USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 28
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One of the first donations received for the library by one other than the donor was a check for one hundred dollars from Mr. Alvin Lothrop of South Acton and Washington, D. C. to be expended in the purchase of a suitable clock. With it was purchased the fine hall clock that has marked the passing hours ever since. At about the same time friends of Mr. Wilde in Malden had a life sized crayon portrait made by William T. Robinson and this has constantly hung in a prominent place in the reading room.
While not a gift in the ordinary sense Mr. Moses Taylor showed his interest and generosity by assuming the expense of moving the Fletcher buildings and clearing the land upon which the library stands. He also donated two swords, one carried by his grandfather at the battle of Bennington and the other by Silas Jones at South Boston in 1812. Edwin J. Piper and brother of Springfield, Mass. sent the drum and sword originally belonging to Major Josiah Piper of Acton. Silas Hosmer presented a paper cutter made from wood from the timbers of the Old North Bridge. At about this time also Mr. Wilde donated a fine stain proof engraving of General U. S. Grant.
In 1891 Mr. Moses Taylor gave a picture of Libby Prison as it ap- peared in Richmond in 1863. The portrait of General George B. McClellan came from Mr. Wilde as did also the fine steel engraving entitled "The Last Cartridge" which represents an episode in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. On the evening of April 20th, 1891 Mr. Wilde in the town hall presented the Isaac Davis Post G. A. R.,
1 Town report of March, 1891, gives itemized account.
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the members of which were in attendance in large numbers, an artists proof engraving of Bachelder's picture of the Battle of Gettysburg, at the time of Longstreet's assault, July 3, 1863, to be placed in Memorial Hall of the Library. At the same time the swords of Capt. Aaron C. Handley were presented.
In the summer of 1893 Mr. Wilde and his family toured Europe and on their return he presented to the library the beautiful copy of the famous "The Holy Family" by Andrae del Sarto. Also at about this same time Mr. Wilde showed his continued generosity by donating the rare Italian oil painting of Columbus pleading his cause in the convent of La Rabida and also the marble bust "Meditation" bought by him while in Pisa. The bust is the work of one of the most prominent Italian sculptors, E. Marini, of Rome. It was placed in position in Memorial Hall by Mr. Wilde in person.
There was also given at this time a lock of hair taken from the head of James Hayward when his remains were removed from the old cemetery in 1851 and placed under the Davis Monument, after having been in the grave seventy six years. The presentation was made by Mrs. Agusta P. Parker and Porter Woodbury, children of James Woodbury. The lock of hair was initially placed in the library vault but was shortly afterward properly mounted and put on per- petual exhibition, where it is at present, apparently in as good condition as on the day of the burial a century and three quarters ago.
Other Woodbury relics, which came from Mrs. Augusta Parker, included
(a) The shoe buckles which were worn by Capt. Isaac Davis when he fell at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775.
(b) A large ancient volume, printed in England not later than 1740, called "A BODY OF DIVINITY". It was the property of Rev. John Swift the father of the Rev. John Swift who was Acton's first minister. It was afterward owned by Rev. Moses Adams and was the property of Rev. Woodbury at the time of his death.
(c) The original manuscript of the sermon preached at the laying of the cornerstone of the present Congregational church.
(d) The dedication sermon of the same.
(e) The speech of Rev. James T. Woodbury in the legislature pleading for the monument together with other papers.
In February of 1893 Hon. Stevens Hayward, who had represented both the town and the district in the House and the Senate, and who lived in the imposing colonial mansion which stood just a few rods
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westerly from the monument,1 presented to the town the Hayward powder horn bearing the inscription
"James Hayward of Acton was killed at Lexington on the 19th of April, 1775, by a ball which passed through his powder horn into his body".
The relic was placed in the memorial case by Hon. Edward Everett.
On the same day Mr. William D. Tuttle, town clerk from 1854 to 1896, deposited the first communion service of the original church in Acton, whose meeting house was built during the years 1736-38; also three brittania goblets, one brittania platter, and two tankards; also a baptismal font, the gift of John and Mary Hunt in 1738; also a later service consisting of two brittania tankards and one large brittania platter ; and in addition three silver goblets with two handles each, presented by Col. John Cuming to the church in Christ in Acton in 1774.
