USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > Historical sketches of Peterborough, New Hampshire : portraying events and data contributing to the history of the town > Part 35
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There was no further substantial change in the forms used, or in the opinions of the people, for thirty years. The society openly acknowl- edged itself as a Unitarian body, but its faith was a Unitarian faith vastly different from what is held to-day. I speak from personal knowledge of what it was in the fifties for I was in the midst of it and was instructed in it in its Sunday School. It rejected the theories of Total Depravity and of the Trinity but clung fast to the verbal inspiration of the scriptures, while holding that Jesus was inferior to the Father in power and glory, yet he was much more than man, was in fact the mediator between the Cre-
ator and his erring children. It ac- cepted the miracles as described in the Bible, the historical accuracy of the stories about the miraculous birth and of the resurrection. There were some who believed in the resurrection of the body and in the existence of a fiery pit as hot and lurid as that described in Milton's "Paradise Lost." For proof texts of their re- ligious faith they went to the Bible for authority. The actual changes in faith for the twenty years follow- ing 1860 were far more radical than any that had preceded. Church forms and the denominational name remained the same, but the revolu- tion in religious opinion went to the very substance of personal faith. The change was slow and gradual, but was complete. Under the wise and tactful leadership of Mr. Ferry, who was a sympathizer with the new thought, and the able preaching of Mr. Jackson, people came to accept the new views of religious truth and of faith and duty.
In this evolution from a conserva- tive Scotch Presbyterian to a church of the modern spirit, the names on this tablet were the foremost advo- cates and leaders. This fact is a leading reason that entitled them to this memorial. They were men and women of vision filled with the teach- able spirit, believing and profoundly believing that more religious light was yet to break from the scriptures and from the many other avenues of human inquiry. Of superior in- tellectual ability, they had the courage to accept it as it came to them, adopt it into their personal religious belief, and dared to apply it to the govern- ment of their church and the state- ments of its faith. One and all, they were devout believers in the church as a factor in the right development of individual character and as a power for the promotion of peace and good
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order in the community. For a cen- tury and a quarter, without a break, they contributed to the limit of their ability to its support and sacrificed and labored for its interest and welfare. Next to their own household it was the leading object of their thoughts, activities and care. I recall in my own boyhood days how often the welfare of this church was the sub- ject of long, earnest discussions be- tween my own parents, in which every phase of its activities was talked over, and its great importance as a re- ligious institution and the duty of people to support it. So by tradition, it was in the families of Jonathan and William Smith. The life and ex- ample of these men and women, their zeal and devotion to the cause of this church and all it represented, entitles them to remembrance in its annals. The record is a part of the history of this church which through its long and most fruitful career has so nobly exemplified the virtues and loyalty of the names on this memorial.
The minister, Rev. Arthur H. Winn, in accepting the tablet in behalf of the church, replied as follows:
It is very fitting that they who were among the founders of this church and those who in later years served her with unstinted devotion and loy- alty, should have their names hon- ored and their life and work grate- fully remembered. It is good to have so lived that in the minds of those who come after you, every memory is blessed and every thought inspires the heart to exclaim in the words in- scribed on the tablet, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. "
In memory then of those who in years gone by prayed and worshiped in this church, who lived and labored for her welfare, who were faithful followers of the great Master of Men; in memory of those who were be-
lievers in the growing revelations of truth, who were obedient to the moral law, who were mindful of the responsibilities of citizenship; in mem- ory of those strong souls who gave their strength to the weak, inspired faith, kindled hope and devoted them- selves in the spirit of love to the service of man; in memory of those who in the midst of their daily duties ever maintained an abiding sense of the Eternal, we, the members of this church gladly and gratefully accept this tablet.
It is fitting also that we should pause and consider what this service means to us. On an occasion like the present when the historic process, the element of time, is brought prominently before the mind, it is natural, perhaps inevitable, that the generation that is gone and the generation that is present, the old and the new, should suggest some interesting and vivid contrasts. There are many contrasts that could be drawn between a former generation and our own, but the one that comes first to mind and perhaps is of pri- mary importance is the greater free- dom there is to-day with reference to the discovery of truth.
