USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 9
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UNION CHURCH TERCENTENARY SERVICE
An united service of the East, West and South Churches of the original parish-the present Barnstable Unitarian, West Barnstable Congregational and Centerville Congrega- tional churches-was held in the Unitarian Church at 10:45 a.m., Sunday. Church bells were rung at 9 o'clock preced- ing the service, as the forefathers were first called to wor- ship each Sunday. The Rev. Donald Lothrop, pastor of the Community Church in Boston, was guest speaker at the service. The church was filled to capacity of about 200 per- sons. A foreword to the service by the Rev. Donald C. McMillan stated :
"It is our pleasure and our privilege, in this summer of 1939, to commemorate the gathering of the original church in Barnstable three hundred years ago. The several villages have been contributing, in their turn, their excellent ob- servances of the Town's Tercentenary ; now let us pay trib- ute to the Rev. John Lothrop and his faithful followers who gathered together to re-establish their Independent church in Barnstable in the Fall of 1639.
"They were heroic people whose integrity was but strengthened by persecution in England and by hardships in the New World, to which they came that they might wor- ship as their conscience demanded.
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"All through these three hundred years, the three church- es which grew out of the original church have sought to carry on the noble traditions and labors of their founders. They have striven to glorify God and serve all people, as the children of One Father.
"Our prayer is that these Tercentenary observances will bring us all more closely together in mutual love and serv- ice, in devotion to God and to those principles of true liberty and democracy which are our treasured heritage from the past, and our saving hope for the future. "Out of past cour- age, courage for today, and tomorrow.' "'
A brief resume of the order of service follows :
Organ Prelude Mrs. W. P. Lovejoy, Jr.
Call to Worship The Rev. Donald C. McMillan,
Pastor of the Barnstable Church Processional Hymn, Tune, "Old Hundredth" (No. 2, Hymn and Tune Book) Invocation The Rev. John A. Douglas, Pastor of the Centerville and West Barnstable Churches The Lord's Prayer
Choir Introit, "Blest Is The Lord" G. R. Woodward
The Responsive Reading From the Bible-Mr. Douglas, Leader
The Rev. Donald Lothrop,
The Lesson and Prayer Pastor of the Community Church, Boston The Choir Anthem, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" Bach The Announcement and Offertory
Hymn (Tune, St. Anne, No. 397, Hymn and Tune Book)
The Sermon, "Discontent and Discovery" Mr. Lothrop Recessional Hymn (Tune, Federal Street, No. 241, Hymn and Tune Book) . Benediction Mr. McMillan
DEDICATION OF COBB TABLET
A granite tablet on the land where Elder Henry Cobb built a stone Fortification House in 1643 was dedicated at 4 :30 p.m. Monday, with Miss Dorothy Ann Woodall unveil- ing the tablet, Alfred Crocker making the introductions, and Richard Cobb delivering the dedicatory address. (See section on Memorial Tablets for Mr. Cobb's address.)
TOURS OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS
Public buildings in Barnstable village were opened to vis- itors Monday afternoon from 2 to 5. Those buildings opened, where attendants were on hand to show visitors through, were : the Schoolhouse, the County Courthouse, the County Jail and House of Correction, and the several churches of the village.
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TOURS OF HISTORIC SITES
Trips to interesting historic sites around Barnstable vil- lage were conducted by Henry C. Kittredge on Tuesday morning and afternoon. Many visitors enjoyed the tours. Mr. Kittredge pointed out and explained the significance of these sites: Sacrament Rock, Coggins Pond, locus of first tannery, Scudder's Wharf, Old Jail on Jail Lane, Training Green at Rendezvous Lane, Old Courthouse, Freeman Hinck- ley shop at Pine Lane, John Munroe silver shop where first bank was quartered, site of salt works and Cobb's wharf, site of Elder Cobb's Fortification House, Blue-blind house where the stage coach stopped, Amos Otis house, Alvin Howes house which was a stop on the "underground rail- road" of slavery days, the grave of Iyanough, Mary Dunn's road, the Gustavus F. Swift place, the tannery at Keveney Lane, the Colonel John Gorham house. All these, and others in Barnstable village, were marked with signs during the village Tercentenary week.
