USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Holden > History of the town of Holden, Massachusetts, 1667-1941 > Part 5
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" 'Voted to have the gospel preached in town.' The fourth vote of that meeting was: 'Voted to have a read- ing and writing school.'
"In a happy accordance with the spirit animating those men, in happy accord with all that noble men have planned for the public welfare in
'Yonder painted shingly town-house,'
in happy accord with the purest aspirations of those who have trod
"These quiet aisles of prayer,'
is the occasion which has assembled us today.
"Yonder 'Memorial Building' is but the completion of the structure, the foundations of which the men of Holden laid in 1741. It is the tribute which persons reared and educated in New England gladly offer to the wisdom of the fathers in establishing a system of free public schools for the education of the children of a free republic.
"That we may more fully understand the plans and purposes of the donors, the beauty and utility of the
HANCOCK COMMON
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structure, and learn what workmen have wrought from foundation to turret stone, I present to you the archi- tect, Mr. Stephen C. Earle, of Worcester."
Mr. Earle said :
"One bright March day of last year found me, at the request of him whose wisdom and generosity makes the occasion for this glad gathering, viewing the site proposed for a building designed to meet the present needs of this old town of Holden in two important par- ticulars, viz., first, a public library, and second, better accommodations for the high school. The glistening, crusted snow covered the whole landscape, but then, as now, the fitness of the site selected was apparent. There was the beautiful and ample lot, with its grace- ful, central knoll, where the half filled-cellar told of a home of the past, with a location all that could be desired.
"In the middle of the village, only a stone's throw from Main Street, nearly opposite the old Damon mansion, directly adjoining the Common, the Damon Memorial becomes one among the group of the town's public buildings. In the first instructions to the ar- chitect was the statement that the building was to be of brick or stone, preferably the latter, a preference on the part of a client which is always heartily sec- onded by the architect. Some one has said that a brick building, however large, cannot be made grand or imposing. Without arguing the point, it will at once be conceded that even a small building of stone has a certain dignity, due to the materials, whatever the treatment of it. In this building the stone has an add- ed value, a sentimental one at least, from its being in-
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digenous, coming from the granite quarry of John P. Dodd, on one of the Holden hills, about a mile distant.
"You may judge of the material the value of the gen- erous outlay of those benefactors who have here built a permanent home for your library and school, but few can have an idea of the intense and constant interest, the loving thought and care with which they, from their distant home, have inspired and watched every detail of design and construction. My task has been a pleasant one, working out with such success as I might their high ideals.
"Though 'westward the star of empire takes its way,' and with it many of the brightest and best among us, let us be thankful that the heart strings still bind them in love to their old eastern homes."
Mr. Learned then introduced Mr. Gale in the fol- lowing words:
"It is said that Anaxagoras, beholding the Mauso- leum erected by Artemisia, Queen of Caria, to her deceased husband, Mausolus, which was constructed of the most costly marbles and decorated in the highest style of Grecian art, exclaimed, 'How much money is changed into stone!' From the statement of Mr. Earle, confirmed by our own observation and knowledge, we are ready, when viewing the massive proportions, com- pleteness, and elegance of the Memorial, to exclaim, 'How much money is changed into wood and stone!' Aremisia, in erecting the Mausoleum, would enshrine and perpetuate the memory of her husband, thus ex- hibiting one of the most beautiful sentiments of the human heart. Our friends, animated by the same sen- timent, would perpetuate the name of a family, hon- orably identified not only with the history of the town,
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the county, the state, and the nation, but also with the progress of civilization and Christianity in other lands and the islands of the distant seas, by linking it with the 'living present' and the long future. The 'Memo- rial,' while casting its loving shadow over the ancestral roof, through whose garden gate five generations have passed, welcomes to its lofty halls the youth of the present and future generations and places in the hand of each 'a good book, the precious life-blood of a mas- ter spirit, embalmed and treasured up for a purpose of life beyond life.' "
Mr. Gale was greeted with hearty applause, and made the following Presentation Address :
"Mr. President and Friends: Thirty-four years ago I came to this village to teach the district school. The frame school-house still standing, and in use, was then new, and was a subject of much interest and pride. The only instruction I received from the school committee as to the management of the school was that I should keep the scholars from marking and scratching the new school-house. I entirely neglected my duty in this respect. At the end of the winter, marks and scratches were very abundant; and I knew it was all my fault, for no school-master ever had better boys and girls. After thinking over my offense for thirty- four years I concluded the only suitable recompense I could make was to give the town a new school-house, which I have accordingly done. I do not say, how- ever, there were no other considerations and more seri- ous, for the enterprise. Here my wife was born and reared; and this, in the opinion of at least her husband, entitles the place to monumental honors. May I also mention especially her brother, the late Dr. Samuel C.
