USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Danvers > Centennial celebration at Danvers, Mass., June 16, 1852 > Part 11
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Sir, there is much, we think, in the condition and the history of Salem of which our people may justly be proud,-a virtuous ancestry, -a commercial genius, of which all seas and shores have witnessed the triumphs,-memorable events, and great names, shedding lustre on our annals,-unsurpassed intelligence and wealth,-the manly enter- prise of our sons, and the far-famed beauty of our daughters ;- but above all things else, old Salem boasts of the towns which have risen around her. No Roman Cornelia ever pointed to her offspring with a more glowing admiration than we do to the towns that call us mother.
It is generally conceded that Massachusetts presents as high a social development as any part of our country. Allow me to say, from my own recent experience and very extended opportunities of observation, that no man can have an adequate conception of the culture to which our Commonwealth has attained, without a minute personal exploration of its institutions of education, and of the action of the general mechanism of society over its entire surface. Of this favored State, there is no portion more prosperous or better organized than the old County of Essex. And here, within the precincts of the original territory of Salem, there is a variety and an accumulation of the
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elements of true civilization and sure progress, eminently remarkable and most gratifying.
Where on the face of the earth does a purer patriotism burn,- where are braver hearts to encounter' danger, or meet death, in the cause of the country,-where a benevolence more prompt to rush to the relief of distress, than in Marblehead ?
In Manchester and Beverly there is an admirable union of the virtues and the traits peculiar to an agricultural and a sea-faring population. Topsfield and Wenham are among the best specimens of farming towns. Danvers presents a cluster of villages with cultivated and lovely fields spread out between them ; on no spot does the soil return a richer reward to the labor that tills it, and in no farming district does the wealth of the people reach a higher average than in Danvers.
Mr. President, there is an elevated point of view just over your border, in Beverly, known as Browne's Hill. The vestiges are still to be traced of a lordly mansion, reared in the olden time, by a colonial grandee, upon its very summit. The beautiful prospect it affords, and the interesting reflections it suggests, have made it a favorite resort. On the approach of a bright summer sun-set, a scene is spread around it which cannot fail to fill the eye with delight, and the heart with patriotic gratitude. It is nearly all comprehended, as it stretches away, in every direction, to the horizon, in the original limits of Salem,- Manchester, Beverly, Salem, Marblehead, Swampscot and Lynn in front, with the ocean that washes their shores ; Middleton, Topsfield, Wenham and Hamilton, with their broad fields, behind ; and Danvers, one wide-spread garden, beneath.
In gazing upon this glorious panorama, I always feel, if the most exquisite of poets, in his contemplation of an ancient pastoral life, could not repress the exclamation, Oh, most fortunate of men ! how infinitely more are the free and happy people of this favored region called to give thanks to God, for the unequalled blessedness that has fallen to their lot !
Yes, sir, nowhere does the sun shine upon a happier, more cultiva- ted, and more virtuous community, than is included in the landscape encircling that lofty eminence. To those towns Salem gave birth. We defy any city or country to point to brighter jewels.
The sentiment to which I am responding, speaks of Salem and Danvers as one, although divided. This is true beyond the ordinary import of the expression. These two towns have not only always been singularly united in sentiment, interest and customs, but one might almost dare to deny that they had ever been divided at all. To be sure, there is a municipal separation between them, but it is by a line so invisible and ideal that it is no easy thing to find it. A large portion of your population is in one continuous settlement, with no natural boundary or noticeable demarcation from us. I have lived for nearly thirty years in Salem, and been somewhat interested in her affairs, but I confess that I do not know, this day, where Salem ends, and where Danvers begins. It is indeed an imaginary, and some of us hope it will be found a vanishing line that separates us.
Mr. President, it is a privilege accorded to parents to find fault with their children, while they will not allow others to do it. If any body
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else, an outsider, should bring a charge against you, we Salem people would be quick to resent it, but as among ourselves, in this family meeting, there is one complaint we have to make. Your distinguished orator has had something to say to-day about Salem Witchcraft. Everybody knows that all the rest of the world is equally responsible with us for that delusion ; but by a sort of universal conspiracy, the sin is laid wholly at our door. We cannot visit a nook or corner of the globe but the story of the Salem Witchcraft stares us in the face. To this we have learned to submit; but for you Danvers people to talk about Salem Witchcraft is a little too much. Why, sir, you were the head and front, source and theatre of the whole affair. It rose and raged and kept its head quarters within your limits. It is your witch- craft. And we complain, that by getting incorporated as another town by another name, by assuming an alias, you have escaped and left the whole thing upon our hands.