There can be no doubt, I believe, that since they whose names we honor to-day, lived and labored there has been a growing tendency to search for truth in all matters of religious faith wherever it may be found, and a lessening regard for all standards and doctrines that make their appeal to our consideration only on the basis of their traditional sanctity. Or to express the same thought in the oft- repeated phrase, we may say there is to-day an unmistakable tendency to take "truth for authority" and "not authority for truth."
Doctrines no longer hold their former sway over the minds of men. The emphasis placed upon the uni-
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versal, positive, spiritual and social aspects of religion tend to produce the feeling that on doctrinal matters controversy is out of date. Even the Fundamentalist Modernist con- troversy is attended by no such fierce and bitter animosities as those which characterized the religious disputes of a century ago. If it has proved one thing it is that there is an aston- ishingly large number of people who propose to do their own thinking and intend to express their own aspira- tions and religious faith in terms that are vital and real to themselves.
And we have reason to believe that this liberal spirit of independent thought will extend its influence over the minds of men.
Lecky, the historian, has said: "As a rule, civilization makes opin- ions that are opposed to it simply obsolete. They perish by indifference, not by controversy. They are rele- gated to the dim twilight land that surrounds every living faith,-the land not of death, but of the shadow of death; the land of the unrealized and the inoperative." The silent power of thought has been at work giving us new points of view, retiring many old questions to the back- ground, and bringing many new questions to the foreground of con- sciousness.
If doctrines no longer hold their old-time sway over the minds of men it is not because they have perished by controversy. At no particular place, at no particular time, have they been proved erroneous, but the intellectual climate in which we live has now made them impossible and unnecessary.
"My nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand."
So my thoughts take on the hues and forms of the age in which I live.
When men come to understand the spirit and the ideals of democracy it is simply impossible for them to think of God as an absolute despot who can do as he pleases with his subjects. If an earthly king is limited in his doings by the laws of right and justice, shall the King of Kings be under no obligations to do justly? Theology is psychology carried to infinity, and an improvement in man's idea of human rights and dig- nity and powers is accompanied by an enlarging conception of God and his relation to the world.
The Ptolemaic theory of the uni- verse allowed, if it did not encourage, a certain comforting, complacent spirit, inasmuch as the whole creation (which was a small affair at best) was arranged especially and solely for the good of man. Under such a cosmology man had no difficulty in feeling him- self to be the center and reason of it all. But the Copernican astronomy, as soon as it was really believed, allowed no such simple, naive, com- placent view of human life. If ma 1 still believes in his own dignity and worth it must be upon some other grounds than those afforded by a study of the heavens. In fact, any radical change of thought in fields touching religion compels, sooner or later, a revision and a restatement of the religious problems and the re- ligious solutions themselves. Thus the great science of historical criti- cism has rendered untenable the old- time doctrine of verbal inspiration. The comparative study of religion and the increasing knowledge of psychology have enabled us to have a new understanding of all religious forms. The evolutionary story of the earth and human history renders ridiculous any conception of a golden age in the past. And so we see, in one way and another, how the trend of thought and the multiplying of
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many points of view has changed our thoughts on religious subjects.
Few would be found to-day, who would maintain that forms of wor- ship, or sacraments on the distinctive creeds of the different sects have any- thing like the importance which the fathers thought they had. Once they were questions of life and death; now the ordinary man hardly know what they mean.
If they, whom we remember to-day, should come into our midst they would find a new spirit pervading the re- ligious world, a spirit broader in its tolerance, deeper in its sympathies, freer in its thought, more vitally and socially constructive in its purpose.
It is just at this point that I can fancy the fathers would become greatly confused and agitated in spirit. They would find themselves confronted by a strange religious paradox. They would find that never before was there such splendid moral idealism as now and never before was there such fundamental paralyzing skepticism. They would find that although this is an age of science yet one of the curious things is the way in which superstitions thrive and possess the power to propagate new superstitions after their kind. The peace sentiment spreads with encouraging rapidity and at the same time the nations continue to exert themselves and to exhaust themselves in providing means for the waging of greater wars. Religious wars become an anachro- nism and now we behold the develop- ment of a class consciousness and a dawning race consciousness which threaten to enter with new zeal upon the strife and violence and con- tention which in religion have been all but outgrown. Religion has been rationalized and spiritualized and socialized and yet the indifference to religious institutions is appalling
and seems to be growing greater year by year.
