USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mont Vernon > History of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire > Part 19
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formerly a member of the Maine Senate, and Col. J. P. Bradley, and the IIon. Thomas M. Babson, all of Boston, and the last two summer residents in town.
The celebration in 1902 occurred on Saturday and Sunday, Au- gust 23 and 24. The afternoon of Saturday was devoted to a grand coaching parade, which was organized by a committee headed by Mra. H. P. Peck. Mr. J. F. Wellington served as Marshal, with ten aids. There were nearly thirty entries in all classes, and prize banners were awarded by a committee to the following :
First prize for Tally-ho coaches to the Hotel Bellevue; second, to a coach entered by Col. W. B. Rotch, proprietor of the Milford Cabinet.
Double Teams-First prize to Mr. J. F. Wellington ; second to Mr. C. E. Osgood.
Single Teams-First prize to Mrs. R. F. Marden and Miss Bessie B. Hadley, both of Lowell, Mass., and summer guests.
There was a fine illumination in the evening, and very profuse decoration of the residences, public buildings and grounds. The First Regiment Band of Nashua, was again in attendance, and gave a con- cert on the Park.
The Sunday morning service was conducted by Rev. H. P. Peck, and a chorus choir of sixteen voices furnished the music. A most able and impressive sermon was preached by the Rev. A. A. Berle, D.D , of Boston, from Exodus iii :6: "I' am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham; the God of Isaac; the God of Jacob." At the laymen's service in the evening, presided over by Mr. Marden, as usual, a masterly address was delivered by the Hon. Chas. H. Burns of Wilton.
The celebration of 1903 was held in connection with the centen- nial celebration of the incorporation of the town, and an account of what was done will appear in a later chapter devoted to the centennial.
The celebration in 1904 occurred on Saturday and Sunday, Au- gust 20 and 21, but a heavy rain prevented the customary illumination and decorations and the band concert. On Friday evening there had been a fine musical entertainment at the Town Hall for the benefit of the Golf Club by a number of the First Corps of Cadets of Boston, and a quartette of their number had been engaged to remain over and furnish music in the church at the Old Home Week Sunday services.
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As the storm prevented the carrying out of the out-door plans on Saturday, the Colonial Quartette (which was the name of the Cadet quartette) volunteered, with several of the members outside the quar- tette, who had remained in town, to give an impromptu entertainment on Saturday afternoon, and the hall was well filled, and those present were royally entertained.
Sunday morning was perfect as to weather. Rev. Henry Porter Peck preached a sermon exactly appropriate to the anniversary, and the singing by the Cadets made as complete a celebration service as could have been asked for. In the evening at the Laymen's service Guy A. Ham, Esq., assistant U. S. district attorney at Boston, de- livered an eloquent address, and there were other brief addresses, which with the music, concluded the exercises of the sixth Old Home Week celebration.
The seventh annual celebration in 1905, was limited to Sunday, August 20, so far as the official exercises were concerned ; but some of the villagers felt that there ought to be something doing on Satur- day evening, and they hired the Laurel Band of Milford to come up, and there was quite a fine illumination of many of the residences and grounds, and though the affair was virtually impromptu the streets were quite full of pedestrians, carriages and automobiles. The Golf Club house was decorated and illuminated, and quite an elaborate display of fireworks was given on the golf links in front of the house.
The Sunday services were conducted by the Rev. H. P. Peck, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. Geo. L. Perin of Brook- line, who was spending the summer at the neighboring town of Brook- line, N. H. The music was by a double quartette. The church was beautifully decorated with clematis and golden rod by the young lady guests of the Mount Vernon house. The evening Laymen's service was in charge of John H. Colby, Esq., of Boston, and a most eloquent address was delivered by Solon W. Stevens, Esq., of Lowell, Mass., a member of the Middlesex County bar, supplemented by a brief and inspiring talk by the Rev. Francis H. Rowley, D.D., of the First Baptist church of Boston.
The town made quite a reputation by these observances of Gov. Rollins's popular celebration, and they contributed to the material advancement of the town, which at this time had become to depend so much on what is known as the "summer business," as well as to
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the enjoyment of both its permanent residents and summer guests. The "sprucing up" of the village, in getting ready for the Old Home Week holiday, led to permanent village improvement, and while the village had always been noted for its tidy and well-kept condition, its attractiveness was enhanced by these special efforts, and the reports of its vivacious observance of the new idea were spread abroad over the country, and secured for it a valuable interest.
