History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 22

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 22

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many, equally without relation to its native origin, it means a club house. In Paris the Lyceum is a Gov- ernment preparatory school; in London it is a thea- tre; in modern Greece a university,-so that what- ever the word meant to the ancient Athenian, Hol- brook might, without greater violence, apply it to his new clnh for mutual improvement. In fact the Ly- ceum of ancient Athens was a grove where Aristotle daily imparted his learning and inspiration through the medium of conversations and discussion, as did Plato in another grove called the Academy. And if, as is probably true, the word Lyceum is related in its origin to the words Aukos, 2evkỳ, lux, light, Holbrook might turn the laugh on his too fastidious critics, for surely Aristotle's grove was no lucus a non lucendo!

From whatever source derived the word met a want and while the more scholarly amongst his recruits objected that it was stilted and inapt and that it made a very bad plural withal, no movement was made for substituting any other, and those who cared much for the thing and little for the name were both aston- ished and delighted to see the number of societies throughout the country calling themselves Lyceums, increasing before the close of 1831 to something like a thousand.

Of these none were earlier in the field than Clax- ton's, at Methuen, and this was one of the very few which provided itself with a local habitation. The structure stood on what is now Broadway, near Park Street, and has since been removed and converted into a dwelling. One other in this county, organized at Salem, in January, 1830, and at once incorporated, completed and occupied in January, 1831, and paid for out of the proceeds of its lecture courses, the com- modious structure for its own accommodation, still in daily use, and known as Lyceum Hall. Of the Salem movement, Judge White, Col. Francis Peabody, Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, and Rev. Chas. W. Upham seem to have been the central figures. The first address delivered before the Salem Lyceum was given hy Judge White, its first president, in the Methodist chapel in Sewall Street. The preliminary meetings for its formation had been held at Col. Peabody's house, and brought together, as we learn from the memoir of that conspicuous citizen by Mr. Upham, snch active and able coadjutors as Dr. A. L. Peirson, Leverett Saltonstall, Rufus Choate, Benjamin Crown- inshield, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Elisha Mack, Dr. Geo. Choate, Warwick Palfrey, and others, of whom Hon. Caleb Foote, Hon. Geo. Wheatland and William P. Endicott, Esq., are the last survivors. An address from Hon. Stephen C. Phillips opened the new hall the walls of which were decorated with frescos of Judge White and Captain Joseph Peahody, of Demos- thenes and Cicero, and also with a somewhat ambi- tious design over the platform, in which the Lycean Apollo appeared respleudent in his cloud-borne car. But of this tradition relates that an unlucky janitor,

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

groping in the attic, presumably to regulate the ven- tilation, put his stumbling foot through the ceiling, and found himself occupying, uninvited, a seat in the chariot of the god of light! This famons Lyceum, with its unbroken continuity of lecture courses now reaching the limit of fifty-seven consecutive years,-a record only paralleled, so far as I know, by that of another, formed December 21, 1829, in the little red brick school-house in Littleton, a town of one thou- sand inhabitants, between Concord and Groton, which, under the name of the Littleton Lyceum, has sus- tained itself with spirit and success, and without a break, to the present time,-this famous Lyceum has called to its platform the most eminent men and women of our era. While few names are wanting which could add lustre to its record, the name of most frequent recurrence is that of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The next Lyceum formed in Essex County, after that at Methuen, of which I have definite information, was an organization for lectures and discussion formed at Beverly, certainly as early as December, 1828,- probably earlier,-and which took the name, Novem- ber 5, 1829, of the Beverly Lyceum. It owed its origin to the activity and public spirit of Robert Rantoul, Jr.,

Dr. Augustus Torrey and T. Wilson Flagg.

Hon.

William Thorndike was its first president, and on its original roll of members, it is interesting to find, in company with the names of William Endicott, John Pickett, Augustus N. Clark and Warren Prince, prob- ably the last survivors of the Beverly worthies who joined it, that of Caleb Foote, of Salem.

