USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1630, to the present time, 1855 > Part 44
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corner. The whole heavens, to her, are now spangled with rainbows. To refuse such an invitation is unheard of. The visitor has left ; and the girl of sixteen is plying her mother with questions about who will be at the quilting, not daring to ask about one whom she most hopes may drop in during the evening. So engrossed have become the minds of the mother and daughter, that they have half forgotten that sup- per must be had. They now hasten to their work, and have all things ready in due season. As soon as the brothers enter . the house, the sister announces the great quilting-party ; and the fond father smiles at the exuberant joy of that darling creature, who is just budding into womanhood. Earlier than usual is all labor and worldly care to cease; for it is Saturday night. The sabbath is at hand ; and therefore they would shake off the dust of earth from their sandals, and pre- pare their hearts for that day which God has prepared for them. Every thing is ready. The sun goes down ; and their sabbath has begun. The family soon gather about their do- mestic altar ; and the pious father reads the Sacred Scrip- tures, and then offers his Saturday-evening prayer. It is not long before the weary inmates of that house begin to think of rest. The weekly ablutions, required on this evening, are gone through by all the younger members of the circle ; after which they all retire, - the father to count up the gains of the week, the mother to plan for the good of her children, the boys to travel in the land of nod, and the daughter to guess whom she will meet at the quilting.
Here let us say a word about the mother's duties, which were as important, and oftentimes more onerous, than the father's. Sick or well, the cooking and washing must be done ; and " hired help " could not be had. Moreover, the butter and cheese must be made, the cloth must be woven,
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the stockings must be knit, and the weekly mending must be done. To clothe and feed the several laborers, and then to receive and take care of many products of the farm, belonged to the mother and daughter. The toil of the females was as unremitted as the alternation of morning and even- ing ; and no day in the year could bring them a vacation. How much may be said of the part that woman played, or rather worked, in the grand drama of our first settlements ! What would our Pilgrim Fathers have been without our Pil- grim Mothers? Shaggy barbarians of the woods. Woman dared to follow where man dared to lead; and she brought with her the humanizing amenities of social life, and the sanctifying power of true religion. She came to this wilder- ness with a brave heart and a Christian faith, that she might share the perils and brighten the hopes of her husband ; and, when here, " she looked well to the ways of her household, and ate not the bread of idleness." Man may be said to have the calloused hand, the sinewy arm, and the lion soul ; but did it not require some courage in the mother to stay at home all day alone in the log-hut, when the bears and wolves and Indians might be nearer to her than her protector? The patient moral force of Christian woman cannot be over-stated ; and our Pilgrim Mothers have never been over-praised. Their coming here emancipated them. Escaping from the duress of semi-feudal caste in Europe, they sprang upward to their natural place, - the equal and companion of man. Nowhere had the like of this been seen in the world before ; and nowhere else is now to be seen this new type of woman. These missionaries of Heaven's love shaped the character and the happy and holy homes of New England ; and these homes were the primal causes of our country's intelligence and vir- tue, which, in their turn, became the causes of our present prosperity and ultimate independence. A man honors him- self when he honors his mother, - a mother who lived on earth as if she were living in heaven, - that mother
" Whom God created in a smile of grace, And left the smile that made her in her face."
