USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
DOSMERY POOL.
heard now, in the terrible stormy nights. Every day Treg- eagle has to return to his task of dipping out the Pool with a limpet (mussel) shell, weaving ropes of sand, and making up accounts that always have a sixpence mistake.
This was the home of Jack the Giant-killer, and many exploits of his prowess are supported by tradition. At Trelawn is an old earthwork called the "Giant's Hedge," said to be the work of Jack the Giant, to keep him from idleness. It is built from Laureath to Lostwithal, seven miles.
Jack the Giant had nothing to do,
So he built a hedge from Lenin to Lowe.
¥32
TRURO-CAPE COD.
Not much less a fabled personage than Jack the Giant was King Arthur. Merivale says, "Every trader and small former west of Truro is fully persuaded of two things : one,
THE SANDS OF DARK TINTEGAL BY THE CORNISH SEA.
that he will some day make his fortune in a mine ; the other, that he is in some way descended from King Arthur." Tintegal (the impregnable fortress) was the home of the blameless king. Here he held his court, and here the Knights of the Round Table assembled. From Tintegal Arthur sallied out to meet the traitor Modred. The people believed in boiled thunderbolt (a rare stone) in much the same way that our fishermen believed that a nape bone taken from a live haddock and carried in the pocket, would prevent rheumatism.
It was of that notable Cornish giant Bellerus, that Milton wrote in Lycidas
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, Where the great vision of the guarded Mount Looks toward Nomancos and Bayona hold.
Land's End, early known as Pen-von-las -the end of the earth - the ancient Bolerium - the westernmost point of England, is granite rock sixty feet high. Stern, solemn and
133
TRURO OLD AND NEW.
magnificent stands the bare, bleak promontory. Here Charles Wesley stood when he wrote the well-known hymn -
Lo, on a narrow neck of land 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand !
At this Promethean fountain the Muses are wont to dip their pens :
The dark blue sky closed round And rested like a dome Up n the circling waste. - Thalaba.
On the summit of the cliff a little inn has lately been erected. About one mile inland, at the village of Senner, is the "First-and-last-inn-in-England." Near is a large stone which was a dining-table for seven kings about thirteen hundred years ago. Deponent sayeth not who were the kings.
Another royal personage was " Old King Cole, that Jolly old Soul," while Jack with the lanthorn ( Jaek o' Lantern ) and Jack and the Bean-stalk all belong to the same mystic crew. Two miles away, plainly seen in the pic- ture, is Longship's Lighthouse ; the Scilly Islands twenty - five miles. Certain it is that the line between Celt and Saxon can be traced by an unchanged no- menclature for more than a thousand years. The quaintness and melodiousness of these names, so different from LAND'S END - LONGSHIP'S LIGHTHOUSE. all other parts of Eng- land, is a great charm. That such a people, "rooted from an antiquity contemporary with the old Phoenicians, " should be self-reliant and self-respectful, with great love of adventure, is
134
TRURO-CAPE COD.
not surprising. They have been more independent and' less led by the popular tide or political partisans, than other Eng- lishmen, sometimes declaring against the government, but twice during the civil wars rescued the royal cause. They rebelled against a tax to pay for the war with Scotland, but opposed Cromwell ; this was their note : -
I'll bore a hole in Cromwell's nose, And therein put a string, And lead 'em up and down the town For murdering Charles our King.
Several things may be learned by a visit to England. My experience and observation at an election for a member of Parliament opened my eyes in that direction. I give the benefit of the same to my readers.
I left Blackfriars on the evening of September 25, during a London black rainstorm, and landed in Truro the next morning at sunrise. A fairer autumn sun never smiled upon Cornwall.
I had learned before leaving London that an election for a new member of Parliament was to take place that day, an event I was anxious to witness. Leading politicians from most all parts of the Island, and the gentry of the neigh- boring counties, are usually present when important elections take place.
" London, " said I, in answer to two gentlemen who joined me, and inquired where from ? as I left the railroad carriage. " Which side?" they continued, presuming I was an Eng- lishman and had come from London to assist my friends. I evaded this question by Yankee privilege, and learned my interlocutors were from Barnstable, and had come down by the early train to help on the work. Am I in England or Massachusetts ? A new member under ordinary circum- stances causes considerable excitement. But this was an intensely exciting election, and party lines were sharply drawn. The former member, a Conservative, had died, and the new candidates were fair rivals. The Eastern question and Lord Beaconsfield's policy afforded abundant material
TRURO OLD AND NEW. 135
for the Liberal party. The canvass was unusually active, hot, and bitter beyond anything I have known at home. As an illustration of the popular spirit we quote from the placards : -
LIBERAL MORALITY.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF TRURO.
