USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume II > Part 7
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made mistakes quite frequently, having taken so much toddy they could not see straight nor handle the mail properly. I recollect that rum, gin and brandy were sold at all the stores at that time by the pint, quart and gallon, and for haying some old farmers would lay in a keg full or several gallons. I heard my father say that one old doctor, who represented the town at the General Court for seventeen years, always after the vote was de- clared had several pails of nice toddy mixed up down at Harring- ton's store and passed around after each town meeting, which was then always held in the Congregational Church. He said when he was a boy the town had a pair of stocks on the com- mon in front of the Church in which to confine unruly and law- breaking men and boys. He said for a joke some of the men in those days put Andrew Morgan into the stocks and kept him there most all day but to make it more agreeable for him and to pass away the time pleasantly they took a mug of toddy to him quite often.
P. S. The above reminiscences were written, probably about 1875, by an old and respected citizen of Spencer, well known to the author. The manuscript after his decease was found among his papers. It is not known for what purpose he wrote, but he narrates exceedingly interesting events of a time more remote than can be recalled by the living and also of a time so meagre in details of village life, that these stories are well worthy a place in the history of the town as illustrating different phases of life at that period.
Andrew Morgan Jr. ' mentioned above, was a noted character who was born in Spencer in 1760 and died in 1841. He was a car- penter by trade, built and owned the house now occupied by the Misses Manning on Morgan hill. Named after him also was Morgan pond, located south of Rich's pond and southeast of Spencer village. The pond is not now flowed as a portion of the dam has been destroyed. The purpose for which the pond was made is not known. Andrew Morgan Sr. in the earlier days was often chosen deer-reeve by the town. The duties attending this office were to see that the existing laws relating to wild deer were obeyed. At that time those animals are said to have been quite plentiful in this part of the state.
Andrew Morgan Jr. was the story teller par excellence of his time. With his fertile imagination he fabricated stories with amazing facility. Had he lived in our day, his ability in that line, combined with a sober life, a determined purpose and good business ability, might have placed him in the front rank among professional men in that line. Some of his stories still live, having survived the lapse of years. One of them was to the effect that at one time he helped shingle the Congregational Church. The
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eave course was laid and a long ladder from the ground to the roof placed in position. He was going up the ladder with one quarter of a thousand shingles under each arm. As he reached the top of the ladder it broke and fell. With great presence of mind, he clinched his teeth into the eave course and held on, with his feet dangling in the air, and the shingles held firmly under each arm until a ladder was obtained from the lower village, nearly a half mile away, with which he was rescued from his perilous position.
He also said when hunting one day along the Seven Mile river, he saw on its western bank near and south of the Powder Mill bridge, a row of pigeons sitting on the dead limb of a tree which projected horizontally over the water. He got into a position where he thought one bullet, if rightly directed, would kill every bird. His aim, however, was too low. The bullet struck the end of the limb, splitting it its entire length, which quickly closing again caught each pigeon by the toes. He then waded out into the stream to obtain his birds and on returning to land found a large quantity of captured fish in his overalls.
He also told the story of a novel coasting experience in the days when barns were frequently built eighty to a hundred feet in length and with double doors opposite each other along the sides. Such a barn stood at the foot of a hill nearly at right an- gles with the route over which it had been planned to coast. A merry crowd of young men and women succeeded in hauling a two-horse sled to the top of the hill, placed the same in position, the tongue was thrown over back, and the party started on their downward trip. They soon lost control of the sled and to their consternation it made headway towards the open barn doors. Seated on the end of the tongue, making it virtually a spring seat, was the story teller, Andrew Morgan. As the sled neared the barn, it ran over a pile of rails, making both a jump and a bounce and throwing young Morgan, so he said, entirely over the barn. He alighted just in time to secure again his seat on the tongue as the sled came rushing through the building and sped on its way down another hill.
