USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 63
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We owe much of our prosperity to the little academy standing there by the graveyard, in its new dress to-day, which I have never seen before. It shows that it is prosperous, and that the old ancestral fires have not yet gone out. I tell you, seriously, that the education found within its walls for the past thirty years, for all the practical uses of life, has been not much inferior to that of our colleges ; and in proof of what I say, I adduce the history and success of its numerous graduates, both men and women, to show how well, in practice and in fact, they have stood beside those who received their education in our great
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schools and universities. Having received here the best instruction in elemen- tary studies, the student has gone out into the world as well prepared for the struggles of life, and to advance alone in the higher walks of attainment, as is commonly the case where they have pursued a regular course of college education. Our students have studied here in maturer life, with firmer health and better con- stitutions. They have taken in and appropriated what they have learned. It has formed their characters and given shape and vigor to their minds. I know it may be said they are deficient in higher literary culture, which gives a finish to education. I grant this ; but they have here gained the strength and will to climb alone to higher and more rugged ways in after life, and through their lives, than any mere refinement of schools or colleges could give them. I do not, by this, mean to give any preference for the mere culture of earlier days, or to reflect upon that of our own ; but I do mean to say that the times and ways of business have pressed upon us the necessity of educating our youths at too early an age, and that elementary studies are too much neglected; so that we lose more in strength than we gain in advantages. I wish we might retain the great virtues of earlier times, to be added to the improvements of more modern systems; and if our children do enter upon active life later, they will have more character and strength for the duties and perils that await them. Of what benefit is study, if the knowledge we get is not our own, and does not in some way enter into the character of the man? The little particles of matter absorbed by the roots ascend through the body to the limbs and leaves, and when purified and prepared, be- come a part of the great tree, with its mighty trunk, its broad branches and rich foliage. And so is the growth of character from the particles of knowledge, experience, and truth, which, under the blessing of Almighty God, are gathered up in life.
My friends, I have thus imperfectly sketched the settlement and condition of this ancient town. This is a day of jubilee. We welcome home her children. The citizens of the town have opened their houses and their hearts, and bid you welcome. You can here see the old familiar faces you left behind you, the pic- tures on the walls, the old curtains by the windows, the crockery on the table. They will recall to your minds pleasant reminiscences of your earlier days ; they will fill the canvas of memory with images of the past ; they will speak to you of childhood, and you will live over again, in a few brief hours, childhood's happy days. In yonder mound, formed by the hand of Nature for a country church- yard, repose the ashes of our fathers ; and the green turf of the new-made graves tells us of some fresher griefs. Sadness and joy, sorrow and gladness, are strangely commingled in a day like this. But such is the lesson of life ; its little history is filled with events of which the experience of this day is but a brief epi- tome. When we again leave these homes of childhood, may we go with fresh strength and firmer wills to the performance of all the duties of life ; and as gene- ration after generation shall come and go in future centuries, may the virtues of our ancestors never be forgotten, and may peace and prosperity forever dwell in this lovely valley !
THE PRESIDENT .- I see here to-day a gifted son of Lancaster. I refer to Hon. Edward D. Holton of Wisconsin. The audience are waiting to hear him.
ADDRESS OF MR. HOLTON.
Mr. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen :
The first thing I desire to do here to-day (although it was not upon my pro- gramme when I left home), is to thank King George the Third. I never heard . the magnificent charter of this old town read before, and I come here to thank
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that good old king,-we called him "good " in those days, though we did not like him a few years after, and had a good round turn with him,-I come here to thank him that, among other things, he laid down grand laws for the government of this town. How wise was that provision which granted a tract of land for the support of the ministry! Parson Willard enjoyed the benefits of that provision up there on his farm; and the benefits were mutual. Although the Puritans dif- fered with him in some matters, yet there was the grand, magnificent fact,-a gospel for man ; the great foundation principle of man's progress and welfare.
