USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Freetown > History of the town of Freetown, Massachusetts : with an account of the Old Home Festival, July 30th, 1902 > Part 17
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Who would fly from a foe, if alone or last,
And boast he was true, as cowards might do, When peril is past? Now home again we come,
The long and fiery strife of battle over. Rest is pleasant after toil As hard as ours beneath a stranger sun. Many a maiden fair is waiting here
To greet her truant lover :
And many a heart will fail and brow grow pale,
To hear the tale of cruel peril he has run. We are at home!
"FOR ALL ETERNITY" Mascheroni
Tenor Solo and Obligato.
VIOLIN SOLO-Selected
QUARTETTE-"The Day is Ended," J. C. Bartlett
With Obligato.
GLEE-"Hark, Apollo strikes the Lyre," Sir Henry R. Bishop
Hark, Apollo strikes the lyre, And loudly sounds the golden wire, To bid of heaven the tuneful choir Their art divine employ.
Whose song harmonious shall rebound In echoes from the vast profound, And earth shall catch the charming sound With wide diffusing joy.
To "The Order of the Day" as placed in the hands of the guests of the town on Wednesday, July 30, 1902, em- bellished with a photogravure of "The Profile on Joshua's Mountain," were prefixed the following :
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GENERAL NOTICES.
RENDEZVOUS for Visitors at the Village School-House.
A Committee of Reception will be in attendance during the day.
A Register will be provided for Recording Names and Addresses.
Subscriptions will be received for the Memorial Volume.
BAND CONCERTS by the Swansea Brass Band at 10.00, 12.30 and 4.60.
EXERCISES IN THE CHURCH at 10.30, 2.30 and 2.30. BANQUET at 1.00.
FIREWORKS at 8.30.
ANTIQUARIUM at the Vestry of the South Church, Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday. Admission Ten Cents.
The Program of Exercises for the three parts of the day was this :
FORENOON.
RECEPTION AND RESPONSES.
At half past ten, at the Church.
FESTIVAL OVERTURE on the Organ, by MR. ALTON B. PAULL, a Grandson of Freetown. Processional in D, Guilmant INVOCATION AND THANKSGIVING, in which the devo- tions of the assembly will be lead by the REV. BENJAMIN S. BATCHELOR, for seventeen years a Minister of the Gospel in the Town.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME in behalf of the Residents of the Town, by Major JOHN M. DEANE, President of the Day.
RESPONSE in behalf of the Daughter City, by HIS HONOR, GEORGE GRIME, Mayor of Fall River.
CHORUS, "Swiftly from the Mountain' Brow," S. Webbe SUNG BY THE ASSONET FESTIVAL CHORUS.
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LETTERS AND SPEECHES from sons and grandsons of the old town, and other visitors and guests.
THE SOLDIERS' CHORUS from "Faust," Gounod
ORGAN VOLUNTARY. Marche Militaire, Gounod
MR. PAULL.
AFTERNOON.
BANQUET. In the Town Hall, at one o'clock, during which there will be music in the open air, by the Swansea Brass Band.
THE AFTER DINNER SPEAKING At the Church, at 2.30.
Admittance to the church is reserved until 2.20 exclusively for holders of tickets to the Banquet.
ORGAN VOLUNTARY, Offertoire in A, Batiste
MR. PAULL.
ORATION by Mr. Curtis Guild, Jr., of Boston.
CHORUS, "Hail to thee, Liberty," from "Semiramide," Rossini SUNG BY THE ASSONET FESTIVAL CHORUS. DUO: Violin and Organ. Largo, Handel
MISS FLORENCE F. PURRINGTON AND MISS MABEL G. BACON.
POEM, "The Old Home - a Freetown Ballad,"
BY MISS M. E. N. HATHAWAY.
SONG, "Home, Sweet Home," Bishop
MISS ELIZABETH R. BACON.
ODE for the Old Home Festival, by Herbert E. Hathaway.
Air-Die Wacht am Rhein. How shall we best the work complete Begun of old by them that sleep; Who bore the burden and the heat And planted that their sons might reap;
Who wrought with faith and strength and zeal, Nor life nor fortune did withhola, To found secure the Commonweal For us, in peace, to have and hold ?