To itemize the gifts in detail by dates is too large a project to be undertaken here but through the years the library has been fortunate to receive a cap formerly worn by the Davis Blues, presented by Supt. Joseplı Scott of the Massachusetts Reformatory, a marble statue "Industry" donated by Mr. Wilde, from Dr. Wetherbee of Cambridge a photograph of the Acton Company that represented the town at the one hundredth anniversary of Concord Fight at Concord, grouped about the minute man statue on the battleground, a painting by Mr. Arthur Davis, donated by Mr. Luther Conant depicting the departure of Co. E., 6th Massachusetts Regiment in 1861, marble statues of Lincoln and Washington by the American sculptor Thomas Ball, a full set of the official records of the Civil War, both Federal and Confederate, one hundred and two volumes, from the widow of Col. W. H. Chapman the swords and revolvers belonging to her husband together with some rifles captured from the Confederates, a pair of cuff links worn by Solomon Smith at Concord Fight from the estate of Luke Smith, a crayon portrait of Mehitable Piper presented by her grandson Edwin J. Piper of Springfield, from the estate of Mrs. M. E. A. Williams of East Acton a bronze statuete of Sir Isaac Newton, from the estate of Miss Bessie Ball, a former school teacher and resident, a large oil painting of the Ball Pencil Factory in East Acton owned by her father, from Mrs. S. T. Fletcher two photographs of two of Acton's early citizens, Rev. James Fletcher and Doc. Charles Little, from Mrs. Walter Taylor a colored engraving of the old camp of the 6th Regiment near Suffolk, Va. where the Acton company
1 At the turn of the century this imposing edifice, with two enormous horse- chestnut trees in the foreground, was one of the imposing landmarks on the Common. It was richly furnished with huge oil paintings and tapestries and was for the last decade of its existence used as a summer home by Mrs. Elizabeth Blood and Dr. Louis Allen and his sisters. The front of the house and the trees are visible in the frontispiece.
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was stationed, an inlaid gavel and case composed of one hundred and eighty nine pieces of historic wood made and presented to the town by Henry D. Scarlet who lived in Acton for twenty nine years, together with numerous other documents and mementoes of the town and those in some way associated with it.
On December 13, 1889 Acton had an unusual educational ex- perience in that it played host for a Teacher's Institute. The school committees and teachers of the towns of Acton, Concord, Maynard, Carlisle, Sudbury, Stow, Boxborough, and Littleton met in the High School room at South Acton for a conclave which was unique. The seventy five persons present were intensely interested in the program provided by the State Board of Education. There was an address by Secretary Dickerson upon the principles of teaching; another by Superintendent Aldrich of Putney, Mass.1 on the teaching of arith- metic; another by Arthur C. Boyden of the Bridgewater Normal School on physiology; another by Superintendent E. H. Davis of Chelsea, a native of Acton, on primary reading; and one on drawing by Henry T. Bailey, State Agent. A bountiful repast was served by the ladies of the village in the Universalist vestry.
It was in this same year that the state passed two laws that had large influence upon the towns throughout the commonwealth. The first was the compulsory school attendance statute2 which made it im- cumbent upon every person having under his or her control a child between the ages of eight and fourteen to see to it that the child should attend some public day school for at least thirty weeks a year.
The second statute specified that in all public schools of the state the last regular session prior to Memorial Day should be devoted to excercises of a patriotic nature. So long as the veterans of the Grand Army were able to do so it was the custom for some soldier in uniform to visit the school during the afternoon and discuss the experiences or the lessons of the Civil War. Those were days of peace. The youngsters regarded anyone who had seen actual conflict as an amazing personality and hence these blue clad veterans were looked upon with awe and heard with an avid interest. To an Acton boy or girl of that era Richmond, Vicksburg, Atlanta and New Orleans, were places on the map that one learned but they were quite beyond the limits of where one would ever go. America had not then begun to roll on rubber tires.
It was in this year also (1889) that Mrs. Harriet Gardner, one of Acton's most beloved and successful teachers, began her career. The town has been fortunate over and over again in the calibre of its
1 Town report of March, 1890, page 38. The statement that Mr. Aldrich was from Putney, Mass. is a misprint. There is no such town in the state. Putney, Vt. is a possibility.
