USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > The celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 15, 1886 > Part 4
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With forests huge, of dateless time Thy will has hung cach peak sublime, But withered leaves beneath the tree, Have tongues that tell as loud of Thee.
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TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
Looking back 200 years we see the vast changes that have been made. In the town journal under date of Oct. 25, 1700, is the rec- ord : "Town of Falmouth assembled together, and it was then voted by said Town that there should be raised nineteen pound and five shillings, and all the inhabitants of said Town to be taxed to defray the charge of the same toward this year. For Mr. Shiverick 151b. For the repairing of the pound, 21b. 15s. For assessors Ilb. Ios., for Sylvanus Hatch Ios." This year Falmouth appropriated $2,000 to keep open house on its birthday. The population in 1774 was 1,300. Eighty-six years ago Falmouth numbered 1,882. Now there are 2,520 inhabitants, there being an excess of twenty-two women. This is an excess in the right direction, for Falmouth women are our " best element," and have no superior in our estimation.
The valuation of the town is $3,597,761, and there are but 10 towns in the State with lower rates of taxation, and these in all cases but one are but a trifle less. For school purposes the last annual appropriation was $7,300 ; for poor, $3,100 ; for highways, $6,000. With such outlays on a taxation of $6.30 on the thousand, we can understand why Falmouth is not now "out of repair," as in 1791, when Prof. Winthrop visited it.
THE OLD HOME.
It is a tradition that those who have once drank from the Nile never lose a longing to taste the waters again. Something akin to this want is the clinging of the human heart "to the spot of its origin." However far in after years our steps may wander from the old home, the craving once more to look upon it with our eyes and to press
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with our feet its turf and sands never leaves us until sentiment within us is dead and refined and pure emotions are by us forgotten.
The hills of Falmouth have become the residences of people of wealth. Its woods and shores are the resort of visitors who find this region fair and delightful. But to love Falmouth as we who passed our childhood and youth within its limits, love it, there must be re- membered the lullaby of its waves, the sight of its channels filled with white-winged craft, and the balm of its pines as breathed in the halcyon days of long ago.
To recall our Falmouth, is to have visions of sailors coming ashore after years of absence, with shells, treasures of bone and coral and sea trophies ; is anew, by aid of memory, to walk in the glamour of youth beneath Falmouth oaks, and to read over again old authors in natural cathedrals arched with trees, where stones seem placed for Druid rites. To know Falmouth by heart one must years ago, by moonlight, have sailed on Long pond, to hear a beloved voice echo among the cliffs at the head of the loveliest of inland waters ; must recall the affection of kindred who cared for you as you came in the exaction of youth to the old homestead, and that exuberance of ro- mance that tempted you at midnight with your dog for company, to tramp from Teaticket to the ridge that overlooks Buzzard's bay ; must have beheld, while sleep had closed all other lids, the wonderful dreamlike beauty of the world, softened by the descending moon ; then will be understood why by some of us Falmouth cannot be blotted from remembrance. With the logs blazing at the hearthstone, we hear again a father tell of the bombardment by the Nimrod with all the fervor of a soldier-lad who helped " to dig the trenches." We
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see his eye flash as he imitates the taunt of General Dimmick to the British : "If you want these pieces, come and take them." Full of emotion, we hear him tell of the houses that were struck with balls, until, as he closes with the words, "but no redcoat of them all dared to land ; if they had, we would have swept them from the earth," and our patriotic impulses no longer able to withhold their ardor, we shout, " hurrah for the town and its brave defenders."
THE PRESENT GATHERING.
