USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Boston > History of New Boston, New Hampshire > Part 14
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They, moreover, realized and understood the force and sig- nificance of the sentiment before the poet wrote, -
" Oh Freedom ! thou art not as poets dream, - A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs And wavy tresses A bearded man, Armed to the teeth art thou ; one mailed hand Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword ; thy brow, Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred With tokens of old wars. Thy massive limbs Are strong with struggling."
We have heard much, Mr. President, in certain localities of the West, during the past year, in denunciation of New Eng- land, - much, even, about dissolving the interesting relations between her and the "rest of mankind," and leaving her to the desperate alternative of taking care of herself.
Such allusions, Sir, are extraordinary, and I only refer to them here to say that they are in no sense a correct reflection of the prevailing sentiment on that subject, and find no coun- tenance with fair-minded men of any party or nationality. Were the proposition submitted to a vote of the people, there is not a State west of Lake Erie where it would find any sub- stantial indorsement.
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I have heard a public declaimer hissed into silence, in at least two of the leading cities of the West, for carping at New Eng- land. I have heard a Western troup sing, amid the tears and cheers of a delighted auditory, -
" Hurrah for old New England And her cloud-capped granite hills !"
Why, Mr. President, in Wisconsin we feel as though we could not keep house without New England !
Her sons are in our pulpits, in our halls of legislation, in our chambers of commerce, at our boards of trade, on our judicial benches, in our editors' chairs, at our bars of justice. Her daughters are our school-madams, our wives, our sisters, our cousins, our friends.
No, we cannot part company. Not only East and West, but North and South, must remain together. Our traditions, our associations, our interests, our hopes, our necessities bind us together. A part of the same great National Unity, our destiny is one. No stripe shall be erased from our national escutcheon, no star obscured. The days and hours of our trial and sacri- fice are days and hours of discipline, and will have an end. Forth from the fiery ordeal the Divine hand will lead us in his own good time, purged and purified, and fitted for his own be- neficent purposes. If true to the mighty trust which, in the providence of God, has been cast upon this generation, we shall earn the plaudits and benedictions of mankind.
Nor shall we fail. The day of our triumph may be postponed, but it will dawn. "High o'er the eastern steep the sun is beaming, and darkness flies with her deceitful shadows; so truth prevails o'er error." The lightnings may rend the skies and shake the earth, but the balmier breezes, the purer air, and the brighter heavens are beyond. The fury of the storm shall cease, and the rainbow of peace again be painted on the sky. The temple of our liberties, gravitating amid the convulsions of the hour toward a broader and firmer basis, shall lift its jewelled and burnished pillars far aloft, and stand secure amid the con- flicts and commotions of the ages.
WILLIAM PARKER COCHRAN, ESQ.
He is son of Joseph Cochran, Jr., Esq. After arriving at majority, Mr. Cochran spent a short time in Lowell, Mass., when, his health failing, he shipped on board the " China," and visited the South Atlantic, and returned, after a cruise of eleven months, with health greatly improved. Subsequently he became employed by the Boston and Lowell Railroad as clerk, conductor, and general ticket clerk for the corporation. Here his health failed him again, and he resigned his position, and was subsequently connected with the Cheshire Railroad, and is now occupying an important office on the Vermont Valley Railroad, having his residence at Bellows Falls. May 3, 1843, Mr. Cocli- ran married Nancy C. Miller, and their children are : Joseph, born April 16, 1844; Austin, born Nov. 24, 1849 ; Cornelia, born July 5, 1851, and William, born Feb. 24, 1855.
Two of Mr. Cochran's children - Austin and Cornelia - died of scarlet fever, Jan. 9, 1854, at the same moment, after a sickness of only twenty-four hours.
Mr. Cochran is an intelligent, christian man, enjoying exten- sive confidence as a gentleman of business capacity.
RESPONSE OF WILLIAM P. COCHRAN, ESQ.
THE HOMES OF NEW BOSTON. - Good women have blessed, and religion has sancti- fied them.
MR. PRESIDENT, -
I thank you for the sentiment to which you request me to respond. Had the topic been left to my own choice, I could not have selected one more in harmony with my feelings to-day. There is no place like home. No other place awakens such pleasing associations, or sets in motion trains of reflection so delightful.
