USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Newton, Massachusetts, December 27, 1888 > Part 4
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POEM - S. F. SMITH, D.D.
Linked to some noble soul, in youthful bloom, Dared to the forest to transplant the home ; By the sweet grace of woman to refine, To shed around her path a light Divine, The faint adventurer's courage to sustain, To raise the fallen to life and hope again, And help the sire to bear the weary load, Strengthened and stayed by woman's faith in God.
Such were the fathers of the little flock, And such the mothers, brave to bear the shock Of hopes deferred, till - the fair model made -- The deep foundations of the town were laid.
I see, as backward now I turn my eye, The quaint but grand procession filing by : Jackson and Fuller, Prentice, Hyde, and Park, Bacon and Hammond, Kenrick, Ward, and Clarke, Wiswell and Eliot, Trowbridge, Spring, and Stone, Parker and Williams, Hobart, Bartlett,- known As men of substance, brave, and wise, and good - Their light still shines,- an honored brotherhood. All, all have passed : their noble deeds remain, As the sweet summer sun and dew and rain Pass from our sight and sense, but re-appear In golden harvests,- crown of all the year.
What found they here? those souls so brave and true,- Risking the well-known old for the unknown new. A forest home, lands rough and unsubdued, Absence of early friends, a solitude ; No civil state, no patent of the free, But taxed by Cambridge for the right to be ; The savage war-whoop struck their souls with dread, The Indian arrows round their dwellings sped, And many a timid heart, with bodings drear, Kept Lent of hope and Carnival of fear.
What have they brought us? See ! these fair domains,- The fruit of patient toil and wearying pains ; The fame of wise men, destined still to grow; The fame of progress, real, if often slow ; The hum of study in our learned halls ; The grace and beauty of our pictured walls ;
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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY -NEWTON
Our noble churches of enduring stone ; Our public gardens with their sweet flowers strewn ; The fame of men who firm in battle stood, And bought the rights of freemen with their blood, And in the nation's struggle won the field, Too wise to compromise, too brave to yield, And walked unshrinking through the deadly fires,- The patriot sons, alike, and patriot sires.
These are our jewels, these our joy and boast, Worthy the toils they brought, the wealth they cost,- A rich return for efforts, zeal, and fears, Blest harvests of these great two hundred years.
ADDRESS OF JOHN S. FARLOW, ESQ.
Mr. Mayor and Ladies and Gentlemen,- When I came here `this afternoon, I found - much to my surprise - on the printed order of exercises that my name was there for an address.
Now, sir, a formal address is to me something appalling. I never made one in my life; and I cannot possibly entertain the idea of making one at this time, to such an assemblage as this, and I shall not attempt it. I should, however, be want- ing in duty to this my adopted city, and to the ladies and gentlemen here assembled, if, on an occasion like this, I failed to respond to the invitation so kindly tendered me by his Honor, the Mayor, and say something, however feeble, that might possibly add interest to the event we are now celebrating.
If, sir, I had been present at the laying of the corner- stone of Newton, as our friend Otis Pettee was, or even, if like our friend J. F. C. Hyde, I had had a hundred and odd years' experience as the presiding genius of Newton's town meetings, I might, like them, be able to discourse eloquently of those ancient days, and tell of the valiant deeds of the then inhabitants of the town in repelling the assaults of ruthless savages, and to speak in glowing terms of the sa- lubrious climate, undulating hills, and pleasant valleys of the town; of its lovely Charles River, pursuing its tortuous course to the sea; the delightful scenery bordering the head- waters of the classic Cheesecake Brook ; and the excellence of its churches and public schools. I might also be able to tell of the raisings, the huskings, and quiltings, and of the nut-cracking, apple-eating, and cider-drinking with which
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those patriarchs were wont to regale themselves at their winter firesides. Some of these we still enjoy. We have the same salubrious climate, the same undulating hills and pleasant valleys, the same lovely, tortuous Charles River, and the same classic Cheesecake Brook. We have also churches in greater number and variety, with creeds and without. We have also the very best of public schools, ample in number for our increased population, divested, I hope, of all sectarian influences, whether Protestant or Cath- olic, Gentile or Jew. I sincerely trust they will ever remain so ; for on the character and excellence of our public schools more than on anything else depends the perpetuity of our free republican institutions. These, as I said before, we now enjoy as they did in the days long past ; but in all else how changed ! Instead of their wells and well-sweeps, we now have an excellent system of city water-works, that dis- tributes-at small cost to each - pure water to every house in town. For their tallow dips, we of to-day's Newton have substituted kerosene oil, electric lights, and illuminating gas. Gas of the other sort they probably had as well as we.
