USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 6
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
FIFTH SENTIMENT:
OUR PHYSICIANS - A proper care of the body leads to a healthful action of the mind. Sullivan is proud of her worthy sons who have chosen the profession of medicine, of whom there are those who have attained to the highest distinction in their calling.
The President, himself an honored member of the pro- fession, introduced, to respond to this sentiment, Edwin A. Kemp, M. D., of Danvers, Mass.
ADDRESS OF DR. E. A. KEMP.
MR. PRESIDENT - It is a pleasure as well as a gratifi- cation to meet with the sons and daughters of Sullivan, to celebrate her hundredth anniversary. I am proud to be here to-day as one of her children. The place you have selected for the re-union is a memorable one to me. Here I spent all my youthful days. Here every foot of ground, every tree and stone, in fact, every nook and corner, is as familiar to me as the days of my existence, and I cannot refrain from repeating that old familiar verse which you have so often heard :
" How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view;
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew."
Yes, how home-like everything looks. Across the way is the old well, where so often I have tarried on a hot summer day to quench my thirst. On this spot stood the first meeting- house, where I attended divine worship. How plainly I see it now, with its ell on each end, and its old-fashioned square pews ; and I shall not soon forget how musical those seats were at the close of each prayer. In spite of all the pleasant memories of the past, in spite of all the enjoyments which this day has brought, in meeting so many familiar faces, still there is a shadow of sadness which steals over me as I look around on this assembly and miss so many absent ones who were wont to meet with us thirty years ago. But I must leave this familiar spot-the place where memory would gladly linger.
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How wonderful to recall the past so vividly to mind, but how much more wonderful is that complex organ, the brain, which is capable of retaining so many past events. There are many axioms in physics as well as in mathematics ; and one is, that a healthy body is more apt to give a healthy mind than a diseased body. But a healthy body does not always give a healthy mind. You cannot expect to gather grapes of thistles, neither can you expect noble and elevated thoughts from a diseased and degenerate mind. How can the water be clear unless the water is pure? Those before me to-day who till the soil, very well know that the anticipated crop is in accord with the soil and its surroundings ; so it is with the human mind, its value is in accord with the soil and culture. Look, if you will, at the history of our country and its laws, the executive ability which has been shown by our statesmen, and you will find that the greater part of this work has been done by men who were reared in the rural districts, the country homes like Sullivan. Among them were such men as Webster, Lincoln and Grant, and hundreds of others who were brought up on the farm, and instructed in a proper development of both body and mind, and were not taught the weak, nonsensical ideas of fashion.
You remember the story told of Webster while at an evening's gathering. A young man of fashion walked up to him and said : "Mr. Webster, do you not dance?" Mr. Webster looked at him and said, "No, sir, I have not the capacity." No, he had not spent his youthful days in edu- cating his heels, but he had educated his mind so that he was able to sway a nation with his eloquence. Yes, these men who were reared on our farms were surrounded with heathful influences ; were brought up with an honest, indus- trious, and frugal people, and thus placed in the most favor- able circumstances to develope a healthy body as well as mind: Consequently, they went forth into the world as men of worth and intellect and have become the bone and sinew of our country. As I remember this town thirty-five or forty years ago, I almost feel it was a model town, although there were some who had their idiosyncrasies. As a whole, the
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town had an honest, industrious and intelligent people, with conscientious principles and honest endeavors. Consequetly, she has sent forth from her midst many worthy sons and daughters. Among that number you will find a few names which I will mention as belonging to the medical profession :
John Brown, a son of Eleazer, who, many years ago, was an able physician in Vermont ; Edward B. Nims, Super- intendent of the Northampton Asylum for the Insane; Carl- ton P. Frost, of the Dartmouth Medical Faculty ; Joel Williston Wright, Professor in the University Medical Col- lege in New York City ; Rufus Osgood Mason, a well- known physician in New York City ; Enoch Alba Kemp, who died at East Douglas, Mass., October 31, 1883. If to this list my own name be added, it will make in all seven physicians who have gone forth from Sullivan.
