USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 57
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 57
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 57
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 57
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 57
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
Not long after his return to the east, Mr. Hood became active in the political field. He was a member of the Democratic party, fought manfully for its interests, and was rewarded in various ways. In one of the gubernatorial campaigns, he was the ac- credited candidate of the party for Lieutenant Governor ; and he was at another time the regular party candidate for a seat in the national Congress. In Lynn, he held the most responsible offices, and in all of them performed his duties with credit to himself and benefit to those who had entrusted him with the management of their affairs. He had a strict eye to econ- omy in public expenditure, and a generous sympathy for all the dependent classes, especially the laboring and the poor, and was one of the foremost in breaking up the old custom of indef- initely protracted daily labor, and establishing the ten hour system, as it was called, which is alluded to under date 1850. He was several times chosen a Representative, was a Senator in 1843, and a member of the Constitutional Convention, in 1853.
Mr. Hood was the first Mayor of Lynn, and held the office two years, administering affairs with economy, impartiality, and fidelity. The labor was great, for the machinery was new ; but he proved himself equal to the occasion. And there is abun- dant evidence of the confidence of the people in his ability and integrity, in the fact that he was elected Mayor, notwith- standing he had all along been openly opposed to the adoption of the city form of government. He was a man of more than
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ordinary intelligence, and gifted with good practical common sense views. His mind was penetrating, and in the conduct of public affairs, particularly, he was accustomed to examine thoroughly into matters.
But yet, after a more than ordinarily successful life, Mr. Hood's sun went down in a cloud. He died at the Asylum for the Insane, at Worcester, on the night of Monday, June 29, 1859; and his body was brought to Lynn, and buried from his picturesque residence, at the foot of High Rock.
Mr. Hood's wife was Hermione, a daughter of Aaron Breed. They were married on the 11th of September, 1833, and she survived him. They had thirteen children -Harriet M., George A., Adelaide M., Edwin E., Edwin, Julius S., Henrietta A., Henry, Caroline P., Aubrey, Ada H., Edward K., and Mary.
ALONZO LEWIS. - 1794-1861.
Mr. Lewis was born in Lynn, on the 28th of August, 1794, in a house which still stands on the north side of Boston street, in the vicinity of Water Hill, and was the son of Zachariah Lewis. His lineage is given on page 181 of this History.
As soon as he had arrived at a suitable age, he was put to the town school, and afterward became a pupil at Lynn Acad- emy. He evinced a strong desire to obtain something more than an ordinary education, and applied himself with such vigor and assiduity as gave sure presage of success. He never be- came a college graduate, but as early as his eighteenth year was qualified to teach a common school. At that age he took a school in Chester, N. H. There he remained but a short time, and then taught in Lynnfield. And it must have been about this period that the affecting episode occurred, which, as some of his friends have supposed, had a serious effect on all his after life ; and of which something will be said hereafter. In 1823, he was preceptor of the Academy, though he remained in that position but a short time. For twelve years he taught in the public schools of his native place, and appears to have had an ardent love for his vocation, deeply regretting the time when circumstances rendered it necessary that he should abandon it. With touching emphasis he says, "I commenced the profession
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of school teacher from the love of it, and devoted all my ener- gies to its advancement." One of his longest poems is entitled "The Schoolmaster ; " and many passages might be collected from it showing his full appreciation of the stern realities as well as high enjoyments attendant on the profession. He says :
I sing the Teacher's care, his daily pains,
The hope that lifts him and the task that chains ;
ยท His anxious toil to raise the gentle mind, His skill to clear the path for youth designed, His faithful watch o'er life's expanding ray,
To guide young Genius up Improvement's way.
And again :
The Teacher's lot is filled with pain and care Which but devoted hearts are fit to bear.
His rank and worth in freedom's cause are great,
Surpassed by few that bless the public state.
His is the task to fit the youthful mind For all the stations by its God designed.
After Mr. Lewis had closed his labors as a teacher, he chiefly followed the occupation of a surveyor and architect. From the skill and rapidity with which he could handle his instruments and make his calculations, and the neatness and accuracy of his plans, he soon became so noted that his services were much in requisition.
