USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 41
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Perhaps nothing has more greatly affected our style of living tlian the change in heating apparatus. About 1840 the old fireplaces began to be bricked up and air-tight stoves came in vogue ; these were thought to be heating agents of marvelous efficiency and economy. The first furnace introduced at the North end, and perhaps the first in town, appeared about 1860. The fire was built every morning and went out at night. It would have been thought unwarrantable extravagance to let it burn continuously. Anthracite coal appeared about this time ; but stoves continued to be used, and halls, bed- rooms, in fact, every place but the sitting-room, dining-room, and kitchen, went unheated except on special occasions ; yet people enter- tained in those days as much as they do now. Everybody was used to superheated rooms and cold entries, and nobody complained of draughts. Steam heat became common about 1880, and by that time people began to understand that the gain in heat mneant loss of air, and now the old fireplaces, on a diminished scale, appear in all the modern houses.
The tea party and the large general party were the two styles of entertainment in the middle of the nineteenth century. Now every- thing is specialized. We have progressive whist parties, chafing-dish parties, dances (usually in halls), afternoon teas, musicales, receptions, luncheons, club meetings ad infinitum-we are even beginning to undertake that last refinement of civilization, the formal evening dinner; guests are invited to a specific entertainment. But when our mothers gave a party it was a party. All invitations were verbal and delivered in person, and two or three days' notice was considered sufficient to gather the whole local world.
The supper was the hostess's chief care. There were no caterers in Concord a generation ago. Every article of food was prepared under the mistress's eye, and all the choice sorts by her own hands. For tea parties, hot biscuit, tongue or other cold meats, cheese, preserves, tarts, custards or jellies, a variety of cake, tea and coffee, were considered all-sufficient. Salads were unknown, and escalloped oysters were thought good enough to set before a president or an ex- president. For "stand-up " parties the dishes were fewer, the slip- pery and juicy ones were omitted, and, when ice cream came in, it was considered a delicacy that could give glory to any feast. Middle-
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aged people, brought up in very comfortable circumstances, remember when sardines were a scarce luxury. A banana was hardly seen in town before 1860, and until after the Centennial this now common fruit could not be bought in Concord for less than ten cents apiece.
The former style of serving food was very different from that now in fashion. Until the last few years the French or Russian way of serving meals in courses was unheard of. Our parents were of the opinion that nothing looked so well on the table as something to eat. They would not have considered a pot of earth supporting a few fee- ble fronds a suitable ornament for a feast, even if it were enclosed in a silver dish and set on an embroidered centerpiece. The dinner hour was twelve or one o'clock, and this has never been changed by old residents. Forty years ago there were but two Concord houses which observed any other custom. An ex-minister to Switzerland dined in solitary state at three o'clock, and a family from Massachu- setts, living on South street, whose unaccustomed style and elegance dazzled the town for a few years, kept the same hour. Until after the Civil War, evening dinners were unknown to society in Boston.
The social life of Concord has always been interesting and distinc- tive. There is a modern tendency to measure the importance of a town by the size of its population, which is a mistake, unless it is purely a commercial center. Since Concord became the permanent eapital in 1816 (most of the sessions of the legislature were held here after 1782), it has drawn to itself whatever is noteworthy in the state. Though it may not equal Portsmouth and Exeter and other coast towns in aristocratic traditions and old memories of foreign trade, and though it may have a less exclusively intellectual tone than a village dominated by a college, there are probably few places in the country where the general social life is so agreeable and stimu- lating. This is due, in a measure, to the large proportion of official society.
A president has dwelt among us, both before and after his term of office, also a secretary of the navy. Representatives to foreign eourts, Judge Nathaniel G. Upham and Hon. George G. Fogg, have had their homes here. During the last eighty years, eight governors, Morril, Harvey, Hill, Baker, Gilmore, Harriman, Stearns, and Rollins, and eight United States senators, Thomas W. Thompson (1814-'17), David L. Morril (1816-'22), Franklin Pierce, Isaac Hill, Edward H. Rollins, George G. Fogg, William E. Chandler, and Jacob H. Gal- linger, have been at some period of their lives among our permanent residents. The state officials, secretary, treasurer, adjutant-general, and others, always live in town, while the succession of judges of the supreme court is past counting. Every man of official prominence in
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the state who does not belong in Concord has occasion to come here frequently, and the sight of the governor or a congressman on the street excites no more awe or curiosity than that of any of the minis- ters of our churches.