I would be glad if time permitted to speak of Messer Cannon and Timothy. L. Lane, who practised medicine here for some years each; and also of Barton and others who were here for shorter periods.
Many of these have become eminent in their profession. Surely Sullivan has every reason to be proud of those sons who have done credit to themselves as well as honor to their town. Where can you find a town of its size which has pro- duced so many physicians, and so many who have become eminent in their profession ?
Dr. Rufus Osgood Mason, of New York City, sent a note expressing his regrets at being unable to attend the celebration. Dr. C. P. Frost, of the Dartmouth Medical Faculty, sent a note expressing his intention to be present ; but circumstances afterwards made it impossible for him to go to Sullivan on that day.
LETTER FROM DR. RUFUS OSGOOD MASON.
170 W. 59th St., NEW YORK, September 17, 1887. Mr. F. A. Wilson, and Gentlemen of the Committee :
I thank you very heartily for your kind invitation to be present at the Sullivan Centennial and take a part in the exercises. It would give me great pleasure and
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I had hoped to be able to do so; I find, however, that my engagements will render it impossible. With many regrets, but with many kind thoughts concerning my fellow-townsmen and good wishes for the success of the occasion, I am obliged to decline your kind invitation and remain very
Sincerely yours,
R. OSGOOD MASON.
LETTER FROM DR. C. P. FROST.
HANOVER, N. H., September 21, 1887.
F. A. Wilson :
DEAR SIR - Your plaster is drawing very well and I am now planning to be present at Sullivan, on the 27th. I shall be obliged to put trip both ways and Centennial all into one day. Can reach Keene about 10 A. M., I think, and drive up from there, and get back there to take the 10 P. M. train for home.
Respectfully yours,
C. P. FROST.
SIXTH SENTIMENT:
THE LAW - The basis of moral order ; the foundation of government. When defended and expounded by conscientious men, it becomes the banner of liberty. Sullivan gladly welcomes her sons who, in this honorable profession, raise their voices in defence of truth and honor.
The response was to have been by E. V. Wilson, Esq. It being at first supposed that he was not in the audience, the President called for E. P. Dole, Esq., of Keene, who is con- nected by marriage with a Sullivan family. Mr. Wilson was recognized later and called to the platform. Both addresses follow.
ADDRESS OF E. P. DOLE, ESQ.
MR. PRESIDENT -' What can you raise on your cold and rocky hill farms?" said a Southerner to the greatest of New England statesmen, the renowned lawyer, the great expound- er of the constitution, the great Secretary of State, at whose beck kings trembled and princes recoiled-a man whose words and fame will live forever. " What can you raise on your cold and rocky hill farms?" The answer was a proud one. "We raise men."
Over two thousand years ago, all roads led to Rome. Over all these roads, from the east, west, north, or south, the whole world centered in this mighty capital. A few great
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families were masters of Rome. It had fallen under the power of the military rule. A few aristocratic women dazzled the masses by their display of jewels. They had their treasures of silver and gold, their jewels, and their silks. They had their pearls from the sea of Arabia and their costly ornaments and adornments. One of the richest of these women was once displaying her costly pearls, her jewels and precious stones. In her presence was a worthy woman, who had neither silk nor treasure, nor pearls from Arabia, but, pointing to her two sons, she said, in her simplicity, " These are my jewels."
You will perhaps remember a wonderful battle fought by the great Napoleon-in some respects one of the greatest achievements of his military career. At first, his great genius seemed baffled. He was greatly outnumbered ; the odds were fearfully against him. He sat upon his horse, with his field-glass in his hand, carefully scanning every part of the field of battle ; quiet, motionless, apparently as passionless as though made of marble. Finally, he turned to one of his marshals and, pointing to a hill, said : "Marshal, that hill is the key of the battle. Can you reach the summit?" "I will try," was the answer. A moment later, ten thousand men of the reserved force, ten thousand of the grand Old Guard, were streaming down, along a defile, pressing on at double-quick. On the heights opposite were a hundred and sixty thousand Austrians, with three hundred cannon firing upon those ten thousand men. Grape and canister tore through their ranks, but they steadily closed them up, leaving a long and bloody trail behind them. It was a mile through that defile, but at length they reached the summit. The little band triumphed. Victory was won.