We have seen how the farmer's family, in the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic, passed their Saturday : let us now see what they do on the following Sunday. The only manual labor allowed was that of imperious necessity: any thing further was thought to violate the jealous sanctity of the
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day. The iron strictness with which Sunday must be kept, made every Puritan look on that occasion as if two fast-days had met in one. The hour of rising was remarkably late ; and nothing like hurry was seen in the house. Nature found a relief in this. When the milking was over, and "the chores done," the quiet breakfast gathers the sober family around the table, where the usual provisions are spread, and where, at the end of the meal, the mother surprises her sons with a fresh-baked apple-pie, smoking from a two-quart earthen dish. This argument, addressed to the stomach, the children readily comprehend ; and each one takes his slice in his hand, and, without winking, proceeds to business. Break- fast being finished, the morning worship is now to be offered. The father takes the family Bible ; calls his little daughter to look over him as he reads ; and then, in slow and reverent tone, reads two or three chapters from the New Testament. Careful not to kneel and not to sit, the family all stand up while the father, in extemporaneous prayer, thanks the Giver of every good for his bounties, confesses his sins with hu- mility and penitence, asks for pardon through a divine Re- deemer, supplicates for the new heart and new life of the gospel, and prays for the heavenly guidance. In these gene- ral expressions, he does not forget to thank God especially for the religious freedom enjoyed in America, and to implore that Popery, Episcopacy, and all other heresies, may be for ever kept out of his true church here. There is now an hour before it will be necessary to start for meeting ; and this hour is occupied by the children in committing to me- mory a few verses from the Bible, or a hymn from Sternhold and Hopkins, or a page from the Catechism. The mother spends the hour in teaching her little daughter some Chris- tian history, or telling her the story of Joseph from the Old · Testament. The father hears the other children say their lessons, and acts as the superintendent of this first and best of Sunday schools. The hour has now arrived for the whole family to leave for the meeting-house ; and, whether it be in this plantation or the next, there is no apology available for absence from public worship. God's command, and the penalties of the statute-law, decide this case without equivoca- tion. If the weather be fair, the children walk, be the dis- tance one mile or three. Each one is dressed in the full Sunday attire, and feels it of paramount importance not to tear or soil it. They all keep together. The father mounts
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his horse, and then takes his wife upon a pillion behind him. If it be rainy, the oxen are hitched to the cart, and chairs and logs make seats within it ; and thus the family go together. If the father be one of the appointed " watchers," then he must take his gun and ammunition, and be ready to repel any savage attack. Public worship began at eleven o'clock ; and the morning service was a glass and a half long ; that is, it ended at half-past twelve. The half-hour of intermission was spent in and around the meeting-house ; and friends met there that could not get within speaking distance at any other time. The young folks were apt to huddle up together, and did not always talk about religion. The services of the after- noon were concluded at half-past two ; and our family on the banks of the Mystic have reached home in one hour after- wards. The pillion, for safe keeping, is put under the bed, the saddle hung up in the barn, and the horse turned out to pasture. The family are now ready for a meal, which unites dinner and supper; and forth from the oven come that pot of beans with its coronal pork, and that Indian pudding, all per- fectly done, having been in prison about twenty-four hours. Grace being said, the pudding is the first dish ; and it is a delicious dish too. The color of the pudding is a deep, rich amber ; and the juice or jelly is abundant. Hunger is the best sauce ; but it does not need that to make this sa- vory. Two plates-full apiece scarcely satisfy the young folks. The beans come next; and this strong and hearty food is eaten with a relish; though it will taste better to-morrow, when no pudding precedes it. When the dinner seems to be over, the mother opens the table-drawer ; and lo! a nice apple-pie! Appetite comes again at the sight of new deli- cacies ; and it takes no logic to convince the children that a slice of that pie will do them good. During the dinner, they have talked about those they saw at meeting, and each nar- rated what news he had found. The father had heard how much money was sunk by Mr. Cradock in his fishing specu- lation ; and the reading boy had brought home " J. Janeway's Address to Citizens of London, after the Great Fire of 1666," just published. The first act after Sunday dinner was to take off the Sunday clothes. Each one does this ; and then the mother assembles her children around her, each seated on his block ; and she hears them repeat the Catechism, and then endeavors to impress their minds with the truths which the sermons of the day have set forth. During this last exercise,