VISITS TO HISTORIC HOUSES
Historic old Barnstable homes were opened to the public Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. under auspices of the Barn- stable Woman's Club. Cards of admission were issued free at the Woman's Club by the committee in charge, of which Miss Mary K. Cobb was chairman.
Homes opened included : the Paine house, owned by the Clagg heirs; the old Allyn (salt box) house; Miss Maude Baker's home; the Mulberry cottage, now owned by Arthur Beale; the Allen Chase house, noted for its Lady of the Lake wallpaper; the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sydney T. Knott; Miss Mary K. Cobb's home, with mementos of its builder, Daniel Davis; Sturgis Library, which incorpor- ates the home of John Lothrop; the Crocker Tavern, now owned by the Society for the Preservation of New Eng- land Antiquities; the cottages of Mrs. Herbert Jacquelin of New York, being the blue-blind house and the dwelling recently brought from Hanover; the home of Miss Irene Loring; and Dr. Gorham Bacon's house, built by Captain John Gorham.
HISTORIC EXHIBIT
Through the first three days of this week, an exhibition of old photographs, with many originals in addition to those collected by the Tercentenary Committee, was on view at the Woman's Club, and many visitors enjoyed it.
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Another exhibit of antiques from Barnstable homes was on display during the week in the window of the Bass River Savings Bank office, in Hyannis.
DEDICATION OF JOHN GORHAM TABLET
A bronze tablet on a natural boulder placed in the door- yard of the homestead of Captain John Gorham, now owned by Dr. Gorham Bacon, was dedicated at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Alfred Crocker made the introductions, Gorham Bacon Harper, Jr., did the unveiling, and Henry C. Kittredge de- livered the dedicatory address. (See section on Memorial Tablets for Mr. Kittredge's address.)
Mrs. Bruce K. Jerauld was chairman of the Committee which arranged events of the Barnstable village week.
PART III Lawyers' Day Program
MANY OF BARNSTABLE'S great men, more particularly James Otis, The Patriot, and Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, were lawyers. It seemed fitting to the Tercentenary Com- mittee that a special tribute to eminent members of the bar of our town should be paid during the summer. The Com- mittee, therefore, requested a special committee of the bar to arrange a suitable program. The special committee, com- prised of John D. W. Bodfish, chairman, Thomas Otis and Collen C. Campbell, arranged a most appropriate and suc- cessful Lawyers' Day Program, of which a full report fol- lows:
LAWYERS' DAY PROGRAM (Saturday, August 12th, at 2 P.M.)
AT THE OLD SHAW HOMESTEAD IN WEST BARNSTABLE
Hon. John D. W. Bodfish, Chairman, presiding; Hon. Collen C. Campbell and Hon. Thomas Otis with him intro- ducing the speakers.
Address: "James Otis, Patriot," by Hon. Daniel T. O'Connell, Justice of the Superior Court.
Address: "Lemuel Shaw, Chief Justice," by Dr. A. Law- rence Lowell, President Emeritus of Harvard University.
Address: "Other Legal Lights of Barnstable," by Hon. Henry A. Ellis.
Musical numbers by: Natalie Pedro, Mildred Syriala, Marion Waller and Marjorie Fisk, violins, and Jeannette Wirtanen, piano.
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The chairman, John D. W. Bodfish, opened the exercises by reciting Rudyard Kipling's poem, "The Recessional," which is as follows:
God of our fathers, known of old, Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine ; Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget.
The tumult and the shouting dies ; The captains and the kings depart; Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart ; Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, Let we forget, lest we forget.
!
Far-called our navies melt away ; On dune and headland sinks the fire ; Lo! All our pomp of yesterday Is one with Ninevah and Tyre, Judge of the nations, spare us yet Lest we forget, lest we forget.
If drunk with sight of power we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe, Such boastings as the Gentiles use, Or lesser breeds without the law, Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget.
For heathen heart that puts her trust In reeking tube and iron shard, All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard, For frantic boast and foolish word, Thine mercy on thy people, Lord.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY MR. BODFISH
Three hundred years ago those of our ancestors who had then established their homes in this area, which lies be- tween Sandwich on the west and Yarmouth on the east
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and between Cape Cod Bay on the north and Nantucket Sound on the south, became a body corporate and a sub- division of the body politic under the name of the Town of Barnstable.
