands high in the estimation of your people; and it was always a pleasure as well as a duty to serve you. That I often failed, the well-filled cemeteries show, alas, too well. In looking over this vast sea of faces before me to-day, my heart comes quickly to my throat when I think of those who have gone from us-the genial Aaron Sanford, Dr. Judson, Dr. Bennett, Dr. Graves, William Sanford, and a host of others who have been gathered to their fathers. I hope that those of us who went away and have come back to Newtown again, have come back better men, stronger and truer citi- zens. Of one thing rest assured, we come with our hearts filled to overflowing for home, the dear old home.
God bless you all! May your health and prosperity keep pace only with your wishes, and the end, when it does come, as it must to us all, may it find us all prepared, and may it come peacefully and painlessly.
Standing here, on this great anniversary at the very beginning of the century, it is impossible that one shall not look back, and equally impossible that one shall not look for- ward. We are just at the close of what we call, and call rightly, a century of great achievements. We pride our- selves upon the work this country has accomplished. We point to a government based upon the consent of the gov- erned, such as the world has never seen; wealth which has been piled up such as no country has ever attained within that time, or double or quadruple that time. It is such a condition of life as never existed in any other country. From Mount Desert to the Golden Gate, yes, from the islands which Columbus saw, thinking he had found the East Indies themselves, where even as I speak the flag is planted, our possessions and our wealth extend.
We have, though following the arts of peace, an army
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ready to rise to the sound of the bugle greater than Rome was able to summon behind her golden eagles.
We are right to call it a century of achievement. We pride ourselves upon it. Now, who achieved that? Not we, personally; our fathers achieved it; your father and my father; your fathers, when they left England and set their prows westward and landed upon the rock-bound coast ; when they drew up the compact of civil government, which was a new thing in the history of the world, and when the time came they staked all they had upon the principle of a government based only upon the consent of the governed.
We pride ourselves upon the fact that we can worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. And they left us an heritage, and it has brought forth abun- dantly.
I say this to draw clearly the line between mere material wealth and that which is the real wealth and welfare of a people. We are rich, but our fathers were poor. How did they achieve it? Not by their wealth, but by their character-by their devotion to principle. The best thing, I think, that the fathers left the country was character. That is indeed the heritage they left us. Wealth will not preserve that which they left us ; not power, not "dalliance nor wit" will preserve it; nothing but that which is the spirit will preserve it; nothing but character.
The whole story of civilization speaks this truth with trumpet voice. One nation rises upon the ruins of another nation. It is when Sampson lies in the lap of Delilah that the evening steals upon him and ensnares him; binds him.
I have no fear of the future. I think, looking around the country at present, that even if it would seem to us at times that there are gravest perils which confront us, that even though there may be evidence of weakening in our Christianity, notwithstanding this, I say, I believe that the great Anglo-Saxon race, not only on this side of the water,
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but on the other side also, contains elements which alone can continue to be the leader of civilization, the elements of fundamental power, abiding virtue, public and private.
Wealth will not preserve a state; it must be the aggrega- tion of individual integrity of its members that shall pre- serve it. That integrity I believe exists, deep-rooted among our people.
I am glad to be here where you have the greatest Ameri- can achievements, this American home and this American spirit.
May it always be kept pure, and always only at the right fountains have its strength renewed.
After Dr. Wile's address the President of the day said :
"Newtown has sent out a number of men distinguished in the legal professions and in public life. We have one such with us to-day, who sometimes returns to breathe the New- town air. We are glad that he and his gracious lady, herself a native of Newtown and distinguished among the women of the State, still retain a home among us, though their life is mostly spent elsewhere. I knew the Judge long before I knew Newtown. In his own town I knew him as the leading and most public-spirited citizen, a lawyer of wide reputation, and a just and fearless judge. He is full of the memories of the old town and its men who have made their mark in the world. I am sure we shall hear from him much that is of interest on this historic occasion. The Honorable Charles H. Briscoe, formerly Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives."
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