It is such recollections that have brought many of us here, on this anniversary occasion, to express and offer our tribute of regard on this 200th birthday of dear old Falmouth. We, who came in the morning once more to mingle with kindred and once more to review ancestral scenes, must, as the evening approaches, go our various ways. We have looked on the spots where we and our sires were cradled, and some have been where our forefathers sleep the long sleep. We have seen the dwellings pierced in war by cannon shot, and have thus revived our esteem and renewed our affection for the place of our nativity. There may be within our national boundaries many places where mountains tower higher, where rushing rivers are wider, where the lakes are grander ; places of more mercantile impor- tance, of more historical distinction, with names more distinguished in arts and literature, and with far more of the pomp and circum- stance of material renown. But as we gather around our firesides, more or less remote from the mother-town, holding converse with the ones we cherish, as we have told in other days to our children, so in the flicker of the firelight we shall tell to our grandchildren, that nothing is lovelier to us than the peaceful waters that shine like jewels
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on the bosom of this beautiful town ; that nothing is more melodious than the music of the surf of bay and sea, that beating against its shores, welds firmer at every stroke the town to the mainland : that nowhere within our wide borders is there any affection purer or tie stronger than that which binds to Falmouth the hearts of its living and scattered sons and daughters, each one echoing the thought of Goldsmith :
Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see, My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee.
Music by the Cadet Band.
THE PRESIDENT.
It is matter of great regret that as these exercises did not begin as promptly as was hoped, a portion of the programme must be omitted. It has been decided to omit from the programme the poem of Mr. S. C. Lawrence, but I am glad to say that that will be printed in full, so that we shall all have opportunity of reading it. I now propose to you as the first toast for this afternoon :
"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts-a name synonymous with liberty, culture and progress. Represented to-day by a descend- ant of John Robinson, a Puritan, whose son Isaac was one of Falmouth's pioneers. This noble stock has not degenerated, as is proved by the vigorous, incorrupt and even-handed administration of His Excel-
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lency Governor Robinson, whom I now introduce to you. [Contin- ued applause.] :
RESPONSE OF GOV. ROBINSON.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :-
Another town to-day celebrates the centennial anniversary of her birth ; another occasion draws the attention of all the people, far and near, that find attachment to her or ties of kinship in her sacred places ; another sun shines upon a procession of hearty souls and fervent spirits who are ready to testify of their delight of the accom- plishments of the past ; another day comes, and man and woman and child join again in kindliest greeting, look each other most tenderly in the eye, and grasp each other most warmly by the hand, and it all goes on as it has many times before within the borders of our be- loved Commonwealth. It is, indeed, no unusual experience. Mas- sachusetts witnesses the same every year many times, and whenever her people assemble, whenever good thoughts and warm instincts inspire them, there they delight to bear their testimony to the Com- mowealth that they love so fondly. It is with great pleasure, indeed, that one has the right to speak for her in such a presence as this. She gives you without stint her salutation, her congratulations, and she ranks you in the highest with your sister towns and cities through- out the State.
Were that all my testimony, it would indeed be pleasant, but I come here with a personal tie. Along up the lines of kinship and
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relationship I can follow closely, step by step, and see here the begin- ning of the family to which I belong. It is not alone in name that we stand together, but the courses of blood run in harmony. I ac- cept for myself all that the graceful orator said in his generosity in allowing the claim of lineage to the Rev. John Robinson of holy memory. It is honor enough to any person to be connected with that independent, fearless, pure-minded, God-adoring man. (Ap- plause.) You will find the Robinsons not only in Falmouth but all along in our towns and cities, and we that are Robinsons never offer any apology for them (Loud applause). But there is much more in my connection with you, my friends, than even the orator, in the plenitude of his knowledge, could state, for I am not only Robinson but Davis as well (renewed applause). Do you not know that Isaac Robinson, who came in 1631, was followed in 1634 by Dolor Davis, and his descendants have populated in great part this town and vi- cinity, and the Robinsons and the Davises, always too enterprising to stay in any place long, have overflowed into the surrounding country and have settled in Lexington and Concord? There is the origin, twofold, of myself on this honorable occasion. Why, my friends, do we not, we that are in that royal line, justly feel proud that our heri- tage traces back to this place and to the time that we now celebrate ? What of the deeds that have been wrought out on many a field in which those that we glory in bore their most honorable part? So while I have had the opportunity to look about among you to-day and be sure that I traced here the proof of lineament, of kinship and close connection, and while cousins by the score appear on every hand, and while I know that we are here simply to renew the asso-
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ciations and ties of the older time and to hand them down to the future, we shall be pardoned, certainly, if we come here with a fervor and enthusiasm greater than others can possibly know.
