USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 16
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CHIEF JUSTICE FIELD. I am grateful to you for the invitation to share in the celebration of the 300th birthday of the Town of Barnstable. I am fully conscious that the in- vitation comes to me in view of my official position and not by reason of any personal merit. I cannot claim to be a Cape Codder. I cannot claim, as some here can, to be a de- scendant of the Rev. John Lothrop. I cannot claim connec- tion with any of the sea captains who set out from here to sail the seven seas. But there is no town or city in the Com- monwealth which can more properly command the attend- ance of the Chief Justice at such a celebration as this, than the town which was the birthplace of Lemuel Shaw.
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I may say that before my time the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court were distinguished men. Lemuel Shaw, who was Chief Justice for thirty years, was one of those dis- tinguished men. By common consent he was the great Chief Justice. I do not have to talk to you about him because the rule that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and his own house does not apply to the great Chief Justice Shaw. Senator Hoar said at one time that Shaw was regarded throughout the Commonwealth as a demi-god but in his own county he was regarded a God. I do not need, as I say, to speak of him. You know about him and have heard about him. If any of you have not, I will take the privilege of a member of Congress and ask leave to print and incorporate in my remarks the excellent biography of Chief Justice Shaw written by my friend Judge Chase. You have in many ways recognized the distinction of Chief Jus- tice Shaw. At the celebration one hundred years ago, when he had served only nine years as Chief Justice, he was spoken of with great appreciation, and had a part in the celebration. I was interested, in looking over the account of that celebration, to see that one of the toasts which was offered at the time was in this form: "There is Hope in the judiciary," and there is a footnote explaining that Hope was the name of the Chief Justice's wife. It has occurred to me that it was more felicitous than if the other part of her name had been used, for if I read correctly, Chief Jus- tice Shaw married Miss Hope Savage. Now it might have been, if tradition is true, not wholly inaccurate to have used the word Savage in connection with the Chief Justice, for he had a reputation at least of being very stern. I suppose among the stories that you all know about him is the story of General Butler who was taking a dog, a large mastiff, to Boston and when some one asked him what he was doing with the dog on the train he replied, "I am taking him to the Supreme Court to show him the Chief Justice so that he may learn how to growl." Now, if these stories are true, it is only in part due to the fact that it was the ship captain coming out in the Chief Justice and, if his sternness was a defect, and I do not say that it was, it was a very minor defect when concealed with his great ability and his wonder- ful sense of justice.
I suppose that all of us agree that the democratic govern- ment is the hope of civilization. I suppose that most of us think that our own work is particularly important, so it may be that I magnify the importance of the work of the
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judiciary, but I believe that it is fundamental to a democra- cy to have an independent, able and impartial judiciary. Such a judiciary was guaranteed to the Commonwealth by Chief Justice Shaw, who was not without able associates. He set an ideal, a standard which those of us who come after must seek to attain, even if we have not the capacity to attain it. But I do feel it only fair for me to say, in speak- ing of Chief Justice Shaw, that he was not the only glory of Barnstable. To have been his birthplace is glory enough for one town, but you have had the Patriot Otis and many others-in the language of the auction bills, too numerous to mention. After all, though we may believe with Emerson in the importance of great men, the strength of democracy is the worth of its everyday citizens. You in Barnstable have furnished these as well as the great mnen. I do not need to assure your visitors from across the seas that the town on this side of the ocean has lived a life worthy of the town for which it was named but I am glad to give that testimony on my own behalf, and I wish to congratulate you men and women of Barnstable on a worthy three centuries of history.
