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 8
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The red men have since become aware that the street is no longer free to them, save by permission of the settlers. The wild forest has shrunk back and the street has lost the odor of the pine and the hemlock. And so from this humble be- ginning grew the town whose birth we celebrate today.
But soon that restless energy which is so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon pushed forth into the unknown forest in search of new homes. The more adventurous spirits came to a spot which seemed graced by God.
At the junction of two rivers, a place which had long been the favorite fishing ground of the Indian, they cleared away the forest and founded a little settlement. From this settlement grew the large and prosperous city of Nashua.
Because of its favorable location, its splendid water power and its unsurpassed railroad facilities, Nashua is today the most vigorous child of old Groton.
Although these great natural resources have contributed largely to her growth and prosperity, she owes much to those
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sturdy pioneers who first cleared away the forest and opened up the farms of old Middlesex.
And it is in recognition of that debt that I speak here today in behalf of the citizens of Nashua. We all rejoice with you on this memorable occasion. We are glad of having this opportunity to express our appreciation of the services which those men rendered, who here on this spot felled the first trees and made possible by their untiring efforts the marked success which we as a city have attained.
We have erected a monument worthy of the fathers who have gone before. The busy hum of the factories, the cotton mills, and the foundries of Nashua, bears an unceasing tribute to the memory of the founders of Groton. I thank you.
HON. GEORGE A. SANDERSON.
The duties pertaining to the office of President of the Board of Trustees of the Lawrence Academy, and the duties pertaining to the office of District Attorney for the Northern District, which comprises Middlesex County, have been per- formed of late years in a way that shows clearly that the incumbent of each of these offices is well fitted to perform the duties pertaining to the highest elective law office in the Commonwealth. In all of these offices the people of Groton feel no inconsiderable interest, and they are indeed fortunate to be privileged today to listen to a gentleman, who, either from association or from anticipation, is able to talk about all of them, but he is also at liberty to refrain from talking about any of them if he chooses. Upon any subject that he may wish to select, we shall be glad to hear
HONORABLE GEORGE A. SANDERSON.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: A town that has two hundred and fifty years of history has an inheritance of all that is best in life upon this continent, and the town of Groton is peculiarly fortunate in its history and its inheri-
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tance. One of the features of that history, and cie well worth mentioning at a great celebration like this, is the fostering care which this town has given to educational institutions. Among them, the ancient academy on the hill. upon whose athletic field we have today met. It was founded more than one hundred and ten years ago, by forty-seven subscribers, at a time when every dollar earned and given meant a sacrifice of time and effort. These forty-seven irer. devoted to education, devoted to the higher and the best things, subscribed sums varying from five to fifteen pounds each for the erection of the first building, as they said in that agreement, "to diffuse useful knowledge, and render the means of instruction and information more general and less expensive." The last subscriber on that list was the n.u.i- cipality, the town of Groton itself. which subscribed two hundred pounds to the erection of that building, and it is probable that the institution could not then have been founded but for the subscription of the town. So we have in these forty-seven enthusiastic individuals, and throughout the whole town, a devotion to the idea of education so strong that they were willing to make sacrifices for it. Since that tink, that institution, through long periods of its life, has furnished education to many of the sons and daughters of Groten. It has brought to this village thousands of boys and girls to be educated, who have carried the fair fame of Groton to other parts of this state, and to other states in our nation. It has stood there as a silent influence for education to all those who have not had the privilege of entering its walls. It is said that a church building, by its very existence in a com- munity, is constantly preaching a sermon to all who look upon it, by reason of the significance of things for which it stands. In a similar way, this institution on the hill. because of the principles for which it has stood, because of the spirit of the boys and girls in it, and the teachers there. has enabled this town to be a town in which its citizens have high ideals, are interested in the higher things, and are devoted to the things that are not wholly material. It has not only given much to this community, but it has received
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much from it. The beautiful scenes of these hills and valleys have been mixed with the joys and duties of student life. The churches of this town have furnished much of the religious influence to those who have attended that institu- tion, and the character of the people of this town has been impressed upon the youth who have attended that school. Many a student has formed his ideal of life from the people whom he has come to know when at school here. Lawrence Academy and the town of Groton are in their history indis- solubly linked together. Each is a debtor to the other. As we look down the future, can we not ask the town of. Groton for that friendly interest which was guaranteed in that original gift of two hundred pounds? Can we not promise for the old academy an adherence to the ideals that it has stood for, and that it shall continue to stand for the higher things of life.
"I hold it true that thoughts are things Endowed with being, breath and wings; And that we send them forth To fill the world with goodness or ill."
HON. CHARLES W. STONE.
In the history of the Federal Union a large part has been taken by the great state of Pennsylvania. Within her borders have been events of the very highest concern to our nation - events both in council and on the field. Her natural resources have yielded wealth which we characterize as marvelous, and among her men have been, and are, leaders in momentous affairs.
