USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Haverhill > The story of a New England town; a record of the commemoration, July second and third, 1890 on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Haverhill, Massachusetts > Part 18
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They lived, until the Revolution, on the 1. vel; spot at the bend of the river opposite the Island, given Nathaniel by his father, Jolm Wand, then, and for one hundred years and more, known as ~ The Saltonstall Seat." I well remember the two rows of grand old bittonwoods which used to stand in front of the place along the river bank. planted in 1737 by the Judge ; nor shall Iever forget the glow of ardent affection which came over my father's face, and his enthusiasm for the oldl ancestral home, which to him was always so sacred, as the stage rounded the hill. and we caught sight of the lovely river and of those noble thers.
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But, alas! my great uncle, a bachelor, the third Colonel Richard, who had bravely fought and endured so much for his country on the frontier in the Old French War, could not be persuaded to desert the flag of old England under which he had so long served, and which he had sworn to support; and though his brother, my grand- father, was an ardent patriot, yet the old place slipped out of the hands of the family, when the Colonel left the country.
But, sir, I passed many a happy day in Haverhill in my boyhood, under the hospitable roof-tree of my venerable grandmother, which doubtless many of this company remember stood on the main street, the vacant lot opposite opening a pretty view of the river and of the Bradford shore. The old mans, o filled with shered associations, how stands, thanks to my cousin Howe, on the banks of the pretty lake vonder. My grandmother was a White, direct descendant of that William White who came here with the first company.
Am I not, then, almost as truly a son of old Haverlall as if I had been born here ?
It has become the fashion in this country to ridienle and to speak slightingly of those who love to dwell upon the virtues of their an- try, and it is to be much regretted.
Should not the brave, good men who ventured so manch, who ex- perienced the l. nrors of savage warfare and of every of kind of depriva- tion, who were the heroes of tales of suffering which seem as we read them to er Jabulous, who in the fear of God performed their vari- cas and trying duties with such faithfulness and with so little re- war - should not such men be honored and praised by their descendants ? And should we not all feel their example an incen- tive to do something in life worthy of them, and to hand down to our sons the same obligation ?
" May my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth," ere I forget my forefathers and all they eu- died in their simple, prayerful lives, in their cold houses and churches ; with few comforts and fewer luxuries, for many long years never go- ing into the tiell, nor visiting a neighbor, nor to church, without the danger of being shot by the skulking savage -- aye, who never went to bed without the dread of being wakened by the terrific war-whoop, and of seeing their wives and children slaughtered before their eyes, of, were still, led off to horrible captivity and torture.
While we, even those least blessed with worldly goods, are en- joying comforts which would have been to the richest of them nu- dreamed of luxuries, should not the thought of this, and of their " great sacrifices and sufferings, take us out of the Day of inie
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money-making and selfishness, and excite in our hearts a nobler am- bition to do our part individually and collectively to secure and hand down to posterity " without spot or wrinkle," the priceless heritage which we have received from the noble men and women who lived in those sternly simple old colonial homes? ( Enthusiastic applause. )
Mr. How then continued : -
As among the later delights of the New England dinner was the plum-pudding or minee-pie, always reinforerd and flavored by the spice which only a foreign country could e mtribute, so the pres- ence of those who have come from foreign shores has contributed m ho small measure to the beauty and prosperity of our city. It gives the, therefore, great pleasure to announce as the next toast, - " Our Foreign-both Citizens : As our river is the more useful and more beantiful by its tributaries, so may our city grow in stability and prominence, as well as in numbers, by these currents of population that flow into it from other lands."
No one has been more active in preparing for this celebration the the gentleman who will i spond to this sentiment. Loyal to his parish and to his faith, he is none the less loyal to the interests of his adopted city. I present the Rev. James O'Doheny, pastor of St. James' Church.
B. James O'Doherty responded : -
Your Honor, Honored Chairman, Distinguished Guests and Fel- Que-t'ilizens, - I am glad to have the honor of responding to the toast just given, especially as it has been so favorably received by such a large and influential gathering of guests and citizens.
