USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 63
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of the soul and of the future life. Extraordinary methods were some- times resorted to in those times for the purpose of bringing the people's attention to the subject and to keep it there. Protracted meetings were held in the churches, which were continued sometimes through the week, and the people of other parishes and other towns often swelled the gatherings to large congregations. The best speaking talent among the clergymen was often engaged. At inquiry meetings, so called, the state of the heart was often brought to a crucial test. Such questions as these were propounded: Are you willing to give your heart to God? Are you willing to be cast out from his presence forever and to be damned, if it were necessary, to add to the glory of his kingdom? After an hour of solitary and silent thought, some could answer in the affirmative. This willingness to serve God was deemed conversion. Many joined the church. Such preaching was beneficent in its results generally. The mental and moral conditions thus attained unto made the recipients happier and their lives better. Dr. Thayer remembers to this day the mental conflict of that solitary hour, and he thinks that its influence has followed him along the years of his life, and that now when he is an old man it abides with him still.
Dr. Thayer has shown through his whole life a spirit of fearlessness and independence both in thought and action.
While he was in Phillips Academy the Hon. Geo. Thompson, M. P., of England, came to Andover and lectured against slavery. in the Methodist church. Students of the Theological Seminary and of Phillips Academy heard him. Ilis eloquence of speech was a divine gift. Says one who heard him: "No orator is comparable to him ; I have known him to hold an audience in breathless silence for two hours and a half." Sir Robert Peel said of him: "He is the most eloquent man in or ont of Parliament." He described the condition of the African slave in America, and showed what was the duty of the church in regard to it. Strange to say, the professors of the Divinity School in Andover were opposed to him and Garrison and to anti- slavery. Garrison had been lecturing and writing against slavery for years. He had been imprisoned in Baltimore on account of his anti- słavery.
In 1835, the year in which Garrison was mobbed, there was not a doctor of divinity in this broad land that was in favor of Garrison and Thompson. The ministers generally were opposed to the anti-slavery movement. It was found to be true that the church was indeed the
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bulwark of slavery and all were opposed to anti-slavery. Students of Phillips Academy who heard Thompson thought they saw clearly what was their duty. They proposed to organize an anti-slavery society in the academy. That was forbidden by the faculty. They discussed the question of slavery in the Philomathian Society in the academy, but that, too, was forbidden. They then sought to join the anti-slavery society already existing in the town of Andover-that also was not allowed. As they felt aggrieved, they called a meeting in the academy to discuss their grievances-this, too, was forbidden, and they met in the woods at a place called Indian Ridge, where they discussed the matter and appointed committees. They got up a remonstrance, had it printed, and as all they said and did had no effect on the faculty, ex- cept to make them the more determined to erush out the anti-slavery sentiment among the students and to convince the slave-masters of our subservieney to the peculiar institutions of the South, the students of Phillips Academy resolved to ask for their credentials and turn their backs on Andover. One of their number, Sherlock Bristol, was ignominiously expelled without any charges brought against him. This did not intimidate them nor persuade them to submit to the powers that be.
