USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Manchester > History of the town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 > Part 12
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" No words can describe the feeling of surprise, grief, indignation and horror which seized upon every one. All business was suspended. Funeral services were held in the Congregational Church, opened by the reading of the scrip- tures by Rev. F. V. Tenney, followed by an address by Rey. E. P. Tenney. Chastened and subdned by the solemn lessons of the hour, the people slowly dispersed to their homes."
Thus ends, so far as the records are concerned, the Great Civil War. But so long as patriotism, unsel- fish devotion and daring heroism are valued by men, will the War for the Union be remembered and its actors embalmed in oration, story and song.
Year by year, the town recognizes its debt to the
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THE WAR FOR THE UNION.
living and the dead who rallied to the defence of the nation in its hour of peril. Memorial services give fitting expression to the people's gratitude and patriotism, calling together the inhabitants without distinction of rank, creed or nationality ; a pathetic service as time thins the ranks and reminds the sur- vivors that a few years will sweep away every living representative of the Union armies. Let the Vet- erans meet as long as they are spared, to teach the generations that have come upon the stage of action the value of republican institutions and the indestruc- tible virtues of valor and patriotism, that the tradi- tions of generous sacrifice and heroic endeavor may continue to inspire the nation to high resolve, to lofty hope, to simple faith, down to " the last syllable of recorded time." 1
" It is wise, in a nation, to foster patriotism by preserv- ing the memory of noble deeds for the imitation and inspir- ation of the coming generations. Money expended in mon- uments and statuary and memorial days is not wasted, but wisely invested." 2
All honor must be paid to the noble women, whose cheerful courage in days of darkness and horror did so much to sustain the heart of the nation and to nerve the soldier to his deeds of unshrinking courage and endurance. Both during the War, in camp and hospital, and at home in many a ministry of helpful- ness and affection, did woman prove herself worthy of the honor and love of her brothers who went for
1 It may be remembered that a year ago Commander Maccabe of the Sons of Veterans delivered a ringing warning against the danger that in the general merry-making, the real spirit of Memorial Day might be for- gotten.
2 Gen. R. Brinkerhoff, at Columbus, O.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
the defence of home and country to the tented field. Her example will live and pass down among the traditions that will instruct and animate coming generations. The wearying days of suspense, the burdens left upon wives and mothers, the care of the sick and wounded, the ministering to the poor and bereaved, the preparation of stores for the camp and hospital, the filling of the place of husband and father often in the shop and field - made woman's lot in those days a sad and sorrowful one; but it was one that was bravely and cheerfully borne, re- lieving the dark hours of civil strife with "something of an angel's light."
Of one thing we may be sure, as we recall the awful and protracted contest, and all that it achieved for human freedom and civilization, that the stern strife has yielded fruits of inestimable value to our people and our land. Because of it, we live freer and happier lives to-day. The blood shed upon a hundred battle-fields has not been shed in vain. It may be said that the War was worth all that it cost, in the lifting higher the standard of political moral- ity, in clearing the air of miasmatic vapors, in break- ing the fetters of a nation of bondmen, in establish- ing the supremacy of Federal authority, and in em- phasizing our dependence upon Him who is " Gov- ernor among the nations " and to whom " the shields of the earth belong."
If the lessons of the War are forgotten in a gen- eration of peace and prosperity, of fast-growing lux- ury and license, if our very success and greatness as a nation prove our weakness, it will be only another
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illustration of the truth confessed long ago by the Hebrew poet, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
NOTE. - An account of the Dedication of the Memorial Hall will be found in Chapter XI, and of the Consecration of the Burial Lot for the use of the Post, in Appendix C.
CHAPTER XI. THE SUMMER RESORT.
" But times are alter'd." GOLDSMITH: The Deserted Village.
"I made me great works; I builded me honses . . . . I gathered me also silver and gold . . . . so that I was great and increased more than all they that were before me in Jerusalem . . . . and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy . . . . and this was my portion of all my labor."
Ecclesiastes.
" Manchester has become in our day a splendid watering place, known as such throughout the United States; so she finds gold eagles stitched into her dress."
C. A. BARTOL, D. D.
CHAPTER XI.
THE SUMMER RESORT.
