USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > The history of Springfield in Massachusetts for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden > Part 9
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THE OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT
his wife tosses it out to some one who is hurrying by and will give it to the owner when he meets him at the fire.
Meanwhile the engine men have opened the door of the engine house, then standing at a place which is now in the roadway of State street, near Market. The machine is pulled out and run up the street to the burning building. Men are
F
THE BURNING OF U. S. ARMORY, 1824.
now running to the scene from all directions. No sooner are they arrived than they take their places in a double line which runs from the house to the town brook. Up one line the buckets full of water are passed only to go rapidly back again when they have been emptied into the tub. Everybody works lively and the tub is kept full. A man standing on the engine directs the stream upon the fire through a short hose.
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The hose is so short, only five feet in length, that the engine must be got very close to the building, and even then it is not very effective to reach the roof. The men at the brake are working with might and main, and between their efforts and those who have got upon the roof and poured on water, the fire is put out. Some of the boarding is burned but the huge beams are only charred, even yet to stand for three-quarters of a century before the old house was to give way to a modern building.
It was some years after this that a longer hose came into use and also a suction hose, so that the engine standing by the brook could suck up its own water and the firemen could reach with the long hose the Main street houses. As build- ings on Main street increased in height this was very important. One night the Hampden house at the northeast corner of Court Square took fire. As the hose was being taken up the stairs the firemen met a colored songstress, who had given a concert that evening. She was known as "the Black Swan." Frantic with excitement, she exclaimed, "Save me, I'm the Black Swan." "Look out, then," said a fireman, "or you'll get your feathers scorched." Of course the town brook was of no use except in the old part of the town, so, as the city increased, large reservoirs kept full by rains were constructed under the streets. Several of these remain, as, for example, one on Union street near Mulberry. The old engine was in time replaced by another and then others were added, the "Lion," the "Tiger," the "Niagara" and the "Cataract;"
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THE OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT
then the "Eagle" and the "Ocean;" and there was a hook and ladder company manned by Germans.
It was in those days of several hand engines that "Fire- men's Muster" was a favorite holiday. The procession was gay with the red coats, shining black hats and blue trousers of the men as they pulled at the ropes attached to their engines and hose carts. After the procession the "Lions" and the "Tigers," the "Niagaras" and the "Cataracts," the "Eagles" and the "Oceans" would have a grand trial of strength to see whose engine was best and who could pump the hardest and reach the highest point on a tall flagstaff, or, it might be, the steeple of the First church. The best engine, if well manned, could wet the rooster. To the comb of the rooster the distance is 169 feet. The bird himself is five feet high. He came over from London about the year 1750 and has looked down on generations of firemen and upon soldiers going out to several wars. A likely tradition has it that an eagle once alighted upon him and was shot from below. In 1902 one of these birds was seen hovering over St. Michael's cathedral.
They are almost all gone who tried to reach the rooster in friendly rivalry with the old hand engines, and in these days the firemen have so much serious business that there is not much opportunity for sport. The great steam fire engines. the chemical engines, the hose tower, the extension ladders, the electric alarm and other devices for coping with big fires, aided by a water service that makes the town brook and rain water cisterns seem ridiculous, form a marked contrast between old and new times. If a man's house burned down he lost all and his neighbors helped him to erect another. Now
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he collects the insurance from some company that he has paid to guarantee him against loss. The fine building of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company probably had in itself a cost of construction equal to the value of all the buildings in the town when the Indians gave it to the torch.
We have already seen how simple the schools were in olden times and what sort of things the boys and girls used to do when out of school. The schools did not change much until the nine-
AREPAROS
GENELDE
ANCIENT SCHOOLHOUSE OF WEST SPRINGFIELD.
teenth century. There were but few things taught and those not particularly well. Nevertheless hard work counted, as it always does when applied to something useful. As in the second chapter we made an imaginary visit to the meeting- house, so we will now look into one of the schools of a hundred years ago, say, the school on Armory Hill, or in the Water- shops district or at Putts Bridge or some other school of the outer districts. In the summer the school has been taught by a woman, but now the farm work is over and the big boys, no longer needed for work, are coming in for their winter schooling.
