USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 27
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THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS. 321
This, added to the psalter and arithmetic and native talent, produced such a man as Ephraim Doane Rich. Sometimes when wrought upon with his theme, his heart on fire, his face aglow, his tall form bent, his long arm outstretched, his impetuous utterance, fairly breaking through his pent-up prison-house, the Spirit rested like cloven tongues upon the audience. I see nothing gained, nothing in the realm of science or of learning to make the world wiser or better, to deny this spiritual power and call it excitement, enthusiasm or superstition. Sometimes the question is asked, What would education have done for such a man ? Perhaps, as Southey says of the Doncaster doctor, "They might have been much less worthy of being remembered. Society in rubbing off the singularities of his character, would just in the same degree have taken from its strength."
Stephen Collins was also a layman of mark in the Church fifty years ago. In early life he was master of a vessel, and had seen something of the world. Coming into possession of the old Collins homestead, with abundant acres of wood and farm lands, and what he delighted to call "intervale," he commenced the career of a Cape Cod farmer in middle life. At the same time he experienced religion and joined the M. E. Church, where he found a broad field for his talents. The genius and flexibility of the Methodist economy seemed con- genial to his spirit. The religious exercises of his mind required great scope and freedom. His soul basked in the sunshine of all the privileges of God's people. His experience was deep and thorough. He loved the Church, but his chart and compass was the Bible ; by it he kept a daily reckoning and could give his Christian latitude and longitude every moment, night or day. He loved the songs of Zion. Lenox was his favorite : he was the author of Give Lenox a pull. He was naturally careless and somewhat sluggish; quaint in language and expressive in gesture ; yet when engaged, his exhortations were full of fire and marvellous with the ready flow of Scripture texts. His pungent logic carried conviction to the mind, his inimitable eloquence melted the heart, and his oratory swayed mind and heart with irresistible unction,
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It was a common remark by the preachers, that they would prefer to hear Stephen Collins or Ephraim Doane Rich, in their exegesis and criticisms on a text of Scripture, than any minister they had heard. Their exegesis was not of books or of a learned clergy, but as of old, when the spirit enlightened and gave utterance. Their extemporizing was naturally elo- quent, though rude and unfinished ; but their logic was incon- trovertible. We have not introduced these names because . better men than scores of others, but because of their marked personality and religious fervor. A father in Israel and a strong pillar in the Church was Captain Ebenezer L. Davis. His conversion was quite late in life, but the work was com- plete. No man loved the Church better or blossomed more with Christian graces. In a tender, trembling, but earnest voice he loved to tell what religion had done for him and per- suade others to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
JOHN SMITH.
The perfect man is an ideal man. Such, I fancy, visit not the glimpses of this planet ; but noble, generous, high- minded, well-poised men, we have all seen: such whom to know was to love. I have found them in poverty and in wealth, in position and in obscurity, honored and neglected, always noble, generous, highminded. Wealth and position augment the possibilities of greatness, but do not create them. In fact, I have known many quite useful lives that have been ruined - some by the pursuit, and some by the possession of wealth. As a standard, nothing so much misses the mark.
After an active business experience of forty years with men representing a wide margin of birth, education and employ- ments, the man that stands before me as the best representa- tive of complete manhood is John Smith, whose portrait we are glad to place in this history, and in connection with the Church which he loved and honored. The cheerful, animated countenance, and the flashing eye which the artist remarked was of rare charm, have passed away. But none can look upon
JOHN SMITH.
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that face without feeling - that was a man ! He was raised in a narrow home, with limited advantages, but under the best of family discipline. He was the son of Zoheth and Mary (Mayo) Smith, born October 3, 1794 ; died at Melrose, November 12, 1873 ; married Sarah Atkins December, 1819; born December 13, 1799 ; died April 5, 1879. A capable and faithful wife who looked well after her household.
Mr. Smith was early in life an active skipper ; many years a schoolmaster ; among the first who commenced the outfitting business in Truro; was public-spirited, and forward in all town business ; twice elected to the Legislature ; was president of the board of trustees that voted (1826) " To build a meeting- house," and sustained and encouraged the Church under over- whelming discouragements. In the orbit of a Christian, he shone with a bright and unchanging lustre. His was no long- faced, self-righteous religion -if such there is - but full of sun- shine and strong manly glow. "'Twas love that drove his chariot wheels." He exhorted tenderly, eloquently and per- suasively ; sang sweetly, and prayed in the spirit of Christ his master. The light of a cheerful Christian, of a broad, noble manhood, of a gentle and refined nature, was in the atmos- phere of his life ; peace and victory in his death.