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the youngest daughter has fallen asleep, the youngest boy has tried to catch flies, and the rest of her audience have paid some heed. It is now time to close the religious exer- cises of the Sabbath by reading the Sacred Scriptures and joining in family prayer. This service has the truth and fer- vor of humble worshippers. Piety and love are laid on the altar ; and the concluding Amen testifies to a sabbath spent in the fear of God and the love of man. The father and sons now repair to the barn, and the milking is soon finished. By this time the sun has set ; and, as if conscience had set with it, any secular pursuit now seems half allowable. The wood for to-morrow's washing is carried in; the great kettle is filled with water; the kindlings are put in the corner ; and every thing is ready for the earliest start. The mother and daughters, who have not dared to wash the breakfast or din- ner things while the sun was up, now begin that operation ; and then get all the clothes together which must be washed, and put them in soak. The great kettle is now hung on ; and it almost seems as if Monday morning had arrived. The eldest son knows it has not, and knows there is a Sun- day evening yet to come; and, full of silent thoughts and tender emotions, he slips out, in full dress, at seven o'clock, to " drop in " accidentally at neighbor A.'s, whose blooming daughter of seventeen he likes to look at. If he can get her to go and help him sing at Mr. B.'s for an hour with some of the Sunday choir, why, then what ? Any visiting on Sun- day evening, except for courting or practising singing by the choir, being positively forbidden, it somehow always hap- pened that the choir would meet on Sunday evening ; and " there was sure to be a remarkably full attendance! Thus the "singing-school" was the Newport and Saratoga of Meadford. Recreation of some sort every human being must have, if he would thrive. He claims it as Nature's law. Our Puritan Fathers needed recreation to lubricate the joints of life. While they have been singing at Mr. B.'s, the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic has not been without its music. The parents have led, and the children followed, in some of the good old psalm-tunes which have come down from for- mer generations. At half-past eight o'clock, the candle is put out ; and the day of worship and rest has ended to the farm- er's family, -except to the eldest son, who, at half-past nine, opens that door which is never fastened, and quietly steals to bed without disturbing the sleepers. His mother heard him, but did not speak.
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We are sure this is but a rough sketch of the manners and life of the early settlers in Medford; but we hope it may suffice to show those salient traits of industry and economy, of truthfulness and devotion, for which they were so clearly distinguished. We must look through their eyes to see them aright. They were content if they could gain a comfortable subsistence, and have the opportunity of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Their condition, their dwellings, their dress, their facilities, their relationships, - how different from ours! Deputy-Governor Dudley, March 12, 1631, writes thus : " Having yet no table, nor other room to write in than by the fireside, upon my knee, in this sharp winter, &c." If the deputy-governor had no more accommodations than these, what must have been the deprivations of the rest of the people ? For many of our modern superfluities they had no names in their voca- bulary. So late as our day, we have seen aged persons who have assured us that they never tasted tea or coffee until they were over twenty-one years of age. In 1666, tea, in England, was sixty shillings sterling a pound, and was not used much in America till 1750. It was nearly the same with coffee. Any cooking which required sugar was too expensive for our early ancestors ; and the Sunday suit of clothes went through a whole life. For vocal music, they had the volunteer solo from the cradle ; for instrumental, they had the sputter of the churn, the scraping of the wool-cards, the whiz of the spinning-wheel, and the jerk-rattle of the weav- ing-loom. Their sofa was the " settle," and their spring- seat was the soft side of an oaken plank ; their carpets were clean white sand; their ceilings, rough boards and rafters ; and their parlor was at once kitchen, bedroom, and hall. We have seen what their clothing was ; and it was the pro- duct of their own looms and knitting-needles. The men were not encumbered with suspenders, or dickies, or umbrel- las ; nor were the women sighing after diamonds, opera- glasses, or Cologne water. How expensive, vexations, and useless would have been long female dresses bedraggled every moment in the grass! Fashion, which is the labor of little minds, and not the repose of great ones, had not become the fickle tyrant we now see it. They aimed at health ; and the children who were born weak and feeble could not be kept alive, as they are by modern skill: hence the robustness of those who survived. We come, then, to the conclusion, that moderate labor, simple diet, sufficient sleep, regular habits, and
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mental peace, each helped to prolong life and secure content- ment. Yes, we say contentment ; for, if any one should think these humble annals descriptive only of ennui or thraldom or stupidity, we must call it a hasty and false conclusion. When the human mind really desires improvement, it converts rocks and trees, animals and men, trials and joys, into books of philosophy and bibles of truth. By a chemistry which it cannot explain, the hungry and thirsty soul turns every thing into educational meaning and moral nutriment. All that is thus gained are reliable facts and available knowledge, which will stand the test of life and experience, while rainbow theories fade and vanish with the dissolving cloud. Our fathers had strong common sense ; and, while they were devoted to a Puritan faith and an exclusive church, they did not lose their humanity ; but the very necessities of their condition brought them to the most practical results, and to the soundest philosophy of life.