2 Town report for March, 1891, page 42 gives both acts in detail.
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school personnel but Mrs. Gardner belongs to a small group of five women who not only were endowed with the temperament, the human- istic attitude, and the infinite patience necessary for distinctive success in their calling, but who, in addition resided in Acton throughout their entire teaching career.
Chronologically the first of the group was Miss Susie Wetherbee who taught at the East School from 1879 to 1891.1 Lest some feel inclined to think lightly of a service span of twelve years let it be remembered that this was a one room school having all the grades. Furthermore in that day it was unusual for any teacher, regardless of sex, to stay long in any position. Discipline was terribly difficult. Some of the scholars were disinterested, mature boys and girls who were three or more years behind their normal age group. Not in- frequently, as has been pointed out previously, a few weeks, or even a day or two, was the limit of the teacher's endurance. Several changes each term was regarded as customary in certain schools. That any person should remain a fixture for twelve years was not merely remarkable - it was a major miracle. Miss Wetherbee is described by some of her pupils still living as a woman of ordinary stature and vitality. What success she had was due to her competence, inspiring teaching, and superlative personality.
Next came Mrs. Gardner. She received her education at Ayer and first taught in Acton, as Miss Harriet Freeman, in the fall term of 1879. Ten years later, having married in the meantime, she re- assumed her duties at the West Primary and continued for thirty eight years as teacher, counselor, nurse, and foster mother for a thousand or more of the children of the village. She eventually became an institution - a sort of superlative by which all others might be judged. She was librarian of the Citizen's Library from 1903 to 1921 and was very active in the religious and social work of the Universalist Church. Despite her limited means she did a deal of good for many of the needy children of the community. She was a lover of nature and for that reason a spruce tree planted on the plot of ground near the depot was one time dedicated in her memory.
The Centre was fortunate in having two such outstanding and cap- abel public servants in the personages of Miss Ella L. Miller and Miss Martha F. Smith. The former trained at Framingham Normal, started at the North School in 1896, and subsequently came to the Centre Intermediate. She was eventually transferred to the Grammar department where she remained until the illness of her parents made it necessary that in June of 1926 she resign to care for them as full time housekeeper and nurse. Because of her ample stature and
1 Not to be confused with the woman of the same name who became Mrs. Delette H. Hall in 1867.
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strength she was a completely competent disciplinarian, as numerous youths inclined to rough and tumble tactics precipitately discovered. But this was only a minor phase of her character. The better scholars were enthusiastic about her and even the obstreperous realized, by the time they arrived at maturity, that the days spent under her guidance were among the most profitable in their lives. By that time they had begun to see something of the great good heart and enduring interest that lay behing her insistence upon attention and sincere effort. All through her teaching career she kept an up-to-date record of her total enrollment and could report immediately upon the location, marital status, and number of children of each. For many years she was secretary of Acton Grange and was a constant attend- ant and worker in the Congregational church.
The latter, Miss Martha F. Smith, prepared at Lowell Normal, took over the Center Primary in 1902 and for twenty four years served with distinction in that capacity. She was motherly and bubbling with humor and her scholars learned and enjoyed themselves sim- ultaneously. For a long season she was a teacher in the Congrega- tional Sunday school and, being gifted with an excellent and powerful contralto voice, was a mainstay in the choir as well.
Miss Julia McCarthy, the last of the quintette, spent her childhood about a furlong from the Centre school,1 prepared at the Fitchburg Normal and started her teaching career at the South Primary in 1906. By a wide margin she is Acton's marathon teacher since she is still in active and efficient service and full of the zest of life. As of the present she has worked with diligence, fidelity, and outstanding success in one building for forty six years, a feat which is a record which will doubtless stand for many decades if not in perpetuity. This has been accomplished because she has been blessed with health and two other priceless characteristics, namely, an unquenchable enthusiasm for giving of herself to the youth and a rare turn of mind -call it naivete if you will - that makes of each day a new adventure. She is one of those fortunate persons that are eternally rejuvinated by service to mankind and not made cynical by its shortcomings. With beginning of the fall term of 1953 she will leave her South Acton post for the first time to take over the principalship of the new elementary school on Massachusetts Ave ..