OTHER CELEBRATIONS.
It does not appear that the people of the town were much given to celebrations before the days of the Academy. At any rate the records of such events are most meagre.
There was a Fourth of July celebration in 1808, but there is no full account of it to be found. There is, however, a printed copy of the Oration delivered on that occasion by Dr. Rogers Smith. It was printed at Amherst by Joseph Cushing, and on the title page appears this quotation, credited to Washington's Legacy : "Why quit our own, to stand on foreign ground?" William Bradford, John Carlton and Zephaniah Kittredge were appointed to wait on the Doc- tor and "present the thanks of the Committee of Arrangements for his ingenious and patriotic oration," and "to request the favor of a copy for the Press."
To this the orator replied :
"GENTLEMEN: I herewith submit the copy requested, with all its imperfections, to your disposal, and to the candor of the public. Per- mit me to express the high sense I feel of the honor done me by the Com- mittee of Arrangements, and of the flattering terms in which you have been pleased to communicate their request.
"I am, Gentlemen, most respectfully, your sincere friend, and obliged humble servant, "R. SMITH."
The address was quaint, as from its date would be expected. It was but the thirty-second anniversary of the Declaration, and the orator started with an apology that he was "unused to public decla- mation," and "too young to recollect the important events we this day celebrate." But he was old enough and bold enough to discuss "the nature, design and end of civil government."
The writer recalls but one other Fourth of July celebration, and
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that was in the late forties or early fifties, and took the shape of a Sunday School picnic in the Hiram Perkins grove.
An account of the celebration by the republicans of the election of Abraham Lincoln, in November, 1860, has already been given.
The democrats took their turn at celebrating a national victory when Grover Cleveland was elected President a second time. On the 21st of November, 1892, the democrats had a grand jubilee at Insti- tute Hall. They brought the old Revolutionary cannon, "Molly Stark," from New Boston, and fired a hundred guns from Campbell's hill. The village was more or less illuminated.
October 21, 1892, Columbus Day was celebrated by the schools, it being the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.
CHAPTER XII.
THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
THREE CELEBRATIONS IN ONE-THIE TRIENNIAL ALUMINI REUNION- OLD HOME WEEK-THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE IN- CORPORATION OF THE TOWN-AN OUTLINE REPORT OF ALL THREE -COL. GEO. A. BRUCE'S ORATION-H. PORTER SMITH'S CHURCH STORY-REMINISCENCES BY REV. C. C. CARPENTER.
So important an event as the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town certainly deserves an important place in the town history. It can hardly be accomplished better than by reproducing most of the contents of a pamphlet printed at the time by the Milford Cabinet, which Col. W. B. Rotch, pro- prietor of that journal, himself the son of a Mont Vernon ancestry, kindly allowed the use of in the preparation of this history.
It preserves in full the admirable oration of Mont Vernon's gifted and distinguished son, the Hon. Geo. A. Bruce, the most interesting story of the old church, and the personnel of its congre- gations of fifty years ago, by Mr. H. Porter Smith, the son of one of its pastors of that time, and appropriate reminiscences by the Rev. C. C. Carpenter, who once occupied its pulpit.
It also gives a brief account of what was done, as well as said, at the celebration, and the names of many who took part therein.
STORY OF THE CELEBRATION.
The exact date of the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of Mont Vernon would have been December 15th, 1903. But in a hill town, away from the railroad, such a celebration could not be conveniently held in the winter. Besides, it was deemed best to combine with the centennial celebration, the seventeenth triennial
.
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reunion of the Alumni of the McCollom Institute, which was due to be held this year, and the fifth annual observance of "Old Home Week," which had been postponed from August.
At the annual March meeting the town voted an appropriation of $200.00 towards the centennial celebration, and appointed the fol- lowing named gentlemen to aet as a committee, with full powers to expend this money : Dea. W. H. Kendall, Chas. H. Raymond, Lucius B. Hutchinson, Frank O. Lamson, and Hon. Geo. A. Marden of Lowell, having a summer residence in the village. All the committee, except Mr. Marden, were citizens of the town.
