USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Commemorative discourse pronounced at Quincy, Mass., 25 May, 1840 on the second centennial anniversary of the ancient incorporation of the town : with an appendix > Part 4
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The following will be the order of the second procession.
From the Stone Temple to the Pavilion.
Escort. Chief Marshal and Aids.
Marshal. President of the Day. Marshal.
Orators and Chaplains. Invited Guests.
Marshal. Vice Presidents. Marshal.
Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements.
Marshal. Gentlemen accompanied by Ladies. Marshal. Citizens who have Tickets to the Dinner.
The marshals are all requested to meet at the Hancock House, Saturday evening, May 23d, at half past seven o'clock.
Per order. IBRAHIM BARTLETT, Chief Marshal.
The following gentlemen will be in attendance at the Meeting- house to conduct ladies to seats, viz., Benjamin Page, William B. Duggan, Abner Willett, Lewis Bass, Francis Williams.
All persons who intend to dine must provide themselves with tickets previously to joining the procession.
Tickets for the Ball in the evening are for sale at Gill's Book- store.
By order of the Committee of Arrangements. JOHN A. GREEN, Chairman.
JAMES F. BROWN, Secretary.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
Monday, 25th May, 1840.
The day dawned clear and beautiful. The weather was unusu- ally warm for the season, being at noon about 85° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. A few scudding clouds were observed about six o'clock, A. M., and afterwards in the southwest, which excited some apprehension that the day would turn out to be rainy. But they soon disappeared, and scarcely another cloud was visible in
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the broad heavens till the sun went down. The morning was ushered in by the ringing of the bells on the Stone Temple and the Universalist Church, and by the discharge of cannon in front of the gun house on President's Hill. A flag waved its broad folds like- wise from the same eminence, and from the pavilion below. The roads were dry and dusty, but not a breath of wind prevailed to make the dust annoying. A more lovely day for the interesting occasion could not have been chosen by man. The smiles of heav- en seemed to favor the hour. Natives and descendants, friends and strangers soon gathered in throngs, to exchange congratulations and to share in the interesting associations and festivities of the day.
At a quarter before nine o'clock the bell of the Universalist Church summoned all together to form the procession. A numerous con- course gathered up. The Quincy Light Infantry, attended by the Boston Brass Band, made a glittering and imposing appearance ; and the delightful martial music falling on the ear was not among the least of the pleasant circumstances of the day. As they passed along from their armory to the appointed place of assembling, Mount Wollaston lying off beyond them towards the sea, one might be forcibly impressed by the contrast between these prosperous days and those feeble and trying ones, when Captain Standish came from Plymouth with his small military band, to quell the riotous proceed- ings of Thomas Morton around his May-pole.
By the promptness and judicious arrangement of the Chief Mar- shal and his aids, Charles F. Baxter and 'Thomas Adams, jr., ap- pointed by him, together with the assistant marshals, the proces- sion was soon formed, and moved in the course already described a few minutes after nine. Meanwhile, at nine o'clock, the bell of the Stone Temple had given notice that the doors were opened for the admission of ladies. A little longer time was occupied by the pro- cession in passing through the route prescribed than had been anticipated. The procession reached the church about a quarter past ten. The ladies occupied the galleries and some of the wall pews below. The immense area of the church was filled by the procession. At half past ten all were seated and the services com- menced.
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ORDER OF EXERCISES IN THE CHURCH.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT QUINCY, 25 MAY, 1840.
1. VOLUNTARY - On the Organ. GLEE - By the Choir.
Hail smiling morn that tips the hills with gold, Whose rosy fingers ope the gates of day, Who the gay face of nature doth unfold, At whose bright presence darkness flies away.
2. PRAYER OF INVOCATION. By the REV. W. P. LUNT, of Quincy.
3. ODE- LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. - Hemans. [Sung by Mr. JOHN HOLLIS, of Braintree.]
The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tost ;
And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New-England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true hearted came,
Not with the roll of the stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame ;
Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear -
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard, and the sea ! And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free!
The ocean-eagle soared From his nest by the white wave's foam, And the rocking pines of the forest roared - This was their welcome home!