Our guests can see that in this corner of the State we show faces as friendly and hearts as wann as in any other ancient city of the Union. It is this harmony and union of all classes that make our city, what I believe it is to-day, one of the happiest in the country.
i know that, far back in the rough and good okl times, when bicycles and steam-cars were little used. had not Goodman Ward paddled his little boat up the beautiful Merrimack and built his hut on the right bank at the right time, we would not be celebrating our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary to-day.
Let me here pause and say from my heart for all explorers and settle is a sincere " Requiescent in pace."
I now turn over a new leaf in our country's history, and on the first page I find the fair form of that illustrious rebolar and patriot,
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Benjamin Franklin, standing with outstretched arms, calling " the people of the nations of the old world to come, and come quickly, and assist the struggling colonists."
Ladies and gentlemen, that voice was heard from the iron- bound cliffs of Norway to the snow-capped Alps. It resounded through the vine-clad hills of Spain, and was distinctly heard in the land of painters and sculptors, along the banks of the Rhine, and in the interior of Germany and plains of Bavaria, in the homes of the soldiers Pulaski and Lafayette, and realconad on the green hills of the land of my birth with a " Goud Mille Huitthe."
I'rom that time to this, our constitution has bid them welcome, and well it might. I could come down the stream of one hundred asl od years, and in its every curve note soun grand historical clara tes. but I will take it for granted that the pathetie story of their lives and labors is known to you all.
Permit me to call your attention to another clas, of foreign- bort adopted citizens of Haverhill. Ilind. in looking ofscar city's records, that of the thirteen mayors, coven were adapted nings of
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Haverhill. The genial city treasurer, the wise solicitor, the witty district attorney, the shrewd commissioner, the scholarly senator, and the representative law-makers are all adopted citizens of Haver- hill.
The wide-awake press, who will be so well represented here to- day, and so worthy of notice, are nearly all adopted citizens ; so, too, ate the medical profession and leading men of " our great industry." A thought of the great Roman orator, Cicero, when pleading for the poet Archias, suggests itself when I place the citizen who be- comes so by law and choice on an equal footing with the citizen who becomes so by birth.
And now, in conclusion. speaking in the name of, and in behalf ot. the adopted ciuvens of liverluff, I think I may safely pledge their and serving ilelity to the interests, moral and material, of our beloved city of Haverhill. (Applause. )
Then, Mr. How went on to say : --
In East Anglia, that part of Old England most closely allied with New England, lie. our mother town. She jor woh us to-day in celebrating an event which reflects honor on both parent and child. You saw this morning the beautifully illuminated address which, though her distinguished representative, Daniel Gurteen, Jr., the pas ated to our city. We are now to have the pleasure of greeting the bearer of this much-prized token of her good-will, who will respond to this sentiment, -" Old Haverhill : A new cable is laid to-day. It mites old and new Haverhill. From this day forth may messages of good-will and mutual regard pass and repass between mother and daughter."
I ask you to give to Mr. Gurteen three hearty cheers and a tiger, and let us show to him that although he may boast of the British Lion We can match him with the American Tiger.
After the American Tiger had been proved to be exceed- ingly vigorous, and, at length, all was quiet, Hon. Daniel Gurteen, Jr., made the following speech : -
i can only say that I most cordially thank you, in behalf of those whom I represent, for the handsome reception you have given to this trust.
The old community is not without its history, and. e shout mean- ing presumption, I venture to say that it is fitumg that we shvall
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be remembered on this occasion. There are now in existence in the mother town very few if any traces of the past ; but every aere, so to speak, is classic ground and rich in old association. Upon its fields, now waving with ripening corn, and its pastures upon which the cattle peacefully browse, the early inhabitants once fought out what was to them the battle of liberty with imperial Rome. The district known as East Anglia, which in the first instance practically peopled New England, was inhabited in the earliest times by a people called the leeni, who were the last of the original inhabitants that kept the Roman legions at bay on British soil.
Later on, the county of Essex bore witness by her martyrs to the time of Wycliffe, and to the hra muity of the Star Chamber, in the time of Lead ; and Miles Coverdale is said to have studied and trans- lated some portions of the Bible within a short distance of our ancient town.