His judgment and good taste, also, particularly in the province of architectural embellishment, were conspicuous. Many charm- ing residences in their romantic nestling places among the hills and along the shores of Lynn, bear evidence of his accomplish- ments ; for, having an eye for the beautiful in art and nature, and a disciplined conception of harmony, he could not with patience behold the loveliness of the landscape marred by un- sightly structures, and hence was always ready to suggest and advise, and even to furnish plans, in instances where he knew the means of the recipients would not allow of their offering adequate pecuniary compensation.
Mr. Lewis was three times married ; or rather twice, for his second companion was an ostensible rather than real wife, and from her he was soon separated. His first wife was Frances Maria Swan, of Methuen, Mass., a woman of eminent virtues and rare social attractions. By her he had six children - Alonzo, T2* 35
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Frances Maria, Aurelius, Llewellyn, Arthur, and Lynnworth - and she died on the 27th of May, 1839. His other wife, whom he married on the 27th of August, 1855, was Annie Ilsley Han- son, of Portland, Me .; and by her he had two children - Ina and Ion- the former of whom died a few months before her father, and the latter, with its widowed mother still survives. She proved to him a faithful and affectionate companion, no difference of taste and association, arising from their disparity of age - he having been her senior by some thirty-six years - intervening to disturb their domestic tranquillity. The inter- mediate companion alluded to, went through the ceremony which he fondly believed was a valid marriage, in 1852, and which was thus announced in the newspapers : "Married, in Providence, R. I., by Rev. Henry Waterman, rector of St. Ste- phen's Church, Alonzo Lewis, the historian and poet of Lynn, Mass., to Miss Mary Gibson, of Boston, daughter of Rev. Willard Gibson, sometime of Windsor and Woodstock, Vt. We are in- formed that this is 'a veritable love-match in both parties; they were engaged at the first meeting, and the day of their nuptials was fixed at the second. The fair bride is the daughter of an Episcopal clergyman, and is an orphan, having lost both pa- rents - only seventeen, beautiful, talented, and accomplished. The age of Mr. Lewis is 56." It will be noticed that in this case also there was a great difference of age-thirty-nine years ; and the supposed bride seems not to have outgrown some of her girlish fancies. It soon, however, to his astonish- ment and her confusion, appeared that she had a former hus- band still living-a young man who, from some cause had withdrawn from her side. If she were not derelict in principle, she must have been extremely thoughtless to suppose that her mere separation from the first husband would have warranted her in so hastily and unceremoniously taking a second. It might, however, have been that she supposed he was not living, as there appeared to have been reports of his death. In dispo- sition she was lively, with a dash of the romantic, and had ac- quired some reputation as a writer in the department of light literature.
Mr. Lewis gained high commendation by his History of Lynn. And he was a poet as well as historian, for he produced many
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verses which, under critical analysis, were conceded to fully entitle him to the exalted name. But he was not a voluminous writer. The history embraced but about two hundred and fifty octavo pages; yet it was so condensed as to contain much more than its proportions would to appearance allow ; and unlike most works of the kind -indeed unlike most works of any kind - seemed in the mind of the reader as he proceeded to expand and shed more and more light. It has been said that historical works are always interesting. But there is an almost immeasurable difference in the degrees of interest. Mi- nute details often weary; and yet they often possess an un- speakable charm. Their success depends upon the judgment with which they are chosen and the skill with which they are introduced. Who has not perused, again and again, the fasci- nating fiction of Robinson Crusoe ? And who does not perceive that without its minute details its enchantment would not exist ? By an unskillful hand, the story might have been told in a man- ner that would have caused its rejection by the editor of a village newspaper. Mr. Lewis's details are never wearying. And he had the happy faculty of introducing reflections and illustrations that opened extensive fields of useful thought ; a faculty which is of inestimable value in any writer. And his poems, though collectively insufficient, by force of mere bulk, to compel men to admit his claim to be a poet, were yet so pure in morality, so refined in fancy, so apt in diction, that the intel- ligent and virtuous found in them much to delight and improve. Of course those sensation stanzas and crude effusions which he occasionally threw off for temporary purposes, and to which he had the unaccountable propensity to frequently attach his name, to the damage of his reputation, are not here taken into account, for they may be said not to have been produced by Mr. Lewis the poet, but by the every-day Mr. Lewis, who had a sudden impulse, with no time to think or elaborate.
