USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Report of the proceedings and exercises at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Kingston, Mass. : June 27, 1876 > Part 10
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Aug. 11, 1798, in a cottage still standing in yonder hamlet of Stony Brook, the twins, Charles and Ichabod, were born. Their mother, sixth in descent from the first Gov. Bradford, was left a widow'in six months from that time, and hard was the struggle this devoted mother had, to cherish these two boys and the older sister into self-sustaining maturity.
Ichabod was carly apprenticed to a blacksmith near the city of Worcester, and from that time until his death in 1870, his life was a constant experience of intelligent industry and self- culture rewarded with success ; and to-day the manufacturing house founded by his skill, and bearing his name is much the largest in the city of his adoption ; and in that same city are flourishing four great charities originated, and wholly or in part endowed by him, which will ever cause his name to be remem- bered with gratitude.
Charles fitted for Brown University under " Parson Willis," whose cottage we passed this morning, was graduated in 1820, studied law in Norway, Me., married the daughter of the first county justice before whom he tried a case ; lived and practised in that State until 1837, when he moved to Worcester with his family, and joined fortunes with his brother Ichabod. IIis death occurred in October last.
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The affection subsisting between these brothers was always marked. They loved to refer to themselves as " twins." They lived side by side in Worcester the last half of their lives. As before intimated, a frequent subject of conversation between them was " Old Kingston " and the friends and experiences of their young days. Among others, the fact that Charles, when fitting for college, "watched " in the old woolen mill on Jones River, just south of Kingston Village, and that Ichabod often cheered the lonely vigils of his brother, was often discussed by them. This phase of their young lives is referred to in some lines read by a member of the family at a dinner celebrating their seventieth birthday, and there is so much in them signifi- cant of the fraternal sympathy that always subsisted between them, and there are so many present who are deeply interested in everything connected with the brothers, that I will venture to read them.
The sunset rays had faded, The sky had lost its light, Its starry diadem lit up The dusky brow of Night.
The busy wheel hangs motionless, The waters ripple by, No sound disturbs the stillness, No living thing is nigh,
Save a little, lonely figure, The watchman of the mill, Whose quiet footfall breaketh The silence deep and still,
As he paced with childish footsteps The old brown walls about, And watched the stars till daylight As they one by one went out.
He keeps his lonely vigil With a faithful, earnest heart, Though weariness assails him As the lengthening hours depart.
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And he walks the dark old chambers In silence and alone, While the light of a little lantern About his footsteps shone.
The sighing wind in the forest Stirs his boyish heart with fear, And he hears with a chill of terror A footstep drawing near.
Straight up the rocky pathway, Onward, right on, it came; A voice breaks the evening stillness, It calls him by his name.
An answering ery burst from him; He knew his brother's call, And sprang with joy to meet him In the shade of the ancient wall.
" Why come you here," he questions, " At this lonely hour of night, When to labor you must hasten With the earliest dawn of light? "
" I could not rest, dear brother," The elder one replied. " You slept not on my pillow, I missed you from my side.
" Let me stay with you, brother, While yon your vigil keep; The thought of your lonely hours Would haunt me in my sleep."
The little watchman answered, As he heard his loving prayer, " The lonely hours too short would seem, Did you my watching share.
" I cannot work like you, brother, For this we often grieve," - And the eyes of both glanced downward At a little empty sleeve, -- 9
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" But a brave, stout heart I have, brother, My duty I will do, And when I need two hands in toil, Why, then I'll lean on you."
So faithfully they labored, Each one his place to fill; They worked at the forge and anvil, And watched in the old brown mill.
Life's pathway lay before them, Its rugged steeps untrod; Unaided they must tread it, Save by their father - God.
With strong, brave hearts they struggled Manfully side by side; While years passed swiftly o'er them, And blessings multiplied.
Though in toil and many a hardship Their lot was often cast, In mutual love and sympathy Boyhood and youth were passed.
When many years of manhood Hlad tinged their locks with gray, God's finger touched the elder; Ile faltered by the way.