During the Civil War, the six associated counties, of which Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex formed the larger part, furnished the band of the well's " honsides," who were never known to turn their backs on any foe. And, sir, if the ancestors of this community were per- mitted to plant the flag of liberty on these shores, it al guld be also remembered that our ancestors fought out the same battle for liberty at home ; and the warfare was none the less honorable. I said that it was titting that we should be represented here to-day, for, let me say, the planting of this and other settlements in New England was not the affair of a parish, but a matter of highest concern for all peoples and for all time. The first hymn sung and the first prayer offered sounded alike the song of triumph and the kuell of religious tyranny all the world over. It was a proclamation to humanity that henceforward there was at least one spot in God's earth where man might worship Him free and unfettered, none daring to make him afraid
Carlyle says somewhere : "Speech is silvern ; silence is golden." Could I ask the sage what my duty was on this occasion, he would probably say, " Be brief."
Allow me, here, once more to thank you for this reception. Claiming descent from the Puritans by birth and conviction, I come prepared to like your institutions and your people. My most san- gunn anticipations have been so far most fully realized. I have felt in your midst, in the words of an old couplet, --
" No more a stranger of a guest,
But like a childt at home
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I shall carry home very pleasing recollections of my visit to your twist hospitable city ; and permit me also to add that this pleasure is especially enhanced by the frank expression of you good-will, and the kindly spirit evineed towards the Old Country which I so much love, and this feeling will, I am sure, be shared by those I have the honor to represent.
In your invitation you spoke of the tie which bound us, - that tie I have never before so fully realized, - and let ine say that I trust it may be of an abiding kind, and, further, that the good- will subsist- ing between our communities may extend to the to great nations of with ve form an integral part. And though it is too much to expect that oar small community at least will exercise any great influence in the councils of the State, we will nevertheless hope and pray that such may be the case; that the great Anglo-Saxon race may be always united, and first and foremost in the path of linman progress ; and that it may give to the world, in every part, men and women who shall be distinguished as law-abiding, liberty-loving citizens, brave in war, unkettings in peace, lovers of country and home and, above all, attached to the old moorings, -- that old faith which has been ma times past. and which ever will be, a sure and honorable guide to individual morality and beneficence, and an unerring beacon light to all nations, whether to give them liberty for the present of preserve it for all time to come. (Hearty applause.)
The toastmaster then continued : -
'This day is not wholly one of retrospect, and our guests will jaundon us if a few words are said of our city and its future outlook. " Haverhill : It- citizens have ever exeundlitied in their lives that sterling integrity and those hardy virtues which are a fitting accom- paniment to the beauty of its situation."
We should be pleased to hear from our City Solicitor, of whom 1. may truthfully be said, ---
" Our city's institutions, and the terms For common justice, you're as pregnant in As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember."
I present Boyd B. Jones, Esq. City Solicitor Jones said : -
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Other days will come, will pass away, ail be buried by their suc- cessors, oblivion will be their testing-place, and posterity will not know them. It will not be so with this day, for it has been dedicated to a celebration of the birth and growth of our city, - a city that is wonderful for its natural beauty, glorious on both sides of the Atlantic in its ancestry, remarkable for its prosperity, and renowned, and forever to be renowned, throughout the exvilized world, as the birthplace of our Whittier. This day our citizens by thousands have turned from their usual occupations to decorate their homes and busi- ness places, to welcome illustrious guests in their halls and banquet places, and to call upon the historian and the orator, the musician and the poet to celebrate and perpetuate the virtues and achieve- ments of their fathers.
All this has taken place. You have had the research of the historian, you have heard the eloquence of the water, and have been charmed with the inspiration of the poet. Words of mine would add nothing to the warmth and grace of the welcome which so vit,.
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by her honorable mayor, has extended to her children and her friends.
Words of mine, sir, with reference to Haverhill and its past would be but idle repetition. I turn me toward the future, and send our greetings down two hundred and fifty years to the sons and daughters of Haverhill who may then be assembled as we now are, and who may then send back to us, now here, a brief good-by, as we now send to them a heartfelt salutation.
