USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > Proceedings 1892 at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Woburn, Massachusetts > Part 11
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[Friday,
The Woburn Fire Department will form on Wyman Street, the right at junction of Lowell Street.
The Trades Division will form on Wyman Street in rear of the Fire Department and extend down Winn Street if necessary. This division will take position by the way of Winn Street.
As the time is limited in which we can have the services of the "Escort," it will be necessary that all divisions and sub-divisions should report at their rendezvous not later than 9 o'clock A. M.
The Chief Marshal will establish headquarters (in the saddle) at 9 o'clock on Main Street, junction of New Boston Street. Chief of Divisions will report at this time and place for further orders.
The procession will start at 10.30 A. M., sharp, and move through Main, Pleasant, Warren, Fowle, Highland, Mt. Pleasant, Prospect, Montvale Avenue, Broad, Main to Church Avenue, where the parade will be dismissed.
His Excellency the Governor will review the procession at the Common.
By order of the Chief Marshal,
EDWIN F. WYER.
Official : HORACE N. CONN, Chief of Staff.
The various divisions formed as directed, and at ten minutes of eleven the bugle sounded, and the procession moved out in the following order : -
Platoon of Police. 20 men. WILLIAM R. MCINTOSH, Chief.
Chief Marshal.
CAPT. EDWIN F. WYER.
Chief of Staff
Capt. HORACE N. CONN.
Bugler .
·
WILLIAM W. CROSBY.
Adjutant .
.
Lieut. EDMUND C. COLMAN.
Aids.
WILLIAM E. BLODGETT.
DANIEL W. BOND. J. WINN BROWN.
NATHAN W. EATON.
FREDERIC A. FLINT.
JOHN D. GILMAN.
152
HORACE N. CONN Chief of Staff.
WILLIAM R. McINTOSH, Chief of Police.
October 7.]
ROBERT CHALMERS, M. D.
RICHARD H. CHAMBERLAIN.
HEBER B. CLEWLEY.
ALBERT F. CONVERSE.
JAMES H. CONWAY, M. D.
WILLIAM H. DOYLE.
JOHN S. JAQUITH.
FRANK C. NICHOLS.
Capt. WILLIAM C. PARKER.
NATHAN J. SIMONDS.
JAMES R. WOOD.
ARTHUR B. WYMAN.
ALONZO T. YOUNG.
Escort to the Column.
Martland's Fifth Regiment Band, of Brockton. 24 men. Fifth Regiment of Infantry, M. V. M., Col. WILLIAM A. BANCROFT commanding. Lieut .- Col., GEORGE F. FROST. Major JOPHANUS H. WHITNEY, commanding First Battalion.
Major GEORGE H. BENYON, commanding Second Battalion.
Major WILLIAM H. OAKES, commanding Third Battalion. Field and Staff : Officers, 10; men, 21.
FIRST BATTALION.
Company M. 3 officers ; 45 men.
Capt. ADELBERT M. MOSSMAN.
Company L. 3 officers ; 49 men. Capt. ELMORE E. LOCKE.
Company G. 2 officers ; 45 men.
First Lieut. JOSEPH C. LA- ROCK.
Company E. 3 officers ; 50 men. Capt. THOMAS C. HENDERSON.
SECOND BATTALION.
Company I. 3 officers ; 55 men. Capt. WILLIAM H. GOFF.
Company F. 2 officers ; 47 men. Capt. MURRAY D. CLEMENT®
Company C. 2 officers ; 44 men. First Lieut. DAVID C. SCOTT.
Company B. 3 officers ; 49 men. Capt. RICHARD W. SUTTON.
THIRD BATTALION.
Company K. 3 officers ; 51 men. Capt. WALTER E. MORRISON.
Company D. 3 officers ; 53 men. Capt. WILLARD C. BUTLER.
Company H. 3 officers ; 45 men. Capt. FRANCIS MEREDITH, JR.
Company A. 3 officers ; 56 men. Capt. WILLIS W. STOVER.
Headquarters wagon. Ammunition wagon.
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[Friday,
FIRST DIVISION.
Marshal.
FRANK W. GRAVES, M. D.
Chief of Staff
CHAUNCEY B. CONN.
