USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Windham > History and proceedings of the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the settlement of Windham in New Hampshire held June 9, 1892 > Part 8
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ADDRESS OF EVARTS CUTLER, ESQ.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :- At such a time as this, the state of one not brought up to speechmaking,-not a minister, or a lawyer or a politician,-is that of a man of whom you may have heard. This man had the inflammatory rheumatism so he could n't move, and, at the same time, had the St. Vitus dance so he could n't keep still. [Laughter.]
The St. Vitus dance, in my case, is my anxiety to acknowledge the courtesy of your committee in inviting me to speak, and my desire to pay some slight tribute to my native town ; the town where my hon- ored father and my sainted mother spent the best and most active years of their lives in loving labors for the spiritual and temporal well-being of its people.
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Address of Evarts Cutler, Esq.
The town of Windham needs no eulogy. She is so strong in the affections of her sons and daughters ; her history, her deeds, and her character speak for her so eloquently, that words of mine are not needed ; yet two or three words I must say.
When I was a lad, and lived here, it hardly occurred to me that Windham was beautiful, but in these later years, when I come back on occasional visits, I am charmed with her natural scenery. Ride through the range, look down upon beautiful Corbett's pond, and across its blue waters to the plain where stands the home of my child- hood, and to the wooded hills beyond ; or, stand upon the top of But- terfield's Rock, and view the wide expanse ; or, climb to the top of Dinsmoor's hill, or Jenny's hill, and take into your gaze the panorama of field and farm, forest, lake, and distant mountain, and, surely, you can but feel that Nature has made our town fair and lovely to look upon.
But the stronger claim upon our loving admiration comes from her history and her character. Her history has already been broadly and vividly sketched by one of her distinguished sons, the orator of the day ; and we have in the noble volume compiled and edited with such ability and exhaustive research by the president of the day, who deserves and should receive the thanks of every son of Windham, a rich mine of information that may well fill us with pride; and this speaks forcibly for her sturdy qualities of honesty, morality, intelli- gence, and patriotism.
No town has a better record than she. When the nation has sounded the call to arms, to battle for the right, to repel invasion or suppress rebellion, Windham has always responded with promptness, zeal, and loyalty, and her patriotism has been shown in still higher forms-she has been of untold benefit to our country in raising up and training men and women of high character and lofty aims to go forth into the towns and cities of other states, or out to the wild frontier, to establish and uphold institutions of education, philanthropy, and reli- gion, and, by the force of manly and consistent character, to elevate the moral tone of society. Herein lies her strongest claim upon the respect of her children and the gratitude of our country.
And, if I might be permitted to speak of the duties of the present residents of Windham, it would be to urge upon you the desirability, nay, the imperative obligation, of uniting all your forces to preserve and advance the high standard of education, morals, and religion, that. has distinguished the town from its beginnings. To do this in the most effective manner, it is necessary to have, and to exercise, a feel-
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Address of Evarts Cutler, Esq.
ing of exalted self-respect, a true estimate of your own importance, a conviction that the high character of a small town is as important to the well-being of the state as though it were a large town.
In these days, when the great cities of the land are growing so rapidly, and absorbing so much of the wealth of the country, and, at the same time, attracting to themselves such swarms of the idle, the ignorant, and the vicious, the off-scourings of creation, men who know little of our American institutions, and care still less ; it is the highest duty of the people of the country towns to make themselves an irre- sistible power in the state and the nation, to counterbalance what threatens to be an overwhelmingly corrupt influence of the great cities.
It is the urgent duty of every citizen to be thoroughly informed on public affairs, and to use every effort to enlist his neighbors and his town in cooperation with the powers that make for political purity, honesty, and intelligence. To this end, a spirit of mutual encourage- ment, of helpfulness, and of emulation, should be excited. Above all, I would urge the duty of a spirit of hopefulness, a determination not to despond when things seem to be going down-hill. Losing heart and hope is often equivalent to losing the battle. All great reforms, all grand advances, are led by men and women of hopeful, sanguine temperament. Beware of the motto that so many either consciously or unconsciously adopt-" Expect nothing, and you will not be disap- pointed." Such a spirit is a dead bar to all progress. It cuts the nerve of all effort, and its possessors are disappointed, into the bar- gain. It is the feeling of the despondent man who, when he killed his pig, and was asked how much it weighed, replied, "It didn't weigh as much as I expected, and I never thought it would." [Laughter.]
