USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Whately > History of the town of Whately, Mass., including a narrative of leading events from the first planting of Hatfield, 1660-1871 : with family genealogies > Part 29
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Great boys and small down stairs they swiftly sped. And homeward fled with undevoutest pace, O'erleaping fence and stone wall in the race. In groups around the horse-block, just in front, Were gathered maids and wives prepared to mount, With babes and blankets, saddle-bag and shawl, Each tongue a-going, for Eve's daughters all Have this one frailty. Thus cach Sabbath day, From church a cavalcade sped on its way.
On all occasions thus on horse they rode, To shop and store they bore full many a load. To mill a bag of grain, with boy astride, Was often sent, and towards the lighter side Was charged to lean ; but soon the caution missed, At squirrel's hole, or nest, he dropped his grist. On horse they wooed ; and who would win the race, Must spur his steed and start his laggard pace. No dame of pluck and nerve can e'er be caught, Whose hand and heart are not most eager sought. Oft the reverse of what they mean they act, They're eoy when wishing they were caught, in fact. Almost on horse did wed ; the groom and bride On lively chargers riding side by side, Or he on saddle, she on pillion arrayed, The town its beauty and its chivalry displayed. So bravely mounted, dashing in high glee,
'Twas an exhilarating sight to see :- A bridal party of our day were tame Without romance, and hardly worth the name. On horseback and on foot they came to training, Though strange it seems when nerve and strength are waning. Each youngster longed for the glad day to come, And old hearts throbbed at sound of fife and drum. Men with gay plumes and uniforms would stand, And wheel and march and halt at the command ; They shoulder arms, charge bayonets, present, And handle musket, ramrod, lock or flint ; Practice the mimicry of war all day, And then at game of ball or wrestling play ; The captain chosen, call upon to " treat," As a return for honors just and meet,
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And hopeful children happy went to bed, Rejoicing in the lustre on them shed. A company on horse were wont in town, On training days to gallop up and down ; Swords gleamed in sunlight, and the bugles blowed, Red coats lured young eyes and brass buttons glowed. There was brisk mounting and some speedier halts, As o'er stone wall, rail fenec, the trooper vaults ; And though the country did no service need, Such rapid drilling was pastime indeed. A blazing flame of martial zeal it fanned In young hearts ; wakened oft a boyish band Of braves marching with drum and guns of wood, Pride of their aunts, through all the neighborhood.
But would you know, of all, the great occasion, You should attend an ancient ordination. The people came in crowds from all around, Long, moving cavalcades did shake the ground. The learning, dignity, the wealth and power, From far and near gave lustre to the hour. With pride of royalty fashion was there, With high-topped boots and cue and powdered hair, With broad-brimmed, bell-crowned hat from London brought, Or even a reverend wig that smothered thought, In all their charms beauty and love shone forth, Improved by grace and joined with real worth, And gave the assembly radiance divine, As when among celestials angels shine. The candidate each question answered well, Did his experience to the elders tell, The preacher spent two hours near, by the glass, And to the laying on of hands did pass. The service done, to dine the council went, And then to wit and humor gave full vent ; Good eating then, and-something else-beside The feast enlivened, bounteously supplied.
The shepherd of this flock for fifty years, Did lead them well, the erring sought with tears ; Brought speedy help to weary ones ; was kind And gentle in reproof ; his flock did bind With cords of love, and when his work was done,
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Ilis latter days were calm as evening's sun ; They closed in peace. His name in memory lives, And will so long as worth its meed receives. The burden from his hands his colleague bore, And well the heavy yoke his shoulders wore. Bates toilod, and earnest preached and fervent prayed ; The will and mind of people here he swayed, And gave the truth a hold upon the heart, That years of waste and change have failed to part. The good and witty Ferguson came next, Voluminous with words and ready text ; With useful work well filled the appointed day, And to the bliss above he passed away. Next Temple our historic walls uprearing, In strokes of skill and art his hand appearing, Without design ; on top-stone in its place, Are touches of his hand in lines of grace. Still Seymour on these mortal shores remains, New conquests to the Cross of Christ he gains, With zeal for God the hearts of men inspires, And in good words and ways he never tires. And last, not least, the earnest, toiling Lane, Deserves a worthy mention to obtain ; His deeds will live when all his toils are past ; For many long years yet, be he the last.