Bugler .
. CHARLES H. Buss, Jr.
Adjutant
Lieut .- Col. ALONZO. L. RICHARDSON.
Aids.
Rev. WILLIAM C. BARROWS.
ALBERT B. DIMICK.
EDWIN B. BLANCHARD.
GEORGE F. FOSDICK.
WILLIAM H. BOWERS.
BENJAMIN HINCKLEY.
HARRY J. BREWER.
CHARLIE A. JONES.
WILLIAM J. BROWN.
CHARLES G. LUND.
WILLIAM BEGGS.
JOHN C. MEEHAN.
EDWARD CALDWELL.
Dr. DANIEL F. MURPHY.
JOHN R. CARTER.
FRANK A. PARTRIDGE.
HENRY E. CHASE.
JAMES L. PINKHAM.
WILLIAM I. CLEWLEY.
EVERETT G. PLACE.
Rev. GEORGE A. CRAWFORD.
LAWRENCE READE.
WILLIAM S. WHITFORD.
Baldwin's Cadet Band.
First Corps Cadets (escorting his Excellency the Governor), Lieut .- Col. THOMAS F. EDMUNDS commanding. Major GEORGE F. ROGERS.
Company A
Capt. FRANCIS H. APPLETON.
Company D
Capt. HENRY B. RICE.
Company C
0
Capt. ANDREW ROBESON.
Company B ·
Capt. WILLIAM H. ALLINE.
His Excellency, WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, Governor of Massachusetts, and Staff.
Carriages containing his Honor Mayor Thompson, Secretary Foster of President Harrison's cabinet, Almiral Belknap, U. S. N .; John G. Maguire of Woburn, Congressman Ste- vens, J. A. Wiley ; ex-Mayor George F. Bean of Woburn, Mayor Babbitt of Taunton, Samuel J. Elder of Winchester ; ex-Mayor Johnson of Woburn, George Hayward of Con- cord, Congressman Morse, John W. Kimball, State Auditor ;
154
FRANK W. GRAVES, Marshal of First Division.
1
October 7.]
Mayor Converse of Chelsea, James F. Hunnewell of Charles- town, Marcellus Littlefield, Edward H. Lounsbury of Woburn ; Albert Ayer, George W. Parker, M. H. Dutch of Winchester ; Aldermen Brown, Dearborn, Daley and Walsh of Woburn ; Aldermen Ham, Richardson, Councilmen Simonds and Bow- ers of Woburn; Councilmen Cutler, Kendrick, O'Donnell, and Phillips of Woburn; Councilmen McAvoy, Quigley, Meagher, and Kelley of Woburn; Samuel Sewall, Burling- ton, A. E. Whitney, Abijah Thompson of Winchester, W. F. Davis of Woburn; Edward M. Nichols, Howard Eames, Justin L. Parker, Mr. Smith of Wilmington ; Stephen Thomp- son of Winchester, Charles B. Osgood, President Somerville Aldermen, Rev. W. J. Murphy, John I. Munroe of Woburn ; Charles H. Drew, Walter S. Keane, George F. Butterfield, Selectmen of Stoneham, Patrick Donahoe of Stoneham ; William E. Carter, E. A. Bennett of Burlington, Louis J. Harris of Boston, A. S. Wood of Woburn; C. W. Abbott, R. Dexter Temple, James P. Clement, Selectmen of Read- ing, J. J. Mahern; George W. Fowle of Jamaica Plain, Horace N. Hastings, John L. Parker of Lynn, W. F. Ken- ney of Woburn; Senator McEttrick of Boston, Rev. Mr. Harmon of Wilmington, David F. Moreland of Woburn ; E. W. Hall, Sen. Vice-Commander G. A. R., W. A. Wetherbee, Jun. Vice-Commander G. A. R., Capt. J. P. Crane, James H. Carton of Woburn; H. C. Moore, Adj. Gen. G. A. R., Albert P. Barrett, Capt. L. R. Tidd of Woburn; H. W. Thompson of Bellows Falls, Dr. C. R. Walker and Mr. Walker of Concord, N. H., Leonard Thompson of Woburn ; Maj. W. T. Wilson and L. H. W. French, Principal of the High School.