I often wish the world was more largely composed of men of the even temper, the hopeful spirit, and the undaunted courage, of good old Deacon Hopson. No matter what trials or losses, disappoint- ments or provocations, came to himself, his family, his friends, his church, or his town, he always rallied at once, and said : "Well, it might have been worse ; it might have been worse." [Laughter.] One time, a friend, to try him, said to him: " Deacon Hopson, I had a bad dream about you last night."
"Ah! what was it ?"
"I dreamed I saw the devil carrying you off on his back !"
"Did you? did you? Well, well; it might have been worse, it might have been worse." [Laughter.]
" Worse ! How could it have been worse ?"
"Oh, he might have made me carry him!" [Great laughter.]
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Address of Rev. Samuel Morrison.
I hope Deacon Hopson will never have the inflammatory rheumatism and St. Vitus dance at the same time ; but, if he should, I am sure his calm philosophy will triumph. [Laughter.]
But, Mr. President, I am trespassing upon the time that belongs to others. Only a word more. From the force of circumstances and the natural shifting of the centers of production and of trade, Wind- ham may have decreased in population in the last fifty years, but the success of this celebration demonstrates that the old spirit survives. It is only by large-minded liberality, generous hospitality, thorough organization, and unity of feeling and purpose, that such a result is reached.
The men of Windham have shown us to-day that they are worthy sons of worthy fathers, and the women of Windham have shown us that they are not one whit behind their mothers in dainty cookery and large-hearted generosity. [Applause.]
If the good people of Windham can unite all their energies on such a celebration as this, and achieve such success, why may they not unite most heartily on all measures for the public good ? They can, and I believe they will, and, at the bi-centennial in the year 1942, her sons and daughters, assembled as we are to-day, will recount her deeds and dwell upon her history with the same loving pride that fills our breasts to-day. I close with the heartfelt sentiment, "God bless the Town of Windham." [Loud applause.]
THE PRESIDENT-To-day we celebrate the incorporation of this town. Just as truly do we also celebrate the establishment of the Christian church. In those early days, their history was indissolubly connected. The church established at the time of the incorporation remains unchanged. One of the sons of this town, Rev. Samuel Mor- rison, of Charlton, Mass., will respond to the sentiment, " The Church of Windham." [Great applause.]
ADDRESS OF REV. SAMUEL MORRISON.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: - I am told that there is no time to lose. Therefore I shall omit all the jokes, and attend strictly to that which is substantial. My memory easily covers more than one-third part of the time since the organization of the church in this town. I can readily go back more than fifty years and pict- ure to my mind what were then real scenes and real experiences. And no part, or hardly any part, of a picture that I would thus form,
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Address of Rev. Samuel Morrison.
is more clear than that part about which the church is the center. In some way it was borne in upon me that, aside from the home, the church was the most important of all institutions ; and, of all local churches, this one stood first. And in my later life I have seen no church building more suggestive of Christian worship than the one which stands yonder ; and no other house of worship has ever been to me so much a house of sacred worship. One minister only began his work, and, consequently, one other only closed his work with his people, during my early life in this town. To both of these men I listened during all the early part of life, and for them both I have always cherished the highest feelings of esteem and regard. I remember them as men of sterling Christian character-men of sim- ple and impressive Christian dignity; and I will add that I have held, as have others, in equal estimation and in equal regard, the wives of these two men. I have always thought they stood on a level of entire equality with their husbands, and were held in equal estimation by the people.
I remember the congregation as it was forty or fifty years ago. I can picture it in my mind very clearly : a congregation of families- parents and children ; a family to a pew. I remember the pews that different families occupied. I remember the choir, and, by a slight exercise of memory and imagination, can again sit in our family pew, and listen to the song part of Christian worship. I remember the fathers and mothers who are not, and the children who are; but it does seem to me that a wind, bearing somewhat of a scorching quality, has swept across these faces; and it does seem as though the white clouds from the skies have come down and laid upon these heads.