Some portions of this flock by others led, By other pastors were they richly fed. There have been Todd and Barker, Goodnough, Rice, The scholar Judd, exact and clear and nico, The gentle Lord, whose words and life agreed, Fairchild and Eldridge, religious in deed. And some true men were reared upon this soil, Who spent in other fields their day of toil. Chapin, and Sanderson, and Belden, then, And Chapman, Bardwell, Sanderson again, Unto the pulpit their best strength was given, Their crown and joy, not on earth, but in heaven. A Stockbridge, Morton, Chapman, lawyers were, And Clark ; cach a more fruitful field prefer. To medicine two Beldeus gave their days, And many sons have gone in other ways.
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And other men of mark in Whately dwelt ; On virtue's side their strength was ever felt ; There's Dickinson and Chapin, Harwood then, Physicians skilled, Bardwell, Harwood again ; We own them benefactors to the town, To other years their names be handed down.
To expose to view our fathers' nakedness, Were like the accursed Ham in wickedness. The duteous sons may our best patterns be, Refusing Noah's nakedness to see ; We turn our eyes away, the face aside, Their faults, their failings, errors we would hide.
As the old century hastens to its close, Its faults, its foibles, leave in their repose. Now a new century must be ushered in ; A new career our town is to begin. But who a hundred years from now shall be ? The All-wise alone that far-off day can see.
Wo trust that our descendants will be wise, Then on a world redeemed may lift their eyes; They may act well their part to usher in The promised hour of earth's release from sin. The clouds now glow before the light ascending ; Comes soon, of peace and joy, the day unending. O ye, who soon shall in our places stand, Toil on for freedom, right and truth, with heart and hand.
At this point the names of the oldest surviving natives of the town were announced, most of whom were present : Mrs. Asa Dickinson, æt. 88; Mrs. Jonathan Wait, 87; Mrs. Catharine Wait, 85; Mrs. Esther Dickinson, 81; (resident in Deerfield) ; Mr. Eurotas Dickinson, 84; and his wife Sally (Allis) Dickin- son, 83 ; (now resident in Bernardston). And the first regular sentiment was read :-
1. The Memory of our Fathers and Mothers.
This was responded to by " deaconing out," and singing in the style of olden times, to the tune of " Mear," the following Hymn.
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Let children hear the mighty deeds, Which God perform'd of old ; Which in our younger years we saw, And which our fathers told.
Ile bids ns make his glories known, His works of power and grace ; And we'll convey his wonders down Through ev'ry rising race.
Our lips shall tell them to our sons, And they again to theirs ; That generations, yet unborn, May teach them to their heirs.
Thus shall they learn, in God alone Their hope securely stands; That they may ne'er forget his works, But practice his commands.
2. Our Good Mother Hatfield-(represented to-day by a son of hers yet a grandson of ours)-God bless her in the future as in the past. As a child arriving at majority we honor her ; yet we mean never to cut loose from her apron strings while she has sous to lend us, or we daughters to give her.
Responded to by Dea. R. II. Belden in a short speech full of humor and sharp points : and by Thaddeus Graves, in some appreciative remarks.
3. Hadley-The Grand-parent of Whately.
The sentiment was gracefully acknowledged by Hon. Joseph Smith.
4. Our Twin Sister, Williamsburg-Bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, she left the parental fold at the same time with ourselves; and though the hundred years since then, find her with a larger popula- tion and greater wealth than we possess ; yet it is without envy that we recognize her success, and with only a twin sister's pride that we offer our congratulations, and bid her citizens welcome here to-day.
This was responded to in a most fraternal spirit by Hon. S. M. Crosby.
5. The Fifth Congressional District-May she be so fortunate as to secure as able a Representative as she now has, when the voice of the Commonwealth shall say unto him, " Friend, go up higher."
Responded to by Hon. Wm. B. Washburn.
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6. Connecticut-The Mother of Hadley, the Grand-mother of Hat- field, the Great-grand-mother of Whately. Her children and grand- children welcome her representative.
Responded to by Mr. S. Hathaway, of Enfield, Ct., who spoke as follows :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :---
I stand before you as the humble representative of the farm- ing community of the staid old State of Connecticut. But I am sorry, for her credit, that she has not present some abler and more worthy representative to thank you for her kindly remem- brance here. Or rather that some of her sons, by direct descent from those early settlers, who trod their trackless pathway through the wilderness, and, with woodman's axe, felled the silent monarchs of the wood, letting in the sun-light to kiss the glad earth ; actuated by the same feelings that propelled our pilgrim fathers over the dark sea,-that they might worship God accord- ing to the dictates of their own consciences ; I am sorry, I say, that some of those present here to-day, have not been called upon to respond for her. But in the great crop of Humanity we cannot all be " wrappers !" There must be some " seconds" and some " fillers ! " - and your President having already stretched out his " wrappers " now calls for the "fillers," that he may roll up a grand " feu de joie " to end in fire and smoke at last.