But while you thus adroitly avoid the reproach upon our name, we mean to settle the account by claiming a share of the honors that have gathered around yours .. You may talk, if you choose, about Salem Witchcraft ; we will boast of Putnam, of the immortal proto-martyrs of the 19th of April, 1775, whose ashes rest beneath yonder monument, and of all that is excellent in your history and condition. They are ours as well as yours. Allow me, in return for the sentiment that has called me out, to assure you, and the community you represent, that Salem rejoices in your prosperity, and is proud of your character, and to offer the following :
Danvers and Salem-No municipal boundaries or legislative arrangements can sever the tie that binds them together.
The PRESIDENT then proposed the following sentiment :
The Memory of Gen. Israel Putnam-As by his strong hand and stout heart he conferred credit and renown on his country, so the virtues and intelligence of those who bear his name confer honor on their native town.
ALLEN PUTNAM, Esq., of Roxbury, spoke in reply to this as follows :
Mr. President :- Though you name me as from Roxbury, I was born in Danvers, and few present have better claims than I to call themselves Danvers men ; because my ancestors, for at least two hun- dred and eleven years, have dwelt upon the spot where I was born and reared.
Those bearing the name of Putnam are numerous. The orator of the day has called them prolific,-and they have been so. Not a tithe of those worthy of remembrance can be named in the short time that properly belongs to me. I had hoped that others of the same name would have been called upon to speak here,-especially one whose age and infirmities forbid his presence with us,-but whose nice discrimi- nation, legal knowledge, and polished pen adorn our judicial reports, and by whom the ermine was long worn, and laid aside unsoiled .* Another, too, I had hoped to bring with me from my present home,
* Hon. Samuel Putnam."
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who could speak to you in strains of earnest eloquence, with strong good sense and playful ease. Had he come, the clergyman of Rox- bury* would have presented, in his own person, about as good a speci- men of itself as the family can now furnish.
In their absence you see fit to call upon me. Nearly fifty years ago I began life four miles north from here,-away up in "The Bush." Secluded there, I knew little in my boyhood of this court end of the town. Once, however,-and it was soon after I began to strut and swell in my first jacket and trowsers,-they brought me down to spend a day at Capt. Sylvester Proctor's. While there, a kind shop-boy led me out for my amusement, and conducted me down to the brook which runs hard by, and there, tying a twine to a stick, and crooking a pin for a fish hook, and turning over rocks to find a worm, he soon equipped me for my first exploits at fishing. And if I put things together aright, and reason correctly, that boy is now receiving a recompense for his kindness to me, as well as for his many other good deeds, in his ample means and ampler disposition to befriend his fellow-countrymen, and adorn the American name, in the metropolis of Great Britain. That boy was our distinguished townsman, GEORGE PEABODY.
Let me return to " the bush ;" and running back into the past through my father Daniel, who sits beside me, and on whose head the snows.of almost four score winters, spent in your midst, have fallen, and whom you know ; and through my grandfather Israel, a man of energy blended with kindness, and " without guile ;" through them I reach David, my great-grandfather ; Lieutenant David, an officer in the king's troops, and, as described to me by Col. Timothy Pickering and others, who had seen and known him, " the rider of the best horse in the Province," and foremost among the resolute and energetic men of his day,-much like his younger brother, whose deeds gave lustre to the name. The sisters are handed down to us in the family tradition as remarkable for energy and fearlessness, riding colts, often without saddle or bridle,- and one of them, on one occasion, not dismounting until the colt had carried her into the house and up one flight of stairs. The youngest of that family was Israel, the " Old Put." of the Revolution. These res- olute and energetic brothers and sisters were true,-but no more than true,-to their parentage.
