USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > The history of Dublin, N.H., Volume 1852 > Part 7
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Allow me to present the following sentiment : -
" TO THE YOUTH OF DUBLIN. - Would you be favored, blessed, successful, and influential, be obedient to your parents, attentive to the aged, respectful to your superiors, and kind to all."
We present our special respects to the members of the Committee, and kind remembrance to friends and acquaint- ances.
In behalf of Mrs. Tisdale and myself,
JAMES TISDALE.
Col. JONATHAN K. SMITH, ASA H. FISK, Esq.,
Dr. RANSOM N. PORTER.
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Letter from Dr. Ambrose Lawrence.
LOWELL, June 4, 1852.
Messrs., - Your favor of the 31st ult., inviting me to be present at the "First Centennial of Dublin," was duly received.
I can only return you, gentlemen, my sincere thanks for your kindness in extending your invitation to me, once an unworthy resident of your town. Previous engagements, requiring my presence elsewhere on that day, will, I hope, be considered a sufficient excuse for what would seem almost a duty.
Allow me to conclude by offering you, as a sentiment, -
" DUBLIN. - She has passed one hundred years in prosperity: may she never pass one year of adversity."
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
AMBROSE LAWRENCE.
To JONA. K. SMITH, ASA H. FISK, RANSOM N. PORTER, Committee.
9. Eighth sentiment : -
" NATIVES OF DUBLIN WHO HAVE NOT EMIGRATED. - The grandeur and beauty of our natural scenery, and the superior advantages for moral, social, and intellectual culture, have outweighed in our minds the splendor of the city and the fertility of the prairie, and induced us to cluster around the old hearthstone and the graves of our fathers and kindred."
A GLEE-" HOME."
10. Ninth sentiment : -
" OUR CLERGYMEN. - While we would duly honor all who have held the sacred office among us, we gratefully recognize one, who, at his decease, contributed liberally of his wealth for the intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of future genera- tions; and another, who long has been, and still is, drawing freely from the treasures of his head and heart to promote the same great object."
Rev. LEVI W. LEONARD spoke in substance as follows : -
Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen, - I am called upon to respond to the sentiment just read. The first clergyman of this town was the Rev. Joseph Farrar. He was ordained here fourscore years ago this very month, twenty years after the date of the first settlement, one year after the town was incorporated. Few persons now living here ever saw him. That he was well qualified for his office, so far as learning and piety were concerned, has been often certified to me by persons who knew him in the days of his residence in this
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town. During the first two years of his ministry, we have reason to believe that he was a successful and acceptable preacher and pastor. But ill health wrought a change in him, which was manifested by a partial aberration of intel- lect. He entertained strange and unfounded suspicions with regard to the conduct of some of his flock. On the side of the hill back of the old church, he built a small house, and there lived, for a time, alone. Such difficulties arose, in consequence of his singular conduct, that his services were deemed no longer useful. A council was called ; and, upon his request, a dismission was granted, at the end of the fourth year of his ministry.
The successor of Mr. Farrar was the Rev. Edward Sprague. Although nearly thirty-five years have elapsed since his decease, yet many of you who are now present have seen his face and heard his voice. During the space of forty years, he was the minister of the Congregational Society of Dublin. In the first half of his ministry, it is evident, from what was stated in the address at the grove, that he was straitened in pecuniary means. But at length, by inheriting a portion of his father's estate, he became rich. He then relinquished his salary ; and, during sixteen years, he sup- plied the pulpit, and performed other duties of his office, neither asking nor receiving any pay.
That he felt deeply in his heart for the welfare of the people of Dublin, cannot be doubted. With small excep- tion, he bequeathed them his whole property. To the society of which he was pastor, he gave a specified sum ; and the rest for the benefit of the common schools.
In the changes of circumstances, interests, and feelings, which are ever taking place, it is too common for the grateful remembrance of departed benefactors to become fainter and fainter, till, at length, little is retained besides their names.
The character of Mr. Sprague, drawn by the hand of a personal friend, is inscribed on the monument erected over the spot where his mortal part was laid in the earth. As you repair to that field where the dead repose, and there recall the memory of the friends who have gone before you, you will not fail, on some such occasions, to read the words chiselled in hard lines upon that marble slab. Let such an act awaken in your hearts a deep feeling of gratitude and a lively sense of obligation. But grateful feelings and kind remembrances are not all that we owe to such a benefactor.