On the island of Squantum in Boston harbor Thomas Lamb, ancestor of the Lamb families of early Spencer history, opened in 1633 the first quarry in New England. The stones were ex- tensively used for cemetery work as well as for general purposes.
BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH H. GREENWOOD
BY FRED W. PROCTOR
The list of Spencer's sons who have achieved distinction affords no more striking instance of advancement from lowly con- ditions to high achievement than that of this shoemaker, whose innate love of the beautiful, despite an early life far removed from the usual sources of inspiration, has led him to an enviable position among the foremost painters. The term "lowly condi- tions " I have used advisedly; for the need to struggle in youth entails no dishonor, but has ever proved the most efficient cradle of human energy. Such an environment is undeniably poor in incentives ; but given the aspiration, which was in this case an inborn gift, and the advantages lie all upon the side of the young man whom necessity compels first to work: and who finds few opportunities for mental culture. These are likely to be all the more valued for being long withheld. History for history's sake is commendable enough: but this man's biography is rich in useful lessons. The keynote of his career has been the early learned task of self-reliance. Our schools are often elaborated along lines which do not give the truest development to charac- ter, and modern science amply demonstrates that that method best subserves the needs of education, which calls for mind and muscle to work conjointly. The trait of originality is often set down as a divine gift; but the fact is man inherits various qualities of mind, some of which, if vigorous at the outset, sup- plemented by judicious and constant cultivation may, as in Mr. Greenwood's case, lead to high attainments. The shoemaker's pinchers which he began to wield at a tender age have crept up with him in the industrial scale, and form his most ap- proved implement for stretching a canvas. They are a hallowed memento of a busy youth and are moreover a fitting emblem of his success.
Joseph H. Greenwood is a native of upper Wire Village or Sugdenville, the more modern name, and was born of French- Canadian parents. His father, Moses, was a poor man and
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among the earliest pioneers of his people to the states, and a brief account of him will throw light upon our subject. Reports had reached Canada of a land to the southward overflowing with opportunities. Families who emigrated hither would frequently be accompanied by the sons of neighbors; and in this manner Moses set out at the age of thirteen for this land of promise. He gave his entire fortune of seven dollars to a carrier for the priv- ilege of travelling, partly afoot, as rough roads should demand,
JOSEPH H. GREENWOOD.
food and lodging included. Soon after starting, along with two others of his age, whether by accident or design, all trace of the party was lost, and they were forced to continue the journey afoot, dependent upon the occasional settlements for food. The larger part of the distance was a mere track through the forest. Winter was coming on and though the cold was severe, their bed was often but the bare ground, occasionally to wake with clothes partly claimed by the frozen earth. There came a long stretch of distance without a sign of habitation; and
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during the third day without food save frozen wild apples, they came to the rude shack of an Irish settler, to be nursed back by him to a travelling condition. Moses found his first work with Sugden & Myrick, who had recently embarked in the wire busi- ness; and beginning as utility boy was afterward taught by Mr. Myrick to straighten card wire, which occupation he still follows, although now in his seventieth year. To this village, a few years later, he brought a bride from Southbridge. In the house now occupied by Alec Bouley, who here keeps the village store, Joseph was born in 1856, the second of a large family. It is interesting to note the changed conditions that a half-century has brought, especially as to the diffusion of general knowledge. As contrasted with the lavish helps to the mind of today the school was well nigh the sole source of information. Without the atmosphere of learning in the home, and with limited knowledge of English, little wonder if "Joe, "as he was familiarly known, derived at this period scant benefit from books. In conversation about this subject, Greenwood refers feelingly to one teacher of exceptional qualities-Miss Marcia Hill-whose sympathetic kindness no less than her power to enlist the mind's best efforts, left a strong impression upon his memory. But his was not the sort of mind which readily responds to theoretical instruction. He early displayed power of concentration upon things practical, and developed a knack with tools. Boughten toys were not forthcoming, and so he instituted his own kindergarten. As a youngster whose toy carts, water-wheels, sky-darts, bows and arrows, kites and windmills always went properly, he won quite a prestige for mechanical deftness; so that his father was wont to remark with pardonable pride, "See what my boy 'Cho' has made." This early habit of doing things rather than acquiring a speaking knowledge of them, or copying the work of others, has always stood him in good stead through life. Of all pro- fessions, an oil painter must have expedients. Adaptability of means to ends-technique, as we term it-is the artist's stock in trade for procuring his various effects. He must work out his own method of manipulating colors. If the brush at hand is not adapted to his immediate wants, he makes one to suit the occasion. The average student of art, the matured product of schools, starts in with the soul of his pursuit, and is forever hampered by mechanical difficulties. As we proceed to review Greenwood's career, we shall agree that there could have been no smoothing over of life's path without a corresponding under- mining of the essential conditions of his success.
