USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1869-1879 > Part 25
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1 Dr. R. S. Storrs, Jr., at anniversary ceremonies of his father, p. 41.
2 See Appendix A, note 5.
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taken, I have been furnished with information, prior to its general publication, from which it is ascertained that Brain- tree in 1875 had forty-three manufacturing establishments in operation, the value of the goods made that year being $1,724,306; the cost of stock used was $1, 104,215, the capital invested $648,883, and giving employment to 939 hands. The agricultural products of the town amounted to $101,222.
From these interesting figures, we find that Braintree has more than held her own in the race of prosperity. Her me- chanical products sold above their cost $620,091, and her agriculture yielded $101,222, a total of $721,313, or nearly three times her entire valuation at the opening of the cen- tury. The town had within one hundred and fifty as many persons engaged in mill work alone, as she had population in 1800. With less than half the population of her daughter, Quincy, she gets from her soil $101,000, to $128,000 from the latter place. Her farming turned out $40,000 better than Randolph and Holbrook combined, with a population of 1,600 more than Braintree, and her entire balance sheet compares creditably with any town in the State.
The population of Braintree is now 4,156; valuation, $2,769,500. She has five religious societies, with houses, nine buildings erected at a cost of $50,000, affording accom- modations for sixteen schools, a town-house, ample and commodious, costing $25,000; and her highways, well kept and extending to all points, number forty-eight miles ; an efficient and well-equipped fire department, established in 1874 ; and a capacious fire-proof building, erected for the pur- poses of a public library at a cost of about $35,000, with a permanent fund of $10,000 to support it ; while of the charac- ter and accomplishments of the people the same authority, so often referred to, asserts in 1871, as compared with former years, " There is more kindliness and good-will among neigh- bors, more general intelligence prevailing, and more is ex- pended on youthful education without grudging, the advan- tages of social order and the beauty of manliness are better appreciated, and the moral courage that braves contumely and
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violence, for the maintenance of the right, has steadily in- creased." 1
It is often an inconsistent mental trait to exalt the past at the expense of the present, and heap unstinted praise upon the fathers, to the disparagement of the sons ; but who of us this day would dismantle the various seats of enterprise that now crown the banks of the Manatiquot, and go back to the mill of 1640, that answered the needs of a hundred settlers? Who would return to their native wilds the one hundred and sixty miles of perfectly equipped road,2 now within the three original precincts, to travel again the footway of Goodman Penniman, or seek a journey to Bridgewater by the old " cart path "? Who would demolish the nineteen well-adapted church edifices 3 and pass weary Sabbaths in the ungainly barracoons that in the old days went under the title of meet- ing-houses ? Who would exchange the tasteful, painted dwelling, with its modern conveniences, its ornamented grounds, its library book, its daily paper, for the awkward, bleak, and incommodious cabin and habitation of our ances- tors ? Who, instead of the modern conveniences of travel- ling, would go back to the tedious and uncomfortable stage- coach? Who would banish the convenience, comfort, and advantages of the sixty-nine schools of Braintree, 4 Quincy, Randolph, and Holbrook, and revive the educational strug- gles when each boy was required to cut and bring one load of wood, as his quota of fuel, each winter? In these days of comparative Christianity, when it is both the policy of the State and the disposition of the inhabitant to welcome the Celt and Saxon, the Lapp and Finn and Ethiopian, and even the "heathen Chinee," to try the chances of life with us, who would " turn back the dial " and recall the custom which
1 Dr. Storrs's Anniversary Sermon, p. 34.
2 Quincy, 60 miles; Holbrook, 18; Randolph, 30; Braintree, 48.
8 Quincy, 9; Braintree, 5; Randolph, 3; Holbrook, 2.
4 Braintree : number of school buildings, 9; value, $45,000 ; number of schools, 16. Quincy: number of school buildings, 16; valuation, $79,500; number of schools, 29. Randolph: number of school buildings, 7; valuation, $32,950; number of schools, 16. Holbrook: number of school buildings, 5; valuation, $12,550; number of schools, 8.