The immediate basis of their form of government was the compact signed in the cabin of the Mayflower as she swung at anchor in Provincetown Harbor before any member of that company of Pilgrims set foot upon these shores. The essence of that compact was incorporated in the Massachu- setts Constitution which was adopted in 1783 and which is the oldest written instrument of its kind in effective oper- ation anywhere in the world today; and there it is framed in these words: "Government is instituted for the common good, for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people and not for the profit, honor or private in- terest of any one man, family or class of men."
Accordingly the voters were called together from time to time in Town Meeting to act upon matters duly set out in the warrant warning them to attend the Town Meeting. That was democracy in its simplest and purest form. The expansion of the colony, however, soon made it necessary to adopt a representative system for dealing with matters of general effect and not merely local to the several towns.
Weaknesses developed in the representative system. Rep- resentatives frequently forgot pre-election promises. Some- times they failed to enact needed legislation. Sometimes they enacted legislation not in keeping with the common good. The people could do nothing about it except to wait for the next election when they could choose a different representa- tive who might in turn disappoint them again.
The Massachusetts Constitution to which I have already referred contains these significant words : "All power re- siding originally in the people and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government vested with authority, whether legislative, executive or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times account- able to them." But that same Constitution failed to make the necessary provision to give the people any direct con- trol over the acts and failure to act of the representatives in the legislative branch of the state government. That was left to be done by us who were members of the Massachu- setts Constitutional Convention in 1917, 1918 and 1919 in which I had the honor of representing this district. We adopted a resolution to amend the Constitution by provid- ing for direct corrective and supplementary legislation
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AT THE LAWYERS' DAY PROGRAM-(Rear row, left to right), Thomas Otis, Dr. A. Lawrence Lowell, John D. W. Bodfish, Judge Dan- iel T. O'Connell, Judge Collen C. Campbell. Henry A. Ellis. (Front row) -Natalie Pedro, Mildred Syriala, Jeannette Wirtanen, Marion Waller and Marjorie Fisk.
through initiative and referendum petitions and that resolu- tion was approved by the voters and is now a part of the fundamental law of the Commonwealth. It enables the vot- ers to initiate by petition legislation which their representa- tives may fail to introduce and it also enables them by ref- erendum petition to cause to be submitted to them for their approval or rejection legislative acts, the advisability of which may be questioned. Thus we have made our repre- sentative system truly representative leaving those elected to the legislative branch of our government with their def- inite work to do and giving the people the means of effec- tively supervising and controlling that work.
I speak of this matter of representative government, its weaknesses and what we have done to correct them in the legislative branch of our state government to emphasize the more strongly the advantages of the direct legislative ac- tion in Town Meeting by all of the voters.
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The Town Meeting form of government in the Town of Barnstable. has never been impaired and all experience warns us against permitting it to be impaired in the future. Let the people of the Town of Barnstable be ever mindful of the blessings they enjoy and continue to freely assemble themselves in Town Meeting and there continue the free- dom of speech and action so essential to the maintenance of our free institutions.
The common people of West Barnstable and the other villages of the town in each succeeding generation have made abundant contributions to the common good. Today, however, we meet to consider some of the more prominent personages of the legal profession of our community. It is fitting that we should do this for proudly do we assert that ours, to quote again from our Massachusetts Constitution, "is a government of laws and not of men." The rise of these prominent ones has been facilitated by the qualities of those from among whom they have risen and they do not differ in the excellence of character but only in the extent of their achievements which make them more noticeable as stars which differ only from the others in brightness.
The chairman then presented Collen C. Campbell, Justice of the Probate Court of Barnstable and president of the Barnstable County Bar Association, who, with well chosen words, presented Daniel T. O'Connell, Justice of the Super- ior Court of Massachusetts, who delivered the following ad- dress on James Otis, the Patriot.
"JAMES OTIS, THE PATRIOT AND LAWYER"-AN ADDRESS BY JUSTICE DANIEL T. O'CONNELL
The three hundredth birthday of the Town of Barnstable would not be fittingly observed without the name of James Otis, its most outstanding son, being honored as it is by these exercises.