A Lyceum, formed at North Andover, April 13, 1830, is claimed to have been the outgrowth of an association for mutual improvement organized early in the year 1828, and such a society existing, May 15, 1830, in the North Parish of Danvers, is also thought to have been gathered in some form and at some time during the same year.

At South Danvers, the "Literary Circle," devoted at first to reading and conversation solely, opened its meetings with an address from Dudley Stickney, its first president, on December 16, 1828, at Dr. Shed's Hall, nearly opposite the South Danvers Bank, and although it enjoyed from the outset the countenance of Rufus Choate, Dr. Nichols, Fitch Poole, Dr. Joseph Osgood, and others hardly less honored, it could not be called a Lyceum before January 9, 1834, when it took that form of organization.

A movement began in Lynn, also, as early as De- cember 23, 1828, and in this Alonzo Lewis seems to have been active; but of its nature I know nothing.

So far as i can learn, there was not in existence in Essex County, on the fifth day of November, 1829, any organized body, in tull working order, calling itself a Lyceum, and supporting an established course of debates and lectures, except at Beverly.

Of the extent to which the late Hon. Robert Ranton], Jr., contributed to the success of the organization, it does not become me to speak. His college experience

had qualified him to be of service in this way, for he had succeeded, in 1823, before the end of his freshman year, in establishing a debating club called the AKPIBOAOTOYMENOI, which, in November, 1825, united with the Hermetic Society and the old Speak- ing Club or Fraternity of 1770, forming, under a con- stitution drawn by him, the Institute of 1770. Hon. Chas. W. Upham, in his memoir of Col. Peabody, has recorded his high estimate of my father's services, and the late Ellis Gray Loring, of Boston, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Rev. James Freeman Clarke, and Dr. O. W. Holmes, all near his time in college, with Dr. Andrew P. Peabody and the late Richard Hildreth and J. Thomas Stevenson, his classmates, have tes- tified at various times that they then regarded his power in organization and in debate as phenomenal. Mr. Rantoul left college in August, 1826. He resided at Beverly for the next five years, while studying his profession in the offices of Hon. John Pickering and Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, and afterwards occupying an office in the Stearns Building at Salem. In the summer of 1831, he was residing and practising his profession at South Reading, and there became a member of the publication committee of the Middle- sex County Lyceum.

Rufus Choate, who was some years Mr. Rantoul's senior, was practising law at South Danvers, in an office facing the Square, from September, 1823, until his removal to Salem in 1828. Before those dates he had pursued bis studies in the offices of Mr. Andrews, of Ipswich, and of Judge Cummins, of Sa- lem, as well as in that of Attorney-General Wirt, at Washington. He seems to have taken an early and very active interest in the Lyceums springing up around him, as so rare a nature could not fail to do, and to have identified himself, both before and after his establishment in Salem, with the efforts of his neighbors in behalf of mutual improvement. His name appears for the first time, as a lecturer, in the roll of the Salem Lyceum,-he was a member of its first board of managers,-in 1831, and but twice there- after; but his lecture, entitled the "Romance of the Sea," originally known as the "Literature of the Sea," when first delivered in Salem, in 1837, became at once famous. Whipple says of it in his " Recol- lections of Eminent Men,"-"Those who heard it forty years ago now speak of it as a masterpiece of eloquence. It enjoyed a popularity similar to that of Wendell Phillips's lecture on 'The Lost Arts.' "

The first steps towards the organization of an Essex County Lyceum were taken at a gathering at Topsfield, December 30, 1829. It was not composed largely of delegates, but some eighty public-spirited professional and scholarly gentlemen came together there in Acad- emy Hall, for mutual enlightenment on this interest- ing theme. Besides the Methuen and Beverly Ly- ceums, there were then existing in the county, one at Newburyport, organized November 25, 1829, on a very independent footing, and holding weekly meet-

xciii

THE SPIRIT OF THE EARLY LYCEUMS.