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CHAPTER XIV.
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FIRE-DEPARTMENT.
THE first action of the town relating to fires was May 12, 1760, when it was voted that two fire-hooks be provided for the use of the town.
March 7, 1763: Voted to raise £26. 133. 4d. for procuring a fire-engine, if the rest can be obtained by subscription. Hon. Isaac Royal, Stephen Hall, Esq., and Captain Seth Blodget, were chosen a committee to procure the engine and receive the subscriptions.
This resulted in the purchase of an engine called the " Grasshopper," which was placed near the market. This engine was removed to the West End, April 1, 1799 (when another had been obtained), and was kept in the barn attached to the " Angier House." It is yet in existence, and is some- times employed in pumping water into vessels.
March 11, 1765 : For the first time, nine fire-wards and twelve engine-men were appointed by vote of the town.
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
In 1785, some gentlemen associated themselves under the name of the "Medford Amicable Fire Society," with the motto, Amicis nobisque. Twenty-four members only were allowed; and they solemnly engage to govern them- selves by the nine " regulations " which they adopted. These regulations embrace all the common provisions for choice of officers and transaction of business which such an association would require. The third provides that "each member shall keep constantly in good order, hanging up in some convenient place in his dwelling-house, two leather buckets, of convenient size, in which shall be two bags and one screw- key, each bag measuring one yard and three-quarters in length, and three-quarters of a yard in breadth. If the bags or buckets of any member be out of place at any quarterly inspection, he shall pay a fine of twenty-five cents for each article so out of place.
" At the alarm of fire, each member shall immediately repair, with his bags, buckets, &c., to the place where it hap- pens ; and, if the house or property of any member be in danger, every member shall resort thither, and use his utmost endeavors, under the direction of the member in danger, if present, otherwise according to his own judgment, to secure all his goods and effects, under penalty of what the society may determine. And if there shall not be any property of a member in danger, then each member, at the request of any other person in immediate danger, will consider himself obliged to assist such person in the same manner as though such person belonged to the society."
Candidates for admission must be proposed three months before election ; and three votes in the negative prevent membership. The second line in the first article of regula- tions reads thus: "The members shall dine together on the first Wednesday in August annually."
When engines were few, and their hose were short, this society rendered most important service ; and, as their chief aim was to rescue furniture, they were sometimes able to save nearly all by their concentrated and harmonious action. The introduction of better engines and systematic procedure at fires has rendered the society so little needed that it has almost lost its existence.
Sept. 19, 1796 : Voted to procure a new engine.
These engines served the purposes of the town till a late period. The firemen were selected from the most reliable
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and energetic of all the citizens ; and, once a month, each engine was examined and played.
March 3, 1828: " Voted that the selectmen be a committee to examine and consider the necessity of procuring a new engine for the west part of the town."
1828 : The first record of the organization of a new engine- company. 1831, the town voted to give a supper each year to the firemen. Nov. 14, 1836: Voted to purchase a new engine.
Nov. 9, 1835 : The town voted that the fire-engines may be employed to water ships, and that proper compensation be required therefor.
March 6, 1837: At this time there was a general call for a more extended and efficient defence against fire ; and the town voted that it approves of the Revised Statutes, sections 19-21.
1839 : The town voted to petition the Legislature for an act of incorporation for their fire-department. This petition suggests to the Legislature the importance of considering the whole subject ; and accordingly they reconstruct the laws ; and, on the 9th of April, the present law was passed. The next day, they authorized the town of Medford to organize a fire-department, according to their petition. The form runs. thus : -
" An Act to establish a Fire-department in the Town of Medford.
