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 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
Many other cities may, with honor, refer to their patriotism, municipal government, and educational system. But our own city, which the coming week is to celebrate her fiftieth anni- versary, stands second to none in patriotism, in citizenship, and in education. She has grown to occupy a proud position in this nation, that knows no peer, as the centre of learning ; and she is pointed to by sister municipalities as an example of temperance, morality, and good municipal government. This shows much for which to be thankful. And yet we who live here know that much yet remains to be accomplished. Our past is bril- liantly lighted with heroic deeds and patriotic utterances. Wherever we turn, we behold landmarks ever reminding us of the character of former generations who lived and governed here. Our future, however, is to be made, and must be what we make it.
With all our drawbacks and shortcomings, I think you will agree with me that our country secures to the individual greater freedom, more intelligence, and more humane happiness than any other spot on earth. And yet while we are doing much
148
CAMBRIDGE FIFTY YEARS A CITY.
to elevate and enlighten this community and age, is it not true that we can and should do more for the individual ?
What constitutes a city ? Surely not paved streets and mac- adamized avenues, not parks carpeted with green and flowers, but " men who their duties know, but know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain." In order to have a city worthy of the name, the individual must be taught his duty to the com- munity at large. Before we can have ideal citizenship and good local government, we must see that our young are not neg- lected in matters pertaining to self, country, and God. Before our nation can be universally known as the one doing most for humanity we must have citizens who are in sympathy with true American teaching and who will look to God as their ruler. " In God we trust " may be read on our coins. Better to read it in the hearts of the people, in the government they present before the world.
Our city, therefore, should endeavor to teach the boy and the girl American truths and ideals, and so prepare them to enter manhood or womanhood with a sound and clear conception of American citizenship.
Our churches and our homes have duties to perform to this American life as well as our public schools. They should strive to so fix God in the minds of the young that nothing may shake their faith in Him in the years to come.
There is a tendency on the part of some to decry our public schools as godless, because denominational religious teaching is banished from the curriculum. This tendency I deem a recogni- tion of an unmet responsibility. Our public schools in America, being the schools of every sect and class of people, should aim to train the minds of the youth in harmony with the morality, judg- ment, and understanding of the future American. They should also teach God and Christ to the youth, but not along narrow sectarian lines. God will be taught to the child through the lessons in patriotism, and one's duty to his city, state, or nation. Christ will be taught also to the child through the lessons that emphasize the inestimable value of morality, honesty, and trust- worthiness, that aim to make every child realize that in the fu- ture he is to be responsible either as a father in his own home, as a citizen at the polls, as a business man in his office, as a laborer at his bench. While our schools are interested in the development of a child's character they cannot be rightly
149
ROBERT WALKER.
called godless. But they are not the special places for the re- ligious instruction of the youth. The church and the home must always be the special places where we are to receive our religious training. You, fathers and mothers, must in your own homes teach your children what it is to be a Christian, - what it is to be an honorable man, what it is to be a pure woman. You must not expect the stranger to do your duty to your child. You must not expect the child to give the same attention to one outside his home instructing him as he would to you. I appeal to your own experience. What prayer has remained in your memory like the one taught you at your mother's knee ? What advice has had the effect on your general living equal to your father's, given you at his fireside ? The lesson of God, taught you and me in our homes, is and ever has been the foundation upon which our religious lives have been established. We will have no occasion to find fault with our public schools if the churches and the homes do their duty. Let God be your subject in the evening hours, when the day's work is finished, and your children gather around your knees. Let Christ be the model you exhort them to imitate and follow when they leave your homes. Let patriotism, American citizenship, be constantly discussed within their hearing in order to waken in them their duties to their country. Teach them yourselves their religious instructions. Show thyself a man; show thy- self a woman. Be a Christian on Monday as well as on Sun- day. The relation of mother is the most sacred on earth, the relation of father the most revered. Together they make home, - it matters not what it is, the log cabin on the frontier, the farmhouse surrounded with meadows and orchards, the man- sion in the metropolis. - and back to it we often go in memory to live again our childhood, and recall the faces, the words, the deeds of those who made it so lovely and dear to our hearts, that we may say with the poet : -
" Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ; A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
" An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain ! Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again ; The birds singing gayly that came at my call, - Oh, give me sweet peace of mind dearer than all."