But my thought is not in the direction of history or eulogy or rem- iniscence or contrast between the past and present, but rather in the direction of the importance, influence, and mission of the church; and, as time is pressing, I will try to be not very long in this direction. The importance of the church consists in this, that it stands for the Christian religion; and the importance of the Christian religion in this, that it is of divine origin, and that it has a divine mission in the world. I think its importance is emphasized by the fact that it is the religion of the ages, the religion of Adam and Eve, of Enoch and Noah, the religion of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob ; the religion of Christ and his disciples ; it is the changeless religion of the ages. Christ himself gave the world no new religion ; nor did he change the old religion. He freed it from form and ceremony that it might the bet- ter be apprehended as spiritual truth, fitted for human hearts,-faith,
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Address of Rev. Samuel Morrison.
hope, and charity its divisions, and obedience its visible fruit. The church has a natural and pervasive influence which belongs to it as heat belongs to fire. The church has a general influence on opinions. Whatever this town is to-day, it is something else than what it would have been were it not for the church. When I say church, I gener- ally mean the Christian religion,-that which the church stands for. Along with other institutions and other agencies, the church weaves its threads of influence into the history of the town ; and these threads
are among the finest and brightest of all. The influence of the church comes silently into all homes and into all hearts ; it pervades them. Religion reaches every one as really as the air and the sun- shine. Society in all its phases is modified by it. It makes the dif- ference between civilization and barbarism. The church means better government, better laws; it means better homes and better schools ; better manners and better habits; higher refinement, sweeter friend- ship, and broader charity ; it means better neighbors, better citizens, bet- ter men and women ;- it means all these, besides what is usually spoken of as Christian character, sanctified hearts and lives. Everything you see and handle is changed by the touch of Christian influence. Every book and paper you read, every house you enter and all that you see within, every horse you drive, the carriage you ride in, the roads you follow, the walls and fences by the roadside, every person you see or meet, every roadway and corner you pass, every cultivated field and meadow you look upon,-all bear the impress of Christian civilization. And Christian civilization is but the outward expression of the Chris- tian religion. We breathe an atmosphere charged with religious truth. We live, we walk, and we work in the light of religion. We think and we feel under its inspiration. We grow along the line of its influences toward the ideal of its requirements. We may not be what we might be,-what we ought to be,-but we are what we would not be except for the Christian religion. But, aside from its natural influence, the church has a special mission. It is in the world to be the light of the world, according to the statement of Him who is the world's personal light. It has a local home mission as wide as the home land, touching individual life and character, fulfilled by direct Christian effort; a mission of aggression and conquest, of voluntary plan and purpose fulfilled by its agents who possess its spirit and teach its doctrines where it has no existence, or exists only in weak- ness. How many border states and new states in our land have been blessed by the Christian ministry of our older churches. But, still further, it has a foreign mission, reaching to all nations. The great
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Address of Rev. Samuel Morrison.
petition of divine authorship is, "Thy kingdom come." The great commission of divine authority is, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." And this prayer is to be an- swered, and this commission fulfilled, through the instrumentality of the church. Christ touched the eyes of the blind, and they saw. The church reaches forth its hand and touches the far-off islands of the sea and the distant nations of the earth, and they come into possession of a new sight; they see as they have not seen hitherto. Old things pass away, and all things become new. Christ commanded, and the dead lived again. The church speaks the living Word, and these same islands and these same nations are quickened into newness of life-a spiritual life. They live as they have never lived before; and the church will continue to offer this prayer and to address itself to the fulfillment of this commission till prayer and Christian work are no longer needed on earth.