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While the nights were long and weary, And his listless hands lay still, Hle dreamed of the scenes of childhood, And the nights in the old brown mill.
Though the faith and hope of the Christian Shone bright in this trial hour, The love that blessed his boyhood Had never lost its power.
When strength ebbed low within him, And the lamp of life burned dim, He could not leave his brother While he had need of him.
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So he struggled up from the river, Though lingering long on the brink, And once and again of its waters Ilis lips were pressed to drink.
IIe had deemed the battle over, Ile thought his life-work done; That the soldier's watch was ended And the rest of the Christian won.
But another year these brothers Are lingering on the shore. To celebrate their natal day We now return once more.
The friends with whom in former days The path of life they trod, Are gathering, a family, About the throne of God.
Bright angels safely guide them As they cross life's troubled sea, And reach that quiet haven, From pain and sorrow free!
The love they bear each other As brightly glows to-day ! As when in hours of infancy They in one cradle lay.
. So at the last sad moment, When parting words are spoken, May they eross the shining river With the mystic tie unbroken! M. E. W.
AUGUST 11, 1SGS.
My friends, I will not detain you longer. Many and affec- tionate are the personal greetings my father and uncle would give if they were here ! I, in their behalf, now thank the warm hearts of Kingston for the many kind words and expressions with which they followed these brothers as long as they lived, and let me assure you that they were always appreciated. For
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myself, let me beg you, young and old, cherish the hearthstones of Old Kingston. Do not forget your past, so peculiar, simple, perhaps, in detail, but so grand in its results ! As the children grow up, repeat to them the precious associations of Plymouth and Kingston, that they, as thousands before them have, may in turn transplant into the regions, north, west, and sonth of our dear country, the practice of those virtues which have given this portion of the Old Colony the world-wide name and prase it now enjoys.
14. The son of Kingston who has the most relatives, good, bad, and indifferent, " Uncle Cook."
TO HAVE BEEN RESPONDED TO BY RUFUS R. COOK, ESQ, OF BOSTON.
Much regret has been felt and expressed that at least a few moments could not have been allowed for speaking at the table, to this energetic and philanthropic son of the town. The thoughts that were prompted by the occasion, he assures us, could not after a few weeks be gathered up or put into the form of a speech by his pen.
Mr. Cook has for years been chaplain of the Suffolk County Jail, and has been " the prisoner's friend " in the municipal court-room of Boston.
In many instances he gives his personal bond for the reap- pearance of those arraigned and for their good behavior for a definite period. Through his kind and Christian influence, many of the fallen have been reclaimed, and the number of the vicious has been reduced. Believing in the old doctrine that prevention is better than cure, he has labored assiduously to promote the cause of temperance and also has bestowed his energies for the salvation of the young in Sabbath Schools.
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He has thus fairly earned the enviable distinction of a univer- sal uncle, finding warm friends among all classes, conditions, and ages.
The above statement having been submitted to one of the justices of the Municipal Court (Hon. Mr. Chamberlain), he says, " It is both accurate and just. Indeed, it is hardly pos- sible to overestimate the importance of the work Mr. Cook has undertaken, and for years has quietly pursued, and his admirable fitness for it. IIe is so constant in his attendance upon the court that my associates and myself have come to regard him as one of its officers, and he is never absent with- out being missed. The city has few better or more useful men than " Uncle Cook."
15. Rhode Island and Delaware, States almost too small to contain the Works of two Kingston boys, whom we are happy to number among our honored Vice-Presidents io-day.
RESPONDED TO FIRST, BY HON. GEORGE B. HOLMES, OF PROVIDENCE, R. I.
Mr. President, - In response to a sentiment referring to Rhode Island, I have to say that, although I am a Rhode Isl- ander by an adoption of half a century, I still remember with pride that Kingston is the town of my birth. Here I passed the pleasant day's of childhood and youth. I remember, with a feeling of gratitude, that when only twenty-six years of age, I was elected from this town as a member of the State Con- vention for the revision of the Constitution in 1820, and had the privilege of listening to the debates of the eminent men who belonged to that body, upon the fundamental law. My election was rather singular. I was not nominated or even asked, neither did I know I was to be voted for, nor did Iattend the town-meeting; but a friend called on me in the evening
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and gave me the information. I attended the Convention, and it was a very great help to me. My political course was then changed, and I have not entered into the political field since, very strongly. During the attendance of the Convention, I became fully convinced that all governments are controlled by a Divine Providence, and my duty was to vote for the best man.