Of six sons and two daughters, John W., Rufus and Winslow, engaged in business at Boston, died of consumption ; James Rich was lost in the October gale of '41. Zoheth and James R. are at San Francisco. Sarah Ellen is the wife of Captain Jeremiah Paine of Brooklyn, New York. Mehitable is the widow of Captain Elisha Cobb late of Melrose.
The younger brothers of Mr. Smith, James and Joshua, men of superior character and worth, died of consumption before reaching the meridian of life. Noah was lost in the October gale of '41, and Hope we have referred to as the wife of Daniel Clark. Of quite large families, six only remain ; all the rest have died from consumption.
Captain Thomas Smith, who became quite a prominent Methodist preacher in Maine, came from these ranks. Quite late in life, while on a visit to his old home, he supplied
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the pulpit a few months. His name will be found in the list. Like many other faithful ministers of that time, he clouded his setting sun by embracing the doctrine of Adventism.
A large proportion of the Cape families were excellent singers. This was perhaps especially true of Wellfleet and Truro. Like many things that are a law unto themselves, and many of the ways of singers, past finding out, this enviable gift seemed to gravitate toward the Methodist wing. John Wesley advised his people to sing lustily ; this they ful- filed to the letter. Enthusiasm cannot be bottled up. How it spread among the weavers of Yorkshire, and the miners and fishermen of Cornwall, are matters of history; how it spread up and down the Cape is yet fresh in the memory of the living.
I love to make an annual pilgrimage to Father Taylor's Bethel ; I love the time-hallowed associations of the old sanctu- ary ; I love to call up the bethel of the past, with its expect- ant throng, and the hard face, but tender voice of the old demigod, balancing the fate of his fascinated listeners. During my last visit the organist was absent, and my atten- tion was drawn to the leader of the singing. The tune was an old standard, well adapted to his deep-toned voice, and evidently in harmony with his emotional and spiritual nature. He was sturdy, broad-chested, bronzed-faced, and his voice a whole choir, including the organ : a grand diapason. He sang all over. Every muscle and fibre of his flexible form beat time. I looked in admiration at his glowing face, and wondered how one man could sing so much. His enthusiasm, powerful lungs, and slight nasal accent, carried me back more than forty years. I was no longer in the Bethel, but in the plain, white-walled meeting-house on the hill-tops of Cape Cod. After service, I inquired who was the man that led the sing- ing. "Oh!" said my friend, "that is Brother -, just come from Wellfleet." He was a type of the singers of fifty to sixty years ago on the Cape.
Many years ago Reuben Rich, and John Mayo the French prisoner of 1811, went to Provincetown with a boatload of
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clambait. Finding a poor market, they concluded to remain all night. This being before there were houses of entertain- ment in Provincetown, they tried several private houses ; for various domestic reasons, none could accommodate them, so they made up their minds to lodge in their boat, but thought they would first attend the prayer-meeting. Both were fine singers. As the singing dragged, they modestly came to the rescue, and quite surprised the audience with their sweet full notes. After the meeting closed, they were requested to sing a few favorite pieces. Instead of having to sleep in an open boat, they had a score of invitations ; were abundantly lodged and breakfasted, and in the morning, sold the balance of their clams to a good market.
THE LEAFY TEMPLES.
About the first, if not the very first camp-meetings in New England, were held on the Cape. The first was in South Wellfleet, in 1819, and continued the next three years. From 1823 to 1825, they were holden on Bound Brook Island. The next year, 1826, the tents were pitched in Truro, a short distance south of the bridge on the hill, where now stands the house built by Joshua Smith in 1832, when it was surrounded by a beautiful grove of tall oak-trees; some of them had to be cut down to make room for the house ; others were left so near that the wind-swung boughs disturbed the sleepers. For many years the plain, whitewashed house peering out from the deep foliage, was a pleasant sight. It was to the camp-meeting in Truro that Drew referred : -
We saw great gatherings in a grove, A grove near Pamet Bay, Where thousands heard the preached word, And dozens knelt to pray.