150
CAMBRIDGE FIFTY YEARS A CITY.
When you have passed away, fathers and mothers, what kind of home shall your child recall when he shall bid time to flow baekward that he may relive the days he is now spending with you ? Will happiness be there ? Will love be there? Will " home " be there ? Will Christ be there ? Will God be there ?
If God is in your home, he will be in your ehild ; if in your ehild then in the citizen ; if in the citizen then in our govern- ment, loeal and national. Through God we will do great aets always. Who will prediet the greatness of our eity fifty years henee, if you teach your child to believe in God and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son and to do unto others as he would have them do unto him ?
WILLIAM HENRY WHITNEY.1
Do you ever think, girls and boys, that you would like to be famous ? Does your laudable pride in the fair fame of this school lead thought and purpose into the future, with hope as to what you will become and accomplish in the next fifty years ? What shall it be for the Morse School and its faithful teachers ? What for Cambridge in the next generation ? You are answering these questions. The answer rests with you. It centres in my mind about the word "grow." You must all grow in years ; but the "growth" I mean is not that. Grow to goodness, rather, to knowledge, and to merit. Then fame for you, and the teachers you love, will follow.
Up in William Street, where I was born, there were once two objects at the edge of the sidewalk. Only one of them remains now. I suppose not a person in all the world remembers or has remembered or thought of the other for many years but myself. I have thought of it often for the lesson I learned in watching those two objects. The one which remains is now a noble elm tree, illustrating my thought of growth in usefulness, year by year. It is not a famous tree, like those Mr. Cook has so beautifully described, which are the pride of Cambridge his- tory, but it has fulfilled the highest hope of its earlier life and has a fame all its own. When I knew it first it did not occupy as much space as the forgotten object, but it grew, and grew. The other object did not grow, -only to grow old. It was a post. It rotted and fell away long years ago. Whenever you go through William Street, or by it, you think of my lesson, - grow, GROW.
This is a talk of home. If it is worthy of any remembrance, I would have a home lesson in it, and stir up the pride of home in your hearts. Did you ever think of our local possessions here in ward four in the names of our streets and squares ? There are some names native to the soil. There is the old 1 Abstract of an address delivered to the pupils of the Morse Grammar School, June 2.
152 ,
CAMBRIDGE FIFTY YEARS A CITY.
name by which, doubtless, the Indian knew this locality, - " The Oyster Banks." I have the pleasure of presenting for one of your class-room cabinets a huge oyster-shell rescued from the gravel banks of Charles River, the remains of the house of a native oyster. "The Pine Grove " was a local name of my boyhood. " Fort Washington" and its memories are ours by a bond no one disputes. Borrowed, but not to be forgotten, is the Inman House now on Brookline and Auburn streets. Allston Block and Terrace, on Auburn Street, mark the site of the studio of the great painter who has given his name to the street on which your schoolhouse fronts, - " Allston." Generals " Putnam " and " Green " are Revolutionary heroes, whose names are on our boundary streets, and the former is very near us in the memories of the uses to which the Inman House has been put in its varied career. "Hamilton," aide- de-camp to Washington, and his great secretary of finance, " Franklin," philosopher and statesman, are names speaking to the pride of every American youth. " Decatur," naval hero of the United States flag in the Mediterranean, is reealled to us in the street bearing his name. The streets named "Sid- ney," " Watson," " Valentine," "Tufts," and "Hastings " and " Dana " squares, tell of local families and men who devel- oped the pastures and marshes into streets and houses.