Toil did not daunt nor hardship stay; They drew not back, though dear the cost, Looked forward to a better day, And lost not hope, whate'er they lost. While steadfast to the truth they saw, In duty's narrow path they trod, The Word of God their highest law, Their only fear, the fear of God. 258
In conscious right they dared withstand, The weight of England's armaments, When Liberty, throughout the land, Aroused her sons to her defense. They knew defeat and sharp distress, Yet persevered until the hour That brought at last well-won success, And gave the world a freeborn power.
When discord kindled into strife, And kinsmen's hands prepared the blow, The Union, hard beset for life, Called to her aid the men we know. They answered-not with idle breath- They died for her on land and sea, Preserved her from a living death, And kept her one, united, free.
() honored fathers of the town, Who joyed and sorrowed in your day, To us your children handing down 'The light that led you on your way- The constant will to do the right, The courage not to do the wrong, And unbound justice, to requite With equal hand the weak and strong-
The heritage that we partake Was won by you with toil and pain; Sons of your sons, shall we forsake Your ways, and make your labor vain? Be ours the task, with wider view The ancient promise to fulfill ; With richer gifts to build anew, And leave your fame unsullied still.
RECESSIONAL, Romance in D, Lemare
MR. PAULL.
EVENING.
MUSIC At the Church, at half past seven o'clock.
ORGAN VOLUNTARY, MISS BACON. Bishop
GLEE, "Hark, Apollo strikes the Lyre,"
SUNG BY THE FESTIVAL CHORUS.
SONG, "The Old Oaken Bucket," MR. ELLIS L. HOWLAND.
VIOLIN SOLO. Adagio, Merkel
MISS PURRINGTON. 259
SONG, "The Rosary," Nevin
MISS ELIZABETH R. BACON.
SONG, with Violin Obligato, Bishop
MR. ELLIS L. HOWLAND AND MISS PURRINGTON.
THE TRAMP CHORUS, Bishop
Now tramp, now tramp, o'er moss and fell The battered ground returns the sound.
SUNG BY THE FESTIVAL CHORUS SOPRANO SOLO BY MISS ELIZABETH R. BACON.
THE PILGRIM HYMN. The people are invited to stand and join in singing this hymn (No. 466 in the Church Book) to the Old Hundredth Psalm Tune.
O God, beneath thy guiding hand Our exiled fathers crossed the sea ; And when they trod the wintry strand, With prayer and psalm they worshipt Thee.
Thou heard'st well pleased the song, the prayer; Thy blessing came; and still its power Shall onward through all ages bear The memory of that holy hour.
Laws. freedom, truth. and faith in God Came with those exiles o'er the waves; And where their pilgrim feet have trod, The God they trusted guards their graves.
And here thy name, O God of love, Their children's children shall adore, Till these eternal hills remove, And spring adorns the earth no more. Amen.
ORGAN RECESSIONAL
MISS BACON.
FIREWORKS ABOUT 8:30.
The weather of the auspicious 30th of July was just what Freetown and its guests would have desired. Under a sky slightly overcast so as to mitigate the summer heat, from all quarters and by all conveyances the people gath- ered at the Four Corners, where all public buildings and many private ones were gay with bunting. The intervals of preliminary business were enlivened by the stirring music of the Swansea Band ; and the interest of the various
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parties that strolled through the village streets was quick- ened by the inscriptions posted at points of historic in- terest.