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once prevailed in this and other towns, of warning by legally served notice " widows, families with children, laborers, and transient persons " to depart the limits of the town within fifteen days " ? 1 Aye, who can to-day contemplate such heartless public action without shuddering at its utter disre- gard of what we now know of expediency or charity? It would be impossible to illustrate in a more convincing man- ner the contrast of these with the times that have gone before, than by referring to the different methods of dealing with the participants of the war of the Revolution and the late war of the Rebellion. To find those of Braintree who served in the first grand struggle for independence, it is necessary to listen to fleeting and varying fireside tradition, to study the defaced letters of crumbling tombstones, to hunt the uncer- tain records of the Pension Office, or by accident obtain a hint from some stray memorial or occasional biography.
Every dollar of the fifty thousand that Braintree ex- pended for her soldiers of the war for nationality, in excess of the ordinary expense, can be traced to the last farthing. Every one of the five hundred and thirty-one privates, and eighteen officers, that went out of this town, at the call of the Republic, a number in excess of all demands made upon her, each can be found upon the muster in the State and national capital, in an elaborate public roster, issued by private sub- scription, as well as by diplomas and medals, awarded by an appreciating Commonwealth and country ; while those Brain- tree heroes who, in hospital, in camp, or in action, fell on the altar of sacrifice, or who among that sacred band embraced in the mysterious catalogue of " missing " went up by un- known paths to the God of battles, have all been carved in solid stone on an enduring monument placed on the most conspicuous spot on our soil, that these patriotic and chival- rous men, who died to uphold the common flag, might have their names perpetuated in honor while that flag, in its purity, beauty, and power, waves above their priceless dust.
In the presence of those attainments of the living, and this 1 See Appendix D, note 7.
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appreciation of the dead, let the false adulation of that which has fled, be silenced, and with due thanksgiving for the bene- factions of the present, let us, the heirs of all that has come to us, press forward with undiminished courage and expecta- tion to the boundless possibilities of the ever-waiting future.
In compliance with the invitation of the committee of the town, and to serve the purpose expressed by the President of the United States, in a late proclamation, that these centennial efforts should convey some knowledge of the people and the localities in which they are delivered, it has been the object of this endeavor, so far as practicable within the limits of an address of this nature, to tell, without undue elaboration or attempt at ornament, the story of Braintree as a town of the province, as a town of the Revolution, and a town of the Republic.
Our lot has been cast in pleasant places, and the scenery of this region has been from earliest moments the theme of admi- ration. Morton, whatever may have been his faults, certainly appreciated the good points in landscape, for he wrote in his "New Canaan " of the fine, round hillocks, the delicate " faire plains," the sweet, crystal fountains, and the millions of turtle- doves on green boughs, pecking at the full, ripe, pleasant grapes,1. which had met his eye. We are familiar with this glowing description, with, perhaps, the exception of the " millions of turtle-doves," which, unless circumstances have changed, were birds of imagination, seen by the wayward barrister while exchanging " fire-water" with the too easily persuaded sagamores, who visited "mine hoste" of Merry Mount. Others have said, in speaking of the delightful scenery of this section, that it presented lights and shadows, making a picture worthy of the pencil of Rembrandt and of Claude. Grander scenes, more impressive and sublimer heights, may be visited, fairer views may be unrolled ; yet, standing on the summit of Blue Hill, once the boundary of the town, with a cloudless blue sky above, and below the blue ocean, stretching away to the far horizon, peaceful bays and
1 Morton's "New Canaan."
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placid ponds at our feet, the surf beating against the crags of Nahant, in sight, bewitching intervale and meadow, and glimpses of the winding river, charming the beholder, the bil- lowing undulations of the soil, rolling towards the west, Wachu- sett seen as a near neighbor, and the hazy Monadnock standing sentinel at the northern outpost, the serene Punkapoag, sur- rounded with forests apparently as unbroken as the day when the sachem Chickatabot hunted through them, lying at the south, a population of half a million within the range of vision, the busy procession of sail and steamer plying the harbor, the close line of masts at the wharves, a hundred spires point- ing upwards, the hills and plains of three cities crowded with dwellings, churches, and domes, to finish the scene, and it may well be doubted whether any pilgrim can see such another blended loveliness of headland and height, shore and summit, ocean and land, sky and earth, nature and art, com- bined in one commingled prospect, until his foot presses the land of Beulah, and his cye fastens upon the turrets and pin- nacles of the City Beautiful.