To illustrate the difficulties attending his earliest aspirations towards art, he had at the age of eight never seen an oil painting, nor did he know of the existence of art in its higher sense. The
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desire to depict objects seems to have been spontaneous, and not the product of example. He would spend much time prone upon the floor drawing pictures by the aid of such rude materials as were at hand. He had a keen color sense, but lacking the means for its expression this faculty lay dormant, until upon watching his father hang wall paper he was struck with the fact that the moistened remnants imparted their color to the floor. Here was a new and promising occupation. So he devised brushes from a hen's tail-feathers wired to a stick, and thus equipped started in upon his career as a colorist. Rather signi- ficantly, his first attempts were to depict trees. The tops of these were soon finished to his taste but when he came to their trunks he became puzzled as to their proper hue; so out-of-doors he went to look up the matter, and thus early showed a propen- sity to settle such problems correctly. In the loft of Jacob Bisco's barn he came across a gaudy landscape decoration upon the back of a disused sleigh, and with this discovery his sports were forgotten. The boys were properly intruders here; but often he stole back alone to feast his eyes upon this scene, try- ing to study out the process by which such work was done. From such first impressions the desire grew to do work of this kind. His father's sympathies were enlisted, and the promise won of a box of water colors. But John N. Grout's store at the center failed to produce the coveted wares, and the matter was postponed. However, from the carriage painter in the loft of Joe Goddard's blacksmith shop he obtained a small sample of each color kept in stock, which he took home in percussion cap boxes; and with such materials his first attempts in oil land- scape were made.
But a busy life was ahead. At eleven he left school, to which he later returned only at brief intervals; and together with his brother Abě, two years his senior, started to peg boots for an uncle living in Hillsville; and the boot bottomer's trade he fol- lowed some four years. At eighteen we find him employed as a wire drawer by Joel E. Prouty. He had long since supplied himself with approved materials and his spare moments were devoted to brush and palette. There is no cloaking the fact that his canvases at this period bore the marks of crudeness, but there were no accomplished critics among his circle of ac- quaintances. If his art was poor, his friends were happily oblivious to the fact. They recognized his efforts as the sincere outpouring of a nature attuned to the beautiful and imbued with a love for this work as its natural expression. They esteemed him for his companionable traits, embracing a jovial disposition that was infectious. An aspiring mind naturally wins friends. One of his shopmates became his first patron to the extent of
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ten dollars for a picture. His reputation as a nimrod brouglit him at this time an invitation to join a hunting party held by pupils of the high school. When the spoils were counted, Joe's bag comprised a good proportion of the day's quarry. A hero is always warmly welcomed. At the feast which closed this event, young Greenwood made his first appearance in society which grouped about the high school. And from this time he never ceased to remain a hero in the eyes of a young lady pupil who here formed his acquaintance and eventually became his wife.
