USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume I > Part 36
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April 1, 1831-At the Tremont House, Boston with William Lincoln of Worcester, where I have been since the 25 of March. We have spent our time copying old papers relating to Worcester and Sutton, which we found in the garret of the State House.
April 2-We spend the day in walking about the town, examining the odd- looking tips and dandies who appear in the middle of the day in the principal streets for exhibition. They are indeed worthy of being gazed at. At 10 in the evening we start for Worcester in the mail stage and reach there at 5 a. m. And have an amusing ride, from the company of an Irishman and a woman who tried to pass for his wife. I put on the Irish brogue, and suc- ceeded in making my fellow passenger believe me a countryman. I agreed with him, and more than once offered to help him whip the rest of the pas- sengers, who treated him rather unceremoniously. This gave him great courage, and he talked loud and stormy. At length I unluckily spoke with- out brogue, and he had no sooner discovered the imposture than he swore he would lick me, and my friend Lincoln had to hold his hands to save me from a pounding.
April 19-In the evening I attend a party at Emory Washburn's, Esq., in Worcester. This is his first party since he began keeping house. There are more people present than can conveniently be accommodated. My toes are trod upon, and I am suffocated with heat. The party, however, goes off very well.
April 25-(In Boston) I go to the Tremont Theatre and hear Mr. (Junius Brutus) Booth in the character of Sartorius, in the play of that name. The afterpiece was William Thompson and was received with great applause. It being Booth's benefit the house was filled. Booth appears finely.
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June 1, 1831-From the first to the 21st of June I do nothing but collect materials for my history of Sutton. I visited most of the old families, and they obligingly gave me all their old letters, deeds, wills and the like, and I have now filled a large chest with them. The task at times is very pleasant and entertaining, and then tedious and perplexing; for I am obliged to sit patient and hear the whole of the Revolutionary war fought over inch by inch, and occasionally intersperse such praises and admiration of patriotic suffering as shall lead prattling old age into some untold danger. By this means I get much that otherwise would be lost.
July 25, 1831. I make the following wager with my partner, Jonas L. Sibley, Esq., to wit I am to give him a good eight dollar hat if Andrew Jackson shall be reëlected president of the United States, and if he shall not be reëlected, he is to give me two good eight dollar hats, always provided that he, the said Jackson, shall be living at the time of the election.
JONAS L. SIBLEY CHRIS. C. BALDWIN.
Attest : SUMNER COLE.
(Jackson was reëlected, which cost Mr. Baldwin one hat).
July 25, 1831-There is now in Sutton an attempt at an awakening or revival on the subject of Religion. Religious meetings are held almost daily. They are held in different parts of the town. On Sunday a prayer meeting was held at the meeting-house at sunrise. I understand that it was thinly attended, the number not exceeding twenty. This effort at an awakening was first announced about the beginning of May. I believe that it makes but slow progress. I impute this to the intelligence of the people, who seem to be many years in advance of the clergyman.
A RED HOT PRAYER.
Mr. Maltby, the present pastor, is full of zeal and is the most rigid sect of the Calvinistic school. I heard him use this language in his prayer, or something of similar import: "The whole human race are odious in Thy sight. Thou wantest power to punish them according the enormity of their transgressions. Thou are surrounded with saints and angels shouting praises and hosannas, whose enjoyments and pleasure multiply as the volumes of smoke ascend from the pit of torture and increase with the tortures and agonies of the damned spirits in Hell." I have no doubt that he is honest in his feelings and acts from the purest motives. He will not suffer the singers to meet for practice on Sunday, and his reason is that conscience will not suffer it. This is all the reason given. I go to hear him only about once in six or eight Sundays.
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August 2, 1831-I go fishing with Dr. D. S. C. H. Smith upon Singletary Pond. We take about an hundred and fifty fish, being mostly perch, bream and pout. They are caught as fast as the hook can be baited. They are prodigiously abundant. They are small, but taste very well when well cooked. I have been several times of late with Dr. Smith and have taken about a peck basket full each time. There are large pickerel in the pond, but are difficult to be caught from the great quantity of small fry which furnish them with abundant food.