ings; and another at Bradford, East Parish, now Groveland, called the Franklin Lyceum, organized December 23, 1829, holding weekly meetings in the hall of Merrimac Academy. If others were repre- sented in the gathering at Topsfield, I have failed to trace them; but of those then in existence three, probably those of Newburyport, Bradford and Me- thuen, declined to send delegates or be in any way subjected to the authority of the proposed County Lyceum ; and one, Beverly, sent delegates to protest against the scheme of confederation, except on condi- tion that the autonomy of the town Lyceums was fully recognized and assured. The feeling of these remonstrants was well expressed by Ichabod Tucker, of Salem, who said : " For purposes of mutnal improve- ment, the County Lyceum will be useless. He had no objection himself to ride ten or twelve miles once in three or four months, to shake hands with his friends from distant parts of the county, and to take a social chat and eat a social dinner together. He thought it would be a very good thing. But it was idle to think of forming a government while there was nothing to govern, or of forming any board of control without the consent, first asked and obtained, of those who are to be controlled by it." This spirit of oppo- sition to the plan of confederation was by no means exceptional here, but cropped out elsewhere. The opening address, by Dr. Thomas A. Greene, before the New Bedford Lyceum, December 18, 1828, says : " We have adopted the name of New Bedford Lyceum, in preference to calling ourselves a branch of the Ameri- can Lyceum, as has been done in some other places. This involves no necessary connection with other societies, but leaves us at liberty to pursue our own course." The very vigorous Lyceum at Newburyport was started on the same basis, and there is reason to think that many of the most promising of the early organizations kept aloof at least until they could be assured that no undue control would be attempted by the County Lyceum, and also that all efforts on the part of the evangelical element to give it a sectarian or denominational caste would be defeated. The dif- ferences of opinion which thus developed themselves, and the warmth with which opposite views were maintained throughout an extended session, showed that this gathering was no dilettanti excursion. It was called to order by Rev. Gardner B. Perry, of Bradford, who was its secretary, and Hon. Robert Rantoul, Sr., of Beverly, was its president. The question whether Lyceums should be of spontaneous growth and self-sustained, or should derive their charters and powers from a central head, such as a County or a State Lyceum, was vigorously discussed by Judge Cummins, Elisha Mack, Ichabod Tucker, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Dr. George Choate and Rev. Chas. W. Upham, all of Salem, and Rev. Leonard Withington, of Newbury, in favor of the view which prevailed, and by Dr. Spofford, of Rowley, and Rev. Henry C. Wright, of West Newbury, in opposition,

and the convention recommended a County Lyceum, as a means of strengthening town Lyceums previously formed, but in no sense or degree as a source of power or authority, and after appointing the necessary com- mittees, dissolved. One of these committees, of which Rev. Chas. W. Upham was chairman, issued, January 24, 1830, a circular letter, inviting the towns to form Lyceums, to send delegates to proposed semi-annual county gatherings, and to adopt constitutions modeled either on Holbrook's or that of the Beverly or of the Salem Lyceum, each of which was quoted in extenso. The letter concludes with an urgent appeal to the town Lyceums to send delegates to a county conven- tion, called to meet at Ipswich Hotel, March 17, there to consider a county constitution to be submitted by the committee. Representatives of seventeen Lyce- ums attended this meeting,-there were then twenty- six towns in the county,-and adopted a county con- stitution ; they chose Judge White president, fixed the annual meeting on May 5th, at Ipswich ; requested an address from Judge White, which was delivered, and is in print; and apportioned the county amongst a Board of Managers, in the following districts: To Mr. Howe, of Haverhill, his own town, Methuen and Bradford West Parish ; to Mr. Crosby, of Amesbury, that town and Salisbury; to Rev. Mr. Withington, Newburyport and Newbury; to Rev. Mr. Perry, Bradford East Parish, West Newbury and Rowley ; to Rev. Mr. Vose, of Topsfield, that town and Boxford ; to Mr. Cutler, of Lynn, Lynn and Saugu -; to Rev. Mr. Bartlett, of Marblehead, and Rev. Mr. Badger, of Andover, their own towns respectively ; to Hon. Wm. Thorndike, Beverly and Essex; to Hon. Israel Trask and Rev. Mr. Hildreth, Gloucester and Manchester ; and the towns of Salem, Ipswich, Danvers, Lynnfield, Hamilton, Middleton and Wenham, to Hon. D. A. White, Rev. John Brazer, Eben Shillaber and Icha- bod Tucker, E:quires, all of Salem.