BEAUTY OF SEA AND SHORE - COMING INTO NOTICE - MAN AND NATURE -THIE SUMMER RESIDENT - "NOBLESSE
OBLIGE " - THE LIBRARY - A UNIQUE INSTITU- TION -" FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE; FOR RICHER, FOR POORER."
T HERE is no evidence that the early settlers and voyagers, with one or two exceptions, saw in
the picturesque scenery of Cape Ann any beauty that they should desire it. The nineteenth century, even, was well advanced before this region of wonderful beauty appears to have attracted any special attention.
Whose vision was first unsealed to the scenic beauty of the North Shore, its wonderful combina- tion of forest and ocean, receding bay and winding inlet, smooth meadow and rocky rampart, neither history nor tradition informs us. Nature waited long for an interpreter, or even an intelligent ob- server - for a poet like Whittier or Lucy Larcom, or a writer of prose poems like the author of Corona- tion, who first made known to many of his neighbors and parishioners the beauties and glories amidst which they had lived unconscious, as their fore- fathers had lived before them.
The celebrated Harriet Martineau, as guest of Hon. Stephen C. Phillips of Salem, in 1835, rode
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
down to Manchester and over the "Smith farm," stopping at the red gate which then closed the road to stray cattle, and looking over the panorama of sea and shore, said, " It is enough to make a poor man envious." But for all that was said or done to bring her into notice, Manchester succeeded for generations, like a coy maiden, in concealing her charms from an outside world.
The earliest "summer .resident " was Richard H. Dana, the poet. Others had been here as summer boarders, but in 1845 Mr. Dana, struck with the romantic beauty of the region about " Graves' Beach," purchased some thirty acres between the water-line and the county road, mostly covered with a luxuriant forest growth, and built the first sum- mer house, a plain, substantial mansion, overlooking the sea. In speaking of this retreat, Charles Sum- ner pronounced it finer in point of location and scenery than the famous Biarritz, the summer resort of Napoleon III. For many years the Dana family made this their summer home. Richard H. Dana, Jr., spent several summers in Manchester, and found here a greatly needed respite from a laborious pro- fessional life.
Following the footsteps of the pioneer in this direction, many persons of taste and culture and wealth have made the town their summer home, until Manchester-by-the-Sea 1 has become famous as
1 This name is believed to have originated with the poet-publisher and man of letters, James T. Fields. It is not altogether an English affeeta- tion, as might at first seem ; there being a Manchester in each of the New England States, the name Manchester-by-the-Sea serves often as a nseful differentiation, preventing mail matter from going astray, not to speak of freight and passengers even. .
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THE SUMMER RESORT.
one of the most beautiful, and latterly, one of the most fashionable watering-places in the country. Rev. Dr. Bartol has done more than any other man to bring Manchester into notice. By his early, far- sighted and well-managed investments, he has proved himself more of a "seer," even from a financial and economic point of view, than many who have been bred to the art of money-making.
It has been remarked by a writer1 on physical geography, that as the climate and soil, land and water, disposition of continents and islands, trend of mountain-slopes and coast-lines, affect human de- velopment; so man in his turn changes the surface of the earth on which he lives, alters its configura- tions, modifies its climate and productions. One instance of this at hand, on a small scale, is seen in our own town and neighborhood in the preservation of woodlands and the cultivation of barren wastes, in the opening up of vistas and the change in water- fronts. Acres once covered with a tangled growth of wildwood, and considered too valueless for taxa- tion,? have been threaded by romantic avenues, and beautified by lawns and gardens. The hills that rim around the "Cove" have been adorned with stately residences, embowered in natural forests. On the "Essex road," the woods have been pre- served by purchase, through the efforts and liberality of summer residents,3 to form a continuous shaded
1 G. P. Marsh : Man and Nature.
2 As an illustration of the increase of land value, the "White Beach Pasture," sold in 1894 by the town for $40,000, was a part of a farm bought in 1836 for $2,200 for a Poor Farm, with the town's share of the surplus rev- enue ($28,000,000) divided among the States by the Federal government.
3 Through the energetic influence of Mrs. Alice N. Lincoln, a strip of
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
drive under leafy arches and between mossy and fern-covered depths, with shafts of sunlight woven with waving branches of hemlock, oak and pine. The whole shore, " beautiful for situation," by nature, has been further beautified by art, which has been made to wait on nature rather than to conceal or improve (? ) it.