With military punctuality (such as marked all the proceedings of the day, to a degree unusual on like occa- sions) the President of the Day, Major John M. Deane, took the chair at the appointed hour, and after a brilliant organ overture and a prayer of Invocation and Thanks- giving, welcomed the guests of the town in these terms:
THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
H IS PRESIDENT of the Old Home Festival organization of the ancient town of Freetown, I extend the most cordial greeting of the town to all of you and through you to all the absent members of your families, wherever they may be to-day. Freetown makes this a very cordial and whole-souled greeting and hopes that it will kindle in all your hearts as warm a place for her as she cherishes in her heart for all of her be- loved children, wher- ever fate has placed them. She is joyous at your return today and she will do all in her power to make your visit a memorable one. Her latch strings are out. The town is yours. Ransack the old dom- icile to your hearts' con- tent; frolic in the old qarn, the crib and work- shop; wade in brook and river, and romp through PRESIDENT JOHN M. DEANE. meadow, field and forest, as you did of yore. She will respond to your merry laugh, as in the now seldom visited and dusty attic you unearth some of
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the treasures of your childhood, or useful articles of bygone days; notably the old rag doll that grandmother herself made you and upon which your auntie painted mouth and nose and eyebrows, the home-made rocking-horse on which you rode to Banbury Cross, the carts and sleds that always ran into the gutter or fence when you tried to coast, the warming pan, the foot-stove, the bellows, the candle-mould, the candle stick and snuffers, old lanterns and old chests with all their old-time associations and tender recollections. Looms and spinning frames not made by the Masons' or the Drapers', costumes not tailor-made, bonnets not from a man-milliner of Paris, and not the least of all, the old red cradle in which mother and grand- mother rocked you to sleep while they sang lullabys; and the trundle-bed in which you and brother or sister had pillow fights until frightened into silence by grandmother's solemn and awful story of Elisha and the two she-bears. Let the absent ones, whether children, grand-children, great or greater grand- children whom fate keeps from us today, even though they have journeyed to the uttermost parts of the earth, be assured that Freetown takes this special season to think of them and to pray for them. Write to them; send them souvenirs of this occasion; say to them that our prayer is that God's richest blessings may be showered upon them, that health, prosperity and happiness may attend them always. We all have reason to be proud of our ancestral home. From it have gone forth many eminent men and women, eminent in all the varied walks of life, from the humble tiller of the soil to governor of our honored com- monwealth ; statesmen, lawyers, doctors and divines, merchants, miners, manufacturers and mechanics, agriculturists, inventors, authors and teachers, captains of industry, mariners and noted captains in the merchant marine both on land and on lake. We had hoped to greet on this occasion that grandson of our town and village whose influence in the world to-day is second to that of no living man-the Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State. (Loud applause.) Her children have always performed their part well, no less in war than in peace. In all the wars in which our country has been involved her sons and daughters have done their full duty. In that greatest of all wars, the War of the Rebellion, she more than filled her quota. An Irishman telling of his services in that war said that he was in
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it from Alpha to Omega; that he took part in all the great battles fought by the army of the Potomac; that he was always the last to take the field and the first to leave it. Not so with the youth of Freetown. They were among the first to take the field and the last to leave it. On their banner they can inscribe at the top, April 15th, 1861, and follow with Bull Run, An- tietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and every other prominent battle of the war and write at the bottom "Appomatox." We are not envious because our daughter-City of Fall River, has so far outstripped us in the battle of life; we rejoice at her phenomenal increase in population and in her great industrial prosperity. Many of our children are living within her borders today, have shared in her increase and have had a part in her upbuilding. She has bestowed upon them a goodly share of her riches and her honors. But it is not my province to go into historical matters: that is left for others; otherwise I might have looked up our kinship in the territory taken from this town in 1815 and annexed to Fairhaven. In closing let me emphasize anew the fact that Freetown extends to all her visitors to-day a most cordial welcome. (Applause.)
The Mayor of Fall River, the Honorable George Grime, being called upon by the Chair, responded as fol- lows :
MAYOR GRIME'S RESPONSE.
Mr. President, Sons and Daughters of Freetown: It af- fords me great pleasure, as the chief executive of the City of Fall River, to be present and participate with you in the joys of this occasion. As has been very fittingly said by your pres- ident, Fall River is the daughter-city of Freetown; not merely in territory, through the setting off of a certain portion of your town in 1803, but because of the men and women you have given to us making possible whatever Fall River has achieved. I am very sure that every thoughtful citizen when he looks back, either in reading or by thinking, must take pride that Fall River has sprung from such a noble town as Freetown. We look back with pride that Plymouth Rock was the place where the people from Europe, from England and the high- lands of Scotland came and settled; not because it was any-
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thing compared to what has been done since, but because it showed the indomitable spirit of equality and freedom, which (we should thank God for it) exists in all true Americans. There is no place on the American continent that exibits that spirit more than this ancient town of Freetown. In the very name of the town was that idea incorporated which lies at the basis of American liberty. The free men who made their pur- chases of this territory were the incorporators of Freetown; and we citizens of Fall River, knowing these facts, look with pride to the old town and say, "From this people we sprung." Per- haps we might say that we have an advantage over the town of Freetown. From whence sprung you ? Who is your mother and father? We have a mother whom we can point to with pride but where is yours ? So we take pleasure in participating with you in the honors of this occasion.