American Fife, Drum, and Bugle Corps.
Woburn High School Battalion (escorting the G. A. R. Posts), Capt. CHARLES T. O'BRIEN commanding. Company A. 39 men. Lieut. PHILIP M. BROWN. Company B. 39 men. Capt. CARL S. Dow. Post 33 G. A. R. of Woburn, Commander WILLIAM T. KENDALL. Post 75 G. A. R. of Stoneham, Commander MYRON W. MESSER. Post 161 G. A. R. of Woburn, Sen. Vice-Commander HENRY C. HALL.
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Section, Battery C., M. V. M., Lieut. WILLIAM L. STEDMAN commanding. Second Brigade Ambulance Corps, Sergt. WHEELER commanding.
SECOND DIVISION. Marshal.
JACOB M. ELLIS.
Chief of Staff .
ELISHA F. HAYWARD.
Bugler
EDWARD H. CUMMINGS.
Adjutant .
BENJAMIN H. NICHOLS.
Aids.
FREMONT S. BASSETT.
JOHN J. GATELEY.
ADAM BUSTEAD.
FORREST HOOPER.
HENRY L. CARLTON.
PERCY W. LINSCOTT.
ROBERT CARTON.
HERBERT E. LORD.
MORRIS W. CARROLL.
JOHN MALONEY.
ARTHUR S. DELORIEA.
JAMES W. MCDONALD.
ANTHONY A. DOHERTY.
MARTIN MERRILL.
TERENCE DOLAN.
DANIEL MURRAY.
ARTHUR C. ELLIS.
EDWIN G. PIPER.
GEORGE W. ELLARD.
FRANK S. SARGENT.
PARKER C. FOWLE.
WILLIAM J. SINGER.
JAMES GRAHAM.
THOMAS A. STEWART.
WILLIAM G. GRAHAM.
DANIEL WATERS.
ROY WENTWORTH.
Germania Band, 21 pieces, Benj. Bowran, leader. Float, " Original Inhabitants of Woburn." - Characters by F. W. . Page, Daniel Williamson, George Irving, Robert Huntons, . James Whittie, all of Shawsheen Tribe, I. O. R. M. Crystal Fount Lodge, No. 9, of Woburn, I. O.O. F., 60 men; Benj. L. Trull, marshal ; G. W. Fish, N. G. Bethel Lodge, No. 12, of Arlington, I. O. O. F., 20 men; J. Bitzer, N. G.
Float, Miles Standish, "On the Mystic." - Characters : E. T. Brigham, F. S. Ellard, Stillman Shaw, J. W. Waters, W. B. Wyman, H. G. Wyer, all of the Innitou Canoe Club. Sheridan Guards, 32 men, Capt. John A. O'Donnell. Division 3, A. O. H., 200 men, T. J. Fox, commanding.
156
JACOB M. ELLIS, Marshal of Second Division. .
CHARLES W. AMES, Marshal of Third Division.
October 7.]
Float, " Lost in the Snow."- Characters by James M. Weldon, John A. McLean, Peter B. Caulfield, J. F. Caulfield, William S. Frazer.
Malden City Band, 25 men, James Jennings, leader.
Orangemen, " No Surrender Lodge," No. 110, 250 men.
Carriage containing Rev. Hugh Montgomery ; Rev. W. P. War- ren, of Cameron Lodge ; Andrew McEleney, commander ; Alex Bustead ; followed by delegates from Somerville, Lowell, Boston, Cambridge, Malden.
Float, " Old Puritan Kitchen."-Characters : J. Fred Leslie, Miss Grace Leslie, Miss Etta Pushee, Mr. Arthur Platts.
Bagpipes, Duncan McLean, leader.
Clan McKinnon, 75 men, H. Murray, chief ; guests, John G. Black, acting grand chief of Massachusetts clans ; Joseph Farquerson, first chieftain of Calendonian Club.
Float, " Going to Church by Saddle and Pillion."- Characters : Masters J. Frank Hale and Charles Hardy.
Float, " Capture of the First British Prisoner by Sylvanus Wood of Woburn."- Characters : Chas. W. Carlisle, prisoner ; Continentals, I. H. Jackman, R. W. King, M. B. C. Cum- mings, of Liberty Council, O. U. A. M.