BROTHER ELECTORS :
I find the Liberals are endeavoring to induce you to break your promises, on the ground that it has been stated with apparent authority that a man may prom- ise one thing and do another ! This is positively WICKED. I cannot believe that such a thing was ever meant ; it must have been wrongly reported or misun- derstood. Truth and Honour and Honesty are the proud boasts of Englishmen, and the sacredness of a man's word is over and over again enforced in the Scrip- cures.
AN ENGLISHMAN'S WORD IS HIS BOND. How can we look our neighbour in the face and stand erect as honest men if we promise one thing and do another ?
Let us despise and trample upon such Jesuitry, SPURN THE TEMPTER and
STICK TO OUR PLEDGES.
yours truly AN ELECTOR.
Truro, September 25th, 1878.
LIBERAL TRICKS.
TO THE WORKING MEN OF THE CITY OF TRURO.
BROTHER CHIPS,
The Liberals are trying on a Game in order to deceive us and to CATCH VOTES under FALSE PRETENCES. They say if two Conservatives are elected the Representation will be handed over to the Conservatives for an indefin te time, and there will be no election again for twenty or thirty years. Don't believe it. It's all gammon. The exact opposite is the fact. If we send in a Liberal we shall fall back into the old " ONE-AND-ONE " RUT, from which COLONEL HOGG rescued us. Both sides will "rest and be thankful," as in the days of ENNIS VIVIAN and TURNER, and similar comfortable arrangements.
No. When a Liberal talks to you like that ask him to "teach his grandmother to suck eggs," or to tell his tale to the Horse Marines. We are old birds and not to be caught with chaff.
A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.
Truro, Sept. 25th, 1878.
2
136
TRURO - CAPE COD.
All business was suspended. Men and boys in holiday dress, with a bit of ribbon indicating their party, in their button-holes, thronged the streets. The rival parties had their headquarters respectively at the "Royal " and " Red Lyon, " where beer flowed like water. In the square between the two houses, the crowd surged like a sea from morning till night. They chaffered and threatened and roared and laughed. As fresh bulletins were scattered among them, they cheered and groaned as men of the buskins and broad chests only know how. The broadest freedom and downright good nature generally prevailed. Free refreshments were supplied, and though rivers of drink and mountains of food disap- peared, I saw little drunkenness. The esquires, knights and titled military gentlemen had a private room. I suspect they did not all drink beer. Thousands came from the neighboring towns and joined in the excitement. Altogether, it was such a day as can be found only at an English husting.
After the result was declared, the two candidates appeared upon the balcony of the Royal. The defeated handsomely congratulated the winning man, Col. Arthur Tremain, and he in return thanked the other for his gentlemanly course and freedom from personality through the unusually exciting cam- paign. Then the crowd that still packed the square cheered again and again and made the welkin ring.
Colonel Sir James M'Gard Hogg, a former member from the borough, said the night before the election, addressing the Conservatives, " That election proved to me that the words of the electors of Truro were truthful, and that when a Truro man looked you straight in the face, and gave you his hand - whether that hand was hard or soft -the grip of the hand and the look of the eye bespoke truth and candor. (Terrific applause. ) The promises given on that occasion were amply fulfiled at the polls. ( Loud cheers. )
Cornwall is a land of natural curiosities, some of which are scarcely distinguishable from art. There are stones of every conceivable shape and felicity of name, with beautiful and wonderful legends. Stone crosses sometimes ten feet high, richly ornamented with Runic and relieved by designs
137
TRURO OLD AND NEW.
of tracery, are found in all parts. Their use is said to denote primitive Christianity. Says an old writer : "For this reason ben croysses by ye way, that when folk passnygne see ye croysses they shoulde thinke on Hym that deyed on ye croysse and worshippe Hym above al thyng." It is sup- posed they were erected to guard and guide the way to Church, and the Christian practice of leaving on the crosses alms for the poor.
