USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 17
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JUDGE DANIEL T. O'CONNELL
The TOASTMASTER. One of our distinguished jur- ists of the Massachusetts Superior Court bench has had the
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very laudable inclination of studying the life and works of James Otis, the Patriot. If nothing more recommended him to us this day, this would be enough. He spoke on James Otis nine years ago, when the Barnstable County Bar paid tribute to that great man; he spoke again on James Otis a fortnight ago, at a similar exercise. But this jurist does have much more to commend him to us than his long study of Otis. He has, by ability and sound law, come through posi- tions as a secretary to a congressman, a newspaper reporter in Boston, and practice of the law, to a respected place on the Superior Court bench. He is known to many of our townspeople as one who deeply loves Cape Cod. It is with pleasure that I present Judge Daniel T. O'Connell.
JUDGE O'CONNELL. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Chief Justice and distinguished guests : The subject assigned me, the Life of James Otis, is one that appeals to me but perhaps not to many others, as always deserving very ex- tended presentation, but upon this occasion I know that can- not be done. I enthuse over the life of Otis. I have sought always to get others to enthuse over it because I think it is a life that all true Americans should know intimately and which I find has not been studied into as well or as thoroughly as should be. When I last attended the presenta- tion of my conclusions pertaining to the service of Otis it required forty minutes. Of course I am not going to per- petrate that upon you, but I am going to suggest that those who are surely interested in the life of Otis purchase The Barnstable Patriot, its last edition and this week's edition, and read up on what has been said in detail about Otis in lieu of my endeavor to cover the ground. After you have finished that reading, then turn to that excellent historical volume which has been produced by the Tercentenary Com- mittee, and read the splendid chapter on Otis written by Donald G. Trayser, editor of The Barnstable Patriot. Those two will give you in detail at least a first summary of the life of Otis.
If you wish to go further, then, without much effort you will get Tudor's life of Otis and that will give you in great- er detail all that Otis did. Otis has been very properly pro- claimed Barnstable's greatest son. I think that designation is a correct one and should always be borne in mind. I like to draw attention to that which I find, judged by the com- ments which have come to me of recent date, that while James Otis, Jr.,-usually designated Jr. to designate him from his great father-was Barnstable's greatest son, his
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sister, Mercy Otis, was Barnstable's greatest daughter. You woman who are participating in the exercises of today can really enjoy many, many hours of pleasant study if you will endeavor to familiarize yourself in respect to the life of Mercy Otis. Not only was she the sister of James Otis but she became the wife of James Warren, a General of the Rev- olutionary Army, and one of the greatest figures of the Revolutionary period. She subsequently wrote a history of the period, and in her own way she made history. I draw attention to that so that you ladies, while your husband, brothers or others are reading up on the life of Otis, you can well be busy.
There is one other thought that I wish to express and that is this: two weeks ago I expressed the opinion that the remains of Otis should be brought from Boston and en- tailed upon Barnstable soil, and that the birthplace of Otis should be made a shrine much the same as Mt. Vernon has been made a shrine in Virginia. I find that the suggestion made by me has met with considerable approval. May time permit that the sons of Barnstable of today seek from Bos- ton the honor and distinction and yes, the right, to have the remains of James Otis, the Patriot, brought to his na- tive soil in Barnstable. I hope you will all give that move- ment, and any endeavor to honor James Otis, your full sup- port.
DR. JOHN EDGAR PARK
The TOASTMASTER. £ I shall now call on one who, like so many of our honored guests here today, has won a large place in the field of education. A native of Belfast, Ireland, he studied for the ministry, and has had a distinguished career as a clergyman and lecturer as well as college execu- tive. His pastorates have included those of Andover and Newton, in churches approaching in historic background our own West Barnstable Congregational Church. Nearly twenty-five years ago he found a cottage on Second Pond- between Osterville and Wianno-to his liking. Since then, he and his family have been summertime Barnstable resi- dents. Since 1926 this clergyman and educator, Dr. John Edgar Park, has been president of Wheaton College. We are proud to number Dr. Park among our men of Barnstable. Dr. Park.
