USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Cambridge fifty years a city, 1846-1896; an account of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 2-3, 1896 > Part 10
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From these, and other precious monuments by which we are surrounded, we can read the history of our city, the work of our ancestors and predecessors, in successive stages, from the building of the palisaded town, through their struggle for independence, their battle to save the country from dismem- berment and dishonor, down to the present day. How greatly are we favored thereby! It is our duty frequently to refer to them in our liomes, in our schools, and on occasions like this, so that, inspired by the memories of civic virtue which they bring up, when the time arrives that the government of our good city comes to our care we will be prepared to receive it as a sacred trust and inheritance, and to transmit it unsullied to our successors.
REVEREND ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D. D.1
"CAMBRIDGE is a shire town, in the county of Middlesex. It lies in 42 deg. 23 min. north latitude, and 71 deg. west longitude from London." This is the topographical and unimaginative beginning of Dr. Holmes's "History of Cam- bridge." Dr. Paige, in his history, gives the latitude 42 deg. 22 min., and the longitude at 71. deg. 6 min. The difference may be accounted for in part by the circumstance that one reckoned from London, and the other from Greenwich. It is to be noted also that the point in Cambridge which was chosen for the measurement was probably different in the two cases. The seat of government was movable and had come from Har- vard Square to Norfolk Street, and thence to the city hall which has been recently left. Dr. Paige remarks that the former city hall stands exactly on the longitudinal line and about a hundred yards south of the parallel of latitude indi- cated by him. I do not know that it has any significance, but it is well to be on our guard, and I therefore call attention to the fact that in the last migration of the government the city hall and all which appertains to it have been slipped off the meridian.
Whatever changes have taken place in boundary lines, the ancient village, the modern town, and the present city have held the land chosen two hundred and sixty years ago. The hills which diversified the ground have for the most part lost their prominence. " Newtowne was first intended for a city," wrote the author of " New England's Prospect." Upon serious con- sideration it was not thought best to have the city here on ac- count of the distance from the sea. But destiny which was then denied has since been fulfilled, as we are witnesses. The same author lavishes admiration on the neat and well-compacted town, with its many fair structures, and many " handsome contrived streets." The phrase is well chosen, -the older streets have certainly been contrived. He is accurate again in saying, " The 1 Address delivered at the public meeting in Sanders Theatre, June 2.
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inhabitants most of them are very rich." We may smile at this account of our estate. But riches are by no means limited to money, of which we have our share. If they include the im- material wealth, which is the better and more permanent pos- session, we are very rich. It is certainly worth noting that a man's fortune has little to do with his standing in this commu- nity.
It is not by any sudden change that the village of 1631 has become the city in whose greatness we are now rejoicing. Steadily has the advance been made. This is the city of the people. It is like other towns in many respects, but it has its preeminence in that it was here the statesmen and scholars of the beginning placed their college. This, more than any other thing, has given character and influence and renown to the village and the city. The legend on the college gate is the deep thought of the men who had brought across the sea the materials for a college which should give life and form to their settlement. They did not bring land, for there was more land here than in England. They did not bring buildings, for it was easier and cheaper to construct them here, as they came to be in need of them. But they brought men, and books, and the love of learning, and a spirit equal to their great enterprise.
Harvard College was formed by small gifts from great men. The list of donations is both pathetic and prophetic. We keep this portion of our festival within the college walls, and it is right that we should be here, for this is the people's college, of them and for them. The city was much to the college, but not all. Other interests have arisen to make a community about the college. There is something restful and delightful in a village which is a college and little more. The life is serene within its ivied halls, and along its shaded walks. It is a fine place to grow old in at one's leisure. But there are advantages for teachers and students in the busy life of a city, where the scholars may feel the world, and know its stir and ambition and take of its force. The town and city have helped the college. From the first there have been prosperous business enterprises here. In 1639, Stephen Daye set up his printing-press, which soon passed into the hands of Samuel Greene. The first book they printed was " The Freeman's Oath," then Pierce's "New England Almanac," and then " The Psalms, newly turned into metre." This man Greene, besides his printing, was town
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clerk and soldier. Perhaps he needed many occupations to maintain his nineteen children. There were other kinds of business. In the northwest parish was a card manufactory, using a machine invented in the spring of 1797, by Amos Whittemore. The machine was creditable to native ingenuity, for it could bend and cut and stick the teeth of the cards by a single operation. In 1799, William Whittemore & Co. opened their factory with twenty-three machines, sticking two hundred dozen pairs of cards in a week. Forty persons were employed in this establishment, which was forty-six feet square, and the cards sold for seven dollars per dozen pairs. In the same parish was a brook, which started in Lexington and finally discharged its waters into the Mystic River. One sawmill and three gristmills were upon this stream, and the historian points out the advantage to those who were transporting their grain to Boston in having it converted into meal at one of these mills. The meal would be more salable at the metropolis.
