USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Address delivered at Groton, Massachusetts, July 12, 1905, by request of the citizens, on the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its settlement > Part 6
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In his long and useful public career the only mistake I ever heard that he has made was when Speaker of the Massa- chusetts House twenty years ago, he appointed me Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. For this I hope he has not suffered unduly. He represents the government of the United States, but everything that he says may not relate to that subject. I present Assistant United States Treasurer,
HON. GEO. A. MARDEN OF LOWELL.
Man is an animal. I am a vice-president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I heard General Bancroft, a few minutes ago, speaking to one of the battery of orators which he has a list of, who asked him how long this thing will be kept up, and he said, "It will depend on you orators." I do not propose it shall be kept up unduly on my account.
I did make (not then "Major General") Bancroft Chair- man on Military Affairs, but I had a purpose in it, and I have seen the result of that appointment. Whether he has been inoculated, by his patriotic associations, with a recur-
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rence of the fear, of the urgent fear, of the Groton people, of an attack by the Indians, I don't know; but he has fortified your Main street. And he is building, I understand, as a simple soldier might, a very plain set of barracks somewhere back in the woods. When we get so fortunate as to be at the head of the Elevated Railway, we will fortify all our towns, and build our barracks, and pay dividends, and accommo- date the people.
I never saw so large an audience in so melting a mood when I began with them. I have learned a new recipe to- day, which is to serve your potato salad, and your corned beef, and your baked beans with melted butter. This is a part of my remarks which does not relate to the "national government."
When the General read the list of the distinguished men who have served the public, and who are natives of Groton, modesty incomprehensible forbade him to speak of a certain Major-General, the only one on the list, but as he read the list, -presidents, senators, members of congress, members of the cabinet, -as he came to cach class, I said to myself, George S. Boutwell; but he tells me that he didn't need to take Ex-Governor Boutwell as the sole representative of any class, because these distinguished men have hunted in cou- ples and in triplets as well.
Groton, -let me come to the words of my text, - " Groton as related to the Nation." The most obvious remark is that but for Groton we wouldn't have any nation. The General has spoken of the early patriots who settled in New Eng- land. We have the pilgrims of Plymouth and the puritans of Boston, and they spread out over this way into Middlesex County, and Massachusetts was the result. New England followed Massachusetts, and the nation followed New Eng- land. And you in Groton not only have welcomed the presi- dents, two of the chief magistrates of America, but you have started an institution which shall educate boys for future presidential chairs.
Groton, -I have come to the cattle shows of Groton many times. Two hundred and fifty years have done much for an
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old town like this, but the old town, two hundred and fifty years old, has done for the country, which for the moment I am honored to represent, what no other town in New Eng- land has done. The cavaliers of Virginia and of Maryland, and the Dutchmen of Manhattan Island have done their part, but except for New England where would we be today? We were told in the address of Dr. Green that Groton's future depended at one time on three immigrants from Chelmsford who, by permission of the church, were allowed to come here. What would Groton have been but for the decision of those who surrounded her?
Three towns, he told us, had their two hundred and fiftieth anniversary this year, - Billerica and Chelmsford and Gro- ton. Ah, but Billerica! poor old Billerica! of whom I am ashamed-because a lineal ancestor of mine came from Billerica. She has failed to appreciate the advantages of a record, and she has left it for the anniversary fifty years hence, to take hold and make up the loss and disgrace of her indifference, this year.
Here is a battery of oratory to come after. The General is polite. He was very modest in intimating that the speakers ought to be brief. Let me say that I have given them an ex- ample. I had sixty rounds of cartridges in my belt, and I have fired but twenty.
GOVERNOR GUILD.
The people of this town are under great obligation to the Lieutenant Governor, who at no small inconvenience to him- self, has come here not only to bring the greetings of the Commonwealth, but to delight us by his own attractive pres- ence and his felicitous speech. Massachusetts is fortunate in counting him among her honored sons, and I suppose it will not transgress the proprieties of the occasion, if I men- tion that he is exposed to the bestowal of still further honors.
