USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Northwood > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 5
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Nottingham > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 5
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Deerfield > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
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NORTHWOOD CENTENNIAL.
RESPONSE OF REV. D. P. LEAVITT.
" The place of our nativity, -' They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.'"
Indifference to one's birthplace is unnatural, and indi- cates either a cold, hard nature or positive depravity. All nations and all times bear witness to the instinctive love of the place of one's nativity.
The natives of Northwood have special reason to cherish their birthplace. If the Psalmist's praise of Jerusalem, " The joy of the whole earth," does not apply to it, his words, " Beautiful for situation," may be appropriated with great propriety. Its elevated position, commanding a view of the distant sea ; its noble liills, of which Saddleback is the crowning glory ; its beautiful landscapes ; its groves and brooks and lakes, -give it the palm of all the towns be- tween the state's capital and its only seaport. Other local- ities have higher hills and broader lakes, but few present equal variety or loveliness of scenery.
Different elements enter into one's recollections of his native town. First comes the home, the seat of the earliest and most powerful influences of a man's life. Northwood has been favored with innumerable homes which have been both virtuous and pleasant, and to which its scattered sons and daughters owe the most that is good in them. Many of us can trace to these centers of influence the principles which have formed our characters and controlled our lives, which have been a restraint upon us in the hour of tempta- tion, and which, like the ship's anchor in a storm, have held when everything else has broken.
From the home the child passes to the school. There the stern battle of life begins. Its commencement is with
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the alphabet : its end is with the grave. Long in one's memory does the kind and faithful instructor held a cher- ished placc. My earliest teacher was Almira Hutchins of Portsmouthı. Of gentle spirit, she made the atmosphere of the school-room that of love. My next remembered in- structor was Hosea C. Knowlton. Almost forty years have passed since he wrote, one June morning, my name in a new Historical Reader, a book which to-day, for memory's sake, is one of the most cherished of my library. To me, he was a helpful and profitable instructor. Nor can I forget the good that Samuel B. Buzell and Chase C. Hill did me, especially when the former feruled, and the latter flogged, me. Their instruction was as profitable as their blows were impressive, and neither ever spoke or struck in vain. John Durgin, wlio hesitated between the ministry and teaching as a vocation, would have spoiled an excellent cducator had he chosen the former calling. Dr. Thomas Tuttle, whose recent and lamented decease casts a shadow over this day, was, with his gentle yet firm wife, my last teacher in North- wood. Patients were as scarce when the doctor began his practice in Northwood as they were plenty when he closed it. But when, perchance, he had a patient, his wife took his place in the school. And it is no disparagement to the husband to say, that the wife filled, as well as occupied, his place in the school-room. She was made for a teacher. Indeed, there was little that was good that she did not seem made for. The memories of Almira Hutchins, my first, and Olive Tuttle, my last, teacher, are among the most pleasant of my life.
Pleasant, also, is the recollection of my schoolmates .. Who the best scholar was, I cannot now recall, but I well remember, that Samuel H. Furber was the smartest wrestler, and John Kimball the fleetest runner, and his sister, Mary, the gentlest and sweetest girl, that ever sat in the old school- house of the " lower district." Alas that so much promise should have been buried when that fair girl died at the age. of sixteen !
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I have no words of praise for the old school-house. It 1 was a shabby thing, cold, cheerless, uncomfortable. The benches were placed on an inclined floor, and my feet dangled, like Mahomet's coffin, between the heavens and the earth. I well remember how hard it was to sit still on those horrid benches. But outside all was pleasant. Countless branches of industry were carried on under the old elm-tree, and trials of speed that would rival the races of a modern cattle-show were of daily occurrence.
Across the goal-ground was the old meeting-house, whose sounding-board, threatening every moment the preacher's life, was the terror, as the spire was the wonder, of my boy- hood. How that pinnacle was put up was the standing problem of those early days.