Then at Charles River, William Winthrop, Esq., kept a very commodious wharf, where great quantities of wood and lumber were unladen and placed on sale. The river there was twenty-two rods wide.
This record was made in 1800, and the great event which delighted the historian was the recent opening of the West Boston Bridge. It was built by a corporation, at a cost of 876,700. The enthusiasm of the good Dr. Holmes is delight- ful. " It is very handsomely constructed ; and, when lighted by its two rows of lamps, extending a mile and a quarter, pre- sents a vista, which has a fine effect." It is easy to believe this, and one can readily enter into the delights of the writer as his eye runs down the mile and a quarter of oil lamps.
The effect of this enterprise was soon seen. Trade moved towards the centre of the town and down to the new bridge, where houses and stores were built, and " a rapid progress of trade and commerce was naturally expected." That vision las been made true even beyond the hopes of the bridge-builders. We have now business establishments of nearly all kinds. Naturally, printing is very prominent. But we make engines and pianos ; furniture and boxes ; crackers and collars ; candy and carriages ; soap and drugs, and other things more than can be named to-night. We have made a great advance. When Dr. Holmes wrote his history, there were five meeting-
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houses in the town, and the college had five buildings. No one ean readily tell how many there are now. Schools have increased in number and efficiency. A new bridge, as hand- somely constructed as that of 1793, furnishes another highway to the adjoining settlement, and its lights "present a vista which has a fine effect." The new city hall stands in its gran- deur, lifting its tower above colleges, library, hospital, facto- ries, schools, and houses; and with just and equal laws, with firmness and fidelity in their enforcement, guards the honor and promotes the well-being of eighty thousand people.
The advance has been the work of the people. We are a city of convenient dimensions. We are not so small that our experiments in municipal life have no value, nor are we so large that the greatness of our tasks forbids their accomplish- ment. It is not difficult for those to whom our publie interests are intrusted to know the city thoroughly. The names and places of streets and squares are easily held in mind. Our industries are well defined. The departments of the public service can be kept in hand, and the work before them does not baffle or confuse. Our problems are serious, but they can be solved. We are large enough not to be detained by our past, nor affrighted by our future. We have the elumsiness of neither the dwarf nor the giant. We have the timidity of neither childhood nor old age.
As we stand, at the middle of our century, there are some things to be resolved upon. We should keep our past. The history of this ground, the annals of the city, are to be remem- bered and taught, so that they may descend from generation to generation. The story of Thomas Shepard and his compeers should be familiar. The places of historie interest should be plainly marked.
For the present time we need more compactness, more unity. We live apart ; we come and go by the different roads ; we use different post-offices. This is convenient and necessary. But we need to cultivate, if not to create, an honest city pride ; to cherish a belief in the city, a desire for its full enrichment, a delight in its entire prosperity through all our wide domain. Whatever promotes this, is for our advantage. If there were more interchange of counsel and courtesy between the wards it would be more than pleasant.
This celebration, in which we all have part, should have this
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as one of its best results, - to make us more perfectly, in know- ledge and in sympathy, one city. We are not too large for that. But we look beyond. There is room for prophecy. The fine system of parks will greatly enhance our beanty. The Charles River may yet be as attractive as the Avon or the Arno. The lands in the west are to be improved with fine streets and houses, schools and churches ; and Fresh Pond may be almost as charming as the English lakes.
The form of the city as it is ontstretched upon the map is the form of a butterfly with outstretched wings. It is to grow and to fly abroad, raising its splendid colors into the sunlight. We must dare plan great things now that we are more than two liun- dred and sixty years old, and fifty years a city.
The inspiration for our work may be taken from the walls above us : Qui autem docti fueruit fulgebunt. (They that be wise shall shine.) Where shall we find the pattern for this wisdom better than in the teaching of our own Laureate : -
" When all have done their utmost, surely he Hath given the best who gives a character Erect and constant, which nor any shock Of loosened elements, nor the fearful sea Of flowiug or of ebbing fates, can stir From its deep bases in the living rock Of ancient manhood's sweet security."
REVEREND ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D. D.1
" And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth. . . . The length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal." - REVELATION xxi. 16.
I. THIS is a week of celebration, and it is proper that the churches should have their part. Certainly this church should have its part, for it is coeval with the town; more than that, it was the beginning of the town. This church was formed almost as soon as the first settlers landed, and it was thence- forth the centre of their life. The Puritan design was distinctly religious, and a Puritan church may congratulate itself on the fulfillment of the purpose. A Congregational church was here in 1633, the eighth in the Massachusetts Colony. After its removal to Connecticut, this church was organized in 1636, under Thomas Shepard. John Bridge, whose tablet is in the wall yonder, and whose statue is on the common, was in both churches. Thomas Shepard's presence helped to draw the col- lege here. The church, the town, the eollege have been in unbroken fellowship, and from this, enlarged in the process of the years, has come the city. The advance from the small pro- portions of the beginning has been steady along all the lines. The spirit of the first days has not lost its force.
