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 9
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At the conclusion of Mr. Harris's address there was music by the band, a baritone solo, " Polka Brilliante," by A. D. Wingate.
The president then addressed the assemblage as follows :
What I am to say is not upon the programme. The generous offer of Mr. Wilson has met with a prompt response in the hearts of the people here. One gentleman has said that if it was the intention to raise one hundred dollars, he would give twenty-five dollars ; another will give ten dollars ; and another has passed me five dollars. So you may take that matter up among yourselves, and if you can raise the money for this good purpose for which Mr. Wilson has so generously tendered one hundred dollars, it will be very acceptable.
The next sentiment is, "The Nesmith Free Public Library. Found- ed through the generosity and public spirit of a son of Windham, it
for alves towett.
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Address of Rev. William E. Westervelt.
is a source of improvement to young and old, of recreation to all, and is an educator next in value to our public schools." I will call upon the Rev. William E. Westervelt, of Windham, to respond.
ADDRESS OF REV. WILLIAM E. WESTERVELT.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :- It goes without saying that the Nesmith Free Public Library is a very valuable institution. It reflects honor upon its generous founder, and credit upon the intelli- gence and good sense of the people of Windham. It was a noble deed of the late Col. Thomas Nesmith to confer the favor, and a wise step on your part to accept it.
A library of 3,000 volumes, containing the best thoughts of many of the standard authors upon a variety of the most important subjects, and annually increasing, is a boon which I imagine but few towns of the size of ours can boast.
Here is an opportunity for the young men and women of our town, who will avail themselves of it, to acquire a liberal education. Had our highly honored and deeply lamented presidents, Lincoln and Gar- field, enjoyed such a privilege in their youthful days, they would have deemed themselves among the most fortunate of favored young men. To them a single book of solid worth, with the blaze of only a pine knot by which to read it, was an invaluable treasure. And your own history shows that the early settlers of this town would have prized it above gold or rubies. They were a reading people; and their descendants made various attempts to establish a public library, and their efforts were crowned with creditable success. But they were not fully realized until 1871, when the Nesmith Library was founded by a gift of $3,000, of which $2,000 was to be immediately expended for books, and the balance to be placed on interest at six per cent. and the interest annually applied for the increase of the same.
That trust was wisely and faithfully executed by your able and judicious committee, of which the Hon. Leonard A. Morrison, our well known author and ardent lover of good books, was a member. [Applause. ]
By that benevolent act of Col. Nesmith, a perennial fountain was opened in his native town, whose pure waters have ever since brought solace, stimulus, refreshment, and strength to the homes and hearts of the people of Windham. [Loud applause.] His name has become a household word. It is remembered and cherished by the aged and the young, by the sick and the well, by the bed-ridden invalid and the
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Address of William H. Anderson, Esq.
nightly watchers. He has supplied the means for beguiling many a weary hour, of sustaining many a sinking hope, and of reviving many a fainting heart. He has endeared himself to all the thoughtful, and his memory is embalmed in the hearts of a grateful people. There it will live and be fragrant as long as the Nesmith library shall exist and the citizens of Windham continue to be a reading people. All honor to his name; and to the names, also, of those who by like ben- efactions have helped the cause of education, morals, and religion in their native town, to wit, James Wilson, Jeremiah Hills, Harriett Dinsmoor, and others. May we not hope that their example will be followed by others of Windham's prosperous, generous, and grateful sons and daughters, who will thus link their names with perpetual usefulness and honor in promoting the best interests of coming gener- ations ?
Some of the custodians of the Nesmith library have already expressed grave apprehensions that the day is not distant when they may find themselves in the plight of the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she knew not what to do. Not, indeed, that she had too many, but that she needed ampler quarters for their accommodations, and a larger purse to supply their wants. And we are not afraid of ever having too many books, but we shall need more spacious accommodations for them and their readers.
And as the cause of education and of religion should always go hand in hand, we trust that in the future, as in the past, both causes will find a warm place and a liberal response in the hearts and gifts of those who wish well to the future interests of their native and hon- ored town.
THE PRESIDENT :- The next sentiment will be, " The Townships of Londonderry and Windham; early partners; may their future be bright with the noble deeds of their sons and daughters."
