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 6
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This last is the pith of all. What shall be the future of Cambridge ? When she celebrates the centennial of her incor- poration, what shall be the record of the city's second half- century? We can tell what we hope it will be. We can kindle our hearts with mighty purposes thereunto. We can dedicate ourselves to the same. This should be the practical purpose of the services in the churches this morning, and of the splendid pageants and festivities which await our people this week.
Comprehensively speaking, Cambridge has but to go on in the path wherein her feet are already set. She has but to be true to her past. Let the earnest mood, the tender but broad religious temper, the strong emphasis upon things intellectual which has marked her, the heroic spirit, the vision, the seer- ship. and yet the practical and living and concrete application of the same, be hers in the future.
To this end, let me urge that we be intelligent about the past of our city, and about its present, and, especially, that our young men and young women dedicate themselves to these high ends. Let us amend everything that needs amending in pres- ent conditions, and, if I may repeat words spoken by me at a public meeting in March, let me urge these three things : " Be one. See far. Act."
And now may the richest blessing of the God of our fathers, yea, and of our own God, be upon us. Then assuredly, may we take up the words of the ancient seer : -
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" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, And prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good."
REVEREND GEORGE W. BICKNELL, D. D.1
" A citizen of no mean city." - ACTS xxi. 39.
WE are this week to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of Cambridge into a city. Of course there is no city, no community, which has not its outs. There is no one in which there is not a great chance for improvement. But we believe our city in many ways is superior.
If we would in every station of life endeavor to look for the higher things, instead of contemplating the unpleasant ones, we should find a great deal more of heaven than we do. If I were to speak of Cambridge to a stranger, I should not describe the approach by the way of West Boston Bridge, but go up the river and speak of the beautiful approach by the new Harvard Bridge. Neither should I dwell upon the lack of transportation between Cambridge and Boston, but present the model patience, poor model though, which pulls straps in the over-crowded cars. Nor yet should I be too earnest regarding the lack of decent sidewalks, even in the centre of the city, compelling the children attending some schools to walk through mud and snow at times to get to their buildings, but rather speak of the beau- tiful shade trees which line the streets.
Fifty years ago a grand town was born into a city. Then there were 12,000 inhabitants, now over 80,000. Then one paid 15 cents to go in the " bus " from Harvard Square to Boston ; but now 5 cents. The mayor's salary was $600, now $3500 a year. The city clerk received $400 and other officials in proportion. The appropriation for the police department was 82700, now $110,700. The first city hall cost $2000, the present one $235,000. The number of births in the city in 1846 was 47, in 1894, 2479 ; marriages in 1846, 96, in 1895, 966; deaths, in 1846, 163, in 1895, 1642; fire department appropriation, in 1846, $2757, in 1895, $82,000. The taxes 1 Abstract of a sermon preached at the First Universalist Church, May 31.
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then were $5 on a thousand, now $15.75. But mark the im- provements. Where were pastures then are now schools, churches, business blocks and residences.
Cambridge's first graded schools were established in 1834, and the school appropriation in 1846 was $8500; now #236,000. There were then 30 teachers, now 322. There were then 458 students at Harvard, and there are now 3500. There were standards then, and there are standards now. But how much higher they are to-day : the salary of the teachers then was $250, now $620. When contrasted with the changes of the half century, with the requirements pertaining to the teachers, the salary is far too small.
The shape of the map of Cambridge in 1635 resembled a cradle ; in 1644 it looked like a long boot, while in 1896 it is shaped like a butterfly.
Some say we are behind, that we do not keep up. That de- pends upon what you mean by keeping up. True, outside busi- ness is not rushing, although in the one hundred and fifty manufactories in our city there is an immense amount of unseen business. Boston itself would be crippled if it were not for the brains of men who live outside of the city, and many of these are Cambridge men.
Morally, Cambridge stands high. We are free from saloons, gambling hells, and brothels. In the main, one must go out- side our limits to find striking immorality. You seldoni see an intoxicated person. There may be some kitchen bar-rooms, but they are hidden. Thefts are rare; property comparatively safe.
We have as clean a city government as one could ask for. Look into our city hall. There is not an official there who is not a gentleman. Partisan politics does not enter into our city affairs. A Republican can vote for a Democrat for mayor if the candidate is a decent man, and vice versa, and not lose caste with his party. Match it if you can.
Cambridge has many manufactories which call for skilled labor. The wage-earner of our city is usually a desirable citi- zen. Our educational advantages are innumerable. The very best is at the command of the wage-earner as well as the scholar.
As I have remarked, there are some outs. Cambridge is socially cold and reserved. There are but few evidences of heart in the hand for strangers, or even acquaintances. A con- servative spirit holds one at arm's length. Cambridge people
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are splendid people, but " so far and no farther " is the spirit. It is critical - a little fault outweighing a score of virtues. It has only a feeble spirit of enthusiasm. It is all right when started, but the difficulty is to start it.