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If the manifest desire of a great political party is recognized at the polls, our state will have next year another excellent Chief Magistrate. I have much gratification in presenting to you a public-spirited citizen, a patriotic soldier, a capable public servant, a consummate orator, His Honor, the Lieu- tenant Governor,
GENERAL CURTIS GUILD, JR.
Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: I thank you, sir, for your very kind reference, and you for your very agreeable reception. We will let the future take care of itself, sir. At present it is my privilege and extremely pleasant duty to present to you the greetings of the present chief magistrate of Massachusetts, - a conscientious, clean, upright public servant, justly honored by the people, -- William L. Douglas, Governor of Massachusetts.
In looking over the proceedings of the last celebration of Groton, on the train, on the way to this tent, for that is all the preparation I have been able to make, I observed that fifty years ago the toast of the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts was supposed to be fittingly responded to by a combina- tion of hot air and brass. It was responded to by the band. On this occasion, you furnish the hot air, and if I should ac- cept too many prophesies, I am sure you would think I was furnishing the brass.
The first guide book of New England, Wood's New Eng- land, published but a short time after the arrival of the New England settlers and citizens that marched into the interior. speaks of the great danger on account of the vast numbers of lions in the frontier settlements. Groton was one of these towns. In a foot note he adds, honestly enough, "I have not seen any of these lions myself, but there proceed at night times such dreadful roarings that there must be either lions or devils." The devils are not present today, but rather their opposite in the pleasant presence of the opposite sex. who represent angels rather than devils. But the good old coasts of Wood's time are represented, for if there are not
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lions here, what have we here in the front row of this table today ?
At the late visit of the President of the United States to Massachusetts, he brought a new story ( at least, new to me) from the west, speaking of the care that fellow men should show for one another. A new mine was being opened in Arizona, and over the main shaft, which was some sixty feet deep and without any railing, with the old fashioned wind- up, truck, and windlass, the thoughtful owners of the mine had put up the inscription, " Please do not fall into this hole ; there are men working below." I do not propose to fall into a hole myself today, because I find that there are nine men whose names occur below mine, and I am sure you will greet the nine with three times three.
But if I must give one serions word for the good old Com- monwealth that we all honor, let me say something in regard to the one product of Groton which remains steadfast in the light of the world. I mean the old fashioned education. Beneath the caves of the Public Library in Boston, there runs this inscription, "The Commonwealth demands the ed- ucation of her citizens as the safeguard of order and liberty." But education cannot be the safeguard of order and liberty if the educated man neglects to use his education for the benefit of the commonwealth. And education cannot be the safeguard of order and liberty if it is merely that technical education which, as the late William E. Russell said, "may teach a man to make a living, but which does not teach a man to make a' life." That old fashioned education, with something of philosophy and more of history, and something of the class- ical languages in it, was taught from time immemorial here in the old schools, and later in the Lawrence Academy, and now in the splendid new Groton School. It seems to me that if our Commonwealth is to hold her head high, as she does today, as she has from the beginning, that we cannot afford altogether to abandon that old fashioned education. It is a magnificent thing for us to be able to boast that whereas, ten years ago, when the builders of battleships sought their models, they had to go to Paris or England for a school of
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naval architecture, today, the first school of naval architec- ture in the world is the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. It is a superb thing for us to be able to boast that, if twenty years ago our physicians and surgeons were obliged to go abroad to complete their education, today the best medical schools in the world are within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But it is an infinitely better thing to think of that a leader of the United States that leads his party, and represents liberality, breadth, progress, and the bursting of the old shackles, may owe his birth to New York, and his parentage to different races, but he owes the educa- tion that inspired his toils to the education of Massachusetts. And so, in that spirit, I venture to say just one word, not against technical education, -even let us encourage it -- but against the utter abandonment of the education in history, in philosophy, in poetry, in literature, that shall turn out a man a mere part of an industrial machine. If in war, as has been proved, the best soldier is the man with some power of initiative, so it is true in peace that the best citizen is the man who is not merely a money making cog in a mere in- dustrial machine. The danger of which you speak, sir, and it is a real danger, is much less if, not this man or that man, but all the people have a knowledge of history, and of the examples that have gone before. If, when the demagogic machinist, with his speech that appeals so to the ears of an uninformed man, speaks to an audience that has already heard similar words that were spoken in France by Robes- pierre, that have been spoken before in this country, and that struck down the splendid structure that was raised by the patriotism of our forefathers.
