USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume IV > Part 12
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Fifty years had elapsed since the first railroad had been built in New Hampshire, and in the year 1883 the mileage was 1,218 miles. Two million passengers were transported annually and three million tons of freight, costing the people of the State five million dollars annually. Consolidation was the watchword.
The population of the State was 346,991 and its wealth was estimated to be $200,000,000. The value of its annual product of manufactures was $75,000,000.
Perhaps the chapter of political history may be fittingly closed with a brief sketch of the life of Governor Moody Currier, who was elected in 1885 by a vote of 42,413 over both his com- petitors, John M. Hill and Larkin D. Mason. Mr. Currier was born in Boscawen, April 22, 1806, and died at Manchester August
MOODY CURRIER
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23, 1895. His father was Moody Morse Currier, born at Warner October 2, 1785, and his mother was Rhoda Putney. His grand- father was Dr. John Currier from Newbury, Mass., who mar- ried, March 19, 1781, Sarah, daughter of Dr. John Clement of Hopkinton, and died in 1808, aged fifty-two. The boyhood of Moody Currier was spent on a farm in Bow. He fitted for col- lege at Hopkinton Academy and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1834 with very high honors. After teaching in Concord a short time he was principal of Hopkinton Academy one year and then principal of Lowell High School five years. He was clerk of the State Senate in 1843-4 and a member of that body in 1856-7, serving the last year as its president. During the first year or more of the Civil War he was a member of the governor's coun- cil and chairman of the committee for raising and equipping soldiers, in which he was very efficient. Marked business ability connected him with several banks and railroads. His work as a teacher made him a master of refined English, and he was always the polished gentleman. His addresses at the acceptance of the monument to Daniel Webster in 1886 and at the dedication of the Stark monument in 1890 are brief, compact, clear and forceful. To delve in literature and cultivate the society of the Muses was his recreation and delight. He knew their gait and could hear them when they sang, but his volume of poetry lacks fire, inspiration and moral vigor, though it may well soothe a troubled soul and give hope to the despondent. As a gentle- man of culture and noble character, as a business man of large ability, as a wise and trustworthy executive, Moody Currier is remembered and will long hold a place of honor. The poor farm-house in Bow and the luxurious mansion in Manchester are boundary marks in an honorable career.
Chapter VIII LITERATURE
1
Chapter VIII
LITERATURE
A Swarm of Historians-Hon. Lorenzo Sabine-Edward M. Blunt-"Mrs. Partington"-Joseph C. Neal-Richard B. Kimball, Novelist- Nathaniel Holmes and the Baconian Theory-Harriet N. Farley-Con- stance F. Woolson-James T. Fields-Thomas B. Aldrich-The Poets of Portsmouth-The Tuneful Three Hundred-Celia L. Thaxter- Albert Laighton-Harriet M. Kimball-Edna Dean Proctor-Amanda B. Harris-Mrs. Sarah J. Hale-Horatio Hale-Rev. James Freeman Clarke-Prof. Thomas C. Upham-Rev. Ephraim Peabody-Samuel G. Drake and Francis S. Drake-George B. Prescott, Electrician-Thomas W. Knox-Kate Sanborn-Charles C. Coffin, War Correspondent-Salma Hale-Edwin M. Hale-Edwin A. Jenks-Joseph E. Worcester, Lexi- cographer-William D. Ticknor-Daniel Lothrop-"The Waverley Maga- zine"-George H. Moore, Librarian-Judge Mellen Chamberlain-Ains- worth R. Spofford-Sam Walter Foss.
N EW HAMPSHIRE has had a swarm of local historians, and their number seems to be increasing. More than fifty town histories have been published, some in two or three large vol- umes. These for the most part give details of local events and genealogies of old families, that are of great interest to resi- dents of the towns described and to their descendants. There is an unavoidable sameness to such histories. Many trace back to the same beginnings and tell anew the first discoveries and the Masonian claims. All have their share in the Indian wars. There is the same story of roads, schools and churches. The distinguishing features are the genealogies, without which a town history has little worth and sale. A more condensed form of town history may be seen in the county histories of consider- able size and frequency, and of variable worth. Portraits of prominent and wealthy men and bits of natural scenery illustrate, if they do not adorn, such compilations. Among the best local histories may be mentioned Brewster's Rambles about Ports- mouth, Dow's History of Hampton, Gov. Bell's History of Exeter, Miss Mary P. Thompson's Landmarks in Ancient Dover, the History of Durham, in two volumes, the History of Con-
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cord, in two volumes, prepared under the supervision of the City History Commission and edited by James O. Lyford, who also is author of a good History of Canterbury in two volumes, Rev. Nathan F. Carter's History of Pembroke in two volumes, Hon. Ezra S. Stearns' History of Rindge and History of Ply- mouth, Moses T. Runnel's History of Sanbornton, Rev. John H. Saunderson's History of Charlestown, Richard W. Musgrave's History of Bristol, John R. Eastman's History of Andover, Wil- liam H. Child's History of Cornish, and James R. Jackson's History of Littleton in three volumes. Many of the town his- tories have been compiled with laborious research and corres- pondence extending over a long time and are labors of love for native towns, or intended as advertisements.