What can you raise? What can you raise on these cold, rocky, hill farms of Sullivan? Your answer may well be, " Men." What are your jewels? They are your children who are here and the children whom you have sent out broadcast into the world. As all roads led to Rome in the ancient time, so now the roads all lead to the cities and larger places. In those cities and large towns fortunes are
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piled up and fame established. Whence come all these men? They come from these grand hill towns. They have gone to these larger places and have made names for them- selves. These men are your jewels. The jewels of our land are the noble men and wonen who have gone forth from these hill towns and who have made our great nation what it is to-day.
The population of Sullivan is not today more than a half what it has been. What of it? What of it? After Napo- leon's great battle, the ten thousand of the Old Guard had been reduced to one thousand. But the nine thousand men who died in that charge saved France and glorified the Old Guard for all ages yet to come. So it is with the hill towns. From these towns have gone heroic, honest men and women, who have given their blood and their lives to their country, and who are buried in all parts of the world. The soil of Sullivan is like the soil of other hill towns. The influence of this excellent town will be felt not in Sullivan alone, but it proceeds from all her sons and daughters who have gone forth to bless the world.
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ADDRESS OF EDGAR V. WILSON, ESQ-
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN- When I heard the last sentiment read by your President, a sentiment which relates to my profession, I indulged the hope that I should be excused from saying anything. Such a release would have been indeed not ungrateful to me, for I sat so long with my feet resting upon the damp ground that I do not feel that I can do justice to the theme, nor to myself, nor (what is more important) to you. I trust that in so far as I shall fail to do justice to the theme you will pardon me and help me by your kind forbearance.
The sentiment to which I am asked to respond declares law to be " the basis of moral order." It is indeed the true foundation of moral order and good government. It has been found essential, in every nation, to establish laws, how- ever crude and simple they may have been at the very first,
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for the government and well-being of the people. Under the ruins of ancient cities, under their dismantled walls, we find the evidences of legal proceedings, such as deeds duly signed and sealed ; also other evidences of the ownership and trans- fer of real estate. Wills were made centuries before the Christian era, showing the established laws of custom in re- spect to one of a man's most cherished rights, that of indicat- ing while living the disposition to be made of his goods after his decease; showing also a tolerable development in the scale of civilization which must be attained before such cus- toms can be prevalent.
Every historical country has been noted for a code of laws, or perhaps for several codes. Rome was for many centuries the mistress of the world. Her laws were remarka- ble for their comprehensiveness and far-reaching application. They were still more remarkable in the powerful influence which they have exerted upon the modern nations of Europe, which have sprung into existence since the decadence of the Roman Empire; and they were laws, too, whose influence was felt in the colonies planted by the European states. These Roman laws exerted an influence which is discovered in the laws of the different states of this Union. New Hampshire has felt their influence, and we may say that even Sullivan enjoys, in a sense, the effects of Roman legislation. The influence of the Roman laws was felt wherever the armies of Rome advanced. Whether they met, undismayed, the barbarians of the chilly north, or those who dwelt in the lands which felt the blasting winds of the Sahara, wherever a province was subdued, the laws of Rome were put in force and their influence transmitted.
I am not here as the representative of the legal talent of Athol, nor can I venture to give the names of the natives or past residents of Sullivan who have adopted the legal pro- fession. I know that some of them have won honorable records. I find in the sentiment which has been read this true statement, that the law "when defended and expounded by conscientious men" becomes "the banner of liberty."
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The maxims of the law are indeed powerful instruments in the hands of the right men.