Mr. Chairman, the grand tribute which you have just paid to the memory of Stockwell and Page and Bucknam most thoroughly agrees with all that I have heard of those noble men. There were other men, it seems, who came to Lan- caster with them; but it remained for Stockwell, particularly, as the learned ora- tor has told us, to stay the infant settlement. I am told that the first year the corn grew well for a time, and the people, who had lived upon suckers and clams taken out of the river, were looking with hope and confidence to the little patches of corn in the meadows ; but the frost came in August and killed it all, and with it destroyed all their hopes. Several of those men then said: " It is no use to live in this country. Here are beautiful meadows and streams, to be sure; the aspects of nature are grand, but food man must have, and here, right in the midst of summer, it is all cut off, and we cannot live here; we must leave you." Stockwell said: "I shall not go back, and I beg you not to go back." "We must go back." "Well, I shall stand here. I will go into the woods and kill the wild beasts in winter. I will stand here on the spot." And stand he did.
Mr. Chairman, it is a blessed thing, growing out of our English character, this love of home,-this grand old Saxon idea of home. When I got your message, bidding me come here from a thousand miles away, I was so circumstanced that it was exceedingly difficult for me to leave. But I remembered my early home ; I remembered that here was the place of my birth, and though I had traveled far and seen many flourishing communities, and been cognizant of numerous settle- ments that had sprung from the wilderness, as Lancaster did, still none of these had taken the place of that loved home, and though I got off from a sick bed, my heart bounded with joy when I turned my face homeward. When I got to Chi- cago I met Jim and Nat and Selden (three of the White brothers), and as we rode along we talked and laughed and joked and were like boys again. What a ride was that ! When we went out we had to journey a thousand miles, through a country much of it occupied by savages ; we had to walk or ride on horseback a great part of the way, and now on our return we came careering on twenty-five miles an hour, so that in fifty hours we spanned the thousand miles between our far Western homes and this our natal spot.
As we were riding along in Canada a gentleman who sat behind me called my attention to a range of mountains across the magnificent St. Lawrence, and said : " Those mountains look splendidly. Do you know whether they are in New York or in Vermont? "" " Well," said I, " I don't think we have got down to the Ver- mont line yet ; I think they must be in New York." "Well," said he, "they look good to me. I haven't seen any mountains for ten years. I was born among the mountains." "Ah ! where were you born?" "I was born in New Hampshire." "What town in New Hampshire?" (I always claim kindred with New Hampshire people wherever I meet them. I claim them as cousins, and generally kiss the women-feeling at liberty to do that. )
THE PRESIDENT .- I warn my friend not to come cousining down to Boston in his way. (Laughter.)
MR. HOLTON (resuming) .- "Well," said he, "I was born in Lancaster." " Indeed! that is my native town, sir. Pray tell me your name." "My name
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is Derby." "Indeed ! you are a descendant of Isaac Derby." " Yes," said he, "my father was Andrew Derby." "Indeed ! and your mother was Mary Green- leaf." "Yes." "Ah, I went to school to your mother, Mary Greenleaf." Where do you live?" "At Cedar Rapids, Iowa." "What is your busi- ness?" " I am a merchant there; I sell books." He had made his way through the states as hundreds of others have done, as a schoolmaster, and finally found himself located in that magnificent country, the most beautiful that human eyes ever rested upon,-the valley of the Cedar river-and has carried out there, from the old hearthstone, the fires that shall now be planted by him, in his turn, in that new country. He said there was another Lancaster boy on the train, and presently he brought him along and introduced him as a Chessman boy. Thus we met, children of this good old town, and recalled the pleasant memories of bygone times.
I do not know that I am right, but it has always seemed to me that Lancaster was a better town than Percy (formerly Stark) or Guildhall (I hope our friends from those towns will pardon me), and I have often reflected what it was that thus distinguished my native town. I believe all that the learned orator has said in regard to the influence of Lancaster to be true ; but what are the causes that have produced this influence? It will be profitable for us to consider that question as we meet here to-day. He has said that Mrs. Stockwell was the mother of fifteen children, and counted, before her death, one hundred and ninety descendants. Why did you not clap your hands when he made that statement? There is not so honorable a person in the world as she who gives human life. Stockwell and David Greenleaf, who had twenty-one children, ought to have monuments to their memory.
THE PRESIDENT .- Their children are their monuments. "These are their jewels."
MR. HOLTON continued .- What are the principles that produced these results? Mrs. Stockwell was a model woman. She not only read the Psalter, as the orator has told you, but in the absence of a settled minister, she drew the people around her, in her own house, to hear that great principle which stands first related to human welfare, namely, obedience to God.