Here are vast amphitheatres and ruins of the ancient Britons and Romans. One of these natural amphitheatres at Gwennap, was John Wesley's famous pulpit. Here he preached on his first visit in 1743, and his last in 1781, when he said, " I believe two or three and twenty thousand were present. I shall scarce see a larger congregation till we meet in the air." Holy wells are not infrequent. One at St. Clear was used for ducking lunatics. Another, St. Priam's, passing through the cleft of a rock, would cure children of rickets. At Trelawn is the wonderful well of St. Keyne, a holy virgin of 490. Carew describes this well :-
The person of that man or wife Whose choice or chance attains First of the sacred stream to drink, Thereby the mastery gains.
Southey also wrote a fine ballad upon St. Keyne.
Cornwall is the paradise of tourists ; it would take a book to describe them. Some who, like old Hugh Miller, with wallet swung over their shoulder, and mallet in hand, find "Sermons in stones and good in everything." Hosts of others visit for charming scenery, good entertainment and healthful exercise. Said the late Dean of Canterbury : --
There is a charm in the Cornish coast that belongs to no other coast in the world. The air you breathe has never been vitiated by human beings since it left the Yankees. And the rocks? From the green and scarlet of the serpen- tine at the Lizard to Hartland Point and Devon, there is not a cliff that is not a study for form and color. Shall I speak of the Cornish seas? There is no sea in Europe which equals the gorgeous clear green of the waters at the Lizard, with its deep ultramarine shadows beneath, and the occasional flecks of scarlet as the veins of serpentine are seen shimmering in the sun.
138
TRURO- CAPE COD.
All tourists testify to the hospitality and frankness of all classes of the people. Natural and unaffected, ready to im- part and receive information, shy and curt towards the pretentious and haughty only, they possess that true politeness of which we see so little, and the world is so much in need; that costs nothing, but adds so much comfort to giver and receiver.
Nowhere can the tradi- tional English inn of mine host Boniface be found nearer the old type than in Cornwall , Such an once is Sam Gilbert in the little coast town of Mawgan (Mor gan by the sea), near St. Colomb.
Gilbert's clever ways and stock of Cornish lore THE TYPICAL JOLLY LANDLORD. are known through all the county round. His little inn with fresh whitewashed walls, white-scrubbed and white- sanded oaken floors, brick-paved kitchen, with the spit turn- ing the juicy joint by the fire, a bountiful table, not without a pewter mug of beer for those who wish, cream-clotted cream - and pastry such as is only found in Cornwall, are some of the attractions at Mawgan. The greatest attraction, however, of Mawgan is Sam Gilbert.
The cleanest place I have ever seen, Cape Cod always excepted, is Cornwall. Here are found the nice and happy old customs of our mothers, which we remember with so much pleasure and pride, and which moisten our eyes to review. Such snow-white bedding made fragrant by roses from the garden. Such sweet-scented herbs as are tied here and there, and bountiful branches of fresh-gathered flowers, such shining Delft and pewter, and such a willingness to serve,
139
TRURO OLD AND NEW.
tempt even a stranger to endure such homes. It is said the devil dare not go to Cornwall for fear they will put him in a pie. Pastry, or pie, is as universal as on Cape Cod, only of more variety. We need not wonder how we came by the art.
The typical pastry for the working men is meat and pota- toes in crust. Pies are also made of eels and pilchards. As the heads press through the crust, they are called "star- gazers. " At the table of a Truro minister who politely invited me to dine with him, three varieties of pie were served without the star-gazers. Robin Hood had perhaps lived in Cornwall and cultivated his taste for pastry for which he so belabored friar Henry.
" Fish, tin, and copper," was the standing Cornish toast. Fishing, mining and farming are the employments of the people. Mining began before the Phoenicians. At one time all the tin of commerce came from Cornwall. The product of copper has been immense; some of the mines penetrate under the ocean, and the surface of the land is frightfully disfigured in the mining districts. Tall chimneys, huge stacks of earth, flumes and derricks stand thick. Both fishermen and miners, however, are jack-of-all-trades ; he builds his house, makes shoes for the family, is cooper, blacksmith and farmer, perhaps keeps a little shop, and sometimes is a Methodist local preacher. Barring the Methodist preacher, this is a good description of Cape Cod men in my father's day.
Startling stories and strange traditions are told of fisher men and smugglers whose spectral boats lurked in the deep creeks and handy coves of these bold promontories. Smug- gling and wrecking, which was a kind of piracy, and from which has come the famous " Penzance Pirates," abounds in old yarns, half of which, if true, would reflect no credit on the bold, fearless men, always found to embark in such con - traband, but exciting employment : -
Blow wind and rise sea,
Ship ashore 'fore day.