About sixty of the students were accustomed to meet together and were heartily united in regard to their duty towards the slave. After some delay their request was granted and they received their ereden- tials, and about fifty of them left in a body; a few of the sixty were induced to remain. So strong was the faculty in their opposition to anti-slavery that one Sunday afternoon at five o'clock prayer meeting, old Professor Stuart spoke of George Thompson, who was to lecture that Sunday night, and said, "Young gentlemen, I warn you on the peril of your souls' salvation not to go to that meeting to-night." And in his address to the retiring class of young elergymen going forth to preach the Gospel to all the world, said, "Young gentlemen, regarding the matter of slavery, I advise you to let it alone. It is a political question, and we do not wish to carry polities into the pulpit. If you wish to pray about it, pray about it in secret; but don't preach about it." In the words of Dr. Thayer, "If this is not disloyalty to the teachings of the Master, then it must be admitted that . without con- troversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. ""
Rev. Sherlock Bristol, the expelled student from Phillips Academy, writing of this period, says:
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Hon. George Thompson was advertised to lecture in the Methodist church المعم think no other church could be secured for him. A mob had just driven him from Boston, and wherever he went the hand of violence was raised against him. It was hoped he could be quietly heard in Andover. Was it not the school of the prophets and noted for its morality and for its religious spirit? So Thompson came, but, as with Paul, bonds and affliction awaited him there. A railroad was being built through the place. The contractor was a rough, pro-slavery character, and not a few roughs were in his employ. It was boldly given out that a mob would break up the meeting, and probably tar and feather Mr. Thompson. The anti-slavery students got wind of it, and armed with heavy hickory clubs, which they used as staves, they were at the chapel as soon as the doors were opened, and took possession of a couple of tiers of front seats, which formed nearly a semicircle around the pulpit. As the house filled up, the ushers besought us to vacate them and give place to the ladies, but we knew our business and not one of us could be ousted. There were about fifty of us, nearly all over twenty, the most of us farmers's sons, and with our long staves or clubs standing erect by our sides, I imagine the mobocratic portion of the audience studied us rather carefully. The speech was surpassingly eloquent. I remember some of its passages, one of them, his apostrophe to America, was very striking; it began with "America, America, thou art the anointed cherub, God's darling child ; apart from the nations God hath set thee," etc, It fairly raised the audience to its feet. The lecture was two hours long. When it closed in an instant every light was blown out, and the mob rushed for the pulpit. But those fifty students closed around Thompson and Wilson, the Methodist minister, in a phalanx so compact and with clubs brandished so threateningly that the mob kept at a respectful distance and finally dispersed. We saw Thompson and Wilson safe at home. After consultation it was agreed that six should stay down town (South Parish) and patrol the streets till morning. One should take his station half way up the hill toward the Seminary, another should take his stand at the corner leading to the dormitories of the classical school, the rest should retire to their rooms and sleep with their clothes on, ready for emergencies. 1 was one of the six who stayed down town. I and my companion went into a vacant lot and concealed ourselves. After an hour or so a signal whistle was blown in a distant part of the town. It was answered by another, and then by a third close by us. We went for him with all speed, but he ran like a deer and we lost him. We sounded the alarm. It was taken up by the man half way up the hill; he sent it to the man at the corner, and he aroused the dormitories. Our squad of six guards rusbed for Wilson's house and held at bay the gathering mob. Scarcely had we got there before we heard the tramp, tramp, tramp of a hundred students dashing down Andover hill at a two-forty pace. And it sounded out in the still hour of the night like the coming of a regiment of cavalry. The mob, most of whom were Irish, listened a moment, then broke and fled in every direction. Thus was Andover saved from a crime against one of the noblest of men, which long years of penance could scarce have washed away.
"Up to this time," says Dr. Thayer, "we had not organized an anti- slavery society. Fearing that we should do so, the faculty of the United Seminaries passed a regulation which read like this: ‘No stti- dent shall join any society in the town of Andover without leave of the
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principal of the institution with which he is connected.' Alas, . The best laid schemes of mice and men aft gang aglee.' So it was in this case. A student whose room adjoined that in which the faculties met and discussed the matter, overheard enough to divine what was on the tapis. He at once informed us of what was up. In half an hour all the principal anti-slavery students were gathered in the Methodist chapel. and then and there formed an abolition society, chose officers, etc., and adjourned. The following Monday morning at prayers we beheld mar- shaled on the platform and around the desk, our four principal profess- ors. Usually only one was present. There was something ominous in the air. Principal Johnson's voice was more tremulous than usual. Professor MeLane's face was unusually red and flushed. Professor Tay- lor's eyes were riveted to the floor, while Professor Sanborn sat uneasy and restless in his chair of state.
