USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 34
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Whether Mr. Watson looked with so true a prophecy to the future in other respects, will perhaps be questioned, although many will concede the wisdom of his foresight as exhibited in the following extract :
It is a lamentable truth, to which it has appeared heretofore impos- sible to apply a remedy, that the excessive use of ardent spirits, and the great increase of tippling-houses, has gained such a dangerous ascendency over the less wealthy part of the community, arising prin- cipally from the want of habitual employment at certain seasons of the
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year. Will not the extension of manufactories open a door for constant and regular employment to all classes and ages ; and thus gradually diminish the inducement to resort to such places-as the saying is-to kill time ? Will it not thus, by degrees, correct this unfortunate habit, so disgraceful to the character, and so injurious to the morals of that unfortunate portion of the community ? May we not also fondly hope that constant employment will tend to infuse into the rising gen- eration more correct morals, habits of industry, and due subordina- tion ?- Will it not also tend to check the spirit of emigration which holds our population nearly stationary ? As the means of subsistence are increased, will it not in the same proportion increase our population and lessen the inducement to enrich distant new regions-for the most part unhealthy to the first adventurers-thus depriving us of those energies to which we are naturally entitled ?
Mr. Watson closed his address, after stating several other encouraging circumstances, with the following paragraphs :
I have received a communication from Dudley A. Tyng, Esq., record- ing secretary to the respectable Massachusetts Agricultural Society, stating that they, highly approving our infant establishment, have already spontaneously voted for our acceptance a valuable collection of books on agriculture, which I shall deposit with our recording secre- tary for the benefit of our members.
The determination of our society to hold its exhibitions annually in this place will give them permanent stability and increasing respecta- bility ; and it will be important to unite with our views, all that por- tion of the commonwealth lying west of the Connecticut river. The community will habitually look forward to enter the list of competitors in various objects ; besides, from the rapid increase of our society, there is no doubt but ample funds will be provided to give out in future with a liberal hand, prize-premiums, as a stimulus.
After this address, in which we must not forget to mention Mr. Watson declared that the society met " under the universal approbation of the community," a procession was formed, at 12 o'clock, which impressed itself more deeply upon the memory and traditions of the towns-people than any other spectacle that the village streets have ever witnessed. Those who enjoyed it as children described it to their dying day with unequaled vivid- ness and enthusiasm.
First in the pageant, came "The Pittsfield Band " whose music, according to the account of the day, was very inspiriting and cred- itable. After them walked sixty yoke of prime oxen, connected
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by chains, and drawing a plow held by Charles Goodrich, Esq. The leading driver of the oxen was Nathaniel Fairfield ; Captain Goodrich and he being the two oldest farmers in the town ; vet- erans also, it will be remembered, in the French and Indian wars, as well as in the politics and municipal affairs of the town, hav- ing been among the first settlers of Poontoosuck plantation in its initial year, 1752. After them, in natural order, followed the farmers of the county, carrying a flag " representing a sheaf of wheat on one side and a plough on the other."
Next, and suggestive of the new era opening in the industries of the town, came a broad platform, drawn by oxen, and bearing a large broadcloth loom, with a flying shuttle and a spinning jenny of forty spindles, all the machinery being in actual opera- tion under skillful workmen. Among the latter was James Wrig- ley, a man of remarkably fine person, who was dressed in the old fashion then passing out of date, with small clothes, cocked hat, and shoes with silver buckles : his whole costume black, but dec- orated with an abundance of bright-colored ribbons or "favors." The appropriate following to this was composed of the mechanics of the county carrying a flag representing a saw on one side and a shuttle on the other.
Then came-perhaps in the nature of a triumphal car-a broad platform drawn by horses, and bearing various specimens of Berk- shire manufactures ; among them rolls of broadcloth, bolts of sail duck, handsome rose blankets, muskets, anchors, leather, etc .; with the flags of the United States and of the Commonwealth displayed above it.