Childhood, parental tenderness, instruction, and restraints, youthful merriment and innocent sports, rich dainties and abundant supplies, healthful labor and refreshing sleep, on the one hand, and trials of patience, temptations to weakness, severe tasks and scanty supplies, carly bereavements and aching hearts, on the other, cluster thick around the homes of our carly life, as the great Disposer of the " lot " has ordained.
The Homes of New Boston. - It was here upon these hills and amid these valleys, that we first beheld the beauties of earth and the splendors of heaven ; that we first heard the melodies of the human voice ; of bird, of winds, and waterfalls. It was here we were first startled _by the lightning's flash and the thunder's roar ; it was here we revelled amid scenes of pleasure, free from the cares and toils, sorrows and trials of mind and heart, which in later days beset our pathway. Never to be obliterated are the memories of our early homes. In after years, wherever we roam, whatever our fortune, rich or poor, whatever our surroundings, no other place is to us so cherished as the home of our childhood. These homes may have been thatched cottages, and to-day we may live in palaces, yet these carly homes are the centre of attraction to our hearts ; we are irresistibly drawn back, amid all our wanderings, to this start-
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ing-point of existence, the Eden from which it is well if only our circumstances, not our sins, have thrust us out.
How different the homes of childhood from those of man- hood ! In the former, our wants are anticipated by others ; in the latter, we must care for ourselves and the precious children God has given us. Our homes of to-day are not the homes of our youth, though the homestead be ours, and we dwell in the old family mansion. Death has broken domestic circles, and the survivors are strangely dispersed ; so that he who stands upon the old family hearthstone this centennial day, surrounded though he may be with the lovely and the loved, recalling the days of his youth, the forms that once surrounded him, and the faces that smiled for him, cannot be insensible to the fact that desolation has swept that home, and rent into fragments that once joyous family circle. . He cannot but feel solitary, like some branchless trunk of a decaying tree, which stands in the open field, representing all that is left of a once stately forest ; yet, for their very desolation our hearts cling with tenderest interest to the dwellings of younger life, and our minds are full of them when the sports and pleasures, the pains and sorrows, associated with them are recalled. The vain attempt to catch the robin or the sparrow by laying salt upon his tail, the shooting the squirrel, and angling the fish, are not only associated with homes, but they marked a period in our childhood life ; they denoted development, and the ris- ings of ambition. We can now remember the pride we felt on the achievement of boyish success, and the consciousness of glory which the most successful general hardly dares antici- pate.
And our school-life, so intimately associated with early homes, is not to be forgotten. The birch and ferule which few of us escaped, the first lessons in " Webster's Spelling-Book," under some Mary Campbell ; the reading of the story of " The Boy in the Apple-tree ; " the " Dairy-maid " with her " spilled milk ;" and loss of a " green dress ; " " Reynard and the Mosquitoes," and " Poor Dog Tray," punished for being in bad company ; the "Bull and the Ox," with their argumentative owners; the games we played ; the battles we fought, - in which Bunker Hill was often taken and retaken ; those social gatherings on winter
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evenings and summer days, when " blind-man's buff," " pass- ing the button," and "paying the forfeit," were our sports ; autumnal huskings, when the red car was suggestive of ruby lips and rosy cheeks ; and apple " paring-bees," and the cider that did not intoxicate, - the remembrance of these serves to quicken our blood, and to cause us to grow young again ; and they are all associated with the homes of former days, though they may not belong to the present.
But New Boston homes are associated with the loom, the spinning-wheel, the reel, and warping-bars, darning, knitting, and sewing-needles, some of which were musical, all useful, instruments too much displaced by the piano and crochet-needle. To aid them in their social gatherings, young misses used to take with them their spinning-wheels, each innocently striving to excel all others ; and their brothers came in the evening, to see the reeling, and crown any who had excelled, and sometimes to select a pair of hands and a heart to aid in life's future toilings. The early homes of New Boston were hives of active, busy hands and cheerful hearts. The Homes of New Boston. - Good women have blessed them. Yes, good women have blessed these homes. We cannot forget a pious mother, her loving heart and ceaseless watchings ; nor can we fail to be influenced by what she did and what she was to us. It was her hand that pressed our fevered brow, and her care, with God's blessing, that restored our strength. She saved us from many a heart- ache, dried many a tear, shielded from many a temptation, and secured by her intercessions much succor from the unseen Power. More to us than all the world besides have been the eyes, the hands, and the hearts of our mothers. And the loss of a Christian mother cannot be replaced. Once lost she is lost forever. Go the wide world over, and nothing will be found to fill the aching void. There is no home for a child, where there is no mother ; nothing can serve in the stead of her love ; neither distance nor years can wean us from it ; time and distance but open our minds and hearts to a truer sense of its value ; the further we wander, and the longer we stay from the scenes of early attachments, the more intense become our longings to live over again the innocent days of our childhood, when we rested our weary heads on the bosom of a loving
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mother, and were lulled to sleep by the sweet music of her voice.