Perhaps he indulged too much in contemplation to be prolific as a writer. The most contemplative are rarely industrious with the pen. Unless the words flow with almost miraculous freedom the task of writing wearies, and the mind soars from it as drudgery. Ambition to become famous is perhaps the strong- est incentive to what may be called the mechanical exertions of
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the literary devotee. And that Mr. Lewis possessed enough of this kind of ambition no one who was often in contact with him could for a moment doubt. But yet it was not sufficient to overcome the sterner drawbacks to his pen. Say what we may, the man of genius who is dependent on his daily toil for subsistence, often finds a heavy weight upon his fancy's wing; though he who is blest with independence may as often permit fancy to fold her wings in inglorious ease. It may, however, have been that he thought the little he did was enough to estab- lish his fame. And so it was, in a circumscribed and local sense. His memory will be cherished by the people of his native place in distant years. But what multitudes there are born in every community who have within them, qualities that might make them shine, as poets, indeed, but yet whose lamps are never lighted. As fervid fires have glowed in the heart of some plod- ding teamster, perhaps, as he traversed the glistening Beach which our friend so much loved to tread, as ever inspired a Byron. But the unlettered toiler never dreamed of perpetu- ating his ardent conceptions in a way that would enable others to rejoice in their light; never dreamed of applying his sturdy hand to the art of composition, an art which in truth requires the curbing of much of the airy freedom of thought, and which would bind by exacting rules.
On his History and Poems the fame of Mr. Lewis, as a writer, rests, though he wrote a good deal besides ; chiefly, however, on subjects that required little thought or investigation. Pieces of his appeared in the newspapers scattered over a period of more than thirty years ; but they were so exclusively directed to some special object of local interest or usefulness that they met with no general observation. And here again the bad habit of signing his name to effusions prepared hastily and perhaps under excitement, would often assert itself to his prejudice, re- ducing the value of a good name. It must be one of extraordi- nary power and readiness who can add to his reputation in any such loose way.
Mr. Lewis's celebrity as a writer, however unwilling we may be to concede it, remained rather local than general, notwith- standing his superior endowments. But this is perhaps attrib- utable to circumstances beyond his control; for we know the
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aspirations of genius are often governed by the stern demands of daily life. And one may occasionally detect, even in his better poems, passages that seem to have escaped without due atten- tion, inducing the impression that the labor had become wea- rying, and relief been sought, by the pleasant path of mere description, from the severer realms of thought. Nude descrip- tion, however, while it may interest friends and neighbors, and those to whom the scenes described are familiar and dear, can never attain the highest and most enduring fame. Gray's Elegy could not have interested Daniel Webster, in his dying hour, as it is said to have done, simply as a description of scenes at Stoke- Pogis. In the great thoughts, so serenely, so simply, so truth- fully expressed, lay the real power that charmed and soothed the noble spirit from whose sight all the beautiful things of earth were so rapidly fading. Yet the untaught villager, who home- ward plods his weary way athwart the glimmering landscape in that now hallowed vicinage, looking not beyond the mere de- scription, feels his heart stirred at the bare mention of things dear to him as incidents of his home. But when the poet takes his more extended course, ascending above mere description into regions glowing with thought, where mankind meet be- yond all local limits, he at once attracts the attention of those whose minds have been trained for the higher purposes of human life. Mr. Lewis was capable of ascending to that lofty region, and had he more often directed his flight thither would have secured a wider reputation. There are one or two desira- ble qualities, however, with which Mr. Lewis was not largely endowed. He had but little wit or humor - qualities so essen- tial to adorn and attract, and which can only be compensated for by the most eminent of the more dignified attributes. He had pathos but it was liable to manifest itself in such a form as to be mistaken for morbid sensibility.
After what has been said, it is proper to introduce a few selections from his poems, making choice of such as, on consid- erable reflection, are thought to convey the most clear idea of his general inclination of thought, his style, and execution ; having an eye, likewise, to the illustration of his varying moods. Other pieces, however, which appear in different parts of this volume - " The Frosted Trees," for instance, introduced
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under date 1829, will not be overlooked. The first five of the extracts that follow, are from longer pieces, the title-lines being supplied.