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Damon, a resident of Honolulu, Hawaiin Islands, a great-hearted and broad-minded man, with a deep af- fection for his native town. He it was who first sug- gested to me the idea of aiding to establish here a public library. It is in memory of him, and of her other kinspeople and other friends dear to us both, whose homes have been here in this and other genera- tions, that we have sought to do this town some good thing, so important and permanent that the inhabitants will always kindly remember us.
"Mr. President, I hold in my hands, and now de- liver, title papers conveying to the town of Holden, from my wife and myself, the new Library and High School Building and grounds. The conveyance is made in trust and upon the condition that the town shall, under the law of Massachusetts, organize a Board of Trustees to manage the estate and library; that the town keep the building in repair and continue the insurance of $10,000 already placed upon it, with premium paid for five years; that the library be also kept insured and that both the building and library shall be restored in case of destruction or impairment; that the grounds shall be kept neat and tasteful order, appropriately adourned with flowers; that the town shall maintain a Free Public Library and Reading- room in the building and shall appropriate and expend annually, of its own money, not less than $200 for the purchase of new works for the library; that the school held in the building shall always be free to the in- habitants of Holden, and shall be at least equal to a High School in grade. I trust these conditions will not seem unreasonable or burdensome. They certainly have been made after much thought, solely to secure
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to the public the greatest benefit possible from this undertaking.
"At the last, friends, we part with this estate, so interesting has it grown to be with us, with something like reluctance-a glad reluctance- as parting with a daughter at the marriage alter. And this is really a nuptial day. This gift is the bride; and she carries with herself to this people our benediction. There is a proverb of three Latin words, 'Qui Legit Regit,' 'He who reads is king.' Then let this be your palace royal. Thither, through many, many years, through summer bloom and winter gloom, may the feet of your chil- dren turn as to a garden of entertainments. For your young men and young women, I pray you make this the happy wholesome greeting place, till books shall interest them and lure them to stay. For the old when they come, lead them to the sunniest spot, the easiest chair, and show them the open page. But most of all, for those earnest ones among you, especially if they be the poor, who hunger and thirst for books and the better things which books lead up to, keep always the door wide open, the feast spread and the lights burn- ing-all this, till these rugged stones shall crumble and be as dust."
After the applause which followed Mr. Gale's ad- dress had died away, Mr. Charles E. Parker, acting as chairman of the board of selectmen, responded for the town in the following Address of Acceptance :
"To Mr. and Mrs. Gale, whose benefaction calls us together, I desire to say that I accept these deeds on behalf of the town. On behalf of the town I thank you. The conditions and requirements of the deed are reasonable and satisfactory, and I know I can
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promise a ready and hearty acceptance. The library, containing, as it does, the sum and substance of the life work of many students of the past, and the reading room, with its home-like comforts, supplied with papers and magazines filled with the best of the thoughts of writers of today, are factors of education of immense advantage to the student at school and the community at large.
"This object lesson of beauty! Who can measure its influence for good? In behalf of the students who shall be inspired by the harmony and beauty to a higher ambition and greater effort, I thank you. Our fathers builded better than they knew when, in the early history of this country, beside the church they planted the school house, and from time to time per- fected the common school system. We all know it to be the corner stone foundation of the best government on the face of the earth. With all due reverence, I would acknowledge a higher power, and invoke its aid to paralyze the hand that would take one stone from the foundation of our school system. It shall be main- tained and with it shall be kept green the memory of those who make education attractive. If he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew be- fore is a public benefactor, how much more he, who, adding to the facilities of acquiring knowledge, makes men wiser and better."