I will introduce to you William Henry Anderson, Esq., of Lowell, Mass., to respond to that sentiment. [Applause.]
ADDRESS OF WILLIAM H. ANDERSON, ESQ.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :- In common with you all this afternoon, I was very much charmed with the songs of the Glee Club, and I was very much surprised that men of their age could sing so well. But during the intermission I think the mystery was
Um. H. anderson -
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Address of William H. Anderson, Esq.
explained, for the leader of the club told me that his first recollection of the orator of the day to-day, Mr. Dinsmoor, was, when he went to school to him, of his giving him a couple of very severe boxes on the head, one on each side. Our friend said it came very hard to him this forenoon to sing, " Give me your hand, old friend of my youth." [Laughter.] But he ought not to complain, because that is probably what gave him his musical ear. [Laughter.]
Cæsar, in his Commentaries, tells us that, in ancient times, " All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgæ inhabit, the Aquitani another, those, who in their own language are called Celts, in ours, Gauls, the third." So we, in more modern days, know that all ancient Londonderry is divided into three parts, Londonderry, Derry, and Windham.
After describing the three provinces, two of which were separated by the river Garonne as Londonderry and Windham are separated by that stream which in the days of my childhood was a majestic river, but is now only Beaver brook, he adds,-" All these differ from each other in language, customs, and laws." Here the analogy fails, for no argument is needed on this occasion, or any other, to satisfy any son or daughter of either town or any of their descendants, near or remote, that the three towns, call them as you choose, former part- ners or parents and children, not only resemble each other in those respects in which the divisions of ancient Gaul differed from each other, but that they to such an extent have the same thoughts, speak the same language, and do the same acts; are so alike in their views of religion, politics, laws; so agreed as to the hard work and small profits attending life on a farm; so well assured that no people ever had such an ancestry as they have in the Scotch-Irish from the north of Ireland; so equally indifferent to good highways and patient with bad ones, that, were it now as much the fashion to unite towns as it was 150 years ago to divide them, there would be no difficulty whatever in welding the three parts again into one homogeneous whole.
Let me not be understood in what I have said as intimating that since the dissolution of the old firm, the taking down of the weather- beaten sign, the squaring up of the old accounts, and the opening of a new set of books by each partner town on its own account, there has not been rapid and substantial progress in all those things which go to make up a well-ordered New England community. Ah, no, Mr. President, I am far too wise a man, although I may not look it, to intimate any such thing when the border line of that city of refuge,
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Address of William H. Anderson, Esq.
Massachusetts, is so far away, the road to it so sandy, and it is allow- able in New Hampshire to punish slanderers by personal chastise- ment. What I do say is, that that progress has been common to all the towns forming the old triumvirate. They have advanced with equal steps in all those things which have tended to ameliorate the hard conditions of life as they existed during that year, 150 years ago, when Windham started in the world for itself.
We all know how common an experience it is, after an old, well- established firm has kept on a conservative course for a term of years, and after the partnership is dissolved, and the individual mem- bers start in business for themselves, one after another, for the young- est and least-experienced partner to branch out the broadest, put on the most airs, and not only to think, but to be sure, he " knows it all," and is a little ahead of those who remain at the old stand. So with our three towns, I suppose it is the youngest partner, Derry, which, with its electric lights, its system of waterworks, its brass band, its newspaper (which, by the way, is a credit to it), its dozen or more "jiner " societies, its circus, its living whist, and its new academy building, thinks itself a little smarter and better than either of the staid old senior partners, Londonderry and Windham. But let not Derry boast itself unseemly ; Londonderry and Windham are not far behind. There seems to be a veritable western boom at North Lon- donderry, and house lots are surveyed and staked out and the praises of the place sounded in a way to bring a blush to the cheek even of a Kansas real estate agent, and am I not building a custom house at West Windham, at the head of navigation on Beaver brook ? [Laughter.] Let Derry beware.
I have often wondered, Mr. President, why the new town char- tered in 1742 was called Windham, and its historian has not told us. Was it in honor of some individual, or family, of that name, or in consequence of some real or fancied peculiarity in its natural features, or was it selected because it is an easily spoken and smoothly sound- ing word ?