Time has thrown deep shadows upon the decade from 1690 to 1700, and it may be that the objects now to be seen there are more of imag- ination than of true vision ; yet, often while musing upon some few facts which tradition hands down, and the church records partially sup- port, there has appeared, beneath the delusion of a former age and the dust of time, one luminous spot which the intervening generations have failed to mark. There were some deeds unmentioned in the recorded annals of town or church, which will bear bringing out from obscurity to the full light of day.
The records of the church were then made and kept by a full be- liever in witchcraft. One side of the case is shown with fulness ; the other is to be read and filled up by the light and help of tradition. In the record, (I trust memory for more than twenty years,) the names of Joseph Putnam and Elizabeth Putnam appear as petitioners for a coun-
* Rev. George Putnam.
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cil, to try the Rev. Mr. Parris because of his harsh denunciations of those who disbelieved in witchcraft as the work of the Devil. Tradition says that Mr. Parris denounced Joseph Putnam and others as the agents of Satan, and his assistants in promoting the very witchcraft which they professed to disbelieve. It says, also, that Joseph Putnam kept himself and his family armed for six months, day and night,-and that his horse was fed at the door, saddled and with bridle over his head through all that tirne.
My grandfather Israel, his sister Eunice, and his brother Jesse,* (grandchildren of this Joseph and Elizabeth,) born within fifty or sixty years of the time referred to, and brought up upon the spot, have each repeatedly rehearsed these traditions in my hearing, and all the cir- cumstances known to me tend to support their correctness.
Let me linger awhile upon these few facts, and the known opinions and events of that memorable period,-when the powers of darkness, and of all imaginable evils, were supposed to be working with unwonted diligence and success,-when some unseen but dreaded power was mysteriously contorting limbs,-strangely moving meal-chests and chairs-putting the cow into the small goose-house,-and working other startling things past comprehension ; when the powers and perceptions of .many persons were strangely enlarged and frightfully exerted,- when witchcraft enacted its many alarming feats ;- then was a time which truly and emphatically " tried men's souls."
When man meets man,-when nation contends with nation,-when one sees his enemy and can measure his strength and power,-then reason may sit calmly upon her throne, and nerve the heart and the arm of many a common man to dare and to do bravely. But when the foes are the invisible powers of the air,-when terror and imagination may conjure up a direful enemy from behind each bush or rock by the way- side, from each dark hole in cellar or garret, from out the liquid water or the solid earth, from above, beneath or around,-when the general mind is alarmed and phrensied by the believed presence and agency of innumerable evil spirits,-when the clergy teach, when the church believes, and the opinion spreads wide and deep through the public mind, that devils are peculiarly busy in deluding and destroying souls, -when witchcraft is treated as a fact, in the pulpit and in the halls of justice,-when the bewitched one has but to name the bewitcher, and that bewitcher, on such simple testimony, is sentenced to the gallows, -when all these things, and more than these, conspire to turn the brain and shake the nerves,-then how clear the head that can look through these dense, dark mists of phrensied popular delusion !- how strong and brave the heart that can withstand the mighty pressure, and look with unquailing eye upon all the dangers with which devils and man can confront him ! Such heads there were,-such hearts there were. Heroism was there, true and noble ; moral courage was there, lofty and adamantine ;- courage, far, far higher than that which was needed to lead one into the dark den of the savage wolf.
* This Jesse was a graduate of Harvard, a merchant of Boston, known and distinguished for general intelligence, great urbanity, and a high sense of mercantile honor. A skilful weigher of evidence, and truthful, his narrations (containing many details not mentioned here) are deemed good authority.
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The slayer of the wolf,-the unquailing commander amid the dangers of the battle-field,-stands second to none in point of courage ; and yet, if I read the dim past aright, his father and mother were not second to him. A single word from a bewitched one, naming the unbelieving Joseph as the author of the witchery, and the whole ecclesiastical, civil and military power of Salem would have been set at work for his arrest and execution. Neighbors, relatives, fellow communicants of the church, were his foes; and yet he stood, for six long months, armed, vigilant, resolute, shielded by his own true courage and that God whom he dared to serve in honesty.