Its churches are conservative, - live within themselves. The ministers, generally speaking, are like their churches, and the theology which is preached and sometimes published is no credit to the scholarship of our city. They are good fellows - that is, some of them - when you meet them ; but the meeting is very seldom. The power which the churches can exert is seen in the work of the no-license campaigns. The work of the clergy along this line has been grand.
The future is before us. We are to take a very active part in the great strides of the next quarter of a century. Our op- portunities are great. We have the means and the facilities to lead the world in educational matters. To what height will not science lead the Cambridge scholar ? What revelations may be made to the world regarding earth, life, and even something of the beyond, through the minds which may be active here !
The churches will change. The Church of the Message, giv- ing to the world the words, principles, etc., of the Christ will be the mighty power of the future. A half century hence it will require a microscope to find even the names of some of the denominations which are trying to do good, and which will fail as sects because of their conservative and narrow methods and ideas. Dogma must recede to let practical Christianity come to the front. There are cranks everywhere, but the economy of the law of advancement requires that they shall and they do grind to some good purpose.
A city is in a degree the reflection of the spirit of its inhab- itants. We should talk up our home place. We can make many boasts which are not idle. We can make Cambridge even more than it is, by infusing into it our interest. We can make its name grander than ever before, by unfolding more manly characteristics, and God will bless as seems to Him good.
REVEREND ALEXANDER BLACKBURN, D. D.1
" When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth : and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted : but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked." - PROV- ERBS xi. 10, 11.
OUR honored mayor did well when he suggested that the churches of the city hold appropriate services in commemora- tion of the semi-centennial of the city's organization. We hold to no organic union of church and government, but we do believe they are very closely related, - the one always to be friendly and responsive to the other.
During these fifty years prayers have ascended from these altars for the prosperity of the city, and during the same years the city has ever been ready to extend such protection as was in its power. When the flames claimed the church building, the men in the employ of the city did all in their power to ward off the calamity, and so between church and city there has ever been the most cordial relations.
It is not the place or time to enter upon any historical review of our city's life - that would be only to reiterate what has been said many times, and in these days there is little danger that our city shall suffer for lack of eulogists ; indeed, were it not for the fact that fifty years have brought wisdom and sta- bility, there might be danger that fair Cambridge might have her head turned by too much praise. I only take occasion to-night to point out some of the relations of religion to munici- pal life.
This church organization is about twenty-eight years older than the city, and no doubt has had some influence in shaping the character of our community. Pastors and people have been true to the sentiment of patriotism in city, state, and nation. When the war came, young men from this church and congregation were among the first to respond. I know not 1 Abstract of a sermon preached at the First Baptist Church, May 31.
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how many went forth. Only yesterday I had occasion to make myself known to two different comrades of the G. A. R., and each responded : "I used to go to that church."
I invite you to a brief consideration of some thoughts that seem appropriate to this week of rejoicing, and we may well let the wise King Solomon lead us. His central thought in the text quoted is : The rejoicing and exaltation of a city depends on the prosperity of the righteous. It is the righteous people in a city that make it great. We are coming more and more to see that righteousness is a broad word ; it involves very much beside honest dealing and truthful speaking. The righteous man is a full-grown man, the man with cultivated mind ; hence we establish our schools that our youth may get under- standing. The vast fields of truth open before them; and as they grasp truth, they become more what God would have them. Away with the old notion that goodness and ignorance are inseparable !
Along with this must go the development of the higher nature. There can be no exalted character until the conscience assumes its place - enlightened by truth it becomes the judge of actions and the life runs in right channels. And again, the righteous man recognizes his relations with God. I would say, then, that a city is exalted when her citizens are men of under- standing in the truth - whose consciences are true and in con- trol, and who are in right relations with God.
But this is not all. The truly righteous man recognizes his neighbor. He is only one among many, and each man has some claim upon him. A city is what its citizens make it, but this means some active interest in the affairs of his city. Christ said, " Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's." The general public is our Cæsar, - the city, and state, and national government.
I received a bundle of tracts this week, " Why a Christian Should Not Vote." I did not read them all, but the argument was that because of some grievous wrongs in the government the Christian must not recognize the government so far as to cast a ballot. The whole theory is wrong. The ballot is a trust to be used for the good of the community, and the man who refuses to use it is guilty of violating a trust. Suppose the Christian men of Cambridge eleven years ago had said : " It is wrong for a city to license saloons ; Cambridge licenses
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saloons, therefore I will not recognize the city government by going to the polls." How long would it have taken to get the saloons out of our city? The man who is silent against thic evil acts of his government becomes responsible ; if he speaks out he enters his protest and has cleared his skirts. If the good men of our city present a solid front, the wicked will - perish and there will be shouting.