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It is our duty, so far as we can with truth, to defend his reputation, and especially to remove those misapprehensions which, in his case, have widely prevailed.
Persons whose characters are marked by striking pecu- liarities are very liable to be judged erroneously. Their deviation from the common forms of society exposes them to be considered as wrong in intention, when wrong is far from their thoughts. During the whole course of Mr. Sprague's education, he mingled very little with the world around him. From unacquaintance with the ways and manners of a life in the country, and having never been trained in the methods of New England thrift-making, he was exposed to being easily overreached in such business-transactions as were necessary in his domestic arrangements ; and there were not wanting persons who would remind him that he had been cheated in a bargain or purchase. This rendered him some- what suspicious of those with whom he had dealings ; and his ways of protecting himself were apt to partake of his peculiar characteristics.
During the period of Mr. Sprague's ministry, it was almost universal with those who made public donations for educa- tional purposes, to establish academies, or to found professor- ships in colleges, which should bear their names ; and many persons, no doubt, thought it strange that a wealthy clergy- man should so far mistake the interest of his fame with posterity as to bequeathe his property for the support of common schools. But what has been the result of subse- quent inquiry in reference to this subject ? Public opinion has undergone a change. Although academies and colleges are still duly valued, yet common schools, through the efficient labors of Horace Mann, are deemed not less impor- tant ; and, as in them the mass of the people are to be instructed and trained, they are regarded by many as of higher importance. It was the deliberate opinion of Mr. Sprague, formed long before his last sickness, that the improvement of common schools was an object of such moment as to deserve the special aid and countenance of the friends of education. He decided, therefore, in favor of common schools.
For this decision, the successive generations of Dublin will warmly cherish his memory. They will not forget that he sacrificed the common ambition of having his name attached to a single institution, and bequeathed the largest
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portion of his estate for increasing the efficiency and useful- ness of those unobtrusive seminaries in which the minds and hearts of the children and youth who dwell here may be formed, we will hope and pray, for righteousness on earth, and blessedness in heaven.
Of the Rev. Elijah Willard, the first pastor of the Baptist Church, I can say that all my intercourse and communication with him was friendly and pleasant, and such as to make me regard him as a faithful Christian minister, seeking the sal- vation of the people of his charge. His fervency and sym- pathy with the afflicted on funeral occasions are well known to many, both of his own people, and of other inhabitants of the town. To speak more particularly of his character and success as a pastor and preacher, belongs to others more than to myself. It is enough for me to say, that, after a ministry of nearly forty years, he came to his grave at the advanced age of eighty-eight ; and that, as a clergyman and a citizen, we believe he will be kindly remembered by all who become acquainted with his character and services.
Of the other clergymen who have labored in this town as ministers of the gospel of Christ during my residence here, all are living, so far as I know, except the Rev. Samuel Harris. He preached for the First Trinitarian Congrega- tional Society some two or three years. He had been settled at Windham, in this State. Though his period of service here was short, yet he is remembered as a man of an amia- ble, substantial character ; a preacher of fair ability, but too distrustful of himself to gain marked attention, yet well esteemed by all who knew him,
Of the living clergymen, and of myself, I shall say nothing. Some, indeed, are not present, whose faces we should be glad to see on this occasion. But our days of service are not yet ended. Ere long, however, we shall all pass from time to eternity. While our days are drawing to their close, we may be permitted to indulge the hope that we shall not be wholly forgotten by those for whom it has been our duty to labor as ministers of Christ ; and, were we to put up together a prayer to the Father of all, we should, I doubt not, all unite in beseeching him to endue you with wisdom from on high, and to enable you so to improve your social, educa- tional, and religious privileges, that, when you go hence, you may be greeted with " a welcome to the joy of your Lord."
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CINCINNATI, O., June 12, 1852.