It is now my pleasing duty, before concluding my task, to make mention of those benefactors of Braintree, who, by tes- tamentary act, have made it the object of bequest and remem- brance. Two of these donors bear the familiar and honorable name of Thayer, a name so interwoven with our history as to give force to the remark that at one time the town was "all Thayers."1 One out of every seven of the names upon the soldiers' tablet are Thayers, - an incident that stands isolated in the story of war.
The will of Nathaniel Thayer, in 1829, left his estate to the town in trust, "providing that the income shall be for- ever appropriated for the support of the public schools thereof, and for the promotion of learning in them." This is the Lieut. Nathaniel Thayer whose name occurs in the town books frequently as a minority candidate to the Legislature. He was known by the abbreviation of "Left. Nat," and was the standing nominee of the anti-Federalist side, who, in this
1 Dr. Alden's address, p. 72, Fifteenth Anniversary Discourse of Dr. Storrs.
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town, " were few and far between." Luther Hayden, one of his ardent supporters, and one who would have been a most brilliant subject for the reform movement, went to the polls at a certain election, intending to vote for his man. Whether he strayed into the Thayer mansion, where the " latch-string " was always out on Election day, and became afflicted with what would now pass for " mental aberration " or not, cannot now be aścertained, but somehow he voted for Gen. Thayer on the Federal ticket, and Thayer was chosen by one majority. Hayden was rallied and badgered for this episode, and broke out into rhyme, and he will have to pass for one of our early Braintree poets, we having no record of any other " mute " inglorious Milton to compete with him. Hayden's stanza, somewhat familiar to many of our elderly people, ran thus : -
" Town-meeting was appointed, the people did appear, Down to Dr. Storrs' meeting-house all did steer ; Some went for rum and bacon and others went for sport, And chose a Federal representative to the General Court, . And I was much mistaken, as though I lost my hat, But if I go again next year I will vote for Left. Nat."
In 1851 Josiah French devised to the town " five acres of land " as a common field for companies for a play-ground, and buildings for " town or public purposes," and upon this tract the Town Hall, and on land connected therewith the Public Library, are now located; and near by it is now in process of erection an elegant structure for an advanced school, commensurate with the needs of the town, and the noble generosity of its public-spirited benefactor. "Desirous of promoting the cause of education in this Commonwealth according to his ability, and of benefiting the town of Brain- trec," Gen. Sylvanus Thayer in 1871, by will, left an exceed- ingly valuable property to us on prescribed conditions, but the transaction is too recent and too familiar to need com- ment. The imposing fortification standing at the entrance to Boston Harbor, known as Fort Warren, is a monument to the engineering and professional skill of Gen. Thayer; but
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the commodious Public Library, and the establishment of this school, with a fund ample for its maintenance forever, to be a perpetual blessing to coming generations, are noble monuments to the foresight and affection of one of the most distinguished of our departed citizens. And now remember- ing that the mission of this town is but incomplete, and its final consummations not yet conjectured, let us for a moment, from this vantage of a century, look on and beyond, to the grander promise before us as a town of the future. Samuel Adams, a descendant of Braintree, ardently desired that " Boston of the Revolution" might become a "Christian Sparta." 1 The Spartan feature of civilization was the "disci- pline and education of the citizen." And the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, also a descendant of old Braintree, in his thorough and eloquent oration, at the dedication of this Town Hall in 1858, declared it as his profound conviction that the " mission of freedom to mankind," even now, rests mainly " with the children of the Puritans." 2
That the freedom of mankind, the progress of this nation, the whole vast, complicated question of universal suffrage, rests on the Puritan idea, is a fact apparent to most reflecting minds. Education, in the threefold relation to God, to the community, and to ourselves, is the sole condition of Ameri- can perpetuity and advancement.
Studying the climate, the capacity, and the configuration of this continent, if it only achieves the proportional population of Europe, in the year 1976, it will number more than 1,000,- 000,000 of people.3 With the correctness of such tables and possibilities, we have little to do on this occasion ; but it is our privilege to know that between the foundation of the first Puritan town, based on religious needs and personal edu- cation, and the order of society, to that culminating point that shall see the fullest energies and capabilities of the con-
1 Parton's History of American Revolution, p. 21, note.
2 Adams's Town Hall Oration, p. 49.
3" We have fifteen millions square miles, and Europe three. Look forward then to a population in America, equal to that of the average of that of Europe› that is, twelve hundred millions." - Rev. Jos. Cook.