The biographers of the General, regarding him only as a Connecti- cut man, never said much of his parentage. They probably knew little or nothing of it. But he was a hero "descended from heroes ;" the son was a new edition of the father, more widely known and read, but not much improved.
The father, though his own deluded age could not see or dared not acknowledge his greatness, and though concealed from the view of succeeding days by the shadows of time, yet seems to have stood firm and unharmed, amid the tempests and torrents of delusion,
Like some tall cliff that lifts its rugged form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm- Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head ;-
calm amid the marvels and terrors of witchcraft, a fit beacon light, it may be, for the present times.
If the modern stories are true, tables and chairs are renewing their antics. ' It has not been my fortune to witness their leapings and danc- ings, but credible men say, in all soberness, that they have seen strange things, as marvellous as witchwork. So be it : convince me if you , can that they are true, and I will believe them the same kind of opera- tions that so fearfully disturbed the peace of our town in days of old. Witchcraft and spiritual rappings are one and the same ; but neither is supernatural,-neither demoniacal,-neither what need disturb even the most timid heart or the weakest brain. Tell me how electricity or any other subtile agent, passing from my brain along the arm, makes my fingers move, and I will tell you how electricity may lift the table without the help of hands. Both are inexplicable,-neither supernat- ural,-one we see every hour,-the other only at long intervals,-one is the daily sun,-the other an eccentric comet,-both harmless,-aye, both useful,-obeying the laws of a wise and good God, and working out his beneficent purposes. Let the rappings be investigated, calmly, philosophically, and they will be found conforming themselves to the same laws which govern the motions of our fingers of flesh ; they may become sources of instruction and valuable consolation. I know not what they are, have neither seen nor heard the wonders, but if it be heresy to disbelieve in them as the work of demons or evil spirits, or anything baleful, and if one shall anathematize me because of such heresy, he will find, at least I trust he will, enough of the old spirit transmitted to keep me true to my convictions, and true to the God who rules not only man but all spirits and all agents, whether in realms
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below, around or above. At present, I neither believe, nor reject, nor fear. Let the marvels come ; let tables, and meal-chests, and broom- sticks fly without visible help ; and what is there alarming in that ? All will go on in obedience to that God who so long kept hid the lightning's power to go in the twinkling of an eye and write our messages in New Orleans; and through all whose works, both of matter and of mind, are diffused vital germs of progress and new development.
Electricity and magnetism are new in science,-new as controllable agents in the hands of man,-but yet have been pervading matter through all time, and have at intervals been working the wonders of demonology. Science may, ere long, find means to make these strange powers common, and train them to good service in lessening the evils and promoting the true welfare of man.
It may have been unwise in me to attempt to throw light into the darkness that shrouds my ancestors, and bring their deeds before you, because you thus are made to see that, as with wines, so with the Putnams, the old are better than the new.
The PRESIDENT then announced the following sentiment, and called upon Hon. JOHN G. PALFREY :
The County of Middlesex-The home of Industry, Enterprise, and Literature. We welcome to our festive board one of her most distinguished sons, whose reputation for learning belongs to our country, but is known far beyond its boundaries.
Mr. PALFREY responded nearly as follows :-
I rise, Mr. President, with some feelings of embarrassment, not for the want of a topic on which to remark, but from the great number and variety which press and crowd on my attention. I can make but a passing allusion to one or two. Let me first say, that his Honor the Mayor of Salem makes claims on you for a share of your ancestral honors on grounds of relationship which appear to me quite paradoxi- cal. The other gentleman from Salem, who has so happily and ably responded to the sentiment in honor of his distinguished ancestors, seems to claim to be among the ancients, and to come from the first settlers of the soil. I am not sure that I can see in the youthful coun- tenance of the gentleman any striking resemblance to the picture of his ancestor, which looks down from the walls of the Senate Chamber. There are some of us who look upon Governor Endicott as among the moderns in New England history. When the vessel which bore the first Governor of Massachusetts was entering the harbor of Salem, she was anxiously watched from the beach by four individuals, styled, in the quaint chronicles of the time, as " Roger Conant and three sober men." The vessel swung to her moorings and flung the red cross of St. George to the breeze, a boat put off for the shore, and, that the Governor might land dry shod, Roger Conant and his "three sober men" rolled up their pantaloons,-or rather those nether garments which we in these degenerate days call pantaloons,-waded into the water and bore him on their shoulders to the dry land. Roger Conant and his sober men had been here a long time, but how long it is un-
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necessary to state, but so long that the houses they had built sadly needed repair. Now these three sober men were-Balch, Woodbury, and the third bore a surname* which I forbear to mention, but will only say that it was one which it becomes me not to disgrace.