Naval Brigade Band, 25 men, E. N. L'Africane, leader.
" Spirit of '76."-Characters : A. L. Berry, H. M. Ellis, and Master Fred I. Ham.
" Eight Minute Men on Their Way to Lexington."- By mem- bers of Liberty Council, O. U. A. M.
Liberty Council, No. 38, O. U. A. M., D. H. Eaton, marshal ; C. F. Spear, adjutant ; 250 men.
State Board of Officers from Massachusetts and Rhode Island : delegates from Stoneham, 36; Beverly, 22 ; Waltham, 14; Attleboro, 41 ; Monson, 40 ; Councils 1, 2, and 29 of Rhode Island.
Coach showing old-fashioned methods of travelling, by Martha Washington Council, D. of L .- Characters : Misses Ada Brooks, Carrie Ordway, Alice Nichols, Grace Flanders, Mrs. G. H. Sutherland, Mrs. O. W. Stevens, Mrs. Charles E. Richardson, Mrs. Austin A. Fish, Mrs. George W. Dins- more, Mrs. F. S. Bassett, Misses Bertha Bassett, Blanche Dinsmore, Mary Richardson, Masters Earl Bassett and Baby
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[Friday,
George W. Dinsmore, Jr .; drivers, John Lynch and Ira Wallingford.
" Modern Way," a fashionable drag .- Characters : Misses Helen Nichols, Florence York, Bessie Clement, Helen Cook, Anna Seely, Anna York, Ada Carter, Grace Clement, Mabel Fer- guson, Carolyn Crane, Adelaide Richards.
" George and Martha Washington."- Characters : Masters Albert Wellman and Rodney Wood.
Float, " Thirteen Original States," showing an arch and forum with Georgia, Libie Carpenter ; South Carolina, Lizzie Gram- mer; North Carolina, Florence Clemson ; Virginia, Ethel Carlton ; Maryland, Lizzie Graham ; Delaware, Hattie Mar- shall ; Pennsylvania, Edith Ham ; New Jersey, Bessie Green ; New York, Lizzie Richardson; Connecticut, Edith Tufts ; Rhode Island, Lizzie Ansart ; Massachusetts, Louisa Bowe ; New Hampshire, Lidie Hurd ; driver, D. A. Thorne.
" Uncle Sam's Family," 44 schoolgirls, from as many schoolrooms, representing the States of the Union, and attired in liberty caps and blue sashes .- Characters : Mary Walsh, Alice Blake, Amelia Sheehan, Helen Gray, Elsie Beggs, Charlotte Rollins, Florence Richardson, Louisa Henchy, Lucy Moran, Helena Mulkeen, Cora Kentie, Lena French, Daisy Curtis, Flossie Buck, Lilian M. Conole, Mary E. Breslin, Rose E. Doherty, Grace Peppard, Hattie M. Allison, Nellie Desham, Nellie Henchy, Mamie Porter, Nellie Reynolds, Delia Clancy, Della Down, Eva Langill, Mabel Rosenquist, Susie E. Tidd, Mary McSheffery, Annie Scalley, Jessie M. Stevenson, Lizzie Moreland, Grace Wallace, Kate M. Hanlon, Minnie C. Davis, Blanche Curtis, Bessie Kendrick, Alice Adams, Bar- bara Marlow, Jennie Golden, Annie Scanlon, May Hooper, Hattie Marshall, Lydia Morse.
Hope Degree Lodge, No. 39. D. of R., in barge.
THIRD DIVISION. Marshal.
CHARLES W. AMES.
Chief of Staff. WALTER A. HANSON. 158
ALBERT A. FERRIN, Marshal of Fourth Division.
CHARLES M. STROUT, Marshal of Fifth Division,
October 7.]
Aids.
EDWARD F. BUTLER.
GEORGE A. CLARK.
WILLIAM T. DOTTEN.
HORACE T. EAMES.
JOHN F. GIVEN.
ALBERT F. QUINN.
WILLIAM S. HOPKINS.
FRANK MENCHIN.
GEORGE R. MENCHIN.
CHARLES W. MESSER.
JOHN E. OSBORNE.