PROFESSOR GEORGE LYMAN KITTREDGE
The TOASTMASTER. The Town of Barnstable shares with Harvard College only, its pride in one of the great scholars of our time. He is a native son in all but accident of birthplace. His forbears all came from Cape Cod; his maternal grandfather purchased the home in which he now lives in Barnstable village; his father lived here for many years; he himself attended our grammar schools. We con- cede Harvard's claim, for he was a member of its faculty for fifty years, and only retired two years ago as Gurney professor of English. He has written numerous scholarly volumes; he is one of the world's great Chaucerian and Shakespearian scholars. It may interest our guest, the Mayor of Barnstaple, to know that his countrymen ten years ago honored our fellow townsman by bestowing on him an Ox- ford degree ; the Pilgrim Society in London gave a luncheon to him; and the then Prince of Wales summoned him to York House for a quiet chat. We of Barnstable are indeed proud of one we can rightfully claim as our very own- Professor George Lyman Kittredge.
PROFESSOR KITTREDGE. Mr. Toastmaster and kinsmen-kinswomen: Your toastmaster said several persons
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will shortly address us. I shall address you shortly. Five minutes is the limit that was set for my harangue. I will endeavor, however, to make it shorter. Twice I have visit- ed the English borough of Barnstaple, and have observed that they pronounce the name exactly as we do, for although they spell it with a P, they pronounce it with a B. I will tell you an experience.
I had been writing a letter from the English town to my wife, who was spending the summer at home, and I dropped in on the proprietor of the hotel in his private office. I found there, not only the proprietor, who was an alderman, a very ponderous and dignified alderman, but I found also a banker, the representative of the leading banking company in that part of the world. There was also present a member of Parliament, who lived not very far from the English town. There was present, too, an elderly gentleman, very hand- some and distinguished, whom they called Squire. I said, "I have just been sending a letter to my wife who is in our American town of Barnstable. How do you pronounce the name of this town?"
That day I had met a man who lived up the river. He was not an educated man and I thought I could get from him the local pronunciation. I did not mention the other Barn- stable but I noticed that he pronounced it with a B every time. So I was ready for the answer when the Alderman began. He said, "Young man, our town is Barnstaple" (he pronounced the word with great care and distinctness). I said : "I can pronounce it that way, too, but how do you pronounce it as a banker ?" He said with a B. The old Squire, who sat in the corner and listened to all this, said, "Of course we pronounce it with a B." So we may, know our town and the English town are the same. It is worth remem- bering too, that when our town was founded, Englishmen, whether in this country or in England, usually, when they wrote the name, wrote it with a B. And now I have addressed you very shortly.
HENRY C. KITTREDGE
The TOASTMASTER. Like father, like son, goes the old adage. You heard and saw, a few minutes ago, the father, George Lyman Kittredge. Perhaps it is an exaggeration to say that the smell of the academic battlefield permeating the Kittredge cloisters in Cambridge beckoned the son, but at any rate, he entered and won a distinguished place for him-
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self in the field of education, for he is now vice-rector of St. Paul's School in Concord, N. H. While the father was pursuing the Shakespearian shades in the green glades of Avon, the son dipped his pen into Cape Cod history. Already his three Cape volumes have won the highest rank among Cape historical works written in the last few decades; al- ready they are standard works in their fields of general Cape Cod and maritime history. And this year he gave Barnstable not only the fine historical sketch, but contributed the val- uable chapter on Barnstable shipmasters in the Tercentenary historical volume. Extending to him the Tercentenary Com- mittee's gratitude for these contributions, I welcome our fellow townsman, Henry C. Kittredge.
Mr. KITTREDGE. Mr. Toastmaster and friends : Birth- days are awkward moments, whether for us as individuals or for towns. This town, at its 300th birthday, has a hard time deciding whether to look back or to look forward. Since the view ahead is not nowadays particularly cheerful it is to the happy days of its ancestors that we turn. We shall, for the next three or four minutes, look backward. I was very glad to hear the Chairman of the Board of Select- men mention the 200th birthday of the Town of Barnstable because I, too, shall mention it, although in another connec- tion. When a hundred years ago the fathers of the town were looking around for the best man to help them to celebrate that event properly they called upon Captain William Stur- gis, then a distinguished merchant in Boston, a veteran of the Legislature, and a native of the town. He said, "Yes, I will help you, but on one condition only, that the ladies shall be fully represented in all phases of the coming celebra- tion." How the Captain would rejoice today, when not only Mayor Dart visits us, but his charming wife as well. Captain Sturgis would certainly have made Mrs. Dart's presence one of the stipulations in connection with the Mayor's visit, and we extend to her, as the Captain would do if he were here, our very cordial welcome.