Messrs. Kendall, Raymond and Marden being members of the Board of Trustees of MeCollom Institute, and Mr. Marden being President of the Mont Vernon Old Home Week Association, it was easy to secure the co-operation of both these organizations in a triple celebration.
The necessary sub-committes were appointed, and the date of the celebration was fixed on September 5th and 6th.
Saturday, September 5th, opened auspiciously, and the celebra- tion began at sunrise, with the ringing of the bells upon the Institute and Town Hall, and the firing of a national salute on the grounds of the Mont Vernon Golf Club, under the direction of Colonel J. Payson Bradley of Boston, a summer resident of the village, a former com- mander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, and a veteran of the Artillery service of the Civil War. Col. Brad- ley had brought from Boston two light guns from his yacht, and paid all the expense of the salute, which was also repeated at sunset.
Meanwhile, the Town Hall (the old Meeting House), the new Meeting House, the Institute building, and the distriet school house, together with practically every private residence in the village, had been profusely decorated with the national colors, wild flowers and other adornments, and preparations were made on a large scale for the evening illumination, which has always been a prominent feature in the Old Home Week celebrations.
At 10: 30 many members of the Alumni of McCollom Institute (and Appleton Academy as it used to be named) and others assem- bled in the new Meeting House for the Triennial Reunion. The meeting was called to order by Mr. W. P. Woods, of the committee of arrangements appointed three years ago, and H. E. Spaulding, M. D., of Boston, was introduced as President of the Day. Dr. Spaulding made a brief and feeling address of welcome, after which
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the Triennial Matrimonial Record was read by Miss Emily Starrett of Mont Vernon, and the Mortuary Record by Mrs. Fannie Dodge Clarke of Amherst. Instead of the usual formal address, brief re- marks were made by Gen. A. E. Blunt of Wellesley, Mass .; Hon. Geo. A. Bruce, Hon. A. M. Wilkins of Amherst; Levi A. Bruce, M. D., of Utica, N. Y., and Hon. Geo. A. Marden, all former pupils of the institution, Messrs. G. A. Bruce, Blunt and Marden having been members of the earliest class in Appleton Academy. The speakers were all fluent in happy reminiscence, and a very lively meeting was enjoyed.
During the exercises the Schubert Quartette of Boston, and the First Infantry Band of Nashua, arrived, and the Quartette sang several selections, and the Band played under the trees in front of the meeting house.
At 12 : 30 an abundant dinner was served in the dining-room under the Town Hall, by the Ladies' Home Cirele, to such as desired, at the price of fifty cents. The band entertained the crowd with numerous selections.
At 1 o'clock r. M., a heavy shower came up, with sharp lightning and heavy thunder, and with a dash of hailstones as large as marbles. The lightning struck twice in the upper part of the village, but did no material damage. The storm did little harm to the decorations, as the Chinese lanterns, which had been hung out for the illumination, were all taken in. The shower cleared off about two o'clock.
At 2:30 the Centennial celebration occurred in the Meeting- House. Prayer was offered by the Rev. H. P. Peck, pastor of the Congregational church. Hon. Geo. A. Marden presided, and de- livered a brief address of welcome to the returning sons and daughters of the old town and other visitors. The church was filled with an interested audience, including many who were natives, or had at some time been residents of the town. Inspiring musie was furnished by the Schubert Quartette of Boston and the First Infantry Band of Nashua.
The chief address was delivered by the Hon. Geo. A. Bruce of Boston, a native of the town, and a grandson of the first pastor, the Rev. John Bruce. Colonel Bruce's oration is given in full elsewhere.
After the Centennial exereises, a social hour was enjoyed, with many greetings between those who had not met for many years. Meantime, the villagers and the committee on decorations and illum- inations were busily engaged in preparing for the evening. The
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weather had become pleasant, there was no wind, and a profusion of Chinese and Japanese lanterns, fancy lights, red, white and blue and colonial buff bunting, and flags and streamers were displayed, and the illumination was one of the finest ever known.