From the first Richard H. Dana 1 - clarum et ven- erabile nomen-to the latest representative of the new aristocracy, from senator, ex-governor and min- ister plenipotentiary to champion golf-player and imported flunkey, from " tally-ho " to donkey-cart, from Russian wolf-hound to my lady's lap-dog - an influence more or less perceptible, but often indefin- able, has been exerted upon the town by its summer population. It has furnished a new social problem. The magnates of wealth and society and letters who have built and domiciled among us, and made the old roads of Cape Ann alive with their varied and brilliant equipages, have introduced changes " sur- passing fable, and yet true."
Year by year, a transformation has been going on, until it is doubtful if the fathers, were they to revisit this earthly scene, would know the ancient town. If the first rude fish-house on " Jeffrey's Creek " and the "Essex County Club-House " of to-day are not of a different genus, it would be in- teresting to know by what process of evolution and
seven rods on each side of the road, for a greater part of the way was secured partly by gift, but mainly by purchase, the sum of $3,500 being contributed for the purpose by summer residents in Manchester and Bev- erly ; the whole being deeded with the condition that the wood be pre- served forever.
1 The name is perpetuated in Manchester to the fourth generation.
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THE SUMMER RESORT.
natural selection the earlier species has been trans- formed into the later. The difference between the two presents at least a variation of type suggestive of the wonderful metamorphoses which Manchester has undergone in the two hundred and fifty years of its varied and romantic history.
But the gain has not been all on the side of the town so altered and adorned. From season to sea- son it has received the invalid, the toiler of the counting-room and mart, the lover of nature, the artist, the poet, the professional man, the society dame, the college student, " the city's fair, pale daughter," the children of wealth and pets of fashion; and sent them again to their homes and the routine of life with new vigor, with ozone in the brain and spring in the step, with the bloom of the wild-rose in the cheek, and the freshness of the
salty sea in the rejuvenated frame. The most beautiful months, September and October, with their bright skies, crisp and bracing air, and " softly pictured woods," witness the departure of the sum- mer crowd, and Manchester is left to its own quiet loveliness, to the occasional artist, and the people of combined taste and leisure who prolong their stay after most of the birds of passage have flown.
The period under review has been chiefly noted for the erection of many beautiful and stately private resi- dences, often of great cost, and of architectural display. Some of these buildings are a decided ornament to the town, built in the old Colonial style or in the picturesque "Queen Anne." A stimulus has also
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
been given to the building, enlarging and improving of their dwellings on the part of the permanent residents.
The erection of the Town Hall belongs to the period under notice. It was built in 1868. The size of the building was sixty-two by forty-two feet, and its cost $14,000. For twenty years the build- ing answered its purposes. But with the growth of the town, it was found at last inadequate in size and in needed facilities for Town purposes. After much discussion, and after many plans had been suggested, the building was remodelled and enlarged, in the summer of 1893, at an expense of about $18,- 000. It is now well adapted to the uses of such a building, well lighted, ventilated and heated, with good plumbing arrangements, and sufficient accom- modations for many years to come.
The finest and most costly Public Building that Manchester has ever possessed is the Memorial Library Building. It is a gift to the town by one of the summer residents and property-holders, Hon. T. Jefferson Coolidge. The Library, which is the continuation or outgrowth of the old Lyceum Lib- rary, passed into the hands of the Town in 1871. It then consisted of about one thousand volumes. It gradually increased by purchase and gift until it reached in 1887, the number of about five thousand volumes. It had been kept in quarters that checked its growth, that were inconvenient and constantly exposed to danger from fire. The desirableness of a new, commodious and practically fireproof building had often been discussed, especially at meetings of
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LIBRARY BUILDING
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the " Elder Brethren," but no active steps had been taken in that direction.1 In 1886, Mr. Coolidge signified to the town his desire to present to the citizens a suitable building for the use of the Library, including also a Hall for the Post of the G. A. R. His generous offer was accepted, and a committee appointed to superintend the erection, which was completed in the autumn of the follow- ing year.