Rev. Paul Revere Frothingham has said, "The religiously unemployed on Sunday constitute one of the most conspicuous if not one of the most ominous phenomena of modern life! The children of the people who de- voutly went to church a generation since and counted it a sacred duty, incline at the present time to seek and enjoy the quiet of some country house at the end of each busy week. Others find refreshment and diversion in games of golf or tennis or simply use the day for long excursions in their motor cars."
That this is something more than opinion, having carefully ascertained facts to support it, is proved by the recently published report of the Institute of Social and Religious Research of New York on the con- dition of the rural Protestant churches of America. Windsor County, Ver- mont, was taken as a special field of study. It was found that from 1888 to the present the proportion of church members to the population had remained constant, but the de- cline in church attendance over a period of 33 years is 52 per cent. Then the report continues, "No matter how much one may explain away the decline in attendance as the re- sult of the new age in which we live, certainly it is important for church leaders to know that even though the proportion of members throughout the country is increasing, people may be growing more and more apathetic to the church's services. Should the decline continue in Windsor County at its present rate, it is only a question of a few decades before the church will become a deserted institution."
This condition is not peculiar to Windsor County. Similar intensive studies have been made in Ohio and
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Indiana and everywhere the situation is the same.
If these truths would furnish the fathers with a puzzling paradox, they present us with a decidedly unpleas- ant dilemma. We are brought by the logic of the situation to a con- sideration of two bitterly disturbing alternatives. Either religious aspira- tion and worship and the maintenance of places and observance of seasons for communion with the spirit of the living God is not a very important affair; either civilization would suf- fer no loss if the churches were closed and the institutions in which Chris- tianity has built its faith were de- serted and allowed to fall into ruins, or else this generation, unmindful of its obligations, ungrateful for its priceless inheritance is willfully and shamefully neglectful of the means which has proved to be the most potent influence for fostering and maintaining an ethical and spiritual view of life that the world has ever yet discovered.
Either we are fighting a losing battle, the stars in their courses being against us, and the puny strength of man is destined over borne by the superior might of circumstance, or else knowing our own slackness and indifference and believing in our spiritual possibilities and brighten- ing future we should lay on ourselves anew these unfinished tasks and give ourselves to them with a new fidelity and consecration of spirit. And it is to just such a task that a service of this character summons us.
The greatest task in the develop- ment of man is not to sharpen his perceptions, or to open his mind, or to enlarge his conceptions, but to deepen his consecration to every high and holy thing. The greatest task Is to open the eyes of men to the things unseen and eternal, to the constants of life, and to the things that give life value. By this test will every religion and every church be judged. By this test will every teacher be judged whether in the school or in the pulpit. And this is the task that is laid upon us, suc- cessors of those who have lived and labored in this exalted spirit. This church is not the same church it would have been if they had not done their tasks well. We shall not honor them as we should by merely inscribing their names in bronze and recalling their memory with grati- tude. We shall honor them aright only as we add something to what they won for us. And so to our freer conceptions let us add a fuller con- secration; to our greater liberalism let us add a more glorious loyalty. If we do this, then for us as it was for them the beauty of this house will be the beauty of holiness, the spirit of this place will be the spirit of truth and fellowship and the purpose of this church will be the manifestation of the divine life to all the children of God more and more abundantly. "O Living church! thine errand speed Fulfil thy task sublime
With bread of life earth's hunger feed Redeem the evil time."
[Published in The Peterborough TRANSCRIPT, July 10, 1924)
THE EARLY HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Written by Mrs. Jennie H. Field and read at the laying of the corner stone of the Historical Building Sep- tember 10, 1917.