As all men, whether exiles by compulsion or chance, constantly recall with satisfaction the just renown of their native place, so it has always been with me an unfailing source of pleasure to dwell upon the reputation, which my old home has acquired for solid worth and the prevalence of those substantial virtues, which are at once the strength and glory of the individual and national life. I refer to official and private honesty, striet regard for confided trusts, thrift, temperance, and intelligence. If Kingston has not risen to commercial empire, like New York or Boston, she has, never- theless, the satisfaction of knowing that she has avoided the questionable blessing of great debts and town bonds, and that in that greatness which is the final salvation of all coun- trics, the greatness of a thrifty, patriotic, and moral citizen- ship, she is far more opulent than she would be with a harbor filled with fleets of merchantmen, and with warehouses groan- ing under the product of every elime.
But fond as I am of the reputation of my native town and State, I am yet equally fond of the reputation of my adopted home, in whose behalf I am invited to speak. I remained in Kingston till July, 1824, when I moved to Providence and entered into the foundry and machine business. I have had the management of this business almost fifty-two years. Our establishment was at first small, but with the growth of our city, which has gone up from 20,000 to 108,000 in population, the business has very naturally increased from a capital of $14,000
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to $300,000. Though I have five times been elected a member of the General Assembly of my adopted State, I have never entered very deeply into polities. Business has been my hobby, and of course, in a State so small in territory as your toast intimates, our Works occupy a larger space comparatively than if they had been in Massachusetts.
But Rhode Island, small as she is, has innumerable voices to speak for her. Her enterprise is known of all men ; her patri- otism sealed with blood ; her piety written in letters of devotion and death on many missionary fields ; her scholarship ripening in harvests of learning in every State of the Union ; her courage proved on a hundred battle-fields, flashing in the light of the burning " Gaspee," heralded by the flying splinters from Perry's frigate, and consecrated by the dying gallantry of Slocum and Rodman, and a host of unrecorded heroes, - these all speak for Rhode Island. And in the great struggle for commercial renown her success has not been less distinguished. Let her million spindles, her pattern-cards displayed in every market, her toiling engines moving the universal wheels of industry, be her sufficient culogists.
My hope and my prayer is that to her, as to that place of my childhood so fondly cherished, God may grant deliverance from past error and misfortune, and may give countless centuries of prosperity in the future. And finally, as for myself, it being more than fifty years since I left Kingston, my experience of life has been varied and continued beyond the time ordinarily vouchsafed to man.
Among life's chances a return to Kingston, to rest my dying eyes upon her green fields and to lie down among my ancestors, will probably not be granted me ; but I trust that a kind Provi- dence will grant me beyond the grave an existence, where the memory of her green fields and quiet streams will not be taken from me.
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LETTERS.
RESPONDED TO ALSO BY LETTER FROM GEORGE G. LOBDELL, ESQ., OF WILMINGTON, DEL.
WILMINGTON, DEL., June 22, 1876. Dear Sir, -Yours of the 5th inst. to "Hon. George G. Lobdell" was duly received. As there are no persons of the name in this section, other than my own family, I suppose it was intended for me. Although I have something of a national reputation with railroad men, as a manufacturer of railroad wheels and the inventor of the first plate railroad-wheel which was a success, I have never filled any political position entitling me to the prefix of " Honorable," and have never had any ambi- tion in that direction, neither am I given to making speeches ; therefore I could not reply to one of your toasts. However, if I could do so, it would afford me great pleasure to visit Kingston and participate in the proposed celebration, and to have accompany me some who are not only proud of the name of Blue Hens' Chickens, but boast also that they can trace their genealogy to the Pilgrims, - Elder Brewster, Thomas Prince, Philip de la Noye, Edward Bompasse, and through their mother to Peregrine White.