At the conclusion of his address of acceptance, Mr. Parker called upon the audience to thank Mr. and Mrs. Gale for their gift, and all unanimously arose. The Prayer of Dedication was then offered by Rev. David F. Estes. Mr. Learned then introduced the orator of the day, Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson,
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as being "a resident of Cambridge and of Holden."? Col. Higginson spoke in part as follows:
"Fergusson, in his History of Architecture, says that 'wherever we see any work of man truly worthy of ad- miration, we may be quite sure that the credit of it is not due to an individual, but to thousands working to- gether through a long series of years.' He is speaking of the great cathedrals of Europe, which are undoubt- edly the greatest visible work of man, when we con- sider both size and beauty; which were all built prac- tically within a single century, the thirteenth, and nearly all, in France at least, within the sixty years from 1180 to 1240. When the traveler approaches one of these great buildings he has in respect the same im- pression produced on many visitors by the building we dedicate today. The cathedral dwarfs everything around it, and seems, at first sight, almost dispropor- tionate, both in size and dignity. In going toward Cologne, for instance, or York Minster, you are im- pressed with the fact that, instead of drawing near to a town, you are approaching a cathedral. The build- ing looms in the distance, large, stately, solid, glittering in the light or dim with the shade, very much as in crossing Kansas and approaching Colorado, you see Pike's Peak on the one hand, and the Spanish Peaks on the other, the far off prediction of wonders yet to be revealed. When you reach those mountains, you fine towns already encamped around their feet, and so when you reach York or Cologne, you find the town encamped around the feet of the cathedral. Even so, fifty years hence, will the village of Holden be seen clustered around these solid walls, which enshrine its
ยก Col. Higginson was for part three years a resident of Holden.
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library and its high school? It will doubtless affect the other buildings to be hereafter erected in the town; they will be more solid, tasteful, appropriate, for hav- ing this building in their midst; but the Damon Memorial will be the center of the town, as it should be, for it will be the source and center of its intellect- ual life.
"During the two summers while I have watched this building rise, I have been constantly struck with the fact, that it represents the same great popular impulse in the nineteenth century that the cathedral represent- ed in the thirteenth. The ancient cathedral and the modern town library alike stand for the spirit of their age. Now, as then, a single benefactor often gives the whole financial means for the great work; we meet today to express gratitude to such a doner; but he himself would be the first to admit that he represents the great impulse of enlightenment, which is providing every town in Massachusetts with free libraries. In a wholly illiterate community such an enterprise would be wasted, and the donor of this building was working unconciously for it just as much when he taught one of your schools in his youth, as when, in his prosperous maturity, he feeds the demand he helped to create. And every one, who, in this town, or elsewhere, has ever worked for public school or library, has been one of the thousand, who, as Fergusson said, have helped to prepare the way of every great work of man. As I have watched this building go up, it has seemed to me to rise,-as was said, by a mediaeval writer, of the cathedrals-'built of the money of the rich and the prayers of the poor.' Men of almost every occupation in this town have been employed about this building,
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and have worked, as they did in the middle ages, with a zeal, not measured by the day's wages. Those who did not work with their hands have watched the laying of every stone, and have contributed without charge, sympathy enough to encourage any contractor, as well as good advice enough seriously to embarrass him. I am confident that no European cathedral ever had a larger share of discussion and counsel to the square inch than the Damon Memorial; and it may be said of it, as of the great mediaeval cathedrals, that it has been 'built of the money of the rich and the prayers of the poor.'
"And it must always be kept in view that this is but one contribution to that vast movement which is cover- ing our state with public libraries, as Europe was cov- ered with cathedrals.