Before the Revolution, while the colonies were still under the yoke of English rule, it was one of Boston's grandest lawyers, James Otis, who defended with unanswerable argu- ments that great watchword of the colonists, " No taxation without representation." It was another great lawyer, Pat- rick Henry, who made the hall in which was held the Virginia Convention ring with his fiery and impassioned eloquence, as he defended the rights of his countrymen and declared, "Give me liberty or give me death." It was another great lawyer, Thomas Jefferson, who drafted that immortal instrument, the Constitution of the United States ; and, when this same constitution had been sent to the states for approval, and when the State of New York held aloof, and it was doubtful if she would ratify it, it was another matchless lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, who, by his masterly . eloquence, carried through the convention the ratification of the Constitution, and who, by his convincing arguments, in debate and in the Federalist, secured its adoption, and the foundation of this government, which has stood for more than a hundred years, and rests more firmly than ever before.
At the period of the Rebellion, it was a noble and most divinely opportune lawyer who was at the head of our nation. Many of those ever-to-be-famous war-governors were law- yers. Well did they expound and defend our laws, and, by their efforts, carried out by the deeds of the soldiers, we be- came truly a land of the free.
That the laws of our nation and our states have been expounded by wise and able and conscientous men, the con- dition of our country to-day will attest. It may be true that lawyers are not all honest; but the fact remains an eternal truth, all the same, that when the laws are expounded and defended by able, honest, and sincere men, such as really grace the legal profession to-day in such numbers, the state and the nation are safe.
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Hon. M. D. L. Collester, of Mankato, Minn., was invited to be present and to contribute a poem for the celebration. His characteristic reply to the editor is here published. In three months after the celebration, Mr. Collester suddenly died at Mankato.
LETTER FROM HON. M. D. L. COLLESTER.
Rev. J. L. Seward :
MANKATO, Minn., Aug. 31, 1887.
DEAR SIR - Yours of 29th inst. received. I have not written a line of poetry in years. Indeed, poetry does not grow in this country. We are too material and grossly fatalistic in our tendencies to think much of poetry. Thank you for your kind recognition, however, and sincerely hope you will have a glorious celebration. Very respectfully yours,
M. D. L. COLLESTER.
SEVENTH SENTIMENT :
OUR SCHOOLS - The cradles of liberty; exponents of virtue. The schools of Sullivan have furnished nearly two-score of men for the learned professions, with a population never exceeding six hundred.
The President called for addresses from Mrs. C. K. Fifield, of Seattle, Washington Territory, and George C. Hubbard, Esq., of Gilsum, and announced a letter from Dr. George W. Keith, of Stoughton, Mass., in response to this sentiment.
ADDRESS OF MRS. CELESTE (KEITH ) FIFIELD.
MR. PRESIDENT, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS-It seems that I have been appointed by your Executive Committee to respond to the sentiment just read, and if I must take any part in this centennial of my native town, I thank you that this subject has been assigned me. It is one that needs no argument to prove its truth. The history of our country stands out in living letters, as its best defence.
This sentiment, "Our schools, the cradles of liberty ; exponents of virtue," is one very near and dear to me, and I only wish that I could clothe in appropriate language the thoughts and feelings that this topic inspires. Those who know me best will know that I utter no vain words when I say that "Our Schools" occupy a very warm corner of my
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heart. The greater part of my life has been passed in the school-room. I have grown old and gray there.
Our schools-and what are we to understand by our schools? They are those schools that belong to everybody ; free as the blessed air that we breathe, to every son and daughter of this glorious Republic. There are other insti- tutions of learning, and noble ones too, that the favored few enjoy. But "Our Schools" are free to the poor and rich alike. They are public, and the poor man's son enters them feeling as much at home as his rich neighbor. And where was solved this great problem of equal school rights, and who were its sainted authors? It was solved over two hundred and sixty-five years ago. I go back across that lapse of time and as I look out upon the dreary waste of waters which now floats its thousand steamers, I see the white sails of a lonely boat. It is the tiny Mayflower. Again I look and listen, and I hear its prow as it grates upon the sandy beach. The shadows of night come down, and the sails of that little boat flap idly to and fro, as if lulling itself to sleep and rest. But sleep does not come to the eye-lids of that sturdy crew, who have braved the dangers of the deep for sweet freedom's sake. They meet in the little cabin, and with a forethought which seems almost divine, they make laws, the effect of which will last as long as this good round globe, and which are to us, their descendants, of more worth than all the gold that sleeps in its bosom.