But it is not alone of those early people, of whom I know nothing except from hearsay, that I would speak. I come down to people within my own memory, a goodly company. I remember Parson Willard well. So stately was he, so august his manner, so magnificent his bearing, that we boys were rather afraid of him. . I recollect that I used to run across the street when I saw him coming. But that fear did not keep us quiet in meeting, and sometimes we received a pointed rebuke from the pulpit, or the deacon came up into the gallery to pinch our ears. (Laughter.) But who shall measure the influence and power of such a man? He stamped his influence upon all who came around him. Every man and woman-even those who did not go to his church-felt it. Nor was he the only man who exerted an abiding influence for good. I well remember when other good men came here. I came back in the days when Rev. Mr. Peck was here, and other men of the same class. And what a power were those men in this community, even in the last half of this century,-Peck and Hilburn and Orange Scott and Wheelock! And, by the way, Mr. Wheelock lives out in Wis- consin now, nearly ninety years of age, and an efficient man he has been for twenty-five years in every good and noble work in that state. I have met him often in conventions that have had for their object the promotion of the moral and religious welfare of the community. We have had energetic men in Lancaster and in this neighborhood. The successors of those early settlers, Bucknam and Stockwell, were men of power. Here, too, were the Weekses, and old Major
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White (my friend has done no more than justice to that glorious man) and old Colonel Wilson. These were sterling men; these were men of force and power, and they have left their mark upon the town.
Then there has been a class of educated men among us. I have often reflected upon that. At the upper end of the street, when I was here, there was Pearson, there was Farrar, there was a lawyer by the name of Sheafe, a very accomplished man. These were men of mark; these were men who made their influence felt in this community. Besides these there was A. N. Brackett, a modest, unas- suming man, not a man of education-self-made, almost entirely. My mother, who relied upon him for counsel in times of adversity, used to send me down to his house, and I always found him reading or studying. I heard him deliver one or two orations here. I remember him as a man of great philanthropy, emi- nently just and patriotic, and a good man in the community. What a man of power was John W. Weeks! I remember meeting him on one occasion, and he laid his hand on my head and said : " Young man, you are one of Mrs. Holton's sons, aren't you?" " Yes, sir." "What are you going to do?" " I don't know ; I shall dig my way along, I suppose." " Why don't you go West? If I had ten boys I would spank every one of them if they didn't go West." (Laughter.) That was a blunt remark, but he was a steady, thoughtful, and cautious man. Edward Spaulding has been alluded to. I remember him as a most excellent man. Then there was William Lovejoy, a neighbor of ours. My recollection of him is of the most satisfactory kind. He used frequently to come, with his basket in his hand, and saddle-bag of tools on his back, to his day's work as carpenter and joiner. I have seen him many times wheeling his bushel of corn down to the mill to be ground. I recollect him as a man of singular beauty and dignity of character. How did virtue stand out in his life, and how is it seen streaming along down through a goodly family! I want to say, once more, that the lives of such men fill the world with goodness. Well have I known some members of this family. I wanted, above all things, to see John Lovejoy here to-day, and exceedingly regret that I cannot.
Now, how has it been with those sons of Lancaster who have gone out from this valley to try their future in other parts of the land? So far as I can reckon them up, and I have endeavored to keep an eye on a few of them, they have done tolerably well. Perhaps I may be permitted to say, leaving the two speakers on this occasion out, that, so far as I know, none of them have gone to the state prison (laughter), none of them have dishonored their town. On the other hand, many of our Lancaster men have ornamented the various walks of life. If you want to buy any sugar go to Portland and buy of Mr. Brown. If you want to buy any clothing, you will find the White boys, at Chicago, fair dealers. If you want any scales, go to St. Johnsbury, and buy of Baker, Bingham & Porter. Those St. Johnsbury scales have a great reputation ; there is not a merchant on the con- tinent who would think he could get along without them, and I believe there are no better scales in the world; but I think they would have failed without our Lancaster boys, Oliver Baker, Chandler Porter, and Mr. Bingham. Then we have a distinguished representative of Lancaster on the bench, in the person of Judge Woodruff; so, if you have suits to be tried, try them before him. If you want a lawyer, go to Oregon and get Farrar ; but be sure you get him here before your suit comes on ! (Laughter.)