A growing dissatisfaction with his attainments led him to seek more advantages and his father allowed him to collect a part of his earnings at the wire mill for the purpose of attend- ing school. A few friends, including his employers, helped to swell his funds; and he was enrolled for two terms at Wilbraham academy, where he made special study of English and oil paint- ing. Lessons taken also in crayon portraiture gave him a work- ing knowledge of that process, which for some years following he turned to good account. Frequent orders for that work en- couraged him to leave the shop and devote his entire attention to art. Oil landscape engrossed his mind and he lost no oppor- tunity to extend his familiarity with it. The modern or realistic school was already in the ascendant, a reaction setting in from the artificial coloring and conventional composition heretofore in vogue; and he resolved to abjure studio work and base his efforts upon such inspiration as Nature could afford. To keep the pot a-boiling he let out to neighboring farmers, giving a stip- ulated amount of labor for his board; and the balance of his time saw him early and late afield, working out for himself the dual problem of the essentially beautiful and how most effectively to interpret it. At this period the few mature painters he came in contact with only served to fix in mind what was artificial and to be avoided. One summer he spent in and about the White Mountains, but the conviction was growing upon him that the artist's proper field was the familiar scenes at his own door.
The story of Greenwood's life is not to be written without reference to the discouragements which ever beset the artist's career. In earlier life he had several times reached a conviction that the Fates were leagued against his success, and thereupon determined to cease all further effort. But as often he heard voices calling him again to his work. At twenty-four he made a most desperate resolve to abandon art as a fickle mistress, made a bonfire of art materials as a funeral pyre of abandoned hopes ; and proceeding to Worcester sought some employment that promised a living. This he found as operator of a Bonnaz embroidering machine. Here his mechanical skill again be- friended him and he speedily rose to the position of most expert
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PRINCETON AND WACHUSETT MOUNTAIN.
( By J. H. Greenwood.) It must be understood by the reader that without the coloring much of the beauty of such a landscape cannot be attained in a halftone engraving.
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stitcher and foreman. Soon after coming to Worcester his marri- age with Elizabeth Proctor took place. Whatever periods of des- pair had overtaken him, she had never ceased to picture for him success and recognition in the field of art. And under the in- spiration of a happy home of his own the wings of his muse were again spread. He took a rambler's lease of old Peat meadow, and all spare time saw him in deep communion with Nature. Worcester's working talent in art had an organization, and presently Greenwood's work began to command attention. He limited his scope to the most unpretentious subjects, and these he handled with originality. " I haf a feeling of nature aboud hees work" their tutor from abroad said in commendation. A discerning few began to buy pictures, which he held at modest values.
After two years in the shop his health suffered from the confinement and nerve-racking exertion, and his physician said he must have out-door exercise and relaxation. These were days of discouragement. It occurred to him to attempt teaching. A date was advertised to form a class in out-door sketching. The ap- pointed hour arrived, and one solitary pupil: but next class day saw an accession, and presently a good number. During the twenty years which have since elapsed his winters have been largely devoted to classes; and his teaching knowledge has doubtless been a factor in his artistic growth. Each summer sees him located in some rural retreat, most often in the north- ern part of the state; and each succeeding fall brings him back with much of his original work of the year, which never fails to show the well-defined marks of progress. At one time when sketching along our south coast, he was accosted by a pleasant spoken resident, who asked to examine his work in hand, and finally invited him to his own studio. This proved to be no less a personage than America's foremost painter, R. Swain Gifford, whose acquaintance was indeed a boon. Having himself, upon his unaided resources, evolved from a poor neglected boy about New Bedford's wharves, there was an instant bond of sym- pathy which has ripened into a time-proved friendship.