September 28, 1831-Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D. D., of Franklin was this day married to the widow Abigail Mills of Sutton. He was born May I, 1745, and is now in his eighty-seventh year. His dress was antique enough, having on a cocked hat, silk satin breeches, with large silver knee and shoe buckles, silk vest, made after the fashion of the olden time, with a kind of flap and cut off at the corners, and a single-breasted coat, with straight collar and large buttons. His appearance was very comely and imposing. His head is bald, completely so above the ears, and of the best shape. What hair is left upon his head is perfectly white. He is yet unbroken, and active as men ordinarily are at 75. Mrs. Mills was the widow of the Rev. Edmund Mills, formerly minister of Sutton. She was born in 1764, and is sister of Rev. Dr. Zephaniah Swift Moore, former president of Williamstown College.
FIRST CENTENNIAL OF WORCESTER COUNTY.
October 4, 1831-Go to Worcester with Mr. Sibley. This day is cele- brated in commemoration of the close of one hundred years from the incor- poration of the County and organization of its courts. Hon. John Davis delivers the address, which was two hours and one half long. Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D., makes the first prayer, Rev. George Allen of Shrewsbury the last one. Rev. Rodney A. Miller reads from the scriptures. The Boston Cadets are present and perform escort duties, and our little Historical Soci- ety is greatly honored. (Worcester County Historical Society organized in 183I.)
The Cadets visit town to pay their respects to Governor Lincoln. They breakfast with him this morning. Their dress is white broadcloth, trimmed with gold lace. Each uniform cost ninety dollars. One-half of the crown of their caps is black and the upper half red. The plume is placed in the center of the top of the cap, made of beautiful white feathers and so large as to almost cover the top of the cap. The caps have no brim except in front and are of most prodigious height, and in the shape of a bell, muzzle up. Their appearance is very splendid and magnificent. The band of musick accompanying them consists of twenty-four distinguished musicians. They
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perform delightfully .. They play in the meeting-house before and after prayer, and Emory Perry, leader of the singing in Dr. Bancroft's Society and the most distinguished singing master in the County, sings the "Pilgrim Hymn," written by Mrs. Hemans.
Adjutant-General William H. Sumner from Boston and three of the aides-de-camp of Gov. Lincoln, as also Major-Gen. Nathan Heard of Worcester, with his aids, Thomas Kinnicutt of Worcester and William Pratt, Esq., of Shrewsbury, all in full uniform. They sit directly under the pulpit, facing the audience, and make a bold appearance. The aids of the Governor are Col. Josiah Quincy, son of the President of Harvard College, Pliny Merrick and Emory Washburn, Esq., of Worcester. Gov. Lincoln is in citizen's dress. The judges of the Supreme Judicial Court are all present, who have adjourned their sitting to join in the festivities of the day. The Worcester Light Infantry and Rifle Corps assist the cadets in the escort duties.
The procession reformed on leaving the meeting-house: the band first, then the Cadets, then the Worcester companies, then his Excellency Gov. Lincoln with his aids, then the committee of arrangements, eight of us; then the author of the address and the three ministers, then the judges, and then the ignobile vulgus. In this way the procession returned to the tavern of Jones Estabrooks (Central Hotel) and went to dinner, and there we had a most glorious time.
The dinner was very good and was composed of a variety of articles, to wit : Soup, roast beef, roast pork, boiled mutton, roast turkey and ducks and geese, boiled turkeys, fowl, accompanied by oysters, pies of many sorts, and "last but not least," an abundance of tolerable wine.
(A great reception was given by Governor Lincoln at his residence, which stood on Main Street on the site of the present Lincoln House block at the corner of Elm Street, a beautiful garden in front of it. Mr. Baldwin tells of the reception.)
The time was spent by such as had a taste that way in dancing cotillions, and very few, young or old, who had any opportunity, failed of improving it. The oldest I saw dancing was the Hon. Daniel Davis, Solicitor General of the Commonwealth, who is now very near eighty years old. The ladies were all very pretty and many of them were very handsome. And most of them, old as well as young, joined in the dance.
It was indeed a singularly odd spectacle to see all the grave and learned judges of our highest tribunal "tripping the light fantastic toe." The Chief Justice (Lemuel Shaw) weighs at least two hundred and fifty pounds. It is customary for these reverend seniors to join occasionally in such diversions,
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and Mr. Solomon Davis never omits an opportunity of the kind. Even the Chief Magistrate (Governor Lincoln) mingled in the mazes of the dance and aquit himself as happily in the business as in the management of the more weighty concerns of government.