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OLD TIME SCHOOLS
A man is needed for the winter term and a strong one, for the big boys like to show their strength and will measure it with the teacher the very first day. Some years they suc- ceeded in putting a schoolmaster out of doors; they have even been known to rub him in the snow. If he could not handle them his usefulness was over. The teacher of this year was a good wrestler. He determined to meet the boys in a friendly spirit and challenged the strong- est for a wrestling match. He won and was henceforth the master, and thus he was always called; a title that meant a good deal, when the spirit of insubordination was liable to break forth, as often it did, in an old time school. This was not so strange, considering the GIRLS OF 1840. fact that the teacher was supposed to rule with a rod. If it was not a rod, it might be a birch stick and many a boy has been sent out to cut one for his own back. This old master wished only to cause tem- porary pain in his punishments, so he generally used a strap, which only stung for a moment. The boys called it "the tug."
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As we enter the schoolroom we see the master at a rude desk in a corner. He is engaged in mending pens. They are NEW ENGLAND PRIMER. 11 of goose quills and to be able to put a neat point on As runs the Glass, Man's life doth pass. them is one of his valuable accomplishments. On the (lesk is a sand box. Blot- My book and Heart Shall never part. ting paper is unknown, and to dry the ink some black Job feels the Rod, Yet blesses God. sand is poured upon it out of pin holes in the sand box. The older children Proud Korah's troop Was swallow'd up. who have need to write have long desks in front of The Lion bold The lamb doth hold. them, while the younger are seated on benches with no backs. Perhaps the The Moon gives light In time of night. writing lesson comes first, in which case the master produces some slips of paper GHIJKLM neatly written with such sentences as, "Command
the mind and then the pen;" and these the scholars copy. These copies the teacher would take with him if he went to another school. The reading lesson may be from the "English Reader," or from "Webster's Spelling Book," or, per- haps, from the "New England Primer," in which last the younger scholars learned to remember the alphabet by such verses and pictures as those on this page. Notice that 1 and J were considered as equivalent in old printing.
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OLD TIME SCHOOLS
Peculiar punishments were more common in olden times than now. The dunce cap belongs to a forgotten past but the writer remembers a so-called dunce-block,-the end of a huge beam painted red, in one of the lower grades of the Springfield schools, upon which silly boys were made to sit. There are now scarcely any coun- try schools left in Springfield and the country work and sports have largely passed away. Few To THE CENTRAL STREET COASTERS . Shout, boys and girls, The victory's won! The cranky folks Can't spoil your fun. Bring out your sleds An' let 'em speed ; The aldermen Have all agreed boys know how to milk and no girl can spin. The husking bees that made good times in the great barns on Main street are no more. Thanks to pond and hill, skating and coasting are yet in vogue, although for the safety of all, including children, restric- tions have to be imposed upon coasting on the more traveled
To let you have The jolly treat Of coasting still On Central street. 1887
streets. Sometimes the young people have successfully opposed the placing of these restrictions, as appears from some contemporary verses in the Homestead. A spirit of inde- pendence, if in obedience to the laws, is admirable, as in the case of the Boston boys who remonstrated with General Gage when the British soldiers spoiled their coasting.
Notwithstanding the more meager results and rougher ways, yet, so far as we can judge from what old scholars have left on record about it, the school life of other days contributed
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to that happy joyousness which belongs to childhood and youth. Take, for example, from the High School Portfolio, published by the boys and girls in the fifties, these verses from which the fun bubbles up above all the mishaps.
THE WEATHERVANE OF THE OLD HIGH SCHOOL, COURT SQUARE, SHOW- ING BULLET HOLES. HEIGHT, THREE FEET.
Dozen books to carry, Dinner basket full, And a great umbrella, On our way to school. Sixty miles an hour Railroad cars do go;
Mercy! don't we beat 'em Wading through the snow?
Falling into snowdrifts. Dropping every book, Losing all the cookies And the pie we took; Feet and fingers frozen, Patience nearly so; Ain't it awful funny Wading through the snow?
WADING THROUGH THE SNOW
When the winds are blowing Hard, with all their might, And the snowdrifts measure More than half your height, Friends and schoolmates, have you- Now I want to know- Ever had the pleasure Of wading through the snow?
Opposite the arsenal Half past eight we see; Goodness! we must hurry. Else, tardy we shall be. So we set to running Fast as we can go, Take two steps and tumble Headlong in the snow.
Finally we halted At the schoolhouse door, With our journey ended, And our danger o'er; So with joyful faces Up the stairs we go;
Think again you'll catch us Wading through the snow?
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OLD TIME SCHOOLS
It was years after that the same girl described her life in one of the grammar schools in some verses, from which the following are taken, called
A TRIBUTE TO AN OLD TEACHER
Our memory wakes, and we recall The little, dreary, sandy yard, The schoolroom with its dingy wall, The straight-backed benches, stiff and hard;
The songs, long since, gone out of date, With which the schoolroom used to ring; And the old-fashioned book and slate. Yes, we remember everything.
