USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Orange > History of North Orange, Massachusetts : including leading events from the first organization of Orange, 1781-1924. > Part 6
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and the side porch of the original buikling removed. The chapel bell was pre- sented by Zina H. Goodell, who was superintendent of the Sunday school at that time. A $125 cabinet organ was the gift of Miss M. L. Corliss, daughter of the inventor of the Corliss engine.
Rev. George W. Judson of Orange Congregational church succeeded Mr. Richardson, and Rev. J. N. Shipman of Athol Baptist church supplied for a time; in 1899 Rev. William Harris of Truro supplied for a time, and in August, 1900, it was voted to hire four ministers for a year, to supply alternately, namely, Rev. Rolla G. Bugbee of Athol, Revs. Christopher Collier and Daniel Moore of Orange, and the pastor of the Methodist church at Athol.
Pastors from Warwick, Athol and Orange were engaged to supply at the chapel as they could be engaged, from this time until June, 1914, when the church decided to co-operate with the Baptist church of Royalston in hiring a student from Newton Theological seminary, to supply their pulpits.
The later pastors have been Rev. D. W. Lyman, Rev. D. H. Woodward, Rev. Thomas Kinney, Rev. C. S. Nightingale, Rev. John Graham, Rev. Harvey H. Paine, Rev. John Wriston, Rev. John Forrest; and the student pastors from Newton, Mr. Harold W. Curtis of Belchertown, Massachusetts, Mr. Ross R. Eaton of Nova Scotia, and at present Mr. Gordon G. Ward of Gainesville, Ga.
During the pastorate of Rev. H. H. Paine the chapel was replastered and for four Sundays services were held under the trees opposite the church on Miss Blodgett's property.
BRANCHING OUT
In 1915, the annex was built. The Ladies' Aid society by their industry and labor raised the money, $300, required to build the annex. Some of the men gave their day's work. The new room is used for a dining room and place for socials. A kitchen has since been completed beneath the dining room. The Ladies' Aid recently planned the purchase of a new piano, the men of the church to pay half and the ladies half.
The loving labors that go to maintain the temples of the living God and the life of organized Christian worship, will do more than warfare to establish peace, righteousness and prosperity on earth. It is for us to give ourselves to the propagation and upbuilding of such work as the churches are engaged in with a spirit and an effort commensurate with that of our fathers. It is after all mainly by the quiet, earnest, faithful work that has built and maintained Chris- tian worship and Christian character that the everlasting kingdom of the Prince of Peace is to come.
Rev. H. W. Curtis. August 9, 1917
With pleasure and pardonable pride, Orange watched the growth of her offspring. As years passed and the daughter in the southern part grew con- siderably larger, the word North was more and more often affixed to Orange when speaking of the northern part of the town and in 1845 the parent town was definitely named North Orange and the daughter in the south took the parent's name, Orange.
NORTH ORANGE
Beautiful for situation is North Orange, encircled by hills which
"God hath made the haunt of beauty, The home elect of His grace. He spreadeth His mornings on them His sunsets light their face."
The hills of Richmond, Royalston, Petersham, Athol and Warwick form an
TWENTY-NINE
THE FLAGG HOUSE
inner circle while from Monadnock through the Wataties, Wachusett and the wavy lines of the Holyoke range sweeps a more distant girdle of uplifted summits. North Orange is truly a hill town having Flagg's and Temple hills in the north, Beech hill, Pitts hill and Pine hill in the west. To the south is West hill with its "Sentinel Elm." To the east are Tully and Little Tully, between which are two ponds,-Tully pond and Paekard pond. Most of the hills are of consider- ahle elevation and each commands a pleasing prospect both near and distant, but Tully rising mound-like from level ground, presents a marked contrast to the sharp ridges of the other hills and is the most picturesque objeet in the landseape. Between the hills lie grassy intervales and meadows. From the character of the land called in early days "The Plains,"* we judge that the early settlers so named it, not with our idea of level lands in general, but with the more restricted meaning with which they used the word "Plains," applying that term to well-defined tracts that had "some peeuliarity of soil and eondi- tion, were nearly free from trees and could be readily cultivated." Tully brook and West brook are the two largest streams; these with Cheney brook, and many smaller brooks add to the beauty of the seenery.