The band gave a concert from a temporary band stand erected on the Park, and later played on the pavilion at the Golf Club House, while a grand display of fireworks was made by a committee consist- ing of Mr. J. F. Wellington of Somerville, and John H. Colby, Esq., of Boston. The village street was filled with carriages and the side- walks with pedestrian visitors, viewing the continuous illuminations of the streets and buildings, and the crowd centered at the Golf Club for the final display.
The celebration was continued on Sunday, which dawned clear and beautiful, and with a most comfortable temperature. The people filled the new Meeting-House at half-past ten. Preliminary devo- tional exercises were conducted by the pastor, with special and most charming music by the Quartette, with a prelude by Mr. Charles Clem- ens of Cleveland, Ohio, who was a guest at the Grand Hotel, and kindly consented to preside at the organ ; and with Congregational hymns. Then followed "An Historical Sketch of the Church," by Mr. H. Porter Smith of Cambridge, a Boston merchant, son of the Rev. B. Smith, who was pastor of the church in the forties. It is given in full elsewhere, and was hugely enjoyed for its interesting reminiscences and historical facts, and especially for the merry humor which per- vaded the entire address.
Mr. Smith was followed by the Rev. C. C. Carpenter of Andover, Mass., a former pastor, with reminiscences of his pastorate, which were exceedingly interesting.
In the evening the customary Old Home Week laymen's service was presided over by Hon. Geo. A. Marden, the Rev. Mr. Peck con- ducting the preliminary devotional service. Mr. Marden delivered a brief informal address, "taking his text" from the History of Am- herst, of which Mont Vernon was formerly the Northwest Parish, and dwelling somewhat on the historical genesis of the town as the result of a theological schism in the Amherst church. The Quartette furnished delightful music, and the congregation sang familiar hymns.
A most fitting address was also made by Mrs. Elizabeth Frances Bennett of Lowell, Mass., president of the Middlesex Woman's Club,
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who was a temporary guest at Hotel Bellevue. Col. J. P. Bradley also gave a stirring talk, and Mr. C. E. Osgood spoke briefly.
Collections to help defray the expenses were taken up at both morning and evening services, resulting in $109.00. In addition to this and the town's appropriation of $200.00, the expenses were pro- vided for by a guaranty fund pledged in sums of $25.00 each, by Messrs. G. A. Marden, A. Conant, Colby, Best, Baker, Wellington, Kendall, Osgood, Bragg and L. B. Hutchinson, and by contributions of $10.00 by Mr. Henry F. Dodge and $15.00 by Mr. W. P. Woods. Only 50 per cent. of the guaranty subscription was finally needed to pay all the bills.
Messrs. C E. Osgood and A. Conant were a committee on dec- orations and illumination ; J. F. Wellington and J. H. Colby were a committee on fireworks ; Frank Smith, Will P. Fox, Will Jenkins and Miles Wallace furnished the bandstand ; Daniel Richardson and wife were in general charge of the dinner provided by the Ladies' Home Circle, from which about $50.00 profit was realized for the treasury of that organization ; W. P. Woods and Deacon W. H. Kendall were the committee on invited guests and entertainment; Geo. A. Marden on music and publicity.
No effort was made to have a very formal celebration, but, on the whole, it was a most satisfactory affair
ADDRESS BY COL. GEORGE A. BRUCE.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
The town of Mont Vernon has invited all her children wherever scattered over the earth's broad surface to return to their old home to assist in commemorating the hundredth anniversary of her birth. If any there be who are not able to be present on this occasion we know that it is not from lack of interest or desire. To all here present she extends a hearty welcome, and to the absent, like a good mother, she sends her warm good wishes and kindly benediction. This gathering is little more than a family reunion on a large seale. Time has made this occasion for us, and we are here to enjoy it all by ourselves. We do not challenge the world's attention to what we do or say here, but none the less it is for us an event filled with satisfaction and joy as great as if it were to be seen and heard of all men.
In many ways the observance of those years which mark the close of periods in our civic life are of value not only to us but to those who are to come after us. They tend to turn inquiry backward, and are the cause of gathering and preserving in enduring form the record
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of events in our history which otherwise might be forever lost; they tend to excite and cultivate a strong local attachment which cannot fail to be of service and value to this town; they tend to lead us to reflect upon what a town's good name and prosperity rests, and help to make more sure the future which now begins to unfold before us.