But over all has come a change; This is an unfamiliar place ; The only thing that is not strange Is our beloved teacher's face.
Oh, could we take our dusty books, And once more trudge away to school,
And sit beneath those gracious looks That softened e'en the strictest rule,
" THIS IS AN UNFAMILIAR PLACE."
And could we hear his words of praise, That were so precious to our ears, And feel the patience of his ways, That never failed through all those years,
We should not tease and vex him now With whispering, carelessness and noise ; Of course, we should have sport somehow, But we should be good girls and boys.
.7. 4119.
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
Springfield schools rank high among those of the country : in what respects do they excel those of the olden time? In many ways. In the matter of buildings they are better housed and equipped. They excel in teaching children to put their thoughts into writing; in bringing them near to nature by the study of birds and flowers ; in giving them the usefulness and joy that come from knowledge of drawing and painting ; in connect- ing their studies with the many good books of a large city library and the col- lections in the Art Museum. The kin- dergarten and man- ual training work are new. In general, the methods of teaching have so im- proved that more can be done in the same time, and the principles laid down by the great philoso- pher, Francis Bacon, " MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE." and by modern educators have been most successfully applied.
There was, in the schools of Springfield, a boy who, as he grew up, became a lover of good books, good pictures and good deeds. When he graduated from the high school his spoken essay, composed by himself, was on the subject, "The Measure of Life." It is remembered that in it he tried to make his schoolmates feel the truth of the saying "Man shall not
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OLD TIME SCHOOLS
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Thus early did he come to know that the best things were to be chosen. He passed through college with credit but not long after that his earthly life closed. Nevertheless through him several things were made possible for Springfield. His name was Eugene Aston. He had a refined taste in art and for him is named the " Aston Collection of Wood Engravings," in the City Library.
The art of engraving on wood is an interesting one but now, unfortunately, becoming obsolete. It is one of the ob- jects of this history to show by its illustrations what work can be done by drawing or engraving with lines as compared with the work of photography. In the Aston Collection may be found some of the best examples of wood engraving that this country has produced. The effect is obtained with a sharp tool making lines on the surface of a block usually of the wood of the pear tree. As the block sometimes splits, the printing is generally done from an electrotype which ingeniously duplicates in the metal the raised and depressed surfaces of the block.
Springfield has had good engravers on copper and steel, like Goldthwaite and Chubbuck, and on wood, like Cleaves and Howard. The cuts on pages 68 and 80, from a school book of early days are rude indeed, as compared with the highly finished work of Cleaves on page 121, or the piece of commercial work over-leaf. In this book photography has been used in reproducing engravings from old books, as on pages 26, 41, 45; but where the lines of the original are delicate, as on page 134, they cannot be equalled in the copy. The cuts on pages 31 and 54 are printed from elec- trotypes of blocks loaned by the publishers of Webster's dic- tionary, a book which has carried the name of Springfield
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
all over the world. Illustrations like those on pages 77 and 115 are photographic reductions of pen drawings. The engravings on pages 118-119 are repro- ductions from Anderson, the pioneer wood engraver of America.
This cut of a gun by Howard is electro- typed from wood. It would be well to take a magnifying glass and see by what delicate lines the engraver got the mottled effect of the French walnut knot of which the butt is made. Notice also how the surface of the iron parts is made to sug- gest the original. Results of a very differ- ent kind and yet equally artistic though often less difficult can be produced by the use of a very few lines, as in the cut of a woman churning, on page 45. In both cases careful drawing is of the very first impor- tance. Good coloring cannot make up for bad drawing.
It was in the nineteenth century that people began to be especially interested in the early history of the town. George Bliss. Oliver B. Morris, and his son, Henry Morris, gave much attention to this subject and the latter was the first President of the Con- nectieut Valley Historical Society. This society was organized in 1876, the Centen- nial year, when the people of this country really began to look back on the nation's past. Its volumes of published proceedings contain interesting reading about old Springfield.