North Orange has always been a farming town, the farms comprising arable land, mowing and meadow for hay-making, pasture for grazing and woodland. The arable land responds to proper tillage, with good crops of grain, fruits and vegetables. Nathan Goddard, Sylvanus Ward "who never did anything by halves" and whose large farm ineluded several oeeupied by others in more recent times, Hananiah Temple, Zina Goodell, Alexander Wheeloek, Ebenezer Cheney, James Mills near the Nathaniel Cheney farm, Joseph Metealf, Benjamin Dexter and Elijah Ball were some of those who carried on the most extensive farms
in early days. Of Captain Ebenezer Goddard, Mr. Albee Smith writes, "he was the best and most thorough farmer in Orange; nothing was negleeted nor left undone, not a rod of fenee nora thing on the farin was out of order when we moved on to the place in 1851 ; doors, bar-ways, apple trees, sugar spouts, buekets and tubs, to the most trivial detail, were in readiness for immediate use." Captain Goddard built his house from bricks made from a elay pit on the side hill east of the house and extending down to the brook. "Every rain would wash this elay into the brook and in a very few minutes the water would look like milk."
Corn, rye, oats, and wheat were onee the leading erops with peas, beans, barley, buckwheat and hops in smaller quantities. At present special attention is given to the cultivation of apples, strawberries and raspberries which with blueberries from Nature's garden find a ready market. The thrifty young apple orchards recently planted by Mr. Haley and Harold Lawrenee speak well not only for the fruit-growing qualities of the soil, but for the enterprise of the planters as well.
Among the native trees are the pine, henilock, spruce, cedar, willow, poplar, walnut, hickory, birch, hornbeam, beech, chestnut, oak, elm, cherry, maple and basswood. The original forest growth was cleared away many years ago, but by reason of a soil particularly adapted to the growth of timber trees, North Orange hills were again clad with the verdure of fine forests, many of which have been cut to appease the demands for lumber and other wood products.
Seldom do we see now a sugar orchard. More often we see a row of maple trees by the highway or defining some portion of a farm. It was a pleasant eustom of early days to thus mark the boundary of road or farm section. In these lines of maples stand veteran trees bearing scars of generous service in the springtime sweetening of humanity.
When speaking of the grace, beauty and romanee of North Orange elms, there comes to mind first the "Signal Elm" or as it has been called in more recent years, the "Sentinel Elm" whose destruction would hring to many a sense of personal loss. From old times comes down the story of an elm that grew from a riding stick. In those carriageless days long since when everyone traveled on horseback, "John Ellis, grandfather of Seth Ellis, while conversing with a neighbor, stuek his 'whip stick,' (a branch from an elm tree,) into the ground. Left there, the branch took root, flourished and developed into the large tree that once stood near the south-west eorner of Goddard Park."* For many years the "Ellis Elm" added its charm to the landscape, but weakened by storm and wind, it at last suceumbed to the elements some years ago.
Rarely, beside the road or in an old yard, we find mulberry trees bearing fruit rather unpalatable to humans, but especially attractive to birds. These half-wild trees so evidently strangers to the native trees exeite our curiosity as to how they came here. Some that stood on the Oliver Ward place, a little south of the present Overview, were eut down not long ago. Were they survivors of the eraze over silk enlture that followed the effort of our National Congress to establish the culture of silk on a firm basis? National attention to the raising of silk-worms enlisted general attention in 1835. "Thousands of individuals," says L. H. Bailey, purchased mulberry cuttings and planted many acres of valuable land," the leaves of the mulberry being the preferable food of the silk-worm. "For a time there was the wildest speculation in the setting and planting of mulberry trees and in the raising of silkworms," but "the bubble soon burst," as far as Massachusetts was concerned for heavy freezes destroyed the mulberry plantations, thus removing the first requisite in the eulture of ยท * Told to Mr. Albee Smith by his grandmother, Mrs. Sylvanus Ward.
* Tully.
THIRTY
THE JOHNSON PLACE
silk-worms, -- an ample supply of foliage. In a few years the excitement died away and silk culture in New England was practically abandoned. When the State of Massachusetts offered a bounty of fifteen cents a pound on the cocoons and fifty cents a pound on the reeled silk, some Franklin county people were induced to engage in the industry. It is known that in 1843, Asa Moore of North Orange kept silkworms and the occasional presence of mulberry trees in North Orange, suggests the question, how many other farmers here exper- imented in silk culture.