II. What has the city done for the church in the fifty years which we are now reviewing ? The word "church " is used in a large sense, meaning the whole body of those whose religious home has been with the First Church.
1. It has given it a place to stand upon.
2. It has granted an exemption from taxation, that it might use all its means for religious and charitable purposes.
3. It has furnished good schools for the children.
4. It has promoted business, through which the church has been benefited and made strong.
5. It has sustained many forms of municipal service.
6. It has created and protected pleasant homes for the people.
1 Abstract of a sermon preached at the First Church, May 31.
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7. It has framed and administered good laws.
8. It has shared its honor and dignity with the church.
III. What has the church done for the city ?
1. It has lived here.
2. It has taught virtue, and civic virtue, patriotism, citizen- ship.
3. It has dispensed large charities for the assistance of the needy.
4. It has given men and women to the service of the city.
5. It has kept the unseen and eternal realities with the things which are seen and temporal.
That is, the church has been a part of the city and its life, enjoying and enlarging the prosperity which has surrounded and pervaded it.
It would be strange indeed if it were otherwise ; if the city had not valued the church, or the church had not felt the opportunity to fulfill its divine intent.
IV. The idea of a city is sacred. It is in the Old Testa- ment and the New Testament. The Bible insists on personal- ity and personal duty, but it presents the kingdom and the city. In the book of Revelation we read of the coming city, the ideal city, which has so great glory that it is to be the Bride of the Lamb, the Son of God. It is to be foursquare, complete, sta- ble, beautiful. The idea of a city includes homes, business of many kinds, schools and libraries, churches and charities, gov- ernment and officers. All these the city regards, and with tlie same interest the church regards them. They are essential to the well-being of the church, which must honor and sustain them by all the means in its power. To this idea of city and church we owe our gladness to-day.
V. Are we only to celebrate ? Is this a time for memory alone ? We have the past by keeping it and perfecting it. To be glad is good, but joy is generous. Even in our praises we are borne forward to new achievements. Only thus are we worthy of those who were before us. What memorial of this time shall we erect? A column ? An arch ? A building ? What shall it be ? Memorials are good, but useful memo- rials are best and most in keeping with our history. Something for the benefit of the people may well rise to mark the time we are passing through. We have illustrious precedent. The new Czar of Russia has made his accession memorable by lifting
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off oppressive taxes, setting free prisoners of state, reealling men from Siberia. In many a town, in many a home to which husband, father, son has been restored, this coronation will be remembered with thanksgiving. In the palace more easy will lie the head which wears the crown. What can we do here ? We can certainly enlarge. our charities. They are all poor. It would be a notable event if by our common gifts or by public gifts they were strengthened for their work. How fine it would be if our hospital, our orphans' home, our home for the aged, and other houses of mercy, were liberally enlarged, and on the wall the stranger could read, " Endowed in the fiftieth year of the city "! The very words would be a memorial and an inspi- ration.
VI. We could go further even and restore and perfect the New England ideas which are in the base and in the walls of our prosperity : The idea of God, whose law is supreme over men and states ; of the Bible, the true light of men through the world, in all duty and in all comfort, and the light to all the worlds that are beyond ; of the Sabbath, a day of rest and of worship, a time for the freshening and invigorating of our spiritual nature ; the idea of the church, primeval in our New England life, and of the meeting-house, the one meeting-place, hallowed and enjoyed by all the households. How worthily the return to the ways of the fathers would mark this time of re- joicing !
VII. Let us build here the city of the New Testament. We have a good foundation for it. Those who made the beginning had the vision of " the city of the living God." They provided that here Wisdom should cry aloud in the streets, and utter her voice in the broad places and in the chief place of concourse. They wished to fulfill upon the earth the song of the Psalmist : " There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God .... God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved ; God shall help her, and that right early." If the streets of their city were not laid with gold, they were to be trodden by the feet of good men walking in prosperity and uprightness. The city was to be on a hill, so that it could not be hid. They were fond of the line in the eighty-seventh Psalm : "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." If it was not to be a "continuing city," never to be moved, their city was to last while the world lasted, and its citizens were to have the power
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of an endless life. Are we not able to rise toward their thoughit and to make our rejoicing like the early strains of a grand prophecy ? So shall our city be foursquare. Government, knowledge, enterprise, religion shall flourish. The city shall then be strong and beautiful indeed. Through its gates we and our children shall move on to a city prepared for us, - a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, in that country which is our own.