The little stream that tumbles down over the rocks of yonder hill finds in its passage a little level spot where the water rests in peace and quiet. There comes the little child, and as he stands be- fore it, he gazes into the glassy surface and beholds his own face pic- tured to life. The stream rolls on. The years come and go. The little boy grows up from infancy, through boyhood and manhood, and to old age, and threescore years and more may pass, and in bending form he lives to come again to the old spot that was so dear to him, and there the same face and the same person bends over the same glassy spot. Boy he is and there again he looks as of old, and yet the face comes not back to him as by his first gaze. How it has changed, and how the history of that life is wrought out in the suc- cession of scenes that must have passed to accomplish that wonderful transformation. Could I mirror to you the Falmouth of 1686, and then present the picture in the consecutive years until the present time, and bid you now look in and take the reflection, what would you find that should remind you of the past? Is all the freshness, all the life, all the spirit, all the strength and all the hope gone, and is there nothing left of Falmouth to-day but tottering and feeble and unpromising age? Is it only the tomb of destruction and death that you see now? No, the picture does not testify that, for grand as were the accomplishments of the fathers, grander still are the works of the sons. They believed with their zeal and knowledge, and we, in the abundance of our gratitude and veneration shall never
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cease to declare their praises. But we have not lost, in these good old New England communities, in these loyal, virtue-loving and integ- rity-keeping towns of our Commonwealth,-we have not lost the safe- guards that keep the people permanent, reliable and prosperous for the future.
The picture to-day promises a hundred fold over that of 1686. Then you might gaze upon it with the dim and uncertain candle-light that you hold by night above its surface, but now into its mirroring bosom comes a flood of God's electric illumination that entrances your eye and brings every perfection in view. This comes because of our regard for the town system of government. To my mind, it is the perfection of administration of human affairs. Our people in their town meetings meet face to face, each man there on an equality with his neighbor, no royalty except that of honor and integrity and fidelity, and there each man's voice and each man's vote are potential of the manhood and ability in them. (Applause.) So long as we stand by the principle that underlies this permanent institution of our govern- ment, so long we shall have communities that are well ordered and prosperous and peaceful and successful. Gov. Andrew said that our army on going into the field was a collection of town meetings. So it was, and those town meetings went in at Bull Run, but they came out at Appomattox. (Applause.) Our fathers did well,-all honor to them; but no more bravely did they respond than the boys of 1861 to 1865, when war threatened to desolate the land and to disrupt the Union of America.
Falmouth has done well, as the orator said, not in the startling and attractive grandeur of accomplishments, as the world reads them,
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but in true, honorable and noble living, in well-ordered, peaceful, contented, happy homes, in fathers and mothers who believe in rear- ing children according to the dictates of honor, uprightness and good behavior, and who still regard the cardinal principles of virtue, truth, and religion as worth preserving and perpetuating for all time. (Ap- plause.) Your blood runs everywhere. No place on this continent, aye, not even in the world, that there is not some one that has a fond attachment to your old town, and feels exultant sympathy with you at this joyous celebration. Never fear that history shall ignore your accomplishments. They are written in the deeds of the people who have honored this town. It is a joyful sight to-day, as one looks up and down this long row of seats, to see here and there friends that have gathered together, after long intervals of waiting, many that have come home here now for the first time for many years, to sit down again on the birthday of the old town, and to greet friend after friend in joyful exultation over the success. One can see it that has a trained eye, and the Governor always has for such occasions. (Laughter.) He is sure to appreciate just these occasions because he is somewhat familiar with them (renewed laughter)-and one with a trained eye can always see in every group of this kind this manifesta- tion of sympathy, this proof of kinship, this interest in one another, that demonstrates an attachment which is not confined to the borders of the town itself.
