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 19
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In the mingling of ancient tradition and modern enterprise and thrift, the County of Essex is almost migde, and in this respect, I sometimes think that within its borders there is no community more typick dad's than you! www. You share with it the memory of carly hardships and suffoings, of Indian cruelties and Ie fint wars, and even of adventures in distant seas. You have a common heri- tage in the meagre and gloomy romance of the colonial days. You i hed with it in the awakening of the great modern industrial forces sad to-day you are in the front rank of those cities which are making this country one of the great manufacturing centres of the world.
For the sake of all these things, held in common, I am sure that I may bring to your gathering, to-day, the loving greeting of your sister cities and towns, their congratulations for your past, their sympathy with your present, and their abundant interest in the splendid possibilities of your future. ( Applause )
After Mr. Moody, the toastmaster called opon another gentleman of the legal profession to respond to the toast, " Our Neighbors," saying : -
At our table are seated representatives from neighboring towns. i will . all on a gentleman who lives just across the river, in the dormi- try of Haverhill, - one who believes in anarration In day and approvi- mation by night. Will Francis I. Pearl, Esq. of Bralind kindly see that justice is meted out to these writh; strats and a leonor neigh- hors, and to the towns they represent ?
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Mr. Pearl made the following response .
Mr. President, Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen, --- I realize that a proper regard for the feelings of these friends and neighbors would demand that I should refrain from speaking. While I am not willing to do that, I will refrain from delivering, at this hour, the speech which I had prepared for the occasion, which, after the man- ner of the old-fashioned sermons, was divided nao heads, reaching as far as eighteenthly.
According to the good old New England custom we take a deep
interest in what our neighbors are doing and your celebration of this ammiversuy excites our neighborly curiosity and interest. Na- thaniel Ward, the father of your first minister, was alarmed when other settlements were proposed in the viemity of Haverhill, and ex- pressed to Governor Winthrop his fors that they would injure the settlement here. A very few gers uittrek. lewey, to continue the
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early settlers that neighbors were desirable, and accordingly we find the town, when licensing one Andrew Greely, Sen., to run a ferry, providing that he shall carry the citizens of surrounding towns upon the same terms as the citizens of Haverlall, and making particular provision for the transportation of those neighbors who should desire to come here for worship on the Sabbath.
This incident not only shows the kindly feeling of your ances- tors for their neighbors, but also shows that in. those early days the neighbors had acquired a reputation for sobriety and virtue which made their presence desired upon important occasions, - a reputation which, I am pleased to say, your neighbors still maintain.
From the time of which I have spoken until the present time it has been the custom of Haverhill to eneomage intercourse with her neighbors, amil she has become known, not only as a city which sends the product of her factories into every nook and corner of the Union, bat also as the trading centre of the lower Moramnack valley. While your neighbors have contributed of their substance to your material prosperity, they have also contributed, from their sous, citizens who the file an bates to your city feel the gia. sie doch with. Aneigh. boring town has given you a son, who, as mayor of you. rif,, ad- minably graces this anniversary. Another neighbor I . given you a citizen, who, by long and honorable service in the House of Representa- tives, has dene much lor the credit of Haychill; one who is so Withla' to his trust that he loses the pleasure of this occasion that he may be present at the close of the session of the Legislature, and that, at its close, be may bring to you the Governor of our Commonwealth, and we all know that the Grey moor must come down, because Mr. Wardwell is on his track.
Another neighbor has given you a brilliant son. who, as District Attorney for the Eastern District of our Commonwealth, carries the name and fame of Haverhill far beyond her borders. It is said, indeed, that Mr. Moody pleads his causes so eloquently, and moves for sen- fence so sweetly, that it is no longer true that
" No rogue e'er felt the haber diaw With good opinion of the liw."
From a nearer neighbor you have drawn a itizen whose learning and ... ateness make him a wise and sale alviser as to your municipal affans; and, moreover, a man so intensely interested in the growth and prosperity of your city, that it is said that your talented City Solicitor, Mr. Jones, never sleeps, but in the night wat hes devises schemes for additions to Haverhill, and then he
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Counts that day lost whose low-deswirdit= >tin Views at his hand no syndicate begut ..