REVEREND GEORGE ALCOTT PHINNEY.1
IT is no ordinary privilege which I have at this hour in the midst of the festivity of our fiftieth anniversary as a city to speak to you a fitting word. You have gathered here to cele- brate by the massing of your splendid forces of young life, by the instrumental music accompanied by artistic song and declamation, the achievement which our parents have won for us in the creation of this city. It is an extraordinary city. It is a famous city. You are honored with being educated in one of the most renowned cities of the world. If you were among the Highlands of Scotland or standing on the banks of the Ganges it would not be difficult for you to find some one who knew of our civic fame, and who thought you ought to be justly prond over what has been accomplished within our borders. There is, then, to-day, this which ought to awaken your grati- tude. You have been born under very favorable conditions of location, education, administration. The city rests quietly by the banks of the Charles, within a whisper of our capitol. I have lived in Boston, was educated in all her grades of schools, and I venerate that city as I do no other ; nevertheless, our Cambridge has a fine independence of her own, - all that necessarily enters in to make her a great and useful city is found here. Her politicians are conscientious and able ; her industries are famed ; her schools are attractions to all parts of the country. Let us rejoice to-day, children, over our her- itage. Let us, as we stand around the altars of this great celebration, resolve to do all we can by being good sons and daughters in our homes, good pupils in our schools, good men and women as we grow up, to make Cambridge, when she wears the honor of coming to her centennial jubilee, a greater factor in the civilization of the twentieth century.
1 Address delivered to the pupils of the Willard Primary School, at the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, June 2.
REVEREND GEORGE ALCOTT PHINNEY.1
" And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." - REVE- LATION Xxi. 2.
IT has been suggested by the civil authorities of this city that we observe our semi-centennial by appropriate services in our various churches on this Sabbath. Following that suggestion arrangements have been made for an interesting meeting this evening to be addressed by several speakers of prominence and ability. I propose, this morning, not to dwell upon any his- torical facts of our civic history, but to develop a general theme suggested by the occasion ; feeling that my brief sojourn among you would hardly warrant my preparing an historical discourse.
There is not the slightest doubt that if we could get the cities right we could easily get the world right. It is the city which determines the type and extent of the world's civilization. We are not one bit better, we are no farther progressed, we are no nearer millennial ideals, than our cities are.
The ancient city was everything to the ancient. His life centred in the city. His city was his religion, for there lived the gods he venerated. Our patriotism, which is the soul's pas- sion for its native land, was unknown to them save as it found cause for its excitement in the dangers and deliverances which came to ancient Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and Rome, cen- turies before Christ. The legendary origin of these famous strongholds gave a kind of mystic charm to them which stimu- lated ancient reverence. To trace the founding of some of the old municipalities is like trying to find the source of the great lake in the heart of darkest Africa, -its origin is so far remote from what would seem real and practical life that it would be easy to relate it to far-off celestial mists. The ancient city was either founded by a god or demigod, or there was some legend about its origin kept in the secrecy of a few people. There is greater simplicity in our origins. The stainless fingers of un-
1 Sermon preached at the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, May 31.
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known gods had no part in our inception. Our genealogy runs back with unquestioned accuracy. We know the names of those who built the first log house, who digged the first well, who worshiped in the first rude church. Our history is real.
In the ancient city the man was a citizen to all the worship and privileges within her walls. Rarely could he change his city. Banishment was a horrible misfortune attended with all the regretfulness and disgrace of modern hanging. Wealth in those days, in the light of the intelligence of the times, made commendable use of its money in erecting monuments to the gods, rearing temples of exquisite architecture and decorative art, setting around on the street corners costly statues ; poems were recited, processions formed, hymns sung, sacrifices offered in shadows of the colonnades, or in the sunlight of her genial skies. Has the world ever listened to eloquence surpassing in beauty and effect that which came generation after generation from her rostrum or her bema on these great festival occasions in honor of the city ? It would be well for us, if we could raise the standard of our intellectual and civic life in this respect. On those occasions they paid tributes to imaginary founders, recited the deeds of their illustrious citizens, pledged continued fealty to the patron god or goddess.
Oh, for the return of the democratic equalities of the palmiest days of the old Greek cities, when a citizen had a right to pro- pose any law or amendment he chose to present, relying only for its success and enforcement upon his artless and direct per- suasion of the citizens present in the public places. "Those who stood in the forum and listened to Pericles and to Demos- thenes, to Scipio and to Cicero, took home more material for thought and a higher standard of public debate," says Freder- ick Harrison, " than what we usually carry away with us from a crowded town's meeting."
As contrasted with the ancient city we find our cities are cumbersomely too large. The greatest cities of the ancient world, Rome, Syracuse, or Alexandria, were not so large but that in the longer hours of a summer's afternoon you could cir- cumvent their walls. Our modern city has become bulky and unwieldy. It was the wisdom of De Tocqueville that our cities were too large. "I look," said he, " upon the size of certain American cities, and especially upon the nature of their popu- lation, as a real danger which threatens the security of the
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