PART I. PERSONNEL
The Peterborough Historical So- ciety, both from tradition and from record, seems to have been the thought of Gen. D. M. White. For on the first of February, 1902, on a Saturday evening, there assembled in his law office a number of gentlemen for the purpose of discussing the ad- visability of organizing an historical society. The following were present: Charles Scott, James F. Brennan, Eben W. Jones, Ezra M. Smith, Wil- liam Moore, William G. Livingston, Herbert F. Nichols, George W. Cum- mings, Mortier L. Morrison, and William H. Caldwell.
After preliminary discussion, it was voted on motion of Mr. Brennan that Gen. White and Mr. Caldwell act as temporary chairman and secretary of the meeting.
On motion of Mr. Scott, it was voted to form an association which should be known as "The Peterbo- rough Historical Society." On mo- tion of Mr. Scott also it was voted that a committee of three be appoint- ed by the chair for the purpose of drafting a preamble and constitution to be submitted at a meeting to be held on the following Saturday even- ing, to which all persons interested in forming an historical society should be invited. The committee appoint- ed were Messrs. Scott, Brennan and Cummings. The meeting adjourned to meet in the trustees' room of the Peterborough Savings Bank on the following Saturday evening, Feb. 8, 1902.
A notice of invitation to all persons interested was printed in the Feb. 6 edition of THE TRANSCRIPT. In response to the public invitation there were present Gen. D. M. White, J. F. Brennan, Charles Scott, E. W. Jones, M. L. Morrison, E. M. Smith, R. B. Hatch, A. H. Miller, G. W.
Cummings, W. G. Livingston, C. H. Hayward, F. K. Longley, William Moore, W. H. Caldwell, and Jennie H. Field.
The committee appointed to draft a preamble and constitution were present with their report in full, and the following preamble was adopted, and signed :
"The undersigned hereby associate together under the name of 'The Peterborough Historical Society,' for the purpose of collecting, preserving, writing, and publishing whatever may be of value to the history of Peterborough, and to preserve all valuable books, manuscripts, prints, relics and other articles, relating to the history of the town. The first meeting shall be holden Saturday evening, Feb. 8, 1902, to adopt a constitution, in which matters neces- sary to be done and performed to fully carry out the objects of the so- ciety shall be provided for.'
"Dated at Peterborough, N. H., this eighth day of February, 1902. D. M. White, Charles Scott, Arthur H. Miller, R. B. Hatch, James F. Brennan, Wm. H. Caldwell, George Wait Cummings, C. H. Hayward, M. L. Morrison, Eben W. Jones, Ezra M. Smith, F. K. Longley, Jennie Hadley Field, William Moore, J. H. Steele, Wm. G. Livingston, George S. Morrison, Mary Morison, Herbert F. Nichols.
Col. Charles Scott read the pro- posed constitution which was passed upon article by article with the final vote, "That the constitution.as read and passed article by article be adopted as the constitution of the society." This first draft has re- mained in force to the present time with but two amendments :- first, voted on Dec. 21, 1908, by which the treasurer and the historiographer were added to the executive com- mittee; the second, voted on Aug. 2, 1909, by which the quarterly meetings are held on the second Monday in March, June, September, and Dec- ember, with the annual meeting
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changed to the second Monday in September.
This meeting adjourned for one week, and met accordingly in the trustees' room of the Peterborough Savings Bank on the next Saturday evening, February 15, 1902. There were present Messrs. Charles Scott, Gen. D. M. White, J. F. Brennan, R. B. Hatch, E. W. Jones, W. G. Livingston, A. H. Miller, M. L. Morrison, C. H. Hayward, William Moore, William H. Caldwell, Jennie H. Field.
After some discussion, it was voted that a committee of five be chosen by nomination to prepare a list of officers, the report to be given at an adjourned meeting. Messrs. Scott, Brennan, Mrs. Field, Messrs. Jones and Hatch were nominated. The discussion then became general, and various suggestions were made for the good of the new society. This meeting adjourned to meet at the same hour and place on Tuesday evening, February 18, 1902, when the following persons were present: Gen. D. M. White, George S. Morison, Mary Morison, J. F. Brennan, M. L. Morrison, E. W. Jones, W. G. Living- ston, R. B. Hatch, A. H. Miller, W. H. Caldwell, Charles Scott.