I find, however, that I cannot leave home on account of the Centennial Exhibition, having with us several friends, and I am expecting others to attend this, the most wonderful exhibit that the world ever produced. We have been notified that our Works, which are the oldest and I believe the largest of the kind in the country, will be visited by several of the commis- sions of foreign countries, which, taken with the fact that I shall have to meet the judges on a part of our exhibits on the 27th inst., will prevent my leaving home during this month.
Yours very respectfully, GEORGE G. LOBDELL.
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16. Letter from Ex .- Gov. Emory Washburn to an invitation to be present and to participate in the exercises.
CAMBRIDGE, June 10, 1876.
Gentlemen, - Your favor of the 5th inst., extending to me a flattering invitation to be present at the celebration of the citizens of Kingston on the 27th inst., reached me as I was start- ing for New York, too late to reply to it then, and I seize the first moment after my return to thank you for the honor you have done me, and to express my sincere regret that, as our Commencement comes on the 28th, I cannot with any propriety be absent from my place here on the preceding day. I shall greatly regret to lose the pleasure of being present where there will be so much to enjoy, and shall be sorry to lose, moreover, an opportunity to renew my claim, as I do on all proper occasions, to being of the Old Colony lineage, though my birthplace, without any choice on my part, happened to be within the limits of Massachusetts Bay. If I cannot go back quite to the Mayflower, I claim relationship with Plymouth Rock, as my line of descent goes back to a grand- daughter of Mary Chilton ; and as Kingston was a daughter of Plymouth, if I could have been present on the commemora- tion of her birth-day, I should have put in my claim, with much pride and satisfaction, of having come to a family gathering and having my heirship recognized.
I am sorry to lose the chance of having my hereditary rank recognized, but shall try to content myself with the honor of having been invited to participate on that occasion with so many, of whose appreciation I should be justly proud.
Very respectfully, your ob't servant,
EMORY WASHBURN.
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17. Our Native.Town :
"'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
RESPONDED TO BY DR. FREDERIC W. BARTLETT, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.
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Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, - I am invited to respond to this sentiment, and I do so with pleasure. In all ages and all nations, the love of home has been a dominant feeling of the human heart. Even the inhabitant of cheerless, frozen Iceland considers it the " best land on which the sun shines," and
" The naked negro panting at the line Boasts of his golden skies and palmy wine."
If the love of home cannot be stifled in the breasts of these unfortunates, how shall one born in this lovely town ever become insensible to its marvellous attractions ? For it is the
" Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,"
of all the smiling hamlets peacefully scattered over our grand, historic State, with motherly Plymouth sending forth the bold headlands of Manomet, and the Gurnet to resist the rudeness of the storm-swept ocean, and Jones River flowing, a ribbon of silver, from its source to the embrace of the quiet bay, winding and hesitating as if reluctant to leave such tranquil scenes, and beyond the bay with the noble hill, home of the great military leader, Standish, with Monk's Hill on the south, and all the lakes, cach with tiny streamlet to carry its surplus to swell the volume of the gently-flowing river. I doubt if there is a finer panoramic view in all this fair land than that from Abraham's
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Hill. Here, too, are the memorials of those who gave birth to this great nation. It seems incredible that within the scope of our vision lived the people who organized government by the people, and gave to this land all that is valuable in its institu- tions. We may criticise their weaknesses, but dare we, as a people, in a political or religious sense, prefer any just claim to superiority? I am proud of this town for its noble record in all those qualities which make a people truly great, proud of . the patriotism which has given our bravest and best for the defence of liberty and law, and I remember with pathetic ten- derness all those who on land or sea have yielded up their lives for their country. "They sleep for the flag ; and may the light of its glorious stars shed pleasant dreams upon their loyal souls forever !"
No town on all the coast has furnished better qualified commanders in the merchant marine than Adams, Symines, Holmes, and Baker; and no river of its size has witnessed the launching of so many noble vessels by Holmes, Sever, and others, whose sails have whitened and keels made musical the most distant waters of the globe.