The Homes of New Boston. - Good women have blessed, and religion has sanctified them. Nothing is more obvious than the happy influence of Christian women and religion on the households of New Boston. And it was here in our child- hood's home that we first learned our accountability to God, and of salvation through Jesus Christ. Household religious instruction has always been one of the great mercies which a kind Providence has conferred upon New Boston. The cate- chism was earliest used as a means of storing the minds of the young with Scriptural truths ; and this was generally taught, and its influence in time can never be fully estimated.
In 1819, the Sabbath school was first organized in this town, and it then excited a lively interest. It was intended especially for the benefit of children, but our parents were not less inter- ested therein, and it was at home, under their superintendence, that we learned our lessons, which consisted of committing to memory passages of Scripture. Question-books and commen- taries which children could use were unknown in those days. Our parents were in place of them. The Bible was our text- book, and Sabbath evenings were especially set apart for relig- ious conversation and instruction. And pleasant indeed were those Sabbath gatherings of families for the recital of what re- · ligious truth we had learned, and receiving more. Long and thankfully to be remembered are those Sabbath evenings, when all were free and eager to ask questions, which our parents kindly solved and reduced to our comprehension. Whether this practice was general, I cannot say ; but I know it was ob- served in many families. And where this practice has been discontinued, and the religious and moral instruction of children has been wholly confided to Sunday-school teachers, and we go about the streets boasting of the great advantages of our chil- dren, in the privileges they have in Sunday-school books and teachers, it becomes us to remember the days of our fathers, and to inquire into their practice in training their children ; for it may be that we shall find ourselves gathering only bundles of straw where they reaped golden sheaves of wheat. If we would have our homes sanctified as were the homes of our
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fathers, we must practice home religious instruction ; otherwise, we may bring sorrow to our dwellings, and misery to our chil- dren's heritage.
For such instruction, the homes of New Boston were greatly indebted to the good women whom God raised up to shed a profusion of light in their dwellings. Such mothers made these homes sanctuaries of peace and happiness. It was the wives and mothers, with strong minds and healthy bodies and sancti- fied hearts, that gave to this town so many model homes, and a generation of sons and daughters who are here to-day, loyal to their country, true to their God and to the principles that made the place of our nativity no mean inheritance. Diffusing the spirit of religion through their households, they made these hills and valleys attractive to childhood ; and the remembrance of them and the homes they hallowed, has drawn us from our distant fields of activity to the scenes of our early life, to bear our testimony to their worthiness, and to give assurance to the living and those that shall live after us, of our gratitude to God for such homes, and such mothers, and the religion that made them all that they were of good then, and now, and for time to come.
And now, Mr. President, I close with the following sentiment ; a prayer from a sincere and loving heart : -
The present and future Homes of New Boston. - May equally virtuous mothers bless them, and their pure religion hallow them, rendering them the abodes of economy, industry, and godliness.
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THE ABSENT.
The number of those who have emigrated from New Boston is very large. They are to be found in all parts of the country, and in almost all departments of activity.
On the occasion of the centennial, it was not anticipated that all would return, though a large number was expected, and that expectation was more than realized; they came from regions far remote, overcoming huge obstacles, and making great sacrifices, all drawn by a mighty attraction to the homes of their childhood and the graves of their ancestors. And though both days of the celebration were crowded with rich thoughts, delightful memories, and cordial greetings, yet the absent were not forgotten. Those who had been so long absent as to be nearly forgotten were by associations brought vividly before the mind, and those who had not neglected their an- cestral homes were remembered with tender interest; while those who had gone for the defence of our Government, and for the preservation of our Union against a foul conspiracy, were made the objects of most earnest prayer and of tenderest recol- lections.
