USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Malden > Memorial of the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Malden, Massachusetts, May, 1899 > Part 4
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ADDRESS BY JOHN LANGDON SULLIVAN, M.D.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Pupils of the Malden Schools : - I think it a privilege to be born and brought up in Malden. I think it a privilege to be brought up in Malden, even though born elsewhere. In a few words let me say why. In point of
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natural beauty and healthfulness of situation, few towns excel our own. Malden enjoys a great and increasing material prosperity. Its schools are excellent, inferior indeed to none in the commonwealth. Of these characteristics of our fair and flourishing city, all her citizens are proud. But it is not on account of these only that I esteem it as a high privilege to be born and brought up in the sunshine and shadows of old Mystic Side. It is first and chiefly because of the moral and spiritual influences with which Malden surrounds and pro- tects her children and youth.
A single illustration and I am done. As long as Malden shall exist as a city, so long shall the illustrious example of the noblest use of wealth set by her chief citizen and first multi-millionaire - that of making his large means contribute to the well-being and happiness of an entire community - command the admiration and challenge the emulation of men. So long as Malden shall exist as a city, from generation to generation shall that example awaken in other gener- ous bosoms a like spirit of disinterested Christian benevolence. That which thou sowest shalt thou surely reap.
This is one only of the formative influences wherewith Malden shapes, as with a potter's wheel, the plastic mind of youth. Amongst the hundreds of young persons to-day within these walls assembled, it is probable that the opportunities and obligations of great wealth shall hereafter devolve on more than one. Let each of you, my young friends, here and now firmly resolve, and cherish as firmly through life, the resolution that, if Heaven shall ever vouchsafe to you, individually, an opportunity to do good on a grand scale, the record- ing angel's pen shall, on the same page with Malden's great living benefactor, write you too as one who loves his fellow-men.
FREEDOM, OUR QUEEN.1
Music by JOHN K. PAINE.
Words by O. W. HOLMES.
SUNG BY MISS MARIE LUCHINI.
Land where the banners wave last in the sun,
Blazoned with star clusters, many in one,
Floating o'er prairie and mountain and sea ;
Hark! 'tis the voice of thy children to thee !
Here at thine altar our vows we renew
Still in thy cause to be loyal and true, -
True to thy flag on the field and the wave, Living to honor it, dying to save !
1 Words by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Company, publishers of Dr. Holmes's works.
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Mother of heroes ! if perfidy's blight Fall on a star in thy garland of light, Sound but one bugle blast ! Lo, at the sign Armies all panoplied wheel into line. Hope of the world ! thou hast broken its chains, - Wear thy bright arms while a tyrant remains ; Stand for the right till the nations shall own Freedom their sovereign, with Law for her throne !
Freedom ! sweet Freedom ! our voices resound, Queen by God's blessing, unsceptred, uncrowned ! Freedom, sweet Freedom, our pulses repeat, Warm with her life-blood, as long as they beat ! Fold the broad banner-stripes over her breast, - Crown her with star-jewels Queen of the West ! Earth for her heritage, God for her friend, She shall reign over us, world without end!
THE CHAIRMAN. - We regret that time prevents more than a passing allusion to the excellent services rendered our city by the men who have so ably filled the office of superintendent of schools. Among the dead, George W. Copeland and William H. Lambert ; among the living, our esteemed fellow-citizen, William A. Wilde, whose first official act in 1872 was the donation of five hundred dollars to the town for the purchase of maps, etc., for the schools ; that veteran in school work, Charles A. Daniels, - may his days be long upon the earth, -- whose modesty alone prevents his having a place on this pro- gram. Let the present speak. " To-day is a better day than yester- day." Our superintendent, your superintendent, George E. Gay.
ADDRESS BY GEORGE E. GAY.
THIS day looks back two hundred and fifty years. It sees a score of houses, the same number of miserable farms. It looks toward the sea, down a silent and useless river. It sees twoscore men, women, boys, and girls, - such men, such women, such boys, and such girls as never before in the history of the world started out into a new land to make a new home and found a new nation. Around them were the members of a race that bad held this land from time immemorial. They were a lazy race. They had never harnessed the forces of nature. They worked only that they might eat, and having eaten, they idled till hunger compelled them again to seek food. To-day these farms are noble parks, broad avenues, beautiful streets. Yonder river goes to the sea freighted with the wealth of the world.
