USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 62
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The streets were brilliant with red, white, blue, green and yel- low bunting; the flags of many nations, arranged with greater regard to the effects of color, than to significant grouping. And, in this view of it, the result was excellent; the gay colors of the banners, and of the few trees which had begun to put on their autumnal hues-mellow and rich, but not yet gaudy-contrasting finely with the verdure which the foliage had this year retained in unusual freshness. Nature and art combined to make a gala- day, and the people of western Massachusetts did not incline to resist its attractions. On the morning of the 24th, long trains of cars, from all directions, came in, crowded to their utmost capac- ity, and the town was soon thronged as it never had been on any similar occasion ; not even at the reception of the Forty-ninth regiment.
The Second regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia- belonging to Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties, was holding its annual encampment, and acted as escort for the procession, and the following gentlemen were selected as marshals :
Chief marshal, High-Sheriff Graham A. Root ; aids, Michael
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Casey, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas G. Colt, Col. Henry H. Rich- ardson, Capt. F. A. Francis, William W. Whiting, William H. Coogan, Lieutenant-Colonel I. C. Weller, Lieut. William H. Har- rington, J. L. Peck, and George S. Willis, Jr.
The procession moved in the following order-cheering, as it went, the appropriate mottoes at different points along its route, and receiving the plaudits of the crowds which lined the streets-
Gilmore's Band of Boston.
Second Regiment, M. V. M., Colonel Parsons. Governor, Orator, Chaplain and President of the Day in Carriage. Governor's Staff and other distinguished guests in Carriages. Second Regiment Band. Berkshire Commandery, Knights Templar. Brown's Boston Brigade Band. Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar. . Florence Band. Northampton Commandery, Knights Templar. Viall's Band of North Adams. Veterans of the Tenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Regiments. Colt's Armory Band of Hartford. Veterans of Thirty-seventh, Forty-Ninth, Fifty-seventh, and Sixty-first Regiments. Grand Army Posts of Berkshire County. Doring's Band of Troy. Pittsfield Fire Department. Erdman's Band of Pittsfield. St. Joseph's Mutual Aid Society.
The procession reached the park-where an appropriately dec- orated platform had been erected-at half-past twelve o'clock; and, the assembly having been called to order by Hon. Thomas Colt, president of the day, the exercises commenced with a prayer by Rev. Dr. Todd.
Major-General W. F. Bartlett, chairman of the sub-committee, under whose immediate supervision the monument was erected, then rose, and addressing Mr. Colt, delivered it to him, in a brief speech, in which, after eulogizing the services of Mrs. Fenn, and complimenting the genius of the sculptor, he concluded as fol- lows :
He has taken for his subject, not the private soldier nor the commis- sioned officer, but a greater hero than cither-the man ou whom so
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often hung the fate of battle ; the man on whose self-forgetting bravery and unflinching firmness the steadiness of the whole line depended; the man who bore the colors ; and, comrades, was there ever any flag half so well worth fighting for, half so well worth dying for, as that which we followed? As I look upon your faces that I have seen amid the smoke of battle, and remember how you closed up the gaps made by the fall of those whom we honor to-day, I am conscious that to you also belongs a share of the honor, but with this difference: their fame was achieved and secured by dying heroic deaths; yours must yet be maintained and preserved by living blameless lives. How well the hand of genius has succeeded in carving in lasting bronze a living memorial of duty done in the past, which shall be to us and to those who shall come after us, an incentive to faithfulness, you shall now judge.
As General Bartlett closed, the veil of flags which had hitherto covered the statue fell, and it was greeted by the band with appro- priate music, and by the people with approving shouts.
Mr. Colt then accepted the monument in behalf of the town, concluding thus :
I receive this monument,-and let us all here receive it, -in trust for succeeding generations, not alone as a monument to perpetuate the memory of those brave heroes who died fighting for their country, and who sleep in honored graves, but as an eminent and lasting evidence of the value of that country for which they laid down their lives. To the present generation this monument will be a constant reminder of sacri- fices, of doubts, of dangers, and of glorious victory. To the surviving soldiers who took part in the great conflict it will be a memento of their own hardships, of deadly battles, of lost comrades and of splendid achieve- ments. To those who in future years shall read these inscriptions, it will teach the duties they owe to a government handed down to them through the blood of martyrs shed for its preservation.
