USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
"The committee have proceeded on the ground that all public moneys, raised for specific purposes, should be so laid out and applied as will accomplish the objects intended by the appropriation ;- otherwise the money is in a great measure thrown away. And especially is this the case in reference to all works of this description. Now the design of the town was to have a commodious and well-ventilated town-hall and school-room, and like rooms for all town-business purposes, book cases, &c. These objects, the committee flatter themselves, have all been attained. But if they had failed to secure these
174
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
ends, through fear of a moderate increase of expenditure, they could not but feel it would have been a subject of just reproach to themselves, and a matter of regret and lamentation to all the citizens of the town, during the existence of the building. But, as has been stated, the additional expense has not been paid by the town, in this case.
"The whole outlay for the building, including painting, settees, tables, and blinds, (to be painted and hung,) and including, also, the seats and desks in the school-room, is
$2,953 75
" Of which there has been paid the sum of 2,077 45
"Leaving a balance unpaid of $876 30
"From which may be deducted the sum given by certain individuals for the enlargement, and still due, 200 00
"Which reduces the balance to the sum of only $676 30
"From the whole outlay, as above stated, should be deducted $77.45, for surplus lumber, which reduces the actual cost of the building to $2,876.30. The frame, and all the lumber and materials used in and upon the build- ing, have been of the best quality, and the work has been done in the most thorough and workmanlike manner.
"The committee have examined, made inquiry, and sought for information in regard to many town-houses, and they know of none which seems to them so well adapted to all town uses as this ; and they feel the utmost confidence in the expression of an opinion, that no town- house of equal .dimensions, and combining like purposes, has recently been built, and as well built, at so small an expense by a very considerable sum.
"In connection with this subject, one consideration deserves to be mentioned and borne in mind. We are now furnished with the means of having a high-school in our own town, equal to those in many other towns. Parents may thus have their children under their own immediate charge while enjoying the benefits of such a
175
CIVIL HISTORY.
school, and at the same time save the payment in money of about $1.50 a week for each child, which for one quarter amounts to $20, and for forty children would amount to $800. Already we have had such a school one term, the pupils numbering forty or more. Now, if those parents had sent their children out of town, it would have drawn from them the payment of about $800. And thus it appears that the amount paid by the parents of forty children, for schooling them out of town only one quarter, would be equal to almost half the amount actu- ally paid by the town for the whole town-house. Truly, then, may it be said, the town has done a good work, and there is cause for universal gladness; for with one voice all will say it was greatly needed ; with one voice all will say, too, it is of such a character as to be not only useful in itself, but an ornament and an honor to the town. In this thought every citizen may well feel a praiseworthy gratification. He may also feel a commendable pride in the thought that he has lent his aid in the work, and has a right and an interest in it in common with all his fellows.
"In conclusion, the committee feel it due to themselves to say that in the discharge of their duties they have labored most earnestly to meet the wishes and effect the purposes of the town; and they think they have not labored in vain. They trust all will be satisfied that the building is a good one, and they hope none will be dis- satisfied with the price it has cost.
"L. M. PARKER, "S. D. BENJAMIN, "JONAS HOLDEN, "S. M. LONGLEY, "CHAS. BUTLER, "THOS. WHITNEY, "J. C. HARTWELL, "Shirley, March 5th, 1849."*
Building Committee.
It was the desire of some of the people most inter- ested in the building of the new town-house, to have it
*See Appendix R.
S
176
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
opened with a public service, soon after its completion, and some steps were taken to effect this object; but cir- cumstances required its postponement until July fourth, 1848, when the citizens of the town assembled to celebrate the event, which they did in the following appropriate order :
I. Anthem-Tune, "America."
2. Selections from the Scriptures, by Rev. H. Brown.
3. Hymn, 696 Greenwood's Collection.
4. Prayer, by Rev. B. Smith.
5. Music, "List to the bells so merrily ringing."
6. Declaration of Independence, read by Thomas E. Whitney.
7. Music.
8. Address, by Rev. S. Chandler.
9. Song, duet and chorus, "Adams and Liberty."
IO. Benediction, by Rev. H. Brown.