It seems incredible today but there have been times in the history of this nation when we and our English friends did not see eye to eye. Captain Sturgis on one of these occa- sions proved that he was not only a masterful man but a diplomat as well. If I am not mistaken, it was during the year 1844, shortly after he had finished his duties with our 200th birthday, that discussions arose between ourselves and the English as to the boundary of Oregon. I don't know
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whether it was the North or South boundary, but there was a good deal of bickering about it, and no one seemed to know the facts. But Captain Sturgis had spent a number of years out there as a trader ; so he wrote a pamphlet on the subject, widely discussed in England and in this country. In that pamphlet he reminded us of something that we may well remind ourselves of today. "In questions of this kind," he wrote, both sides must be wise, sane and judi- cious. Neither side can be wholly right. Each must give some ground; each must make some concessions. In this way only can a just and reasonable solution of the problem be reached." Our Cape Cod captains have not always been so judicious in their findings. I wish, therefore, that each one of us could read Captain Sturgis' pamphlet because it is just as important today as it was then. It would be a fine thing, for example, if its precepts were being practiced in central Europe. I should like to say one other thing before I close. The committee in charge of this 300th birthday has worked hard and it has worked successfully. I don't know when I have been so much impressed from beginning to end with all their enterprise and particularly with the success of this celebration. It is an act that will long be remembered in the annals of the town and it is an occasion at which it is a great honor to be present.
DR. THOMAS S. GATES
The TOASTMASTER. One of our more recently arrived summer residents is a man of great distinction in many fields of human endeavor. I refer to Dr. Thomas Sovereign Gates, president of the University of Pennsylvania. A few years ago he passed a season or two at the Oyster Harbors Club; he liked what he saw around him so much that he soon thereafter purchased a summer home at Wianno, and now he is a full-fledged member of our Barnstable family. He is an educator, as his present distinguished station makes quite clear. He has also won eminence in the fields of busi- ness and banking. I find-and Dr. Gates didn't tell me so- that he is a director of a long list of great corporations, such as the Baldwin Locomotive, the John B. Stetson Company, the Penn Railroad and many others; that he is a lawyer; and that in the banking field he has been a partner in Drexel and Company, and J. P. Morgan and Company, for long periods. In 1930 Dr. Gates became president of one of our great American universities-the University of Pennsyl- vania. We invited him to attend our Tercentenary dinner
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because we are proud to have a man of his achievements select our town for his summer home. May I present Dr. Gates.
Dr. GATES. Mr. Chairman, ladies and neighbors: The Commonwealth from which I come and the University for which I speak is a Colonial neighbor of yours and has many close ties with you in this Tercentenary celebration. It was a son of the Massachusetts Colony of which you are a part who was born in Boston and came as a lad to Philadelphia, who later became our most distinguished citizen and as many think, the most brilliant personage of his time and all time. One visualizes the youthful Benjamin Franklin sailing from Boston to Philadelphia with an empty pocket but a heart of courage as an emissary of faith from one struggling group to another, and one thinks of him, too, as one realizes today that there exists and there still lingers between this. Colony and their descendants something of the ideals, some- thing of the faith and something of the strength of these rugged ancestors of ours. Now, among the many activities which Franklin initiated in his new home, one was the University of Pennsylvania of which I happen to be Pres- ident. It was just two hundred years ago that the idea was put forward by him which later grew into and became the University of which I speak. We have, therefore, through him a strong link with you because, while you were one hundred years old when we were born, and we will never quite catch up with you, it was a man who came from you into Philadelphia giving the benefit of his mature judgment and strength that led to our origin and early growth. And so it is that I bring you in no measured way our congratula- tions and a message of good will from our Colony to your Colony, hoping that the ideals which led our forefathers and surrounded our early beginnings may long survive to guide our path, now in these days with its all too doubtful future.