There is a noble eluster of names which we too thoughtlessly, I fear, utter, unmindful of their appeal to us from the strug- gling republie in the trying days of 1812. American supremacy on the Great Lakes was secured by the Battle of Lake Erie : thus we have two of our streets named "Lake" Street and " Erie " Street. Three more complete the cluster : Commodore " Perry," the commander, and the brigs named " Lawrence " and " Niagara," successively his flagships, have given their names to us for highways. As we walk these ward four streets and glance at the signboards Perry's dispatch to General Harrison, " We have met the enemy and they are ours, - two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop," rings in our ears, - a hero's exulting shout in victory. Captain Lawrence only a few months before had shown an indomitable spirit in defeat in words scarcely less notable : "Don't give up the ship," he said ; and left his name, with these other illustrious ones, to Perry's flagship and to our locality.
These recollections are ours, scholars of the Morse School.
153
WILLIAM HENRY WHITNEY.
Keep their memory bright. You may bear on to new fame our fair city. Not one, but many strive for that. Grow in merit, and be worthy of it. Never disgrace with your miscon- duct this bright record. These faithful teachers will follow your after course with tender pride. Let that be your inspira- tion, too. And when you may in memory recall the record which fifty years have wrought through you, may you face the record with a serene satisfaction, based on honest endeavor to do your part well. Commence now, and never falter. Cam- bridge and its history is in your hands.
HIS EXCELLENCY, ROGER WOLCOTT,1
ACTING GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS.
IT seems to me appropriate to-day that the word which the commonwealth should bring to you is a word of hearty congrat- ulation. The city of Cambridge, owing to her position of close proximity to the life of our capital city, owing to her enviable, honored past, and owing to the various institutions within her borders, is exceptional within the boundaries of the common- wealth.
To-day you celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of your incor- poration as a city. I suppose it is in the mind of every one of yon as it is in mine, when I say that your memory and life go far back of this brief record of half a century. Your memory harks back to the time when Newtowne was merely a cluster of houses on the banks of the Charles River. It recalls every incident which is the remarkable possession of Cambridge. It recalls the early and honorable foundation of Harvard College, it recalls all the events that bring us up to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. And so, gentlemen, all through that time, the memory of the long ago comes back to us again.
It seems to me that the word " congratulation," which the commonwealth brings to you to-day, might take many forms. It might make special mention of the many names with which your history is associated, and it might speak of your excellence as a city in many respects. But it is the honored past which comes to our minds to-day. It is well for the commonwealth to remember that you are the fourth city in the point of age within her borders. There were but three cities ahead of you. But Cambridge exemplifies most in the richness of her historic past. Why, think of it ! With your Washington headquarters and your Washington Elm, under which that greatest of Americans first took command of the Colonial armies, everything places Cambridge in a position to be envied by every other city in the common wealth.
1 Speech delivered at the banquet in Union Hall, June 3.
155
HIS EXCELLENCY, ROGER WOLCOTT.
Associated with your beautiful city with bonds almost indis- soluble, is Harvard College. One is incomplete without the other ; each takes lustre from the light shed from the other. Cambridge and Harvard College ! What would one be without the other ?
Coming down to your history as a city, there are many thoughts suggested to my mind. The thought that mere popu- lation, the number and size of your warehouses and other out- ward and more material evidences of activity, do not constitute greatness occurs to me. There is something more, something that cannot be set down in the tables of a census. It is the great memories of the past.
Your present condition and your future promise are what most concern the commonwealth to-day. In regard to that I think that you afford an example of one of the finest municipal existences in New England, but your past is wiped away unless you are worthy of it and continue to realize the promise which that past affords. Your present condition is due to the fact that you have in a great measure solved the problems of muni- cipal government. To-day you work together, and all parties and all religious denominations work together for a common purpose. This problem for you is recent, more recent than it is in Boston, and Boston itself is young. I know of a man who walks the streets of Boston to-day who has shaken hands with every mayor of the city, three of the same name as that of the present mayor.