Two hundred years accomplished, second centennial observed, and we are now about ready to leave the next hundred years to be wrought out in its destiny. What shall be the record? It remains not for those that have lived and died in the years gone to write it,
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but for you and all that shall dwell hereafter in this town to make the event that shall demonstrate your fidelity and attachment to the high principles upon which this town was founded. When this centennial shall again be celebrated, the 300th morning sunrise guns shall not beat with their booming upon the ears that listened to-day for the peal, but upon others will they sound. And not as a prophet, but as one who appreciates the real strength and safety and security of New England life, do I say that when that time shall come others shall be gathered here, others shall celebrate with greater zeal the accomplish- ments of the past, and we will trust that they will look back to our time and find cause for gratification that we not only celebrated to- day what had been accomplished in 200 years, but held high the standard for the coming time, so that young and old should find their strength and encouragement for the grand work of perpetuating and preserving the liberties and prosperity of our people. (Great ap- plause.)
THE PRESIDENT.
Our next toast is, The Lieutenant-Governor,-a representative of the business enterprise and integrity of the Commonwealth,-the Hon. Oliver Ames. (Great applause.)
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TOWN OF FALMOUTH.
RESPONSE OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :-
You have paid me the highest compliment you can pay any man when you say I am a representative of the business integrity and enterprise of Massachusetts.
It is an old saying that "fair words butter no parsnips." In my business life, I have always found it true that the man who boasts the most as to his integrity, or who continually proclaims to the world that he is the soul of honor, is a fraud. I believe with General Swift, that it is to the rank and file who give good work and honest products, who make no pretensions whatever, that we are to look for the men who are to build up and sustain the reputation of Massachusetts.
I am no speaker, as you can see. I make no pretensions in that line. Your time is limited, so I will take my seat and give way to others whom you wish to hear. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth-would that he could pro_ duce from the archives of the State a more satisfactory account of the incorporation and naming of the town of Falmouth,-I will call on the Hon. Henry B. Peirce. (Applause.)
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RESPONSE OF HON. HENRY B. PEIRCE.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
At a recent musical festival of some 2,000 children of a Sunday- school organization in Georgia, when the Bishop of Altanta had closed his address, he stepped to the front of the platform in a confidential way, and said : "Is there any little girl or any little boy here who would like to ask me a question?" One little girl near the stage, inspired and encouraged, jumped up and said,-" Please, why did the angels walk up Jacob's ladder if they had wings?" (Laughter.) The bishop hummed and hawed, and finally said : "Is there any little girl or any little boy here who would like to answer Mary's question ?" (Laughter.) Acknowledging the invitation to be present here to-day, I took occasion, I am afraid in an officious way, to say that I should be very glad to answer any questions in regard to the early history of Falmouth, and this question came,-"How came the town to be named Falmouth?" and I'm humming and hawing. Is there any any little girl or any little boy here who would like to answer the question ? (Loud laughter and applause.)
A close-fisted young farmer took his wife to the dentist to have a tooth examined. After the dentist had examined it very carefully, he suggested that it might be filled and saved. The young farmer said : " How much will it cost?" "Well, I can't tell exactly," said the dentist ; "from $2 to $5." " How much will it cost to have it pulled ?" said the farmer. "Fifty cents." It didn't take the farmer a great while to decide. He said,-" Maria, I guess you had better have it pulled." (Laughter.) Now, I have searched diligently and
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long, hoping to find this missing link. I am satisfied it will cost too much to fill the cavity. You had better have it extracted and start again ; try it once more, and I will go home and will fill the archives with accounts of your hospitality, your thrift, your energy, and the generous affection which I am assured pervades all your hearts for this good old town, and I promise you that the record shall be faith- fully preserved. Then, when you come to repeat this occasion, 200 years hence, I shall be most happy to be present and produce the records. (Great laughter.) I must not take another moment of your time. I thank you.
THE PRESIDENT.
I am sure that all of us share my own feeling with regard to Gen- eral Swift's address, the feeling which a guest at a fashionable hotel had when, on surveying a diminutive piece of steak which was brought to him by the waiter, he replied : "That is just the kind ; now give me some." And so I offer as the next toast :-
The Orator of the Day. We have sometimes been called a slow town. To-day has redeemed us from this reproach, and shown that Falmouth has borne some Swift men of whom she may well be proud. (Laughter.)