The sources of the general history of the State have been published to a large extent in the Province Papers, State Papers, Town Papers, Revolutionary Rolls, etc., in over thirty volumes, under the successive editorship of Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, D. D., Isaac W. Hammond, Albert S. Batchellor, and Henry A. Met- calf, State Historians. Much more remains to be published, found in Province Deeds, Court Records and Files, and Vital Statistics of Towns.
Several histories of the State have been written. That by the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, D. D., has been often mentioned in this work and is of permanent value. That by Professor San- born is a collection of historical essays. That by John N. Mc- Clintock is a hasty compilation, yet gathers up materials of historical value.
A history that extends beyond State lines was written by a son of New Hampshire, Lorenzo Sabine, born in Lisbon, Feb- ruary 28, 1803, son of Rev. Elijah R. Sabine, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His school education was limited. Early he became a bank clerk, removed to Eastport, Maine, and represented that town in the legislature three times. He was also collector of customs at Passamaquoddy. His first edition of "The American Loyalists" appeared in 1847 and was enlarged into two volumes in 1864, a work of extended research in original sources. He wrote also a Life of Commodore Edward Preble. Bowdoin College honored him with the degree of Master of Arts in 1846 and Harvard in 1848. After removing to Boston he was sent to congress for a short time to fill out an unexpired
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term, in 1852-3. As an agent of the United States Treasury De- partment he wrote a "Report on the Principal Fisheries," in 1853. His "Notes on Duels and Dueling" was published in 1855. His address before the New England Historic Genealogical Society, on the one hundredth anniversary of the death of General Wolfe, September 13, 1859, was published with annotations. For some time he was secretary of the Boston Board of Trade and pre- pared four volumes of its annual reports. His extensive library of historical and other works was bequeathed to the New Hamp- shire Historical Society and is kept in a room specially set apart therefor. He died at Boston Highlands, April 14, 1877. Con- stantly employed in earning a living he used his spare moments to educate himself broadly and to produce something of perma- nent historical value.
A work of great usefulness was produced by Edmund M. Blunt, born in Portsmouth, June 20, 1770. For a time he was a bookseller and publisher of the Newburyport Herald. In 1796 he published "The American Coast Pilot," a book that is still in use. It has passed through about thirty editions and has been translated into most of the languages of Europe. It describes all the ports of the United States, sailing directions, lists of light- houses and other information important to seamen. He also published in 1817 a "Strangers' Guide to New York City," and numerous nautical works came from his pen. He died January 2, 1862.
In the realm of humorous literature who has not read or heard of Mrs. Partington and her son Ike? They figured in school "exhibitions" of fifty years ago. Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber was born in Portsmouth July 12, 1814. Educated in the public schools he entered a printing office at the age of fif- teen. After two years he went to Boston, serving there as a printer, and thence took a voyage to British Guiana. In 1840 he became connected with the Boston Post and remained with that newspaper ten years. In 1847 he began publishing his "Say- ings of Mrs. Partington." In 1851 he took charge of the comic paper called The Carpet Bag. He was afterward editor for ten years of the Saturday Evening Gazette. In 1853 he published "Rhymes with Reason and Without." The "Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington" was published in book form in 1853, and fifty thousand copies were sold. In 1879 he brought to light "Ike
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and His Friends," followed by the Partington series. In 1882 his "Wide Swath" was printed, a collection of verses including "Lines in Pleasant Places." Other works were "Knitting Work," "Partington Patch Work," "Cruises with Captain Bob," and "Double Runner Club." He died in Chelsea, Mass., March 25, 1890. For a long time he ranked among the first humorists of the country. There was wisdom as well as wit in Mrs. Partin- ton's sayings, that found their way into many households and current newspaper literature. Mr. Shillaber's style has had no successful imitator.