Dr. PARK. I am proud to represent here the only in- stitution having a college charter in the original grant of
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land to the Pilgrim fathers, the institution of which I have the honor of being president. While not actually a Cape Cod- der myself I am the nearest to being one, having been born on what is practically the next spot of land directly to the east of the town of Barnstaple. I refer to the island which has provided all the jokes known to the world, practically all the generals of the British army, and nearly all the poli- ticians of the United States.
Twenty-five years ago when I was building a house in Barnstable, in digging a post hole I first felt myself at home in the town, for about a foot under the surface of the ground I found a flint arrowhead, which made my mind go even further back than these three hundred years to the original inhabitants who have left so many traces of their wanderings here, and that arrowhead made me feel at home. That Indian missed me by about three or four hundred years, but I had the sense of feeling at home on the same principle as that exemplified by a gentleman who came into a Boston lunch counter one August morning recently at half-past eight. He said to the waitress, "I want a glass of tepid orange juice with the seeds floating around in it, a piece of toast burned on one side and soggy on the other, and a cup of lukewarm coffee with the grounds all through it, and then I want you to stand in front of me and nag me, because my wife is away and I am feeling homesick."
I have no intention of lauding the town of Barnstable. It is of course true that we produce the finest cranberries and the finest oysters and that the pine woods here meet the yellow sands at the sea in a manner more beautiful than that found elsewhere. We do not wish to belittle other places, but we all know that further up the Cape is just the uninteresting South Shore and further down the Cape both man and nature is stunted, but here in the town of Barn- stable we have officially no mosquitoes, and the sunshine of a hundred years has so invigorated and purified the ground that one can in a single summer in the town of Barnstable receive back again from Mother Earth all the health-giving influences of the centuries. May the town of Barnstable con- tinue to dispense health and vigor to its sons and its visit- ors, making in its own quiet way what is perhaps the most fundamental contribution to peace on earth.
DR. ZEBARNEY T. PHILLIPS
The TOASTMASTER. Our next speaker came as close to settling in Barnstable for his summer residence as he
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could, for he chose Yarmouth's "Green Acres." He is a clergyman-a very distinguished clergyman, I should say- who, after serving in pulpits in many great cities, such as Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and Philadelphia, was called to Washington, D. C. There, since 1924, he has been rector of the Church of the Epiphany, and since 1927 the honored Chaplain of the United States Senate. We in Barnstable know well his eloquence, for he has long preached at that beautiful house of worship in Hyannis Port, St. Andrews- by-the-Sea. May I present to you Dr. ZeBarney Thorne Phillips.
Dr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Chairman, Your Worship, Friends : I don't suppose anyone here except those who have lived in England feel perhaps as I do that one very important thing has been so far missing from these proceedings today, and that is the acknowledgement on the part of all of us of the great and charming courtesy that has been extended to the Town of Barnstable by reason of the visit of His Worship, the Mayor of the Town of Barnstaple, England, and his charming wife. We are, indeed, privileged to have them with us here.
I am going to do as Professor Kittredge did; I am going to tell you two or three things, shortly. I want to tell you of something which occurred on an occasion when Vice Presi- dent Curtis was one of the speakers, and that wondeful hu- morist of imperishable memory, Will Rogers, was another. It was the meeting of a patriotic society, and those present were justly proud of their ancestors. I shall never forget as long as I live what Will Rogers said on that occasion. "I have little to say, " he began. "Now you all came here, didn't you, to pride yourself on your ancestors ? Well, even if they came over on the Mayflower, there are two of us whose for- bears stood on the shore to greet them-for the ancestors of Vice-President Curtis and myself were Indians."