We hail you, children of the future ! Yon are our children and the descendants of our children's children. The places which we inhabit will be yours, the scenes which please our eyes will delight your vision. Our hills, our river and lakes will be your pride, and our advantages, we trust improved a thousand fold, will be a source of happiness and prosperity to you and yours forever.
Your toast, sir, was " The City of Haverhill." My response is : May God continue to bless it, and help us to improve it. ( Applause. )
Mr. How next said : -
Nothing in modern society would have so greatly shocked our forefathers as that a daughter of theirs, however rem o, should, as a matter of right, be asked to speak on a great occasion like this. But in these days of " sweetness and light," we recognize the graces as well as the virtues of woman. It will be our privilege to listen to one whose life is devoted to the glorious work of training young men and young women into " sturdy manhood "and " helpful woman- hood." She will have as her text these lines from Mr. Whittier's poem, written for this anniversary, -
" And never in the hamlet's bound Was lack of sturdy manhood found, And never tailed the kindred good Of brave and helpful womanhood."
1 take pleasure in introducing Miss Harriet O Nelson of Haver- lull, who will add the " flowers of rhetoric " to the " fruits of oratory " already enjoyed.
Miss Nelson responded in these words : -
Our city, to-day, exulting in the full incasuce of her round of years, clad in her summer robes, and decked in festal ornament, stretches out her hands in welcome to he. sono an I daughters from
HAVERHILL, MASSACIN SKIIS
en a and far. It is to her homes, above all, that she bids them. At the portal of each House Beautiful, as in the url allegory, the pil- gims find, standing to greet them, the forms of sweet and gracious women. Their kindly hospitality is mote eloquent than any words spoken here could be. But perhaps it is well that they should find a brief utterance at this time, also, for the sake of what, in the long past, they have been to Haverhill and Haverhill has been to them. The poet of our love, who has sang ou stad, and our tradi- Hans. wou his fairest laurels when he pictured the home of his boy- host, the heart of all whose sweetness was the serene and wise mother and the great-souled sister.
In the beautiful words which he has given us is a benediction for today, -
"In the hamlet's bound there never failed the kuglied good Of brave and helpful word. : hool."
The hamlet grown a city, -
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" All its pastoral lanes so grassy, Now are traflie's busy stirets."
But brave and helpful womanhood is still here. as it was in the home from which Whittier went out to attain his clustering honors.
I have sometimes wondered whether the stranger who comes to us, and sees, standing at our very portals, a stern bronze woman, with axe upraised and finger of doom pointing downward, may not. in his ignorance, suppose this to be the typical Haverhill woman.
Let us not, my sisters, feel too much insulted if this were the . ise. I fancy that the bronze figure is no unfitting image of what loremothers were, in those early days, when swarthy foes lurked pagotually near every hearthstone.
It was one of those strong, lave women, bied in the stern faith of Calvin, who remarked that " total depravity is a blessed doctrine, if me only lives up to it ;" and here was one whose plandered home and murdered babe had taught her the doctrine over again. She lived up to it when, like Jael of the Hebrew song, she struck the agh the temples of her toes and at her feet they lay dead. For my geit, I do not feel ashamed of hannah Dustin. but the women of later days have had a Letter part. There is the hono, thame of Harriet Newell, who, as a pioneer in missionary work, left the bright sataple while others have been eager to imitate.
The spot where stood the home of her birth sends out every a. in active life, more than a score of girl , who, as teachers, meses, rulers of homes, are exemplifying Whittier's ideal of brave a. l helpful womanhond.
In the dark time of civil war, Haverhill women gave their toil, their substance ; they gave then dearer selves, a willing sacrifice on their country's altar. And in these days of peace, if there is a Woman among us who has not a great deal more to do than she can possibly do, let her keep silence about it in the churches, and in - wiety also, in view of the various benevoleners ready to set her powets in active motion.
Close to where we meet to-day, a sheltering home bears the some of the childless woman who loved children. The poor, the aged, the intemperate are left to the ministry of woman's heart and hand.
If we do not receive and impart litermy at d intellectual stimu- las, at is not for lack of clubs, -a word which to man great grand- mothers would doubtless have been suggestive of halim warfare, but to us means, instead, the struggles with problem at have to do with anything in Heaven above, or ex the heroth. og ior wir H
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der the earth. I have never yet known the topic which a woman's club feared to attack.