On November 3, 1890 Acton Lodge No. 203, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted. The early records were destroyed by fire as were also those from 1904 to 1918 hence a complete list of the original officers cannot be given. A copy of the first by-laws, how- ever, mentions Charles H. Stone as Noble Grand, William H. Lawrence
1 The present residence of Mr. Wallace Warren, opposite the newly erected scientific laboratory.
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as Vice-Grand, and William F. Stevens as Secretary. For a season meetings were held in Grand Army Hall but in 1893 Mr. Hanson A. Littlefield who was very active in I. O. O. F. work built the Littlefield Store Block with lodge rooms on the third floor. This building burned in 1903 and the lodge erected a new building in 1905. The new store occupied the whole first floor, the second floor served as an auditorium and dance hall, and the third floor again was used by the Odd Fellows. As of December 28, 1950 the Acton Lodge consolidated with Concord.
Mention of Mr. Littlefield brings to mind another of the town's business men of a past era. In 1884 Mr. Littlefield sold his carpentry and building business to one of his men, Mr. Frank Harris, and started a general store on the site now occupied by the I. O. O. F. building. This action was pursuant of his appointment as postmaster under the first Cleveland administration. At about the same time he also sold his interest in the Littlefield and Robinson Cider Jelly Manufacturing Company, which product he had invented, to Mr. Robinson, who ran it for several years and sold the business and the mill to Mr. James Kinsley.
From 1885 to 1889 Mr. Littlefield had the post office in the south east side of the store. In the basement the Littlefield Anti-fly Com- pany manufactured a repellant that had an extensive market both in this country and abroad. The general store continued in this building until 1893 at which time the edifice was moved and converted into a dwelling house and a modern business block was erected on the abandoned site.
With the return of Cleveland for his second administration Mr. Littlefield again became postmaster and moved the post office to his apartment house that stood opposite the Baptist Church. This build- ing was sold in 1926 to Mr. George V. Mead to clear the site for the common for the West Village.
In 1903 the Littlefield estate sold the store to a Mr. Fitts who ran it for about a year at which time it was totally consumed by fire as mentioned above. The site was sold to the Odd Fellows at the present building erected. With the languishing of the Acton lodge the property came into the hands of Mr. Albert Jenks and was converted into the present cold storage plant.
In 1891 the school committee began to consider seriously the matter of grading the schools and rearranging the whole system. This move was being forced upon the town by the shift in the location of the youthful population. In his annual report Mr. James Fletcher, chairman of the board, made the following pertinent observations.
"The idea of consolidation is forced upon us by the
changed conditions within fifty years. Fifty years ago
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there must have been at least a hundred scholars in the eastern and northeastern portions of the town. Large family groups were scattered in all that section of the town, some of them counting by the dozen. Now only about half that number can be found in the two schools at the North and East combined. The same is true of the Centre. Within the memory of some now living a hun- dred scholars were in one school with one teacher. The discipline of the crowd was ordinarily enough for any master to manage without wasting his strength on minor matters of instruction. The little ones in the lower seats were pleased if they had one chance of recognition in the course of the day from the master in his desk. If only these large family groups on the hills and by the brooks could be duplicated, we might drop the question of trans- portation, and have the grade in the same old spot.'
He went on further to say, "In 1826 four hundred and twelve pupils attended schools in the town. The number now (1891) is two hundred and fifty four with a popula- tion nearly double what it was in 1826, and a valuation more than double what it was then."
As a result of the conditions outlined the committee proposed that the town be divided into three school districts, the Centre absorbing the North and East and the South taking in the South east.1 In addition it was proposed that instead of having only the designa- tions Primary and Grammar that an Intermediate division be intro- duced. Still further it was proposed that transportation be provided from the North and East to the Centre, and likewise from the South East to the South. In spite of the eminent common sense of this pro- posal it was not fully implemented until several years later.
Very shortly after the precious relics were deposited in the library, within a month in fact, Acton sustained a tremendous loss in the sudden death of Rev. James Fletcher. He was born August 5, 1823 and died on the evening of March 28, 1893. Throughout his life he held many town offices and other positions of trust and respon- sibility. He was the author of that portion of the History of Middle- sex County embracing the material of some sixty pages that sub- sequently has been bound under the title "ACTON IN HISTORY".