Bishop Asbury, the early superintendent of the Metho- dist church, used to pray, " Lord, keep the preacher poor.' That prayer has been answered in the experience of North- wood ministers of all denominations. They have been good and able men, but never extravagantly paid for those services to which the town is so much indebted for its moral elements.
Somewhat dim is my remembrance of Rev. Eliphalet Merrill in the pulpit. More vivid is that of Rev. Josiah Prentice. A member of his family for a few months, I there for the first time learned that he could smile, - and more than smile ; for there was not a man in Northwood who could laugh more heartily, or use a hoe more vigor- ously or a flail more lustily.
Mr. Prentice was a type of the ministry that America will never see again. His presence inspired in me a greater awe than that of any other man I ever met. It paid for us boys to form a line by the roadside and bow to him as he passed, for there was so much of sanctity in his de- meanor that we felt our reverence was offered to a being almost superliuman.
It is good, also, to recall Mr. Knight, a man who, by liis
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tender and Christian spirit, won the love of all who knew him ; Mr. Gilbert, whose pulpit appeals were among the most solemn and searching to which I ever listened ; Mr. Aslıby, whose absence on this occasion was so little antici- pated and is so much regretted, a man who, in a position more delicate than that of the pastoratc, so lived and labored as to inspire the respect and confidence of the entire community. " These all died in faith."
" Pcace be within thy palaces," was the pious wish of the Psalmist. So pray we in behalf of our native town. It has had in the past perhaps no more diversity of senti- ment than falls to the lot of most communities. And yet it is devoutly to be hoped, that the next hundred years may constitute an era emphatically of good feeling ; that, though, in matters of religion, education, and politics, citizens may conscientiously differ, their differences may be held in the spirit of that charity which " never faileth; whichi suffereth long and is kind ; which seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." "Happy is that people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord."
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RESPONSE OF REV. FRANKLIN FURBER.
"The children of Northwood, -' Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.' "
MR. PRESIDENT, - I am happy to participate in the ser- vices of this centennial celebration of my native town. All that affects its growth, prosperity, or honor are deeply interesting to me. Gladly would I be with you and share the joyous occasion did not paramount duties forbid. As a substitute, please accept my cordial greetings and a few words of cheer. Northwood is a charming township, healtli- ful in climate, beautiful in varied scenery of hill and valley, mountain and lake. Its fertile soil, well-cultivated farms, convenient and tasty residences, make it attractive to every appreciative beholder.
Commendable progress has marked its history during the last half-century, which is within my recollection. I remember well Increase Batchelder, who was among the first settlers. His erect and noble form and his snowy locks gave him a venerable and patriarchal appearance. Though my residence has been elsewhere for nearly forty years, I have not lost my attachment for the place of my birth and childhood.
"Yes, my native land I love, All thy scenes I love them well."
But the theme assigned me is, "The Children of North- wood." To avoid trespassing upon ground belonging to others, I will confine myself to my specific topic, though thronging memories incline me to allude to many things.
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At first, I was in doubt respecting the limits of my field. The term " children " may be understood in a broad or limited sense. The children of Israel included all the descendants of Jacob, whether young or old. So the ehil- dren of Northwood may mean all its native and adopted children of the past and present. So I understood it at first, and began to reeall a long list of distinguished men and women, whose noble characters and worthy deeds ealled for special notice. The time allotted me, ten to fifteen minutes, was altogether too brief to enter this wide field, abounding in materials for a huge volume. The second communication relieved my difficulty, by limiting the " ehil- dren " to the younger class of the present generation, for whose special benefit I was to speak a few words of eneour- agement and counsel. For this purpose, an appropriate Scripture was mentioned, not for a sermon, but as sugges- tive of suitable remarks for the occasion. It is as follows : " Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them ; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." What a splendid text! Thanks to the reminder of it.