Another principle of righteousness is sacrifice. The crown- ing act of the most righteous man who ever trod our earth was his complete self-sacrifice. The sign of the Christ is not a just weight or an honest dollar, though He taught that as emphati- cally as words could express. The sign of this most righteous of men was and is the cross. That cross has done more to civilize and bless the world than all other symbols. In the spirit of self-sacrifice the men of God went forth in the olden time - Paul and Augustine and Patrick, and a host of others - to civilize and Christianize the world. These men have had their followers in modern times, and because they were self- sacrificing we enjoy our present blessings.
The first half hundred years of our city have passed ; they have been full of noble achievements. What of the next fifty years ? Greater glory awaits us if there be true righteousness, if the minds of our people be enlarged, if their consciences are true, if they are right with God, if they are true to the respon- sibilities of their citizenship, if they are Christ-like in sacrifice.
GEORGE RUFUS COOK.1
SAID Beaconsfield : " A great city whose image dwells on the memory of man is the type of some great idea. Rome repre- sents conquest ; faith hovers over Jerusalem, and Atliens embod- ies the preeminent quality of the antique world-art." With equal truth it might be added that great cities which now exist likewise stand for great ideas. New York represents commer- cial conquest : Berlin is the world's object lesson of a scientific administration of municipal concerns, while Paris stands pre- eniinent in the quality of modern municipal art.
Now, when we consider that greatness in cities lias reference more to character than to area; to quickened souls rather than to the census : when we reflect on the beginnings of our Cambridge community - the lofty ideal which held it together during the early years of hardship : when we reflect how that community spirit widened into a devotion to the common- wealth, and - still widening into the spirit of 1776 - this com- munity was among the first to express the dream of a national life, and yet later- in the spirit of 1861 -to preserve a na- tion's life : when we trace the Puritan conception of right com- munity living, - manifest in early times by rigorous ordinances sternly enforced, now touched by the gentle influences of mod- ern charity, but as persistent against error and evil as of yore (as witnessed in our decade of refusal to harbor the public dram-shop) : when we reflect on the force among us which - in an age of political consideration and partisan service almost obliterating municipal concerns all around us - has here uni- formly insisted on a separate consideration and vote on local affairs : when we reflect on the institutions of learning which this community fosters ; on the men of world-fame who, living here, have moved in our local affairs ; on the far-seeing scheme of city adornment which is to transform this ancient place into one beautiful park - a scheme in which a year is but as a day
1 Extract from an address delivered at the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, May 31.
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and a century but as a season : when we reflect on these Cam- bridge characteristics and on their ever-widening influence in this nation and among the nations, may we not claim that our city, too, is great and that it stands as the type of a civic spirit as unique as it is grand ?
In the turn of political affairs, or as a result of the increase in this metropolitan population, Cambridge may in future years fade from the map of Massachusetts. Cambridge may sometime be a name known only to history. Yet now it is ours to resolve that when the image of our city dwells only on the memory of man, it shall still be the type of a great idea. As Rome represents conquest, as faith hovers over Jerusalem, as Athens embodies the preeminent quality of the antique world-art, so may Cambridge stand for a civic patriotism which dared to be true to high ideals and would surrender to no interest which did not commend itself to an enlightened municipal conscience.
CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT, LL. D.,1
PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
THE university bids you all welcome, and is heartily glad to see teachers and pupils of Cambridge schools assembled in this university theatre. It is a good sign of the times that col- leges and universities no longer hold apart from the great educational interests of the masses of the people. There was a time when colleges seemed to have inherited some of the mo- nastic exclusiveness which had characterized their predecessors, the monasteries ; but now colleges and universities, especially in our own country, have become institutions of popular resort, and take a keen interest in everything relating to the safe con- duct of free institutions, whether in municipal, state, or na- tional affairs. I hope that in the future they are to take even a larger part in the formation of a sound public opinion on questions of government and social organization.
This afternoon I want to say a few simple words to the pil- pils of the schools here represented. We have come together to rejoice that Cambridge has been a city for fifty years. Why should the children of the schools celebrate such an anni- versary? What interest should the schoolgirl or schoolboy take in the government of Cambridge, in the external features of the city, and in its moral or spiritual character? Looking back at my own childhood and reading the biographies of other people, I have become satisfied that the dwelling-place becomes dear to the child from some external beauty or convenience it possesses, from the habitual sight of beautiful objects, or from some familiar sounds which become associated with pleas- ant conditions of life. The beauty or convenience may be something small or trivial. It may be the splendid wistaria vine on the next house, every year announcing June, or the
1 Address delivered to the pupils of the English High and Latin schools, and the higher grades of the Parochial schools, at Sanders Theatre, June 2.