LOVER'S LEAP.
Delightful Rock! that towering fair and high, Like fancy's vision rises on the view ! How oft at eve, when gentle breezes sigh, And the sun sets from skies of cloudless blue, The youthful lover turns his steps to you, As anciently to famed Leucadia's shore !
While sweetest charms his joyful thoughts imbue,
As summer tints spread out their smiling store,
And winds through waving trees resound like ocean's roar. It is indeed a sweet romantic scene, As ever poet viewed at close of day !
The spreading forest, clad in richest green, The joyful birds that tune their evening lay, And sing their sonnets on the slender spray, The lofty cliff, most beautiful to see, Rising above the plain in bold array, The cheerful squirrel, chattering on the tree, That eats his food in peace, and chirps right merrily ! These, and a thousand beauties more, display Their varied charms to greet the raptured sight ; While far along the streamlet winds its way Through fertile fields, that glisten with delight, And clover plats, with flowers enamelled bright, That not a bee or butterfly will shun ; And in our view throngs many a mansion white,
And ploughman, journeying home, when day in done, And the bright windows blaze beneath the setting sun.
RELIGION - A COMPARISON.
High in the north, behold the Pole Star rise, Shining, like Virtue, through the darkened skies; While round its orb the faithful Pointers veer, And aid the seaman his lone bark to steer. So o'er the waves of this inconstant life, Above the storms of wo, and passion's strife, Religion's star with ceaseless lustre glows, To lead the pilgrim to his last repose ! While, by the tossing deep, with friendly hand, The faithful ministers of Jesus stand, Pointing aloft to that celestial ray, Which shines to light the darkness of our way !
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. - ALONZO LEWIS.
MAN'S CHANGES.
Man only changes. Man, the foe of man, Mars the bright work eternal Love began. Malignant passions in his bosom burn, And heaven's pure dews to noxious vapors turn. As desert fountains send their waters clear, To the bright flowers that on their banks appear, But through foul regions as they onward glide, Collect dark stains, and roll a turbid tide ; So gush pure thoughts in youth's extatic glow, Which sink in age to scenes of crime and wo.
MAN'S LIFE.
Our youth is fleeting as the fleecy cloud That sails across the summer moon! and oh ! How beautiful its prospects are ! - how proud The young heart beats !- how warm the currents flow. Ere the strong veins have felt the power of wo ! But soon dark clouds our smiling skies deform, And we are sad. Such is man's life below ! A few dark days, a few long nights of storm, A few bright summer suns, all beautiful and warm.
SUMMER RECREATION.
In the sweet grove's romantic shade, For dearest joys of nature made, With a clear streamlet running by, Whose mellowness relieves the eye, While from it pour upon the ear Such notes as poets love to hear, And all around, and overhead, Green leaves their soft refreshment shed,
How sweet to sit, in summer day, Far from the sunbeam's scorching ray, While not a fear can intervene To blight the beauty of the scene ; And there, beside the whispering brook, To pause o'er some delightful book.
ON THE SEA SHORE.
Aloug thy sandy margin, level Sea ! I wander with a feeling more sublime Than ever yet hath blest my heart, since Time Unfolded Nature's glorious pageantry ! And in deep silence while I gaze on thee, Thou living picture of a mighty mind !
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The joys of hope and memory combined Send their soft raptures through my thrilling heart. The kindred scene recalls the memory Of friends with whom it was a pain to part, Of dear and early hours -then, with a start, As the wave ripples on the moonlit shore, I think of that high world, where Pain shall dart Her arrows through my heart and veins no more! -
STORM AT NAHANT.
Call up the Spirit of the ocean wave, And bid him rouse the storm! The billows roar And dash their angry surges on the shore ! Around the craggy cliffs the waters rave, And foam and welter on the trembling beach ! The plovers cry, and the hoarse curlews screech, As, borne along by the relentless storm, With turned-up wings they strive against the wind The storm-tost ship can no sure haven find, But black-browed Death, in his most horrid form, Strides o'er the wave and bars her destined way. The wild winds in her shrouds their revels keep ! And while the sailors seek the sheltering bay, Their last cry mingles with the roaring deep. - THE EVENING BELL.