But, we must not linger over these speculations. In these days of discussions of tariffs, duties and taxes, and disagreements as to what shall, and what shall not, bear the burden of taxation, everybody will agree that the patience of an audience, gathered under these circum- stances, is one of those things that ought not to be taxed. [Laugh- ter.]
I close, Mr. President, with this sentiment, which has not only the beauty of terseness, but the strength of truth : The men, the women,
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Address of Rev. Warren R. Cochrane, D. D.
the children, of the respective members of the three towns, London- derry, Derry, Windham-
The first are strong ; The second are neat ; The third are sweet, And all are exceedingly hard to beat.
[Loud applause.]
At this point the skies were darkened and the rain was falling fast upon the tent. But the exercises proceeded. The band gave the selection, " A Night in Grenada."
THE PRESIDENT :- Ladies and gentlemen, our next sentiment will be, "Our Scotch forefathers in Scotland, Ireland, and New Hamp- shire : May they live forever in song and in story. May their heroic virtues be the priceless legacy of their descendants." I will call upon Rev. Warren R. Cochrane, D. D., of Antrim, N. H., to respond to this toast. [Applause.]
ADDRESS OF REV. WARREN R. COCHRANE, D. D.
Friends :- You have given me a subject that it would take two or three hours to adequately treat, a subject which I have not time to speak upon or strength to be heard upon at this moment. I remember see- ing a notice somewhere in the portals of a certain church, "Don't shoot the organist," and I thought, perhaps, if I were called upon to speak to-day, the first thing I would put in would be such a caveat as that-I would caution you not to shoot the speaker, who, after such eloquence, can add nothing, with such an abstract thing as this, to interest an audience, after the effusions and the charms of music that have been poured into their ears.
I have been asked to speak to the sentiment, " The Scotch in Scot- land, the Scotch in Ireland, and the Scotch in America." My friend Morrison has written three or four volumes on this subject, and yet he expects me to crowd into a five minutes' speech the facts that cover the whole ground. I should like to talk to an audience gathered in a church, or somewhere where I could be heard for an hour on this theme. My heart is in it. I am a Scotchman, and I rejoice in the Scotch character, for it is a working power, interested in everything good all over the world.
The first that we know about Scotchmen is a reference that we find in Roman history to a Scotchman up among the highlands of
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Address of Rev. Warren R. Cochrane, D. D.
old Scotland; and if I were going to say three things of this person- age, I should say first that he was a mighty Scotchman. The whole Roman army was afraid of the few clans camped to the north of them. The whole cultivated area of Scotland at that time was less than that of the state of New Hampshire, and yet the whole power of Rome was never able to conquer little Scotland ; and when they were so terrified, and did not know how to live in security, they built a wall up between Scotland and England, to keep the Scotchmen from con- quering the Roman army. The Romans conquered England, but nei- ther the Roman, nor any other power under Heaven, could ever con- quer little Scotland. [Applause.] They tried it a few times, you know, and they had a little interview with Robert Bruce, at Bannock- burn, and left 50,000 of their soldiers dead on the field, or carried off as prisoners under the touch of Bruce ; and after that day they were content to let the Scotch manage their own affairs. The Scotch were mighty smart, and were Presbyterians. I cannot stop to tell all their remarkable deeds of bravery, but there were five kings of Eng- land who tried to force Episcopacy on Scotland, but did not succeed, and Scotland remains Presbyterian, and always will be such, while the world stands. The Scotch, in sentiment, were sui generis ; they were themselves; they were Scotch, not English, or Irish, or Britons, or Danes, or Saxons. They were Scotch when the Romans found them, and when they left them, and they are Scotch to-day, and in their posterity they are Scotch, anyway, and nothing else. Well, King James had a little land fall to him over in Ireland, by confisca- tion, and after the English sent up to Scotland to get a king to govern them, he knew the Scotch character so well that he sent some over to Ireland, and by thrift and enterprise they flourished there, and awakened the jealousy of their Irish neighbors, and after a time they were conquered, but they could not be subdued. They were mighty smart in Ireland. The Scotch in Ireland were Presbyterians still, and the Scotch in Ireland were sui generis. They were themselves, not merged with any others. They were not Britons, Angles, Dutch- men, or Jews, and no Irish blood was in their veins, but they were Scotch to the backbone. When they came to America they were still Scotch.