.
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I have asked myself, Why this change? Why should a score of Puritans, landing on this desert shore but two hundred and fifty years ago, make such a change as this? The land was here, the trees were here, all the forces of nature were here. This little stream of ours had been rolling to the sea for a thousand years, but no man had ever used its force until your ancestors put a grist-mill beside it.
What marked these men that made our history ? As I have read that wonderful story of the early life of this town, which everybody in Malden is reading to-day, I think I have noticed two or three things in the eyes and in the hearts of these men and women, which account for all the growth which this township has had. First, I find the purpose to do and to be. The Indian had a purpose not to do, and a purpose not to be. The white man came to do and to be something worthy of the God who made liim. The white man's axe felled the trees ; the white man's sickle mowed the grain; the white man's hand reared the buildings ; the white man's word rang out; the white man's sword won liberty. He dared to do because he first dared to be.
I find another quality that characterized these ancestors of yours. They were an industrious company of people ; or, if there were a drone among them, he was, like all drones everywhere, an incubus, - a load which the workers had to carry.
I find another element, another characteristic in these men, and if I am right, this third thing was the most important of the three, and has had more to do with the material and the moral prosperity of our city than any other force. What is this which thus distinguishes our ancestors? It is the spirit of self-denial, - the willingness to bury the emotion, the feeling, the passion, the desire of the moment in order to win the reward that lies at the end of toil. And every house in this city, every stone in its pavements, every brick in its school- houses, is there because some man, some woman, some boy, or some girl has denied himself for the present in order that he, or others, might have and win and enjoy in the future.
The past is behind ; the future is before us. Two hundred and fifty years hence what shall this city be? If its people are marked by the same high purpose, by the same willingness to do, by the same gift, yea, divinest gift of self-sacrifice, this public spirit which looks forward, - then the growth of the next quarter-millennium shall be as great as the growth of the past. These men, these women, these boys and girls whom we look back to, have passed away ; but every one who has contributed toward the growth of the city in these ways has left behind the result of his labor and the inspiration of his example.
I stand every day and look at the noblest building in this city, aye, at one of the noblest buildings in the world, the Malden Public
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Library ; and to me it is not a public library at all. It is what its name says it is, a memorial building. A memorial to whom? A memorial to a young man stricken down at his post of duty. I would that every boy and girl, as he or she enters those walls, would say, looking reverently toward him in whose memory this building rises, " I too will do the work that is set for me to do; I too will die at my post."
TO THEE, O COUNTRY!
Music by JULIUS EICHBERG.
SCHOOL CHORUS.
To thee, O country, great and free, With trusting hearts we cling ; Our voices, tuned by joyous love, Thy pow 'r and praises sing. Upon thy mighty, faithful heart We lay our burdens down ;
Thou art the only friend who feels Their weight without a frown. $
For thee we daily work and strive, To thee we give our love ; For thee with fervor deep we pray To Him who dwells above. O God, preserve our fatherland, Let Peace its ruler be, And let her happy kingdom stretch From north to southmost sea.
THE CHAIRMAN. - It was as a member of the school committee, and in the discharge of the duties of that high office, that Marcellus Coggan, Esq., first gained the confidence of the people, - a confidence that led to his election as mayor. Ex-Mayor and ex-Chairman of the school committee, Hon. Marcellus Coggan.
ADDRESS BY THE HON. MARCELLUS COGGAN.