The next annual gathering was at Eastham, where they were continued till the Old Colony railroad ran down to Yar- mouth in 1863, when the time-honored, consecrated spot was abandoned, and the present grove purchased. These more
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than thirty years of camp-meetings at Eastham have a glo- rious record. Men of power and deep religious experience made these green arches tremble with their eloquence. These were the days when the people called Methodists held to the simplicity of the Cross; when the camp-meeting at Eastham was distinguished by great, promiscuous gatherings and re- markable conversions ; when men and women who came to revile, returned wrought with a Divine influence, and became life-long Christians. The Eastham Camp-meeting Grove Association was incorporated in 1838. The property is still held by the Corporation.
REV. DANIEL ATKINS.
Christ said to the fishermen of Galilee: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him." In the early history of the town, several instances are mentioned of men who entered the ministry, but during the present century few have directly turned their hands to the Gospel net. Rev. Daniel, the sub- ject of this sketch and engraving, is the son of Paul and Keziah (Paine) Atkins, born August 16, 1824, the eldest of eight sons and one daughter. His grandfather was Barnabas Paine, reaching to a long line of deacons, ministers and doctors. At twenty-one, he left fishing and entered an apprentice at boat-building at Newport, R. I. At twenty- three, he commenced business in Gloucester ; January, 1851, was licensed to preach by Amos Binney, Presiding Elder, and the following April was appointed to the M. E. Church in Wales; received a member of the New England Confer- ence April, 1852; ordained deacon by Bishop Baker, 1854, and elder, 1856, by Bishop Janes After Wales, his appointments have been : Palmer and South Belchertown, '53; Leicester, '54-5 ; Warren, '56-7; Dudley, '58-9; North Brookfield, '60-1 ; Millbury, '62-3; Oakdale, '64-5 ; New- buryport, Purchase St., '66; South Reading, '67-9; East Douglas, '70-2; Gardner, '73-4; Spencer, '75-7; Towns- end, '78-80 ; East Pepperell, '81-2.
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REV. DANIEL ATKINS.
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He resigned a prosperous business, and entered the minis- try from the highest conscientious motives. To preach Christ, to be a Christian minister, was his single purpose. From his first appointment, he has gone steadily forward in the work committed to his trust, making no false step, turning neither to the right nor left, preaching the Word as one to whom was committed the oracles of God. If a successful ministry means to increase religious interest and deep Christian fellowship, to build anew, pay old and new debts, generally to strengthen and improve the Church temporalities and spiritualities, his ministry has been abundant in success, and few have less occasion to question their call of the Lord.
Mr. Atkins has been twice married: In 1848 to Caroline M. Thurston of Newport, whose death occurred March II, 1854. Children by this marriage, William Paul, now a printer in Boston ; Benjamin Paine, died aged twelve ; Daniel Thurs- ton died in infancy. January, 1855, to Nancy J. Shaw, of Wales.
A younger brother, Doane R., graduated at Yale, studied divinity at Andover, is pastor of the Congregational Church at Custer City, Dakota. He is well qualified for the broad and promising field to which he has consecrated his youth and talents.
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CHAPTER XIX.
HOW THEY LIVED.
Modern Improvements. Middlemarch. Scientific Activity. Victor Hugo. An honest Purpose. Pilgrim Habits. Kathrina. Charles I. Mr. Winslow and the Royal Charter. Blackstone. English Homes. Truro, Eng. Fashionable Gentlemen. Fashionable Ladies. Kitty Trevylyn. Old Grimes. Homespun. Labrador Tea. Lora Standish. Needlework. Live Geese. High Beds. Old Houses. The Sun- dial. The Kitchen. Geraldine. Gervase Markham. Tusser, the English Botanist. Fireplace Equipments. Jack-of-all-trades. Pewter Ware. Bean Porridge. The Punch-Bowl. Temperance Reform. Trenchers. Mortar and Pestle. Spider Cakes philosophically considered. Faculty. Well-fed. Sunday Dining. Resources. Herbert Spencer. Pumpkin Pie. Old Orchards. High-top Sweetings. Atlantic Apples. Old Pear-tree Tradition. The Old Colony Club. Daniel Webster. Home The highest Honor. Contentment. Brother Joe.