Mr. Chairman, the hours are rapidly passing away. I shall not trespass much longer upon your patience. There is a long list of names that I have run over in my mind, as those of men particularly worthy of mention on an occasion like this ; but, in the hasty remarks that I have made, many of them have slipped from my memory. These men deserve to be remembered and honored, for they laid broad and deep the foundations of public and private virtue in this town, without which the welfare of no community can be secured. Let every man, and especially
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these young men, understand this, that in this day of our country's peril and our country's need, when there is accumulating upon us such a burden of debt, pri- vate virtue is the only thing that will shield us in these trying hours. It is the virtue of the individual men and women who have lived within her borders that has shielded Lancaster in the past ; it is that which has brought us together here, and made us joyful beyond measure in the greetings of this centennial day.
Let me say, in conclusion, that I come home with increasing love for my native town. And let me exhort you to stand by the principles of your fathers. I shall go back to the West feeling more and more the importance of those principles, and feeling called upon to gird myself up, so long as I live, to maintain those principles, and help to lay the same foundations that our fathers laid.
There is one other matter to which I wish to refer. You, sir, alluded to our first preceptor, Mr. Wilson. I also want to thank him. They used to thrash us most tremendously, those old schoolmasters. No doubt the boys and girls needed considerable whipping, but they pounded us most unmercifully. When Mr. Wilson came here he turned over a new leaf. He said, " You are gentlemen and fine fellows." That pleased us amazingly. We accepted his word, and he never had occasion to whip any of us, I think. I want to say that I owe a great deal to Mr. Wilson for the noble reformation that he made in this respect. He first taught our school here in the old schoolhouse, and then assumed the charge of the academy. I had the pleasure of attending just one term at the school and then one term at the academy, and I never gained in my life, from any one mind, so much benefit as I derived from that gentleman's instruction in those few brief months. I have always attributed much of my success in life to the excellent ideas and excellent spirit which he inculcated. Be careful, you that are engaged in teaching, how you deal with young minds. Learn from him to deal gently, kindly with them. To lead is better than to drive. We are all able to speak of the excellence of that school, which has existed now the major part of half a cen- tury.
My friends, this is indeed a joyous day. You, sir, spoke of the beauty of our town. I come back to testify to the same thing. I have had an opportunity to look over this country quite extensively, and I can say that you enjoy one of the most favored spots that are to be found in this whole land. So far as healthful- ness of climate, soil, and temperature, and the other great elements that go to make up the prosperity of any country are concerned, I should scarcely know where to go rather than to this very locality. In 1862 I had occasion to travel through New England when the land was suffering severely from drouth, and as I approached Portland there were a thousand acres on fire ; the roots of the grass were being burned up; all that region was as barren as a desert. I came to Lan- caster, and this beautiful valley was green as the garden of Paradise. It is so to-day. All through the West we are suffering from a severe drouth. The farm- ers are not expecting to get half a crop. Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, are suffering dreadfully. But everything here is green and beautiful ; and, take it year by year, I do not know where you could go to better your fortunes. Not but that you can find magnificent openings in the West, but the man who has got a good home let him not sell out that home because he expects to find a better. He may find a better one in some respects, but I tell you, look far and long before you part with these green fields and these magnificent slopes because of any hearsay story of better lands.
Mr. Chairman, I have trespassed too long upon your patience. We shall not meet at Lancaster again at the end of another century. Time, with many of us, flies quickly. Let us act well our part, upon the principles that have been sug- gested, and whether we meet here again or not, all is well.
2
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THE PRESIDENT .- My honorable friend has not trespassed upon our patience. I would beg leave, however, to make a simple cor- rection of one of his remarks. When he spoke of the Lancaster boys who had not been to the state prison, he excepted himself and excepted me. I desire to relieve him from excepting me. He shall enjoy that distinguished honor alone. (Laughter.)
