USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > An address delivered at the centennial celebration, in Peterborough, N.H., Oct. 24, 1839 > Part 9
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Mental Endowment. - May its bright and chastening influence be breathed into all ranks of society, and equalize all business and professions.
MUSIC, " Mehul." Sung by the Choir.
11th. The Music, Vocal and Instrumental. - May their combined and animating influence never be exerted for any but a useful purpose.
MUSIC, " Multitude of Angels." Sung by the Choir, led by Mr. Milton Carter.
12th. Woman. - The last and best gift of God. May her amiable qual- ities teach men to love virtue.
Gen. JOHN STEELE, (Marshal of the day,) rose and said, -
Mr. President, - We look back to the wives, sisters and daughters of the early settlers of this town. No hardship could discourage, no allurements divert them from industry. Although all their industry could not procure them costly attire, it gave them and their families comfortable clothing, and assisted their husbands and brothers to convert the wilderness into a field for the growth of rye, potatoes and flax, and aided in the raising of sheep and cows to help in the support of the family. The mo- ther taught her children that strength, honesty and virtue, were the rubies that were highly to be valued ; that virtue and industry were the smoothest path to journey through life. They took much pride in keeping their children trim and neat, and regularly sent them to meeting. If they had shoes, it was well ; if not they must go that part of the season which was comfortable, without. No excuse about dress, even if the feet were bare, would satisfy. If the youngster said no, the little bunch of rods was pointed to, and the youth thought it best not to have them taken down. After meeting, inquiry was made of the children, about the text and sermon. And they were seated to say the Catechism. Let us look back to the time when the eighty-three husbands and sons signed the virtual declaration of Independence, (which was
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read this day by one of the signers.) Cut off from all connection with the parent country, they were deprived of every article, not only of luxury, but of clothing. They had to depend entirely on the large or foot wheel, with their skill in turning them. Not one word of complaint was heard. When a neighbor or friend came in, the buzzing wheel was set aside, and a cheerful conver- sation introduced. Soon came the song, (very often the Battle of Boyne,) and many others, as each one had a store of them. They passed the evening in cheerfulness. If a stranger was among them, they made great exertions to treat him with the best they had. They sometimes talked on religion; were not very super- stitious, although some few thought that a good sound Presbyte- rian stood the best chance in a future state. One of the elderly * mothers on hearing that the Reverend found fault with young men and women for dancing together, said, " the minister had better take his dram out of his own bottle, play his own fiddle, and let the young people's innocent amusements alone."
When the old ladies saw their childrens' children walking in the path they so highly recommended, it brought a smile of approbation on their wrinkled countenances.
Ladies of the present day ! will you go back and view those old fashioned women, though poorly dressed ? I trust you can find something to venerate, something to admire in their charac- ters. When you consider the vast importance of your precepts, and example to your families and society at large, will you not think with those good old dames that honesty, wisdom and virtue, are the most precious ornaments to grace the youth of the present day ?
MUSIC, " The Mellow Horn." Sung by two Young Ladies.
13th. Emigrants. - Well may we be proud of them. They exhibit in manhood, characters that began their infancy on these our sterile hills, May they never forget the land that gave them birth.
Gen. JAMES WILSON, rose and said, -
Mr. President, - I regret that I am called on to respond to the sentiment which has just been announced, and received with so much approbation by this great assembly. On looking over the list of sentiments yesterday, I was informed that the one just read was designed to call out that highly respected, time-honored gentleman, the Hon. Jeremiah Smith of Exeter ; a man who feels proud of the place of his nativity, and who on all proper oc- casions has a good word to say of, and for, old Peterborough. We should have been delighted to have seen that venerable and venerated man here, and to have heard from him, in his usual
Mrs. Gordon.