Very fortunately some years ago, in anticipation of this celebra- tion, it was decided to have prepared a complete and full history of Mont Vernon from the earliest date, and this important work was confided to the most competent person that could have been found, and very soon, I doubt not, the finished labors of the Hon. Charles J. Smith will be in the possession of every citizen.
In the opinion of most men the settlement of Plymouth in 1620 is the most conspicuous and important event in the history of New England. It is, perhaps, the most important act of colonization in the annals of mankind. History has gathered up and preserved in her treasury every event in the lives of the Pilgrims, while art, poetry and eloquence have exhausted their powers in presenting to our im- agination the story of their hardships, their sufferings, their heroism, their virtues and their unchangeable devotion to religious and political freedom. We do not complain of this. They caught and hold that added glory which comes to those who stand first in a long series of events which culminate in great and fortunate results. This it is which gives renown to Lexington, and to the first shot at Fort Sumter in the Civil War.
There is, however, but little difference in the character and motives of the men and women who came to Plymouth and those who soon followed them to the settlement of Charlestown, Boston, Salem, and the other towns of New England. They left alike the most beautiful country the sun in all his course is permitted to look down upon to seek a new home in the wilderness; they encountered the same hardships ; they came face to face with the same difficulties and dangers ; and they bore in their bosoms hearts as brave, wills as strong, faith as pure, convictions as unchangeable and a reverent trust in God which never knew shade of doubt. While the world will continue to hold in its especial care the name and fame of the Pilgrims of Plymouth, here at least we are bound to give to the first pilgrims to Mont Vernon the same measure of praise and admiration which in a wider field has been so abundantly accorded to them.
We are living now in an age of great events and great things. We have a great nation, great cities, great towns, great railroads and great everything else. Small things and small events are passed by as unworthy of attention in a great age. Any number less than a million has been lost from our common speech.
It is well for us once in a while to remember that a million is made up of units, and that there is value in small things as well as in large things. To be a small good man is better than to be a large bad one, and a small town with a virtuous population is better than a large city filled with a vicious population.
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Mont Vernon is one of many small towns in New Hampshire, and though its story resembles very closely that of many others, yet to ns, her children, it is full of interest and tender memories. It has a local flavor all its own and readily distinguished from that of all others. Though but little of the heroic and tragic has been enacted here. yet the simple annals of the years that bound her history are full of lessons of private and public devotion that appeal to the heart of civ- ilized man. No great battles for civil and religious liberty have been fought here to attract the world's attention to this spot; no martyr has enriched our fields with his blood or sanctified them by his sufferings ; but the simple living of plain New England people has furnished many examples of how a man should live to gain most of that which God intended he should gain through his gift of human existence.
For forty-three years Mont Vernon formed a part of the town of Amherst, which was incorporated in 1760. It owed its settlement to a grant made by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to soldiers who had taken part in King Philip's war in 1675, or to their descendants and representatives. It was 120 years from the landing of the Pilgrims when the first house was built in the eastern part of this town on land included in what for half a century has been known as the Samuel Campbell farm. At that time what may be termed the heroic age in New England colonization had passed. The Indian wars were then a matter of history. The eastern part of Massachusetts and the whole surface of Rhode Island and Connecticut were dotted with cultivated farms and growing villages. Boston contained a population of about ten thousand, and Charlestown, Marblehead, Salem and Newburyport were busy ports crowded with ships engaged in the fisheries and colonial trade. In the whole of New England there were at least 300,000 white men and women. There was a large population born upon the soil who were beginning to think of themselves as Americans and not as Englishmen. There were five newspapers published
weekly in Boston alone. Benjamin Franklin had begun his great career and was even then the most conspicuous person in America. Jonathan Edwards, who ranks among the brightest ornaments of the Christian Church in any age and any country, had been settled for 15 years in Northampton. A new nation was in process of forma- tion and the instinct of nationality was asserting itself in every one of the older colonies. Only five years later, Massachusetts, just to try her wings for independent flight, with slight aid from Connecticut and Rhode Island, captured the fortress of Louisburg, which was considered the Gibraltar of America.
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