It is one of the perplexing features of American history that Otis is so little known by the present generation, or the generations of Americans of the past century. While those who participated in the Revolution lived, Otis' serv- ices were fresh in the memory of the people of that genera- tion, and their children, perhaps. The last outstanding ob- servance of Otis' great part in creating the liberties and blessings the United States enjoys, and the far-flung in-
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fluence it has exercised in the affairs of the world, was that related to the 200th birthday of the Town of Barnstable. Upon that occasion, 100 years ago, John G. Palfrey, the his- torian, paid fitting tribute to Otis. Subsequently, the State recognized the debt due Otis by the painting of the Mural in the hall at the State House depicting Otis defying the might of England when he delivered his famous argument on the illegality of the Writs of Assistance.
Here and there, as our existence as a Nation developed, Otis has been remembered by occasional reference in patrio- tic addresses. In 1917, a tablet was placed on a boulder at the site of the former Otis residence at West Barnstable. It was the gift of the Sons of the American Revolution. Upon July 26th, 1930, the Barnstable County Bar Asso- ciation paid its tribute to Otis by holding exercises com- memorative of his life. The late Justice George A. Sander- son spoke for the Supreme Judicial Court, and it was my privilege to speak in behalf of the Superior Court. From that time to the present, I have indulged a love for more thorough study of early American history-and, in partic- ular,-the part Otis and his Massachusetts contemporaries played. The thought constantly running through my mind, as readings were made, was: why has so little been written about Otis? And the conclusion is: historians have uninten- tionally overlooked the real worth of the subject.
Harvard University, in January, 1937, issued a pamphlet entitled : "The Harvard Reading List in American History." Its publication drew the attention of college faculties, the press, historical societies, scholars, students and others, like myself, to the announced fact that the study of American history had been glossed over to an extent that made neces- sary an awakening to the importance of making a fresh start in having the history of our Country, and its important chapters, more fully and correctly portrayed. I quote a sin- gle sentence :
"Unless citizens of a democracy are aware of the means by which their country has become what it is, the efforts and sacrifices that have been made in the past to secure liberty and opportunity for the present, they are apt to exchange their birthright for the proverbial mess of pottage."
The pamphlet is available to all who apply to the Publica- tions Office at Harvard. It contains a valuable list of books related to the development of our Nation that all true Amer- icans should consult constantly for worthwhile reading.
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Harvard, as always in great movements associated with the advance of our Country, has taken the lead. It is my sincere hope that, from the awakened interest in our past, will come a new life of James Otis which will embody all that is essential in making the present and future genera- tions realize the debt we owe to one who has deservedly been proclaimed : "Barnstable's Greatest Son."
The "Life of Otis" by William Tudor, published in 1823, is a splendid work. All subsequent students of Otis have used Tudor's volume, and one encounters repetition upon repetition when scanning through subsequent brief writings. Tudor did his work well, but there is yet much to be dis- closed and written.
The life of John Marshall, the great Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was the subject of many writ- ings, in the aggregate accepted as sufficient for all who sought to master the history of his services to America, but it was not until the late United States Senator Albert J. Beveridge wrote his monumental four-volume history of Marshall that Americans, and the world, obtained a true and comprehensive picture of Marshall in all his striking attri- butes of character and contributions to our well-being.
It required the study, research, scholarship and applica- tion of a great, great grandnephew of James Otis to give us, in 1926, the inspiring history of the United States Supreme Court. A score or more of really good histories and writings of the Supreme Court were accepted as sufficient until Charles Warren turned his brilliant mind to the subject. Charles Warren of Dedham, now a practicing lawyer at Washington, and former Assistant United States Attorney General, is a direct descendant of Mercy Warren, sister of James Otis. Warren has scored many successes in a busy, useful life, yet the great outstanding service was his history of the Supreme Court. The Otis blood "told."
I entertain the hope that from this meeting will spring the effort of some writer of history to emulate Warren and Beveridge, and other historians too numerous for me to name specifically, and give to the world, and to the youth of Amer- ica in particular, a life of Otis that will place him where he belongs as one of the immortals of our Nation, and a fig- ure in the history of the world that rivals that of the great Nation-builders of all time.