Not that we should neglect technical education, but we should not confine our education to it. The mere skillful machinist may become a burglar. The skilled chemist who is that and nothing else may become a counterfeiter. The skilled accountant who is that and nothing more may let his knowledge find its scope in embezzling. It isn't merely ne- cessary that we should build up skilled artisans to add to the wealth of Massachusetts, but that, by education of the old
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sort, we should build up sound citizens to lift up the citizen- ship of Massachusetts. With the basis of character, we can safely build the other form of education. Our industries are threatened by child labor in Georgia, and by yellow labor in the steam cotton mills in Japan. We will seek to make our labor even more skilled, but if we keep our character true as well, we may always answer in the future to any boast of any contesting state or section of country as the Governor of Massachusetts, not born in Massachusetts, for- eign born citizen, one of the truest Americans that ever lived, Frederick T. Greenhalge, Governor of Massachusetts, -as he answered the boast of the Governor of Georgia. The Governor of that state threatened that ultimately they would take away all the industries of New England. I can see Governor Greenhalge now, standing in the midst of that southern exposition, under that hot Georgia sun, answering Governor Atkinson: "We congratulate you on your pros- perity. We wouldn't take from it a single tithe. Every bar of iron that drops from a southern forge, every reel of yarn that falls from a southern spindle adds but another link in the chain that binds the north and south together in a common country. Spin your yarn if you will, you must send it to the north to be woven. Weave your cloth if you will, you must send it to Massachusetts to be finished and dyed. Finish and dye it if you will, you must come to Massachusetts for your machinery with which to make it. Build your machin- ery if you will, you must still come to Massachusetts for edu- cated Yankee boys with Yankee brains to officer your in- dustries."
BISHOP WILLIAM LAWRENCE.
I might tell you of a worthy family whose representatives have had habitations here almost from the beginnings -to the story of whose services to municipality, to state and to country, in public and private relation, in its last four gen- erations, it would be profitable to listen for a longer period
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than we shall have remained under this shelter; but I am in- stead to read a letter from a member of that family whom the community has had ample reason to honor, without in the least drawing upon the claims of his distinguished ancestors or relatives, the Right Reverend, the Bishop of Massachusett,
DOCTOR WILLIAM LAWRENCE.
BAR HARBOR, ME., July 4, 1905. My Dear General Bancroft :
It is a source of real regret to me that I cannot be present at the 250th anniversary of the founding of Groton, but hav- ing once gotten away from official engagements I find it necessary, if I am to get a rest, to stay away for awhile.
With the scenes and the people of Groton are bound up many of my happiest memories and associations. I can re- call how, as a small boy, we used to walk across the meadow road to Church, and the ringing of the bells gave forth sweeter sounds than any city bells. The thrills ran down my back as the bass in the quartet thundered out his note.
My Aunt Woodbury's old horse, Doctor, used to drop her at the old Meeting House and make his way around to the shed. Then at the singing of the Doxology he backed out and drove around to the front porch to take her home. Some of the people used to bring their noonday lunch and be ready for the second service.
The handsome face and kind heart of Aunt Eliza Green are no doubt, familiar to some of the older inhabitants, and the smell of her pies still seems to linger about the house as I pass it on my visits to Groton.
I even go as far back as Peter Hazard, the old negro; and I remember with a shudder how his old wife pulled a black pipe out of her mouth and gave me a kiss.