Though I feel I have done nothing for the permanent prosper- ity of the Valley, (as I neither chew nor smoke nor take snuff,) yet I have had so much pleasant intercourse here, and see around me so many familiar faces, that I feel altogether at home. And, . after the history of old Connecticut, to which we have listened, I feel I have some sort of right to claim a residence here. But I am not here as one of the original settlers. I am not here as the Crafts are here, and the Mortons are here, and the Beldens are here ! They have been here from the beginning,-grandsire, sire and son, man and boy, these hundred years ; and may they be for a hundred years to come, to perpetuate their honored names, and transmit their inherited virtues.
It is honor enough for Old Connecticut now, as in the early past, and in the later struggle, that she can stand as file-closer
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to glorious Old Massachusetts,-God bless her ! In that bright summer morning of June, on Bunker Hill; she was there, shoulder to shoulder with Massachusetts in the fight. Whether Connecticut or Massachusetts was in command, no matter. We know that Prescott was there ; Putnam was there, and Warren was there ! All fought bravely !- one died gloriously !- and the three wreathed their names in a crown of immortal glory that should be worn on the nation's brow forever.
An hundred years ago ! The century's hail that rung out from the sturdy band in this little opening in the wild forest, is echoed to-day from million kindred hearts all over the land ;- for their children have gone out to every trade and craft and pro- fession of life. They have scattered o'er the broad-spread prairie-plain ; beyond the mountains ; and over the seas. And some have come back from their far off homes to join their brethren here to-day, to celebrate the virtues, the trials and the victories of their common sires, who first planted their flag of steadfast faith on these grand old hills, and pitched their tents on the banks of this beautiful river.
O, what changes have come since their day ! A little colony grown to a great nation ! What wonders of art and science have been unfolded ! The steam engine, perfected at last, not only to propel floating palaces on the wave, but to drag with the thundering tread, and corresponding strength of a herd of wild buffaloes, great anaconda-trains of merchandise, or of Pullman's palace homes, crowded with beauty and fashion, frisking across the continent from the hoary old Atlantic to the blushing young Pacific. And last, though not least, the telegraph, -Morse- grown, mid-air was hung,-the great electric highway, whereon the lightnings run with busy feet, in fairy sandals shod, to whis- per words of love to listening cars a thousand miles away !
Or,
in the deep, dark caves of Ocean bare,
To hold sweet converse with the witching mermaids there. What palaces of beauty and homes of comfort crown these hills, and dot these valleys o'er, in contrast strong with the log-cabins and the rough, rude homes of our grandsires. Let us hope our virtues have at least kept pace with theirs, and that we are not " degenerate sons of noble sires."
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If Massachusetts was the first to step out at the word " march," in that later struggle, old Connecticut followed close behind ; and kept fast lock-step with her through all those long years of trials,-of disaster and defeat,-aye, and of crowning victories too.
Through all that struggle, it is with feelings of pride and sat- isfaction, that we remember how the efforts of your glorious Andrew were so nobly seconded by our own generous Bucking- ham.
In days ante bellum, we were wont to celebrate this anniver- sary of Independence, and with flourish of rhetoric speak of this great free country. But we spoke it with a mental reserva- tion, knowing it was a glittering lie, as four million slaved souls could testify. To-day we know that it is free ; for here are our living witnesses,-these " boys in blue,"-who wrote the cove- nant on the bloody battle-field with flaming sword and flashing bayonet,-signed it with their own blood,-scaled it with the lives of their noble comrades fallen,-and the angels of God recorded it in heaven, so that all the rebels of all the world can not rub it out, that liberty and union are inseparably wedded while time shall last and the world shall stand. Oh ! the sacri- fices of private wealth that were laid upon the altar of our country would build a golden monument as yon mountain high. But weigh them all with those of personal devotion, and Oh, how small ! Weighed in the light of " the widow and her mite," -nay, rather the widow and her son,-compare them with those of the poor, humble private, who with only the prayers and the blessings of his widowed mother on his head, her kiss on his lips, her Bible in his knapsack, went forth to stand beneath the starry flag,-aye, and to fall ! giving, as his legacy, all !- his soul to God, his life to his country !