October 5-In the evening, at a meeting of the Historical Society, am chosen to make a report of all the proceedings of the 4th, which report, with a bottle of wine and other appropriate articles, are to be enclosed in a tight and safe box, made for the purpose, and committed to the care of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society, and there remain unopened until the end of one hundred years, when they are to be brought forth and examined.
(The "tight and safe box" disappeared, no one knows where, but its con- tents, bottle of wine and all, reposed in the archives of the Antiquarian Society safely through the hundred years. In the autumn of 1931, the second centennial year of Worcester County, the contents were examined by mem- bers of the learned society, and the interesting old documents were read, including a toast offered by Chief Justice Shaw in his own handwriting. The cork was pulled from the black bottle of Madeira wine, which, to the aston- ishment of all, had lost none of its bouquet. Therefore it was recorked, and put away, to be retained in the Society's custody for another century, and to be opened again in October of the year 2032.)
December 4, 1831-In the evening I returned to Worcester, bidding adieu to Sutton where I have lived a year in a pleasant and agreeable manner.
1832-GOES HUNTING IN TEMPLETON.
March 31, 1832-I remained with my father at Templeton until the last day of March. I spent the greater part of my time in hunting. My com- panion was Asa Hosmer, Jr., who is a hunter by profession. He does noth- ing but hunt, and has made it his whole business for above ten years, and what is remarkable, he gets a good living by it. He told me that last year he caught over eight hundred dozens of pigeons in Templeton, and that this was not one-half the number taken in the town. (These were the passenger pigeons, once prodigally plentiful, and now extinct.) Mr. Joseph Robbins and a person by the name of Parks, in Winchendon, caught thirteen hundred dozens; and a Mr. Harris of that town about seven hundred dozen more. They have taken nearly the same number for several years past. They find a market for them in Boston, Worcester, Providence and their vicinity. They sell from one dollar and fifty cents to two shillings per dozen, and the feathers sell for enough more to pay all expenses. (They were caught in nets, chiefly at night.)
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Innumerable thousands of pigeons have been seen during the fore part of this month of this year in various parts of New England; an appearance which, with our ancestors, would have created the most alarming apprehen- sions. It is said that their flight portends a bloody war. I can well remember that in the spring of 18II a flock passed over Templeton that was many hours in sight, and so large as to cover the whole horizon. They first appeared about half an hour before sunrise, and continued until after ten o'clock. They were going to the north-east. All the old people said it was a sign of war ; and, whether the pigeons had anything to do with the affairs of men or not I cannot tell, but this is nevertheless true, that the United States did declare war against England within fourteen months from that time. And many old ladies gave accounts of the great flocks that appeared in 1774, the year before the Revolution. And it is said in a manuscript account of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, in 1675 and 1676, that the flight of pigeons there the year pre- vious was reckoned an alarming omen.
Let me return to my hunting. We had a hound with us and our main business was for hunting. But whether owing to want of proper skill or lack of game, we caught only one fox and that one I shot when the hound was in full chase and within three rods of his tail. Tho' the labor of pursuit be hard, yet it is a princely entertainment to see the sport go on. I enjoyed it very much, and I am not surprised that it is so much thought of among the lovers of the chase. The fox and hound were, beyond question, made for each other, and both for man.
I will here mention what I should have said in connection with the pig- eons. When the pigeons appeared so thick in 18II, there was another omen about the same time which was declared to be a sure sign of war, and filled the minds of the people with as great a panic as the pigeons; and that was the very great abundance of boar pigs.
(But no war followed Mr. Baldwin's pigeon flight of 1832.)
ATTENDS COMING-OUT PARTY.
April 13, 1832-In the evening I attended a party at His Excellency Gov. Lincoln's. It was given for the purpose of introducing the senior class of misses in the Female High School into company. They were all over 15. One party of the same kind was given while I was in Templeton a fortnight ago, and they are to be given every week by different families during the summer. The number of young ladies present from the school might be about fifteen, many of whom were very pretty and interesting. Some of them are natives of Worcester, but a great part from out of town. We employed about two hours in dancing, tho' we had no musick but from a piano, which was played upon by the Lady of Dr. John Park.