If I had time, I should like to speak of the Scotch in America at great length, but I will only take a minute to say that it is astonish- ing to see how many of Scotch blood have gone to Pennsylvania and other great states of the Union to take high places in this land. We have had that blood in eleven presidents of the United States, five
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Address of Rev. Warren R. Cochrane, D. D.
chief-justices of the United States supreme court, and any quantity of senators, representatives, lawyers, and poor sticks of ministers-like myself-thrown in. [Laughter.] I expect that the Scotch in Amer- ica will go on and keep separate from other people, and not become American. They do not need to be Americanized. They need only to remain what they are, for the Scotch, and Pilgrim fathers allied to them, are the American ideal. They are the American ideal, I say, and need not to be Americanized. Let others come to them, the Pilgrim, and of the Scotch standard,-not the Scotch-Irish standard,- nothing else. We want the nation to come to them. So we say,-
" Let the nations be few or be many, Wherever humanity's flag is unfurled, We expect the Scotch boy to be foremost of any,
And the bonnie Scotch lassies to rule the whole world."
[Applause.]
At the conclusion of Dr. Cochrane's address, the band was prepared and expected to play that sweet song of our dear old Fatherland, "The Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon," but the hastening moments neces- sitated its omission, which was a regret to all.
To the sentiment, "The Law : May it ever be the Defender of the Right," it was expected that the Hon. Francis Alexander Marden, of New York city, an honored son of Windham, would respond. He did not reach the celebration until afternoon, and was not seen by the presiding officer. It was a matter of general regret that his voice was not heard upon the rostrum.
At this time the exercises were held under some disadvantages. The rain fell in torrents, and, as the down-pour came upon the great tent, the music of the rain and the rolling of distant thunder made it almost impossible for many at this moment to hear the orators. Many people stood upon the seats, and raised their umbrellas. While Sen- ator Patterson was speaking an umbrella was held over him for protection from the rain which beat through the tent. At this moment it was a veritable contest between the elements and the dis- tinguished ex-senator to see which could make the most noise, and it was generally considered about " a draw game."
THE PRESIDENT :- There is a gentleman with us whom the people of New Hampshire are always glad to welcome. I do not know upon what subject he will speak. He can talk upon any topic. All he has to do is to open his lips, and the words pour forth like the rain upon
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Address of Hon. J. W. Patterson.
this tent. [Laughter. ] I would call upon Hon. James W. Patterson. [Applause.]
ADDRESS OF HON. J. W. PATTERSON.
Ladies and Gentlemen :- I see you are being baptized into the true Scotch theology. [Laughter.] But if you will just read your programme, or rather bill of fare, you will observe that I am not down. It reminds me of the Englishman up in Montreal who went into a French restaurant but could not read French. He did not want anybody to know of his ignorance, and so he took up the bill of fare and gave his order to the young lady who was waiting on him. She did not understand him, and he pointed to the first thing upon the bill. She brought in some soup. He ate the soup and pointed to the next thing, and she brought him some more soup. He took a little of it, and, thinking that he would come at last to something solid, he called the young lady and pointed to the last thing on the bill of fare. She brought in some toothpicks. [Laughter.] He said, "What did you bring me those for ? I have had nothing to eat."
You have had a great deal of solid food to-day, and I do not be- lieve you have need of my toothpicks ; but I am reminded also of the little boy who said to his mother one day, "Mother, I wish I was a twin." "What do you want to be a twin for?" said she. "If I was a twin," he replied, "I would send my brother to school and I would go fishing." [Laughter.] I came fishing to-day, and here I am called upon to recite. There is nothing fair about it [laughter]; but I will say one or two words, simply, and let you off.