On this very spot, where the sacred stillness of the Christian Sabbath has been broken by the clamor of martial music and the tramp of departing soldiers, and where the voice of the patriot preacher has been raised in prayer for their safety and victory, let it stand as an endur- ing pledge that the devotion and the deaths commemorated on this stone have not been in vain. Let this color-bearer stand with his face to the setting sun, holding up this emblem of liberty to its last lingering rays until the last hopes of liberty shall have expired forever.
Then came the oration of George William Curtis, characterized by all its author's classic and glowing eloquence, overflowing with historie allusions and illustrations, and full of the lessons taught
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by the war, and the civil struggle for human rights which pre- ceded it. He opened with a rapid sketch of the history of the the Pittsfield soldiers in the revolution, and in the civil war, and closed with the following lesson :
The educated Germans made better soldiers. The triumph of Ger- many was a moral victory. It was not cannon and powder and shells- it was character, human quality, that won. Eloquence, says Emerson, is that speech in which there is a man behind every word. Victorious war, says history, is that contest in which intelligence and morality serve the guns.
And how rich was our war in these personal qualities ! How pro- found the influence of this statue in showing us that the heroic excel- lence of human character which we associate with the past, and sup- pose to be the exclusive property of tradition and poetry, are of our own age and country as much as of any other ! We read Plutarch until our imaginations flame with the Grecian story. The trophies of Miltiades will not let us sleep. History and poetry and heroic legend make the names of Marathon and of Salamis, of Thermopyla and Platea, names of unrivaled glory. Pericles, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Demos- thenes, Timoleon, stand in our fancies proudly aloof and superior, removing the meanness of later men and the bitterness of modern times. But our own history is not less heroic. The mighty torrent of Asiatic barbarism that threatened for a time to sweep away Grecian civilization was not more formidable than that which threatened Amer- ican liberty. If the statesmen and the heroes who stayed that earlier desolation, and the fields on which their battles were fought, are renowned and precious to Americans to-day, how much more our own fields and our own brothers ! Xerxes sent a herald to Leonidas, order- ing him to give up his armies. "Let him come and take them," said Leonidas, and for a whole summer day he held all Asia at bay at Ther- mopylæ. "Surrender ! Surrender !" cried a rebel leader to the com- mander of a Union company in Missouri, cut off from the main body. "Not much," replied the Union captain, and he won the victory.
The war has taught us that the poetry of heroism is in the deed, not in the distance. The brave youth seems a poctic hero when we see him, three hundred years ago, called Philip Sydney, riding into the fight against the Spaniards, on a misty morning, upon the Isel. Suddenly he sees his friend Lord Willoughby surrounded and sorely pressed, and Sir Philip dashing to the rescue is shot and mortally wounded. Borne fainting upon his horse from the field, he asks for water. But as it is brought to him and he is raising it to his lips, he sees the eyes of a dying soldier fixed upon it with passionate longing. Then leaning from the saddle, the gentleman of gentlemen, the flower
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of English manhood, hands the cup to the soldier, and the dying hero whispers to his dying comrade, " Friend, thy necessity is yet greater than mine." History will never tire of the beautiful story. But more than three hundred years later a gunner at Gettysburg falls mortally wounded by his gun, which is sorely pressed by the enemy. The bat- tle rages on, and tortured by thirst, the dying man says to his com- rade, serving the gun alone, " Johnny, Johnny, for the love of God give me a drop of water." " Ah, Jamie," says his comrade, " there's not a drop in my canteen, and if I go to fetch it the rebs will have the gun." " No matter, then, Johnny, stick to your gun," is the answer, and when, after a desperate struggle, with a ringing shout of victory, the line moves forward, it is over Jamie's dead body. Does it need three hundred years to make that self-sacrifice as beautiful as Sidney's ? Jamie is not less a hero than the Englishman, and the brave Sidney clasps his hand in paradise. The past was a good time, but the pres- ent is a better. Themistocles standing upon his galley and driving the enemy at Salamis, the image of Greek valor in the war with Persia, is not a nobler figure than Farragut lashed into the maintop of the old Hartford at Mobile, the image of American liberty in the war with slavery. When Timoleon, the patriot general of Corinth, freed Sicily, the citizens of Syracuse put even the wives and daughters of the oppos- ing general to death. When General Grant by his final victory secured the emancipation of a race and the perpetuity of the Union, he spared the enemy every humiliation, and would not even enter their capital, while in the same great spirit his fellow-citizens forbore to shed one drop of blood. The shadow of a political scaffold has never stained the land; and to-day, with the exception of the ineligibility to office of some two hundred persons,-a disability which the same wise and humane policy will soon sweep away-the laws of the United States rest with perfect equality upon every part of the land.