ALPHONZO T. WEBBER.
Bedford Brass Band.
Stoneham Fife and Drum Corps. Shawsheen Tribe, Woburn, W. C. Colgate, marshal, 100 men. Great Council of Massachusetts, 500 men. Quinobequin Tribe, 25 men. Malden Tribe, Warren Goldthwaite, 80 men. Waltham Tribe, Warren P. Richardson, 80 men. Reading Tribe, J. M. Page, 75 men. North Cambridge Tribe, John Barker, 20 men. Cambridgeport Tribe, G. A. Brady, 50 men. Medford Tribe, C. A. Powers, 500 men. Stoneham Tribe, C. E. Johnson, 45 men.
FOURTH DIVISION. Woburn Brass Band.
Chief Engineer A. A. Ferrin, of the Fire Department. Assistant Chief Engineer, Frank E. Tracy. Engineer Wagon, Neil Reddy, driver. Hose I, Charles Stewart, foreman, 8 men. Hose 2, C. E. Eaton, foreman, 8 men. Hose 3, J. H. Doherty, foreman, 8 men. Hose 4, L. Martin, foreman, 8 men. Hose 5, J. H. Bates, foreman, 8 men. Hose 6, G. H. Newcomb, foreman, 8 men. Hook and Ladder I, E. E. Stowers, foreman, 10 men. Steamer 1, P. McCarron, driver. Fuel Wagon, Edward Shanley, driver.
FIFTH DIVISION, Marshal.
CHARLES M. STROUT. I59
[Frida. y
Chief of Staff. C. WILLARD SMITH.
Aids.
FRED BARTLETT.
WILLIAM T. GREENOUGH.
GEORGE A. BLAISDELL.
A. LUNDQUIST.
ASA W. BOUTWELL.
J. F. McKENNA.
EDWARD BANWELL.
MEEHAN.
PRYOR W. CHUTE.
JOHN K. MURDOCK.
ROBERT CORRY.
GEORGE A. PRATT.
ARTHUR CLARIDGE.
T. I. REED.
JAMES H. DOHERTY.
A. J. SIMONSON.
JAMES DURWARD, Jr.
DR. N. A. SPRINGER.
WILBUR FELCH.
ASA G. SHELDON.
EVERETT P. Fox.
JOHN F. SCALLEY.
P. J. GOODRICH.
CLINTON C. STONE.
AUSTIN A. FISH.
ARTHUR N. WEBSTER.
A. L. HOLDRIDGE.
EDWARD WINN.
Woburn National Band, 30 men.
TRADE TEAMS.
Among the features were the following: French Laundry Soap, Suburban Land Improvement Company, M. Stevenson, Jr., Maloney Bros. (two teams), The Woburn News and Parker the druggist, Woodside Farm, E. C. Colman, F. C. Nichols and P. J. Goodrich, Alexander Ellis (three teams), Bishop & Loomer Woburn Clothing Company (two teams), S. H. Patten & Son (two teams), T. Moore & Co. (three teams), C. Willard Smith (two teams), J. R. Carter (fifteen teams), J. Simonson, T. I. Reed (six teams), Boston Branch Grocery (three teams), C. M. Strout, John Reardon (five teams), Cummings, Chute Company (seven teams), E. G. Barker (three teams), John Winn, G. E. Pratt, E. Caldwell (six teams), Standard Oil Company, B. F. Flagg, C. E. Marion, Burlington Navy Yard, Board of Health, E. P. Marion, L. W. Marion, W. H. Winn, M. Bancroft, Union Ice Company, W. B. Ward, Ebenezer Reed, J. P. McKay, Wo- burn Steam Laundry (A. L. Richardson & Bro. 12 teams), Amos Cummings.
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BANQUET HALL.
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S
THE BANQUET.
The formal exercises of the week closed with a banquet in the new armory, on Friday afternoon. The skating academy was utilized as a reception room where the seven hundred guests gathered at two o'clock. Here the distinguished national and State officials held a reception which lasted until three o'clock, when the party marched to the new armory through the covered passageway across Montvale Avenue.