I might congratulate you on many things, but I prefer to congratulate you on your honored past, and, finally, on the pres- ent condition of your municipal government and on the bright prospects of the city of Cambridge.
REVEREND THEODORE FRANCIS WRIGHT, PH. D.,1
DEAN OF THE NEW-CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL.
WHEN Cambridge was first settled, it was selected as a com- mon place of defense for all the people living along these waters. It was so chosen because it lay in the middle of the curve drawn around Boston from the northern and southern shores. For the same reason it became the central camp of the army surrounding Boston in the Revolution, and it was made the headquarters of the commanding general.
I was lately calling upon some friends in this part of the city, and they showed me a little book, saying that it was a history of Cambridge. I borrowed it and read it with great interest. It proved to be an account given by a man named S. S. Simpson of his life in East Cambridge when there was only one house there. My friends found that it was not known in our city library, and they kindly placed it there. I read an account of a great storm, about the year 1820, and some other events, in this book, especially about a cold day when many people were frozen right in the town.
From that time we can come down to the year 1848 when this Allston School began, and it is interesting to know the story of the remarkable man for whom it was named, about where he lived, and how he worked on his pictures, and how at last he was taken away before he could finish his greatest picture, or even bring it as near to completion as it had been several years before.
It was in the year 1848 that Mr. Roberts began to teach this school, when fields lay all round it and long before there were any street cars. How good it is that he can be with us to-day !
There have been a great many famous people who have lived in Cambridge, and I think that you may like to hear a few anecdotes about such men as old Dr. Holmes, and Professor Sophocles and dear old Dr. Peabody.
1 Abstract of an address delivered to the pupils of the Allston Grammar School, June 2.
157
THEODORE FRANCIS WRIGHT.
But while these people have passed on, we have many still to be grateful for. Think what Mr. Rindge has done for our city ; is not that a fine example ? And think what a blessing the parks will be to us when they are completed. And think what good Mr. Beach has done in leading our forces against the rumsellers. And think how much brotherly feeling there is in the city, and how united we all are in good work. So we keep the jubilee very joyfully.
REV. THEODORE FRANCIS WRIGHT, PH. D.1
" The city lieth foursquare." - REVELATION xxi. 16.
To one looking at Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, the city presents a perfectly square form. Standing on the oppo- site side of the Kedron Valley, its eastern wall runs in a straight line across his field of view from north to south, and then turns at right angles, westward. Its breadth would naturally be reckoned along this wall, its length in the opposite direction, and its height from the bottom of the valley.
In the book of Revelation we have a description of a spiritual vision, but the resemblance of that city to the earthly Jerusa- lem, from which indeed it was named, is so manifest that we think of the "mountain great and high" as if it were the Mount of Olives, and the walls as if they were those visible in this world. Both cities were foursquare, the heavenly more exactly so than the earthly.
The description of the spiritual city would not have been given unless there had been something in these particulars re- lating to the religious life. It must be transparent, it must be established on the rock of truth, and it must be foursquare. We are so familiar with the application of the word " square " to conduct, that it is hardly necessary to dwell upon it, except to point out that what makes a square life is a just balance of the affections and the reason. If one is wholly moved by his affections, we do not regard him as well developed, because he grows only in one way, and becomes enthusiastic or sentimental. He has length, but not breadth, of character. So again of a coldly intellectual man who reasons about everything, but never feels strong emotions. He is one-sided also, he has breadth but not length.
The foursquare man feels earnestly, and thinks carefully. He is both broad and long. His impulses are balanced by his
1 Abstract of a sermon preached at the chapel of the New-Church Theo- logical School, May 31.
159
THEODORE FRANCIS WRIGHT.
rationality. It is a noble combination, perhaps rarely reached, but it is conceivable, and nothing less satisfies our convictions. It is what we are all striving for, and is seen with sufficient distinctness to be our goal in life. We especially admire those who have this balance of character, and we wish them to be put into places of responsibility, for we feel safer under such leadership than under any other.