Farmers' Row, with its unsurpassed view across the Nashua Valley, even with its many changes, still remains beautiful.
Lawrence Academy has done, and is doing, its noble work. If the architects of a generation ago had been wise enough. or the towns-people had been smart enough, to compel them
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to adopt the simple colonial style in the erection of the Law- rence Academy, how much more beautiful the town would be. In the last twenty-five years the town has steadily im- proved in appearance. In fact, if I might make a sugges- tion, how much more beautiful the town may be if every citizen would do his part toward making his paths, his barn and shed as neat, simple and attractive as possible. It is not so much a question of money as of a desire to put a little thought and work into village improvements. When Mr. Bryce was here a few months ago the first question he asked me was whether I could give him the constitution of a vil- lage improvement society, for he had seen so much of it in this country that he wished to organize the movement in Scot- land, whose hamlets are bare, hard and ugly. Thus the in- fluence of America spreads even from the smallest villages.
Groton has a history so great that it should stand to all who pass through it as a model Massachusetts village. Grateful for what the men and women of Groton have done in the past we should do our part toward the town, the Church and the nation in the future.
I remain, with kind regards,
Yours sincerely, WILLIAM LAWRENCE. (Signed )
CONGRESSMAN TIRRELL.
It would have been regrettable, indeed, if this commemor- ative gathering had not been graced by the presence of the representative of the Congressional District of which this town is a part. Almost at any time during the last century had our honored guest been in the House he would have found there as an associate a Groton man, either a native or a resident, and sometimes he would have found more than one, for, as I mentioned this morning, the town has had at least eleven congressmen. I presume our distinguished friend is of the opinion that Groton has had its share, and having supplied so large a part of the membership of Con-
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gress during the nineteenth century, some other town - Natick for instance-might be intrusted to contribute mem- bership during the twentieth century. He comes from a town of much historic interest; but though the town still retains the Indian name, the Indians have long since de- parted. In this part of the country they are rarely to be , found except in large cities, where it is current knowledge that they are used only for political adversaries or for tobac- conists' signs. While I do not suppose that our able and genial Congressman would arrogate to himself the mantle of John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians, yet I can testify that in the cause of temperance and good citizenship, he has proved himself an excellent disciple of that worthy.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present our Congressman, the
HONORABLE CHARLES Q. TIRRELL.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am sure that if a stranger from a distance ventured into the town of Groton today, and saw the bright and expectant faces upon your Main Street, which has been so thronged, he could with difficulty determine whether this was an old home week gathering, or whether it was in commemoration of some one of the many interesting events for which this town has been distinguished in its long and eventful history. But I am sure that he would agree with the man who was invited to a distant mansion in the country, not aware of the object for which he was invited. It seems it was a funeral occasion. He arrived very late. The ceremony was over. They had all gathered together at the dining table, and, as it was in anti-temperance days, the guests became somewhat exhilar- ated, and, finally, rising with unsteady feet. with glass in hand, he said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose a toast to the bride and bridegroom." Thereupon, a friend attempted to put him right by saying, "Sit down, man; this isn't a wedding, this is a funeral." He said, "I don't care what it is, I know one thing, it is a grand success." I am sure those of us who are not natives can say that of this celebration.
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I have always been interested in colonial matters, perhaps because I was brought up in an old colonial town. My father's ancestors were of the town of Weymouth. It was settled in 1622, and incorporated in 1636. In another respect it also has a little advantage over Groton. Whereas in 1676, when King Philip swept like a besom of destruction through this part of the province, and laid forty of your homesteads in ashes, in 1622, when the Indians of Weymouth gathered together into a conspiracy to exterminate our settlers Miles Standish was informed, and he with eight of his warriors marched up through the woods of Marshfield and Scituate and massacred them all. No trace of Indians has been found in that ancient town since that time.