"Prayers over, Principal Johnson, in agitated tones, read the stern decree, and then looked over the field to mark the effect of the shot. The other teachers also now looked up and took observations. But not a wing seemed broken, not a feather ruffled. We all took it serenely, and it was noted that the anti-slavery leaders looked erosswise at each other and smiled. What could it mean? After the students had gone to their rooms for recitations, or to the dormitories for study, Principal Johnson called up one Peter T. Woodbury, nephew of Hon. Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire fame, and asked in a confidential tone: . Peter, what did it mean-those complacent smiles and glances be- tween Abolitionists when the new regulation was read?' . Why, ' said Peter brusquely, 'they have stolen a march on you. They formed a society last Saturday night, and all the Abolitionists joined it.' The color left Mr. Johnson's face. Recovering himself, he said plaintively : ' You have not joined, have you Peter!' . Yes, sir, " said Peter. This was a stunner. The next effort was to induce the signers to withdraw their names, but without an instance of success. These young Abolitionists had been converted to stay. They believed in saint's perseverance. and I have never yet heard of the apostacy of one of them, or even of their temporary falling from grace. Our professors, finding that neither coaxing or flattering nor threats would do, proceeded to sterner measures. I was summoned before the faculty to answer to the charge of combining with others to destroy the good name of the academy and bring it into reproach before the public, ete., ete. Instead of standing on the defensive 1 faced the music. I boldly charged upon them
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the sin of seeking to shield from exposure and condemnation the great crime of slavery, of exerting themselves to make cowards and time- servers of the young men who were soon to go forth to help form and reform the opinions of mankind. I remember telling them that if we were cowards here we would be cowards in college, cowards in the sem- inary and cowards in the ministry. In fact, during that interview 1 think they were in the prisoner's box quite as much as I was. At one time they actually all laughed aloud at the ridiculous turn the trial had taken. But they had resolved to make an example of me, and so they east me out. No specific charges were voted as sustained. I was simply voted no longer a member of Phillips Academy, and to have no further right to a room or place in the recitation rooms. One other was dismissed with me. At once a meeting of the anti-slavery students was called, a remonstrance was gotten up and published. It was signed by some sixty students, all of whom left the institution without diplomas or other testimonials of character or scholarship. No sooner was I turned out of the academy than Mr. McLane wrote my pastor in Cheshire. He read the letter to the church, and they voted not to help me any more. The letter from my pastor to me, though quite severe, was in parts very tender and parental. He regarded the anti-slavery revival as little better than a blast from the bottomless pit. I remem- ber one sentence that he used: 'Oh, that God would hide you in his pavilion till this storm is overpast ?'
"Dear man, he was sadly mistaken. That strong wind and .the rushing mighty wind' of the day of Pentecost came from the same (quarter. Well, he sees it now, and rejoices with us in the great deliv- erance from America's chiefest curse. My reply to him was said to be rather spirited. I kept no copy of it, but one who was present when it was received, and heard it read, told me that when the good pastor came to a place where I wrote, ' Money given by a church on condition of keeping silence about slavery is not fit to buy a potter's field with,' he laughed heartily and said : 'He is plucky, is he not ?' The Educa- tion Society also withdrew its aid, and I was now cast upon my own resources again.
"After the expulsion of Bristol I went home to Braintree, where I had to encounter my pastor, a D. D., who blamed me very much for my anti-slavery tendencies, and told me that Garrison was an infidel and an atheist. With this man I had several interviews. He told my sisters that I ought to be made to go back to Andover and beg pardon on my knees.
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" By request of a friend I carried to my pastor a notice of an anti- slavery meeting to be held on a week day in a neighboring parish, and asked him to read it from the pulpit. This he declined to do, 'for the reason that slavery was a political question, and he could not carry pol- ities into the pulpit.' I said no more, but a short time after that a Rev. Mr. Sparrow, a dissenter from the Catholic church, preached against the Pope of Rome. At the close of the service in the forenoon, he gave notice that in the afternoon he would preach on the political bear- ings of Catholicism. He did so, and my pastor took part in the exer- cises.