Some allusion has been made here, Mr. President, to the Witchcraft delusion of your ancestors. It is sadly true, sir, that this great delu- sion existed, yet I think a good word may be said in behalf of the actors. May it not have been that your ancestors acted from high and holy motives, from excessive zeal for what they regarded as God's will ? The superstition of witchcraft was the dismal error of the times, and your ancestors, not being wiser than the wisest of their cotempo- raries on both sides of the water, had their full share in the delusion. Can any of us say that had we lived in that day we would have seen deeper into things than Sir Edward Coke and Sir Matthew Hale ? Yet those sages of the law held the same doctrine on the same subject of witchcraft as the Massachusetts fathers, and expounded and adminis- tered it in the Court of the King's Bench. And let me tell you, that in that awfully dark passage of our early history, all is not darkness. In one view it appears lighted up with a lurid, indeed, but with a ma- jestic blaze. If this witchcraft madness has left a peculiar blot upon the history of Massachusetts, it is because of this great difference be- tween her people and that of other communities whose annals bear no such stain, viz., that what both alike professed to believe, the former more consistently and honestly acted out. Deplore as we may the grievous infatuation, still more even than we lament and condemn that, we find cause to applaud the brave and constant spirit that would never quail before the awful delusion that possessed it. It was no less than the powers of darkness that these men believed to be in arms against them. And they did not shrink even from that contest ; they feared neither man nor the devil ; they feared nothing but God. They im- agined the Prince of Hell, with his legions, to be among them, " the sacramental host of God's elect," seeking among them whom he might devour ; and they gave place to him " by subjection, no, not for an hour." Set upon by invisible and supernatural foes, they thought of nothing but stern defiance, deadly battle, and the victory which God would give his people. They would have made bare the arm of flesh against the Serpent in bodily presence, could he have put on an assail able shape. As it was, they let it fall without mercy on those whom they understood to be his emissaries.
I cannot close without paying my tribute of respect to the memory of your late distinguished fellow-citizen, the representative of this dis- trict in the Congress of the United States. I knew him well. As colleagues in the thirtieth Congress, our public duties brought us into daily intercourse. During our most agreeable and intimate friendship, I felt a growing respect for his sound intellect, his warm patriotism, and his reliable judgment. The faithful and conscientious performance of all his duties as a friend, a citizen, and a statesman, justly entitle Mr. King to the name of a Christian patriot. .
Without enlarging upon his many sterling qualities, which have already been alluded to by several speakers, I cannot better illustrate
* Peter Palfrey.
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his entire devotion to public business,-which was equalled only by the warm and genial impulses of his heart,-than by relating an incident which is still fresh in my recollection.
On the occasion to which I allude, the House had been occupied for several days in the discussion of an important question of public policy. The debate was now drawing to a close, and the House had remained in session during the entire night. Towards morning I approached his seat, and I observed that he met my salutation with a countenance less bland, and a response less cordial than usual. Knowing the deep in- terest he had felt in the debate, I naturally attributed his unwonted manner to the fatigue we all felt from our protracted sittings. I play- fully alluded to these circumstances, and, in reply, he placed in my hands an unsealed letter that lay on his table, requesting me to read it. I did so. It contained the sad intelligence that a beloved daughter was dangerously sick, and lay, it was feared, at the point of death. Per- ceiving from its date that it must have been in his possession for considerable time, I inquired why he had not started for his home immediately on receiving it. "I cannot leave," said he, " until the final vote on this question is taken." The vote was taken that night, and in a few hours he was on his way to Massachusetts ; but, ere this, the spirit of his child had departed,-his home was desolate,-and he arrived barely in time to attend the funeral.
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