This somewhat protracted account will be concluded with a few extracts from the address delivered at the dedi- cation of the hall. After a brief introduction, the speaker thus proceeded :
"The primary object of the first settlers of New Eng- land was to establish themselves in a house where they and their posterity might, without molestation, enjoy their natural rights. To this end they undertook and accom- plished what would rarely be effected for less worthy purposes. They were eminently men of God. Their homes, their kindred, their fathers' sepulchres, were as dear to them as such objects are to others. But dearer to their hearts were piety and freedom. To enjoy and per- petuate these was their hope when they quitted their native shores, and encountered the perils of the ocean and the wilderness. Hence their enterprise, so une- qualled in the history of man, encompasses their names and memories with imperishable glory. It casts into shade all those projects and achievements by which the ordinarily great have purchased immortality. Heaven
·
177
CIVIL HISTORY.
smiled on their righteous cause and crowned it with a success commensurate with its purity and elevation.
"Civil and religious liberty ;- why compound the object of the Pilgrims? If the first is enjoyed, the second follows as a matter of course. A free government can have no restraint on religious liberty-it can never invade the rights of conscience-it can encourage no preference of one sect or denomination over another-it must deprecate the establishment of religion by its power, the support of any specific creed or liturgy to further its own peculiar op- erations. No, the enlightened members of such a govern- ment must forever repudiate any special union of religion
with the state. They would on no account render the sacred office of Christian teacher a lure to ambition or to avarice. While they spread the protecting shield of gov- ernment over all, they would leave each and all to adopt that system of doctrines, and that form of worship, which they conscientiously believe best adapted to the moral and spiritual condition and wants of the community. Under such a system, religious teaching has a power and efficacy which ' it can never assume when hampered with the shackles of a union with the state.
"Satisfied, as our fathers were, that if they had a gov- ernment without a despotic king they should have a church without a state bishop, they were emboldened to peril life in seeking a new, and in many outward respects, a forbidding home,-that they might accomplish the great, primary object of all their earthly hopes, the establish- ment of a free government. This was eventually done, and to sustain it they resorted to the only practicable mode, -the support of free suffrage and free schools. We know that tyrants of every grade have uttered a long and bitter cry against both. They have said that by opening a free ballot-box, ignorant and irresponsible men have an opportunity to thwart the judicious efforts of the wise and devour the wealth of the rich, and a train of evils must follow which lead directly to confusion and anarchy; or, if you make learning universal, you will
23
178
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
encourage ambition in the mass, which tends toward mis- rule. That there are some evils attending these customs we need not deny, yet they are so completely thrown into the shade by the advantages that free voting and free learning have over other systems, as to be almost lost from our view. While, on the other hand, the state is daily becoming stronger under this support of all its subjects, they are in a way to become wiser and better from the enjoyment of all its privileges. We have known those so low in degradation as to have almost forgotton that they were men, except when standing at the ballot-box, on a level with their fellow-citizens. And if there is latent goodness-the remains of moral energy in their natures, this is the last mode by which it may be reached and re- vived. It is the last hope to save men from utter degrada- tion-into which state myriads annually fall under despotic governments-by thus preserving in their minds something of a sense of their obligations as freemen. Deprive men of all participation in the government, and you deprive them of all solicitude or care for its welfare. They live like aliens under its protection, and until driven, will not lift a hand for its preservation.
"That all may act understandingly, as freemen, the system of free schools was established for the benefit of all. Through the aid of this system, people may here arise from 'no condition' to the highest in human life ; to be consistent and useful thinkers and participators in the duties and privileges of a free and equal government. In this, then, more than anything else, lies the secret of the permanence and success of the American Republic ! Destroy your free schools and absolve the right of uni- versal suffrage, and you will soon reduce your country to a state of anarchy or despotism. But preserve and per- petuate these blessings, and, notwithstanding the din of party politics and the scramble at party elections, the state will stand, for God will turn the wrath of its subjects to the enlargement of its strength.