"One of the favorite heroes of that Eloquent man, (Mr. George William Curtis), I remember, is Sir Philip Sidney, and it is Sir Philip Sidney who says in his 'Defense of Poesy' that 'the ending end of all knowledge is virtuous action.' Action is higher even than thought. On this principle there have been two great days in the history of Holden within my memory. One was the day, (April 20th, 1861), when the sum- mons went out from the state house calling upon the Holden Rifles to go, at a few hours notice, to the de- fense of Washington; and they went. That was Holden's greatest day; this is the next; and it is pleas- ant to think that among those who worked upon this building were more than one of those who rallied at their country's call. Yes, action is higher than thought; deeds than words. The poet, Keats, the most ideal of all poets, says in one of his letters that 'fine
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thinking is, next to fine doing, the top thing of the uni- verse.' It is the mission of a school-house and a library to bring about not merely fine thinking but fine doing.
"I should like to see around the walls of the Holden Free Library some such inscription as used to delight me in boyhood, on the handbills of an old bookstore I used to frequent in Boston; 'Here you may range the world with the magic of a book, and cheat expectation and solitude of their weary moments.' And there will surely remain in that hall, with or without a portrait, the memory of the benefactor-may I not say of the two wedded benefactors,-through whom its pleasures and its advantages have been provided for coming gen- erations of those whom they have never seen."
After an hour spend in social greetings and in the examination of the edifice, a procession formed under the direction of Chief Marshal Edward W. Merrick, and marched to the large dining tent, which had been spread on the Damon grounds, nearly opposite the Memorial building. Dinner was served to about six hundred. After the conclusion of the dinner, Mr. Learned introduced Hon. Henry W. Warren as Toast- master. He presented as the first sentiment, "The Com- monwealth of Massachusetts," to which Hon. George B. Loring of Salem, Minister of the United States to Portugal, responded at length. "The City of Worces- ter," was spoken for by Hon. Samuel Winslow, Mayor of the city. Nathan Allen, M.D., of Lowell then pre- sented a sketch of the life-work and character of Sam- uel C. Damon, D. D .; Mr. Samuel S. Green, of Worcester Public Library, spoke to the sentiment, "The Library, Garnered Wisdom of Centuries." A poem entitled "New England Granite" was read by
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Mr. Solon P. Davis, of Hartford, and Albert P. Mar- ble, Ph.D., Hon. P. Emory Aldrich, Gen. Augustus B. R. Sprague, of Worcester, and Henry A. Stimpson, D. D., of St. Louis, a former pastor of Mrs. Gale, also made brief addresses. The following Ode by Mrs. Georgia Allen Peck was sung by the entire assemblage:
"Gazing on this massive splendor, Stately, changeless, fair to view, Fain our grateful song would render, Gracious donors, homage due. Let glad voices Sound the note of praise anew.
Here, in youth's unsullied morning, Eager for life's golden ore, Death to Sloth, and folly scorning, Lo, at wisdom's mystic door, Youth and maiden Glad shall graner priceless lore. Here the treasure of all ages, Poet's dream, and fancy's flight, Science, art and wealth of sages In grand symphony unite. God hath spoken- Echo all, let there be light!
Onward points the tireless finger ; Progress knows nor halt nor stay, Suns shall in their orbit linger, Time's swift sands their course delay, Ere her footsteps Falter in their upward way.
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Spirits thrilled and hearts o'erflowing, Giver of all good, to thee Each rich gift of thy bestowing Consecrated here shall be; Now and ever, Consecrated, Lord, to thee !"
At a legal town meeting, held September 26th, 1888, the acceptance of the Damon Memorial upon the con- ditions and requirements contained in the deed of gift, was formally voted. The following expression of thanks was also adopted :
"The town of Holden in town meeting assembled formally accepts the 'Damon Memorial' Library and High School Building, and the books presented by Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Gale of Minneapolis, and desires at the same time publicly to express and place on record its appreciation of the good-will, generosity and even munificence of these gifts. To the natural pride, which we have felt as our former fellow citizens in the worth and prosperity of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Gale, is now added gratitude for their remembrance and helpfulness.
"The building most amply supplies needs already felt, and that on a scale which indicates the large heart- edness of its donors, while the strength and dignity of its architectural structure makes it as once an ornament to the town and a constant lesson to its citizens.