The flight of time and the far-away look on your faces remind me that I must begin to close my remarks, and I will do so. I have heard of a Northern man who moved to Florida, and who wrote to a friend that his new home lacked but two elements of perfection ; namely, - good neighbors and a good water supply. The friend replied that with good neighbors and a good water supply the hottest place of which we have ever read could be ma le quite a comfortable place for sinners, and we must admit that he was conect. Haverhill possesses in a marked degree those quabties which make a city desira- ble as a place of residence : her great lactories are owned by her viti- Yens, not by those who reside elsewhere ; she has a good water sup- ily; we believe that she has good neighbors; she is beautiful for situation, -- and her neighbors hope that in the future, as in the past, peace may dwell within her walls and prosperity within her palaces. ( Applause. )
Mr. How next proposed the toast, " Woman," in these
words : -
The women of Haverhill have always been most invaluable aids to their Im Lands. You have read of " Hannah sitting at the window binding shoes," but in our homes Hannah Duetin (g ) is to be seen, as well as on our Common. With us to-day is a direct descendant of this famous woman. Who among us is not glad to welcome the author of those well-known and keenly appreciated lines, " Mine Leedle Yawcob Strauss" ?
I have, therefore, a townsman's pride in presenting Mr. Charles Follen Adams of Boston, who will respond to the sentiment, - " Woman : The opposite of a clock; the latter reminds us of the hours, the former makes us forget them."
Mr. Adams proved himself an able champion of the sex. lle said : -
My presence with you, on this occasion, as a guest of the city of Haverhill, is due to the fact of my being a lin al descendant of Hannah Duston, that heroic woman to whose memory, and in com- memoration of whose brave deeds in the early days of Indian war- fare, your city has erected its beautiful monument,
It is not my intention to repeat to you to day the story of her heroism, -- a story familiar to every schoolboy in the se Irited state -.
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who has read the history of his country; neither is it necessary for " e to go back seven generations, to llam al Daston's time, in order to Ind associations that connect me with laxerhill and Haverhill people.
My great grandfather, Nathaniel Cheney, and his brother Daniel, descendants of Hanmah Duston, enlisted as volunteers in a Haver- hill company, and fought in the battle of Bunker hill. An incident, Showing the courage and presence of mind displayed by Nathaniel ( honey, is related in connection with this battie
When our troops were obliged to retreat, for want of ammunition, tradition says that my worthy ancestor, being hand pressed by a Birtish soldier, and having fired his last Lullet at the enemy, shipped the ramrod of his musket into the barrel, in place of a bullet, and. turning upon his assailant, shot him through the body.
But a word for your good city in connection with " Woman," w how champion I am supposed to be. on this ceca-tors, and for whom I am asked to respond.
There is an old saying that " there is nothing like lenthe! "
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Certainly this has proved true in promoting the pre-perity of Iaver- Inll, for history mentions Haverhill, in its early days, as being quite a leather-producing town ; and I believe that history will also bear me ont in the fact that my worthy ancestress was an expert in the tan- ning business, - particularly in the " dressing down " of "red skins."
I believe it is a recognized fact that Haverhill produces more women's slippers than any other city in the world. Did you ever take in the full significance of this fact, or realize the immense power wielded by woman over " the coming man " with this weapon which you have so freely placed in her hands as well as upon her feet ? Surely were it not for woman's understanding, the boasted prosperity of your city would hardly be of a lasting character.
But to return to llamah Difton. We read in Isaiah: "In that ray seven woman shall take hold of one man." In Hannah Duston's day, however, we have the remarkable instance of one woman taking hold of ten men ; for, notwithstanding the statement made in some accounts of Hannah Duston's exploit, that she had the assistance of her nurse and a boy, in the slaying of her captors, it is a well-estab- lish af fet that the comage of the mask and the boy failed them at the last moment, and that Hannah Duston despatched the Indians with her own hands.
But I will not trespass further upon your time. I simply wish to refer to my ancestress as a notable exception to the saying : " A You, is the clinging vine, and man the stardy oak." There are, had always have been, many such noble exceptions, and I beg to offer, in response to the toast, " Woman," the following tribute in the language of my Teutonic friend, Yaweob Strauss: -
DER OAK UND DER VINE
I don'd vas preaching voman's riglalts, Or anyding like dot, Und I likes to see all peoples Shust gondented munt dbeir lot ; Budt I vants to gondradiet dot shap Dot made this feedle shobe : " A voman vos der glinging vine. ('nd man, der shtuidy oak."