The last division was formed by the officers and members of the Berkshire Agricultural Society, with heads of wheat, the badge of the organization, in their hats ; the members having two heads tied with pack thread, the officers three fastened with a green ribbon. High sheriff, Col. Simon Larned, acted as marshal of the day, a post which has generally since been held on similar occasions by his successors in office. His assistants were Deputy Sheriff Theodore Hinsdale, and Messrs. Oramel Fanning, Jeremy Warriner and Elisha Ely. The whole five were mounted on white horses.
Mr. Watson, in his diary, commemorates this procession as | " splendid, novel, and imposing beyond anything of the kind ever before exhibited in America." " It cost me," he says, "an infin-
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ity of trouble and some cash, but it resulted in exciting a general attention in the northern states, and placing our society on eleva- ted ground."
There appears, from the description, to have been nothing in the display very showy or gorgeous, even for a country-town, but it was sufficiently striking to please the common fancy, and, what was of more importance, it was full of pregnant meanings which impressed themselves with great force upon the popular mind, sharply pointing the facts and logic of Mr. Watson. From that day the society and its objects held a chief place in the hearts of the people of Berkshire. At its meeting on the first day of the fair, the society appointed as a committee to award premiums on the stock exhibited : Major Erastus Rowley, Major Samuel Buf- fington, Joseph Shearer, Esq., Wolcott Hubbel, Esq., Col. Levi Belding, Dr. Thaddeus Pomeroy, and Capt. Daniel Brown, who, the next day, made the following report : That Erastus Sackett of Pittsfield exhibited the best bull ; that Capt. Nathaniel Fair- field of Pittsfield, exhibited the best yoke of oxen, but he not being a member of the society, could not receive the premium, and it was given to David Ashley, Jr., of Pittsfield, who made the next best exhibition of oxen. That Roswell Root of Pittsfield showed the best four-year-old steers, David Campbell of Pittsfield the best three-year-old, Henry Chamberlin of Dalton the best two-year-old. That Benjamin Brown of Cheshire exhibited the best cow ; Roswell Root of Pittsfield and Henry Chamberlin of Dalton, the best swine ; Jonathan Allen of Pittsfield the best full-blood merino lamb; Arthur Scholfield of Pittsfield the best seven-eighths blood merino lamb; Samuel L. Allen of Pittsfield the best twenty common ewes. And the premiums were delivered accordingly.
This first cattle-show under the direction of the Berkshire Agricultural Society more than satisfied the most brilliant antici- pations of its projectors. The Sun's report says : " The concourse of citizens was more numerous than has probably ever convened in Pittsfield and, what is of more importance to the real objects of the society, the number of valuable and prime objects brought forward for premiums and exhibition, was undoubtedly greater than was ever before collected in this section of country."
Congratulations poured in from every quarter, and these, with the approbation expressed by leading journals and distinguished
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patriots in all parts of the country, inspired the leaders of the institution with new courage and vigor. They were, to be sure, still embarrassed, as they continued to be for many years, by the lack of pecuniary means with which to carry out their liberal desires ; but they were conscious that the foundation which they had laid, good as it was, would, unless promptly built upon, soon go to ruin, as others had before it. They therefore applied them- selves zealously to preparations for the cattle-show of 1812.
Before it came, the country was involved in the war which Mr. Watson had prophesied in 1808. How intimately that event was connected with the interests of agriculture in Berkshire, will appear from the account which we give, in another chapter, of the Cantonment. The second cattle-show took place on the sixth and seventh of October, 1812; or about three months after the declaration of the war. The newspapers, occupied with political wrangling and war news, gave less of their aid than in the pre- vious year; but the managers were indefatigable, and enjoyed the prestige of past success, and also the encouragement of the commandant and other officers of the Cantonment. Premiums to the amount of two hundred and eight dollars, were offered ; including one of fifty dollars for the best piece of superfine broad- cloth, six quarters wide, not less than twenty yards in length, to be manufactured in either of the counties of Berkshire or Hamp- shire.1
Competition for the premiums in the department of domestic animals, was invited from all parts of the Union. The Fair was again favored with delightful weather, and the town was thronged as in the previous fall. The procession was of a somewhat less marked character ; the plow, with its venerable holders and its long string of cattle being missed, while instead of the loom and other machinery in operation, there were borne simply the broad- eloths which had been entered for premium. But escort was furnished by a detachment of United States troops from the Can- tonment, and the popular interest in these gallant defenders of their country, who were about to march for the northern frontiers, found in them abundant sources of enthusiasm.