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What sought they thus afar ? Bright jewels of the mine ? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? - They sought a faith's pure shrine ! Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod ! They left unstained what there they found - Freedom to worship God !
4. PRAYER. By the REV. PETER WHITNEY, of Quincy.
5. HYMN - By the Rev. Dr. Flint.
In pleasant lands have fallen the lines That bound our goodly heritage, And safe beneath our sheltering vines Our youth is blest, and soothed our age.
What thanks, O God, to thee are due, That thou didst plant our fathers here ; And watch and guard them as they grew, A vineyard, to the planter dear.
The toils they bore our ease have wrought ; They sowed in tears - in joy we reap; The birthright, they so dearly bought, We'll guard, till we with them shall sleep. Thy kindness to our fathers shown, In weal and wo through all the past, Their grateful sons, O God, shall own, While here their name and race shall last.
6. COMMEMORATIVE DISCOURSE. By the REV. GEORGE WHITNEY, of Roxbury.
7. VOLUNTARY - By the Band. GLEE - By the Choir.
Land of our fathers, wheresoe'er we roam - Land of our birth, to us thou still art home ; Peace and prosperity on thy sons attend, Down to posterity their influence descend.
Though other climes may brighter hopes fulfill, Land of our birth, we ever love thee still ! Heaven shield our happy home from each hostile band, Freedom and plenty ever crown our native land.
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9. ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MEN. By the REV. J. GREGORY, of Quincy.
10. VOLUNTARY - By the Band.
11. HYMN.
Thou Lord, through every changing scene Hast to thy saints a refuge been ; Through every age, eternal God, Their pleasing home, their safe abode.
In thee our fathers sought their rest; In thee our fathers still are blest ; And, while the tomb confines their dust, In thee their souls abide and trust.
Lo, we are come, a feeble race, Awhile to fill our fathers' place ; Our helpless state with pity view, And let us share their refuge too.
To thee our infant race we leave ; Them may their fathers' God receive ; That voices yet unformed may raise
Succeeding hymns of humble praise.
12. POEM. By MR. C. P. CRANCH, of Boston.
13. ANTHEM.
Let us with a joyful mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind, For his mercies shall endure - Ever faithful, ever sure. Hallelujah, Amen.
14. BENEDICTION. By the REV. MR. WOLCOTT, of Quincy.
The exercises in the Church occupied three hours and a half. The singing in all its parts was uncommonly fine. At the close of the services, the Chief Marshal gave notice that an intermission of fifteen minutes would take place, after which, at the ringing of the bell, the second procession would be formed in the order already stated, to proceed to the pavilion.
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The company were relieved by this respite, and at three o'clock were again formed in procession and on their way to the Pavilion. About a quarter before four all were seated at the tables, the Ladies affording a beautiful and pleasant relief to the large collection of men, which would otherwise have presented, as on all similar occa- sions, a dark and monotonous appearance. Between five and six hundred were comfortably seated at the tables. The Rev. H. G. O. Phipps, of Cohassett, a native of Quincy, invoked the divine bless- ing.
The dinner was prepared by Messrs. Daniel French & Son, of the Hancock House, creditable to them and satisfactory to the guests.
It may be worth while to mention that a company of youths, from Braintree and Randolph, paraded all day on horseback, arrayed in fantastic dresses, and attracting some attention. They fell into the rear of the procession, as it passed from the Church to the Pavilion, and during the dinner performed a variety of manœuvres upon the Hancock Lot to the amusement of the spectators. To the antiquarian eye, they might have been mistaken for a deputation from Morton's jovial crew, on the Merry-Mount, two hundred years ago. Unlike them, however, they caused no disturbance to the seriously disposed. In fact, in regard to all who were gathered together upon the occasion, - although a much larger number were doubtless assembled in the town than ever before,- it may be said with pride and satisfaction, that the utmost order and propriety prevailed, - and that no single circumstance, neither accident nor disorder, occurred to mar the harmony, good fellowship, and pleas- ures of the day.
After the company had been refreshed by a substantial and grate- ful repast, the Hon. Josiah Quincy, jr., President of the day, rose and said : -
Ladies and Gentlemen, - We are assembled to commemorate our Fathers. Let me propose to you, therefore, as the most suit- able sentiment, with which we should commence,
The memory of our Fathers.