We have also well-appointed fire and police departments, which they neither had nor needed. For their happy fire- side feasts we can only offer in comparison those we now enjoy at our Woodland Park Hotel, where our friend Lee (that prince of caterers) dispenses choice morsels of canvass- back duck, terrapin, soft-shell crabs, and other appetizing delicacies, not so wholesome perhaps as what they had, but more grateful to the vitiated taste of these modern times. The Newton of to-day has but few poor people, and still fewer of those who nowadays would be called rich; but we have instead a well-to-do, middling class of active, industri- ous, enterprising men, who are not only independent finan- cially, but also in all matters of religious and political thought and action,-men who know and esteem each other for what they are, as men. Newton is a quiet, peaceable, well-governed town, and has been ever since I have resided in it.
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ADDRESS-JOHN S. FARLOW, ESQ.
From close personal observation for the past thirty years, I say, unhesitatingly, that there is no better governed town or city in this country or any other. If, Mr. Mayor, we can be assured of as good an administration of government as you and those who have preceded you have given us, we shall be fortunate indeed. Colonel Saltonstall has just told us that he came to Newton to reside more than thirty years ago. He and I, therefore, can claim a timely fellowship as citizens of Newton ; for it is now thirty-one years since I pitched my tent on Nonantum hillside. Thirty-one years, sir, is a long period for one to dwell in one place ; and few there are that do it.
For me, those thirty-one years have been thirty-one years of constant, pleasurable enjoyment. My children and my grandchildren have grown up around me to man's and woman's estate, under the benign influence of Newton's public schools and other institutions and associations; and I know that they, too, have and will ever hold in grateful remembrance all that Newton has done for them and me. I indulge the hope, sir, that I am to have further years of enjoyment, and am consoled with the assurance that, when my days are ended, my body shall be laid at rest under six feet of good Newton soil.
ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM B. FOWLE, THIRD MAYOR OF NEWTON.
On occasions like this, it is well to recall the past, and once again, while renewing our own memories of great events, place upon record our appreciation of those events. The time allotted to me, within the limits of which I am to speak to you of the public spirit of Newton, in peace and in war, is but short, and only admits that I touch briefly upon salient points.
Whenever in the past great emergencies have called for action, or public good has demanded expenditure, or the un- fortunate have needed assistance, Newton has responded with no doubtful tone. Her exertions, her sacrifices, her wealth, her lives, have ever been freely offered and given, when required for the general welfare.
The public spirit contained within a community is all em- braced within three forms of its expressions : -
First. In its corporate capacity, the willingness of all to submit to assessment pro rata to wealth, for the advantage of all.
Sccond. The action of individuals in rendering service or in voluntarily contributing wealth towards the promotion of the general welfare. But few can enjoy this latter pleasure, - those only to whom has been intrusted the wealth essen- tial to its indulgence.
Third. That abnegation of self, under which hardships are voluntarily encountered, and property, comfort, home, life, - in fact, all that we hold dear on earth,- are risked to pro- tect or preserve the existence of the community.
In each and all of these several types of public spirit,
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ADDRESS - HON. WILLIAM B. FOWLE
Newton has ever shown herself worthy. The pride in her cherished by her citizens is fully justified.
To-day we see around us manifold evidences of Newton's care for the comfort, improvement, enjoyment, and safety of its inhabitants. Its school-houses and liberal expenditures for education far exceed the requirements of law. We see it in the beauty and solidity of the public structures, in the water supply, the fire department, the Public Library, the almshouse, the military, police, and roads. All of these bear witness to the fact that its government in the past has re- garded the general good, and liberally passed the measures essential to that good. Nor has it failed to exhibit its appre- ciation of public spirit, as fully shown by the memorial mon- ument to its dead soldiers.