I am reminded to-day of the mortality of the individual and the immortality of the institution. Men die, but the church lives. None of the original members of this church are present with us to-day, but the church is here, and it is the same church; and when all its present membership shall have passed away the church will abide still, and be the same church, doing the same work, under the same guidance, and in the use of the same methods. The church moves on like the flow of a river : the same river, but different waters ; the same church, but a different membership. But, unlike a river, which always flows to a lower level, the church carries its moving tide upward. The receiv- ing ocean is higher than any part of the river-bed. Certainly the church above has been enriched by the contributions of this church. Where are the ministers that fell on this battlefield, and where the long line of godly men and women that gave the church its dignity and its power for good? And where the many who came within the circle of the quickening influence of the church? They are not in these cemeteries of the town. We thought we laid them there, but, silently and unseen by us, they were borne upward to the skies. They are not now of the church militant, but of the church triumph- ant; not now the toiling and suffering, but the crowned and glorified. We, who spring from this people and belong to this people, are repre- sented in the great church above by fathers and mothers, by wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, who also be- long to this people.
The church is of heavenly origin, and its mission is to bring heaven and earth into communion ; to bring the world into the embrace of its
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Geo Wilson
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Address of Hon. George Wilson.
faith ; into the current of its heavenward movement. The great cry of divine authorship is, "Thy kingdom come." The great commis- sion of equally divine authority is, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." And when this is done this great commission will be fulfilled, the great petition granted. Then the mission of the church will be accomplished, and the last page of its active, changeful history in this world will have been written.
Citizens of the town of Windham, take care of the church, for it is the church that takes care of you. [Applause.]
THE PRESIDENT :- A former citizen of Windham is now here and will speak a few words to you. I will introduce the Honorable George Wilson, ex-mayor of New Bedford, Mass.
ADDRESS OF HON. GEORGE WILSON.
Mr. President :- Excuse me for breaking into the order of your exercises, but it is necessary that I do so at the present moment. I will not detain you long. I am not a resident of Windham, although I am a native, and I reside in New Bedford. I went away from here fifty-five years ago, poor and unknown, and have just main- tained my position. I am very happy to see you here, and I hope to hear further from you before I leave. My principal object in coming here, if not inappropriate to this meeting, is one of some importance, and I will proceed at once to say what I have to say. I have long had it in my mind to do a little something to preserve the beauty of the cemetery on the hill east of Corbett's pond, and I intend to make this proposition to the officers of the town ;- to give them one thousand dollars, in trust, for the purpose of fertilizing and beau- tifying this spot of hallowed land. [Applause.] This matter will need to be made pretty clear and definite, in order that the benefit may not be fritted away, otherwise a hundred years from now the income of this money might be used for something else. I make this donation on condition that if the interest on the fund should be used for any other purpose than that stipulated, the fund shall revert to my heirs-at-law. I shall put the fund into the hands of my friends here, who know all about my purpose, and when the town is ready to accept the terms, the money will be ready for it.
And let me add one word. It takes so long to get the cemetery in fine order, where we are depending upon the interest to accrue from this money, that I would suggest, if there are others interested in this work, and my own interest comes in part from the fact that my
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Address of William C. Harris, Esq.
mother and father are resting there,-I say if others feel interested enough to join me, and will raise one hundred dollars, I will put another hundred to that, which will enable the town authorities to fertilize and beautify the cemetery in an acceptable manner [Ap- plause.]
(A gentleman in the audience immediately shouted that he would give ten dollars.)
THE PRESIDENT :- In behalf of the citizens of Windham, I will return thanks to Mr. Wilson for the liberal offer he has made. [Applause.]
The next sentiment will be " Our Public Schools, The educators of youth : a main support of our free and benign institutions of govern- ment." This will be responded to by Wm. C. Harris, Esq.
ADDRESS OF WILLIAM C. HARRIS, ESQ.
The first desire of the early settlers of New England was to pro- vide homes for their families. Their next thought was to erect a house in which to meet for the worship of their Creator; and then their attention was directed to the educational wants of their children. In this movement they made no mistake, for they made New England what she is, the home of liberty, education, and intelligence. The importance of having the whole community well educated cannot be overstated. Thomas Jefferson once said : "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was, and never will be."