" The next morning 1 called to see him, and spoke of the absurd position in which 1 found him; that he refused to read a notice of an anti-slavery meeting to be held on a week day in a neighboring parish because of the political bearing of the question of slavery, but that he admitted a brother minister to preach a whole sermon on the political bearings of Catholicism on the holy Sabbath day, and that he took part in the exercises. What did my pastor say ? Did he explain? No. But he aseended into a towering passion. With both hands raised on high, with brows knit and every feature marking the cowardly purpose of his soul, he exclaimed: 'I am not to be intimidated by any such ar- gument. I don't care if all my parish leave me. The tyranny they are trying to exercise over me is worse than the tyranny of Nicholas of Russia,' etc., etc.
" I retired as modestly as I could, and the more I thought of it the more I determined to write to him, and to show him that I had lost my respect for him; that I believed him to be a hypocrite, a time-server and a coward; that the rich men of his church and society held him in the palm of their hand, that he did not dare to preach an anti-slavery sermon in his pulpit, that he did not care if the millions of poor Afri- cans all went to hell if he could preserve the harmony of the church North and South ; and such a church as Jesus Christ never sanctioned. I told him that I would never hear him preach till he repented, and 1 demanded an honorable discharge from his church, which I never re- ceived.
" That the above character was true the following must testify: At the funeral of the son of one of his richest parishioners, who died a drunkard, he carried him on the wings of white angels and left him in the bosom of his Father in the heavenly kingdom. But at the funeral of a poor young man, who was a good boy at home and a good boy at school,
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and was the idol of his poor mother- he had given his life to his coun- try, was wounded at the battle of Williamsburg, Va., taken prisoner and carried to Richmond, paroled and came home to die-what did this conscientious pastor say to console the grief of the sorrowing mother ? These memorable words. . If there is ANY hope that he has gone to the bosom of his Savior it is a matter of rejoicing.' After this I never spoke with him. But the good pastor has gone to his rest, with the love and esteem of a large circle of friends, and a name honored and respected in all the churches. A costly granite monument, with laudatory inscription, marks the spot of his final resting place."
This course of Dr. Thayer's and his fellow students, was in the be- ginning of the anti-slavery movement. Though generally condemned at the time by the clergy, conservative men now say, "For once the students were right." His venerable grandfather, Deacon Eliphaz Thayer, a soldier of the Revolution, who had served under Washington at West Point at the time of the defection of Gen. Benedict Arnold, and the capture and execution of the unfortunate Major André, approved of his course and was proud of him. Dr. Thayer has been since that time an enemy of every kind of oppression, and his house was the asylum of fugitive slaves for twenty years before the war that emancipated a race. And one of John Brown's men, a white man, who had escaped from Harper's Ferry, was concealed in Dr. Thayer's house on the day John Brown was executed.
Dr. Thayer was an admirer of the heroism of Garrison and Phillips; of Francis Jackson, who said: "When I shut my door against the fugitive from oppression, may the Almighty shut the door of his merey against me," and of Governor Andrew, who said: "] know not what record of sin awaits me in the other world, but this I do know, that 1 never was so mean as to despise any man because he was poor, because he was ignorant, or because he was black."
If there is anything in the life of Dr. Thayer that indicates a hyper- sensitiveness and pity for the oppressed, it is due largely to influences pre-natal, and is equally true of others who were active in their sympa- thies with the slaves, among whom may be mentioned Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. Charles T. Torry, who died in prison for aiding slaves to escape, Rev. Amos Dresser, who served a term in the State prison of Tennessee for his sympathy for the slaves, Hon. Montgomery Blair, and many others, who were born the same year when our coun- try was involved in a war with Great Britain, in which great and out-
Very lily Marie Thayer
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rageous cruelties were inflicted along the northern frontier and at sea along our coast, among which may be named as instances of special atrocity the massaere of our soldiers, who surrendered on condition of protection from the Indian tomahawk at Frenchtown, at Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now stands, and at other cold-blooded massacres.
Dr. Thayer still has pleasant memories of his connection with the "underground railroad " and the vigilance committee, in which he was an active member.