The first aunual meeting was held, as announced, on May 5th, in the First Parish meeting-house at Ips- wich, and it is proof enough of the quickening influ- ence of the county movement inaugurated at Tops- field December 30, 1829, that between that date and the meeting at Ipswich, May 5, 1830, Lyceums had been formed at Salem, January 18th; at Andover, February 10th ; at Manchester, February 18th; at Gloucester, February 19th ; at Topsfield and New Rowley, some time in February ; at West Newbury, March 16th ; at Essex, some time in March ; at North Andover, April 13th ; and one at Amesbury and Sal- isbury in common, and others, at dates which I cannot determine, at Lynn, Haverhill and some of the par- ishes. Delegates were present on the 5th of May from eighteen established Lyceums.

The County Lyceum met next, November 24th, at the Tabernacle in Salem, where it was addressed by Rev. Mr. Perry, who succeeded to the presidency upon the retirement of Judge White, and whose address was printed. The second annual meeting was held, May

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

27, 1831, in the First Parish meeting-house at New- buryport, and was addressed by Rev. Dr. Brazer, of Salem, whose remarks were also printed. Ipswich had formed a Lyceum since the last report, and was now represented in the convention. But so far as I can ascertain, this was the last meeting of the Essex County Lyceum. Teachers' Institutes were coming into favor; some element of internal discord may have relaxed its hold on public support, or it may be that the town Lyceums had found themselves so strong as to be perfectly well able to get on without it.

Meantime the State Lyceum of Massachusetts, the second in the country (New York being a month be- fore us), was coming into prominence from the char- acter of the men who were conspicuous in it, and, to Holbrook's mind at least, his scheme was also taking on national, if not even international dimensions. But before passing from the local Lyceums, let us look for a moment at the nature of the subjects with which they mainly concerned themselves. I shall not enu- merate the long list of subjects upon which lectures were delivered, because in the selection of these the listeners had little voice. But the topics chosen for debate and the character of their other exercises cer- tainly furnish a fair criterion of the prevailing standard of intelligence and the drift of public feeling. In the large towns, where either the services of professional men were to be had for the asking or the money re- quired to secure them was readily forthcoming, the lecture was the common medium of instruction. No- thing else was ever offered in Salem. But it was in the small towns, as the annual reports assure us, that the institution did its greatest work, and here debates were the chief attraction. These were both written and extemporized, but in both cases the subjects were announced in advance and disputants appointed to open the discussion. In North Danvers, in Topsfield, in Haverhill and in Beverly debates seem to have proved a special attraction. Among the questions discussed were these: "Ought the habit of wearing mourning apparel to continue?" "Ought imprison- ment for debt to be abolished in Massachusetts?" " Are railroads likely to prove advantageous ?" "Is it expedient to authorize a lottery for completing Bun- ker Hill Monument?" "Ought the government to remove the Seminoles and Cherokees, and have In- dians a right to tribal government independent of that of the State and of the Union ?" "Do newspa- pers, on the whole, contribute to the morals of a people ?" " Do the evils of the militia system counter- balance its advantages?" "Is capital punishment justifiable in Massachusetts ?" " Are the poor laws in their present state beneficial ?" "Ought public roads to be maintained by the town or the county ?" "Ought representatives, in voting, to be governed by their own convictions or those of their constituents ?" " Is it expedient to divide the town of Danvers?" " Is Free Masonry calculated to promote virtue, reli- gion and good government ?" "Ought immigration to