Among other influences which have contributed to the character of the city may be mentioned the rather negative, yet nevertheless im- portant, one of religious toleration. Concord has been happily free from the strangling bigotry which has afflicted so many other places. The ministers of the Old North, which for nearly a hundred years was the town church, have been broad-minded men, wise and liberal for their generation. Though the town has not always been more hospitable to anti-slavery agitators and other prophets of the truth than some cities of greater renown, it cannot be said that our history on the whole has been disfigured by any serious persecution. For the past sixty years a variety of religious denominations (nine at the present time, with houses of worship more than double that number), have flourished side by side in peace and harmony. This liberal atmosphere is probably the result of the high general intelligence of the community ; at any rate, it is something for which we should all be grateful.
Moneyed men, and those in a position to know, declare that Con- cord is a wealthy city in proportion to its population; but there is little ostentation in living. There are really no show houses in town. Domestic service has not been specialized further than cook and "second girl." About thirty families at the present time, exclusive of those who employ children's nurses, keep two maid-ser- vants. Many of these households have also a man who acts as coach- man and general choreman. Some families keep a man who have but one maid. It would be misleading to imply that the number of servants constitutes any line of social demarkation. There are no large houses in Concord, and no rooms built especially for company. This probably accounts for the popularity of the afternoon tea, which has flourished for the last twenty years. It is the only form of entertainment by which a hostess can gather all her acquaintances under her own roof. When people wish to entertain in a more elaborate manner it has been the custom for the last thirty years for a number of ladies, usually four, to engage the Eagle hotel, and send out cards for a big reception and ball. These " syndicate " parties occur at infrequent intervals, and constitute our most brilliant and expensive social functions.
Much of the wealth of Concord is inherited or has been gained by slow accumulation, and its owners, following the frugal ways of their fathers, have a wholesome conservatism about spending it. The
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social tone of our city is wholly unlike that of towns where every- body lives in a rented or mortgaged house, and yearly spends the last cent of his salary. Some very aged people who could remem- ber when there was practically but one thoroughfare in Concord, and State street, then unnamed, was spoken of simply as the " back street," used to say that the North end was always the court end of the town. But any such distinction disappeared long ago, and now North, South, and West ends and the center associate on a common level. As illustrating the sudden development of the West end since that branch of the street railway was opened in 1891, it may be remarked that fifty years ago the late Governor Hill owned some of the region beyond White park and used it for a cow pasture. Its value was reckoned at about five dollars an acre. The same land sells now at the rate of five thousand dollars an acre.
In any capital the assembling of the legislature means a marked increase in social life. When 'Lection came annually in June, it was the season to which everybody looked forward. The whole town blossomed out. The streets of Concord, under their beautiful arch- ing elms, are never so lovely as at this time, and everybody sat and walked out-doors. The seating of the governor was quite an impos- ing event, especially when it was accompanied by the parade of the Horse Guards, a company of cavalry whose resplendent scarlet uni- forms enlivened the town from 1860 to 1865. Everybody gave par- ties in June. Elderly ladies have spoken of the term of Governor Samuel Dinsmoor, Jr., of Keene (1849-'52), as especially brilliant. The governor and his wife were quite elegant people, and there were parties every night. The social world was not so large then, and a private house could entertain it all.
The Governor's Horse Guards deserve more than a passing notice. They were considered the handsomest cavalry company in the United States in their day. The uniform and equipment of each member cost about one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The uniform was of the pattern of the French Hussars, and consisted of blue broad- cloth pantaloons with yellow stripes, a blue jacket tightly buttoned and trimmed with yellow silk cord, a flying jacket or dolman of scarlet ornamented with gold, and a tall red cap or busby with pom- pon in front. The red dolmans and caps made a striking appearance when a company of one hundred were parading through the streets. The Horse Guards were organized in Concord, November 10, 1859, but the corps included members from all parts of the state. Com- pany A was the Concord section, and numbered about fifty men. Its successive captains were Colonel John H. George, (Senator) Edward H. Rollins, and Calvin C. Webster. Gust Walker of Con-
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cord was at one time captain of Company B, though that was com- posed chiefly of out-of-town men. The colonels of the corps were George Stark of Nashua and Henry O. Kent of Lancaster.