It is not possible, within the reasonable limit of time allowed for an address upon an occasion such as we today participate in, to cover even briefly the more important de-
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tails of the life of Otis. To the student of Otis' services to his Country, and I count myself such a student, there are so many chapters of fascinating interest that the temptation is great to enter into fields of comment contributing to de- tail requiring extended time to set forth. To those who would follow into these details, I recommend the reading of Tudor's volume, available in the State Library, in your own Town Library, or in any worthwhile public library.
I am influenced by my studies to draw attention to con- siderations related to Otis which I am of the opinion hereto- fore have not been emphasized by those who have written of, or delivered addresses upon, the patriotic services of Otis. Largely, Otis is viewed as the Patriot-Orator who, by a sin- gle speech in a Courtroom inflamed the Colonists in 1760 to the beginning of the struggle that ended in Independence.
Great figures in history who have struggled against the power of might are made to suffer by calumny, misrepre- sentations and bitterness of feeling. Otis is a striking ex- ample. When he decided, at the age of thirty-six, to resign as Advocate General for the Crown, and engage as counsel for the protesting Colonists, it became the studied purposes of the Crown's official representatives and the Tory support- ers, so-called,-to belittle him and weaken his influence.
Why was this so? Why did a comparatively young law- yer draw such attention? Otis was not of ordinary mould. There were lawyers more distinguished for their legal tal- ents, based largely upon their seniority in age and practice. One Courtroom argument, even though called a speech, does not give to a lawyer the success and undying fame and glory that Otis won.
Strictly speaking, he should always be referred to as James Otis, Jr. The father, James Otis, Sr., was a man of un- usual talents, sufficient to stamp him as a distinguished fig- ure in Colonial history, based wholly upon his own services, and apart from those of the son. James Otis, Sr., was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; and, prior to eleva- tion to that high judicial office, was Judge of Probate for Barnstable County. Were it not for the grasping ambition of Hutchinson, then Lieutenant-Governor and holder of other offices, Otis, Sr., would have been Chief Justice of the Superior Court, the then highest Court of the Colony, an honor which, seventy years later, came to another Barnsta- ble lawyer, Lemuel Shaw, whose services to Massachusetts are today honored by the address of President Emeritus Lowell.
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Hutchinson was not trained in the law. He sought to com- bine the executive and the Judicial departments of govern- ment, so far as the final authority could find expression in one and the same mind; therefore, he continued holding the office of Lieutenant-Governor and succeeded to the Govern- ship. Hutchinson flagrantly disregarded the proprieties of Judicial decency, and held the Chief Justiceship which he had more or less ruthlessly by arrogant political means tak- en away from James Otis, Sr. It is worthy of comment that, in 1783, when the Massachusetts Constitution was adopted, it was provided that there should be a complete separation of the powers of the Executive and Judiciary, as well as the Legislative.
John Otis, the grandfather of James Otis, Jr., was, also, a Judge, presiding over the Probate Court of Barnstable County. John Otis was Colonel of the Militia,-as was his son, James Otis, Sr. Both father and grandfather held other high honors in the community, and each was a leader of the people of Barnstable County. Both gave active manifesta- iton of the forceful spirit that actuated James, Jr., and brought him to the decision that the Crown authorities must be resisted, else all essential liberties of the Colonists would be jeopardized.
James Otis, Sr., is deserving of a special address, and even a monument. His memory has too long been neglected. The patriotic services rendered by him began years ahead of those of his son, and paralleled those of the son. He died in 1778. While the son represented Boston in the Colonial Legis- lature, the father represented Barnstable. For five succes- sive years the father was elected by the Legislature to the Governor's Council, the highest office the Legislature could vote. But he was not allowed to serve, the Governor exercis- ing the then existing right of veto. Later, public sentiment forced Hutchinson to accept Judge Otis.
James was not the only child of Judge Otis to attain dis- tinction. There were thirteen children. Joseph, the second son, became a Brigadier-General in the County Militia, and fought with the Revolutionary forces. Samuel Allyne, the youngest son, for his patriotic services, became the first Sec- retary of the United State Senate. From him descends the line of Otises more closely associated with the name of Har- rison Gray Otis of Federalist fame.
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