be discouraged ?" " Is it right, is it expedient to abol- ish slavery in the District of Columbia?" "Ought the incorporation of factories to be encouraged ?" " Is it expedient to take legal measures to prevent the distillation of ardent spirits ?" " Which sex has pro- duced the best authors, according to their respective opportunities for literary acquirement ?" "Does pub- lie policy require that females be excluded from the public offices of government and exempted from the active duties of citizens?" " Is the use of ardent spir- its and stimulating liquors beneficial to the commu- nity ?" " Is it for the advantage of Christendom that the Russians expel the Turks from Europe?" " If the Greeks gain their independence, what form of govern- ment will best suit their circumstances?" "Is the present government of France likely to be perma- nent?" " Has the career of Byron been beneficial or injurious ?" "Of Napoleon ?" "What occasions the stillness of the air which precedes earthquakes?" "Is the use of anthracite coal likely to conduce to economy and comfort ?"

In many instances the same question was discussed for several sittings and often referred to a committee for final determination. Ladies made their contribu- tions, if at all, in writing, and often anonymously, through the medium of the post-office or of a special receptacle for their communications and essays estab- lished by each Lyceum. In some places, notably in Gloucester, Boston and Philadelphia, ladies were en- couraged to take part, but their co-operation was not always invited. In Salem, Haverhill and elsewhere they were at first admitted on special terms, and each required the guaranty of a male sponsor for her good behavior. The sex seems to have been treated with a vague distrust, like some untried, monstrous and ex- plosive force, only to be experimented on, if at all, with the utmost circumspection. Where they ap- peared they were cautioned to come with heads un- covered, for bonnets were ample, and the presence of these fascinating obstructions, it was said, tempted auditors to rise from their seats when experiments were shown, and thus still further to intercept the vision. Of topics for lectures, I think that electricity, experimentally illustrated, was the universal favorite. In Salem Colonel Peabody owned costly apparatus for these experiments ; in other less fortunate places the funds of the Lyceum were devoted to its purchase, and everywhere men of scientific knowledge enough to exhibit and explain the phenomena of galvanism, magnetism and kindred manifestations of this tremen- dous agent were in unfailing demand. In this con- nection the fact is not without interest that Professor Charles Grafton Page, of Salem, whose name was a household word amongst early Lyceum-goers, and who was afterwards for many years a principal exam- iner of patents at the Patent Office, and also connected with the early stages of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, succeeded, in 1851, in driving a loco- motive electric engine on the Baltimore and Ohio

XCV

THE SPIRIT OF THE EARLY LYCEUMS.

Railroad from Washington to Bladensburg and back, reaching a maximum speed of nineteen miles per hour. It was not an uncommon practice in the Ly- ceums to engage some attractive celebrity for the opening lecture of a winter's course, and to make that lecture free, with a view to invite a large attendance and to recommend the institution to general favor. This policy was a justification of the remark of Dr. Holmes, in his "Lecture on Lectures and Lecturers," that the Lyceum served the purpose, among others, of a cheap menagerie for showing the lions to the people. I recall a course at Beverly, probably in 1842, opened by John Quincy Adams, who was after- wards entertained at the Brown mansion, on Cabot Street, now the residence of Mr. Perry Collier. Cura- tors were chosen where there were cabinets and appa- ratus, and other officers for the care and administra- tion of libraries. In some places, where the repetition of lectures was made necessary by the straitened accommodations of halls and churches, the lecturer read the same address on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday afternoon, and his audiences, by a process of natural selection, divided themselves between those whose occupations left their even- ings free and the school attendants, teacher and pupil, with ladies and persons of leisure who could spare the hours of daylight, and so made a "lec- ture afternoon" in a new sense on Wednesday. In other places, as in Salem for the years between 1851 and 1856, when we had outgrown our little am- phitheatre and were yet repelled by the cost and vast- ness of Mechanic Hall, courses were repeated on Tues- day and Wednesday evenings, and the former being a night devoted by the Evangelical Churches to relig- ious gatherings, the atmosphere on the first reading of a lecture was considerably more heretical than on the second. The lecturer's fee was generally ten dol- lars, rarely twenty, and in most cases lectures, like other services, being rendered by public-spirited townsmen,-Mr. Emerson delivered ninety-eight in Concord,-were gratuitously rendered. Dr. Chapin's mot, "I lecture for FAME, Fifty-And-My-Expenses," belongs to a later epoch. In some instances the ex- ercises of the Lyceum were opened freely to the pub- lic, but generally a little contribution to the funds was exacted, say fifty cents or a dollar per year. The magic-lantern took the place of our elaborate appa- ratus for illustration, but the name "Phantasmagoria," perhaps, made up for some of its deficiencies.