Bitter as were the partisan feuds of the day, both political par- ties took a hearty and harmonious part in the anniversary. An
1" Old Hampshire," which was, in 1812, divided into the counties of Hamp- shire, Hampden and Franklin.
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address was delivered in the First Parish (democratic) Church, by Thomas Gold, a prominent federalist. There was a dinner at the democratic hotel ; and the day's festivities closed with a bril- liant illumination, and a ball at Captain Merrick's federal inn ; the latter, the first of a joyous series which for many years gave a crowning zest to the cattle-show and fair.
On the second day, the society met in the Union (federal) Church, where the premium broadcloths were suspended before the pulpit. President Watson - a democrat - made a brief address, and delivered the premiums to the successful competi- tors, each of whom also received a diploma. The fifty-dollar premium for broadcloth had been awarded to Mr. Watson, him- self ; but he divided it between James Wrigley, the English weaver, and Andrew Murphy, the dresser and finisher, who was an Irishman.
Encouraged by this continued success, the society, at its meet- ing in connection with the show of 1812, determined upon a new advance, and one which contributed much to the interest of succeeding exhibitions. " It was considered," says Mr. Watson, " of the first importance to enlist the sympathies and arouse the interest of the females of the county in the operations of the society." Not, we apprehend, that they had shown any lack of appreciation of the pageantries of the procession, or the exercises in the church-and certainly not in the ball. But, as yet, the articles of feminine workmanship upon which premiums were offered, were confined exclusively to a few products of the loom, for which they competed in common with those of the other sex. To say nothing of the innumerable nick-nacks, works of art, taste, elegance and usefulness which have since filled the exhibi- tion-halls ; then not even butter and cheese, hosiery or linen cloth, were included in the premium-list.
The backwardness of the ladies in competing for such prizes as were within their reach was, however, attributed by Mr. Wat- son to their native shrinking from publicity ; and he devised a plan to overcome this obstacle. In January, 1812, the society had held a show of cloths, when four premiums, to the value of thirty dollars, were awarded, two of them to ladies : Mrs. Exper- ience Luce and Mrs. R. S. Chapell. It was now determined to hold a similar show in January, 1813, offering sixty dollars in premiums, and two of the society's silver medals : the competi-
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tors to be exclusively women, who must receive their prizes in person. We will allow Mr. Watson to tell the remainder of the story in his own words :
The day arrived ; a large room (Washington Hall, in Captain Mer- rick's inn) was prepared. Many superior articles were exhibited, especially woolens and linens ; but no female appeared to claim the pre- miums. This was the crisis, and I was extremely agitated lest the experiment should fail. Native timidity and the fear of ridicule restrained them. No one dared be the first to support a new proj- ect. To counteract this feeling, we resorted to an expedient which, in an hour, accomplished our wishes. I left the hall, and with no small difficulty, prevailed upon my good wife1 to accompany me to the house of exhibition. I then dispatched messengers to the other ladies of the village announcing that she waited for them at the cloth-show. They hastened out. The farmers' wives and daughters, who were secretly watching the movements of the waters, also sallied forth, and the hall was speedily filled with female spectators and candidates. I immedi- ately arose in the rear of the table, on which the glittering premiums were displayed, and delivered a formal address.
At an adjourned meeting in November, 1812, the work of the society was divided into four departments : of agriculture, under the management of Thomas Gold, Ezekiel Bacon and Samuel D. Colt; of manufactures, under the management of Thomas Mel- ville, Arthur Scholfield, and John B. Root ; of domestic animals, under the management of Joseph Shearer, Oren Goodrich and David Campbell ; of general administration, directed by the presi- dent of the society, and the chairmen of the three other depart- ments.