The annual ball, a famous social occasion, was held on the second Wednesday in January, in Phenix or Eagle hall, which was elabo- rately decorated by Beal of Boston. The New Hampshire Statesman says of the first ball, January 9, 1861, that it lasted until five o'clock in the morning, and that one hundred and sixty couples participated. Hall's band of Boston furnished the music for the parades, because they could play on horseback. Many noted guests from out of town came to the annual dinners and balls. The company was an expensive one, but it lasted all through the trying times of the war, and finally suspended December 20, 1865, after six annual parades and five balls. The streets of Concord were never so brilliant as when Colonel Josiah B. Sanborn, Major Jonathan E. Lang, Colonel Abel Herbert Bellows, (Governor) Natt Head of Hooksett, and others of their compeers, were prancing about in their flying red cloaks on Election day. The corps was not lacking in patriotism, however. At the opening of the war they sent Calvin C. Web- ster, one of the officers, as a delegate to President Lincoln, offering their services to the Union, agreeing to furnish their own horses and to pay their expenses to Washington. Lincoln sent Mr. Webster to General Scott, who thanked him but said there would be no need of their services, as the war would not last more than three months, and cavalry would be useless.
For twenty years, beginning with Governor Cheney's example in 1876, it was the custom for most of the chief executives to give a public reception at the Eagle hotel or other suitable place. These receptions were conducted on a scale of great liberality, with music, flowers, and supper worthy of a private ball. Some of the notably brilliant affairs were those given by Governors Currier, Sawyer, Tuttle, Smith, and Busiel. Invitations were put in the papers, and anybody in the state felt free to accept. The generosity of the hosts, who often spent more than the entire gubernatorial salary upon this entertainment for the people, finally proved the destruction of the function. In some cases the hospitality was so abused by the crowds that it was impossible to preserve the decorum due such an occasion. With the inauguration of Governor Ramsdell (1897) it was felt that the time had come for a change, and a handsome subscription ball, with tickets at five dollars for each couple, was held in the opera house. Similar affairs were given for Governors Rollins, Jordan, and Bachelder in Phenix hall, and the "governor's reception," thus modified and shorn of its old-time dimensions, bids fair to continue a feature of our legislative winters.
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While giving so much space to the entertainments of adults, it would hardly be fair to omit the juvenile festivities. For the last thirty years the high school graduating dance has been an important feature of every June. Known at first as a " levee " (pronounced levee) and later as a reception, it has supplanted the promenade con- cert of earlier years. It is under the exclusive management of the graduating class, whose invitations are always in great demand. But the event of the children's year is the Unitarian May party. Founded in 1859 by Mrs. Asa Fowler, it has maintained undimin- ished popularity for nearly half a century. Begun as a May break- fast, it soon changed into an afternoon and evening affair. The children's march in the afternoon might almost be called a baby parade, for children of different sizes are arranged in regular grada- tion down to the little tots barely able to walk. Although under Unitarian auspices the festival belongs to the whole town, and the participants in the May-pole dance may come from any religious denomination. It may be mentioned, in passing, that at the time this festival started, the Unitarian was almost the only church that would have permitted dancing at a parish gathering.
The mention of May day suggests the peculiar mode of celebra- tion that has been practised by Concord boys for the last fifty years. This is to usher in, not the dawn, but the darkest hours that precede it, by the blowing of instruments, elsewhere known as fish horns. Many a middle-aged man will recall the pride he felt in the days of his youth if he was the first to waken the neighborhood by a blast just after midnight. Usually the boys deputed one of their number to go around and "toot " his horn through the keyhole of the front door where the others slept, and when all were aroused, they pa- raded the streets till breakfast time. The reason of this demoniac chorus on the first of May has never been explained.
Social life and domestic customs are so largely under the control of women that no chapter on this topic would be complete without a special word in relation to woman's changed work and opportunities. It seems a long way from the days of the spinning wheel which was accompanied by a distaff to the days of the spinning-wheel whose progress is measured by a cyclometer ; but some elderly people have seen both machines manipulated by Concord women. The spinster has forever disappeared, but the bicycle girl appears to have come to stay.
It is a simple statement to say that the first woman physician, Dr. Julia Wallace-Russell, permanently to locate in Concord, came here in 1878 ; but that fact marks a milestone in our progress. Others since then have also engaged in successful practice. Dr. Jane Eliza-
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beth Hoyt is the first Concord-born woman to establish herself here as a physician.