It is an interesting and confirmatory fact that the objects before the Israelites in their worship were square. In the tabernacle the " holy of holies " was a square room, and the "holy " place was a double square. The altars were square. Right-angles characterized the court and the camp. In the temple the same form prevailed. We find nothing of irregular form appearing in any of their ceremonies.
In Christianity, as it was in its early purity, there was a beautiful balance of love and wisdom. The mark of Christians was brotherly love. but with this love went distinct teaching. Our Lord was a teacher of men. The apostles were teachers. While the sick were healed, the gospel was preached. People were not only mercifully treated, but they were instructed.
In later generations brotherly love declined amid the fierce contests of the Councils, and the church became very one-sided. Subtle arguments were given from the pulpits. Men denounced each other. Differences of opinion led to cruel persecutions. Faith alone took the place of faith and charity. On the other hand the ignorant zeal of monks sought to counteract the dead- ness of the church, but it was unintelligent and misguided. Mediaeval Christianity of every kind was utterly out of balance.
The only hope of the Christianity of the future is that it shall be fully developed both in heart and in head, full of loving service of the Lord and mankind, and also wise in discerning the laws of life and the order of Providence.
These remarks have been made because a city can be only what its citizens are. If they are square, the city will be; if they are of crooked lives, the city will be a bad place to live in. Tried by this test at its jubilee, Cambridge has much to be grateful for, and very little to be ashamed of. Its officials are in the main men who hold their places by virtue of their actual fitness for them. The close scrutiny of their acts, which is maintained by the non-partisan organizations, induces improve- ment in the public service by eliminating the less useful officials
160
CAMBRIDGE FIFTY YEARS A CITY.
and putting better men in their places. The atmosphere of the city hall is not corrupt. We highly respect our office- bearers.
Not only so, but in what it does for the needy there is much of kindness combined with good judgment. Public charity, unregulated by wisdom, may do much larm, increasing the evils which it attempts to assuage. But in our city one may go from the almshouse through all the institutions of mercy and see only what he can fully approve. In this respect we have much to be grateful for to those who have generously given time and kind thought, as well as money, to all these places of mercy.
It is in the average home, however, that we may see the true unit of the municipality's strength. With relatively few ex- ceptions these homes are cheerful, tasteful, and every way ad- mirable. As the children stream forth in the morning on the way to school, they show the nature of the homes from which they come forth, and give evidence that sensible parents know how to provide wisely for their children. There is in this city but little extravagance, or attempt at display, and thousands are paying honestly for what they buy, and our tradespeople go on steadily for long years. In their domestic life, good sense and purity characterize our people.
The churches have become more fully united for the public good in this city than in most others, possibly than in any other. To a stranger it is amazing to see the cordial cooperation of Catholic and Protestant, white and black. The clergy take the lead, not condemning each other's faiths, and the people follow by working together in many ways. The propriety of having as many church homes as the community really needs is not disputed, but it is seen that in moral work all the churches can act together, forming a foursquare spiritual city. If there be still any bigotry among us which would seek to prosper without aiding in general good work, it is a one-sided growth and is seen to be such.
The city seen by John in Patmos was a prophecy, which is slowly being fulfilled here and elsewhere. If we do our part as disciples of the Lord Jesus and as citizens of our beloved city, that fulfillment will be extended even until the saying comes true, that " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
III.
CAFE
--
HEAD OF THE PROCESSION PASSING THROUGH HARVARD SQUARE-HON. JOHN READ, CHIEF MARSHAL, AND STAFF
-
AIDS AND MEMBERS OF THE CHIEF MARSHAL'S STAFF
ROSTER OF THE PROCESSION, JUNE 3.
Detail of 16 mounted police, commanded by Chief L. J. Cloyes. Hon. John Read, chief marshal. Lieut. W. A. Hayes, chief of staff. Thomas W. Henry, bugler.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.