At the table of honor, with the chairman of the banquet committee, Hon. Edward F. Johnson, were seated Secretary of State Foster, Gov. Russell, Admiral Belknap, Mayor Thompson, Ex-Governor Ames, Mrs. Martha E. Sewall Curtis, of Burlington, Samuel J. Elder, Esq., of Winchester, Rev. Elijah Harmon, of Wilmington, Philip J. Doherty, Esq., of Charlestown, Rev. E. G. Porter, John G. Maguire, Esq., Rev. Cyrus Richardson, Mr. James Jeffrey Roche, Hon. Edward D. Hayden, Hon. Elijah A. Morse and others. From the screened gallery the orchestra rendered appropriate music as the guests filed into place.
After the company was seated, the chairman called upon Rev. Cyrus Richardson, of Nashua, N. H., to invoke the divine blessing.
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[Friday,
THE INVOCATION.
We give thanks unto thee, Almighty God, for this beautiful day, this great gathering, and the gifts of thy bounty which load these tables. Thou dost open thy hand to satisfy our wants. We recall with gratitude the toils and sacrifices and triumphs of the early settlers of this historic town. We bless thee that through them thou didst grant us a rich legacy. They labored, and we have entered into their labors. Make us worthy of so illustrious a parentage. Bless us in these festivities. Help us to gain from this anniversary such inspiration as shall make our lives nobler and truer. May the words spoken be channels through which thy thoughts come to us. As we receive this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies, so may we gratefully receive that food which comes down from heaven. Guide us all while we live upon earth, and gather us at last with the fathers in glory through riches of grace in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
At the end of an hour the chairman, Hon. Ed- ward Francis Johnson, called the audience to order and addressed them as follows : -
WELCOME BY THE CHAIRMAN.
Ladies and Gentlemen, - Two hundred and fifty years ago to-day, the General Court of Massachu- setts, with a brevity which seems not to have formed a precedent for modern legislation, passed the fol- lowing simple act of five words : "Charlestowne village is called Wooborne."
Of the history of this unique enactment we know nothing. What hearings were had before legisla- tive committees, what hospitality, if any, was dis- pensed to the members of the General Court, what retainers were retained by eminent counsel and
162
EDWARD F. JOHNSON, Chairman of Committee on Banquet.
October 7.]
" legislative agents," - on all these subjects which form so many chapters in the history of the birth of the municipal child of to-day, the records are silent. Enemies of the legal profession might argue that the negative evidence was quite conclusive to show that a law of only five words was never drafted or approved by any first-class, high-priced legislative counsel. But such an argument has no basis of fact or positive evidence on which to rest. The first page of the town records, written in Johnson's " rude verse," begins the historic narrative by telling us how the babe Woburn " gane drest," who her nurses were, and further informs us that
" A naighbour by hopeing the babe wold bee A pretty Girle, to Rocking har went hee."
It is sufficient for us to know that we were born of good, sturdy, honest parents ; and we are here to- day to celebrate the quarter-millennial anniversary of our existence as a corporate being.
To this birthday party we have invited our re- spected mother, Charlestown, who, some few years ago, was persuaded to give her hand and her Neck to a wealthy and aristocratic neighbor named Boston.
We have invited our kind foster-mother, the Com- monwealth, under whose benign laws we have been educated, and beneath whose strong right arm we have been assured of quiet peace with liberty. We have invited our aged grandmother, who, unable to leave her Beds. in England, has sent her blessing. We have invited our three daughters, Wilmington,
163
[Friday,
Burlington, and Winchester, the youngest and pret- tiest of whom, woman-like, is quite sensitive about her age. We have invited Uncle Sam over whose large estate and in whose great white house, three sons of Woburn, Franklin Pierce, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison, have been chosen to pre- side. We have invited our neighbors, Lexington, Reading, and Stoneham ; our sisters, the cities of this Commonwealth ; and we should certainly have invited our cousins and our aunts if we had any.
We have present here to-day the old and young members of our household : those whose remote an- cestors felled the forest and hewed the timber for our first rude dwelling; those whose fathers or grandfathers joined the family when some of the buildings on the old farm were first turned into cur- rying shops; and those who in more recent years have come within our gates, taken up their abode with us, and helped to swell the circumference of the family circle.