Berhaps, sometimes, dot may be drie; Budt, den dimes ondt off niae. I find me oudt dot man birch Vas peen der ghigig vier,
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Und ven hees friendts dhey all vas gone, Und he vas shust " Lead proke," Dots vhen der voman shteps righet in, Und peen der shturdy oak.
Shust go oup to der paseball groundts Und see dhose " shtardy oaks " All planted roundt ubon der seats - Shust hear their laughs und shokes! Dhen see dhose vomens at der tubs. Mit glothes oudt on der lines : Vlach vas der shturdy oaks, mine freudts, Und which der glinging vines ?
Vhen Sickness in der householdt comes, Und veeks und veeks he shtays, Who vas id fighdts him mitoudt resdt, Dhose veary nighdts und days ? Who beace und gomfort alvays prings, Und cools dot felered prow ? More like id vas der tender vine, Dot oak he glings to, now.
" Man vants budt leedle here pelow," Der boet von time said ; Dhere's leedle dot man he don't vant, I dink id means, inshted ; Und vhen der years keep rolling on, Dheir cares und droubles pringing, lle vants to pe der shturdy oah, Und, also, do der glinging.
Maype, vhen oaks dhey gling some more, Und don'd so shturdy peen, Der glinging vines dhey hat some shance To helb run Life's masheen. In helt und sickness, shoy und pain, In calm or shtormy veddher, "Ivas beddher dot dhose oaks und vines Should alvays gling togeddher. (Enthusiastic applause.)
Mr. How then continued : -
Haverhill has a right to be proud of her children, wherever found but she has been very careful that only one find of Fruit should be sent forth from her nursery, - the Nonesuch.
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"OUR ABSENT SONS:" " Oh, never may a son of thine, Where 'er his wandering steps inaline, Forget the sky which bent above His boy hood, like a dream of love."
In the Haverhill High School class of 1861 was a young man of rare promise, who has fulfilled that promise at the New York Bar.
" You know the law ; your exposition hath been most sound : I charge you by the law whereof you are a well deserving pillar. proceed to judgment."
You will most cordially greet Charles Edward Souther, Esq., of New York.
Mr. Souther spoke as follows : -
It occurs to me, Mr. President, that the absent sons of Haver- hull must be all present, and need no one to speak for them on this occasion. They have come hither, as put of this great as emblage;
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t .. pay becoming honor to her great anniversary, and to testify, as citizens of no mean city, their pride in her ancient and illustrious name. Once more they gather at the mother's footstool, and again the home circle seems reunited and unbroken.
Yet, after all, so long is the roll of time that is here unfolded, it is not possible but that to the names of some there should be no response ; and one of the most remotely absent and distinctively striking, of those not present, whose fame suggests the name at onee to every mind, is the late Mrs. Duston. For I assume, Mr. President, that -as, indeed, your toast suggests - the sons of Haverhill embrace her daughters, and that whoever, on this or any other occasion, has to respond for them will not omit the first tribute to the best and loveliest of her children. That distinguished character in our annals to whom I have alluded is, however, at least not so far absent from us as she was once. Now that her statue is no longer in the parish, and one may rest on tla Common fence and gaze upon it, the story recurs to me of the Eastern devotee as he bows before his idol, - he knows that it is homely, but he feels that it is great ; and emotions are excited alan to those in the heart of the famed " Innocent Abroad" as he wept over Adam's tomb, -- it marked the place of repose of his first great ancestor, and there could be no mistake about it, because the people who lived near by said it was the spot.
Tin . however, is not the exclusive influence to which we owe . brent sous ; and, while the circle may now, as has been said, be re- formed, it is due to what the modern diplomat who has preceded me would term "the delimitation of the frontier' that it is so much contracted. Despite all records to the contrary, I conceive the first great aggression of the crown of Great Britain upon the people of Massachusetts to have been when the line between that colony and the adjacent one of New Hampshire was so drawn as to give the lat-
ter a territory of fifty by fourteen miles mme than it ever claimed ; " strip which included a third of the original lo-out of this town, with a like proportion of its man-servants, its maid servants, its oxen, and asses, and anything that was in it. Thus it happened, that now, one hundred and fifty years after. the dwellers in Atkin- son and Plaistow, and in Salem, Windham, and Derry, are at this feast of rejoicing, all as strangers within your gates.