WINCHESTER
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THE STUDY OF LOCAL HISTORY
The city is also known outside by the historical publica- tions of the house of Gurdon Bill, who was the donor of the Soldiers' Monument on Court Square, and its successor, the C. A. Nichols Company. The publications of this house inchide Holland's "Life of Lincoln," Abbott's "History of the Civil War," "Our First Century," "History for Ready Reference," a book much used in school and college, and "Rise and Fall of Nations." Green's "History of Springfield," published at the time of the quarter millennial of the city, largely as a personal contribution of Mr. Nichols to the occasion, is a monumental work reflecting credit on author and publisher. To it this book is indebted for fourteen plates, like those on pages 20, 33, 121. Other books dealing with local his- tory, to which the reader is referred for further study, are Morris' "Early History of Springfield," Holland's " History of Western Massachusetts," Copeland's "History of Hampden County," Everts' "History of the Connecticut Valley," Ellis and Morris' "History of King Philip's War," Burt's "First Century of the History of Springfield," King's " Hand- book of Springfield," Wright's "Indian Deeds of Hampden County," Ward's "Springfield in the Spanish-American War," Stebbins' "Wilbraham," Bagg's "West Springfield," Chapin's "Inhabitants of Old Springfield" and " Old High School," Storrs' "Longmeadow," Palmer's "Chicopee Street," and Barrows' "Poets and Poetry of Springfield."
"I have but one lamp," said Patrick Henry, "by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience." The experience of the past, embodied in history, as it becomes better known, helps us better to understand our own time and thus to make better the coming times. Interest in histor- ical study is sometimes promoted by the drama, as with Shakespeare's Henry VIII and Richard III. How this can be
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done locally was shown by the historical pageant presented by the Central High School in 1909, in which costume, music and action united in presenting to the imagination a striking picture of Colonial days.
In 1892 occurred the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. In Springfield the event was celebrated by the Hebrews. Rejoicing in this free republic, they gathered for religious services; and also listened to an address by one of the sons of Springfield, descended from the two townsmen who met their death at the foot of Long Hill, as described in the fifth chapter.
As may be inferred from designs of the city seal, manu- factures and trade have long since replaced agriculture as the basis of Springfield's prosperity. William Pynchon himself was a trader, an honest and successful one, and there have been others like him in these respects, some born here and others coming from elsewhere. Our mechanics and manu- facturers alone would make an interesting study. They are the direct representatives of William Pynchon, who dealt in native furs and foreign goods and made boards and shingles. If they know the history of the town they have before them his illustrious example of honorable dealing.
It was just before the Civil war that Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson became partners in the manufacture of pistols. When the war came on there was great demand for pistols and these two men acquired fortunes, for they were good mechanics and understood business. They trusted each other and others trusted them and wanted their good work. They did not keep all their wealth to themselves and their families. One of Mr. Smith's ways of doing good was by helping young men and women to an education. He enjoyed this; and, dying without immediate heirs, gave most of his
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SOME FORMS OF PUBLIC SERVICE
property to charity. The Horace Smith Fund perpetuates one of his own favorite ways of doing good. His life may be taken as an illustrious example of Benevolence, a quality of character which is not denied to any, whether rich or poor.
Daniel B. Wesson was also benevolent, for, although he left a numerous posterity, he devoted an important part of his estate to the building of two hospitals, For our purposes, however, we may take his life as illustrating another moral quality. Whatever he made or had made, he determined should be made the best it could be, whether it was a pistol or a great hospital or the fence about the hospital. On one occasion, reading that a pistol of his manufacture had fallen from a shelf and, being fired by the fall, killed a woman, he lay awake nearly all night studying a device for preventing such an accident in the future, and before morning broke he had the invention in his mind. He thought whatever was worth doing at all was worth doing well and his life may be taken as an illustrious example of Perfection of Workmanship, a quality of highest import and almost universal application, if only in something so humble as the putting a point on a pencil or making a loaf of bread.
A second man, Primus P. Mason, may be mentioned here, of the race of Peter Swink of the third chapter, who by industry and thrift acquired property and, dying without issue, exe- cuted a cherished plan by giving his estate to found a Home for Aged Men.
In carly times it was the men who did most of the things of which history has to tell; but in later times the women have taken a useful part in the public life of the city. Among them was Clara T. Leonard, who gave herself, heart and soul, to prison reform in the interest of women. Deeply interested in the welfare of the young, she founded the Ilampden County
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Children's Aid Society, whose work is still going on. A second organization working for the same purpose is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, named for the famous French philanthro- pist. Both exist for the care of homeless and suffering children. Another devoted woman was Adelaide A. Calkins, who, with Ellen B. Merriam, a graduate of the Springfield High School, was the first among the women of the city to fill one of its public offices by becoming a member of the school committee. She gave twelve years of fruitful service to the cause of education and other years as an official of the Commonwealth towards improving the almshouses of the State of Massachusetts. United in friendship, Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Calkins spent many years in work for the common good.