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eloquent and forcible manner, his reminiscences of by-gone times. He has indeed grown old, but not old enough yet to forget any good thing. His mind is richly stored with varied learning, and his knowledge of the carly history of the town, the peculiarities of its early inhabitants, his great fund of wit and anecdote con- nected with the first settlers, very far exceeds that of any living man ; and there is now no one of the emigrants who could so well give an apt response to your highly complimentary sentiment as that worthy octogenarian. I was heart-pained to learn, last eve. ning, that his attendance is prevented by physical infirmity. In his absence I could have wished that another highly respected son of Peterborough, of the Smith family, had been here to have spoken in our behalf. I allude to one more nearly allied to you, Mr. President, - your eldest son, my most esteemed friend. We are of nearly the same age. Our friendship dates back to the days of our childhood. Our intimacy commenced in that little square hiped-roof School-house, that formerly stood between your homestead and the homestead of my honored father. It was an intimacy, in the outset, characterized by the ardor of youth, and grew with our increasing years into the strong and unwavering friendship of mature manhood. There has never been a moment's estrangement. For thirty years no frost has chilled it, nor can it grow cold until the clods shall rumble upon our coffins. Glad indeed should I have been to have met, once more, my friend here, to have grasped him by the hand, to have looked upon his slender form and his pale features, to have lis- tened to the tones of his clear voice, to have caught and trea- sured up the sentiments of a mind as clear as the atmosphere upon the summits of our native hills, and a heart as pure as the fountains that gush from their base. From the sad tidings that I hear, of his declining health, I fear that I shall never meet him on this side the grave. May a merciful God bless him.
Well may Peterborough express her joy at the success of her absent sons, and pride herself upon them, when she numbers such men as these among them.
Your sentiment, Sir, breathes the prayer that we, the emigrants, may not forget the place of our nativity. I can hardly realize that I am an emigrant. True, Sir, a wave of providence has taken me up, wafted me onward, and cast me upon land not far distant. Although my domicil is in another place, it is here that I seem most at home. It is here that I enjoy all those pleasures derived from early recollections and early associations. It is here, that every natural object that meets my eye, has some story to relate of high interest to my mind ; - here every house, and tree, and stump, and stone, hill and brook, presents to me the image of some old, familiar, well loved friend. It is here that I meet my earliest friends, and their greeting seems warmer
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and more cordial here than elsewhere. It was here that I first enjoyed that substantial Peterborough hospitality, so well under- stood and so highly appreciated by every one at all acquainted with the people of the town some thirty years ago. Let me not be understood, Mr. President, as drawing a comparison unfavor- able to the good people with whom I am in more immediate in- tercourse at the present time. No Sir ; I reside among an ex- cellent and a worthy community, to whom I am bound in a large debt of gratitude. They have manifested towards me a kindness and a confidence vastly beyond my merits; and I am sure they will not esteem me the less for finding me susceptible of emotion at the recollections and fond associations of my childhood.
Forget Peterborough ! How can I forget her ? Why, Sir, I was born just over there. The bones of my ancestors, both pater- nal and maternal, are deposited just over there. And among them there, repose the remains of my Mother. Oh! Sir, it would be cold and heartless ingratitude, to forget the place where one's earliest and best friend slumbers in death : -
" Ingratitude ! Thou marble-hearted fiend,
" More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, " Than the sea-monster ! "
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Spare me, Oh! spare me such a reproach.
My prayer to Heaven is, that when this eye shall grow dim, this tongue become dumb; when these lungs shall cease to heave, and this heart to throw off a pulsation, then this head and these limbs may be laid to crumble down to dust by the side of thine, my Mother !
Sir, when I learned some few weeks ago, that it was proposed to celebrate this Centennial Anniversary of the settlement of my native town, I resolved to be present ; and in the expectation that I might be called on for a word, I began to search the by-places and corners of my mind to ascertain whether any thing connected with Peterborough history had been stored away there, that might be brought out to contribute to the interest of the occasion. When I heard who was appointed to address us, I had my fears that all the choicest and gayest flowers would be forestalled. My worst fears have been more than realized ; but I have learnt one thing with sufficient certainty, - that it is hopeless to attempt to keep any good thought out of the reach of the Morisons. They have a wonderful tact at seizing every grand, intellectual concep- tion, and surprising facility in appropriating it exclusively to their own use. If, in my effort to brush up my recollection, I have had the good fortune to find any thing worthy of remark, I find myself anticipated by my learned friend, the orator, to whose elo- quent and excellent Address we have listened with so much inter- est. I ought, perhaps, to rejoice that the evening is so far ad- vanced, that I have time only for a very few words, since all that
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I could have said has been so much better said by that worthy gentleman.
We have heard of the patriotism of our ancestors, of their unanimity in sustaining, and devotion to, the American cause in her early efforts for free government. They sought for a govern- ment of equal and impartial laws. Permit me to relate to you an anecdote illustrating their profound respect for sound laws.