At this meeting, the society .was formally ushered into existence by the election of its first board of officers: Pres., Chas. Scott; vice-presidents, Wm. Moore and Ezra M. Smith; secretary, Eben W. Jones; treasurer, Wm. H. Caldwell; historiographer, James F. Brennan; librarian, Jennie H. Field; executive committee, R. B. Hatch, D. M. White, M. L. Morrison.
The original board of officers was re-elected every year, until Sept. 13, 1909, when, on Dec. 4, 1905, Mrs. C. F. Bass was made chairman of the executive committee, which office she holds to-day. On the first of May, 1909, a vacancy was caused in the ranks of this committee by the death of Gen. D. M. White. At the an- nual meeting following on Sept. 13, Mr. H. F. Nichols was elected in his place, which position he holds to-day.
At the annual meeting on Sept. 12, 1910, a change occurred in the office of president, when Col. Chas. Scott resigned on account of continued absence from town. To this office was elected its present incumbent, Hon. M. L. Morrison. In his place on the executive committee was
elected Miss Mary Morison, which office she held up to the time of her death on Jan. 7, 1917.
In the decade and a half just passed there have been markedly few changes in the official register of the Peter- borough Historical Society. Its roll stands today : President, M. L. Morri- son; vice-presidents, Wm. Moore, Ezra M. Smith; secretary, E. W. Jones; treasurer, Wm. H. Caldwell; historiographer, J. F. Brennan; li- brarian, Jennie H. Field; executive committee, (in full) Clara F. Bass, H. F. Nichols, Mary Morison, M. L. Morrison, E. W. Jones, Wm. H. Cald- well, and J. F. Brennan.
PART II. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
While the society makes no claim to having acquired fame, it has been steadily gaining in membership, and in attributes which make for perma- nent community influence. From the original nineteen signers of the "Preamble," the membership list has extended to some ninety-four different names. On September 11, 1911, the society elected by unani- mous vote its one honorary member, Hon. Jonathan Smith of Clinton, Mass., who may well be called "the sage of the Peterborough Historical Society."
In early years, the meetings were held usually in the trustees' room of the Savings Bank, but for nine years past the society has occupied perma- nently two rooms in the bank block, for the maintenance and attractive and appropriate equipment of which it is much indebted to Mrs. C. F. Bass.
From the very small beginnings of a few papers and documents belonging to Gov. Steele and Dr. Albert Smith, it has acquired by gift a valuable and somewhat unique collection of other papers, books, pictures, china, silver, family heirlooms, household utensils, and antique furniture far beyond the capacity of its present quarters.
Many of these possessions reveal much of the early history of the town, its people, and their customs. Signi- ficant among them are an old account- book, dating back to 1789, kept pre- sumably at the first store on the Old Street Road; another, belonging to Samuel Smith, "the founder of this village," bearing on its cover the inscription,
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"Sam'l Smith's Journey Book
Containing an account of the teams abroad, From Jan'y 15, 1796 to February 21, 1796."
Of interest likwise are two files of the "Peterborough Messenger," 1847 and 1848, the predecessor of the" TRAN- SCRIPT."
Worthy of mention also are a sad- dlebag, used by Gov. John H. Steele, doubtless on his trips from Peter- borough to Concord; a silver sugar- sifter and autograph letters belonging to Catharine Putnam, "the lady of the village" through the 50's and early 60's.
Full of reminiscences to the older men of the society is the little old cannon, which at last rests undis- turbed, voiceless in itself to be sure, but silently recording many a boyish prank and Fourth of July adventure.
Many of the most interesting and most valuable antiques are the gift of Mrs. Adele F. Adams, whose col- lection of household furnishings re- flects unquestionably the simple, homely, every-day life, with now and then a semblance of luxury, in New England one hundred years ago.
The society's influence in town af- fairs is marked to some extent by its power of initiative. For there is on record a notable discussion of the preservation of the first volume of the town records, and at a subsequent quarterly meeting on the fifth of March, 1906, it was voted "That the secretary prepare a motion to be presented at the next annual town meeting asking the town to appropri- ate money and provide for the trans- cribing and preserving of Vol. I of the town records." (Vol. I, 1760, A. D.)
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