They to life's noblest end
Gave up life's noblest powers, And bade the legacy descend Down, down to us and ours.
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The President then proceeded to say, - We have spoken of our Fathers, let me next propose to you
The memory of our Mothers.
But not alone, nor all unblessed,
Our Fathers sought a place of rest ;
One dared with him to burst the knot That bound her to her native spot;
In life in death with him to seal Her kindred love, her kindred zeal.
In introducing the next sentiment, the President observed, - The distinguished honor belongs to us of having furnished the name of our Commonwealth. The Sagamore who governed the Indians in these parts had his residence upon a hill, near Squantum, in their language denominated Moswetuset, from whence with a slight variation came Massachusett. Let us say, then,
Chickatabut, the Sachem of Moswetuset, the friend of our Fathers. Our state has taken her appellation from his council fire in Quincy, and has made that name a name and a praise in all the earth.
Music by the Band, and occasional songs by Messrs. Knight, Dempster, and others were interspersed among the sentiments and speeches. The following Ode, written for the occasion by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, was next sung.
ODE,
On the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Braintree.
Two hundred years! Two hundred years ! Mount Wollaston could say, What wondrous scenes their fleeting wings Have brought, and borne away ! -
The pilgrim band, the council fire, The war dance circling round, Town, tower, and spire, emblazoned bright, Where rock and forest frowned.
Speak forth, speak forth - ye ancient trees, Whose green heads drank the dew, While old Naponset's ripening corn In slender furrows grew;
Or while his arrows winged with death From subtle ambush flew, Where now in sainted tombs repose The noble and the true.
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Beneath your shade the roving tribes Concerted 'gainst the foe, Or held their pagan ritual wild,- Red Sachem! was it so?
He answereth not. His buried race Have like shorn grass decayed;
No baying of their hunter's hound Disturbs the green-wood glade.
They rear their simple roofs no more, Nor o'er the waters blue
With sinewy arm and venturous oar Propel the bark canoe.
But ye, who in their places rise, With every blessing fraught, - Give praise for all the glorious change Two hundred years have wrought.
Governor Morton, who had been invited to attend, remarked in his letter declining the invitation, that the sentiment, which John Randolph once gave of the town of Albemarle, might well apply to Quincy ; -
The ancient Town of Braintree; - That prolific soil, which bears Presidents of the United States.
The next sentiment from the chair was as follows : -
The Schools endowed by John Adams and William Coddington at Quincy, and the one founded by John Harvard at Cambridge .- A century hence may the school of the patriots stand second only to the school of the prophets.
In reply to this President Quincy of Harvard College rose and said, that reminiscence seemed to be the appropriate object of the hour. In truth, he proceeded, my own mind is more filled with a company which is gone and by most forgotten, than with that which is present. Of this number is one among the earliest of my recol- lections, an individual who deserves to be remembered on this occa- sion, second to none if not first of all.
It is now fifty-six years since, being a boy I attended my mother on a visit to her friend, a lady who then dwelt in that humble man- sion which yet stands at the foot of Pen's hill, and who was des- tined in future time to be the wife of one President of the United States, and the mother of another. I remember her, a matronly
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beauty, in which respect she yielded to few of her sex, full of joy, and elevated with hope. Peace had just been declared, Indepen- dence attained, and she was preparing to go fromthat humble man- sion to join the husband whom she loved, and by whom she was little less than adored, at the court of St. James; possessed with the consciousness as she doubtless was, that she had been by his side in every trial, encouraged him in every danger, and that her spirit had sustained him and been of his council in every vicissitude. Though then very young, I was impressed with the sentiment which frequent opportunities of acquaintance and observation in subse- quent life confirmed, that of her it might be as truly said as ever it could be of woman - she was of her own sex the glory, and of the other the admiration.
Mr. Quincy then proposed -
The memory of Abigail Adams - who to a soul chastened and elevated by Christian principle united the spirit of a Grecian, and the virtues of a Roman matron.
A letter had been received from Ex-Governor Everett, declining an invitation to attend, and giving the following sentiment :
The Ancient Town of Quincy ; - venerable parent of men, whom the country venerates as Fathers.
The attention of the company was next called to the following song.