Schools
North Orange "heeds no skeptic's hands, While near her school the church-spire stands; Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule, While near her church-spire stands the school."
The old turnpike still rises and falls over the hills between Athol and Warwick and beside it stand meeting house, school-house and oldtime houses- memorials of the energy of the stout-hearted men who with church and school, laid the foundation of North Orange. The early settlers had been trained in "love of liberty, respect for the laws, habits of industry and the practice of the moral and religious obligations." Clear-minded they visioned the future and saw that, as Governor Lincoln said nearly fifty years later, "a government founded on the popular will and resting exclusively for support upon public opinion, can be maintained no longer than the people are able to comprehend their rights and are enlightened in the proper manner of their adoption." For such enlightenment education was necessary and prompt measures were taken for the education of the youth of the district.
"There is no reason to doubt," wrote Mr. Samuel Dexter, "that a school was opened on the street before 1750 and at least two others, one in the valley northwest of Tully Mountain and one about one fourth of a mile west of the Sylvester Davis residence, previous to 1780." The first publie provision for schools was made in 1784 when 30 pounds were raised for "schooling." In 1785 the sum of 50 pounds was voted for the same purpose. In March, 1786, a
committee chosen to report the best method to be followed in providing schools, recommended "that each school ward build them a school-house at their own cost," and at a legal meeting 1787, there were appointed to carry on the con- struetion of five school-houses, various men, from three to five being assigned to each of the five wards. By another vote 15 men, three from each ward, were appointed to provide teachers for the schools. At a meeting in 1799, April 1, (meeting adjourned from the March meeting,) it was voted to raise $1000 for building and repairing school-houses. That there had been redistricting between 1789 and 1799, is shown by the appointment of men from each of seven districts as a committee for the building and repair of school-houses. At the same meeting there was appointed a visiting school committee,-Dr. Gilbert, Joseph Procter and William Cheney; also a committee of seven men, one from each district, to procure teachers.
The hopeful beginnings in education developed steadily, schools flourished and attendance was largely increased in the thirties of the last century. The late Mrs. Ballou's comment on the families of that period, namely that "some families had a regiment of children and others, a company," easily accounting for this increase. Summer school was taught by a woman; winter school, by a man and woe be unto him who in stature and strength did not satisfy the first day's serutiny of the students. In such a ease, North Orange schools, following the custom of other rural districts, sometimes "threw out" the teacher appointed for the winter term. This was especially true of one district, but, said a neighbor with voice and manner expressive of pride, "Philbrook Worrick was never thrown out when he taught there." Of Wales Cheney she said, "He taught ten winters in one district and there was never any fuss there." When Percival Blodgett died in 1839, it was written of him "He was one of those we meet with as rarely as the precious gem that glistens in the sunbeam." Lack of space forbids the pleasure of naming all the teachers of high moral standards, who gave faithful service, inculcating first of all, obedience, respect for authority, that first step towards the law-abiding citizenship that has always characterized North Orange. Far more easy would it be to name North Orange inhabitants who have not taught, for nearly every son and daughter of the place has taught school at one time or another.
As years passed, public educators found in the district school system sources of evil which they thought could be removed only by abolishing the system and in the spring of 1859 the Massachusetts Legislature abolished this time-honored institution, only to restore it in the fall of the same year. Again abolished in 1869, it was partially restored the next year on the petition of a few towns. An institution that had found favor with the people since 1789 was hard to kill and it was not until 1883 that the district school system was finally abolished and schools restored to the care of the town subject to the laws of the state. The Legislative Act of 1869 permitting towns at public expense to convey children to and from public schools enabled the school committee to merge small schools into large ones, but the first step was taken in the Act of 1850, instructing towns how to dispose of their school-houses if they abolished the districts and it was with real sorrow that we saw one after another of the small school-houses sold and removed until at present, but two school-houses,-one on the street and one in Tully, remain.