Greenwood brings to his task a strong individuality of character. His is a mind endowed with a supreme love of his chosen work rather than ambition for popular approval. His appreciation of beauty is not confined within his chosen field but embraces a taste for literature and the kindred arts. Well- nigh illiterate up to his eighteenth year, he later became a dili- gent student of the best literature. The works of Emerson and Thoreau have been to him full of inspiration. In fiction Hugo, Dickens and Thomas Hardy are his favorites. He has a well defined musical taste and although never heard outside the home
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circle, he has for many years been a serious student of the vio- lin. His is a mind untrammeled, free of superstitious dogma, whether in the field of art or outside it. Intellectual greatness has been defined as capacity to see the great side of small things: which is suggested by his choice of simple themes. It is along these lines that Burns and Wordsworth worked in literature. To discern and interpret the beauty of common scenes is Green- wood's forte in art. While his habit of independent work has resulted in a characteristic style, it conforms to the modern school of the French realists, as distinguished from the conven- tional composition of the near past. The art of today is not satisfied with gaudy effects, impossible or magnified features and themes of the magnificent order. A tree must not only be recognizable as a tree, but must be botanically correct. Each variety of tree or plant possesses its own character, generic as well as individual-a fact which former schools ignored, but the more critical standard of today holds essential. It was the habit of the studio-bred painter to confine himself, and the re- sult was abortive, artistically regarded. Art has been epigram- matically defined as "man added to nature," but in the faulty manner of by-gone schools the human element was overdone and Nature ignored. It is at this point where Greenwood's work is conspicuously strong : absolute fidelity to his subject. For a long period his finished work was the original sketch, unaltered in any particular. Familiarity with nature gained in this way is the only correct foundation of landscape art. Upon one occasion Greenwood met by appointment a painter, much his senior, for a day of sketching. His companion was long defeated in his efforts to find a scene worthy his brush, dawdled laboriously over his subject with growing dissatisfaction, as one used to the irresponsible atmosphere of a studio, and finally threw up his job with the significant remark that "Nature put him out." To one trained to follow Nature, she presents but one difficulty-the multiplicity of themes at hand. The painter has only to eliminate the many, and upon a single theme build his picture. Correct composition demands simplicity. To omit all unes- sential elements from the range of vision and best subserve esthetic needs in rearranging the various features is the only sort of idealizing required.
Upon these lines has Greenwood built his work, and most successfully. At the outset of his career there were two roads. To cater to a cheap demand meant immediate sales, a short cut to popular favor. He chose the straight and narrow path beset with labor and scant approval. He put out only such work as consisted with his high sense of w1;t correct art should be. He modestly refrained from seeking hi 11blic. Many an artist
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of less acumen has whistled-up a larger vogue for his productions. He became the successful exponent of near-at-home art; and Worcester people with a taste for such things began to seek him out. It became a matter for congratulation that one self-taught in their midst, dealing with their own familiar scenes, should have his work welcomed in the highest art circles in America. For many years his pictures have been hung by the Boston Art Club and the Society of American Artists at New York. The Columbian Exposition accepted his offering, a realistic subject from Worcester's suburbs. In 1897 and again in 1900, he was honored by invitations to exhibit collections of his work in the art rooms of the public library. The following quotations from Worcester papers on those occasions indicate the appreciation which attends his work :
* * "Wednesday night Mr. Greenwood gave a private view of his works, which are to be shown at the library in con- nection with the second of the series of exhibitions which are be- ing given there this winter. Ardent admirers thronged to his side to express their admiration for the work upon the walls, but how few even dreamed of what the canvases meant to the painter. Few knew of the joy it gave him to thus receive recogni- tion after years of work and struggle. With such an inborn, unquenchable love for art, with such a devout admiration for na- ture, is it strange that the canvases on the walls at the library stir the heart with tenderness and refresh and delight the eye?
Some years ago a collection of his pictures was shown at the Art Students' Club, but it has passed by into indistinct memory to many. Since then the genius of the painter has blos- somed into a sweet perfume such as can only come from a com- munion with nature which is close enough to feel every heart throb, to see every shifting mood, and to interpret every beauti- ful expression. Mr. Greenwood's paintings are paintings of the heart, of the soul. His brush is laden with love and tenderness. While he paints his whole being goes out to the subject before him, and he becomes a living, breathing part of it. How else could a painter secure such infinitely tender skies, such marvel- ous effect of atmosphere, such fragrant, refreshing color."-Spy.
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