I want to say a few words of Fall River. We have a city which is fast assuming proportions which place her in the front rank among the cities of the world. We were only born in 1803. When we get to your age, we hope to have as much to be proud of as you have. When we celebrate our 100th anni- versary next year, we want you to share with us in our joys. We have been working hard, as you know, in Fall River. When it was started from you, it was not rich nor powerful; but by zeal, industry and toil we have achieved what we have achieved. Notwithstanding people may sometimes say we have no history, we are makers of history: and we will make a history for which no son or daughter of Freetown will ever blush. Mills are be- ing erected to-day costing nearly one million of dollars; and we have achieved this prosperity during the years when some people said that Fall River was not prospering. To-day there is not a working man in the City of Fall River, but can find a place. Never in the history of the City of Fall River has it been more prosperous than today. I say this not to glorify Fall River, but to show you that the daughter-city of Freetown is true to the traditions you have given us, and that we are try- ing to prove ourselves the worthy daughter of this ancient town.
In conclusion, let me say, as the chief executive of the City of Fall River, that I thank you, and thank those from whom you sprung, for the noble men and women you have
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given us, and who, as your president has said, are part and parcel of the life of our city.
The Honorable Henry K. Braley of Fall River was felicitously introduced by the Chairman's reading, from a recent paper, of a high appreciation of Judge Braley's public services in his judicial office. He spoke as follows :
JUDGE BRALEY'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen-It was not my good fortune to first see the light of day within the limits of this ancient and historic town; but my ancestors have been from early times connected with its history and my surname is in its records and its every-day life. I notice in your program that you have said that the speakers propose to indulge in a fund of anecdote. Unfortunately by my limitations I cannot be remi- niscential and I recognize that my stock of anecdotes is ex- tremely limited. But as I look about from this platform I see those who will undoubtedly supply what is necessary in this line. It is a very great pleasure and privilege to come here and join with you in recognizing the quiet, forceful lives of those who preceded us. We are here to enjoy the present and to look forward with hopeful anticipation to the future. It is part of the sociological capital of the community and it is felt among all the people of the world. None realize that more, and strive to live it, than those who founded this town and those who founded this nation. The significance of this week would be lost if it were not for the associations of environment in every New England town. We have not lost the racial quality and it must be included in right living and thinking as well as in the suggestions that must arise because of the facts that have made today possible. Some men may be distinguished above their fellows. There are a few people in every generation who walk upon the stage of national affairs and connect their names with legislation or diplomacy which will give them immortality; but the world's work has got to be done by the average man. Whatever may be said of the few who rise, it is true that the plain people go on forever. It is they who govern things. They make possible what we are pleased to term the progress of hu-
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manity. It is they who established this township and in the succession of generations we enter into their labors, you and I and every one of us. Lately a different line of thought has been advanced, that by infusion of new blood the political ma- chine is repaired as it wears out. I confess that I am not wise enough to solve that problem but looking in here upon this gathering is it not a just comment to say that the youth of this town has not passed? It is to-day distinctively an Old Colony town. Go to the Eastern Four Corners and call the name of the Rounsevilles and there would be a response from a living man of like name. While this is true, it is equally true that the future must bring great changes here as elsewhere. The com- posite American will be made up of the blood of all the nations of the earth; but will be none the less distinctively American. . He will be a son of self-government, as is this the free man's land and the free man's purchase.
The men who founded this town and this nation always associated the practical with a high ideal, and always with the hard life on this soil they had the dream of days to come. Toil- ing away, fearful on the one hand of the forays of King Philip, and upon the other getting but a bare subsistence, still they followed that ancient dream of freedom, freedom for their morning star. We judge of the future by the past; and if we and those who succeed us are true to the principles laid down and practiced by the fathers, then future generations shall come here again to an Old Home Week and not only enjoy the work of those who have preceded us, but what we ourselves have done in securing the great blessings which they enjoy under this form of government.
The Honorable Andrew J. Jennings, being called up- on by the Chair, responded in a speech full of pleasant anecdote and reminiscence.
HON. A. J. JENNINGS' ADDRESS.