I am grateful to Almighty God that my birth was in this upright, moral, Christian community ; that in all my boyhood years no licensed or unlicensed temptation lured me to drunk- enness or immorality ; for its good schools, with such teachers as Jason Winnett, David Thayer, and Hollis Stone. I am proud of the thrift and honesty which in a population of 1,700 has but one individual in its almshouse to-day. This com- munity has always cheered its sons in every good work, and no one need ever fear an envious disparagement of his success; on the contrary, he may be assured that every stride he may make to eminence, wealth, or fame will be mentioned with satisfac- tion by all his townsmen. The allurements of the great world
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outside have taken many of your sons to other and distant scenes, but the old love remains, and is well expressed by Goldsmith in these familiar lines : --
" In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs, - and God has given my share, - I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down; To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting by repose. I still had hopes - for pride attends us still - Amidst the swains to show my book-learned skill; Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt and all I saw; And, as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations passed, Here to return - and die at home at last."
I do not recall an instance in all my boyhood of a conviction for crime of a native of this community.
Good Justice Eli Cook had always a dry inkstand, and the exotics whose pleasantries he punished, came like celestial vis- itors, "few and far between."
There were jovial little coteries of village statesmen at the shop of Joseph Stetson (a most excellent and useful citizen, whom I regret is physically unable to be here to-day), but in all their discussions, no matter how animated, I do not re- member to have listened to profanity. You have good homes, good municipal regulations, and are given to kindly sympathy for each other in sickness or other adversity. Your religious teachers have been men of culture and unsullied character, considerate and friendly and tolerant of the views of others.
" Peace be within your borders, and prosperity within your gates!"
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Cling to the grand old principles which you glorify in your ancestors. Protect the youth of to-day, as our fathers protected
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us, by a steadfast opposition to concessions to vice in every form. Let them safely walk these streets, and give them those elements of character which alone can achieve success. May it be truly said of us, and all of us, that we are faithful to high responsibilities. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God bless us, every one !"
18. Kingston Inventions.
SPEECH BY T. D. STETSON, ESQ., OF NEW YORK CITY.
The old mode of boring holes in wood was by a pod-auger, which had to be drawn out at intervals to empty the pod. Now we bore continuously through two feet or more of dense timber in ship and bridge work, and the chips are worked out as fast as cut. This is the result of the introduction of the screw-auger. John Washburn, of Kingston, Mass., was the inventor in the latter part of the last century. He also invented cut nails and tacks. He cut the blanks in one machine, and employed children to pick them up one by one with their fingers, and insert them in the places where they were to be headed.
Jesse Reed, then of Kingston, put the improvement upon that which made it a commercial success. He held the blank 'by a spring after it was cut, and by the motion of the cutting knife itself moved it into the dies and left it there. He made the cutting and heading one operation, and ever since his Kingston patents of 1809-10-11, the mail machine has been able to take in plate iron at one point, and drop the finished mail or tack at another, at the rate of about three per second, till the knives or dies become dull and require a delay of ten minutes for grinding. The screw-auger, the cut nail, and the machine for making the cut nail, are all Kingston inventions.
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Kingston, with a population of less than 2,000, - one twenty-thousandth part of the American Union, -- has done her full share to promote the present advanced condition of the arts. None of Kingston's sons have as yet made for- tunes by their inventions without work, but with the same great strides, or even with much smaller ones, the chances are far greater for doing it now than a century ago. They are still at work. The patent is only a few years old on an improve- ment in stump pullers, one of the first necessities for back- woods' farming, invented by Caleb Bates or Thomas Newcomb, or both, and forged by Christopher Drew with the water power of Stony Brook, which flows past the Kingston depot. These are all residents and active business men of Kingston. The railroad is, on the other hand, a type and a product of the most rapid and dashing civilization. Our railroad cars glide over long lines of steel rails on our Western prairies, and move through the rocky defiles of our sister republics in South America, on wheels containing improvements invented and patented by George G. Lobdell, a native of Kingston, and manufactured in a large way in Wilmington, Del., by a com- pany of which he is the head.
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