The liberality of its individual citizens is equally evident. Throughout a long life, J. Wiley Edmands in many ways proved his love for Newton, and, as the crowning proof, left to it the beautiful Public Library Building.
In the same spirit, a citizen yet among us gave the taste- ful chapel at the cemetery.
The same spirit is exhibited in those charitable institu- tions which are entirely supported by voluntary contribu- tions, the Girls' Home, the Boys' Home, and the Cottage Hospital, all of them performing loving service for the relief of the needy and suffering.
Still the same spirit caused those legacies,- the Kenrick Fund and the Reed Fund.
None but those whose duty it has at times been to dis- tribute the income from the Kenrick Fund can appreciate the amount of good effected by it. A small sum, its annual income but some two hundred dollars, yet that small sum, bestowed in accordance with the donor's wish, " to deserv- ing persons, pressed by circumstances, but not recipients of public alms," has lightened many a heavy burden. It was a thoughtful and delicate bequest.
The Reed Fund is similar in its objects. This tender charity, as yet but of short existence, has already yielded
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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY - NEWTON
health and enjoyment to a class whose opportunities for enjoyment are few indeed.
To great necessities occasioned by calamities occurring beyond her own limits, the citizens of Newton have ever promptly and liberally contributed. The extent of such contributions is rarely known, because such offerings are usually made through Boston, in which city mostly lie the business interests of our citizens. From want of time, many other deserving cases of service rendered to our com- munity must remain unnoted here.
But the evidences of public spirit thus far claimed and noted, beautiful as they are, do not reach to the highest type of this quality. They involve only the parting, to a greater or less extent, with this world's goods. Beyond and above them should be placed a yet nobler test of public spirit, that which involves the risk of all that man holds dear on earth,- property, comfort, home, life.
Such public spirit as this has permeated the entire past of this grand old town. Hardships to be borne, fortune to be parted with, life to be yielded up,- such calls Newton has ever promptly met and nobly answered.
Two hundred years ago Newton contained but some sixty families, an intelligent, manly, honest nucleus for the great nation that has since grown from them and such as they. The only settlement was in or near to what we now call Newton Centre. The remainder of the town's area was still primeval forest, the hunting-grounds of the Indians.
The great danger of those times arose from the hostility of the Indians to the settlers. From this danger Newton, although she feared them and took precautions against them, proved to be happily exempt. This exemption was princi- pally due to the labors of the apostle Eliot, who gained great influence over Waban, the chief of the tribe then resident here, and through him induced a friendliness towards the white men, which enabled the two races to live in peace together. This fact undoubtedly aided in preserving the white men of Newton from the attacks of hostile tribes of
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ADDRESS- HON. WILLIAM B. FOWLE
Indians, which swarmed about them, at no great distance and in all directions.
Had our settlers lacked public spirit, they might have quietly remained in comparative security, and have left their neighbors, less happily located, unaided by them to contend against the attacks and massacres to which they were often subjected. Not such the temper of Newton's men ! His- tory tells us that these true hearts were constantly leaving their homes, intrusting their dearest to the care of the great Father, and aiding in the protection of other settlements needing such aid. Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, all, at various times, bore witness to the public spirit of these, Newton's earliest inhabitants.
Such were our ancestors of that generation. They passed to their reward. A new generation, reared in the enjoyment of the peace bequeathed by their fathers, themselves inex- perienced in war, arrived at manhood, when to them came also the crowning test of true citizenship. They also re- sponded as nobly as had their ancestors.
History has preserved so much of Newton's share in the war of the Revolution that I need but briefly dwell upon it. In 1775 culminated the contest with Great Britain, which, fot ten years had been gradually increasing in bitterness. Newton, in common with the entire country, had been much aggrieved at the unjust and arbitrary measures enforced by Great Britain, and had bravely shown its dissatisfaction by resolutions passed as events called them forth. During this period, peaceful measures only were employed, in the hope that the mother country might be induced peacefully to right the wrong. Nevertheless, Newton had prepared for war,- had armed all its men and organized military com- panies.