The dedication services were held Oct. 13, 1887, and attended by a concourse of citizens only limited by the capacity of the building.2
The building is located on Union street, near the centre of the town, and is constructed of cut Ashlar with natural seam face - that is, the stone used was selected in the quarries where it joined the occasional seams found in ledges, where the moisture and air works its way down through, giving the stone a reddish brown color. The effect is to give the building a venerable look, in keeping with the architectural design and general appointments.
In the western end of the building, leading out from Memorial Hall, is the Grand Army Hall.
The eastern end of the building is occupied by the library room. Here the antique is especially prominent. The library room may properly be divided into two sections - one as a sort of reception apartment for visitors and the other devoted to the bookcases. Dividing the two sections is a sort of open partition of old English oak, inlaid with genuine ancient carvings brought from across the water, and centuries old. A panel in the partition bears the Latin
1 In 1880, a special committee reported to the town plaus for a Library Building and a Memorial Hall, which were accepted; but the town failed to make an appropriation.
2 A full account of the exercises, including verbatim reports of the addresses, with fine photographs, is contained in a sumptuous volume printed for private circulation, entitled Dedication Services of the Memorial Library, etc.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
inscription - BONA SIT TIBI SELECTIO OVAE SICVT BREVIS EST ITA IN AETERNVM.1 The ceiling is arched and finished in light oak; while the floor of the reception portion is laid with strips of light oak in " herring bone " design.
In the summer of 1895, two bronze tablets were placed in Memorial Hall, to the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the earlier wars and of the war of the Revolution. They were designed by the com- mittee on tablets, appointed in connection with the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and cast by the Paul Revere Brass Foundry, Boston.
The tablets bear the following inscriptions :2
1.
ERECTED BY THE TOWN IN MEMORY OF THE
SOLDIERS OF THE EARLY WARS AND OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF THE WAR OF 1812
- IN SAVAGE AMBUSH AND ON SEA AS WELL AS LAND THEY WON UNDYING FAME -
1895
1 This may be freely translated, "Choose wisely -brief is the act, but the results are cternal."
2 Furnished by Rev. D. F. Lamson.
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THE SUMMER RESORT.
11. IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF THE REVOLUTION THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THEIR GRATEFUL TOWNSMEN
THEY SUFFERED THEY FOUGHT THEY DIED IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE
1895
Manchester seems always to have possessed a cer- tain individuality. It is unique in its combination of land and ocean scenery, in its history and customs, in the cosmopolitan character of its later population, in the manner in which the old and new jostle each other in its streets, in its contrast of antique and homely simplicity with the latest "fads." But one of Manchester's most unique institutions is the or- ganization known as the "Elder Brethren." Other towns have their lodges, councils, orders, posts, fra- ternities, clubs, of high and low degree ; but no other town can boast of its "Elder Brethren." The idea first originated in the gathering, dating as far back as 1870, of the older men of the community for the purpose of eating chowder, renewing oldtime fellowships and exchanging reminiscences. The thing proved to have life, and in time provided for
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
itself an outward organism, "a local habitation and a name." What had been known as " The Old Men's Chowder Party " organized, Aug. 15, 1878, by the choice of George F. Allen as President, and William H. Tappan as Secretary and Treasurer. These offieers have been reelected each year. The name " Elderlies " was at first given to the members, who by taeit understanding were not to be under fifty years of age. In 1885, the name " Elder Brethren," suggested by Capt. Thomas Leach, ap- pears in the Records. The same year the town built a neat and comfortable pavilion at Tuck's Point, where the meetings had been held, and a flag-staff, the gift of Mr. Greely Curtis, was erected, from which the " Stars and Stripes," with the banner inscribed " Elder Brethren," presented by Capt. Thomas Leach, annually floats.
The charm of the gatherings is largely in their informal character. They bring together in the month of August, from year to year, a large number, usually over one hundred, of past and present citi- zens of Manchester, who spend the day in friendly greetings, in talking of " days of auld lang syne," in discussing the weather, the tariff, the changes along the shore, and the inevitable chowder. Din- ner disposed of, and an adjournment being made to the open air and the shade of the trees, there begins, under the lead of the president, as a kind of informal toast-master and prompter, the " feast of reason and flow of soul." Many are the wise and weighty sayings of these occasions, spiced with wit and humor, and occasionally with somewhat pungent
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hits ; but there breathes over all such an air of sim- plicity and frankness and good nature, that all is taken in good part, and each annual gathering is pronounced at parting the best.