Our republic is founded upon intelligence, with the common school as its corner-stone. A New England poet has written as follows :
"Yet on her rocks, and on her sands, And wintry hills, the schoolhouse stands ; . And what the rugged soil denies, The harvest of the mind supplies."
We are not to suppose the writer of those lines had Windham especially in view, but are not the words quite applicable ? The soil here is rocky and less productive than in many localities, yet here have been reared boys and girls who have grown to be men and women, who have become distinguished in the various vocations of life. Here, in Christian homes and district schools, was laid the foundation of an education which aided its possessors in becoming useful and valuable members of this and other communities.
Some have selected the clerical, some the legal, and others the med-
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Address of William C. Harris, Esq.
ical profession ; others have filled high and responsible positions in our state, in cities, in banks and other corporations ; a large number of men and women have gone to various parts of the country as teach- ers, in schools of all grades, from the common school to the highest institutions of learning; and many others have engaged in the culti- vation of the soil in the East, and in the West. Intelligent men and women are the staple production of the town.
For information relative to the schools in the early years of this town, I am indebted to the historian of Windham. He says : "The first school in town, of which there is any record, was in 1766, when James Aiken was hired, in the east part of the town, to teach the children to read." No doubt there were schools in the different parts of the town at a much earlier date. "How our early settlers received their education, and found means to educate their children, is a sub- ject full of interest, and one upon which we have but little informa- tion." The branches taught in the early schools were reading, spell- ing, and writing; in addition, the Westminster catechism was used as a text-book, and lessons in it recited every Saturday forenoon ; arith- metic was, after some years, added. Geography was used as a reading book, only, at first. The first schoolhouses were built, not by tax, but by subscription. It is supposed there were schoolhouses in districts No. 1 and No. 2 as early as 1750. Schools were also taught in pri- vate houses, and sometimes in barns and shops. The session-house that stood near the meeting-house, on the range, was used for school purposes.
About the year 1768, Rev. Simon Williams, the minister of the town, opened a private academy for the benefit of the young, which not only gave a new impulse to the cause of education in this place, but attracted the attention and patronage of other towns, and was re- sorted to by students from Boston, and other large cities. Such was his success in teaching that he fitted many young men for college. Dr. John Park, Silas Betton, Esq., Silas Dinsmoor, John Dinsmoor, and Governor Samuel Dinsmoor were among the number from this town. Sometimes the school contained forty or more scholars. It was kept in the parsonage, which stood where Mrs. Call's house now stands. The academy was in operation about twenty-two years, and closed on account of Mr. Williams's failing health. In the fall of 1832, Dr. Milton Ward taught a high school at the center of the town. Four or five years later, a term was taught by Miss Lucinda Foster; for several years afterward there were fall terms taught by college stu- dents or graduates, all of which were of great value to those who
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Address of William C. Harris, Esq.
attended. The scholars came to these schools from all parts of the town.
In later years, the district schools have been much longer, be- cause of the increased amount of school money. Many of the more advanced scholars have gone to Pinkerton Academy, and institutions in other places. Fifty years ago, the school money amounted to $326; last year it was $1,277. For several years past we have raised $300 above the requirements of the law for schools, and last March we added another $100. A fact worthy of mention is that, between the years 1852 and 1863, each district in town built a new schoolhouse, at an aggregate cost of $8,400. This revolution resulted from two causes : First, the burning of the No. 3 house, and, second, the generous gift of $1,000 to district No. 2, for a school fund, by Samuel W. Simpson, Esq., and also his liberal offer to aid other dis- tricts in obtaining funds of like size. Three thousand dollars was invested in this way, thus making for school purposes, an outlay of $11,400 in the space of eleven years. A new interest in the cause of education was awakened, which still continues. We now have seven good schoolhouses, all painted white, with blinds. Each house is well supplied with blackboards, globes, charts, and Webster's una- bridged dictionaries, and several have clocks. Ample playgrounds surround each house. At the present time there are six schools in successful operation, presided over by efficient teachers, and under the direction of a competent school board of three members. The com- mon school is the richest and most valuable legacy we have received from our fathers ; let us see to it that we transmit it to our children unimpaired.
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