Colonization has also played an effective part in Haverhill's development of absent sons. To take but one instance out of many, there met in February, 1726, at the tavern of Capt. thenezer East- man, who was to lead them, a emmantittee of the General Court,
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for the purpose of admitting settlers to a township of land at Pen- nacook, near the headwaters of the Merrimack ; and on the four- teenth day of May following, the first body of proprietors had arrived there, and begun the survey of the township which is now the city of Concord. It is no wonder, Mr. President, that New Hampshire was specially invited to be represented here to-day, or that you take pride in her acceptance, for you also recall that, less chan sixty years later, there was born in Salisbury, about twenty miles from Concord, the child of Ebenezer Webster and his wite Abigail Eastman, who lived to be known and honored throughout the land, as New England's foremost son. If you remember, too, that the mother of Hannah Duston was a Webster, the transition is tay to the conclusion that the distinguished son was of the lineage of the great Leroine, and should here be given " a statue with his theestor,' on the spot of their common origin.
Not Far from Concord was also born the present Chief Execu- tive of this State, and in whom the old Coannonwealth is honored by his representation of her to-day, at the place of one of the earliest settlements within her borders; and the bright particular star in his crown which. if not dready known. may yet be di covered, is that he, too, counts hi ancestry in the band of handy romvers who went to Peanacook from Pentucket.
Of the absent sons of Haverhill who have founded homes else- where, in days within remembrance, time would fait me to speak, und there is little need that I should. As I ha, . said, Mr. Presi- lent, they are with you to speak for themselves. So far as I may voice the feelings common to all as they now orvisit you, this spot is " like to the grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field." It was, indeed, the least of all seeds ; but now that it is grown, it has become a tree. Beneath its branches seem to have gathered the people of many States and climes, who unite with the descendants of the forefathers in there tinding enduring prosperity and happiness.
In the mere fact that so many of the absent now return to her, to renew their youth, is the highest tribute to the debt which the sons of Haverhill consider that they owe her, and the best evidence of the loyalty they still maintain to her : and of her, with respect to then. I may say in this presence to-day, in word: like those which were inseribed upon the great cathedral in honor of its greater archi- teet, - " Would you see her monument, look around you." (Ap- plause. )
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After these eloquent speeches, the President, Mayor Burnham, called upon other guests : first, upon Hon. Charles 1. Noyes, late Speaker of the House ; but, greatly to the disap- pointment of all, he had left the building, and the audience was deprived of his eloquent remarks. His Houor nest said : -
It would be entirely wrong to ignore the distinguished gentle- man on whom we rely more than all others for the success of our festivities, for it is he who has the keeping of the weather entirely within his own control.
I take pleasure in introducing Gen. A. W. freely, of the United State Signal Service.
Quederal Grecly then made the following speech : -
Mr Chairnuth, Ladies, and Gentlemen, It va. unserstood that i could not be present to-day, and so perhaps you will ance with me that it is hardly fair to expect a speech from one who hop. in at the
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last moment to unite with you in paying homage to the deeds of our ancestors, to whom we indirectly owe this thriving city, and this great concourse of men and women, blessed with the comforts and pleasures of free civilization.
I come to-day to unite with you in your remarkable celebration, not as one of the descendants of the founders, but as from one of the earliest accessions to the feeble outpost. My great great grandfather, Andrew Greely, was one of the late comeis, for the town records make no mention of him until 1646, - six years after the settlement of this old town.
It is tine that we Americans are a somewhat roving people, but o me cling to their own, since for two hundred and forty-six years my Greet ancestors have lived is Haverhill or the adjacent city of Newburyport.
My ancestor must have been no ordinary man, for the historian cotis us that he managed his corn-mill to such dissatisfaction of the " comen of Haverhill, that at nearly every town meeting in twenty years the subject was up for discussion. But if the Greelys did not !! to very une as millers yet they seemed to do their duty in time 'i tremble, 'the records tell us that one of Andrew's sons ( Philip) tale, during Indian akims, to Haverhill from Salishans .. a post. Of my direct ancestors, in 1757, my great great grandfather was on the alarm list (being over sixty ), and mnv great grandfather (Joseph, ju for) was in the third foot company. Nineteen years later - on il . memorable 19th of April, 1776, - the sun Joseph marched - as a sergeant in Captain Colby's company of Colonel Johnson's regiment.