It suggests many valuable lessons of instruction and en- couragement. It reminds them of their noble origin ; they are God's property, his heritage. They trace their origin to liim, not to blind chance nor to Darwinian development. Their endowments are such as to prove their creator to be the Lord, whose heritage they are. These exalt them in- finitely above the brute creation. These endowments of the physical system are wonderful, - eyes to see, ears to hear, and hands to handle; the mind, with powers of thought, reason, judgment, anticipation, hope, enjoyment, with its immortality secured beyond a peradventure ; all prove them to be the produet of wisdom and goodness. Let the young reflect, that their privileges greatly exalt them, surrounded, as they are, by grand and beautiful seen-
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ery, by Christian homes, seliools, Christian influenees, mo- tives to be pure in heart and upright in character. They are to be congratulated upon the exeelleney of their public schools and private institutions, that aim to develop wisely the intelleet, edueate the moral nature, and unfold the elements of manhood into a symmetrieal character. The children of Northwood will not forget, that these advan- tages require them to aim to be intelligent, virtuous, be- nevolent, energetie, lovers of " whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are purc, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any vir- tue and if there be any praise," let the youth of North- wood "think on these things," and beeomne wiser, better, and stronger, for all that is ennobling in character and in- fluenee, than their parents, as their privileges exceed those of a hundred or fifty years ago. We desire, that the youth of our native town may be as conspicuous for intellectual and moral elevation as their loeality towers above sur- rounding territory ; so noble, dignified, refined, and honor- able that they shall discard all practices that degrade, all customs that enervate, all associations that shall obstruct their progress in true greatness.
In one of the regiments of France, which, under Napo- leon, had fought many a hard battle, and had never been guilty of a cowardly or dishonorable aet, but was com- mended after every battle for heroic serviee, whenever the roll was ealled .they ealled the names of those that had fallen, and some survivor answered, " Dead on the field of honorable battle!" So may the youth of this town act the honorable part in life's battle, as that their names may never be strieken from the roll of the worthy, and thus, thougli dead, still live in the memory and hearts of sur- vivors through all generations, as those who bravely resisted all tides of evil and struggled manfully for the prize of an honorable life.
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But my theme justifies me in speaking of children as a blessing to the town in general and to parents in par- ticular. The more sons and daughters the town may have, the greater her importance in comparison with sister com- munities, in respect of numbers, wealth, and influence, pro- vided they are upright in character, intelligent, and indus- trious. Hence, it is for the interest of the town to provide liberally for the mental training and moral culture of her youth. She should see to it, that ignorance, intemperance, profanity, and idleness, which inevitably degrade, if not ruin, the young, are not tolerated, and that the correspond- ing virtues be in all ways encouraged, and influences be multiplied to retain the young at home amid contentment and competence, that these farms be not untilled, these dwellings untenanted, and these shops unoccupied. Happy is the town that has her quiver full of hardy, intelligent, energetic, high-minded youth. She shall not be ashamed. But let her neglect her young, their education, moral habits, tastes, and pursuits, and decay shall stamp itself on cvery acre of land and on the windows and doors of every dwell- ing.
But, to parents, there is no blessing greater than chil- dren with healthy bodies, sound minds, and pure morals. " Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them." All other losses are light in comparison with the loss of these. Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, had buried her twelve sons, and, being condoled by friends for her misfortune, spiritedly replied, " Call me not unfortunate, who am the mother of the Gracchi!" That Roman mother was right. There can be no cause for gricf when children live noble lives, or die in the discharge of duties, private or public. With such children, parents are rich, either in the presence or recollection of their children. But, if parents will be blessed with children that shall bring no shame, on whom they can look, of whom they can speak, with a feeling of satisfaction, they must themselves be noble men and
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women, - noble in character, in influence, in practical life. They must themselves be wise and good, and strive to make their children wiser and better. They must secure to them greater advantages for moral, intellectual, and social culture than they themselves had in youtlı. The progress- ive spirit of the age demands these. A higher type of manhood and womanhood is at present a necessity.