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as fol- lows : -
"The selectmen of the town of Medford are hereby authorized to establish a fire-department in said town, in the manner, and according to the provisions, prescribed in an act to regulate fire departments, passed on the 9th of April, 1839 ; and the said fire- department, when so established, and the several members thereof, and all the officers and companies appointed by them, and the said town of Medford, and the inhabitants thereof, shall be subject to all the duties and liabilities, and be entitled to all the privileges and exemptions, specified in said act, so far as the same relate to them respectively." April 10, 1839.
The ninth section provides that the act establishing the fire-department " shall not take effect until it is accepted and approved by the inhabitants of the town." It was approved by the town, and the present fire-department organized in due form.
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March 7, 1842 : The chief engineer made his first annual report.
Large cisterns, sunk in the ground in various parts of the town, are filled with water, to be used only in case of fire. These reservoirs were ordered by a vote of the town, Nov. 6, 1850.
Every provision of hose, fire-hooks, ladders, &c., which the department required, was made by the town.
In 1840 was published a pamphlet, entitled " State Laws and Town Ordinances respecting the Fire Department of the Town of Medford." It contained the act of the General Court of April 9, 1839 ; also the act of April 17, 1837, " to prevent bonfires, and false alarms of fire ; " also " extracts from the Revised Statutes, chapter 18; also " an ordinance for preventing and extinguishing fires, and establishing a fire-department in the town of Medford, - passed by the board of engineers, April 25, 1840; " also further " extracts from the Revised Statutes, chapter 58." " Approved by the town, April 29, 1840."
The ordinance passed by the board of engineers had, and still has, the approval of every intelligent and virtuous citizen in Medford. A brief extract is as follows : -
Fines for carrying fire openly in the streets, from two dollars to twenty dollars; for allowing to remain any defective chimney, deposit of ashes, &c., five dollars to twenty dollars ; chimney set on fire at improper times, two dollars. Engineers shall remove com- bustible materials where dangerously placed; the engineers shall choose a chief engineer and officers, control the engines, and make all due regulations ; engineers shall repair to the place of fire imme- diately, and take all the steps necessary to extinguish the fire and secure property. There shall be hook, ladder, hose, sail, and engine carriages. The chief engineer shall have full command, and make an annual report to the town. No one shall be a member of the fire-department under eighteen years of age; nor under twenty-one, unless by request of parents. First Tuesday of May, each company shall choose officers. Duties of several officers specified. Engines, after a fire, shall be cleaned ; and, once in two months, the compa- nies exercised. Duties of firemen, to protect life and save property. Badges to be worn. Disobedient members dismissed. Duties of citizens who are present at a fire. Officers of a company may be discharged. When buildings, not on fire, shall be demolished. The ordinance closes with the following twenty-first section : "The members of the several companies shall not assemble in the houses intrusted to their care, except for the purpose of taking the engine or apparatus on the alarm of fire, or for drill and exercise, and of
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returning the same to the house, and taking the necessary care of said apparatus'after its return."
The wisdom of Medford in this twenty-first section is most apparent, and has doubtless prevented the intemperance and moral ruin which have elsewhere been deplored. Some towns have provided their engine-men with a furnished hall, lighted and warmed every evening. This plan, which was designed for good, has, in some cases, produced the most fatal results. It has brought together numbers of young men, who have not had a proper early education, and whose passions naturally lead them to excess. Some of these towns have allowed these engine-men a supper, at the town's expense, whenever they have been on duty at a fire. It has been said that some thoughtless young engine-men have rejoiced at the occurrence of a fire, because it secured to them this public supper ; and newspapers have gone so far as to affirm that fires have been actually kindled by unprincipled firemen, for the purpose of having a supper afterwards ! Common humanity leads us to hope that such statements are not true. Can it be that any human mind is so sunk to the level of a brute, so polluted in moral debasement, and so lost to all feeling and all justice, as to be guilty of one of the most atrocious crimes, merely to get a supper ? If there be one such member of any fire-company in this Commonwealth, the sooner he is transferred to the State Prison, the better for him and for the community. It would be compassion to stop him in his road to ruin, and to put him where his pas- sions can be quieted, and where he could have leisure to see himself as God sees him.
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