140
TRURO -CAPE COD.
From time immemorial till the late establishment of life- saving stations, there were always men on the Cape, who from love of the excitement and the slight prospect of a prize, just as some men from love of the chase will undergo great hardship, so these men would leave comfortable homes before daybreak, and brave the fircest storms and coldest weather to visit the Back Side (the Atlantic beach). Two or three or more would sometimes meet at the bank. One
NH
SHIP ASHORE 'FORE DAY.
or more would follow the surf line north, the other south, till another patrol was met, with whom the news of the morning was exchanged, what had been found, etc., when each would return. Though not intended, and no system maintained, yet really they composed a kind of volunteer unarmed coast- guard, or what under the government service is now called the patrol, which in bad weather kept up a communication all along the shore. The old foot-paths, worn deep above the
141
TRURO OLD AND NEW.
banks where these hardy men crossed over are now plainly seen winding along the hills and valleys. This custom was known as "mooning," or "moon cursing," which is from a tradition from the old country of piratical crews who used to decoy vessels on the rocks by false lights, and cursed the moon when she disturbed their hellish work. These customs are all intimated in the stories which are told of old Corn- wall life hundreds of years ago.
Large quantities of oysters and fish are caught on the coasts and bays of Cornwall, which find a ready sale in the London market, but the fish of Cornwall is the pilchard, which seems peculiar to this part of the coast. Pilchard to the value of £60,000 were caught in one day at St. Ives. When they fail to make an annual visit, distress prevails throughout the county. They are a species of herring much thicker and finer; and when " scrowled " and eaten at the nick of time, are delicious. It was my good fortune to be at Penzance just at the right time, and can testify to their quality. Four riding a tier, to each plate, is the rule at the Victoria Hotel. The old adage is -
When the corn is in the shock, The fish are off the rock.
Much interest and anxiety are manifest when they are due. A constant watch is kept to give notice of their appearance, which is indicated by clouds of seafowl. The watch from lookouts on the cliffs are called huers (shout). When the fish are discovered, they shout Heva ! (found.) Then a stampede begins, with which the cry for blackfish is nothing ; for the whole town moves, and perhaps a thousand boats fly in hot pursuit.
We have referred to three places by the name of Truro ; all other known places by this name in the world, can be soon mentioned. A town in Ohio, settled by a small colony from Truro, N. S. Population in 1844, eleven hundred. There is also a post-office in a small town by this name in Knox County, Illinois. But the most important, and that which perhaps makes the name most illustrious, is old Truro Parish
I42
TRURO - CAPE COD.
in Virginia, five miles from Mount Vernon, where stands the Old Polick Church of Truro Parish, of which George Wash- ington was the first vestryman on the list. His name could be seen in gilt letters upon one of the pew doors, before the last war, which changed Polick Church to a picket post.
The name was bestowed by the Cockburn family, who came - from Truro in Cornwall. The last church was completed in 1769. The first rector was an intimate at Mount Vernon. His salary was £650, paid in tobacco, the Virginia leaf, then bringing eighty cents per pound in Europe. If the truth has been told, he was equally versed in theology and cards, and as ready for the race-course as the pulpit. " To the door of Truro Parish Church, the Mount Vernon coach driving four, with liveried coachman and footman, and with the ancient arms of de Hertburn emblazoned on the panel, drew up amid a crowd of powdered beaus, who vied with each other for the honor of handing Mrs. Washington from her coach. " Nor was this the only grand turnout that drove up to Polick Church in Truro Parish. These were grand days in the Old Dominion.
Truro Parish is now known as the village of Accotuck, founded in 1850 by a flourishing colony of New England Quakers.
Since writing the above, the new station of Truro has been established on the Des Moines, Osceola and St. Louis railroad of which Benjamin L. Harding, a native of Truro, is president. A street in Boston has also lately received this name.
.14 !!
THE MEETING-HOUSE ON THE HILL OF STORMS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN TRURO.
The Hill of Storms. The Spirit of Elia. Ruling Elders. The Great Landmark Fundamentals and Magna Charta. Error of Historians. The First Meeting-house. Galleries. Fasts Established. First Pew-Holders. Puritan Architecture. The Book of Common Prayer. Rev. Phillips Brooks.