OUR FOREFATHERS' SONG.
Composed in the year 1630, - author unknown.
New England's annoyances you that would know them, Pray ponder these verses which briefly do show them.
I.
The place where we live is a wilderness wood, Where grass is much wanting that's fruitful and good : Our mountains and hills and our valleys below, Being commonly covered with ice and with snow : And when the northwest wind with violence blows, Then every man pulls his cap over his nose : But if any 's so hardy and will it withstand, He forfeits a finger, a foot, or a hand.
II.
But when the Spring opens we then take the hoe, And make the ground ready to plant and to sow ;
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Our corn being planted and seed being sown, The worms destroy much before it is grown ; And when it is growing some spoil there is made, By birds and by squirrels that pluck up the blade ; And when it is come to full corn in the ear, It is often destroyed by raccoon and by deer.
III.
If fresh meat be wanting, to fill up our dish, We have carrots and turnips as much as we wish ; And is there a mind for a delicate dish,
We repair to the clam banks, and there we catch fish. Instead of pottage and puddings and custards and pies, Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies ; We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon ; If it was not for pumpkins we should be undone.
IV.
If barley be wanting to make into malt, We must be contented and think it no fault ; For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips, Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips. But you whom the Lord intends hither to bring, Forsake not the honey for fear of the sting ; But bring both a quiet and contented mind, And all needful blessings you surely will find.
After this song the President said he had a living witness to its authenticity, and he would call on the Attorney General to sustain him and to propose a sentiment.
MR. AUSTIN thereupon rose and said that, being thus called upon, he could not hesitate to say that he had, when a boy, often heard an ancestor of his - a lady in direct descent from the company who landed at Salem with Gov. Endicott in 1628-repeat the same lines as she had heard them when a child, with no other difference, that he could recollect, from the present version, than in some pe- culiarities of pronunciation, which conformed to a more ancient system of orthoepy.
And this incident -said Mr. Austin - as every other on this occasion, is calculated to carry back the mind to the times of the Pilgrims, and to draw before us, for new reverence and love, the principles and character of those worthy men, who laid the founda-
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tion of whatever is most estimable in the glorious character of New England. Particularly are we drawn to these considerations, on this spot, because the settlement at Mount Wollaston, which un- doubtedly took place not long after the landing at Plymouth, is not without claim to be considered the oldest continuous plantation within the original chartered limits of Massachusetts. But it is not from mere local feeling that this sentiment arises. There is a gen- eral, universal sympathy excited by this reference to antiquity, in which the whole people, the friends of civil and religious liberty, wherever they may be, all who cherish in their hearts a veneration for free institutions and the rights of man deeply enter. The cause of it may be stated in a word.
It is to the age of the Colonists, to the first planters of New England, that not only New England, but the nation of the United States owes its present possession of constitutional liberty ; and the civilized world the amelioration of political government.
Having illustrated this sentiment at considerable length, and at- tempted in a pleasant manner to introduce to the company, and enjoy the astonishment of some of those ancient adventurers, and especially that old soldier, Miles Standish, and " his army of twelve men," who once came on a hostile expedition against Morton of Merry-Mount, MR. AUSTIN adverted to the legend, most worthy to be remembered on this occasion, that of all that band of Pilgrims, who landed from the Mayflower, it was a woman's foot that first pressed the rock of Plymouth; that it was a woman, from that glorious company, who, with high constancy and firm faith, began in an act of adventurous heroism the settlement of this mighty em- pire ; as it has been, in every subsequent period of its history, the fortitude and affection of the sex, and the purity of their domestic character, which have encircled it with glory. I know - said Mr. Austin - that the incredulous spirit of antiquarian research has affected to throw doubts on this romantic incident; but tradition sustains it; the learned Annotator * of the times confirms it. I be- lieve it. I go for the beauty of the thing, for its poetry, its bril- liancy, its chivalry, its romance. Yes, - take it to be true. It is but an original of the energy, the fortitude, the courage of the daughters of New England.
* Judge Davis, Editor of Morton's Memorial.