An old resident, whose life covered eighty-seven years of the nine- teenth century, said that in his school-days no girl was expected to study farther in arithmetic than the four elementary rules. The female mind was thought unworthy to share in full even the meager privileges of the "deestrick " schools. This man lived to see his niece (the writer) graduate from Vassar in 1881, the first Concord girl to take the baccalaureate degree. Almost as many girls as boys are now annually fitted for college at our high school.
It was years after the whole teaching force of Concord, save the principal of the high school, was feminine before a woman, Mrs. Mary Parker Woodworth (Vassar, 1870), was elected a member of the board of education (1890). Six years later she had Mrs. Susan J. (Wentworth) Woodward as coadjutor, and now three women, Mrs. Susan C. Bancroft, Mrs. Ella H. J. Hill, and Mrs. Alice M. Nims, serve on the board. Women were granted school suffrage in 1878, and after the first few years, when it took some courage to face the novelty of the situation, they have attended the annual meeting in numbers equal to the men. Miss Grace Blanchard (Smith, 1882), the first woman to hold municipal office, became the accom- plished and efficient city librarian in 1895.
The average woman of the last generation found her chief recrea- tion in sewing societies ; now she belongs to clubs. The Woman's Edition of the Monitor, issued on Decoration day, 1896, undertook to enumerate all the clubs and philanthropic organizations in Con- cord managed by women (exclusive of church societies). The num- ber found was thirty-nine, and many new ones have been formed since then. A notable literary club was that started in the winter of 1876-'77 in connection with the lectures of Mrs. Abba Goold Woolson, then a resident of our city. Among the active members were Mrs. Charles C. Pearson, Mrs. John M. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph B. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel C. Eastman, Mrs. William H. Bart- lett, Mrs. John Abbott, Mrs. J. N. Patterson, Mrs. Martha Bouton Cilley, Mrs. Albert B. Woodworth, Mrs. George E. Jenks, Mrs. Sarah M. K. Adams, Mrs. Franklin Low, Mrs. Sarah Neal Harris, Mrs. Helen Mar Bean, Mrs. William M. Chase, Misses Clara M. Fowler, Elizabeth S. Stevens, Minnie W. Fiske, Susan B. Walker, Frances K. Adams, and Frances M. Abbott. The club met about at houses, but it was largely under the direction of Judge Fowler, whose library and hospitable home were ever at its service. As lecturer, author, and leader in social progress, Mrs. Woolson was the most widely known woman who has ever lived in town, and the influence exercised upon
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the intellectual life of Concord by her and her husband, Moses Wool- son, for many years a teacher here, was marked and permanent.
Among the most distinctive of our societies are the ten Shakes- peare clubs, which have a room set apart for their exclusive use in the Fowler Library building (1888), probably the only room of the kind in the country. Each club, except the Warwick, which admitted both men and women, has a membership limited to sixteen women. The original Shakespeare club, the oldest literary society now exist- ing in town, was founded in 1877 by Mrs. Sargent C. Whitcher (now Mrs. Torrey of Charlestown, Mass.). Mrs. Lyman D. Stevens has been its continuous president. The Stratford club was founded in 1883 by Mrs. Ezekiel Morrill. Its presidents have been Mrs. Ai B. Thompson, Mrs. Sarah E. Hamilton, Mrs. Ezekiel Morrill, Mrs. Shadrach C. Morrill, Mrs. Susan J. (Wentworth) Woodward, Miss Frances M. Abbott, and Mrs. A. D. Ayling. The Avon club, also founded in 1883, has had for presidents, Miss Helen McG. Ayers, Mrs. James E. Minot, Mrs. Anna E. Clarke, Mrs. Nathan F. Carter, and Miss Annie A. McFarland. The As You Like It club, at first called the Juniors, was founded in 1884. Miss Edith P. Minot has been its president.