DR. CHARLES COCHRAN.
He was the youngest son of John Cochran, Esq., born June 9, 1816. His mother was Frances, daughter of the late Dr. Jonathan Gove. He prepared for college at Hopkinton, and Fran- cestown academies, and spent two years in Ohio ; but in 1837 returned and took charge of Sandwich Academy. After two years of teaching his health failing him, he returned to Ohio, and in 1840, commenced studying medicine with his brother, Dr. Jeremiah S. Cochran of Sandusky, and graduated at Wil- loughby Medical University in 1843, and practised in Sandusky until 1859, and settled in Toledo in 1861, where he now resides, highly esteemed as a gentleman and a physician.
Dr. Cochran married Mary A. Norris of Sandwich, N. II., in 1847.
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RESPONSE OF DR. CHARLES COCHRAN.
THE EMIGRANT SONS OF NEW BOSTON - They speak for themselves.
MR. PRESIDENT, -
The orator of the day has spoken eloquently. While you have listened to his glowing words, you may have thought of others, who would gladly have stood before you to give expres- sion to the joyous sentiments suggested by the anniversary of our country's birth, and by the rare event that has called so many of the sons and daughters of the town from their scattered homes. Others, who have responded to sentiments proposed, have spoken words that have waked up sleeping memories, and recalled incidents of by-gone years. All these have spoken ; you have heard their words of cheer.
It is not of these I desire to speak, but of the absent ones, whose hearts this day beat with patriotism as pure and as strong as do yours. Some are scattered through the different States, engaged in peaceful avocations. Others have taken up arms in defence of their country. All these speak. Perhaps I cannot better interpret their language than by giving incidents that have occurred in the life-history of some.
On the 13th day of April, 1862, a staunch steamer, chartered by the governor of the State of Ohio, lay in the Tennesee River tied up at Pittsburgh Landing. Notice was soon circulated through the camp of the great army that then lay on that sadly memorable field, that the wounded soldiers of Ohio would be cared for, and removed to commodious hospitals nearer home. Among the first sufferers brought on board that hospital boat was a poor fellow whose leg was shattered by a musket-ball. One of those who carried the litter on which he was stretched was a tall, broad-shouldered man, wearing the uniform of a private soldier. I was soon busy dressing the wound. While the tall soldier watched the process, Lasked his nativity, " New Boston, New Hampshire," he replied. Just then a gush of
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blood from the wound demanded my attention, when it was stanched, and I looked up, the tall soldier was gone. During the afternoon and far into the night, I frequently saw the same brave, tender-hearted soldier, bringing in the wounded. Near midnight, when I was at leisure, the tall soldier was engaged in other duties, or taking his rest. I never knew his name nor he mine. His gentle, patient, long-continued efforts to relieve his suffering fellow-soldiers proved him one of nature's noblemcu. He speaks not for himself alone. The heart of every son and daughter of the old native town will think with pride, that such a man first breathed God's air among these rugged hills.
Another youthful son of the town, one pleasant day last year, was sauntering through the streets of a little town in Missouri. He was met by a red-whiskered, long-haired, uncombed, un- shaven, and unwashed, butternut-clad native, who, with oaths and coarse ribaldry, charged him with being a son of New Eng- land, and of loyalty to his country. That man, erect, showing every inch of stature with which God had endowed him, replied, " I am a son of New England, and I am loyal to my country and to her flag." The cowardly assassin shot him dead. When the names of brave dead, fallen during this rebellion, shall be enrolled, that of the martyred Richmond Cochran shall stand prominent, and will hold a cherished place in the hearts of many here assembled to-day.
These instances of devotion to country, and to the good of fellow-men, do but epitomize the deeds of many of the absent sons of New Boston. The minister of the gospel, the lawyer, the doctor, the merchant, the mechanic and the farmer (for all these professions are by them represented), each in his sphere, nobly does his duty, and, if present here to-day, each would echo every noble sentiment that has been uttered in your hearing. The emigrant sons of New Boston do indeed speak for themselves, by the noble, manly deeds that fill up their daily life. They speak of whatsoever is pure and of good repute here, and of brighter hopes and more glorious prospects hereafter. In conclusion, permit me to propose, -
The Fathers and Brothers at Home. May they unite with the absent ones in one long, loud shout, "Our country first, last, always one and undivided."