Grant the charges brought against the little red school-houses,-that they were undesirably located, each one close beside the road, that they were small, poorly ventilated, uncomfortable, but grant also that these little red school- houses are rich in precious memories; that they were "the nurseries of New England's greatness"; that in the little red school-houses of this village were developed those trustworthy people who in the north, south, east and west have
THIRTY-ONE
THE BLODGETT HOME
THE HARRINGTON PLACE
HOME
By NANCY BYRD TURNER
I want to have a little house With sunlight on the floor, A chimney with a rosy hearth, And lilacs by the door;
With windows looking east and west. And a crooked apple tree, And room beside the garden fence For hollyhocks to be.
Oh, all my life I've wandered round, But the heart is quick at knowing Its own roof and its own bush And its own boughs blowing.
And when I find that little house- At noon or dusk or dawn- I'll walk right in and light the fire And put the kettle on!
Lary
LENE
THE GOODELL PLACE BUILT IN 1790
THIRTY-TWO
shared the world's work and who, in business, in teaching, in the medical profes- sion, in law, in the ministry, in patriotic service of whatever kind, have accounted worthily for the existence of North Orange while ever in their hearts they have kept burning the flame of love for their native town and its little red school-houses -potent factor in shaping their lives.
The little red school-house in Blissville which was sold for $13 in 1908, was not the first one in that locality. The first one stood a little farther north, just the other side of the bridge. It was probably the one alluded to by Mr. Dexter as the one established northwest of Tully mountain before 1780. This building was lost to sight and memory long ago, but Mr. Albee Smith says in his reminis- cences, that the big timber sills of the school-house were still on the old ground in 1858 and holes had been made in them for salt. Stephen Ward used to fill these holes with salt for his sheep, "sheep occupying a place in his heart next to his children and next to his sheep stood the pair of big oxen which he always kept."
THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE AT BLISSVILLE WHERE THE THREE R'S WERE RELIGIOUSLY TAUGHT
L
The second school-house in the north district was built on land given by Mrs. Humphrey Smith; this land was originally a part of the farm of her father, Sylvanus Ward. It is of this second school-house that Mr. Albee Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey Smith, wrote the following interesting article in 1909.
"The boyhood'sschool district is the one particular locality-the one picture painted on the memory, which never fades, never grows dim, but grows clearer and brighter as the years go by; no seenery is half so attractive, half so fine as that of one's early home country-he carries it with him, looks at it often and long,-all that made up the world at one time to him, clusters about this picture, he never tires of it, is always proud of it, loves it and will carry it to his grave. It is allowable, I believe, for every member of a college class to think his class the best class of the seven with which it associated and every college man is of the opinion that his Alma Mater is the best college institution for a student to attend, of all the universities in the country.
One of the first impressions that I received of a quasi general character was that the school district of Orange known as Number Five to which I belonged, was the best distriet, contained the best scholars, and best teachers of any district of the town, -an hallucination no doubt, but a pardonable one in a boy of the age I was when our school committee used to tell us on their periodical visits that our district was proud of its record and it depended upon us, then pupils, whether it was to remain the best in the town or lose its proud place in the ranks, because of our shortcomings; well,-these may have been only fish stories, but children, you know implicitly believe everything that is told them-as a rule. Be that as it may, I am not to speak for other districts of the town, nor tomake any
invidious comparisons but as a sort of a representative of that body of men and women which made up this school district from 1849 to 1858-nine years.
During these nine years of which I speak this district was composed of families of the following men: John Flagg, Lemuel Goddard, Mason Goddard, Milton Bliss, Charles Goddard, Calvin Woodward, Humphrey Smith, Israel Lamb, the widow of Artemus Collar, Stephen Ward, Joseph Putnam, Rev. Levi Ballou, Seth Ellis and Abraham Harrington; temporarily the families of Simon Harrington; Edward Goddard, Mr. Kneeland, Mr. Cleveland, Charles God- dard and Otis Brooks also resided in this district. All these gentlemen and their wives and many of their children have gone to their rest; of them all-young and old-who were residents of this district during this time, the only one now living in the district in Nelson Harrington.