Here first upon our shores commenced the rocking of the great cradle of liberty. Here first was planted the germ, which by nourishing, has become a tree of vast proportions. Its roots are firmly planted among the granite boulders of New England, while for every root that has struck downward into her scanty soil, a broad branch has shot upward, until it overshadows, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, this fair land. Would that it had pleased the good Father above, to have manned a second Mayflower, with another Puritan crew, whose destination had been a Southern port ! Then would our south-land which boasts of its teeming cane, glory with us in these cradles of liberty. I am proud of New Hamp-
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shire, proud, especially of my dear native Sullivan ; and when far from it, in the distant west, daily in spirit am I here, and nightly, in my dreamy wanderings, I find myself playing upon the hills of my childhood's home. What matter if they be rough and bleak, of a soil more scant than the prairied west, they are rich in noble men and women, whose hearts have ever been warmly interested in the cause of education. In proof of this fact, it is only necessary to state, that in the century just past, with a population never exceeding six hun- dred, nearly two-score of her sons have gone out educated in the learned professions ; representatives of the law, healers of the diseased mind, and healers of the sick in body, not for- getting those pioneers who have helped to cover the country, from ocean to ocean, from the great lakes of the north, to the southern gulf, with a net-work of roads, highways for the iron horse. To these fathers and mothers, who have been such faithful toilers in the home-nest, too much credit can never be given. In their great love for their children they have taken upon themselves all of the burdens of the day, and with their willing hearts, have given such encourage- ment to their sons, as has enabled them to win the race. Neither have these daughters been laggards. They have been among the presiding deities who have kept watch and ward over the little red school-houses that have sprung up on the hills and in the vales of all New England. To these same true, energetic women, the west owes a debt of everlasting gratitude. They have gone out from the east by hundreds and thousands, from their little hill-side homes, and have filled our western school-houses that have been scattered, as if by magic, all over the broad prairies, with live, work- ing, honest teachers. Who can calculate the good they have done, the good seeds of liberty and virtue that their influence has sown in the minds of these frontier girls and boys?
I am aware that many times eastern teachers have been disappointed upon arriving at their fields of labor. They have often found their accommodations small and poor ; a log building, or one made from sods, may have first greeted their eyes, and when they looked about them, and remem-
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bered the pleasant school-rooms they had left, who can blame them for the little home-sickness which they experi- enced? But the children there are just as teachable nat- urally, and as eager to learn, as eastern children, and when these teachers proved themselves capable and willing to work, they were appreciated and treated accordingly.
In the space of twenty years much of this primitiveness has passed away, and now there linger few traces of the log and sod houses. Commodious school buildings have taken the places of these, usually well supplied with the necessary apparatus for teaching. If all these appliances should not be found, he is not half a Yankee, if with a jackknife, crayon and blackboard, he cannot supply himself. Then, I say, all thanks to the east, that has sent aid and encouragement to the western pioneers. Many of these teachers who have rocked faithfully the cradle of liberty on our prairies have been contented to remain with us, and are now rocking other cradles in homes of their own. This shaking hands of the east with the west has been a lasting benefit to both, a broad- ening of thought, which nothing save this intermingling could bring about. The west has shown the east what in a few years it can do, and the east has exemplified what it has done. Further I will say that in our cities and towns, not only east of the mountains, but upon the Pacific slope, we have substantial and elegant school buildings. The peo- ple are ready with their money and their influence to help along the good work, so that our graded schools will com- pare favorably with those of our sister states at the east. Again my heart swells with pride, and this time for my adopted home.
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