The cattle-show of 1813, although it continued but one day and the procession was omitted, marked a great advance in the character of the festival. The premiums at the ladies' cloth- show in January, just described, were given in silver-plate and the silver-medals of the society, and at this cattle-show, the prac- tice of giving premiums in these articles became general. On woolen cloth, of household-manufacture, the first premium was a silver-bow] (with engravings) valued at twenty-five dollars ; the second, a similar bowl worth fifteen dollars ; the third, a cup worth twelve; the fourth, a set of tea-spoons worth ten dollars ; the fifth, the society's silver-medal worth five dollars. Premiums
1Who, it seems, shared the native timidity of the rustic females.
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of a similar character from sixteen to five dollars in value were offered for carpeting, flannels, blankets, stockings, linen, flax, leather, clothier's work, madder, woad, and domestic animals. At this time, it will be observed, and at all the earlier shows, the premiums were of much greater cost than were offered for similar articles at the Jater fairs ; rarely being less than four dollars. In the early part of the year it was arranged that the January cloth- shows should be devoted exclusively to the display of ladies' work ; but so effectually had Mr. Watson's ingenious device done away with the obstacle of female timidity, that it was found practicable to consolidate this exhibition with the October cattle- show and fair. " The ladies of Berkshire" were, however, " noti- fied that the assembly-room1 over the Female Academy would be appropriated exclusively to the display of their industry and ingenuity in exhibiting such articles as they might be disposed to offer in person, for premiums or inspection ; in particular, woolens, shirting-linens, blankets, carpeting, stockings, chip-hats, plaids, bombazets, and rugs." They were further informed that the passage leading to the hall would be kept open, and the whole house devoted to their use, and that suitable refreshments would be there provided for them.
Superfine broadcloths from any part of the United States were to be delivered to James Buel on the 11th of October, by noon, and were to be removed on the next day to the assembly-room, in Morgan's coffee-house on Bank row, for exhibition. All animals were excluded from the public square except those offered for premium ; and these were to be placed in pens under the direction of Joseph Shearer. Animals, for exhibition only, were placed in North and South streets.
These arrangements were fully carried out, and in the cattle- show of 1813, we find most of the characteristic features which distinguished those of later years. The invitation to the ladies, in particular, was answered by a very creditable display of house- hold-manufactures, mostly cloths ; although very far short of that marvelous variety of useful and ornamental products which has since rendered this department so attractive to the spectators, so interesting to the competitors and so honorable to their taste, ingenuity and skill. Only so much of the diffidence complained
1 " Assembly-room " was the name by which it was then the fashion to call any public hall used for dancing.
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of by Mr. Watson, remained to the ladies, as served to make them more interesting. A Virginian letter-writer, in 1822, thus describes the scene as premiums were awarded to them :
The president, from the pulpit, immediately after the address, announced : " As premiums are proclaimed for females, they will please arise in their places, and the head marshal will deliver to each her pre- mium and certificate of honorable testimony." The instant the name of the successful candidate was announced, the eyes of an exhilarated audience were flying in every direction, impelled by the strongest curi- osity to see the fortunate, blushing female, with downcast eyes, raising both her hands, as the marshal approached ; with one to receive her premium, with the other her certificate. The effect cannot be described. It must be seen to be realized."
At the show of 1813, the premiums awarded the Pittsfield ladies were as follows : To Misses Ann Maria Chapell and Sarah Spring, silver-bowls, and to Mrs. Betsey Ball, a silver-cup; all for woolen cloth. To Mrs. Keturah Brown, a silver-cup, and to Mrs. R. Watson, a silver-medal, for carpeting. To Mrs. Abigail Backus, a silver-cup, and to Mrs. J. D. Colt, a silver-medal, for flannel. To Miss Jerusha Chapell, for the best blanket, a set of tea-spoons. To Miss Almira Weller, a medal for a pair of stock- ings. To Mrs. Laura Derbyshire, a medal for chip-liats. To Mrs. Clarinda Luce, a medal for woolen-plaid, and another for bombazete. There were eighteen premiums awarded to women, of which thirteen were taken in Pittsfield. Twenty-five were awarded to men; of which fifteen were taken in Pittsfield, as fol- lows: By Elkanah Watson and Daniel Stearns, on the largest quantity and best quality of madder ; by Jonas Ball and Jonathan Allen, 2d, upon woad, or pastel; by Joel Stevens, on bulls ; by Richard Campbell, and Jonathan Yale Clark, on grass-fed oxen ; by Erastus Sackett, on four-year-old steers; by Joseph Shearer, on two-year-old heifers ; by Richard Campbell, on working-oxen ; by Ichabod Chapman, on swine; by Jonathan Allen, 1st, on full- blooded merino ram lambs ; by Joseph Merrick, on full-blooded merino ewe lambs; by James and Simeon Brown, on calf-skin leather ; by Jonathan N. Chapell, on the best finished household- cloth ; by Oramel Fanning, on merino-wool hats.