I do not propose to touch upon any of the matters in refer- ence to ancient history which have been already presented to you by the orator of the occasion and by those who have ad- dressed you. I do not even propose to speak upon educa- tion generally. But there is one line of education not touched upon by the Lieutenant-Governor or by any of the speakers, which is applicable to this occasion. Why is it that the leaders in business and professional life, those en- titled to take front rank not only in industrial matters but in national pursuits as well, are those who have been educated in just such towns as these? What is the subtle influence which such a town has upon the human mind? Why does it develop all the characteristics which tend to make a man great among his fellow creatures? Here is a young man born far away from the madding crowd.
The old homestead is overshadowed by a lofty mountain. Here at its base he plays in childhood, sometimes climbing its almost inaccessable heights until he stands upon its snowy summit. From the foot of the mountain the daisied meadow stretches far beyond to a brook dashing down from the mountain's side flows onward to the sea. Here also he plays and fishes and whiles away the hours. At last carly manhood is obtained. It is lonely at the old homestead. There are no companions to cheer him. He longs for an ac- tive life. He is ready for life's battles. So he leaves his
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honte for the distant city. There he struggles working his way up, rung by rung, until his object is secured. Then old and gray headed he revisits the old homestead. For the first time he realizes the debt he owes to his native town. His steadfastness of purpose, his patriotic impulses, his avoidance of evil, his honesty, his integrity, all that com- bined to make him an honorable, upright and respected citi- zen, was moulded there amid those mighty hills.
So it is to those of you who perhaps after many wanderings have returned once again to Groton, your native town. Here you were educated. Here you spent your youthful days, here you got the education which has made you, largely. what you are; education which differs according to the tem- perament and the susceptibility of each individual person. But such as you are, and the honorable career which you have attained, is largely owing to this indefinable education which the old town has given you.
I was much interested in the record given by General Ban- croft, the long list, the innumerable list almost, of Groton people who became distinguished and rendered service to their country. When he came to the eleven congressmen, he looked at me and stopped. He had just reached the point where if he had continued he must have given the fact that you elected here in the town of Groton Col. William Lawrence as your Representative to the State Legislature for seventeen times, and then you elected the Hon. Mr. Prescott for fifteen times in succession, and then later on, I don't know for how many years, the Hon. George S. Boutwell. Think what the General might have done for me if he had only stated those facts.
But I must not detain you longer, delightful as it would be. I congratulate this town, so memorable in its history, for a record which cannot be excelled if equalled among the old colonial towns of the Commonwealth.
SI DOCTOR GREEN.
On this platform sits my consin, the venerable Zara Patch, a Vice President, who was one of the petitioners for the cele- bration fifty years ago. Last winter, at the age of ninety- two, he spurned my advice to use a cane when he walked upon the icy sidewalk.
It is the fortune, however, of Dr. Green and that of only one other now living, Mr. John W. Parker, a Vice President, to have had any official part in the celebration of fifty years ago, and also, in that of today. Such a fortune can never be that of but few; although, speaking of this town, many of us were here fifty years ago. For one, however, I did not feel especially interested in what was then going on.
We should like to have heard a word from the orator of the day. He knows the town from the " Throne" to the "Ridges" and from " Massapoag" to the river. He loves every foot of it. He loves its history. He loves its people, - and its people love him.
He was by unanimons choice requested to represent the women of Groton. They have always been among the best in the world, and no one of all has been more beautiful, both in character and in person, than that same Eliza Green of whom Bishop Lawrence wrote, and whose son would have spoken to you. Doctor. Colonel, Mayor, Honorable, Histo- ian, Antiquarian, Genealogist, and many other things, a real Groton . boy, - "Sam" Green. But the heat of the day, and the fatigue attendant upon his effort this forenoon, has deprived us of the pleasure which we should have felt in listening to him again this afternoon.
HON. CHESTER W. CLARK.
In the changes of time and political plan, the Councils which created this township have passed away, but in some sort the Great and General Court is their successor. So the town has asked its Representative in the upper branch of that renowned legislature to address the people of this
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