Mr. President: I hope Judge Braley has given you a war- rant for this call, for I always submit when the court speaks,
Friends of Freetown, I had not expected to address you but I am pleased to do so. I always had an affection for this town.
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My grand-parents on my mother's side were both born here, I believe, or at any rate lived here. Their bodies now lie buried in your soil. My mother was born here and I was just think- ing whether I was born here or not. I was born in the old town of Freetown which went to the Quequechan River. I was born on the north side of the river and I have lived on the north side ever since. So I take a pride in claiming to be a son of Freetown.
I have been looking about, as I sat here, to see the people I knew when I was a boy. Some of the pleasantest associa- tions of my life are associated with this town. I think it is the first place I ever emigrated to from Fall River. They gave me an old fashioned carpet-bag, (it was made of carpet) and I started out for my grand-mother's in Assonet. It seemed to me as if it was a thousand miles from the station to where she lived. I think by the time I was fifteen years old I knew every huckle-berry bush around here from Jael's Bank north. They tell me that my grand-father (who was a sailor and went to sea as captain for Edmund Hathaway, the great business man of your town) sailed for many years and twenty-eight or twenty-nine voy- ages to the West Indies and never lost a sail or a spar. I came up here once in a sail-boat and went clamming. There was a big thunder storm when we came back and the result was that the boat capsized and we went into the river. It tore the sail and split the jib in two places and I was sitting astride the rudder of a boat full of water. Some disagreeable men told my uncle about it and made comparisons between me and my grand-father, the old captain who made twenty-nine voyages to the West Indies and the grandson who could not go clamming in Assonet River without getting shipwrecked.
I rejoice with you in this cheerful reunion. I think it is a good thing to have people come back here and get acquainted with one another again. They are men who have gone forth and made their names and done their part in the building up of this great country and in the development of the national life, and they come back to this soil from which they sprung to give you something of the impulse animating them, that impulse which is always the best and tenderest of the home associations which are connected with the soil from which these men sprung.
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They remind me of the story of Antæus the giant that was slain by Hercules. The story runs that the earth was his mother. Of the men who wrestled with Antæus some threw but he would not stay thrown; and the secret of his strength by which he overcame all who came was this: Whenever he was thrown to the earth, this mother of his infused new courage into him and he arose with twice the strength he had when he fell. Then Hercules came along-the embodiment of physical power, labor and courage. Nothing could withstand him. He threw the giant repeatedly, who every time sprang up stronger and stronger; till finally Hercules raised him in his arms off the earth and strangled him in the air. There is a great secret in that story. The man comes back to mother earth and re- ceives new strength and life from her. Occasions like this bring back men from the bustle of life, causing them to think of what their fathers here were, and what they did. Free men came here and bought this wilderness when it was untravelled save by the Indians. They came here into the howling wilder- ness, cut down the trees, and tore the rocks from the soil, and built these stone fences. What incredible labor those fences represent. I had a friend here from California and no matter how much I directed his attention to the scenery along the Taunton River I could not divert his attention from the stone walls. It was to him the most astonishing thing. That men should tear rocks from the soil so that it should be cultivated and build those walls seemed to him unspeakable. That is what those men did. They listened to the yell of the savage as they built this village, and they developed its industries until in 1803 or 1804 you tore it off a few miles north of the Queque- chan River and it became a part of Fall River with a population of 108,000 people. Now in place of the war-whoop of the savage we have the whistle of the locomotive and what is almost as bad, the noise of the automobile. Now we give you the hum of thousands of millions of spindles. Some one dared to ac- complish that. Now the appeal is to the sons and descendants: "What are you doing up here?" Are you doing anything? My ancestors came here and did something to make the place better than they found it. My word to you is, let every man, woman and child try to emulate those ancestors and do something for the spot where we stand whether Assonet or Freetown.
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The Reverend John Nichols of Seattle, Washingon, re- turned on a brief furlough from his Home Missionary work on the Pacific coast, answered the call of the Chairman.
Mr. President : We have heard a good deal of the lawyers who have come from Freetown, but not much of the divines. They are not very numerous; just how many I do not know. We remember that in early times the sons of Freetown have not always manifested a kindly disposition toward the clerical profession. Looking up the records, I find not so much of opposition to Christianity and the church, as of impatience of the interference of the Bay Colony with Freetown affairs. The principles of our ancestors have not been forgotten.
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