Another piece of music was then performed by the band, after which the procession was reformed and marched to the field a short distance south of the church, where a rustic bower of evergreens and maples, covering two thirds of an acre, had been constructed, affording a pleasant and grateful shade. In this bower tables had been spread for two thousand five hundred people, and were abun- dantly supplied with substantial and attractive viands, to which the large company, filling the capacious bower, did full justice. Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Fay of the Congregational church, and then a half hour or more was spent in discussing the bountiful re- past, which was served by a committee of ladies, who devoted them- selves assiduously and untiringly to the comfort of their guests. The wants of the physical nature having been satisfied, the president called the company to order.
THE PRESIDENT .- The ladies are requested, as far as possible, to be seated. For the first time in all the world some of them are obstructions. (Laughter.) I am not aware of any way by which we can contrive to be heard unless the audience remain silent.
We have a few gentlemen present whose names are prominent in our minds, and we shall desire to hear from them, for they must have something to say. Having occupied your attention so long this morning, I will not preface the exercises here with any remarks of my own. I therefore call upon the marshal for the first regular toast. COLONEL KENT .- In the absence of the toastmaster, various toasts, sentiments, and letters have been committed to my care.
The toasts, as hereafter indicated in italics, were then read, re- sponses being made on the call of the president.
The Officers and Soldiers Present.
THE PRESIDENT .- We have scarcely referred to-day to the mili- tary spirit of our ancient town, and yet I think it may be remem- bered with pride. There occur to me at this moment the names of many of our citizens who have done noble service for their country, and I desire to read a little notice, which I find in the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Union, of the services of a gallant gentleman whom I see before me.
[This notice referred to the part taken by the Sixty-seventh New York volunteers (First Long Island) in the war, and Col. Nelson Cross, its present commander.]
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That is a truthful description of the noble part taken by Colonel Cross in the present war. It speaks for itself. I have read it be- cause it is a record so honorable. He has been in every fight; he has done his duty faithfully, and comes here to-day, having passed unharmed through every danger. I now beg leave to call upon Colonel Cross, Sixty-seventh New York regiment, for a few re- marks.,
SPEECH OF COL. NELSON CROSS.
Men and Women of Lancaster : I heard of your celebration in the army, some weeks before my time expired. I was then so circumstanced that I thought it doubtful, in more than one view, whether I should be able to be with you to-day. I thought your celebration was to be on the 12th, and I took the evening cars on the IIth, determined to be here at the close of the exercises, if I could not before. But on my way I met some friends on their route, who informed me that it was to be on the 14th, and that I was still in time. I was glad to know it. I wished to be here, to meet my old friends, and to witness that reunion of Lancaster peo- ple which I knew would be so productive of pleasure to us all. I wished to come simply to mingle with you as one of your citizens, not to take an active part; and when I was asked to address you here, I rather declined. I wished to be a sim- ple looker-on. I never felt less like speaking than I do to-day. This coming together of old friends - this thronging upon me of old memories, the dearest of my life ; this standing amidst the old scenes of my boyhood, is too much for me. It utterly unmans me, and unfits me to address you as I should.
My career in the army has been alluded to. It is true I have been in the army for three years. I went there, not because I had been bred to the profession of arms, not because I had any liking for that profession, for I had not, but because I saw the country in danger, and I felt that the great danger arose from the fact that we were not a military nation. We had become one of the greatest commer- cial nations on the face of the earth ; we had become a great agricultural people ; but we had devoted less time and money to military training, to preparing our- selves for human butchery, than any other nation in existence; and I felt, as a citizen, called on to go forth to the field, and I gave up all and went. I spent some time in organizing a regiment in Brooklyn, N. Y., where I happened to be living, raising and organizing it in opposition to some of the leading politicians of the place; but when I called upon the general government to accept it, they thought they did not want it; they thought they had enough ; seventy-five thou- sand men, they thought, were more than sufficient to crush out this rebellion, Finally, however, they were prevailed upon to take us. On the 20th of June, 1861, we were mustered into the service, and from that time to this we have par- ticipated in the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. Further than this, for myself, I cannot say. We have done our duty. We have gone wherever we have been sent; we have stayed wherever we have been put. I brought home but the fragment of a regiment. That is the saddest part of it all. The soil of Virginia has been made sacred in this war as it was never made before. Among you, how many there are who have cause to mourn the loss of some relative or friend, who has been left on the field, or here, on yonder sacred hill, sleeps among his dearest friends, whose career has been cut short by this terrible war, which, I fear, is not yet near its end !
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