I am called upon to speak in the place of Governor Tuttle and Governor Tuttle was to speak on New Hampshire. If I had time I would like to develop one or two thoughts in that connection. We have heard a great deal from our Massachusetts friends about the Pilgrims and Puritans. Well, they were a splendid and godly sort of men, and it was my privilege last summer to go to old Scrooby, Austerfield, and Leyden, and stand where the Pilgrims stood be- fore they came to Plymouth and established a free state and a free church for which we honor their memories ; but the Scotch-Irish who planted Londonderry in our state have a history as grand and impres- sive in the eyes of the Christian world as the Puritan or the Pilgrim. [Applause. ] They endured in the old country a harder fight for conscience and freedom than the Puritans or the Pilgrims. Why, gentlemen, it was my privilege to stand in old Londonderry a few years ago. I entered the city by the ferry gate which Morrison
Rep Press Assu.
H. Patterson
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Address of Hon. J. W. Patterson.
closed in the face of the enemy, and around which the starving peo- ple who entered the army were to be seen steadfast in the struggle. The Irish were fighting for King James and the Scotch for William and his cause. I have stood also at the slaughter gate where, under George Walker, the Scotch peasantry battled against the combined Irish and French forces until the blood flowed in streams down the hill and under the gate which has been called "Slaughter Gate" from that day to this. Those men who stood in old Londonderry and fought for their faith and freedom came to Londonderry in this country and founded that town and this. They were your progeni- tors. They were the men who planted New England. They had fought for liberty, civil and religious, against the English crown, and religious intolerance, and were prepared to be defenders of liberty here.
One thing more I want to say for the benefit of some of my Massa- chusetts friends, and that is, that the old Scotch-Irish of Londonderry fought the battle of Bunker Hill for Massachusetts. [Applause.] It was General Stark-that Scotch-Irish hero from New Hampshire- who led in the battle of Bunker Hill; and it was Captain Moore, who stood behind the stone wall on the pebbly beach on the Mystic, with his Scotch-Irish friends, and hurled back the whole British force three successive times ; and when at last the British soldiery came over the redoubt, it was the Scotch-Irish who clubbed their guns and covered the retreat ; and they, too, under General Stark, at Bennington, saved this country and its principles of freedom for future generations. So much for the Scotch-Irish, then. They have been loyal to liberty and their faith ever since. They have given to this country more scholars, more orators, more statesmen, relatively, than any other race that ever came to the shores of America ; and their descendants, to-day, are true to the history, true to the principles, and true to the blood of their ancestors. [Loud applause.]
At the conclusion of ex-Senator Patterson's address the rain was still falling in torrents. The band was signalled to play and enter- tained the audience several minutes till the rain subsided. They played " American Dance-Characteristic "; Overture, "Morning, noon, and night in Vienna," and other stirring and finely rendered selections.
THE PRESIDENT :- Ladies and gentlemen, the sentiment, "Wind- ham's absent sons and daughters and their children," will be responded to by Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury, of Boston, attorney-general of Massa- chusetts.
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Address of Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury.
ADDRESS OF HON. ALBERT E. PILLSBURY.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :- This day belongs to the Scotch, and, in point of weather, it is certainly a good Scotch day. [Laughter. ]
I shall not expect you, under the circumstances, to remain here to listen to anything which I might have said, for it has so turned out that we have now to contend against the elements of heaven, and even my Scotch-Irish blood is not quite equal to that. [Laughter.]
I believe this is the first occasion in my life on which I am at lib- erty to boast of my ancestry, or to fairly claim to be of the first fam- ilies. But it is my good fortune to be descended from John Barnet, one of the sixteen original settlers of Londonderry, the mother of Windham, and from Robert Dinsmoor, one of the petitioners for the charter of Windham, who was appointed, under the charter, to call the first town meeting, and at that meeting was elected chairman of the first board of selectmen of the town. Four generations of my ancestors lived and died and are buried in Windham. And my mother, a member of the Dinsmoor family (which, I am glad to say, still survives here, both in quality and in numbers), has come, to-day, from another part of the state to attend this celebration, at an age which she will not allow to be told, if she can help it-a woman who never weighed a hundred pounds in her life, but with so much of her Scotch ancestry in her veins that I would back her to-day against half a score of people less fortunate in their descent. [Laughter.]
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