Let us then, while we remember to honor the munificence of dollars, remember, never to forget, that nobler, sublimer, diviner munificence that could give its precious blood and noble life that our country might be free. And those living heroes,-here, and everywhere,-who periled life, as free, as ready to give, that their country might live, that liberty and union might henceforth and forever be " one and inseparable."
Rear, then, your monuments of marble, of granite and of
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bronze ! chisel thereon names that should never perish ! build your memorial halls of solid blocks, chiselled from the quarries of patriotic devotion, crowned with the cap-stone of dying valor ! float above it the flag of steadfast faith, starred with undying hopes, to wave in the breezes of centuries to come, to show the future what the past has done ! and come on every holy memorial day to strew their graves with flowers,-whose eyes of beauty weep tears of sweetest fragrance ; and whose white petals, like uplifted hands in prayer, breathe a benediction on the undying dead who sleep below. And forever let it stand, that monument, purer, nobler, and better than them all, - a government purified and made wholly free,-a Union strong and great, with power elate, while Time shall be !
7. Old Whately welcomes all her children to-day, whether they dwell under the old flag, or owe allegiance to our Mother Country, England, at home or in her colonies.
Response by Champion Brown, Esq., of Montreal.
Mr. President :
The sentiment just announced is welcomed by me with peculiar pleasure, as in the kind allusion to the land of my adoption, it breathes a feeling which it has ever been my aim to cherish, that of cultivating kindly relations with our mother country. The chief difference between us is in the form of government, and in education.
With our early training and national pride, it is natural to Americans, as we are called in the Dominion of Canada, to take occasions and to make occasions to impress upon our associates the peculiar utility of Republicanism. The success of this effort is marked in the general similarity adopted and adopting in the various forms of civic life. As a people they have much in common with us, and they often look across the border with a mixture of envy and hope. They perceive many of the advan- tages which accrue from our form of government, and their traditional attachments are growing weaker.
To be sure, when the great Rebellion occurred, the tide turned temporarily. The friends of monarchy grew bold, and confi- dently predicted the speedy downful of the government planted by our fathers and cherished by their children. And you may
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be sure that we watched with intense anxiety the shifting fortunes of the war. We never despaired of the Republic : and we never yielded a jot of our devotion to the old flag. We never forgot that we were born in Massachusetts ; we had breathed the free air of her hills ; we knew her resolution and her valor. We did not forget that we were born in Whately - whose record in all the wars of the past century, as your historian has so cloquently told us, has been an honorable one. And when the papers brought us a list of your volunteers, taking their first lessons in military training from Capt. Bardwell, your worthy chief mar- shall to-day, we took fresh courage. Our boyhood's remem- brances of his energy in whatever he undertook was a guarantee that those volunteers would be thoroughly drilled ; and my knowledge of their fathers and mothers was a guarantee that they would not be lacking in courage.
I say, when the papers brought us news of what our native town was doing, we took fresh courage ; we began to believe in the final suppression of the Rebellion ; we felt that we could uphold a republican government, and claim for it the elements of strength and perpetuity.
Our early lessons of patriotism teach us to yield hearty alle- giance to an adopted country ; but we love the institutions of the federal government ; and we earnestly wish the time may come, when not only shall there be no North, no South, but when only one form of Government, and that the one under which we were born, shall be acknowledged on this continent.
I thank you again for your kindly greetings. The acts and memorials of the citizens of Whately for the hundred years which culminate this day in this worthy and most pleasant celebration, are warmly cherished by her children every where.
8. The Bay State and the Wolverine-Divided by Territory, but undivided by kindred and devotion. Michigan pays homage to Mas- sachusetts on this occasion, by the presence of one of her citizens, a distinguished descendant of Whately.
Responded to by United States Senator Ferry, of Michigan.
Mr. President and Citizens :
Were I to follow my own judgment, I should not at this late hour further tax your good nature by any words of mine. My
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choice was quietly to sit and listen, rather than to speak and intrude. Respect however for my State, which you have been pleased to compliment and associate with your own ; and regard for the memory of a beloved mother, born in Whately, lead me to yield to the stronger pressure of my feelings and devotion, which like your own, make this spot sacredly cherished in the hearts of grateful descendants. Had I the power to draw from the quiver of Heaven, there should be summoned before you re- animated natures whose origin you claim but whose lives and experience westward, would furnish far more perfeet and graphic portrayal than anything I possibly can offer.