T HE comforts, conveniences and improvements of modern living have been so often reiterated, and held in such strong contrast with the past, and the question is so often asked, How they lived ? that even the survival of the fittest seems little less than a Divine interposition. That nearly everybody lived, and, what is of infinite importance to this argument, raised large, healthy, full-grown families that did likewise under that exhaustive system, was not an accident.
Looking at the mother, you might hope that the daughter would become like her, which is a prospective advantage equal to a dowry .- Middlemarch.
That the present generations are the opposite extreme in the points enumerated cannot favor the comforts, conveniences and improvements of modern living.
Scientific activity has contributed chiefly to this advance- ment. Principally among these may be mentioned the use
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HOW THEY LIVED.
of stoves, coal, gas and water-pipes, by which houses are heated, lighted and supplied with hot and cold water. Also friction matches, better and warmer clothing and richer food. Yet many people are banishing these now common modes of life and returning to the wood fire, blazing and crackling on "the open hearth; the circulation of the open chimney, the cheerful lamp on the centre-table, water where there shall be no extra risk of drowning in the fourth story, and otherwise showing a modified appreciation of old ways. It has become almost fashionable to express admiration for most everything old. Victor Hugo says in Notre Dame, "Fashion has done more mischief than revolution," which is saying a good deal where revolutions are the fashion. Old garrets, worm-eaten chests, lumber-rooms and country kitchens have been so often hunted and ;eproduced and described that I distrust my ability to awaken new interest, and hesitate to undertake this part of my task. An honest purpose, however, to neglect no part of duty, leaves no choice. I shall therefore present to the best of my ability, faithful and truthful pictures of Old Colony customs and manners.
Nowhere in New England have the Pilgrim habits been preserved with so much purity as on the Cape. Prominent among these were industry and economy -twin-sisters of thrift and prosperity. These habits were as much inborn in the old stock as their bold daring, and stubborn independence. Both from principal and interest, the early days of the Colony were strictly frugal and simple; through years of constant aggression, more than a flavor of old-time bonhomie remains. Cut off as they were from the Mother Country and supplies, they soon found the necessity of self-dependence. As neces- sity is the mother of invention, their clever hands lay hold upon new resources, and soon learned to supply themselves.
They drove the plough,
They trafficked, builded, delved, they spun and wove, They taught and preached, they hasted up and down, Each on his little errand, and their eyes
Were full of eager fire, as if the earth
And all its vast concerns were on their hands .- Kathrina.
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Many of them were skilful mechanics, having brought their implements from the old country. The forge, the loom and the shop, were soon active ; and community wants were in a great measure supplied by community labors. Every year added to their home-supplies and home-comforts, and made them more independent, as they desired to be, of England. After Charles the First was beheaded, in 1649, Parliament meditated a new charter for the Colonies, and authorized the Council of State to appoint governors over them. Massachu-
setts, through her agent, Mr. Winslow of Plymouth, then in England, boldly remonstrated and pleaded the Royal Charter, which permitted them to have a governor and magistrates of their own choice, and laws of their own making, if not repug- nant to those of England. Mr. Winslow said they had emigrated, settled, and maintained the colony without cost to the Parent State; they were able enough to have lived in England, and had removed to a wilderness to escape eccle- siastical persecution. Blackstone, who built the first house in Boston, said he left England to escape the arbitrary con- duct of the Lords Bishops, and left Boston to escape the rigid discipline of the Lords Brethren.
Quite intimate relations and friendships with men and women from the west of England and the north of Ireland led somewhat to an understanding of the social life in these parts of the kingdom. It was a grateful surprise to recognize so many home habits, home virtues, and so much home thrift ; so much of education and religion among the middle classes. Lately a short but gratifying experience among these people, a hasty study of their social problem, has fully confirmed these impressions, showing the superstructure of English homes quite identical with our own. I am grateful for this experience. It has opened many sealed fountains of deep sat- isfaction, and disabused my mind of many born prejudices. I am free to express a deep conviction that what we most prize and love in the simple habits and strong virtues of our fathers and mothers was not ingrafted. Nearly twenty years ago, when living in a Western city, a pleasant family of father, mother and daughters, with a cheery little home embowered
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HOW THEY LIVED.
among jessamine and honeysuckle and choice flowers, culti- vated with genuine English taste, was always open to a friendly call. They were from Truro, England, I from Truro, Massachusetts. The old Cornwall town by the great harbor of Falmouth, and the Barnstable town by the great harbor of Cape Cod, afforded many happy comparisons and delightful associations. May these lines fall before them, for days of Auld Lang Syne.