Among those whom her people have delighted to honor -- a former Lieutenant-Governor and Congressman -- is a Groton boy whom I shall now ask to address you- the
HONORABLE CHARLES W. STONE.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I would be a rash man indeed if, at this hour of the day, and in this temperature.
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and after the wealth of eloquence, of educational history, of practical agricultural experience, of political science, which we have been favored with today, I should undertake to detain this audience. Ordinarily, I would like to do that for a little time. Ordinarily, I would be glad to say a few words here in the place where I was born; but you are pro- tected from any such possible danger, for I am advised that the train which will take me toward the setting sun will soon be due, and railroad trains, like time and tide, wait for no man. Consequently, Mr. Chairman, the speech which I would like to have made will have to be postponed until the next centennial.
Anywhere, except in Groton, and at any other time except today, the eloquent, feeling, enthusiastic eulogy upon the state of Massachusetts from the lips of her Lieutenant- Governor would have perhaps, provoked from me some words in relation to the grand, imperial old Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with its unrivalled resources and its glorious history. But today, Mr. Chairman, I stand here as a loyal Yankec. Today, I claim allegiance to the old state of Massachusetts. I claim the right to partake with you in the pride which we all feel in this grand old town of Groton. Tracing my lineage back by direct descent to three of the original Jand-holders of Groton, Simon Stone, Thomas Williams and William Green, I feel that I am entitled to share with you in the pride which we feel in this grand town, in its historical past, and its attractive present.
Yesterday I strolled to the top of Gibbet Hill, which I used to know as a boy, and I looked out upon the beautiful panorama spread before us, the distant hills and mountains, and the intervening fields, and it was a beautiful sight. I recognized that Groton was "beautiful for situation," and it seemed to me that it was a good place to be born in. I strayed later into the cemetery, peaceful, delightful, quiet; nothing to interfere with the peace and quiet of that solemn place, and it semeed to me that Groton was a good place to die and be buried in. I came today into this assemblage, with those
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bright faces and well laden boards, and wandered about your streets with their houses radiant with beauty, and it seemed to me that Groton was a good place to live in. And yet, no man who has tasted the enticing fascination of western life. who has mingled with the men who make things move, who has listened to the "call of the wild" that comes from the West with its vast prairies and gigantic forests, will ever be con- tent to return, even to the peaceful monotony of a New England town.
I noticed, in coming in on the train yesterday, what was a surprise to me, because in my boyhood days there was nothing noticeable in the language of this community, except possibly a little of what General Scott used to call "the rich old Irish brogue," but on the train yesterday, strident, diowning and overwhelming the conversation of the native New Englander was a foreign language, unknown to me, unintelligible to ine, and I wondered if I would find the same state of affairs in Groton. I wondered if I should find the genuine old New England element, or that composite element that comes from foreign immigration. But while today I miss many a figure which I would expect to see on this occasion, and especially one that had become preminently prominent in the state and nation and left a deep and lasting impress on his country's history, was absent, and while many another has gone on to that bourne from which no traveller returns, yet others have grown up and come in, and the general character of the town remains unchanged. You have the same churches and the same deep religious spirit, the same schools, the same town meeting, and the same educating influence of the town meeting, and the exemplification ci pure democracy shown in the conduct of your local affairs by direct vote of each individual citizen. And the town remains the same, and it is a great and glorious old community. I listen to the eulogies concerning New England. and I believe its influence is extending beyond the nation, and I would give you as a concluding sentiment, -Here's to the New England of the past, the home, the birth-place of American liberty and free government; here's to the United States of the present,
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carrying the enlightening, the elevating, the refining influence of New England civilization to the uttermost parts of the earth.
HON. GEORGE J. BURNS.
Unmindful of the precept that children should be seen but not heard, and oblivious to the somewhat unfilial utterances which were heard here thirty-four years ago, and which were prompted only by eagerness for a much desired separation, and by impatience for independent existence, and not by any lack of respect or of affection for a venerable parent, I was to have asked you to listen to a representative of that frisky, that vivacious, that irrepressible child of old age-for so it seemed to me in my boyhood -the modern - or model -- town of Ayer. Now that she has dropped the peevishness of childhood, and has assumed the decorous serenity of a digni- fied sister, and is avowedly not ashamed of her elder relative-I am getting the kinship in this consanguinous metaphor a bit mixed -- it would be fitting that her spokes- man should be one who, like herself, possesses all the enthusiasm of youth together with many other estimable qualities which come with the ripeness of mature age. I should, therefore, have invited to speak in behalf of our good neighbor now in all the bloom of full grown womanhood, not all of whose beauties, however, can be seen from her railroad station, one whose agreeable voice, on more than one occasion has not failed to please a Groton audience, one who fills a large place in this commuity, and one who, when Congressman Tirrell is sent to the Senate or made Ambas- sador to the Court of St. James, for aught I know, may represent this district in the halls of Congress-our worthy friend, the Honorable George J. Burns. But I do not see him here at this moment.
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The addresses then are finished and the Chair, therefore, declares this gathering adjourned to the 300th anniversary to which time the 2ooth anniversary gathering was also adjourned.
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