Let us be grateful for Greece two thousand years ago, and thank God that we live in America to-day! The war scattered the glamour of the past and showed us that we, too, live among great virtues, great char- acters, and great men. Through these streets the culture of Greece, the heroism of Rome, the patriotism of our own revolution, have marched before your eyes. These elms, like the trees of Ardennes, have shed their tears in dew-drops over the unreturning brave. The ground upon which we stand is consecrated by the tread of feet gladly going to the noblest sacrifice. And from these throbbing drums and wailing horns, still peals the music to which they marched away. They were your sons, Pittsfield and green Berkshire! They were your comrades, Massachusetts soldiers! They were the darlings of your homes, tender hearts that hear me! And here in this fair figure of heroic youth, they stand as you will always recall them-the bloom of immortal youth
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upon their cheeks ; the divine hope of youth in their hearts ; the per- petual inspiration of youth to every beholder. For this is the American soldier of the Union; the messenger of liberty to the captive and of peace to the nation. This is the perpetual but silent preacher of the gospel of liberty and justice as the only sure foundation of states. " Beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, that publisheth peace, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth!"
After the exercises in the park, the procession was formed again, and marched to the corner of Wendell avenue and East Housatonic street, where dinner had been provided in a mam- moth pavilion. Here the public celebration of the day closed ; Hon. Thomas Colt presiding, and addresses being made by Gov. Washburn and Lieutenant-Governor Tucker. 1
A full list of the soldiers furnished by Pittsfield in the civil war will be found in the appendix.
1 An account of the exercises of the day, including Mr. Curtis's address in full, has been published.
CHAPTER XXVII.
LIBRARIES AND ATHENÆUM.
Early private libraries-Pittsfield social libraries-Pittsfield Young Men's Associations - Berkshire Athenæum - Thomas Allen-Calvin Martin- Phinehas Allen-Thomas F. Plunkett-Rev. Dr. Todd-Henry L. Dawes.
THE number of the earliest citizens of Pittsfield who were familiar with the best literature of their day, was unusual in frontier settlements ; and allusion, in their letters, as well as bequests in their wills, show that several of them owned choice libraries, which they knew how to prize. Woodbridge Little, Colonel William Williams, Israel Dickinson, Israel Stoddard, Captain John Strong, Rev. Mr. Allen, and probably others, pos- sessed collections as large, in proportion to their means, as gentle- men in corresponding circumstances now own; and there is sufficient evidence that they used them to as good advantage as their successors.
The old tory-families seem in particular to have indulged in a love for the more elegant class of literature; and an incident of a little later date, shows how, in adversity, this sometimes became a passion with them. The family of Graves, which was nearly allied to those of Stoddard and Williams, was one of those which served the king's cause most boldly and actively ; and they suf- fered for it both in purse and person, Still one of them, Moses, retained some portion of his estate, and his son of the same name was in business in the early part of the nineteenth century. But afterwards his fortunes declined rapidly; he became a pauper, and was taken to the alms-house, doubtless keenly feeling his position. The authorities, however, had not the heart to deprive him of his books; and, as he rode to the sad refuge of poverty, seated upon the box containing his little library, he exclaimed,. cheerfully, that he could bear his fate with resignation as long as they were left to him.