To one and all of you, whether kindred in near or remote degree, whether friends of her infancy, her youth, or her womanhood, Woburn extends her most cordial greeting and bids you welcome at this birthday festival. And having first offered you a feast
"With simple plenty crowned With all the ruddy family around,"
she now desires to regale you with what the poet .calls
"Sweet discourse, the banquet of the mind."
164
October 7.]
In the olden time, next to their God, our fore- fathers acknowledged the supremacy of the king whose subjects they were. As a law abiding people it was to him they offered their first tribute of re- spect in their public gatherings. While we are no longer subjects owing fealty to a royal power beyond the sea, we are yet citizens giving allegiance to the United States Government of which we are a part. It is eminently right and proper, therefore, that the first toast on this occasion should be to the repre- sentative of that government, "The President of the United States."
For a response I will read the following letter from that distinguished grandson of Woburn, our honored chief magistrate, Benjamin Harrison :-
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 27th, 1892.
Honorable Edward F. Johnson, Woburn, Mass. :
My Dear Sir, -The celebration of the 250th anniversary of the incorporation of Woburn, which is to be held on October 7th, is an event of such interest that I would have been glad to accept the invitation of the Committee to participate in the exercises which your citizens have planned, had the circumstances been such as to make it possible for me to leave Washington. I very much regret that it will be impossible for me to be present, as your people will understand without more particular reference. The brave and intelligent founders of our early civil communities are worthy of honor ; and this generation will derive profit from a study of the influences and principles from which have grown our civil government and our great increase and development as a nation.
Very respectfully yours, BENJAMIN HARRISON.
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The circumstance, so delicately alluded to in this letter, which deprives us of the honor of having the President of the United States as a guest at this table, will awaken a thrill of responsive sympathy in the heart of every citizen of Woburn. We sin- cerely regret his absence, but we appreciate the high compliment he has paid Woburn in sending to represent him on her Anniversary Day that distin- guished diplomat, Hon. John W. Foster, Secretary of State, who will now address you.
ADDRESS OF HON. JOHN W. FOSTER.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, - It is not for me to respond to-day for the President in his relation to you as a son of Woburn. I can boast of not a drop of New England blood in my veins. My only right of kinship to this interesting anniver- sary is a brief residence at your near-by venerable university. But as the early inhabitants of this ancient town loyally honored their king beyond the sea, so may we all, as American citizens, with even greater propriety, pay our tribute of respect to the Chief Magistrate whom by our free choice we have placed in the supremest post of authority of this nation. The freemen of this ancient town and their compeers, through the principles they en- grafted into their society and government, and which their progeny disseminated throughout this broad land, in the fulness of time wrought a change of allegiance. But, if I have read aright the history of the momentous movement which peopled these colo- nies, it was not a desire to escape the domination of royalty, but rather an earnest longing for religious liberty which brought your forefathers to the shores of the New World. The early citizens of Massachusetts were loyal to their King. But the principles of liberty and self government which were incorporated in the town orders of Woburn, and put in practice through its town meetings two hundred and fifty years ago, was the seed, planted by earnest, God-fearing men, sedulously cultivated by their descendants, which bore its fully ripened fruit in 1776, when,
166
JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State of the United States.
October 7.]
under the inspiration of Otis and Patrick Henry, and through the courage of Adams, Ben Harrison, and their colleagues, alle- giance to King George and royalty was forever sundered. How wisely our fathers acted may be judged by the line of Presidents from Washington to Harrison, and by a comparison with the royal personages who have in the past century ruled the nations of Europe.
While in the enforced absence of the President from these festivities it may have been expected that I should respond to the manifestation of respect to him and to his high office which you have so heartily offered, it would not on this occasion be becoming in me as a member of his official household to enter upon any commendation of his administration. The record which he has made and the manner in which he has discharged the high trust confided to him are known to you all, and you can judge how worthily he is entitled to rank in the illustrious line of American Presidents. I may, however, be pardoned, as one to the manner born, for saying that I and my neighbors take pride in pointing to him as a typical son of Indiana. And when I make this allusion, it leads me to reflect upon the influences which have moulded the character of the present and last genera- tion of men of that broad region of the Ohio and Mississippi valley, where now rests the seat of empire of this republic.
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