Ere another century shall elapse, those who celebrate this will have passed on to the great future. Others will occupy our places. The character of the coming generation will be shaped and directed largely by this. Our influence is to flow down the stream of time, not only to the end of human probation, but down the unending cycles of eter- nity. What shall we transmit to our posterity ? The best legacy for our children and their long line of descendants is a noble, Christian character. "It shall be well with the righteous " and well with their children, if they heed the voice of wisdom, cherish correct principles of living, and aim to answer the great end of their creation, -to love God and have his favor in life and eternity.
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RESPONSE OF JOHN C. TASKER.
" The home inheritance, - there is none better."
MR. PRESIDENT, - This fair world has no rieher in- heritance than the home of our childhood, the home of our fathers. Other lands may present the glitter of gold in the sands of each streamlet and rill, but here the whole earth brightly sparkles in our vision. Other lands may present strata of marble of purest white or of variegated beauty, but, for us, it laeks the beauty of the massive gran- ite of our familiar hills.
Throughout the wide borders of this great republic, there are mountains, forests, rivers, and plains thus hallowed by affection and endeared as the homes of mil- lions of our countrymen. May this love of home burn as a vestal flame, and increase in fervor and in magnitude, until, in millions of hearts, it shall become the great glory of a united, homogeneous, and patriotie people.
Home ! who can give full utteranee to this word with all its volume of significance ? Home ! do you remember what it has been and is? First, there were loving eyes, beaming as from heaven upon you, - a mother's eyes and an angel's love. Again, a father kind is guiding your foot- steps, sisters and brothers surround you. Again, the blessings of that father as he bids you farewell, and tears from those eyes whose looks were once so joyous. Again, a return to that home to listen for voiees that are silent, to seek the glances of eyes that are forever elosed. You had heard of all the changes of time, but you could not know that they were real until you had revisited the seenes of childhood and dispelled its deep impressions. Does this thought sadden you ? It would, indeed, sadden you and me
John Ro Tasker.
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beyond all cheering but that we know there is a home in which father, mother, sister, and brother will assem- ble in restored youth, innocence, and the purity of holi- ness.
All do not return to this vision of heaven upon earth. Many of our bright-eyed boys and beautiful girls have passed over yonder hills to return to this home no more. Like the waters that flow from yonder homestead farm, the way of these youths was soon divergent, never to rcunite in the journey of life. Their bodies rest in far-off graves, where their names and lineage are unknown; but the rugged beauty of each well-remembered home shone upon the dying heart as the spirit filed to the eternal home to realize the final convergence, the happy reunion, of all.
If all we once left in this home are not here to-day, the memory of all remains, and teaches, guides, and en- courages us to duty, goodness, and love. Happy is it for us that this sentiment of home love is in us, inspir- ing an honorable pride, and a high and noble apprecia- tion of this goodly, godly inheritance. Dear, dear old home! Triangular New Hampshire! Your mountains lift their heads up to the heavens ; your valleys are soft and beautiful; your lakes will long inspire many artists and poets whose portraitures will delight the world ; your forests, like the people within your borders, look toward the glorious heavens, tall, erect, and strong, and full of conscious grace. What is your history ? and who shall repeat your thrilling legends ? Men great and good have honored the fair name of every city, town, and hamlet. We will not attempt to call this proud roll to-day as we meet to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birthday of thy venerable daughter, dear old Northwood, the home of our youth.
Around us, we behold men and women whose ancestors have transmitted to them and to all of us, as a rich home inheritance, beneficent institutions, the principles and prac-
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tice of social and public virtue, and a history unstained by deeds of dishonor.
The names and the fame of many of these arc inscribed in brief legends in yonder church-yards, names of women and of men, of fathers and inothers, brothers and sisters, the lowly and the great. He who ministercd for almost half a century to the people of yonder church, whose devo- tion and fidelity through all that time filled cvery heart with gratitude and love, lies there among the rest. The pious deacons of that church who aided in introducing and successfully establishing the first sabbath-school in this town arc also there.