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Social libraries were established as early as 1796, and the town was afterwards rarely without one or more of them. The cata- logue of the Pittsfield library of 1800, is preserved in the Berk- shire Athenæum, and shows eighty very well selected volumes. The Young Men's Association, a society, which, between the ycars 1836 and 1849, was of great service, collected an excellent library. Before 1850, this society had become practically extinct, and its collection had dwindled to a set of Ree's encyclopedia and a few other books. In that year the Pittsfield Library Association was founded, with the intention of establishing a permanent and general library for the town. By its constitution, any person might become a member by purchasing a share at the cost of five dollars, subject to a yearly tax of one dollar. One person could liold an unlimited number of shares, and, unless they were used, be exempt from taxation upon all except one. Non-shareholders were admitted to the use of the library on payment of two dol- lars a year.
Several very earnest workers devoted themselves with ardor to laying the foundations of this institution ; and, among the most indefatigable were Rev. Dr. Humphrey, Rev. W. H. Tyler, Rev. S. C. Brace, Dr. Stephen Reed, Hon. Julius Rockwell and John C. Hoadley. By the efforts of these gentlemen, in the first year, ninety-six shares were taken, and eight hundred volumes pur- chased at a cost of five hundred dollars. The books, among which were the relics of the young men's library, were most judiciously selected and bought by Mr. Brace. The rules of the associa- tion excluded forever all prose-works of fiction ; and theological writings could only be admitted by a unanimous vote of the directors.
For some years the association flourished ; successful courses of lectures were given under its auspices, and its library increased. But, probably on account of its rigid exclusion of the more popu- lar class of literature, the public interest in it after a while lan- guished ; the books were consigned to a small room, rudely finished, which was opened only one evening in the week, by the dim light of a lantern. There was danger that the library would soon cease to be.
In this crisis, Rev. Dr. Humphrey published an appeal in its behalf, in response to which James M. Beebe, a wealthy gentle- man of Boston, who was, in his boyhood, a resident of Pittsfield,
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sent his check for five hundred dollars, to be used at Doctor Humphrey's discretion for the benefit of the library.
This timely donation inspired the institution with new life. A considerable number of members were added to the association, some of whom gave themselves to its interests with the same spirit which its founders exhibited. A handsome hall in Francis' block was hired; new books were purchased; more successful courses of lectures were instituted, and a lively public interest created. The rule regarding works of fiction was construed more liberally than it had been ; and, although with great caution, standard novels were admitted. Both classes of book-takers increased so rapidly that it required the utmost efforts of the direc- tors to even proximately meet their demands. Between 1860 and 1866, the Library Association had an interval of hard-earned prosperity.
In the fall of 1865, it was determined to institute a new young men's association ; and it was organized November 20th; its object being the intellectual, moral and physical improvement of its members by means of a library, a reading-room, a collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and exercise. The officers elected were : President, Thomas Colt ; vice-president, Samuel W. Bowerman ; corresponding secretary, Rev. E. L. Wells; recording secretary, Buel Lamberson ; treasurer, M. H. Wood; directors, E. S. Francis, Jabez L. Peck, Rev. Edward Strong and William G. Harding.
Spacious and handsome rooms in James H. Dunham's building on North street, were fitted up, a liberal supply of newspapers was subscribed for, and an attractive recreation-room opened. The institution at once obtained public favor, and entered upon a brilliant career. For six years its rooms afforded a pleasant resort to its members, and added much to the credit of the town with visitors who received its hospitality. It provided many eloquent and instructive lectures, as well as social reunions and musical entertainments of a high order, all of which were enjoyed and prized by the intellectual public of Berkshire. A scientific sec- tion of the association was organized, by whose members many valuable papers were read, an interesting cabinet collected, a popular interest in science created, and several successful field- meetings held at various points in the town and vicinity. The association formed a pleasant bond of union among the young
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men of the town, and they probably never knew a more agreeable period, nor one more favorable to the formation of character than during its existence.