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July 3, 1832-I devoted this day to pleasure. I visited the Springs at Hopkinton, fifteen miles from Worcester. (Then a fashionable resort.) Deacon Benjamin Butman, George T. Rice and Dr. Oliver H. Blood, with their wives, composed the company. The vacant seat in my chaise was filled by Miss Lucy Ricketson Williams from New Bedford, who has a brother here in Worcester, a student at law in the office of Hon. John Davis. We started at eight in the morning and reached Brigham's in Westboro about ten, where we had strawberries and cream, with ice and soda. We arrived at the Springs about twelve, and spent the whole day in rolling nine pins, swinging, waltzing, playing bagatelle, bathing and the like. The ladies mingled in all our sports. At seven we started for Worcester, and visited on our return the garden of Mr. Blake, at Westboro, where we saw plenty of strawberries, grapes and odd ornaments. It was very warm during the whole day ; but the evening was very delightful. The moon shone bright and the evening gale came fresh from the flowers and new-made hay, bringing delicious odors. My fellow travelers entertained me with many songs. We get to Worcester about nine in the evening.
July 22, 1832-I took a long walk in the evening with Mr. and Mrs. Papanti. She entertained me with an account of her ancestors. She was born in the city of New York, and judging from her looks, about 1800. She is not handsome and yet she has an engaging face, and is, withal, a very inter- esting lady. Her manners are lady-like and her conversation extremely enter- taining. This would follow, almost of course, from her manner of life, which for some ten years was spent upon the stage. She never appeared in anything important except comedy. I have seen her in many characters, and while in Boston she was rather a favorite with the theatre-going people. She sings very finely, and her musical accomplishments gave her a happy celebrity.
Mr. Papanti is a native of Italy ; he was born near Florence. He is now teaching a dancing school, and his wife is keeping a school for musick for young ladies. They were introduced into the town by his Excellency Gov. Lincoln, whose daughters, Penelope and Anne, are under her instruction in musick and dancing. They are much caressed by a part of the people, while neglected by others because of their former connection with the theatre. They attend Dr. Bancroft's Church (Second Parish) and add greatly to the singing. She plays upon her harp and he upon a French horn, which, with two flutes, a base viol and violin, make very good musick.
1833-TAKES SEVEN GIRLS A-SLEIGHING.
December 21, 1833-The snow is reputed to be two feet deep on a level. The sleighing is, however, very fine and I made the most of it as shall fully appear. I employed Sam. Congdon to give me and the young ladies a ride.
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I invited seven to accompany me. We rode in a large double open sleigh with three seats, and our load, including the driver was composed of nine. I would not have any gentleman with me. If there is any fun in riding with one pretty face, must there not be plenty of fun in riding with seven? What a chattering they made! Women like, they all talked at once! Heavens! What a racket! Yet the ride was delightful. I enjoyed it very much. We left town at two in the afternoon and returned at sundown. We went to Leicester, and the whole expense of my expedition was four dollars and twenty-five cents.
September 15, 1833-Henry Knox Newcomb arrived in town a few days ago from Key West, by way of New Orleans, and asked me to bear him com- pany on a visit to his father, the Hon. Judge Newcomb, at Greenfield. I thought best not to miss such an opportunity of seeing the Connecticut River ; so I closed with his obliging proposal. We left town on Saturday morning. Our carriage was what is called a Carry-all; a vehicle very similar to a hack or private coach, only the fore end is open, and, like a hack, large enough for four persons. Our load consisted of myself, my friend Newcomb, his broth- er's wife and baby, and Miss Lucy Lincoln, the adopted daughter of the late Lieut. Governor Lincoln, of Worcester, making five souls in all, with plenty of baskets, band-boxes, budgets, and such trumpery as ladies are wont to bother the gentlemen with.
Our carriage was drawn by two horses, and as our appearance was some- what imposing from our having much silver upon our tackling and carriage, and making us look like some well estated gentleman, I could not but remark to my friend that if the people who stared at us so particularly, could look into our purses, we should be laughed at as two poor Devils. He insisted, however, that if we looked serious, nobody would ask us how much money we had got. The appearance of wealth always makes people look genteel, and exacts respect from strangers.