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tinent realized, the church, the school, and the town-hall will still be the centre of civilization and the secret of success ; for the sanctuary, science, and statesmanship have at last but one meaning, teaching us the highest in ourselves by the knowledge of our duties and responsibilities towards our fel- lows, and towards the great Lawgiver.
At the suggestion of a descendant of Braintree, and by direction of the selectmen, two young royal oaks 1 have been planted on the town grounds in front of this house. We can infer from the lessons of analogy, that, in after years, these centennial oaks will become sturdy and umbrageous giants, their beauty giving delight to the observer, and their rich and clustering foliage yielding refreshing shade to the wayfarer. By an instinct born of the ennobling faith that has been the melody of psalm, and the message of prophecy for thirty centuries, we know that the Braintree of posterity will differ as much from the town of to-day, as this differs from the rude hamlet of 1629, as much as the massive, monster oak of a hundred years differs from the slender shoot now taking root in our soil.
The problem of the universe is the culture, the condition, the character of human beings, and the towns of America are the arena on which the mighty solution is to be worked out for human interests. It is not the American city, with its millionnaires at one end of the social enigma, and degraded masses at the other, not the crowded centres of population, with many devoted exclusively to traffic, and many abandoned wholly to temptation, that the nation is to rely for its moral strength, or humanity look for its ripened harvests, but to these congregations of neighborhoods, where neither passions nor ambitions are too intense, but where the standard of excellence and possession is within the common reach, and where the law of distribution and ratio of development flourish together.
1 Dr. David Thayer, of Boston, presented to me, from his farm in Braintree, two young oaks, which have this day been planted on the Common, near the Town House.
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It mere mechanical obedience to the commands once placed on "the tables of stone" is all of human life, then Judæa was the culminating point of human history, and the Hebrew is the model for general imitation. If the percep- tion of grace, of classic refinement, and such nice understand- ing of proportion in everything, that the chief error was thought to be vulgarity and want of harmony, if that worship and study of the beautiful was the chief object of creation, then the hour of Pericles was the hour of triumph, and Greece ended the dream of the world. If the manifestation of force was the reason of the world's existence, then Rome has fulfilled the purpose of its Maker; and if religious devo- tion, enthusiasm, and sentiment is the desire of the Lord of Hosts, then the revival of the crusades should be both the delight and the duty of the true believer : but if to lessen want, misery, and wretchedness, so that peace and content- ment can be the unquestioned and universal lot of man, be the design of the good Author of life, then civilization with the stamp of Deity upon it has not yet altogether appeared.
The republic of Plato was an attempt to found institu- tions after methods existing in the eternal thought. There is in the Divine mind the pattern and ideal of that town formation which shall absolutely realize that "pursuit of happiness " for which this historic day and this people are the memorial and pledge of fruition. The orator who one hundred years hence shall take this place, communing with other generations, sweeping backward to this point, to note a progress of which we have neither conception nor comprehen- sion, may not tell of valor at arms for territorial conquest, or territorial preservation, or of any warlike prowess, unless that awful war of faiths, contending with all the terror of religious energy, and the present science of destruction, which now threatens the peace of Europe, shall also desolate this land ; but that orator will tell of such conquests over selfish- ness as shall prove vital conquests over sin, and shall one day make citizenship synonymous with brotherhood, causing the town to become everywhere a greater and happier family ;
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and could we, on this centennial Fourth, with finer sensations than we possess, turning our ears to the skies, catch the strains of that immortal choral now ringing through the arches of heaven, we should hearken to the glad tidings chanted nineteen hundred years ago around the manger at Bethlehem, then heralding the promise of the world's com- plete redemption, and this day telling us,-
"Lo, the days are hastening on, By prophet bards foretold, When with ever-circling years Comes round the Age of Gold, When Peace shall over all the earth Her final splendors fling, And the whole world send back the song Which now the angels sing."]
1 See Appendix A, note 1.
POEM.
BY ASA T. PRATT, EsQ.