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Passing from these scenes - said Mr. Austin -there is another incident of deep interest connected with this occasion. This day is not only the second centennial of the settlement, but the second celebration of a centennial ! ! -
Where are they, who rejoiced in this place, at the first revolution of an hundred years ? Gone : - passed away! No survivor can tell us of the remembrances, the fears, or the hopes of that memor- able day. Imagination, indeed, pictures to us the generous and patriotic crowd of Christian men and women at the holy altar, with their thanks and their prayers for their country and their race.
That first centennial was the last day of a most memorable pe- riod; the first day of an era equally wonderful. The former had witnessed the actual settlement of the country. Its inhabitants were Colonists. The latter was to establish its independence. Its citizens were to be free. But this future was all unknown to the thronged assembly. They, like us, stood on that narrow isthmus, which separated the century of the dead from the interminable succession of living men. No prophetic vision assured them - as the revolution of time has assured us - that from their public and private virtues, and that of the age they had celebrated, would be produced a harvest of national happiness and glory, as certainly as the oak of the forest from the acorn whence it sprung.
One individual might have been present on that occasion, to whom was to be entrusted an eminent share in the magnificent en- terprise. From the venerable preacher of that day, [Rev. Mr. Hancock,] himself the ancestor of a distinguished family, this child may have acquired the rudiments of a character, which was mate- rially to secure the independence of his country, and establish the immortality of his fame.
Yes, Sir, JOHN ADAMS, -to whom we now look back as to a colossal monument of our country's glory, - was then a child of five years old, destined to bear onward and upward, in all the storms of political dissention, and in the earthquake of revolution, the ark of his country's independence.
It is glory enongh for any portion of our land to have been the birth-place of John Adams. It is something to tell of and to boast of, by those of us, who had the good fortune personally to know him, that we have sat at the feet of Gamaliel, and drank of the inspiration of his lips.
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My first recollection of Quincy - said Mr. Austin - was in the good fortune, which, soon after my college life, brought me into an acquaintance - so far as a boy might hold the relation -with this eminent statesman ; and I have never ceased to regret, that, when afterwards I was domiciliated in a family where he was a familiar visitor, I had not preserved a record of the thousand anecdotes, which enlivened his profound remarks on politics and men. They would have formed a volume more interesting than Boswell, and more profitable than Waverley. We look, Sir, for some authentic record of the debates in Congress on the question of Independence. One of the eminent statesmen of our own age has attempted, in the manner of the classic historians, to supply the want by an imaginary speech of Mr. Adams.
" Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my heart and hand to this vote."
It has the force, directness, energy, and abruptness of the man ; but it is only an imitation. There is extant a speech, which, Mr. Austin said, he had good reason to believe, was delivered by Mr. Adams, and written out from his own notes at the time, full of argument, abounding in illustration, sparkling with classic beauty and poetical quotation, equally nervous, direct, impassioned, and abrupt.
" The great God, Sir, who is the searcher of all things, will wit- ness for me, that I have spoken to you in the fulness and purity of my heart."
It is not compatible, Mr. Austin said, with any reasonable time he could ask, to follow out the life of this distinguished citizen of Quincy. While the reverend preacher of the first century looked back with a laudable pride on the fame of Carver and Endicott and Winthrop, it is not probable his imagination suggested to him, that " a greater than these were there." The eloquent and learned speaker, who addressed us this day, and who warmed our hearts with gratitude for the unnumbered blessings of Providence in every exigency of our country, could not foresee the occasions nor the men, who, in the coming century, are to be rivals to the patriots and statesmen of the past. But we may trust, humbly indeed, but yet with becoming confidence, that in any circumstances there may
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arise from the virtues of our ancestors some kindred spirits worthy to claim alliance with such glorious progenitors.
Mr. Austin then proposed as a sentiment -
The respect of POSTERITY for the memory of JOHN ADAMS.
The President next proposed -
John Wheelwright, the first minister of Quincy, the friend of Sir Henry Vane. He was exiled for that liberty from this land, for which his friend expired on the scaffold.
In reply to'this, the Rev. Wm. P. Lunt, junior minister of the First Congregational Church, rose and acknowledged the honor paid to the first preacher at the Mount. He then glanced at several cir- cumstances presenting an amusing contrast between the present and the past, - alluded to Morton's May-pole and to the decora- tions of the pavilion, in which the company were seated, and closed by offering
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