"And here I would ask liberty to introduce the opinion of another which is well worthy of consideration. He
179
CIVIL HISTORY.
says : 'The utter failure of all revolutions of government from a monarchical to a republican form, with the single exception of the United States of America, is a lesson of history more lamentably corroborated by the recent ex- amples of Italy, Hungary, the German States, and, worse than all, France, in which the cry of Vive la Republique is the mere password by which successive usurpers betray the hopes of liberty. Were it not for the solitary example of this country, the conclusion would seem to be estab- lished on absolute principle, that free institutions are impracticable. Here, and here only, has success crowned the struggle for liberty. Now, when it is remembered that nearly three-tenths of all the troops engaged in the Revolutionary war were drawn from this State, and when we consider how long the scales hung even, how narrow was the deliverance of the American cause, all must be prepared to admit that the moral energies which an intel- lectual training contributed to the sons of Massachusetts, decided the issue of the conflict. The light artillery that saved the day, in the great battle of American freedom, were the common schools of New England.
" "This was the opinion of the wisest men of that day. The successful termination of the war of American In- dependence arrested universal attention, and excited a profound interest throughout the civilized world. *
"To understand the rudiments of the American Revolution," said John Adams, "one must make himself a master of four leading institutions, by which more than by all things else, the people had been enabled to achieve their independence,-the TOWN, the CONGREGATION, the MILITIA, and the SCHOOL. Every reflecting person will read in these four words the character and history of the New-England states. Of the four, the last is evidently the deepest and the most potent in its operation. Without the school, the town-meeting would not have trained the people in self-government and the discreet and efficient use of political power ; the congregation could not have appreciated the learning and the logic by which the pulpit,
.
180
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
sustained by an intelligent community, lifted that intelli- gence higher and higher ; and the sword could only have been safely trusted to men who could also maintain their rights by argument, and who knew their duties as well as their rights."'*
"If I understand the matter, a polity, purely republi- can, is that simple state of society where personal merit, of some kind or other, makes the only noticeable distinc- tion between man and man. Now, it is evident that such a state of society demands for its support men of well cultivated minds ; it demands a system of universal educa- tion. And to encourage men to avail themselves of the advantages of this system, they should understand in their youth, that, at a future time, they will be allowed and required to take an equal part with others in the affairs of civil government. While, then, the thought of acting the part of men, with men, is, in itself, designed to excite the boy to avail himself of the privileges of the free school ; these privileges, properly improved, in their turn stimulate the man to sustain and enlarge this institution as the richest inheritance that has descended from a vigilant and
patriotic ancestry. And here it should be distinctly un- derstood that, the farther we depart from a pure republican polity and the nearer we approach the monarchical model, the more does that natural distinction, formed by personal merit, give place to those artificial distinctions created by riches, office, and rank. And this clearly appears from · the fact that in those countries where the great mass have neither the right nor the ability to be free, the lusts of individual opulence and individual power have had full scope; and from them have proceeded the despotisms and hierarchies under which down-trodden humanity has groaned for myriads of ages.
"The early settlers of New England understood all this ; they learned it by sad experience; hence, it was their primary object, after the settlements here had perma- nently commenced to establish the means of instruction
*Christian Examiner, vol. 47, pages 389, 390.
181
CIVIL HISTORY.
on a permanent basis, that the rising generation might understand the art of self-government.