Fellow Citizens : - When I received from your chairman an in- vitation to speak this afternoon, the question occurred to me to ask, What can I say? That question comes at this moment with very terrific force - what can I say? The past brings up so many memo- ries, the future suggests so many things, that it is very difficult to select the most fitting thing to be said upon an occasion like this. But humanity is as a great river, rolling onward and onward with its
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mighty waters, and finally depositing us all in the great ocean of eter- nity. And of all the interesting exercises to which the city of Malden will be invited during this celebration, none will be of so much interest to you, none will give me so great a pleasure, as this present occasion. To look into the faces of those who are to be the future citizens of our municipality, of our commonwealth, and of our republic, and to contemplate what they are to furnish for their city, their common- wealth, and the nation, is a most interesting privilege ; and as we sit here and contemplate all this, the thought occurs to me that if one generation of American youth would devote their time, their training, and their energies, unselfishly, regardless, entirely regardless, of self, to the cause of humanity, the tyranny of the world would tremble before it when it came on the stage of action. It will be but a short time before the youth of this city will take their places on the stage of active life. You have been fortunate in the hour of your birth. You have been most fortunate in the circumstances which have sur- rounded your training. You are fortunate in your school ; you are fortunate in your parents ; and that is what makes this occasion the most interesting of all the events of this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary : because here is centred the heart of our homes, the very focus of our affection ; and when that is set forth as the object of the devotion of any people, you may be sure there is a deep and a lasting interest in it. I am aware, my young friends, that I must be brief in what I have to say ; and I want to say to you that I never shall be old enough not to be able, as long as reason is upon its throne, to participate in your pleasures, to rejoice with you in your joys, and to wish and hope that when you shall come to the hour of manhood and of womanhood you may take hold upon the duties of citizenship, and resolve that your effort shall be given to the cause of the generations that shall come after you, as the generations that have gone before you have given their efforts in your behalf. In this way, and only in this way, can these free American institutions, which give you so much to enjoy, which furnish to you such great opportunities, be per- petuated for successive generations. And let me ask you now to take with you one thought of the future, and to remember that citi- zenship is close upon you. Its duties, its responsibilities, are your own, almost within your grasp, and I urge you earnestly to take up the work of preparing for those duties and performing your part in the history of your municipality, of your commonwealth and your country.
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STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER.
Words by J. H. MILLIKEN. MARCH (SOUSA).
BAND AND CHORUS.
All hail to the stripes and the stars ! It's the flag of the fearless and free ; Hurrah for our own gallant tars, Who uphold it on ev'ry sea.
And hurrah for our heroes in blue, Who are marching in Liberty's name ; Oh, may our glorious flag Forever wave o'er true and brave In endless fame !
All hail to the flag! May its folds E'er protect those who freedom would find.
And may each new star that it holds Mark an era of peace to mankind.
Let nations " remember the ' Maine.' " The spirit of Liberty 's aflame ; Oh, may our glorious flag Forever wave o'er true and brave In endless fame !
THE CHAIRMAN. - So recently a member of our committee that we have hardly ceased looking for his presence at our regular meet- ings, - a man many of these children have met in the schoolroom, for he was a frequent observer of their work ,- it seems but a renewal of acquaintanceship to introduce ex-Mayor John E. Farnham.
ADDRESS BY THE HON. JOHN E. FARNHAM.