Many projects promotive of public welfare have been originated or discussed at these gatherings ; among them may be mentioned especially the Library Building, for the gift of which to the town the first inspiration is said by the donor to have come to him while listening to these informal, after-dinner speeches.1 The opening of the " old Wenham road," also, resulted from a speech made by Hon. J. War- ren Merrill at one of the dinners aforesaid ; a boon to lovers of wildwood and of shaded, winding paths leading to Nature's heart. In fact, it has been said, half seriously, that whatever measure was received favorably by the " Elder Brethren", could be carried in Town Meeting.
Now that this annual custom has attained the age of a quarter of a century, it may not be amiss to express the hope that it may continue as long as the years come and go over this beautiful town, and that its shadow may never be less.
The time, however, is not yet, to write the his- tory of Manchester during the period which will be considered by some the period of the town's prosper- ity and glory, and by some the period of its decline and decay. It must be left for some future historian fully to tell the story, and to strike the balance be- tween the advantages and disadvantages of a modern summer resort.
1 J'ide Mr. Coolidge's address at the Dedication of Memorial Library Building, Memorial Volume, p. 10.
CHAPTER XII. SCHOOLS.
" Custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years; this we call education, which is, in effect, but an early cus- tom."
BACON'S Essays.
" Education, a debt from present to future generations." GEORGE PEABODY, 1853.
"A Commonwealth can only rest on the foundation of the free public schools."
Gov. GREENHALGE: Speech at Dedham, Jan. 11, 1895.
1
CHAPTER XII.
SCHOOLS.
EARLY CARE FOR EDUCATION - EARLY SCHOOLS - SCHOOL HOUSES -DISTRICTS -NAVIGATION - HIGH SCHOOL - SOME TEACHERS - DR. ASA STORY - LATER HISTORY - "THE NEW EDUCATION "- MASTER JOHN PRICE.
N EXT to freedom in civil and religious " con- cernments," our fathers valued a common- school education. At a session of the Gen- eral Court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, June 14, 1642, it was ordered:
That in every towne ye chosen men appointed for man- aging the prudentiall affajrs of the same shall hence- forth ... have power to take account from time to time of all parents and masters, and of their children . . . especially of their ability to read and understand the princi- ples of religion and the capitall laws of this country, and to impose fines upon such as shall refuse to render such ac- count to them when required. 1
A more stringent ordinance was passed Nov. 11, 1647. It was to the end, as stated in the preamble, " yt learning may not be buried in ye grave of or fathrs in ye church & commonwealth." It is therefore ordred yt evry towneship in this iurisdiction aftr ye Lord hath increased ym to ye number of 50 householdrs, shall then forthwth ap-
1 Massachusetts Colonial Records, vol. II, 6.
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point one wthin their towne to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write & reade . .. & yt where any towne shall increase to ye numbr of 100 families or householdrs, they shall set up a grammar schoole, ye mr thereof being able to instruct youth so farr as they may be fited for ye university.1
As this was the first law of the kind ever passed by any community of persons or any State, Massa- chusetts may claim the honor of having originated the free public school.
The following extracts are gleaned from the Town Records, as illustrations of the early way of doing things. The dates are given in New Style.
Mar. 27, 1696. Leift. John Siblee Robart Leach & Thomas West wear chosen A comittee for & in ye behalfe of ye towne to treat & Agree with a Scoolmaster to teach our children to read & to wright & to make an Agreement if thay can with sd scoole master.
Dec. 13, 1717. voted that John beshup & Roberd Leech iunor shall Join with the selectmen As a Commettey to Loock for a scool mestres. voted the selectmen shall a gree with a scool Marster & that every Child sent to the scool master shall pay 5d per week.
Mar. 27, 1721. Jabez Doodg was Chos scool master. it is voted to leuef ye a greing with ye scool master to ye se- lectmen and yt the selectmen shall not Give him no more than 20 pounds per yere.
Feb. 10, 1724. voted that ye town should be taxed ten pounds yerely fower yers next insuing for the support of a free scool in sd town and no more then ten pounds a yere yerely ye sd fower yere to ye sd scool which is for all sexes for Reading & Writing Englesh and for sifering that be- long to the town of manchester.
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