Today has been a very delightful experience for me be- cause it has brought me into personal touch with one whom I have honored and respected a long time, and that is the former president of Harvard College. I should like to tell you about one Thanksgiving day when I was in England. I had happened to preach that day, and then attended a dinner of six or eight hundred educators, and their friends and children. Sir James Murray, William T. Stead, the edi- tor of the Review of Reviews, and myself, spoke. I learned more on that occasion about the cranberry industry from Sir
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James than I had dreamed of before, and then Mr. Stead made a very charming speech. When I stood up I said it was a delightful occasion, and that as an American it was very pleasant to be able to say that the greatest thing ever written on the government of England was written by an American, the President of Harvard University. The speak- ers were both surprised, and when it was over Mr. Stead came to me and put his hand in mine and said, "Is it all right for me to say that an Englishman, Bryce, wrote the best thing on the American government ?" Of course it was true. Lord Bryce wrote the finest work on our government, and Dr. Lowell on the English government.
Now, Mayor Dart, I want to say something to you in the way of tribute because I, in an entirely different way, share with you a privilege, of admiring your King and Queen. I want to say to you, sir, that there never has been a more beautiful, charming, gracious personality than that which radiated from that beautiful lady, Queen Elizabeth, nor a more capable, democratic and adept ruler, ever presented to any group of Americans than your King George VI. I want to close here by relating something you probably never would have heard except that I tell it to you. One of the Senators, and he is not a New Dealer, was very insistent on the reparation from your Country to ours in the question of the debt. So that he made sure we all got around to meet your great rulers after the dinner, on their recent visit. From what I heard discussed by the Senator afterward, I think he had changed. And I think that when you go back home you might suggest to your fellow countrymen that if Great Britain wants that debt cancelled all Great Britain has to do is to have that lovely lady come over and ask, and it probably would be cancelled.
JOSEPH CROSBY LINCOLN
The TOASTMASTER. Most of the Crosbys left Brew- ster more than a century ago and settled in Barnstable and built catboats and are still building them. But one Crosby family stayed in old Brewster-to Barnstable's loss and Brewster's great gain. In a later generation there was a Joseph Crosby Lincoln about whom I am sure you have all heard-although if I put it "Joe" Lincoln you would prob- ably recognize the name more readily. He has written more novels about Cape Cod, and his novels have won greater popular acclaim, than any author the old peninsula has ever produced. Why, we Cape Codders have to read Joe's books
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to find out how to act, so we won't disappoint the summer folks. But why shouldn't we-Joe Lincoln probably knows us better than we know ourselves. I understand he has lost count of his novels himself, but at last reckoning there were nigh onto forty of them. Brewster calls "Joe" Lincoln its own by reason of being his birthplace, and Chatham because of his home there. We call him a citizen of Cape Cod, and share our pride in a native son who has given the world a clean, wholesome, entertaining picture of Cape Codders. I present "Joe" Lincoln.
Mr. LINCOLN. Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentle- men and your Worship the Mayor: I should have put the Mayor first and then the other gentlemen and ladies. You have heard this afternoon much learning, very great elo- quence, scraps of biography and history and now you have got to fiction. That is a great comfort to me because in the other matters I should fall short but I think I can say and you will agree with me that in fiction I haven't fallen short.
I was thinking, as I came over this afternoon, in fact I have been thinking for a day or two after I accepted my in- vitation, of my first visit to Barnstable. That was a good while back, in fact it was when I was a boy and that would put it back a good many years. There are days when with a little help I think I could remember Noah. I came over here, I remember very, very well, with a group of five other Brewster boys. We were on our own; it was in my young life the first time I really went away, except to a Sunday school picnic, in any way. Six of us came over here-and Brewster was a long way from Barnstable in those days- each with an excursion trip ticket. We came over and had a remarkable time. Judging and knowing the financial cir- cumstances of most of my juvenile friends, in those days I assure you a budget was more than an excuse for unlimited spending. I remember that I had my ticket to the Fair or the price of it and my return ticket from Barnstable and also so much budgeted for my dinner. I called it dinner, because we had it at 12 or almost 1 o'clock. I remember our dinner perfectly well, what we had and why we had it. We all had oyster stew and the reason we had it was because it was only fifteen cents and that left us ten cents, for we had budgeted twenty-five cents for our dinner. Now, that ice cream, I can see it as I stand here. It was almost crimson, it was so brilliant, that first red strawberry ice cream. My aunt had told me that red ice cream was made from some
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sort of bug. Now that may be talk, but I still insist that they were the finest bugs I have ever eaten. Another luxury was to have our fortunes told-a palmist told them. I am sure she was a good palmist, with the makings of a financier because her fee was twenty-five cents but she took us at wholesale price, six for fifteen cents. She asked me to give her my hand and I loaned it to her and she read it, or she said she read it. I remember she prophesied as to a dark lady, that I would live to be very wealthy, and to be married a few times. Well, I have lived a number of years since, and find her only one-third right.