The mention of humorous literature suggests the name of Joseph Clay Neal, born in Greenland, February 3, 1807, son of a retired clergyman. His parents died when he was very young. He had a natural fondness for writing and contributed to peri- odicals till 1831, when he became editor of the Pennsylvanian. Ill health sent hi mto Europe, and on his return he established Neal's Saturday Gazette, which he edited till his death, July 18, 1847. His humorous delineations of character were gathered into "Charcoal Sketches, or Scenes in Metropolis," republished in London with the approval of Charles Dickens. His other work that was well received was "Peter Ploddy and Other Oddities." The man that will make us laugh is always welcome; the really humorous author is read once and then we quit his company to seek the next one. The joke will not bear repetition ; its novelty is its essence.
Probably New Hampshire has had no novelist of wider reputation than Richard Burleigh Kimball, born in Plainfield, October 1, 1816. At the age of eleven he was ready to enter college, but this event was postponed two years. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1834 and two years after was admitted to the bar in Waterford, New York, where he practiced law till his removal to New York city. Here he continued to act as a law- yer till fifteen years before his death, taking time, however, for much travel and for literary pursuits. He is said to have crossed the Atlantic thirty times. His first book was the one by which he became best known, entitled "St. Leger, or the Threads of Life," a philosophical novel. The scene was laid in Scotland. The book had twenty-three editions in this country and was published also in London and Leipzig, besides being translated into French and Dutch. This work was followed the same year,
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1850, by "Cuba and the Cubans." His "Romance of Student Life Abroad" came out in 1857, the fruit of study in Paris in earlier years and of travel in Europe. His life in New York city gave rise to his "Undercurrents of Wall Street," in 1861, "Was He Successful," 1863, "Henry Powers, Banker," 1868, "Lectures Be- fore the New York Law Institute" and "Today in New York," 1870. Other works were "The Prince of Kashna," 1865, "In the Tropics," 1863, and "Stories of Exceptional Life," 1887. Dart- mouth College gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1873. His last work was "Half a Century of Recollections," published in 1893, shortly after his death. He founded the town of Kimball, Texas, and built a portion of the railroad from Galveston to Houston. His mission seems to have been to gather up knowl- edge and money and to distribute both for the welfare of others. Thereby he found his own.
Another lawyer who became known in literature was Na- thaniel Holmes, born in Peterborough, July 2, 1814, of Scotch- Irish descent. Fitting for college at Phillips Exeter Academy he graduated at Harvard in 1837 and was admitted to the bar in Boston two years later. He practiced law in St. Louis and became a judge of the supreme court of Missouri. From 1868 to 1872 he held the Royall professorship of law in Harvard Uni- versity. In 1856 he took part in organizing the Academy of Science in St. Louis and was its secretary twenty-two years. He was made an honorary member of the Bacon Society of London by reason of his publication, in 1866, of "The Author- ship of Shakespeare." It is a learned and well reasoned setting forth of the theory that the plays commonly attributed to Wil- liam Shakespeare were in reality written by Lord Francis Bacon. The theory has been further elaborated by many writers, with additional and powerful evidences. The style of Mr. Holmes' work shows a mind familiar with literature as well as with law. Four editions of this work were printed, the last in two volumes with a supplement in 1886. His acquaintance with philosophy appears in "Realistic Idealism in Philosophy Itself," published in two volumes in 1888. In 1889 he delivered the historical address at Peterborough on the one hundred and fiftieth anni- versary of the settlement of that town.
Harriet N. Farley, daughter of the Rev. Stephen Farley, pastor of a church at Claremont, 1806-19, was born in that town
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February 18, 1817. Her father was later principal of Atkinson Academy, and there and at Hampton Falls Academy she was educated to be a teacher. After several experiments as a teacher in country schools she so disliked the work that she went to Lowell, Mass., and was for many years an operative in a mill. In 1841 while thus employed she started and edited a paper, called "The Lowell Offering," written entirely by women em- ployed as operatives in factories. She was its owner and pub- lisher, doing about all the work except the bare printing. It had a circulation of four thousand copies. A volume, made up chiefly of selections from this magazine, was published under the title, "Shells from the Strand of the Sea of Genius," in 1847. She wrote also "Laws of Life," "Happy Homes at Hazel Nook" and "Christmas Stories." A collection from the Lowell Offering was published in London, in 1849, entitled "Mind Among the Spindles." Her autobiography appeared in Mrs. Hale's "Woman's Record." In 1854 Miss Farley married John Intaglio Don- levy of Philadelphia, an inventor, who died in 1872. After her marriage she seems to have disappeared from the world of literature. The noise of spindles may have been more conducive to literary work than the clatter of dishes. It has been said that leisure and opportunity for reflection are necessary for the finest products of the pen, but the history of literature has much to say for the toilers.