During my second winter there, the winter 1850 and 1851, as nearly as I can count them, there were thirty-nine pupilsin attendance-quite in contrast to the present showing,-yet the little red school-house by the bridge is still there just as it used to be,-how well do I recall its white trimmings, its board blinds, its open curb top wood shed, and the high stone step at the door,-how well the beech tree, the little clump of hazel bushes-that never bore any fruit-and the apple tree that Augustus Bliss eut down, - the cool spring by the big broken rock under the maples-the wide, pond-like pool of water in the brook under and below the bridge-the steep hill where we used to slide down in winter, - the ball gounds where we played ball in summer and the three cornered "goal" composed of a stone wall on one line of the angle and a fence rail for each of the other two that the boys and girls used in playing that exciting game of " Pengoal" .- I recall as yesterday seeing Harwood Proctor-about six feet tall and not over heavy, standing grinning and regretful, in the middle of the road in front of the school- house, while four angry girls were reading him a lecture for having steered the large sled upon which they were all seated, over the bank wall into a big snow bank in the meadow; if Harwood was not sorry for what he had done, he appeared to be,-and if the girls were not teeming with rage their expressions of face and language were deceptive; if my memory serves ine correctly those four girls were Eunice and Mary Flagg, Emily Goddard and Esther Harrington. I remember too, the "spelling" and "speaking" schools we used to have in winter-they chose sides and spelled down: all were chosen to spell but the best spel ers of course, were chosen first,-I have a painful recollection that I was the last or the last but one chosen and invariably one of the first to sit down-but we had some good spellers there, and I could name them, but having indicated the poorest one, will let it go at that; there were two or three pupils who could not be spelled down by the use the North American Spelling book in use at that time: on one occasion the party giving out the words became discouraged and put out the word, pronounced "rockalore" but spelled "roquelaure:" of course the speller dropped. On another occasion the word gneiss was made use of with the same result : pupils from adjoining districts used to attend these spelling schools; I well recall Joseph Gillson from Warwick-he was one, too, who couldn't be spelled down only by such a method as mentioned above. At these meetings funny pieces and dialogues were recited, sometimes in a sort of costume; on one occasion a small youth came in from the entry wearing a long swayback sword to give him a more fierce appearance, the sword was longer than he was; that young boy afterwards became a soldier in '63 and gave up his life to preserve, for you and ine, our common country. I remember Francis Temple reciting a piece evidently written to show the irregular features of our language-in it words ending in "ough" frequently appeared, and all were pronounced by him as in the word "though." One of the expressions was "the meat was very too" and "the path was very roe"-another recited the song of the pump handle; I have
THIRTY-THREE
THE TULLY SCHOOL
heard how "Spartacus stepped forth and thus addressed them," and how poor old Berardo Delcarpio wailed at the sight of the glassy eyes of his dead father, and Daniel Webster tell of the glories of Massachusetts, in that little red school- house in bursts of eloquence that would make those gentlemen blush if they were ever to be supposed to have themselves thus orated.
Up to the time U. P. Smith taught the school it was the custom for the boys to bring their caps into the school room and it was quite a nuisance; he put up some nails in the entry and pasted a letter at each one and each boy chose his letter, a few of those letters were still there as he placed them, when I last visited this school-house in 1883. He made and put up the wooden blackboard which was also there in 1883.
It was about 1856 that the district came to own any personal property. They provided at that time Webster's dictionary-it was new and carefully covered with heavy light brown or yellow wrapping paper,-the temptation to write on it was too strong for Augustus Bliss-and he wrote in large letters on the front lid "Daniel Webster's Dictionary." Abby Ward, the teacher, seeing it and recognizing the penmanship, took Augustus to task for it and ended her remarks by saying, "It isn't Daniel Webster, but Noah Webster, who is theauthor." It was a great surprise to me to learn this, for I had never heard of Noah Webster, but Daniel Webster's name was a household word at that time and place, and I supposed he was the author of this work. I was glad not to have exposed my ignorance.
In those days it was the custom to have some pupil point out from an atlas or drawing on the blackboard the states and their capitals, beginning with Maine, the scholars in a concert pronouncing cach state and its capital twice; it fixed in their minds the state, the New England, Middle, Southern and West- ern States and their capitals, and it was of great value to them. One time the teacher had each pupil who had reached "Geography" draw a map of some one state; these, when done, were placed upon this long wooden blackboard, in their proper place; the state of Maine with its ragged boundary fell to a youth who drew it on a large sheet of blue writing paper; when the teacher put it upon the board with the rest, he had placed it bottom side up, the boy discovered it, which no one else could have done, and called attention to the mistake-to the
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