"The town pledges itself to the fulfillment of the wise and fit conditions imposed by its donors, to the careful preservation of the property, to the enlarge- ment of the library, and to whatever may make school and library better subserve the purposes of Mr. and
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Mrs. S. C. Gale, and better honor their large and wise liberality."
TABLETS
In 1910 the trustees of the Damon Memorial had bronze tablets placed in the building with the follow- ing inscriptions :
Damon Memorial 1888
In grateful appreciation of the gift of this building and the adjacent grounds, to the Town of Holden by
Samuel Chester Gale and Susan Damon Gale These tablets are erected 1910.
Gale Free Library 1888
Let this be your palace royal; keep always the door wide open, the feast spread and the lights burning, this till these rugged stones shall crumble and be as dust.
From the presentation address of Samuel Chester Gale.
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SAMUEL C. GALE
Samuel C. Gale was born in Royalston, September 15th, 1827. He was descended from the ancient family of Gales of Devonshire, England, running back to Wil- liam the Conqueror. An ancestor, William Gale, set- tled in Watertown, Mass., in 1640.
The father of Samuel C. Gale died when he was quite young, leaving four children, who soon aided their mother in the support of the family. A friend of his early days speaks of Samuel as a bright boy, "full of the best New England grit."
He was educated first in Royalston, then at New Salem Academy, and in 1854 was graduated from Yale College. He then taught winter school in Holden and at Worcester High School, and then attended Harvard Law School.
While in Holden he made the acquaintance of Susan Abigail Damon, whom he married October 15, 1861. They had five children, Edward Cheney, Alice, Anna, Marion and Charles Sumner.
He practiced law in Minneapolis, but his great wealth was due to the unprecedented rise in real estate in which he had invested soon after settling in Minne- apolis.
Mr. Gale always kept his interest in his former pupils in Holden, and our beautiful library building is the expression of that interest, and of his love for Holden and its townspeople.
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A TRIBUTE
In 1940 the Board of Trustees of Damon Memorial lost its oldest member and the following tribute was inscribed in its records :
A Tribute To the memory of The Reverend Thomas Earle Babb who died July 18, 1940 lacking one month and three days of being 100 years of age.
He served as a Trustee of the Damon Memorial for 46 years, having been elected March 19, 1894.
In the passing of Mr. Babb, the Trustees lost the old- est and one of the most respected members of the board.
During his many years as a Trustee, his pride in the Damon Memorial, occupied by the Gale Free Library, and for several years by the High School, has been most evident.
Everything that pertained to its welfare and progress has been manifest in his valued suggestions at the meet- ings of the board.
A quotation written in a book presented him in 1909 by Alonzo Knapp Learned, one of our former Trustees and the principal of the High School for many years, does him the honor of being :
"A faithful steward of the manifold grace of God."
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We, the Trustees at this present date, wish to endorse the honor paid him by our former Trustee, and add, also, our sincere appreciation of his great worth as a wise counselor and a stalwart citizen of our town dur- ing his long and useful life.
Frank J. Knowlton, Olof Lundstrom, Bertram S. Newell, William J. Powers, William S. Sargent, William H. Warren, Trustees.
LIBRARY
The Holden Library Association was organized October 4, 1876.
Col. Isaac N. Ross was chosen President, Horace B. Morse, Vice-President, William D. Chenery, Secretary and Treasurer, and Mrs. Ellen Phelps, Librarian, a position which she filled during the history of the Association.
Funds for its support were raised by subscription, public lectures, and an annual assessment of its members.
In July, 1888, a special meeting of the Association was called to take action in reference to presenting the Library to the town, which, with the books presented by Mr. Samuel C. Gale, should form a Free Public Library; and it was voted : "That the Trustees of The Holden Library Association be authorized and direct- ed to transfer the books and other property belonging to the Association to the proper authorities of the town of Holden, whenever the said town shall vote to ac- cept the same in accordance with the constitutional provisions of the Association." The proposition was accepted by the town, and, in accordance with the vote,
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PRESENT HOSPITAL
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fourteen hundred volumes were transferred to the Gale Free Library.
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