DR. A. LAWRENCE LOWELL
The TOASTMASTER. No words are really necessary to introduce to the people of Barnstable the next speaker. His name stands for character, for high ideals, and for all that Harvard College means to the nation. The world at large knows him as president-emeritus of Harvard, and as its executive for something like twenty-five years. We know him better as a Cotuit resident for something over seventy years. Twice this summer he has already shown his love for
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Barnstable by his participation in Tercentenary exercises, both time delivering addresses. We are proud that he is a resident of our town, and we are honored by his presence with us here today. I introduce to you Dr. A. Lawrence Lowell.
Dr. LOWELL. We have met, not to glorify Cape Cod, or the vast glaciers that thrust it up from the sands of Massachusetts Bay, but to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of its settlement by the Pilgrims, their deeds and those of their descendants in the three centuries that have passed away.
At present there is a prejudice against taking pride in one's ancestors. It is undemocratic, for are we not all born free and equal ?- even those of us who do not personally share the heritage we here commemorate. Years ago a journal in Paris compared the attitude of the English and the French in this matter, praising the former for extolling the history of their people in a way to stimulate their ambition; while French writers were wont to refer to their forbears before the Revolution as oppressed almost like serfs. We need not accept as true the criticism the journal levelled at the authors of their country, but it portrays what would be an unfortunate tendency of thought.
To recall the worthy deeds of those who have gone before us is right, it is wise, it is uplifting, for it makes us feel an obligation to live on their plane of action; shows us that we may emulate their achievements, albeit in ways suited to a later time, and gives a hope that the spirit which ani- mated them has not perished among us.
That surely is the true meaning of the anniversary we celebrate, and the significance it should have for us and for those who will dwell on these shores hereafter.
PROFESSOR JOSEPH H. BEALE
The TOASTMASTER. In Barnstable, where he has been coming most of his life, and where he found his wife, we call our next speaker Harry. He is another of what we may pardonably call a galaxy of Harvard stars who have long shone in our Barnstable firmament. His long and useful life includes years of private practice of law, three years as dean of the University of Chicago Law School, holding the chair of Carter Professor of Jurisprudence at Harvard from 1908 to 1912, and holding the Royall Professorship of Law from 1912 until his retirement last year. He has been a member
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of many important commissions and is author of many authoritative legal works. May I present Professor Joseph Henry Beale.
PROFESSOR BEALE. Mr. Toastmaster, Mayor and Mrs. Dart and friends of the audience here : My first visit to these fairgrounds was in 1879 as I was just about to go to Harvard to register. I came in at the front entrance and walked up that walk until I found myself turning into a small wooden building opposite the southeast corner of the main hall. There I found an exhibit which was then the grapho- phone-anyway in time it came to be the graphophone. I was allowed to speak a few words into the mouthpiece and then, with a turn of the hand, it sent my words back to my ears and I heard them as I had spoken them. That was the first public exhibition in any way of this invention, which has been for many years one of the indispensable bits of machinery of the modern office. Later fairs were more de- voted to fun and frolic than to the information of those attending and later the Fair stopped, until it has been re- vived today.
I hope that it will not be one hundred years more before it is revived again. I think that the use of the Fair in part as a method of bringing timely information of new inven- tions, new discoveries, new things that are coming into our lives and are going to be important, is the blessed function of some such occasion as the Barnstable County Fair for bringing the whole county together. We are aware this has been made use of by the Committee in charge of the Ter- centenary celebration. I think the Fair has stood for fully as much in the life of Barnstable County as the old Agricul- tural Fair did-when everybody at the proper moment went out to see the horse races and perhaps also to see the clown- ery. I think we can take a little lesson from the thought of, what is to be the use of public meetings in the future ? They are not likely to disappear and I suggest that one way of making this Fair of permanent interest is to do as today, and bring all together.