How sweet and solemn is the sound, From yonder lonely tower, That sends its deep-toned music round At twilight's holy hour !
When every sound of day is mute, And all its voices still, And silence walks with velvet foot, O'er valley, town, and hill.
When every passion is at rest, And every tumult fled, And through the warm and tranquil breast The charm of peace is spread.
O, then how sweet the solemn bell, That tolls to evening prayer ! While each vibration seems to tell That thou, O God, art there !
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. - ALONZO LEWIS.
SONG.
O Love ! thou art a joyous thing, In this cold world of ours ! And yet how oft thy wayward wing Leaves thorns instead of flowers !
Thy rosy path is glowing bright, With gems of heaven bestrewn ; Yet thou canst mingle in thy might, The dreaded thunder stone.
Earth were indeed a cheerless place, Without thy soul-like smile ; And thou hast that in thy bright face Which can all ills beguile.
The cold in heart may blame thy truth, The void of soul may frown - The proud may seek to fetter youth, And crush its feelings down -
Yet still thou art the sweetest one Of all the cherub train, Whose task is given beneath the sun To soothe the heart of pain.
The foregoing specimens afford sufficient means whereby the reader may judge of the poetic talents of Mr. Lewis. When he set himself seriously at work he produced verses compact and polished. He was then rigidly artistic, fervor nor passion get- ting the better of settled rule. And his best poems bear the strongest evidence of the most elaborate preparation, affording further evidence that labor and patience bestowed on composi- tion are not wasted. In no case, excepting where extraordinary genius leads the way, is it safe to trust to mere emotionary flights. I think Dr. Channing somewhere advises young min- isters or writers to think deeply and then write rapidly. That he himself thought deeply is evinced by the light that glows on every page; and he no doubt wrote rapidly ; but as to what followed, let the printers of his generation come up as witnesses. His manuscript was interlined and re-interlined in such an extra- ordinary manner that it was almost beyond the power o. nan to decipher. And after it was in print, he made appalling havoc U2
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on the proof sheets. There were occasions when the proofs came from the Doctor's hand so much disfigured by alterations that the distressed printer found it most economical at once to distribute the types and re-set them. And when he examined even a second or third proof, numerous changes continued to be made in words and the collocation of sentences. But it was, without doubt, to this excessive polishing that his fame for elegance of composition was in a great degree attributable. His ideas were probably as fully expressed in the first instance ; but much of the magic effect flowed from the after marshalling of the expressions. Prescott, if I mistake not, somewhere says that in the final labor upon his works, he examined them sen- tence by sentence, to see if any improvement could be made. A beautiful lady is a sweet object in almost any garb; but when she appears handsomely and becomingly clad, is most admired. And so of other things.
There is seldom any thing startling or vivid found in the poems of Mr. Lewis. But his descriptions are animated, his expressions melodious, his rhymes good. There is a delightful freshness about many of his illustrations ; an enduring value in his inculcations of purity and benevolence ; a touching languor in his pensiveness ; a charming earnestness in his faith. It has sometimes occurred to me that the severe criticism which ap- peared in the Cambridge Review, in 1831, had a serious effect on him, and was the occasion of his being virtually driven from a field he was so well fitted to adorn. No doubt that unfortu- nate paper was conceived rather in a spirit of heedless sport than malevolence. And had the writer seen the effect of his indiscretion that I saw, he certainly would have deeply re- gretted that he had not chosen some less sensitive subject to exercise his youthful satire upon. But had Mr. Lewis possessed the spirit and rosolution of a Byron, he might have put his assailant to open shame, and turned the occurrence to the ben- efit of both.
Of Mr. Lewis's prose writings nothing need be said in this connection. His entire history is embodied in the pages of this volume ; and his matter is so designated that it can be readily distinguished.
He was for some time a newspaper editor; but in that
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capacity was not particularly successful, though he really made a useful and interesting sheet. Toward opponents he was inclined to manifest acerbity, and was, withal, a little egotis- tical. A certain amount of egotism really seems to set becom- ingly on some people, and is useful to them, if accompanied by good nature and employed with discretion; but as ex- ercised by Mr. Lewis it can hardly be said to have much improved him.
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