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PERLEY DODGE, ESQ.
Mr. Dodge's ancestors are believed to have come from the North of Wales, and were among the early settlers in Massa- chusetts Bay. His father, William Dodge, came from Hamnil- ton, Essex County, Mass., in 1787, and settled where his son, Samuel, now resides. Before coming to New Boston, he mar- ried Rachel Poland, and their children were three sons and six daughters, all of whom lived to have families.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest son. He fitted for college at Pinkerton, Salisbury, and Francestown academies, and with Rev. E. P. Bradford. He entered Dartmouth Col- lege in 1820 ; subsequently went to Union College, whence he graduated in 1824, and read law with Titus Brown of Frances- town, and Nehemiah Eastman, of Farmington, and was ad- mitted to practice in 1828. He commenced practice at Fran- cestown, subsequently opened an office at New Boston, but in 1832 removed to Amherst, and in 1839 was appointed Clerk of the Courts of Hillsborough County, which office he retained nearly eighteen years.
In 1831, he married Harriet Woodbury, of Francestown, - a sister of the late Levi Woodbury, - and is now in the success- ful practice of law in Amherst, enjoying the comforts of afflu- ence and the confidence of the community.
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J.H. Bafford's Tto
Perley Dodge
RESPONSE OF PERLEY DODGE, ESQ.
THE LAWYEES OF NEW BOSTON - At home and abroad.
MR. PRESIDENT, -
This is an epoch in our lives' history. Our various tasks are forsaken for this joyous commingling of hearts, and rehearsals of human acts and Providential overrulings. We represent all classes and all avocations, - the tiller of the soil, the toiler in the shop, the merchant at his counter, the physician at the bed of sickness, the lawyer in his office, and the pastor in his study. And we here recognize the union of all these, the need of all these, to the highest well-being of society. All these have here spoken but the lawyer. In his behalf you call upon me to speak. This I do with pleasure. There existed, for a long time, a decided aversion to the legal profession among no incon- siderable portion of the community. But that has disappeared, and all intelligent men recognize the necessity of the profession to the execution of laws and the maintaining of justice. The rights of individuals would be in constant jeopardy but for those skilled in the law, in detecting fraud and exposing wickedness. The profession may sometimes serve to shield the wrongdoer, but a thousand times oftener does it bring to light the hidden works of darkness. The guilty, not the innocent, dread the lawyer, and the injured find him to be the friend in time of need.
In 1772, when Hillsborough County was organized, there was no member of the legal profession between Amherst and Clare- mont. The first lawyer who attempted to establish himself in practice above Amherst, was Samuel Bell, afterwards Judge, Governor of the State, and Senator in Congress. He opened an office in Francestown ; but the people were greatly exasperated at his audacity, pronounced him an invader upon their rights, and threatened him with violence. But his manly deportment
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and strict adherence to justice soon overcame their prejudice, and won their confidence.
New Boston has never been an inviting field for the legal profession. Its location is not sufficiently central to attract business from surrounding towns, and the people have not sought to encourage litigation. Once on a time I. opened an office here, but soon found that if there was bread to spare in any other region, it was not wise for me to remain and famish. No one else has had cqual daring. And yet New Boston has contributed much to the support of lawyers in other towns. To their patronage Steele and Gove, Brown and Danforth, Hazel- ton, Sawyer, Parker, Means, and Atherton, have been greatly indebted. Is it certain that though this town boasts that it has no lawyer, it really has been for its interest ? There is, at least, room for doubt. Be that as it may, it is certain the lawyer here has gained no laurels. Nor has New Boston raised up many of her sons for the legal profession ; but of those she has given, there is no occasion for shame. William Willson became a leader, and rose to eminence. He was the son of Alexander Willson, born in that part of the town once known as Egypt, " because there was much corn there." He graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1797, settled in Ohio, and in 1823 became Judge of the Supreme Court in that growing State, and subse- quently was elected member of Congress, and died in 1827, aged 55.
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