As guiding Pharos glads the wave-tossed mariner's sight, As night's lone traveller welcomes the cheering light, Thus from the soul in blissful rapture springs The grateful tribute, for the joys remembrance brings Of days of sapient worth; whose dawn with clouds o'erspread,- The gloom dispelled, - as lustrous rays beneficently shed The genial warmth that falls from liberty's flame; Circling with hallowed ties, it guides to future fame; Twining round hearts dismayed hope's lovely, cheering bands, Till dawning day of gloom in radiance bright expands.
Thus dawns this honored day. A century since has flown, When flag of liberty unfurled, first to the breeze was thrown; As trusty wateh-tower stands, to mark where dangers lay, As guardian of liberty, we hail this honored day. Let gratitude and love just homage pay to worth, To memories of sacrifice that gave our country birth.
Serenely fair, the blissful rays of peace illume our way, While cheering hope bids faltering fear resign its sway, To spread the gloom of sad desponding care, To dim the lustre of our land, now shining fair By valor's deeds; in virtue's worth enkindled bright, Gave to the world the guiding rays of freedom's light; Luring from distant lands, to sever home's fond ties, And gather with admiring hearts where flag of freedom flies.
Though passing clouds appear, and dimly glimmering low, The halo light of country's fame may flickering glow, While the dread demon Discord, wielding vandal hand, To wrest the well-earned laurel from our land, To vilely tarnish deeds of noblest sheen, And from the chaos made to foully glean
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The sad'ning harvest of a country torn and riven: Yet never, while 't is to memory fondly given To light devotion's altar with admiring glow, For patriot noble deeds, one hundred years ago. - Never shall mad contention, led by foulest strife, Destroy the sacred gift, our country's precious life.
The glorious boon, inspired by heaven-born thought, In trust bestowed, to succor when with danger fraught, And o'er its virtues constant ward to hold; That coming time and future age its glorious worth unfold; Cheered be our hopes, confiding trust abound, To guard the sacred legacy, when dangers dire surround; Devotion's spirit nurtured, a century's vigil keeps, Still lives in hearts devoted, - thus yonder statue speaks; The notes of glowing eloquence, inspiring, oft has flown, Can ne'er so firmly bind our faith as the memorial stone.
A century has flown since first convened that band, Who scorned to wear oppression's chain or bend at base command; The clouds of ill impending, to darken freedom's rays, Are scattered by the oriflamb heroic acts upraise. Up roused the clans, as fiery cross sped fast o'er Scotia's hills; Thus freedom's hallowed light appeared, and heart of patriot thrills From these our hills, the tocsin sound of freedom sprung, Till o'er the land, in startling tones, returning echoes rung; When ADAMS' firm, ecstatic words, approaching ills defy, - " Sink or swim, survive or perish, live or die." 'Tis thus for country loved we freely tender all, And by the hazard stand, to rise or honored fall.
The plains of Concord and of Lexington for vengeance cried, - The sods of Bunker's Hill with patriot blood were dyed, - The lurid light of Charlestown's wasting fires Kindled devotion's flame in heart of patriot sires, Where long the slumbering embers, dormant lain, Were roused to life as clanked oppression's chain. Over all the land a sombrous pall there hung. "To arms ! to arms ! " in startling tones then rung The voice of freedom's earnest wakened braves, To live for liberty or sleep in honored graves.
Too long had meek submission held its reign, And peaceful hopes too long allured in vain,
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Till social ties wrought foully fettering bonds, And manhood wanes, as drooping virtue sad desponds. The fell, destroying power of stern despotic sway, Its glaring evils marked each footstep of its way, Pointing the derisive finger of malignant scorn At purest innocence that virtue's ways adorn, Invading peaceful households' blest domain, And gathering there pollution's vilest stain, Till sorrow bowed the loving parent's head For some loved one by base surroundings led, - Some mother's heart in bitter anguish pained, As hideous vice o'er nobler virtue reigned. In peril stood that faith that heaven adores, By Pilgrims brought to these then dreary shores. Religion's seeds they planted midst their cares, And ever strove protect from all destroying tares ; With hopes and purposes high, guided by sacred aid, With faith in God, their future welfare laid. Crushed were these hopes, and souls with sadness fill, When baneful, hireling minions of tyrannic will, With braggart power, the nation's morals foully stained, Despite all virtue's laws by God himself ordained ; Marked their career with blasphemies and oaths, And every viler art that virtuous manhood loathes ; Turned from their holy use the temples reared for praise, And hushed devotion's voice in bacchanalian lays.
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