The old-time habits, strict frugality and independence of the first settlers, continued with little change for one hundred and fifty years. We might safely say that in the outlying portions of New England little change took place till 1800. The exceptions to this rule were inconsiderable among the common people. Dr. Freeman says: "The last half of the eighteenth century witnessed a great change ; the Old World fashions became known and even were expressed in these quiet domains." In 1747 fashionable gentlemen wore sky- blue coats with silver button-holes, and huge cuffs extending more than half-way from the middle of the hand to the elbow, short breeches reaching to the silver garters at the knee, and embroidered waistcoats with long flaps that came almost as low. Silver knee-buckles, the three-cornered hat, white-topped boots, ruffles, and silk stockings. Sharp-toed shoes were car- ried to a great extent ; we should say to the extreme length of fashion. Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Anjou, had the toes of his shoes two feet in length, to cover a defect in his foot, it was said. Complaint was made that the shoes were so snouted they could not kneel in the house of worship. " Joshua's courting dress at twenty was a full-bottomed wig and cocked hat, scarlet coat and small clothes; white vest, silk stockings, shoes with buckles and two watches." The above reads like a caricature, but is a correct description of the extreme fashion. What upon earth Joshua wanted of two watches courting, the chronicler deposeth not. Red-kid high-heeled shoes, fifteen-button kid gloves, silk and satin dresses, gold beads, hoops, peaked stomachers, modesty bits, riding habits and waistcoats trimmed with silver, perukes and cocked hats, were the vanities of the women of that day.
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" Yet, young ladies, they were as gay and giddy in their time as you are now ; they were as attractive and as lovely; they were not less ready than you are to laugh at the fashions that had gone before them. They were wooed and won by gentle- men in short breeches, long-flapped waistcoats, large cuffs, and tie wigs ; and the wooing and winning proceeded much in the same manner as before them, and as it will proceed when you will be as little thought of by your great-granddaughters, as your great-grandmothers are now by you." It must be understood that even among the people who accepted these indications of wealth and growing conformity to the world, these " vanities " were worn only on the Sabbath or on great occasions, and were then carefully laid away ; so from year to year.
Kitty Trevylyn, who reflects the habits of English country- folk one hundred and fifty years ago, tells how her father put on his best coat, twenty years old, to welcome her home from London when she returned from her first visit to his rich sisters ; and how, when he took it off, her mother folded it so carefully in a white cover, and laid it on the shelf in the cupboard. Kitty's father' was a retired captain living on a scanty pension, near the coast in Cornwall; he had all the pride and dignity of his profession, with the usual contempt for tradesmen. His sister Patience had married a rich merchant in London. "Father always spoke of his sister Henderson as 'Poor Patience,' implying she had lowered herself immeasurably by marrying a tradesman. But I find that aunt Henderson as commonly speaks of father as ' My poor brother.'"
Among the people on the Cape great simplicity and econ- omy were maintained. The old men and young men all had a Sunday coat, waistcoat and small-clothes, and a fur hat. The old men only had a greatcoat, which lasted an average lifetime. The young men never thought of wearing an overcoat ; they could wear a full wig, but comfortable great- coats were for old men. The men had one pair of well- tanned leather boots reaching to the knees. The winter every-day rig was homespun flannel breeches and jacket,
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long striped waistcoat- like old Grimes', all buttoned down before - flannel or woolsey shirt, blue-yarn long stockings, such as Doctor Franklin wore at the court of France, and heavy leather shoes. Shoe buckles of steel or brass, rarely of silver, among the middling people, continued in common use till 1800. The eldest boy had for summer a suit of home- made everlasting, which, when outgrown, was handed down to the next, and so on in infinite digression. The women and girls wore on Sunday in winter, homespun flannel, fulled and pressed and sheared at the factory. How they smiled and charmed in these Quaker-brown suits, all guiltless of tuck or ruffle, frill or flounce, of gimp or ribbon, fringe or bow. Do you smile because in another fashion ? Remember the old poet : -
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