On the evening of his death the village Improvement Society, in which he was always interested, was having in the town hall one of its periodic entertainments. Suddenly the great town house bell
1 Town report for 1891-92, page 46. In the light of the figures given by Mr. Fletcher for 1826 it is interesting to note that the town report for 1950 gives 228 for the high school and 380 for the elementary schools.
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began to ring the fire alarm and word was brought that the black- smith shop was in flames. This establishment had been operated as a blacksmith and wheelwright shop by Edwin A. Phalen but had been subsequently sold to Newton Bean. Mr. Fletcher, despite his seventy years, could not depart from a long life of public service, and worked all too strenuously for a man of his age. After the fire was subdued to the point where other neighboring buildings were safe he made his way to his home where he collapsed and failed to survive the night.1
The Improvement Society mentioned above was, as its name implies, an organization designed to do something about community needs. There was one in each village and each was active in its own way. The service clubs of the present era, such as Rotary and Kiwanis and the like, their great works and elaborate machinery notwith- standing, lack something these earlier groups had, namely, complete independence and wholly local interest and support. Street lighting and snow removal from the sidewalks loomed large in their programs but at bottom their scope, whether by intention or otherwise, was larger and more complex The village Improvement Society was a school of citizenship and civic pride made manifest in works.
At the Centre there developed a close tie between the Improvement Society and amateur dramatics. In October of 1885 there arrived in Acton Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pitman2 both of whom had enthusiasm and ability in this direction. They, together with Mr. James B. Tuttle and others3 put on many plays and secured in due course an elaborate set of knock-down scenery with an impressive proscenium for an enlarged town hall stage. A heavy roll-up curtain extending the full width of the stage presented when lowered a rather guady but presumably recognizable impression of a seashore scene in Corsica. In case the spectator was in doubt the appended title re- moved the difficulty.
From time to time local scenery painters tried their hand with results on the whole acceptable. Sometimes a carping critic took exception to the impossible orientation of a crescent moon, or giggled at the sight of a full grown crow perched on a spear of orchard grass,
1 Rev. Fletcher lived in the house near the church which is at present occupied by Mr. Walter Stevens.
2 The Pitmans lived on Newtown Road in the house for many years owned by Charles Edwards. The present owner is Frank Greenough. Mrs. Pitman eventually became too ill with tuberculosis to be active and the family moved to Colorado Springs with results far exceeding expectations. As this is being written Mrs. Pitman, now 91 and in excellent health is making preparations to journey to Chicago to attend the marriage of her granddaughter. Mr. Pitman died three years ago.
3 Arthur Taylor, Harry Tuttle, Viola Tuttle, Amelia Robbins, Emily Noyes, Harriet Phalen, Daniel Lakin, Arthur Davis. Upon one occasion the whole group went to Boston en-masse to see a play. The dramatic club disbanded in 1896 at which time Mrs. Pitman was secretary.
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but the actors and the general public had an uproarious time and did not feel that the evening had been ruined if, as once transpired, the hero, upon being thrown down by the villian at the end of a scene, misjudged his position with the result that the heavy wooden boom of the descending curtain fell across his neck and pinned him to the floor with his head exposed to the audience. Praise be that sophis- tication had not then taken the fun out of life.
In 1892 the state had passed a statute making it possible for several towns to unite in engaging the services of a school superintendent. Acton took advantage of this opportunity and the local school com- mittee met in Worcester in joint session with the committees from Sturbridge and West Brookfield and elected Mr. Edward Dixon as superintendent for the three towns. Under this agreement Acton and West Brookfield each paid three tenths of the cost.
In September of 1893, just ten years after its inception, the high school ceased to be a roving project and was permanently located on the second floor of the South schoolhouse. Moreover two teachers were on the staff, namely, Mr. W. A. Charles as principal and his assistant Miss M. Florence Fletcher.1 Miss Fletcher, it may be re- called, was one of the six in the first class to be graduated. She had no specialized training but had proved so adept at the East school that it was deemed desirable to give her prior consideration for the post. The team was not only a pedagogical success from the outset- it terminated in a matrimonial alliance.
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