I am beginning to believe that I must have fallen in love with Barnstable that day, and I have been faithful to that love ever since. I am proud to be born in the same county with the rest of you and act as a representative of the "stunted life" down the Cape. I am proud of the town, proud of the fine old houses in the town; proud of the his- tory of the seamen who built so many of them. I would like to talk with you about those seamen. I don't blame you for being proud of Cape Cod and of being Cape Codders. I don't know when to stop ; no doubt some of you have noticed that. Now three hundred years is, in most human interests and things, a ripe old age or a grand old age. Perhaps some of the students of the day will not live to a great, ripe old age, but you all will reach the same spot in the same condition. At any rate Barnstable is at a sound old age. It is a glorious understanding that Barnstable is going to celebrate her four or five hundredth birthday and I hereby accept the invita- tion to attend. I accept it now because I don't expect to be detained. To all of you, to the town and its people, our friends and neighbors, my fellow Cape Codders, the old time honored birthday wish, many happy returns of the day, with a strong accent on the happy.
JOHN C. MAKEPEACE
The TOASTMASTER. Our next speaker is one who has distinguished himself in the fields of banking and cran- berry growing. He is known to you all. He is a native son of Barnstable of whom we are proud. He is a worthy son of an illustrious father who was the pioneer and leader in es- tablishing the great cranberry industry on Cape Cod. Countless are the good deeds, the public benefactions for which he and his family are responsible. I know him per- sonally, his brothers, whom I have known all my life, and
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also his father before him. I take pleasure in presenting Mr. John C. Makepeace.
Mr. MAKEPEACE. Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gen- tlemen : I have been referred to as a banker but that is a subject about which I would not address you for it has al- ready been covered by the distinguished gentleman on my left. I thought that cranberries were to be left to me but they have been well taken care of by Dr. Parks and Dr. Phillips, so I see nothing remains for me to do but to read my speech as I have it here before me.
It was a happy as well as courageous thought on the part of our Committee which brought to us the Mayor of that venerable town from which we derive our name, that he might personally observe our customs and doings and re- port to his constituency whether we, her fledgling daughter, are upholding her worthy traditions and are fit to bear and carry on under her honorable name. And it was gracious of him and Mrs. Dart to come. May the acquaintances thus es- tablished prompt more frequent journeys to and from. We, and I use the term in a very large way, have been particu- larly favored this year in our visitors from Britain. Your serious and worthy sovereign has stengthened the ties which bind two peoples and his gracious queen-well, you do well to guard her most zealously when she travels on this con- tinent. She is so lovely that she almost seems like one of our own.
I like centennial celebrations. In recent weeks I have be- come distinctly fond of them and I advise that they be ap- propriately observed whenever the opportunity presents it- self. They arouse civic spirit and pride. They cause us to delve into the activities of our forebears, to bring to light their worthy doings, to cause us with high resolve to dedi- cate ourselves to more lofty standards of civic and religious duty. They bring into light much latent talent and lead to a better appreciation of our own. Occurring at least once in the lifetime of every mature individual is a period which is referred to and which actually is a period of crisis in the affairs of men. The individual frequently, yes, generally, fails to appreciate and to properly weigh the significance of passing events. Those followers of the sea who drove their ships and their crews to the limit of endurance, names of a hundred years ago which we venerate today, little real- ized the romance of the period, as we view it, or the import- ant part which they were playing in the national drama through development of our world-wide commerce and the
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foundations laid for the industrial age. As I have said, in a period of every generation the call goes forth for men and women of unusual daring and strength to perform notable service. There may be intervening times when life seems so happy and peaceful that we may forget the call is sure to come again. And here our centennial celebrations recall the story of the past, bring us back from our slumber into the paths of reverence and duty. I used the word crisis because it is the popular term but I don't think it quite describes my meaning. Lack of vision and initiative is the more vigor- ous and probably less popular description.