At Templeton, my native place, we stopped our equipage and ordered dinner. I was asked many questions here by people whom I knew, and when they looked at my new superfine broadcloth cloak, and our carriage, God knows, I felt cheap enough. I had to relate to them two amusing stories to keep them from asking questions as to the ownership of our carriage and horses. The keeper of the tavern gave us good cheer, and to make appear- ance correspond, I was going to order a bottle of wine, but my companions declining drinking, I concluded to postpone that entertainment to another time.
Wor .- 22
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After dinner we pushed on our journey and about eight o'clock in the evening reached a tavern. Before making arrangements for the night, we alighted and examined the premises to see that our quality should not suffer by having slept in a vulgar house. Newcomb was spokesman, and he cate- chised the landlady as to her beds, whether the sheets had been changed, what she would give us for supper ; and from the resolute manner of his examina- tion, one would have supposed him an officer of the police in pursuit of stolen property. To do him justice, however, he did his errand like one who was accustomed to good entertainment. The only part I performed in this comedy was to ask the landlady to let me see her cook our beefsteak which we had bespoken. This she complied with, not, however, without letting me understand that she thought me an indifferent cook.
CATTLE SHOW BALL GALA FUNCTION.
October 7, 1833-Cattle Show Day. The address before the Society by Hon. Solomon Strong of Leominster, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas. I did not hear it. I spent the day at Antiquarian Hall, having no taste for bulls and rams and the like. According to custom there was a grand ball in the evening. It has for the last ten years, with one exception, been held at the Central Tavern. But this year the hall was engaged to another set of dancers and we were compelled to seek out a new place. We finally took the Town Hall and arrayed it for the purpose. The ladies with divers gentlemen were a long time in fixing it up. The columns were wound with wreaths of laurel and the windows and doors hung with festoons of the same material. Curtains and pots of flowers, with many pretty little con- ceits and devices invented by the ladies, were arranged to produce the best effect and to set off their charms to best advantage. The north upper hall was turned into a dressing parlor for the ladies and the south one for the supper table. The supper was provided by James Worthington, keeper of the Worcester Hotel.
The party assembled for the dance at seven o'clock in the evening. The ladies were collected by the managers. This has been always the practice since I have lived in Worcester, which is ten years last June. Hacks are hired at the expense of the person providing the supper, and one manager in each hack goes to each house, receives the lady, or ladies, and carries them to the hall, where the other managers are in attendance. And at the end of the dance, they go home the same way.
There were more than an hundred ladies and gentlemen present. The hall was large enough to permit eight sets of cotillions at once. I made the most of my opportunities at dancing, an exercise of which I am extremely
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fond. To accommodate some of ye elder prigs, we were under the necessity of dancing alternately a cotillion and a contra dance. The people from the city have an impression that contra-dances are vulgar, they ignorantly sup- posing that they are country dances, when they are called contra dances from the position of the dancers on the floor. But those from the city, in contra- dances, seem to go wrong on purpose, lest it be supposed by going right, they had been accustomed to country company. So true it is that many people imagine that true politeness is the production only of the little spot they chance to live in, forgetting the remark of Dr. Goldsmith that "Fools are polite only at home; the wise are polite the world over." Our musick on the occasion consited of a Base-violin, a Kent bugle, clarionet, octave flute and two violins.
December 25, 1833-I dined at Dr. Bancroft's with Hon. Joseph G. Ken- dall and George Folsom, Esq. I had the happiness to meet my old friend, Miss Lucretia Bancroft, fourth daughter of the Rev. Dr. Bancroft. She is now on a visit from Boston where she is in charge of a small school. She is one of the most intelligent and talented females with whom I am acquainted. After dinner we went into the back parlor and took a few games of whist. The Doctor and his wife played at backgammon. There is perhaps not another minister in the County who would tolerate card playing in his own house. He would not be willing, I think, to have it done too often. But how much difference there is among the clergy in their opinions of play and amusement ! He plays at backgammon almost every weekday of his life; and yet he is a diligent student. And for purity and integrity, I know of no clergyman who stands higher.
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