The Warwick club was founded in 1885 by Miss Susan G. Per- kins and Miss Jennie L. Bouton (Mrs. John Smythe Fogg). During the fifteen years of its existence, this club has numbered many of the prominent men and women of Concord among its members. Rev. Dr. D. C. Roberts was for many years its president. On the membership list have been the names of Amos Hadley, William P. Fiske, Mrs. Helen M. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Rollins, Mrs. William Pickering Hill, Mr. and Mrs. James O. Lyford, Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Porter, Rev. and Mrs. Howard F. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar H. Woodman, Mr. and Mrs. Josiah B. Sanborn, Mrs. Oliver Pillsbury, Charles R. Corning, and Mrs. Maria L. Gove. The Monday Evening club was founded in 1888 by Miss M. Isabel East- man (Mrs. Styll of Newport, Tenn.). The presidents have been Miss Mary J. Sanborn, Mrs. Frank M. Knowles, Mrs. Charles P. Clough, Mrs. George W. Weeks, Mrs. Loren M. Richardson, Mrs. Lewis B. Hoit, and Miss Ada L. Fuller. The Hathaway club was founded in 1894 by Miss Isabel S. Dana and Miss Maude B. Binet. Its presi- dents have been Miss Binet, Mrs. George B. Lauder, Miss Jessie M. Williams, Miss J. Blanche Newhall, Mrs. Arthur L. Willis, Miss Effie M. Thorndike, and Miss Anne M. Kendall. The Twelfth Night club was founded in 1895. Its presidents have been Mrs. George L. Williams, Mrs. Frank H. George, Mrs. William D. Wallace, and Miss Mary A. Gage, with Miss Sarah F. Sanborn as leader. The
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Cymbeline club was founded in 1895. The presidents have been Misses Mary E. Sullivan, Mary E. Keenan, Harriet 1. Parkhurst, and Agnes Mitchell. The Merry Wives club was founded in 1896 by Miss Martha J. Noyes. Its presidents have been Miss Noyes, Mrs. Annie D. Adams, Mrs. Nellie L. Cloudman, Mrs. M. Rose Greeley, Mrs. Clara A. Sargent, Miss Margaret F. Gallinger, Mrs. Florence B. Gould, and Mrs. Mabel Ordway.
The Woman's clubs of Concord and of Penacook are the two largest societies in town. The Concord Woman's club, founded in 1893 by Mrs. Lillian C. Streeter, numbers two hundred and twenty- five active and forty associate members. The presidents have been Mrs. Streeter, Mrs. Susau C. Bancroft, Mrs. Mary P. Woodworth, Mrs. Alice M. Nims, Mrs. Ella H. J. Hill, Mrs. Fanny E. Minot. A detailed description of this club is given in another article. The Woman's club of Penacook was founded in 1896 as the Current Events club, but its name was afterwards changed to indicate its enlarged scope. Its presidents have been Miss M. Annie Fiske, Mrs. Sarah E. (Abbott) Sanders, Mrs. Martha J. Buxton, Mrs. Grace Brown, and Mrs. Ida Harris. The membership is limited to seventy- five, and the club meetings offer lectures and papers on literature, art, science, and social progress, with an occasional musical enter- tainment and an annual reception.
The out-door clubs deserve special mention. Perhaps nothing would have astonished our ancestors more than a club-house built by twenty- five women for athletic and social recreation. We have two such houses in Concord. In 1896 the Outing club constructed the pretty Camp Weetamoo on an clevation overlooking the Merrimack, three miles south of the state house. It is believed to have been the first house of its kind in the country. The presidents of this club have been Dr. Maude Kent, Miss Mary Niles, Mrs. Arthur H. Knowlton, Miss Caroline S. Stewart, and Miss Lena M. Minot. Miss Nellie S.
Abbott has been the continuous secretary-treasurer. The Country club, founded in 1897, built an attractive house on the banks of the Contoocook and opened it with a large reception on July 1 of that year. The chairmen of the board of directors have been Miss Ella R. Holden, Mrs. Charles P. Bancroft, Mrs. Howard A. Kimball, and Mrs. Frank W. Rollins; the secretaries, Miss Abba G. Fiske, Mrs. Willis D. Thompson, and Miss Harriet L. Huntress. Bicycling, canoeing, and snowshoeing for women have been greatly promoted by these clubs ; and countless parties have been entertained at their hospitable houses. The Wild Flower club, founded in 1896, which takes weekly tramps from April to October, has done much to make its members acquainted with the scenery about Concord, as well as
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with the great variety of wild flowers (over four hundred blossoming plants) to be found here. The presidents of this club have been Mrs. A. P. Chesley and Mrs. I. A. Hill, and the secretaries, Miss Frances M. Abbott and Miss Sarah F. Sanborn. The Beaver Meadow golf links, in which men and women are equally interested, date from 1897. A detailed account of this club, with pictures of its own house and the Weetamoo and Country club-houses, may be found on page 584.
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