They were great men, our ancestors, and the historian to-day Las given no over-meed of praise. They had, as Tennyson says :
"One equal temper of heroic hearts,"
and were
"Strong in will 'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Otherwise they had failed, and otherwise had the march of hu- man progress, in the paths of man's development as man, been de- layed yet for centuries, It is a great burden of responsibility which the ages behind have imposed on us, in endowing this nineteenth cen- tury with its wealth of freedom, comfort, and happiness. This debt we will pay, if we are true men, to our posterity, by ad ling to the sum of human knowledge and by contributing to the moi ti wealth of the
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world ; so living that our memories may serve to inspire with new bed and earnestness the lives of those who follow.
In concluding, I express the hope and confidener that the citi- cons of this thriving city, going on from more to more, will emulate the virtues of their ancestors, and so be strong to grapple with the serious problems thrust on them in these complex conditions which make up modern civilization: striving ever against wrong, injustice, and oppression ; seeking always the highest ideals of it and culture as handmaids to freedom ; finding the just method- of reconciling the seemingly, but only seemingly, adverse relations of capital and labor ; and, most important of all, yielding never to insidious efforts against the true and Inndamental basis of American institutions -- civic and religious freedom. This may our de- endants set. to the end of time, in this beautiful v. Hey of the Merrimack the perpetuation of Cobbler Krezar's vision. which is a reality to me here to-day : -
" Below in the noisy village The dags were Hoating gay, And shone on a thousand laers The light of . holdto. * * Here are smiling manly faces, And the maiden's step is gay ; Nor sad by thinking, nor mad by drinking. Nor mopes nor fools are they. Here's pleasure without regretting, And good without abuse, The holiday and the bridal Of beauty and of use." (Applause.)
There were others from whom it had been hoped that the andience would hear, but the lateness of the hour unfortunately made it impossible.
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TIT
EVENING RECEPTION AND BALL.
After the speaking was finished, and the guests had retired from the banquet hall at Recreation Park, this large building was created, the floor sased and all prepared for the reception and ball in the evening, which was to prove one of the greatest successes, and most enjoyed of the many events of the cele- bration.
At eight o'clock, people began to arrive, and by half-past nine about sixteen hundred were present. Baldwin's Boston Cadet Band, of twenty-five pieces, J. Thomas Baldwin, con- ductor, and the Haverhill City Band, E. C. Quimby, conductor, furnished music, and there was a continuous concert from half- past right to ten o'clock, consisting of most charming and well- chosen selections. At nine o'clock the invited guests began to arrive. His Excellency, Governor Brackett, as in the morn- ing, was detained in Boston on account of the closing of the Legislature. His Honor, Mayor Burnham, was also absent, because of a recent bereavement.
At a quarter after nine, His Honor, Lieutenant-Governor William 1. Haile, escorted by the Chairure of the Evening- Reception Committee, Mr. E. H. Howes, and followed by the Governor's Staff and members of the Reception Committee, moved up the hall from the room reserved for da Governor, to the strains of " Hail to the Chief."
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At the centre of the building, they were met by Alderman- at-Large George W. Wentworth, who represented His Honor, Mayor Thomas E. Burnham. A general reception then took place, in which a large number of those present participated. The committee on reception were assisted by their wives, in receiving and entertaining the guests, and these ladies, by their graceful and agreeable manners, contributed in a great measure towards making the affair a social success and a most delightful occasion.
At quarter of ten the grand march took place. Mr. Enoch Howes led this with Miss Lilian Davis of New York City. They were followed by His Honor. Lieutenant Governor Haile, with Mrs. George W. Wentworth, and after them came the members of the Governor's Staff with ladies.
A spectator of this march would have seen not only the fair women of Haverhill, of whom there are no mean number, but also others from all parts of the United States, and even from avenue. the set The toilet were tastenad and elegant, many distinguished persons were present, and altogether it was a most attractive and interesting sight on which the brilliant elretrie lights, with which the hall was illuminated, shone.
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