To me this is the most interesting portion of our celebration ; and if I had been asked to choose some part of it where I might have had the privilege of saying one word, it would have been right here in the presence of these fresh young faces. I once heard the late Governor Robinson say that Massachusetts was noted chiefly for but two pro- ductions, namely, her annual crop of ice, and her men and women ; and here we have before us her noblest production, - her little men and women. Now I promise you that I will not speak longer than five minutes, for that is the time that is allowed to me this afternoon ; and in that short time what can I say, or what can be said fitting for
84.1899
THE CITY HALL
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an occasion like this? You know it is taught in our history books that the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth was an accident. Well, the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth was an accident, - they in- tended to land on the shores of New Jersey ; but the fact that the Pilgrims sailed, and the reason why they sailed, from Holland and from England, was no accident, and that is the chief question with us. They sailed, and we see the result here. And that little band of Pil- grims, and the Puritans also, started, it seems to us, right. They started from the presumption that the school and the government must go hand in hand. They believed that the one was dependent upon the other, and that without free schools the state was not safe. And do you realize that, with Plymouth settled in 1620 and Boston in 1630, in 1636, six years after the settlement of Boston, an order or a bill was passed appropriating four thousand pounds for the purpose of establishing a university? That, my friends, was thirteen years before Malden became a town. And do you realize, also, that two years before Malden became a town, in 1647, the first act was passed which established a public-school system in the United States? Now that principle enacted away back there - and our school system, remember, is two hundred and fifty years old - that system and that principle recognized there have been recognized by the Congress of the United States, when, in the great boundless lands of the West, a cer- tain portion of those lands is required to be given up for the purposes of the public schools. It is said that a little learning is a dangerous thing. If this is so, I am afraid it is dangerous to all of us ; for there is nobody that possesses any more than a little learning. But we do say that, everything else being equal, a little learning is a good thing and tends to make better citizens. Oh, I wish I had in the few minutes at my command the eloquence and the ability to present to you, and the ability to bring forth in you, some great truth that would be of value to you in the future. We all know that, if you will use the talents you possess to the best of your ability, wherever you go in the future, and the older you grow, you will look back with a great deal of pleasure and pride to this celebration. Now I want to say one word more. Daniel Webster, in one of his great orations, said that if the United States had done nothing more than to produce such a character as Washington, it was a grand success. And that character of Washington is what it seems to me we should study to- day more than everything else. And if we humbly learn of him and at his feet, I know that our lives will not have been spent in vain.
THE CHAIRMAN. - " The public school will perform its best and noblest work if it shall endow its pupils with moral integrity, a well disciplined mind, and a sound and vigorous body.". These words,
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which ring so true, I find in the report of the school committee for 1889, a report written by the able and scholarly chairman of that year, Erastus B. Powers, Esq.
ADDRESS BY ERASTUS B. POWERS.
Mr. Chairman and Scholars of the Public Schools of the City of Malden : - It is an inspiration to stand this day in your presence. Lord Macaulay, in magnificent words, has described the great audi- ence that assembled to commemorate the trial of Warren Hastings. There were gathered there, from every part of that enlightened and prosperous realm, the representatives of every walk of life. And so in this vast audience that is assembled to-day within these walls are included the dear ones of the home, the pride of the school, and the future hope of the city of Malden and the commonwealth of Massa- chusetts. With most of us who are this day to address you, the sun of life has reached its meridian. With many it is descending the western skies. Our duties will soon become yours ; and as the best preparation for those duties, allow me most modestly to recommend to you - and in this day I trust I need not add the qualifying distinction, without regard to sex - a careful reading and study of political his- tory and of the science of civil government. You stand upon the threshold of the most important era, certainly of one of the most important eras, in our national life. There will be abundant needs for the labors of the scholar, the wisdom of the statesman, and the fidelity of the patriot. Vast accumulations of organized capital are con- fronted by the forces of organized labor. Socialistic ideas and prin- ciples are rapidly taking deep and permanent root in the body politic. Demagogues may indeed widen the breach and incite violence, but it is your duty, the duty of the American scholar, to devise and enact those legislative enactments that shall conduce to the security and freedom of labor, to the rights of the citizen, and the security of gov- ernment. We do not despair of the republic. We have an abiding and abundant confidence that in the solution of this great and difficult problem the descendants of those heroic forefathers who two hundred and fifty years ago laid broad and deep the foundations of civil liberty upon the shores of this western world, will bear well their part. We have an abiding and an abundant confidence that you will bear your part in triumphantly moulding into the higher life of a state and nation the supremacy of law and the freedom of the citizen. In your high school course what happens? The most efficient instruments of mental culture and discipline are the Greek and Latin languages. Those of you who have faithfully pursued those studies in the public schools will bear testimony that they have a higher purpose and utility