For eight years Dr. Thayer was professor of practice and institutes of medicine in Boston University. Though educated in the regular practice, he was induced to examine the merits of homeopathy, and (ut semper) his first experiments being successful, he continued to make further trials, and he became a thorough convert to the doctrines of Hahnemann. In 1854 he wascalled toattend a case of bilious colie which was supposed to be caused from the passage of gall-stones. At that time there was not a writer in Europe or in America who had told us the remedy for this painful disease. After numerous trials and some failures, Dr. Thayer selected cinchona (Peruvian bark), which he gave in the homeopathic way. It cured the case entirely, and it has not returned in thirty-eight years. During this long period he has treated about 2,000 cases of gall-stone colie and has cured every one of them, without a single exception. Dr. Thayer made his discovery known to his colleagues as soon as he became convinced of its certainty.
Dr. Thayer also made the discovery of the art of curing fistula recti without the use of the knife. This he has also communicated to his associates in the profession. He has also demonstrated the truth of the statements that cases of rachitis (bow-legs), distorted spines, and other deformities of the bones can, if taken in good season-early in infancy-be radically and entirely cured with a high potency of silicea and calearea carbonica. Through a period of more than a quarter of a century he has not known a case of failure to cure. Dr. Thayer hereby confirms the truth of the discoveries of Hahnemann and others. Early in his practice he found that strieture of the cesophagus was re- garded as an incurable disease. Ile had a case a Miss R., in Roxbury. He consulted his friend, Dr. Winslow Lewis, who assured him that his patient would die of starvation, which she did. Through a period of years he had several similar cases, all of which proved fatal. Once while making a proving on himself, of a certain drug remedy, he felt a sensation in the throat which reminded him of stricture of the
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esophagus. He determined, if he should have another case, to try that remedy. He has never lost a case of stricture of the cesophagus since. That remedy is podophyllin. But the doctor adds that there are some cases of stricture of the (esophagus which are not curable by podophyllin alone, but require, in addition, some treatment with kali hydriadieun. While studying natural history in Union College in 1836 his attention was called to the mystery of the flight of birds. He dis- seeted hundreds of birds of various species, from the smallest humming bird to the largest eagles and the migratory sea fowl that visit these shores, to discover the secret, but without solving the sublime problem.
In 1889 he received letters patent for a device for navigating the air, which he calls the Aerial Railway. Every specification was granted by the governments of the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany and Belguim. Whether this enterprise be practical or not, his original and poetie maxim is still true:
Who builds no castles in the air Will never build them anywhere.
SAMUEL BAKER RINDGE.
DANIEL, RINDGE, who is believed to be the ancestor of all of the name in America, came from England to Massachusetts Bay in 1638, settling first at Roxbury, but soon removing to Ipswich, where descendants of his name remained for five generations. He appears to have owned land on Heart Break Hill (a name which is variously explained, but probably due to its difficult ascent), also one house on the Turkey Shore and another in High street, and his farm was within the present limits of the town of Hamilton.
The Portsmouth family of Rindge was an offshoot from that at Ips- wich. One Daniel Rindge of that branch was a successful merchant there, and another, John Rindge, became a prominent man in the New Hampshire colony and a member of the Colonial Council, in which capacity he signed bills of credit, as appears by a specimen still pre- served in the museum at Plymouth, Mass. He was chosen to repre- sent the colony before the King in England, in relation to the disputed boundary line on the Massachusetts side, and the town of Rindge in New Hampshire was named in honor of him.
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Daniel Rindge, the first settler, had a son Roger ; Roger a son Daniel ; this Daniel a son also Daniel; this last Daniel a son John; and John a son Samuel-all of these except the first being natives of Ipswich.
Samuel Rindge, born January 29, 1791, went from Ipswich to Salem, and thence to East Cambridge, then known as Craigie's Point, where he was employed for many years by the New England Glass Company as overseer and purchaser of supplies. Previous to this he had been en- gaged in the manufacture of furniture which was shipped to the South and sold there. He married, February 11, 1820, Maria Bradlee Wait, and died February 1, 1850.
His eldest son, Samuel Baker Rindge, was born December 26, 1820; married, April 29, 1845. Clarissa Harrington, of Lexington, Mass., and died May 3, 1883. Of six children only one, Frederick Hastings Rindge, survived his parents.
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