That little army from Newton, which on April 19, 1775, left its home to march to Lexington, will ever merit and receive the fullest meed of praise that can be awarded to deserving citizens. They had parted with all whom they held most dear, had imperilled the future of those dear ones,
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had risked the loss of all that their past labors had enabled them to earn, had taken the first steps towards years of cer- tain hardship and suffering, which could only be shortened or relieved by death or success. They realized, they knew, all this. They knew the overwhelming resources of the power they thus dared. Their hearts must have been lacerated and their utmost fears excited by the peril thus thrown upon their loved ones. As thoughtful men, during that trying march, they must have pondered upon these things ; yet, true to the core, they faltered not. Colonel Michael Jack- son and his two hundred and eighteen men deserved all hon- ors which can be earned by man, and they have them. This little force contained a full half of the men of Newton. They fought at Lexington and at Concord ; and, owing to the prudent preparation in their organization, they fought with signal ability. We cannot now realize the anxieties and hardships suffered and borne by our noble old town through- out the seven years of war which followed, but the public spirit of Newton met all this with the same vitality as of old.
Peace came at last. The generation which bore the burden of the war of the Revolution, counting its life's work done, bequeathed peace to its successors, and went to its reward.
Another long term of peace, another generation grown to manhood amid peaceful pursuits, another crisis calling for yet another exhibition of patriotism, another response from old Newton, another uprising equalling all that had gone before. To the army and navy, in the War of the Rebellion, Newton supplied over 1, 100 men, fully one-half of the number of its legal voters. That same public spirit was yet alive and active.
Who of us can fail to remember the doubts which hung over us when first it became certain that we must fight ? Our distance from the presumed seat of the coming war, our lack of previous belief that war must come, our hitherto peaceful lives, undisturbed by a thought of war,-all these might have resulted, to say the least, in delay to our response
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ADDRESS -HON. WILLIAM B. FOWLE
to the call for troops. No such delay occurred. Again New- ton proved herself worthy the renown bequeathed by her Revolutionary sires, again the men of Newton freely risked their all on earth for the nation's benefit, and again deserved and won their portion of the nation's gratitude.
Have we yet forgotten how great is our debt to these men? I think not; yet I pray our citizens to remember that the same manhood which caused these men to answer, "Ready !" at the time of trouble, may, and I believe does, cause them to maintain silence as to themselves and their own necessities.
The pride we to-day take in Newton is fully justified. Ever desiring peace, she has, when necessity forced, sought that peace through war. Often tried, never wanting, she has ever been nobly true to herself ; and her citizens have shown themselves deeply imbued with that noblest trait in man,-love for his fellow-man.
The enforced absence of Hon. John C. Park caused universal regret. Infirmities of age and the inclement season prevented his active partici- pation in the celebration. He had not prepared a written address, but his well-known gifts of oratory would have graced the occasion, had he been able to be present.
ADDRESS OF OTIS PETTEE, ESQ.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,- After what has al- ready been so ably and eloquently said of our beautiful city, and its early history and progress to the present time, there is but little, if anything, left for me to say. Therefore, I will only put in a few nows and thens, by way of variety, in comparing the pioneer life and customs of a hundred years ago with the life of the present day.
It is fair to presume that the aspirations of the early set- tlers were to provide homes for their families, a shelter for their live stock and farm productions, and a few implements of husbandry to assist in earning a living ; but the luxuries of life were left by them for generations to follow.
I think I have heard it remarked by the late and vener- able Seth Davis, Esq., that in the days of his early childhood there were but three family carriages owned in Newton, one by General Hull, one by Dr. Freeman, and one by General Simon Elliot. Riding upon horseback or in the ordinary farm wagons very likely was the principal mode of con- veyance. My impression is, it would take considerable time to go through the assessors' books to ascertain the number of family carriages owned in Newton to-day.