" Within about ten years after the landing of our fathers upon the peninsula of Boston, the college at Cambridge went into operation. Even while the wild forest extended to its very doors and the savage built his wigwam in the immediate vicinity, the corner-stone of the temple of American freedom was there laid, amid the labors and prayers and tears of its pious, self-denying, and self-de- termined founders ! And every seminary of learning, from the classic halls of this first university down to the humblest district school-house, has been a stone in that noble edifice ; every child who has learned the rudiments of his national literature has prepared himself, in a meas- ure, to sustain and beautify it. Can it, then, be supposed, while men have the ability and the right to act, as mem- bers of a free state, that this beautiful structure will be deprived of any of its parts or appendages? With the means of a universal education, and the privilege of free suffrage, will not our country remain the sublime instructor of every other nation on the globe?"
After the speaker had set forth the early struggles of the settlers of Shirley to sustain the free-school system, and the more recent attempts that had been made to estab- lish a select school, he proceeded to congratulate his fel- low-citizens on the ample accommodations which the new building afforded for this purpose. He said :
"It must be a realization, in part, of the hopes of the friends of education that so extensive arrangements have been furnished for the latter enterprise, in the edifice in which we are now assembled. The form of the structure seems a fit emblem of the process by which the youth is prepared to act the part of the man. The basement story where he receives his instruction, bears up the place where that instruction is to be used in vindicating his rights and in sustaining the government of which he is a constituent part. As he ascends from one stage of duty to
182
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
the other, may his every step be characterized by that wis- dom and prudence which are an earnest of his future use- fulness and success, as a man, a citizen, and a republican !
"I presume I have not overstated the value of the free- school system as a support of republican liberty, nor can we sufficiently admire the patriotism of our ancestors, who would establish this system at the expense of the comforts and even the conveniences of life. Here their wisdom exceeded that of the wisest states in the old world. It is well illustrated in the following anecdote, which I once heard related by an American clergyman. He said that early one spring he was travelling through a back country, over an uneven and miry road, in company with an English lady whose literary accomplishments made her an interesting companion. She bitterly complained of the slothfulness of Americans in permitting their highways to remain in such a broken and unfinished state,-for so much neglecting their dwellings and gardens, and, indeed, everything that can conduce to the physical comfort of man. At the same time she enlarged upon the works of art in her own country-the grandeur of their bridges- the magnificence of their cities-the splendor of their public and private edifices-the smoothness of their roads -the luxuries of their gardens-the beauty of their hedges -all of which she presented in contrast with what she saw in her American travels. As they rode through a forest and emerged from a swamp the first building that met their view was a little district school-house, situated by the wayside. Instantly the tone of the lady was changed ; the truth in all its power flitted across her mind, and she exclaimed, 'There is where your countrymen ex- cel; while they have neglected outward comforts, they have laid the foundation of their own and their nation's glory.'
"As, therefore, we prize the freedom we enjoy, we shall bless the memory of our worthy ancestors, who labored to obtain and establish it.
"Is it a matter of wonder that people thus trained
-
183
CIVIL HISTORY.
should refuse to be deprived of all their natural and char- tered rights? 'Mother-land,' they filially styled Great Britain, -'Blessed England,' they reverentially called her ; yet they would not consent, even for her loved sake, to wear the chain of the slave! I need not tell you how much this mother intruded upon her daughter's rights by the passage of the 'Stamp act,' the 'Boston port-bill,' etc. But I will ask the real cause of American resistance. Was it not the denial of the right of representation in the body that levied the tax? Was it not a refusal to permit them to act in the affairs of their own government? The tax in itself was not the most oppressive part of the griev- ance; it was the manner in which it was laid. They could pay the tax easier than they could support a war of independence ; but they could shed their hearts' blood before they could submit to the galling power of such un- just oppression ! Here they nobly contended for the right of suffrage, the freedom of the ballot-box, the right of the many against the few; they nobly contended for all the rights of which we, their children, have become the happy participators ;- rights which we hope to sustain in this hall, in a manner worthy of the example left by our ancestry."