The Lyceums, while alike in general drift, differed much in methods and details; that at Gloucester was organized under the general act for incorporating Lyceums approved March 4, 1829, and for the first five years continued its sittings through almost the entire year. It devoted its attention at once to the schools of Gloucester and to the history of the town. To the distinguished names I have mentioned in connection with it, may be added those of Dr. Ebenezer Dale, Benj. K. Hough, Dr. William Ferson and John W.

Lowe. The Lynu Lyceum encouraged the produc- tiou of dissertations and essays and divided itself into ten classes or departments covering agriculture, trade and manufactures, education, letters, morals, art and sciences, physiology, natural history-including min- eralogy, geology, botany and chemistry-history and public improvements. Two ontlying districts of Lynn, namely, Woodend and Swampscott, had early Lyceums of their own. The Beverly Lyceum often had a lecture, followed by a debate on the same even- ing. At one time it met twice in each week for debate, and the debates sometimes extended over several adjournments. It also voted by yea and nay vote on the weight of argument, as well as on the merits of the questiou. And the president of the Ly- ceum did not preside over the debates, but was re- quired to appoint in each case a chairman of the committee of the whole. Robert Rantoul, Sr., con- tributed a course of lectures on the history of the town which became the acknowledged basis of Stone's " History of Beverly." In a course on physiology, by Dr. Augustus Torrey, resort was had to the expedient of distributing a full printed synopsis of each lecture before its delivery. The Lyceum of Amesbury and Salisbury had expended nearly a hundred dollars for books and apparatus during its first season. That at Andover had followed an introductory by Holbrook, and a second address by Judge White, with a course of six illustrated lectures on astronomy from Rev. Harvey Wilbur, which were delivered at intervals of two or three days, and cost seventy-five dollars. Then Rev. Calvin Stowe pointed out the dangers of the prevailing ideas in education, especially those in- cident to Lyceums, and he was followed by Rev. E. W. Hooker in an essay claiming the Scriptures as the only basis of ethical science. At Bradford Merrimac Academy, one of the six large institutions of the kind then flourishing in the county, the students from abroad were allowed free admittance to the meetings of the Lyceum, probably in consideration of the use of Academy Hall, and a collection of mineral and vege- table specimens and other curiosities was begun, in 1830, having amongst them what was thought to be a foot and leg of aboriginal sculpture. At North Andover meetings were held once a fortnight, the year round, save in the summer months, and head- quarters were established, with a reading-room, in the brick building opposite the meeting-house. At North Danvers the meetings were largely attended, occurred three times each month, and were occupied, with "Lectures, Debates, Compositions on Miscella- neous Topics, Reports of Committees appointed to solve questions in Natural Philosophy and Mathe- matics, and to criticize Declamations and Composi- tions." Lectures were read on chemistry, mechanics, geography, natural history, phrenology, geometry, natural theology, anatomy and architecture.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 22

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538