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trumpet vine which glorifies the mid-summer for a whole neigh- borhood, or the lilac bushes in your own front yard, or an apple tree or a pear tree in a neighbor's back yard, adorning your little world with its blossoms every spring. Or it may be some larger thing, like the summer vista down the elm-shaded street, or the fair proportions of the city hall or the public library. I dare say that you girls and boys will remember with pleasure all your lives your habitual walk to and from school. I do. There is a patlı on Boston Cominon, shaded with linden trees, and running from Joy Strect to West Street, which I always recall with delight. A sound familiar to me in the summer evenings of my boyhood is still pleasant in my ears. I was born and brought up in a house which looked on Boston Common before there were any shops about the com- mon ; and after I had gone to bed in the summer there came through the open window of my chamber the rustle of hundreds of feet on the gravel walk of the mall, as the inen and women walked there together in the cool of the day.
Cambridge illustrates perfectly all the external charms of which I speak. Have you ever noticed the vista down Mas- sachusetts Avenue as you go from Central Square towards Boston, with the tower of the new Old South at the end of the opening ? Let us hope that that vista will never be closed. Did you ever notice the beauty of the curves in Brattle Street, - that old highway which the first dwellers in Cambridge laid out with such good judgment as the easiest path toward Watertown ? If you seek a more recent example of the beauty of well-curved streets, you may find one in Scott and Irving streets on the north side of Kirkland Street. Did you ever notice how the streets in Cambridge recall its history and its former inhabitants ? There are many streets named for Cam- bridge worthies of the period before the Revolutionary War, - such as Lee, Dana, Trowbridge, Remington, Brattle, and Craigie. There are many others named for college officials, such as Dunster, Chauncy, Kirkland, Ware, Quincy, Sparks, Everett, Walker, and Peabody. Appleton Street recalls the name of Nathaniel Appleton, who in the last century was min- ister of the First Parish in Cambridge for more than fifty years. Such names bring back to us the best men of our town in former generations ; and such associations are precious, and should be familiar to the children of the city. I trust that you
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all study faithfully Paige's " History of Cambridge." Nobody deserves to grow up in Cambridge who does not make himself familiar with that book. It is an epitome not only of the lis- tory of Cambridge, but of a good many other Puritan towns. It fills the place with memories of bygone events, precious to the people of former times, and precious still to us, their de- scendants or successors.
There is another reason why you should value Cambridge as your birthplace, or the place of your education. Many men have lived here who have added something to the stock of human knowledge, or enriched American literature, or contri- buted to the development of the national mind and character. Waterhouse. Worcester, Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell, Palfrey, Agassiz, and Gray are Cambridge names forever. It is a pre- cious thing to live where such men have walked and worked.
And now a word about the future : You girls and boys who have been educated here at the expense of the city owe it some- thing in the future. You have a debt to pay to the city of Cambridge. You should try, so far as in you lies, to make it more beautiful, more interesting, more honorable, more worthy of love and remembrance. Give all your influence to the mak- ing of parks, open places, and beautiful vistas, to the decora- tion of the city with trees, shrubs, and grass, to the erection of handsomer churches and schoolhouses, and to the building of better highways. As you grow up, do something to add to the reputation of Cambridge for good government and good social conditions. So you can repay the debt you owe, not only to the city fathers of to-day, but to the eight generations of men and women who have here reared families, made homes, and firmly established sound municipal institutions.
CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT, LL. D.,1
PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
His honor, the mayor of Boston, has intimated that Boston has been the mother of many cities, and of Cambridge among them. We admit the relationship, and find it quite natural that our connections with Boston should often have been somewhat troublous. Mother and daughter did not inter- change many visits, when it was eight miles from Cambridge to Boston by the ferry at the foot of Dunster Street, across the marshes on the other side of Charles River, through Longwood past the head of Muddy River, and so by the Neck into Bos- ton. It is only twenty-seven years ago that the last toll-bridge between Boston and Cambridge became free. Every new bridge has proved a new bond between mother and daughter ; and now we want the best bond of all, a solid dam which will make the Charles River basin a fresh-water lake. We cheer- fully accept the intimate relationship between Boston and Cam- bridge. We cannot have a good sewerage system without the aid of Boston ; and it is certain that we can never thoroughly enjoy our park along the north bank of the Charles, unless the Boston Park Commission and the Metropolitan Park Commis- sion make an equally beautiful park on the south bank of the river. For the best public enjoyment, both banks of the river should be gardens.
Mayor Quincy has spoken of the strong interest Harvard men have lately manifested in municipal government. His observation is entirely correct. I was pleased to see that at the municipal elections last fall four Harvard graduates were elected mayors of Massachusetts cities, - Bancroft in Cam- bridge, Quincy in Boston, Lyman in Waltham, and Adams in Quincy, -and you notice that all four of these officials bear family names that have long been held in honor in Massachu- setts. It is a fact that university graduates are coming for- 1 Speech delivered at the banquet in Union Hall, June 3.'
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