After some allusion to the part which the inhabitants of Shirley took in the stormy scenes of the Revolution- which events are more fully recorded in another part of this history-the speaker proceeded to notice the public and private liberality which had been exhibited in the progress and accomplishment of the work before them. He said :
"A spirit of public liberality has been manifested in this enterprise worthy of high commendation. Situated as the town is, in regard to population and pecuniary resources, and burdened as the people have been with taxes, it required no small degree of energy to grapple with an undertaking which could not be accomplished without considerable pecuniary expense ; but, without murmuring, all have come up to the work, with an
184
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
apparent desire to perform it in such manner as would redound to the honor of the town. And we trust the result has been universally satisfactory.
"But notwithstanding this liberality, it is but just to say that the work could not have been accomplished at present but for the private munificence which has been also mani- fested. A generous philanthropy has been engaged to secure the important object ; and gratitude to the. living donors should awaken in us the desire that they may long remain to witness the fruits of their kindness in the grow- ing virtue and prosperity of their fellow-citizens.
"While those particularly interested would scarcely pardon a more direct allusion to the efforts of the living- great as they have truly been-we cannot thus lightly pass over the praise due to the honored dead. Before the corner-stone of this edifice was laid, he who was the cor- ner-stone of the enterprise had passed the bourn of earth. Long desirous of having a public building for the use of the town, he procured the plan of one which, had he been spared another year, he would have erected. But as he found this hope was to be disappointed, he left a legacy, which, added to the subsequent donations just alluded to, amounted to about one-half of the entire cost of the whole undertaking. Let not this munificence be disregarded or lightly esteemed, for it was the commence- ment of an enterprise, the benefits of which future gen- erations, as well as the present, cannot realize without appreciation. His body sleeps in the cemetery, hard by, within the beautiful enclosure erected by himself, sur- rounded by the graves of some of his nearest earthly friends, from whose communion he was not long separated by death. May the air which waves the grass that rises over his resting-place never be mingled with the din of strife amongst his fellow-citizens; and while we believe ourselves assisted and blessed by his efforts, may we never cease to hold in cherished regard the honored memory of JAMES P. WHITNEY."
185
CIVIL HISTORY.
In the erection of the town-hall the people had mainly in view to secure a place for the public records and to have a convenient assembly room for municipal meetings. If any other purpose was conceived, except that of converting a part of the basement story into a high- school room, it was not mentioned. But it was soon found convenient to devote the new temple to various other and important purposes. Lyceums were instituted, lectures given, and various other social, literary, and charitable entertainments were here, from time to time, enacted. These, with the common variations incident to such ephemeral institutions, have been continued to the present time; by which means the dull monotony of winters in the country has been prevented, and a zest and energy have marked the character of the citizens, rather than thoughtlessness and stupidity. So decidedly popular have been these entertainments, that few, even of the most re- motely located citizens, would be willing to return to that state which favored none of these experiences.
Still the score of years between 1850 and 1870 pre- sented a want harder of endurance as time progressed. The South Village had a large and increasing part of the population of the town, and to unite in entertainments at the town-hall imposed upon the people of that village a journey of two miles. While many were ready to submit to this inconvenience, and zealously partici- pate in the advantages to be derived from the proffered occasion, others, especially the female portion of the community-who had no other method of transport than that offered to pedestrians-could not avail themselves of the privilege of attendance except at rare intervals.
The evil, however, was remedied and the want sup- plied through a private generosity. Mr. Munson-whose name is already familiar to the readers of this history- having purchased and removed to a suitable location the original church structure of the Universalist parish-en- larged and fitted it up for a public building, supplying all the appurtenances necessary to adapt it to the different
24
i
186
HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
uses required of such an edifice. The hall, or auditory, is eighty feet long, thirty-eight feet wide, and nineteen feet high, slightly vaulted, and well adapted to both speaking and hearing. At the side opposite the front entrance is a dais or raised platform, on which an organ is located, and where a movable desk is placed when required for lectures or discourses delivered by note. The room is commodiously furnished with settees, and is illuminated by two beautiful chandeliers, imparting ele- gance as well as usefulness to the entire apartment.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.