The dark brown years have passed over it. It stands alone on the hill of storms ! It is seen afar by the mariner as he passes by on the dark-rolling wave .- From the Massachusetts Gazeteer.
T "HE meeting-house no longer stands on the hill of storms, but the spot consecrated by the dust of generations is here, and in spirit I see its high walls and double row of win- dows. I tread its aisles ; I gaze upon the sounding-board sus- pended like Mahomet's coffin ; I hear the hymns of David, and listen to the tender prayers and "sweetest mind" of Christ's servants ; in spirit I am with the author of Elia :
Woulds't thou know the beauty of holiness? Go alone on some week day, borrowing the keys of the good master sexton; traverse the cool aisles of some country church ; think of the piety that has knelt there -the congregations, old and young, that have found consolation there; the meek pastor - the docile parishioners - with no disturbing emotions, no cross conflicting comparisons, drink in the tranquility of the place, till thou thyself become as fixed and motionless as the marble effigies that kneel and weep around thee.
143
144
TRURO-CAPE COD.
I see the ruling elders and deacons, and the Christian mothers.
There they sit In reverence meet ; Many an eye to heaven is lifted, Meek and very lowly, Souls bowed down with reverent fear.
Hoary-headed elders moving, Bear the hallowed bread and wine, While devoutly still the people Low in prayer bow the head. -From Kilmahoe, quoted by Dean Stanley.
For one hundred and twenty years the old meeting-house in Truro, standing on the "wind-swept plain," was the great landmark of Cape Cod. For nearly a hundred years before a lighthouse had lifted its white pillar to guide by day, or thrown out its welcome light by night on all the coast, this temple of our fathers stood bold and shapely on the lonely height. Seen first as the mariner strained his eyes toward the desired land, and last as with thoughts of kindred and hearthstone, it faded from his watchful gaze - perhaps for the last time. It stood near the southwest corner of the present graveyard, facing the south, according to the custom of those days. The heavy white-oak frame was cut on the spot, and when the old meeting-house was demolished in 1840, the tim- ber was as sound as when raised.
Say, ancient edifice, thyself with years Grown gray, how long upon the hill has stood Thy weather-braving tower, and silent mark'd The human leaf in constant bud and fall ? The generations of deciduous man, How often hast thou seen them pass away .- Hurdis.
The first general laws of Massachusetts colony were called " Fundamentals." A comparison with the Magna Charta and Common Law of England may be interesting in connec- tion with the history of the Church.
145
FIRST CHURCH IN TRURO!
Magna Charta : - The Church shall enjoy all her liberties.
Fundamentals : - All persons orthodox in judgment and not scandalous in life may gather into a Church estate according to the rules of: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Such may choose and ordain their own officers, and exercise all the ordinances of Christ, without any injunction in doctrine, worship, or discipline.
Magna Charta : - No man shall be condemned but by lawful trials ; justice shall not be sold, deferred, nor delayed to any man. All men's liberties and customs shall be free.
Fundamentals : - No man's life, honour, liberty, wife, children, goods or estate, shall be taken away, punished, or damaged under color of law or countenance of authority, but by an express law of the General Court, or in defect of such, by the word of God, etc. Every person within this jurisdiction shall enjoy the same justice and law without partiality or delay. All lands and hereditament shall be free from all fines, forfeitures, etc. Every man may remove himself and his family if there be no legal impediment.
The Common Law of England : - The supreme authority is in the High Court of Parliament.
Fundamentals :- The highest authority here is in the General Court, both by our Charter and by our positive laws.
The history of the first meeting-house in Truro is only known indirectly. It is remarkable that while the records of the town are generally quite full, they are silent as the grave touching positively the first house of worship. Hence Mr. Freeman and others have accepted the tradition that the first meeting-house stood in the Pond Village, near the present church, where several graves have been discovered, and which gave ground to the report. I have been informed by people now living, that these graves were well known by people of the last generation, and that there has always been a tradition that they were of persons who died before the public yard was laid out on the hill. The first reference to the meeting-house is found in the Act of Incorporation, July 16, 1709.
And whereas, the inhabitants of said District, by their humble petition, have set forth that they have built a convenient house to meet in for the worship of God, and have for some time had a minister among them.
The next reference is -
May 29, 1710, it was agreed upon by said town, that the town-treasurer should as soon as he can with conveniency, buy a cushion for the pulpit in the meet- ing-house, and an hour glass, and a box to put them in, and to pay for them out
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.