JUDGE FREDERIC H. CHASE
The TOASTMASTER. We especially revere the next speaker because he is author of the biography of a very great Barnstable man-Lemuel Shaw, Chief Justice. A law- yer and jurist himself, he has practiced for many years ; he served as an assistant district attorney of Suffolk County
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for four years; and he occupied with distinction a seat on the Superior Court bench of Massachusetts from 1911 to 1920. Since his resignation from the judiciary he has been a leader among men of the bar of Massachusetts. In 1918 he published his Shaw biography, which is the authoritative life, and will be the principal source of information on the great Barnstable man for all time. May I present Judge Frederic Hathaway Chase.
JUDGE CHASE. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : Immediately after signifying my consent to the very gra- cious suggestion of your committee that I say something at this time about Chief Justice Shaw I began to appreciate the difficulties of even trying to explain as a lawyer why he is the object of admiration to the bar of Massachusetts. My first thought was to quote the late Justice Holmes when he said, in agreeing with Judge Curtis, that Lemuel Shaw "was the greatest magistrate that this country has ever pro- duced," and then to yield the remaining four and one-half minutes of my time to the speaker who is to follow me. But my second thought was a little less implusive. I remembered that, after all, this is Barnstable's birthday and that Shaw is one of her great sons, and I realized that some memento of him, some message from him, would be more appropriate to the occasion and more acceptable to you than anything I could possibly say. It then occurred to me that perhaps amongst some of his papers which his granddaughter Joseph- ine Shaw had very kindly given me some time ago, there might be found something of that kind.
Let me ask you to go back one hundred years; Barnstable was then celebrating its 200th birthday. I have here an invitation from the Town to the then Chief Justice to attend its second Centennial celebration, signed by David Crocker as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. The Chief Justice accepted, and I have here a copy of his letter of acceptance drawn in his own hand in which he says that nothing but some unforeseen incident will prevent him from attending. He did attend and he made an address, a part of which is reprinted in that remarkably attractive Tercenten- ary historical volume which you have just published, in which he voiced his love for his native place, where, he said, every house, every field, every grove has its history and brings back a cluster of recollections. I have here, I should say before I pass on, his own copy of that speech. I think it is almost verbatim as he delivered it. An inspection of it
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shows by his corrections the care which he took about every- thing he did. He never performed an impetuous act, he never uttered an ill-considered word. As was the custom of his day, he closed his remarks with a sentiment of his own, which was this: "The Cape, our beloved birthplace; may it long be the nursery and home of the social virtues ; a place which all her sons and daughters, whether resident or absent, may for centuries to come, as in centuries past, delight to honor and love." This celebration proves that for at least one hundred years his wish has been fulfilled. Those are the words which his audience heard as he closed his remarks. They did not know, as we know now, that in preparation for that event he had written several sentiments from which he had chosen the one which I have just repeated.
I hope, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, that you will agree with me that after the one hundred years which have just passed, it is appropriate that the other sentiments writ- ten for a similar occasion, but not then delivered by him, should be heard at this time. I will read them with your per- mission from the very paper on which he wrote them. [Judge Chase reads.]
"The memory of Rev. John Lothrop, the first minister of Barnstable, whom history describes as a man of learning and of a meek and quiet spirit, a noble eulogium."
"The farmer and the seaman, each in his way addicted to ploughing; let him who ploughs the soil not despise him who ploughs the ocean."
"The Cape; let not the soil be deemed sterile which yields a steady growth of intelligent and enterprising men and of amiable and accomplished women."
Mr. Chairman, if you think, and the Committee in charge agrees with you, that these papers are worthy of being pre- served for another one hundred years or so, I should be glad to give them to you.
The TOASTMASTER. I most certainly think these pa- pers are worthy of preservation and without the slightest hesitation I say to you in behalf of the Committee, and the inhabitants of the Town, that we gratefully accept them and assure you that your generous gift is truly appreciated and will be regarded as a treasure for much longer than a hun- dred years.
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