ADELAIDE A. CALKINS.
CLARA T. LEONARD.
In 1898 there was war between the United States and Spain, growing out of inhumanities practiced by the Spanish authorities on the Cubans. The seat of war was the island of Cuba. One morning in May the Springfield companies of the Second Regiment, composed almost entirely of young men, some of them scarcely out of their boyhood, marched from the State Arsenal through Main street to the railroad station. How much the composition of the citizens had changed since the early days when they were almost all of
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THE SPANISH WAR
English or Scotch stock is shown by the fact that among the list of officers and privates occur names that are Irish, Ger- man, Scandinavian, French, Italian and Hebrew.
The regiment camped in Framingham and soon was on its way to Florida, whence it was to embark. Merrily did the soldiers sing
" Tramp, tramp, tramp the boys are marching ; Cheer up Cuba, we will come,"
but once on Cuban soil they were face to face with the horrors of war. Young Arthur Packard, who first enlisted at fifteen, was killed at the battle of El Caney. Thomas Boon, having been transferred to the signal corps, was sent up in a war balloon for observa- HGK tions on the enemy at the CUBA LIBRE siege of Santiago. The ARTHUR II. PACKARD. balloon, having been struck at a great height by fragments of a shell, fell, and young Boon was caught in a tree and entangled with its anchor and was afterwards dropped in the water of a creek. He received severe injuries which proved fatal after his return to Springfield.
There were others in these companies who met their death on the battlefield or at the hand of exposure and disease, including Henry Macdonald, chief of the city's police. They died for the freedom of Cuba and their names are on the monu- ment at the foot of Round Hill. There was an old saying of
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HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD
the Romans, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,"-" It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." These went at the call of their country to die for the people of another land and their names and deeds are cherished, together with the names and deeds of those who fell in the making and the saving of this nation. Equally honored, however, although not mourned, are those who returned to live honorable lives under the banner of peace.
In the year 1800 the population of Springfield was 2250; in 1900 it was 62,059. A large part of the latter increase had, of course, been due to immigration from abroad. The large families of the older stock had become the exception and now came people from Sweden, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Armenia and China. There had been an increasing Irish and German element from earlier times. There were people of French descent from Canada but not in any number from France itself; nor from Spain, Portugal or Japan; but there were Hebrews from many countries. These all have come, giving up their old allegiance, to take the name American, to defend the Constitution and to love and honor the Stars and Stripes. Like the ancient settlers of Pynchon's day, they have had to give up many old ways and to learn what, for this country, are better ones. Like the earlier settlers it is for them gradually to lose sight of old customs, the old language and the old nationality in the fusion of peoples in the new land. "Americanism," as President Roosevelt has said, "is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character ; and not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent."
This chapter ends with the nineteenth century. The last century of the second millennium of the present era was about to begin, called the twentieth century. The people of Spring- field felt the importance of the event. As the hour drew on to
165
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
midnight, some gathered in their places of worship, others were upon the streets or awaiting in their homes the next stroke of the clock. The bells of the city rang out all together, tolling in slow and measured strokes the death of the old century. When the public clocks began to strike the hour of twelve, the bells changed to joyful notes of greeting for the century just beginning, and the great guns on Armory Square began to thunder their salute. This was in the two hundred and sixty-fifth year of the history of Springfield and the one hundred and twenty-fifth year of the independence of the United States.
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ANNIVERSARY HYMN
Sung May 25, 1886 At the 250th Anniversary of the City of Springfield Tune: "Portuguese Hymn."
O God of our fathers! Their Guide and their Shield, Who marked out Thy pathway through forest and field, We stand where they stood, and with anthems of praise Acknowledge Thy goodness, O Ancient of Days!
Thou leddest Thy people of old like a flock; They trusted in Thee as their Sheltering Rock; The centuries pass,-Thou art ever the same, And children of children still trust in Thy name.
"Twas here in the wilderness, silent, untamed, The gospel of freedom and grace they proclaimed,- The gospel of home, of the school, of the plow,- And this City of Homes is their monument now.
O God of our fathers! By river and wood Where Pynchon and Holyoke and Chapin abode, Our heritage blossoms with glory and praise, To Thee, our Defender, O Ancient of Days!
-Dyer, 1839-1896
,
APR 8 1909
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 014 110 870 0
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