RESPONSE OF GEN. JOHN L. SWIFT.
Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking (laughter and ap- plause), you can understand how such a toast as that heard for the
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first time, would affect the modesty which I have in common with all Falmouth born men to the 33d degree (laughter). But it so hap- pens that I had this toast sent to me about a week ago, and I have been able to brace up against its seductions (laughter). In the old slavery days, one of the personal chattels said to another : "Pompey, well, I didn't know till to-day that you was flogged last week." "You didn't," says Pompey ; why, I knowed it at the time " (laughter),- and I knew this very complimentary toast about a week ago.
There has been a good deal of chaff, first and last, about Fal- mouth's being a slow town. Why, once, when somebody was told that I was from Falmouth ; "Falmouth," said he, "is it possible ; why, I stayed there once, a week, and I always thought of the story of the boy who owned a mud-turtle, in connection with it. They asked him if the mud-turtle was alive. "No," said he ; it's as dead as Chelsea, but it sticks its head out once in a while and makes be- lieve alive (laughter). Well, now, we'll have our revenge to-day on all those who talk about Falmouth's being a turtle or a tortoise ; or, if it is, on this centennial day, it shall prove itself the classic tortoise that bears up the world (applause). I have a friend, and a very cor- dial one, who lived for many years in Falmouth, and was asked if she was coming to this celebration. She said no, she regretted very much that she could not come. "But," said she, "I want to, be- cause I would like once to see Falmouth wake up " (laughter.) She would have been satisfied to-day. If she had listened to the 200 guns this morning, till they were all through, she would have found that this town was pretty thoroughly waked up by the noise of the cannon. That battery of Major Follett's,-I don't know whether I
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have got his title high enough ; he ought to be a general,-is some- what famous. It has thundered its music at peace jubilees and fourth days of July and many a centennial, but never, since it thundered in war for the old flag, has it done better work than to celebrate this fair daughter of Cape Cod (applause). I was here some seven years ago, with Ex-Gov. Long, to address our fellow-citizens in the Town Hall, that then existed,-and oh ! how very quick these governors become ex's (laughter). We get attached to them, our hearts warm up to them, we feel as though they were blood relations, and then they become ex's (laughter)-and that is the reason I never would permit myself to run for governor (continued laughter and applause, in which Gov. Robinson heartily joined). Oh ! I ain't through with you, Governor. Gov. Long made one of the most exquisite and charming addresses, that evening, to which I have ever listened before this afternoon. I had been campaigning with him all over the State for eight or ten days, and the moment we would get through, there would be a grand burst of ex-senators and ex-representatives to take Gov. Long by the hand. He knew them, every one. He knew who had presided at all the meetings that he had ever addressed, and great receptions he would have,-and I standing out there in the cold, for- gotten and unknown. Well, we got here to the town of Falmouth, and the governor not only had an American eagle, but he had a con- dor of the Andes multiplied by the eagle. He was so eloquent that evening. By and by I was permitted to make a few feeble remarks (laughter). But when I got through my speech there was a dead break for me (laughter) ; why, they helped men on the stage there that I had supposed had been dead for half a century, one that had
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taught my father when he was a boy, and that was seventy-five years before, and relatives came, and I had a reception. There stood my friend Ex-Governor Long, a wall-flower on that occasion (laughter). By and by he came up and tapped me on the shoulder, and said : "Swift, this has gone on long enough (laughter). I feel like an or- phan up here" (renewed laughter).
We have with us to-day a governor who will never feel like an orphan in Falmouth (loud applause). Why, he is kith and kin to every one of us, either on the Robinson side or the Davis. I never knew of a man so coupled on as he is here (laughter). Oh ! I know now where he got his wonderful flow of language, and I will tell you, sir, this is the place of all the places that I was ever at, or ever heard of, for an audience (laughter).
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