My Grandfather, as you know, Mr. President, kept a tavern in a small house, the shape of which sets all description at defiance ; but its rickety remains are still to be seen upon the farm of your townsman, Capt. Wm. Wilson. A number of persons being as- sembled at his public house, an occurrence happened, not unusual in the town at that time, to wit, a fight. There was a blow, and blood drawn. The defeated party threatened an immediate pro- secution, but the spectators interposed their friendly advice, and a reference of the matter was agreed to by the parties. Five
good men and true were designated as referees, who undertook to arbitrate upon the momentous matter. A solemn hearing was gone into. Every person present was inquired of as to the fact. After a deliberate hearing of the parties, their several proofs and allegations, the referees awarded that the aggressor should pay the cost of reference by a full treat for all the company, and give as damages to the injured man, for the blood lost, an equal quan- tity of cherry rum, which they appraised at half a pint. Ill- blood is sometimes created between the parties to a lawsuit, that continues to circulate in the veins of succeeding generations. No such result followed the Peterborough lawsuit above reported. The wisdom of the referees was universally commended, as man- ifested in their liberal award of damages, and their sagacity highly extolled for the discovery of an adequate and proper remedy for healing the wound inflicted upon " the peace and dignity of the State." The referees, the parties and their witnesses all sep- arated perfect friends.
We have heard that one of the prominent traits of the early in- habitants was a fondness for fun. It was on all occasions sought after, and it mattered little at whose expense it was procured. The name of one has already been mentioned, famous for his singular cast of mind and his witty sarcasms -" Old Mosey Morison." I at this moment have in mind an anecdote, which, by leave, 1 will relate, and if I omit the name of the individual upon whom the wit was perpetrated, I suppose the chief marshal of the day will take no exception to the relation of the story. Mosey Morison was here universally called, in common parlance, " Uncle Mosey." A young gentleman of no small pretensions to learning and high standing in this town, some forty years ago, went to the town of Nelson, then called Packersfield, to instruct a winter school. In the course of the winter " Uncle Mosey "
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happened to call at the store of a Mr. Melville, where a large number of the people of Packersfield were assembled, and there met the young Peterborough school-master. The school-master accosted him in the familiar salutation of " How do you do, Uncle Mosey." The old gentleman, looking away, and mani- festing no sign of recognition, replied in a cold, disdainful tone, " Uncle Mosey ! Uncle ! to be sure ! I'm na Uncle of yours ; I claim na relationship with you, young man." On his return to Peterborough, Mr. Morison related the incident to his blood rela- tions, the Smiths, who asked him why he denied the relationship of the school-master. " Why," replied the old man, " I did na wish the people of Packersfield to understand that a' the relations of the Morisons were consummate fools."
I fear, Mr. President, that I am taking too much time in the relation of Peterborough stories. I will detain you with only one more. At one of the stores in town, upon a cold winter's night, quite a number of the people being present, the toddy circulated freely, and the company became somewhat boisterous, and, as usual, some of them talked a good deal of nonsense. An old Mr. Morison,* who plumed himself, (and not without much reason,) upon his talking talent, had made several unsuccessful attempts to get the floor, (in parliamentary phrase,) and the ear of the house. The toddy had done its work too effectually for him, and he gave it up as desperate, and taking a seat in a retired part of the room, he exclaimed in utter despair, " A' weel, a' weel, here ye are, gab, gab, gab, gab,- and common sense maun set ahind the door."
I have watched, with intense interest, the wonderful improve- ments that have been carried forward in my native town within the last thirty years. When I was a boy, a weekly mail, carried upon horseback by a very honest old man by the name of Gibbs, afforded all the mail facilities which the business of the town re- quired. Now, Sir, we see a stage coach pass and repass through this beautiful village every day, loaded with passengers, and transporting a heavy mail. Your highways and bridges have been astonishingly improved, showing a praiseworthy liberality on the part of the town to that important subject. Your progress in agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, exhibit striking evidence of the progress of improvement. Look abroad now upon the finely cultivated fields, the substantial fences, the com- fortable, yea, elegant dwellings, the superb manufacturing build- ings, the splendid churches and seminaries of learning ; and in view of all these let the mind for a moment contrast it with the prospect which presented itself to the eye of the first settler as he
* Jonathan, the first mechanic in town, and the first male child born in Londonderry.
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attained the summit of the east mountain, one hundred years ago. Then not a human habitation for the eye to repose on over the whole extent of this basin-like township, - one unbroken forest throughout the eye's most extensive range. No sound of music or hum of cheerful industry saluted his ear. It was only the howl of the savage beast, or the yell of the still more savage man, that broke the appalling stillness of the forest. What a wonder- ful change hath a hundred years wrought here, and what un- shrinking energy of character was requisite to induce the com- mencement of the undertaking !