Another native of Claremont is Constance Fenimore Wool- son, born in 1848, great niece of the novelist, James Fenimore Cooper. Her parents removing to Cleveland, Ohio, she was educated in a seminary there and in a French school in New York city. She began writing about the year 1869 and produced a goodly number of stories. Most of the time she resided in Florida ; after 1879 she went abroad and lived in England. She died in Venice, Italy, January 24, 1894. Among her productions are "East Angels," "Anne," "Rodman the Keeper," "Castle No- where," "Lake Country Sketches," "Southern Sketches," "Jupiter Lights," and "Horace Chase." Her best known poems are "Ken- tucky Bells" and "Two Women."
A prolific writer of stories is Eliza Orne White, born in Keene, August 2, 1856, daughter of the Rev. William Orne White and his wife, Margaret Eliot (Harding). She was educated in the schools of Keene and in a private school in Roxbury, Mass.
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In 1871 she removed with her parents to Brookline, Mass. The year 1876 was spent in traveling in Europe. At the age of eighteen she began contributing stories for the Christian Register. The following include her principal works down to 1914, "Miss Brooks," "When Molly Was Six," "The Coming of Theodore," "A Little Girl of Long Ago," "A Browning Courtship and Other Stories," "A Lover of Truth," "Ednah and Her Brothers," "Les- ley Chilton," "An Only Child," "A Borrowed Sister," "After Noontide," "The Wares of Edgefield," "Brothers in Fur," "The Enchanted Mountain," and "The First Step." Her early pen name was "Alex."
Portsmouth is the birthplace of several authors of distinc- tion. One of the most prominent as author and introducer of authors was James T. Fields, born December 31, 1817. He passed through the public schools of that place and was ready for college, when something turned his attention to the book business and at the age of seventeen he entered as a clerk what was long known as the Old Corner Book-store, in Boston. In 1839 he became junior partner in the firm, then known as Tich- nor, Reed and Fields, which passed through many changes till it became Houghton, Mifflin and Company. He speedily col- lected many friends, more books in his private library, and some money, all of which were needful for the development of the rare companion, discerning critic of literature and character, and benevolent man he was. He contributed to the Atlantic Monthly and in 1862 became its editor. From the editorship and from business he withdrew in 1870 and devoted the rest of his life to lecturing and writing. His "Yesterday with Authors" made him at once known in the literary world, and nothing that he produced exceeded it in worth. Other works were "Haw- thorne," "In and Out of Doors with Charles Dickens," "Bi- ographical Notes and Personal Sketches," and two volumes of poems. With Edwin P. Whipple, a friend of many years, he was co-editor of a "Family Library of British Poetry." He was a judge of literature even more than a producer of it. He seemed to know intuitively what the public would like to read and consequently the money value of a manuscript. He inter- preted great authors in such a way as to lure readers on to know them. As a lecturer there was something attractive in his pres- ence, manner and tone, that won attention to what he said, and
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his thought was always worth considering. As a middleman between great authors and fond readers his equal would be hard to find. "It was the personality of the speaker, so potent, so notable, so gracious and kindly, so winning and inspiring, that constituted the chief element of his influence upon all classes. For both the learned and the unlearned, young students and illiterate farmers, in cultured cities, popular academies, and raw villages, owned the persuasive charm of his presence and speech, and acknowledged their debt to him."1
Mr. Fields remembered fondly his native place and read poems in the reunions of 1853 and 1873. He is best described by the poet Whittier in "The Tent on the Beach."
Perhaps the greatest literary celebrity of the "Old Town by the Sea," was the person who wrote it, Thomas Bailey Ald- rich, born November 1, 1836. At the age of eleven he became a clerk in the counting house of an uncle in New York city and remained there three years. It was at this time, before he was twenty years old, that he wrote the most famous of his early poems, "Babie Bell." It was occasioned by the death of a child in his aunt's family, and was written on the backs of bills of lading, while he was unloading a vessel. The manuscript was declined by several magazines and was first published in the Journal of Commerce. It was widely copied and appreciated in every home where the dread messenger had taken away a little one. It is full of pathos, hope and resignation, simply and fittingly expressed, the natural effusion of a sympathetic heart. Aldrich's early efforts were contributions to the Knickerbocker Magazine and Putnam's Magazine. In 1855 he published "The Bells; a Collection of Chimes." He served three years on the staff of the Home Journal, published by N. P. Willis, and con- tributed to the Atlantic Monthly, of which he was the editor from 1881 to 1890. His works are too well known to be named here. Perhaps the most popular prose work was "Marjorie Daw," though some might prefer the "Story of a Bad Boy." He himself said that the faculty of rhyming deserted him for several years, after his early effusions, but it returned with grace and gentleness, and it seems to have been perfectly natural to write poetically about commonplace things. The meaning of