In their eagerness, however, to make the institution all that it should be, they unfortunately allowed their expenditures to exceed their receipts, with the hope of increasing prosperity. Mr. Colt paid the yearly deficiency while he remained president, and great exertions were made by the other officers by personal contribu- tions of money, and by arduous labor in the management of lec- tures and otherwise; the most conspicuous service being per- formed by Messrs. James W. Hull, Samuel E. Nichols, James M. Barker, Albert B. Root, Irving D. Ferry and Thomas G. Colt. With the approaching depression of business in March, 1873, it nevertheless became apparent that all exertions to maintain the organization would be in vain, and measures were taken to dis- continue it.
When the Young Men's Association was organized, an attempt was made by some of its friends, to induce the Pittsfield Library Association to endow it with its books. But they, deeming the new corporation even less permanently founded than their own, declined the proposition, although one of its rooms, being pecu- liarly adapted to the purpose, was hired, and the library removed to it.
In 1861, Hon. Thomas Allen expressed his intention of doing something which would put the library of his native town upon a creditable and permanent footing; but this purpose was post- poned by the disorders in Missouri, caused by the civil war. Mr. Allen meanwhile continued his interest in the institution, of which he was made president. Hon. Thomas F. Plunkett was a liberal friend of the library, and while it occupied the hall in Dunham's building, his donations were of indispensable service. Calvin Martin, Esq., for many years a friend of popular educa- tion, shortly before his death, made known his wish to contribute towards a public library. Neither of these gentlemen were satis- fied with the character of the old organization, in regard to per- manence, it being in law merely a private corporation, liable to be dissolved at the will of its stockholders.
While they were deliberating, they learned that the Agricul- tural Bank building, on Bank row, could be purchased for eight thousand and eight hundred dollars, if appropriated for the pur-
-
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poses of a library-room. This building was handsome, substan- tial, convenient, and well located; and the price being very low, they determined to buy it; Mr. Martin contributing five thou- sand dollars, Messrs. Allen and Plunkett each nineteen hundred. There being some delay in the sale, the donors made a gift of the price to themselves as trustees for a library, when one should be established in accordance with their plans. When the building was finally purchased, in October, 1868, Mr. Martin having died in the interval, the deed was made to Messrs. Allen and Plunkett, in trust.
In April, 1869, the legislature authorized the trustees of the Medical College to sell its real and personal estate, and pay the interest of the proceeds, in equal proportions, to the Library and Young Men's Associations, until the organization of the proposed athenæum, when it should receive the principal ; providing, nev- ertheless, that so much of the personal property as it was deemed desirable to preserve, should be deposited with the Young Men's Association until the athenaeum should be prepared to receive it. In 1870, the legislature changed the name of the Library Associ- - ation to the Pittsfield Athenaeum, but without altering its con- stitution. In 1870, Mr. Allen fitted the Agricultural banking- room with handsome book-cases, at a cost of nine hundred dollars ; and, together with Mr. Plunkett, invited the Pittsfield Athenæum to occupy it without rent. The offer was accepted. In 1870, the Medical College having been sold, the library, cabinets, and scientific apparatus of that institution, were also removed to the athenæum.
The trustees of the Berkshire Athenæum were incorporated March 24, 1871, " for the purpose of establishing and maintaining, in the town of Pittsfield, an institution to aid in promoting edu- cation, culture, and refinement, and diffusing knowledge by means of a library, reading-rooms, lectures, museums, and cabi- nets of art, and of historical and natural curiosities." This board fills vacancies in its own number, and is authorized to hold real and personal property to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Power was also granted to the town to appro- priate money towards the support of the institution, so long as it maintained a free library for the use of its inhabitants. The trustees named in the charter were Thomas Allen, Ensign H. Kellogg, Thomas Colt, George Y. Learned, Edward S. Francis,
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John Todd, Henry L. Dawes, Edwin Clapp, William R. Plunkett, William F. Bartlett, and James M. Barker. The corporation was formally organized May 13, 1872, the principal officers being Thomas Allen, president; William F. Bartlett, vice-president ; James M. Barker, clerk and treasurer.
On the same day, the trustees received from Messrs. Allen and Plunkett, a deed of the Agricultural Bank building. The trus- tees of the Medical College also paid them four thousand four hun- dred dollars, being the residue, after the payment of debts, of the price received by them for the college-building.
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