As we have said, the cattle-shows and fairs of the Berkshire Agricultural Society, moulding themselves into more perfect form, year by year, had in 1813, assumed most of the distinctive feat-
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ures which afterwards continued to characterize them. The most marked exception was the plowing-match. Competitive contests of this kind were held at Hartford and elsewhere previous to the organization of the Berkshire Society in 1811 ; but they did not become part of the Pittsfield show until 1818, when premiums of ten and five dollars were offered. Four teams, each of one yoke of oxen, were entered : The competitors being Levi Beebe, Thomas Melville and Charles Goodrich of Pittsfield, and Curtis of Stockbridge. Mr. Beebe plowed a quarter of an acre of green sward in thirty-five minutes; Mr. Melville's plowman- name not given-in thirty-nine minutes; Mr. Curtis in thirty- seven minutes ; Mr. Goodrich in forty-two minutes. Other con- siderations than time governing the decision, Mr. Melville received the first premium and Mr. Curtis the second.
The superiority of Mr. Melville's work was attributed very much to the excellence of his plow, which was represented "to cost but little more than those in ordinary use, and to be of so much better model, that the farmer making the change would be the gainer in a single year." The aid which it gave in introduc- ing improved agricultural implements, in place of the clumsy tools of earlier times, was one of the chief advantages of the cattle- shows.
Still earlier than the plowing-match, in 1814, upon the sug- gestion of Ebenezer Center, a prominent member of the executive committee, another " interesting and novel feature in the practi- eal operation of the society was adopted. A committee of prom- inent farmers was selected and the duty devolved upon them of traversing the county in the month of July, when the fields are in full luxuriance, and examining and awarding premiums upon the standing-crops offered for competition."1
This committee soon became the most important of all, and the reading of its reports was among the most valuable, although the least showy, features of the cattle-show. A southern gentleman, in a letter widely-published at the time, says the most interesting of all the proceedings were the reports of the committees, espe- cially the detailed reports of the visiting-committees. And, from that time down, these reports of the committee on agriculture, since divided into that upon summer, and that upon fall, crops
1Watson's Memoirs.
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have been prepared with more labor and research than any others, and have been often distinguished for their array of valuable facts and sound thought.
The Berkshire Agricultural Society thus took form as an insti- tution, by degrees, and the general characteristics which we have sketched show, as others of minor importance would, how unlike it soon became to the organizations in New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, which it at first proposed to itself for models. Indeed, the parts of teacher and pupil were reversed, and in 1822, Thomas Gold, the third president of the association, was able to write of it : "Its fame and influence have extended over the entire surface of the United States ; its example followed, its approbation courted, by its extended offspring. It has been recognized, as well in Europe as in America, as an original, novel plan, and the most excellent organization ever conceived to pro- mote the great interests under its patronage."
Nor had the society confined itself to the advancement of agri- culture by the premiums and other incitements of its cattle-shows and fairs. Like the older organizations, it had been zealous to disseminate information in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, to introduce new products and new varieties of the old, and to improve the breeds of cattle and other live stock by importations and otherwise. Of course, some of the new products were intro- duced as experiments, and occasionally proved unsuccessful. Thus woad, which it was hoped would prove a substitute for indigo, was planted under the auspices of the society, which pub- lished elaborate directions for its cultivation ; but, although con- siderable quantities were raised, it proved valuable only as a ferment for the more costly dye, and was given up by the farmers. So with madder, which was found not to be a profitable crop.
Still, most of the action of the society proved of practical value, and Major Melville in his address as president, even as early as 1816, could thus congratulate his asssociates :
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