If there have been few of Haverhill's daughters who have won a wide-spread fame, it is of small account, since in the renown of her sons we may claim so large a share : for in nothing do women so glory as in the men whom they have reared and helped and taught ; just as men should glory in the women whom they toil for and serve with pure love and honor.
The story is told of a beleagured city of old, that its men were doomed to death, while its women were allowed to go out safe, bear- ing with them their most valued possessions So they marched forth, in long lines. carrying each the burden of husband, son, lover, or brother. The story is true to the real heart of womankind, if not to actual fact. Thus have women of tlaverbill counted as their most precious possessions the good and heroic sons whom they have nurtured and trained. And in the spiritual warfares of life, how often has the strength of woman's pure heart and devoted will r caued her loved one from the enemies that were besetting the cit- Quel of las soul, --- a trimish more dear to her than the actaiment of any fame or advantage for self alone.
I believe that in the future of our city, even more han in the past, woman has a noble office to fulfil. Let it be hers to hold up lagh ideals: to inspire and humanize and spiritualize; to teach muong . people fond of material success what better things there are in life than success. bet ber type be not that heroine of the jest, armed and gazing downward on her fallen for. but some form of Ffe and beauty endowed with "the reason firin, the temperate will," pointing upward in serene faith to the radiant vision of the upper skies. ( Enthusiastic applause. )
Mr. How then called upon Hon. Mi. Moody, District Attorney, to respond to the toast, " Esses County," saying : -
We are glad to pay our tribute to the historic county of which we are a part. She has ever been the musety of giant men ord the home of thrifty, educated and high-minded citizens. I give " The Ancient County of Essex : A corner of Massachusetts, but at the centre in ability, intelligence, and enterprise."
I will call upon a son of the law, in regard to whom many of i have realized that it is better he he fix us ch n against us, whose right to respond is based of. the fact that ofd lax has
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honored herself, the office, and our city, in Greening him to be her prosecuting attorney.
Hon. William II. Moody, District Attorney for the Eastern Dis- triet of Massachusetts.
After the applause with which this toast was greeted sub- sided, the gentleman replied : -
Yout reception of the sen- timent to which I am called to respond demonstrates that among the people of Haverhill the feeling of loyalty to the old county has not ceased to exist, and that those who seek its dis- memberment will not find aid or comfort here.
I have no doubt, Mr Toast- master, that it is the County ./ Essex, in whole samme i have the honor to be which is en- titled to a moment of your at- tention. But strictly speaking Haverhill's most ancient county Was not Essex. When the coun- ties were created in 1643, the town of Haverhill was made a part of the short-lived County of Norfolk, which included a portion of southern New Hamp- shire. But thirty seven years after. when the Province of New Hampshire was established, by a kind dispensation, Haverhill was left in Massachusetts and added to the County of Roses, and for two hundred and ten years she has remained a part of that county.
In our body politic, a county is not much more than a conven- ient division of territory for the admim-tration of the law of the land, and naturally whatever dissatisfaction with her county relations Haverhill has ever had in the past has been due to the feel- ing that the sittings of the various courts of justice have been estab- listed without sufficient regard to the convenience of her citizens. For this reason, the proposition of adivision of the county has been agitated at times during the last two centuries, and en . in 1826.
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the town voted upon it, and, of two hundred and forty -one votes east, nine were in favor of division. But the establishment of a new shire-town at Lawrence, together with improved means of inter- communication, have lessened the evil felt by our predecessors, and now recent legislation bids fair to enable justice to be administered within our gates, and thus to abolish the evil entirely and forever.
Although the ties which bind you to your sister cities and towns are not numerous, they are strong in themselves, and strengthened by the sentiment which always a companies Jong-con- timied association. From a settlement to a village, from a village to a town, from a town to a city. Haverhill has grown a part of the Commy of Essex, and has seen with equal paride the accompany- ing growth of the whole como, ; and, in all this time, this town and city be had its full share in all that has made the County of Essex prosperous and powerful in the council of the Commonwealth.
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