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than to vex the dreams of the schoolboy. But, after all, they are but the instruments of the mental gymnasium. Their influence does not extend, except in that direction, beyond the doors of the public school, the college, or the university. With the exception of the master- pieces of half a dozen authors which very few of us can, and nobody does, read in the original, little of their literature has been preserved, and it would avail us little if it had. Let me, then, as an elder, but not as a better, commend to you, in the shreds and patches of time which you have during your school course, and in the more abundant oppor- tunities of your future life, the careful reading and study of the best works in your own language. A taste for what is highest and best in literature is not only the ornament of age, but it is the protec- tion of youth. Fortunate is the scholar who has learned to read and appreciate the elegant expression and the musical cadence of the Sketch Book, the magnificent word-painting of the Essays on Warren Hastings and John Milton, and the immortal panegyric upon Marie Antoinette, or those many passages in Hamlet which, going to the depth of both mind, and heart, and soul, have become interwoven with the very texture of our common speech. Is there any danger that such a scholar, having perused such works as these, will ever feed and batten on the moor of that sensational literature which this age scatters upon us more abundantly than the autumnal leaves that fall in Vallombrosa? The English language is worthy of the study and the admiration of the scholar and the citizen. It speaks to the ear like Italian, to the sense of beauty like the Greek, to the mind like the German. It is as universal as our race and as individual as ourselves. It contains within its garnered treasures more of the gems of beauty and wisdom, more of the history of civilization and the growth of in- dividuals and nations, than pertains to any other language, living or dead. Now, if it occurs to you scholars that all this has a little taint of the schoolroom, you must remember that before I entered upon my present profession I was a teacher, and the ruling passion is strong.
MARYLAND! MY MARYLAND! SCHOOL CHORUS. Thou wilt not cower in the dust, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Thy beaming sword shall never rust, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust, And all thy slumb'rers with the just, Maryland ! my Maryland !
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Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Thou wilt not crook to his control, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Better the fire upon thee roll,
Better the shot, the blade, the bowl, Than crucifixion of the soul, Maryland ! my Maryland !
I see no blush upon thy cheek, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Though thou wast ever bravely meek, Maryland ! my Maryland ! For life and death, for woe and weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, Maryland ! my Maryland !
I hear the distant thunder hum, Maryland ! my Maryland ! The Old Line bugle, fife, and drumn, Maryland ! my Maryland ! Come ! to thine own heroic throng, That stalks with Liberty along, And ring thy dauntless slogan song, Maryland ! my Maryland !
THE CHAIRMAN. - In 1877 the town of Malden created the office of superintendent of schools, and George A. Littlefield for two years served our people in that capacity. "A teacher to succeed in Mal- den -" I quote from his first report - " must be especially sensible, ingenious, scholarly, and self-reliant." As true to-day as twenty years ago. We are doubly glad to welcome this distinguished resident of Rhode Island, the Hon. George A. Littlefield of Providence.
ADDRESS BY THE HON. GEORGE A. LITTLEFIELD.
IT gives me great pleasure to meet again the scholars and teachers of Malden, and among them so many of my old friends. It was a great many years ago, one spring, a little earlier than this, that I first had the good fortune to come to Malden. Having heard that the princi- palship of your West School was vacant, I boldly applied for it, offer- ing to withdraw in the course of a month or two if my services were not acceptable. I came on trial, and the fact was duly announced ; but
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there never was a prouder moment in my life than when, after three months' trial, I was told I might remain for a year; and the next six or seven years of my life were spent here as the principal of the Centre School and as superintendent of the schools. Those were among the most enjoyable years I ever experienced.
That old Centre Schoolhouse, which not one of you ever saw, is a dear memory to some of us here. The day it burned down was a bitter cold one in winter, The fire broke out in the afternoon, just before the time for the school to open. Many of the scholars were already in their seats. They left, unconscious of danger, when the teachers told them they might have half an hour to play that afternoon until the bell should call them in. The device was successful in emptying the building without a panic, but the old school-bell never rang again. It was an able and devoted school committee that had charge of the schools of Malden in those days ; and, judging from the present admirable character of your scholars, the same wise manage- ment has continued. Their purpose in school affairs seems to be, as it always should be, to consider every proposition upon its own par- ticular merits. The schools, of course, should be organized and classified, so far as it is possible, for the benefit of the individual pupils ; but they should never be graded for the sake of grading into unalterable grooves cut in chilled steel.
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