Some of the old objects of interest to me in my younger days are gone ; their places indeed have been supplied by more expen- sive and elegant structures. Still I must say I regret their loss. And let me ask, Mr. President, are you quite sure that the loss may not manifest itself in some future time ? I allude, Sir, to the loss of the old church on the hill there, and the old beach tree that stood hard by. I look, even at this period of life, upon that spot with a kind of superstitious reverence. Many are the noble resolutions that young minds have formed under the shade of the old beach tree. Intellectual indolence is the prevailing fault of our times. Under the old beach, in my young days, the great and the talented men of this town used to assemble, and there discuss with distinguished power and ability the most important topics. Religion, politics, literature, agriculture, and various other important subjects were there discussed. Well, distinctly well do I remember those debates carried on by the Smiths, the Morisons, the Steeles, the Holmeses, the Robbes, the Scotts, the Todds, the Millers, and perhaps I may be excused here for add- ing, the Wilsons and others. No absurd proposition or ridicu- lous idea escaped exposure for a single moment. A debater there had to draw himself up close, be nice in his logic and correct in his language to command respectful attention. Abler discussion was never listened to any where. Strong thought and brilliant conceptions broke forth in clear and select language. They were reading men, thinking men, forcible talking men, and sensible men. Bright intellectual sparks were constantly emanating from those great native minds ; and falling upon younger minds kindled up their slumbering energies to subsequent noble exertion. The immediate effect of those discussions could be easily traced in the beaming eye and the agitated muscles of the excited listeners. It was obvious to an acute observer that there was a powerful effort going on, in many a young mind among the hearers, to seize, re- tain and examine some of the grand ideas that had been started by the talkers. This rousing of the young mind to manly exer- tion, and aiding it in arriving at a consciousness of its own mighty powers, was of great advantage where the seeds of true genius had been planted by the hand of nature. If any of the
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Peterborough boys, within the last thirty years, have attained to any thing like intellectual greatness, my life on it, they date the commencement of their progress from the scenes under the old beach tree. A thousand times have I thought, Mr. President, if I had the world's wealth at my command, I would cheerfully have bartered it all for the ability to talk as well as those men talked. Antiquity may boast of her schools of philosophy. The present may point to her debating clubs and lyceums, and talk loud as it will of modern improvement ; - give me the sound good sense that rolled unrestrained from eloquent lips under the old beach, and it is of more worth than them all. I shall always respect the spot where it grew, and even now it grieves me to see the green-sward, that sheltered its roots, torn too roughly by the ploughshare.
I had purposed, Mr. President, to have asked the attention of the audience to some few remarks upon the all-important sub- ject of education. Old Peterborough has hitherto given her full share of educated men to the public, and I cannot but hope that she will not now permit her neighbors to go ahead of her in this particular. The shades of evening, however, admonish me that I must not trespass further. I must tender my thanks to the au- dience for the very kind and polite attention they have given me during the remarks I have felt constrained to make at this late hour in the afternoon. Allow me to say, in conclusion: -
The sons and daughters of Peterborough, native and adopted, - In all good deeds may they prove themselves worthy of the noble stock that has gone before them.
At the close of Gen. Wilson's speech, when it was so dark that the audi- ence could hardly distinguish each other's faces, a general invitation was given to attend a ball in the eveining at Col. French's. On motion of Albert Smith, the meeting was adjourned for a hundred years .. And with shouting and the clapping of hands -joy mingling with many pensive thoughts - the assembly of fourteen or fifteen hundred persons separated to lie down in their graves long before the next meeting shall be held.
Monday, Nov. 4th. 1839.
Met agreeable to notice.
Voted, That the proceedings of the Celebration, - the Senti- ments and the Responses, be published with the Address.
Votcd, That the Committee of Invitation, viz : John H. Steele, Albert Smith and Stephen P. Steele, be requested to write to those absent who responded to sentiments, and also obtain and prepare for publication all the remarks made by others.
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Voted, That a copy of the Address be deposited in each of the following places for safe keeping, viz : In the Library of Dart- mouth College. In the Library of Harvard College. In the Col- lections of the Historical Society of New Hampshire, and with the Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass.
Voted, That this meeting be dissolved.
ALBERT SMITH, Secretary.
The Committee return their thanks to the citizens of Peterbo- rough, for the confidence reposed in them, and hope that the services rendered will prove acceptable.
To the fault finders, if any such there be, we would say (in the language of one of the Boys who assisted in clearing away. the decorations of the Church,) " You are welcome to this, but at your next Centennial Celebration you may do it yourselves.
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