The early settlers lived in small and unpretentious dwell- ings. We particularly call to mind the old Cheney house that stood in the south-west part of the town, near the Upper Falls. This house was built in 1702 by Mr. Joseph Cheney, grandfather of the late General Ebenezer Cheney. The frame of the house was of heavy oak timber, the lower story was wainscoted with thick oaken planks, to resist the force of a stray arrow or bullet. One side of the living room was
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ADDRESS-OTIS PETTEE, ESQ.
entirely occupied by a mammoth open fireplace and oven. We remember, too, the old Queen's arms and other military accoutrements hanging upon the walls, together with sundry utensils of husbandry, etc. The old house, having fulfilled its mission, was pulled down in the spring of 1857.
Now we live in large and costly mansions of Queen Anne styles or Mansard type of architecture, which have profuse outside embellishments both of carving and paint.
Then huge back-logs, with andirons and foresticks, sur- mounted by sticks of wood of lesser proportions, made a fire in winter weather worthy of its name. A fire built in this way would usually last from three to four weeks, by occa- sionally being replenished with a few small sticks. To build such a fire required the assistance of all the neighbors near by. I have heard my father say that, when he was a lad, he went with his father to assist in getting in a back- log that was more than two feet in diameter and six feet long, and green from the forest. After getting it in position, the smaller sticks were placed upon it until the pile was nearly six feet high. The brands and embers from the old fire were placed in front of the pile, and the new fire was kindled.
Now a boiler in the basement furnishes steam for a sys- tem of radiators in the various compartments of our houses, which gives a comfortable and even temperature throughout the building.
Then fire would be obtained with a tinder-box, flint, and steel, or with matches the boys would split out in their leis- ure moments and dip in melted brimstone.
Now a slight scratch of a lucifer match upon any hard substance will immediately produce a flame.
Then an evening's light the fire on the hearth would not provide would be supplied by burning pine knots, or tallow dips, or by vidders hung upon a crane.
Now a hand - it may be miles away -pulls a lever, and the land and our dwellings are, or may be, flooded with a powerful electric light.
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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY-NEWTON'
Then water for domestic use was procured from wells or springs, near by or more remote, by lowering a bucket hung upon a horseshoe attached to the end of a pole, or by the improved method of a well-sweep, which consisted of a long pole balanced upon a crotchet at the top of a post,- the butt end of the pole was weighted with a heavy block of wood or stone fastened upon it,-and from the opposite end there was suspended a smaller pole with a bucket for lowering into the well. This appliance for drawing water has been im- mortalized by Woodworth in his charming lyric of "The Old Oaken Bucket."
Now by a turn of a faucet in the lavatory pure water flows in abundance.
Then a signal to a neighbor, if there should chance to be one living within sight, or to the marketmen or bakers that occasionally made the circuit of the settlements, would be given by hanging a strip of white or colored homespun from an upper window or other conspicuous place.
Now a turn of a crank, an ear-trumpet, and speaking-tube, with a " hulloa," is all that is required to open a conversation with any parties, however distant.
Then the wives and daughters carded their wool and spun the yarns with their great spinning-wheels for hand knitting and weaving articles of clothing for their families.
Now the same work is done by power machinery in our large manufactories, and we go to the emporiums and pur- chase every variety of ready-made goods for domestic uses.
With all the primitive methods of earning a livelihood, our ancestors were not unmindful of the necessity of bringing up their sons and daughters to become men and women of good sound integrity and moral character, and to give them an education that would enable them to occupy with honor any station in life they might be called upon to fill.
They were a progressive people, and, although a few slaves were once owned in Newton, the system was looked upon as a curse to any community, and soon stamped out.
Intemperance in the use of strong drinks was another
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ADDRESS-OTIS PETTEE, ESQ.
blight which they did not lose sight of, as well as of sundry other moral reforms unnecessary to enumerate at this time.
Therefore, the measure of indebtedness we owe to genera- tions gone before for our present beautiful homes and the luxuries about them is difficult to compute ; and we may well be proud of the enviable rank we hold in the galaxy of cities around us.
As a matter of history, I will say that, in crossing the bridge over Charles River between Newton and Watertown a few days since, my attention was arrested by a stone tablet placed upon the bridge at the right-hand side and near the centre of the river, with the following inscription engraved upon it : --
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