When men are unable or fail to meet changing conditions, as they have changed throughout all recorded history, they must give way to others. Fortunately the man for the job has generally been found and those nations which have en- dured the longest and have the most glorious history are those which have produced the greatest number who were able and willing to sacrifice and serve in the interests of all. We still have our problems. Men of my generation may be trying to preserve and to guide, but those who will grasp the torch and hold it high are youngsters. The call for iron men was never louder, not even in the days when they sailed the seven seas in wooden clipper ships. To those young men and women, to such as are here today, I commend the exam- ples of our forbears, Lothrop, Hinckley, Otis, Shaw and Percival. These names and others which this celebration in- evitably brings forward are most glowing examples, and our resolution to uphold their traditions calls for loyalty, a generous public spirit, faith in the future, a high head and courage. Barnstable has not failed to furnish her quota in the past. I am confident that she will always be worthy of the honored name she bears.
MAYOR CHARLES F. DART
The TOASTMASTER. One man here today with his good wife crossed the Atlantic ocean to be with us. Three hundred years ago others from the same old North Devon Borough crossed the Atlantic to settle our beloved Town of Barnstable. During the past fortnight many of us have had the opportunity to meet and become acquainted with the official representative of Barnstaple, England, whom the mother town has sent across the sea with greetings to the daughter town. The men of Barnstaple, who settled our Barnstable three hundred years ago, were men of character. We, who have come to know our next speaker, can say of
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our own knowledge and in all sincerity that old Barnstaple, England, still produces men of character. I am pleased and honored to have the privilege of introducing His Worship, Mayor Charles F. Dart of Barnstaple, England, and his gra- cious wife, the Mayoress.
MAYOR DART. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : I felt this morning that my task must be easy because I am quite confident that you will expect from me only a brief review of this, my visit to your great country. Therefore, I refreshed my thoughts from the moment I landed in New York just a month ago. In preparing this itinerary I thought and my wife thought as well that we must in the first in- stance see the world's greatest city, the city which can boast of every nationality. We were drawn to the World's Fair, and let me say at once that we have not been dis- appointed. We look to that great, almost world of its own, in New York, with envy and with admiration. When I tried, as I did at the end of my seven days in New York, to write my impressions, I was so tired of saying stupendous, gigan- tic, marvelous, the world's greatest, that in my notes to my own town of 15,000 inhabitants. I described your great city in this way. I told my people that the place that they strike matches on in New York was larger than Barnstaple, England. Thinking of one of our tallest buildings in Barn- staple, the Bridge building, built one hundred years ago, and a fine lot of buildings that are three stories high, I tried to tell my own people to visualize with me the height which is just ninety-eight stories higher. Then we went to the World's Fair and I say now without any fear or hesita- tion that it is truly a magnificent conception-a fair which will never be outdone. I took from that fair memories and a conception which I shall never forget. I saw it quite like- ly described as the world of tomorrow.
And then we journeyed on to Boston, because we wanted to go as quickly as we could to be near to my descendants and to my second home. We went to Boston, and there we saw it was as near an English city as one could possibly see. When I was talking to the manager of the Parker House hotel, where I stayed, he asked, "What do you think of our hotel ?" I said, "If I can pay you a very good compliment I should say that the Parker House hotel is equal to anything that we have in England." But I had to remind him that, in spite of his wonderful hotel, it differs somewhat from ours in England, but that each are great in their own particular city.
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