Bear with me, however, and I promise not to weary your patience, already tried for five long hours. In the sentiment you have tendered Michigan you have well said that though divided. by territory, she is undivided in interest and devotion with Mas- sachusetts. How is this better illustrated than by recalling the fact that when you sent your pioneers-my immediate ancestry- it took them two months to traverse the region that separates the two States, and to-day, within one generation, mutual interests have bridged that distance by the hand of art, that it may be traveled in less than two days. Her devotion is as clearly demonstrated in her attachment to those principles which lie at the foundation of New-England character and prosperity, like the rocks and hills of your commonwealth. We accept the blood and virtues of Massachusetts as a reliable and laudable base for western superstructure.
To the earlier habits and education of the East, we profitably add the experimental utility of the West, and it is no disrespect to you, or assumption on my part, to say, that a combination of the two meets the demand of a higher civilization. What is that civilization ? It is the highest type of individual and associated power. Not the power that finds its measure in profit, but whose vital element is progress. True civilization is therefore healthful progress. Some one has classified this into self-preser- vation, parent-hood, citizenship, and the miscellaneous refine- ments of life.
In the late struggle for national preservation, Michigan stood nobly beside Massachusetts in loyalty and sacrifice. We do not forget, but applaud your gallant sons, who were the first to reach
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the enemy and shed blood to put down rebellion. Falling, as they did, in the streets of Baltimore, the name of your faithful Governor Andrew is revered for his promptness, and especially his care for the noble dead, so touchingly illustrated by his dispatch to "Handle them tenderly and send them carefully home." Michigan was not far behind, though far distant from the imperiled capital. She followed Massachusetts into Wash- ington, and sent over 90,000 men to the field, being twelve per cent of her population, and in this respect outnumbered your own quota, for your State sent but eleven per cent of hers. In parent-hood the population of Michigan will soon outnumber yours. If I mistake not, she has reached within 275,000 of that of Massachusetts.
In citizenship she is rapidly utilizing all of her varied resources, and vying with many of the sisterhood in prosperity and power. Under her oaks was started that organization which, eventuating in national authority, has saved the Government from dissolu- tion and the nation from destruction, by crushing treason and making freedom and political equality as free as the air and as broad as the land. In the arts and refinements she loiters not in the federal race. Her products seek every market ; her com- mercial energy stretches beyond land and sea. I may notice a circumstance in this connection corroborative of what is implied, that passing through Springfield on my way hither, I saw cars, laden with Western products, marked " Grand Haven and Bos- ton." Especially apropos and gratifying to me as a descendant of Whately is it, to remind you that Grand Haven was settled by your own citizens less than forty years ago, who were then compelled to cut a road through forty miles of forest to find food to sustain life, but are now contributing food for Bostonians, at the "hub " of the national wheel. In education, from a school of five scholars in an upper chamber, taught by one of your own teachers, has sprung a permanent and elegant structure at a cost of $45,000.
This, in a small city of Michigan, is but an humble illustra- tion of the State. With her system of free schools, Union school buildings of beautiful architecture and of the higher grades of instruction, are scattered all over the State, while her Seminaries and University rank with the best of the land.
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I have indulged thus much in response to your tribute to my native State, and she is but a counterpart of the great West. In fact, the West has now passed beyond the boundaries of the great lakes. Chicago, the city of wonderful growth, which I remember with less than 10,000 inhabitants, now has a popula- tion of over 300,000, with tunnels under lake and river, and structures of architectural beauty which point to an advanced state of refinement and fertility of design. Consider still West- ward. San Francisco, the charming city of the Pacific, un- known twenty years ago; and the Union and Central Pacific Railroad - that marvellous project of the past decade - together with the Northern and Southern Pacific roads, now in progress, binding the whole continent into a federal Empire and pouring its products and treasures into the lap of the East, and you have a faint conception of what was, what is, and what will be, of a Union, once of thirteen States already grown into a vast conti- nental Republic of thirty-seven. I see before me its banner, swaying with the breeze betwixt those maple boughs, reflecting the history sketched, in its stripes of struggle and stars of might. The trees from which it hangs are not as vigorous or more per- petual than the power it symbolizes, nor is the air with which it plays more free or equal than the liberty and equality which it guards and enforces.
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