1 Sketch by Olive E. Dana, in Granite Monthly, Vol. X., p. 293.
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everyday things, hidden from the many, he saw and expressed to their delight. The poet, like Burns and Whittier, that can speak for the common folks, will not soon be forgotten.
The house in which Aldrich spent his early years, owned by his grandfather, Thomas D. Bailey, has been purchased by his family and friends and restored with the old furniture, just as it was when the poet lived there. In the fireproof building on the same lot are stored his personal effects and a large collection of books and bound volumes of manuscripts and autographs of eminent authors. About twenty-five hundred persons visit the place annually. At the dedication of the building in 1908 ad- dresses were made by several, and Mark Twain said, "For com- bined sociability and humorous pleasantness no man was Ald- rich's peer ; he was always witty and always brilliant if there was anyone present capable of striking his flint at the right angle."2
"The Poets of Portsmouth" is a book published fifty years ago, containing selections from forty authors who were born in that city, and it is presumable that during the last half cen- tury the home product has not diminished. Is Portsmouth en- chanted and enchanting? Are the children taught to prattle in regular succession of long and short syllables? It seems that the Tuneful Nine, unseen, pervade the air, dance on the streets amid the busy throng, dwell in old houses, beautiful and rare, and sing to listening ears a constant song. The visitor should be on his guard, lest he catch the inspiration.
· But New Hampshire's eighteen miles of seacoast is not her only source of poetic inspiration. The Muses have their summer home among the lakes and mountains, and there the afflatus is like divine love, impartial and universal, if we are to judge by "The Poets of New Hampshire," a collection of specimen poems of three hundred poets of the Granite State, published in 1883. Many must have been left out of the collection, for every com- piler has his favorites and never selects those specimens that the reader thinks to be the best. So we look in vain among the noble three hundred for the poems that thrill our souls. Readers as well as writers have moods and changing appetities; it is not always the poet's fault that his lines do not suit us. Wait till
2 See article by Charles A. Hazlett in the Granite Monthly, XLVII., p. 105-9.
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the mood changes and we fit ourselves to the poem. It is such a blessed relief to the writer, to put his flights of fancy and prosy notions into verse, that the common herd of men should be compassionate and even kind enough to applaud the uncom- prehended lay. "Honor the loftiest poet" was the shout Dante heard, as together with Virgil he entered Limbo,3 and poets that are not so lofty may win admiration and even Paradise by passing through purgatorial discipline. Aldrich collected by purchase one of his own earlier publications and burned the whole lot. One who criticizes one's own poems to that extent is likely to gain a reputation-besides saving time and patience to readers. Charles Wesley wrote six thousand hymns, and a score or so of them survive because they are the fittest in the judgment of millions. Most genuine poets have to write much in order to produce a few immortal lines. So let every school boy and girl cultivate the society of the muses and keep on scribbling.
The poems of Celia (Laighton) Thaxter are of a high order. She was born at Portsmouth June 9, 1836. Her father, Thomas B. Laighton, doubtless descended from the Thomas Leighton who was one of the first settlers on Dover Neck, became the keeper of a light-house on White Island, one of the Isles of Shoals, when Celia was about five years old. Ten years later he bought Appledore Island, anciently called Hog Island, and built a house for the accommodation of sportsmen and summer visitors. One of the visitors was Levi Lincoln Thaxter, and he took Celia to the mainland as his bride, when she was sixteen years of age. He died in 1884 and was buried in the churchyard at Kittery Point. Thereafter she made her summer home on Appledore in a cottage near to the hotel of her brothers, where she cultivated and painted flowers, studied the sea and sky, and wrote out what was irrepressible. Her winters were spent in Portsmouth and Boston till her death, August 26, 1894. She was buried on Appledore. James Russell Lowell published her first poem, "Landlocked" in the Atlantic Monthly without her knowl- edge. In 1867 she began a series of papers called "Among the Isles of Shoals," which appeared in book form in 1873. She gained the admiration and the friendship of many of the best
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