The good deeds of those men, as of all men, live after them. Would it not be well for us, for each one of us, to remember this? All our decds, whether good or evil, live after us, are re-enacted throughout the future, wholly or in part, because of the influence of our example or be- cause of certain consequences of our evil acts.
We are sometimes told, that there is nothing after death or that there is no proof of a continued existence ; that the assumption of such an existence is unphilosophical and untenable ; that, when man dies, he ceases to exist, and there can be no accountability after death.
When Volney wrote his " Ruins," and Paine his " Age of Reason," and Byron his wicked and degrading poems, they sinned, and, in life or in death, they surely had to render an account of all their guilt; but the evil of their deeds has been growing in magnitude ever since their death, and will poison thousands of minds throughout future ages.
Has this enduring evil been wrought by finite beings ? are perpetual evils to live and prosper after their authors have ceased to exist ? Is the great work of the Almighty to be perverted and distorted by beings wliose existence is but as the life of the moth that flits around a candle ? A true philosophy and a true religion agree in rejecting such
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a proposition. Every rational being is laboring in the cause of good or of evil, and his responsibility will last at least as long as the influence of his deeds shall endure.
If there is for us -and you and I well know there is - an existence beyond the present, there can be no happiness there, in the contemplation of the evil we have done, the results of which shall still be flowing as a quickening stream ; and there can be no hope for the guilty, save in the interposed power of Him who can create and who can destroy.
The lives of our departed friends reflect a halo upon our future path, teaching us that our God is ever just, rewarding the righteous and punishing the unrepentant transgressor.
Our home inheritance is dear to us: may it be dear to our children and to our children's children.
Virtuous life demands the asylum of a home. Vice alone can extinguisli the light of home. God has made all things wisely, and nowhere are his wisdom and love more manifest than in this. He has made the different races of men with marked characteristics, and each individual to realize affinities with his own race in preference to all others. He has inculcated peace, good-will to all ; this im- plies the absence of force, of constraint, of involuntary ser- vitude, and hence does not inculcate the idea of inferiority. It is enough to know, that one race has for centuries re- pelled all ideas of Christian civilization ; that another, with- in our borders, prefers immolation to any civilization ; that still another finds itself in relations not of its original choos- ing, the ultimate results of which Omnipotence alone can determine. The great law that thus separates the races through the instinctive tendencies of the several peoples must be obeyed. The divine mandate, to go forth and teach the nations, does not include an injunction to blend the races into one, but rather to respect the integrity of every race and nation ; and our heavenly Father requires nothing of his creatures beyond their power to perform.
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The division into nations of men of the same race is another incident in the divine arrangement. Under this arrangement, the blending of families of different nations has everywhere been signally blessed ; and, within each separate nation, there are subdivisions which work for good unto all.
The family relation is the last and the greatest of all. Each home is saered. The honor of each member of the family is the honor of all. The husband and father is the natural protector of the wife and child, until the son arises to assume the place of his father. Relations different from this are often apparently necessary, but never desirable. The servant-maid is secure only in the service and under the protection of an honorable household; and the expo- sures incident to hotel and boarding-house life are always to be regretted. To the honor of New England, it may be said, that the manufactory is generally a safe asylum for woman, and the managers thereof are edneated to the eon- sciousness of a delicate responsibility with respect to other- wise unprotected women in their serviee.
Yet, after all, there is no place like home. Happy are they who may securely dwell therein ; and thrice happy they who may long cherish a home, adorn and beautify it, and cherish every association connected with it, and cultivate, elevate, and refine the intellect, the taste, the sentiment, the morality, and the piety of every member of the household and every guest who aeeepts its hospi- tality. Long may you all possess such homes.
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