Dear Sirs, - It would have given me true pleasure to have been present at your first centennial celebration ; and I thank you for your kind invitation. But the occasion comes too early in the season for my acceptance of it; and I must content myself with this very imperfect acknowledgment of your remembrance. A host of pleasing memories surrounds the name of Dublin ; and, whenever I entered the town - as I have done how many, many times, in days departed, and hallowed in the heart and memory - to exchange with that most excellent pastor who is one of the high priests of New Hampshire in more senses than one, a purer air, morally as well as physically, seemed to surround me and exhilarate me. All praise and honor to the noble towns of education, temperance, religion, freedom, righteousness, and peace, in New England, of which yours is one of the purest, highest, and most celebrated, where the least has been done by nature, and the most has been done by man ! The glory of the workmen is their work. I give you, then, as a sentiment, -
" DUBLIN. - ' A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid; ' and this one need not hide, ought not to be hid, and cannot be hid."
Most respectfully, your friend, A. A. LIVERMORE.
To Messrs. FISK, SMITH, and PORTER.
11. Tenth sentiment : -
" OUR SABBATH SCHOOLS, - Moulding the plastic minds of our youth; so that, by divine aid, they may become 'vessels of honor ' in the Christian church."
Rev. SAMUEL F. CLARK, of Athol, Mass., a native of Dublin, made the following remarks : -
If I am not mistaken, Mr. President and friends, it was in this town that the boy in the field, when tauntingly inter- rogated by a passing stranger with the inquiry, " What do you raise on these barren hills ?" aptly responded, " Our soil is rather hard and cold and broken, and we can raise little else ; so we build school-houses, and raise men."
Some towns excel in agriculture, some in mechanical, and some in commercial pursuits. Ours has gained distinction in neither of these. The branch of enterprise in which this town has been most successful is that of "raising men." We do not claim among her sons and daughters many who are noted for what is deemed a high eminence. But we do
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claim that those who have been nurtured on these hills have attained to a high level of intelligence, enterprise, and virtue. Other towns may boast of more great names ; but very few, indeed, can offer so high a standard of general excellence as must be indisputably conceded to this. While it is true of those born here, that few have been known to fame, it is also true that fewer have been known to infamy. As few have occupied places of rank in business, literature, or the professions ; so there have been few who have been drones in society, and burdens to the community. No town can rejoice in greater freedom from such incumbrances than this. Those who have remained here, or have gone out from their native town, have generally been industrious, enterprising citizens ; such as society always relies upon for support, and of whom it may well be said, at last, " The world has been better for their having lived in it." It is in the nurture and culture of such citizens that this town has gained a no unenviable distinction.
And now, Mr. President, permit me to advert to the cause of this very desirable success ; and, in doing so, it is presumed that the generation which is passing away will excuse it in us, as one of the pardonable foibles of youth, if we assume that this distinction is of modern attainment ; nor will you, Mr. President, I presume, take exception, if I search no farther back for this cause than our minds may be borne by the sentiment to which I am called to respond.
No town, it is believed, has enjoyed a more happy sabbath- school influence than has been exerted here for the last thirty years ; and we doubt not that to this influence may be attributed no small degree of the excellence of character which we who are emigrants are always proud to hear ascribed to the home of our childhood. Of course, in making this remark, I do not forget the high grade of our common-schools, nor by whose influence they have been thus elevated ; but of their success it is not to-day my province to speak. I may say, however, that the most favored means for intellectual culture can avail nothing desirable, unless such culture be accompanied with proper moral and religious instruction ; and I am happy to add, that here the two have been most happily combined and directed by the same guar- dian-influence.
Of the Sunday-schools of Dublin, I am familiarly ac-
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quainted with but one, and consequently am not able to speak of the statistics or success of the others. This I regret ; but I trust there is some one present who is able to do them ample justice. To the seasons which I have spent in the school connected with the First Parish, I shall always revert as among the most profitable and fondly cherished hours of my childhood and youth ; and these associations are all the more dear to me, because she who so amiably shares my truest affections ever turns as fondly as myself to these scenes of her early and later religious impressions.
This school was established in the year 1823, and num- bered, at that time, one hundred and twenty-two pupils, of whom but seventeen are now residents of the town. It has continued to flourish from that time to this under the care of the same devoted pastor, and many of the same faithful friends, who cherished its incipient growth. It now em- braces one hundred and sixty pupils, which is not far from its usual number. A very gratifying feature in this school is the unusual number of young ladies and gentlemen who are constant in their attendance upon its instructions ; and, indeed, in all its desirable features, I may safely say, this excels any of the very many similar schools with which my experience as a teacher, superintendent, and pastor, has given me an acquaintance, both in the country and the city. Con- sequently, its influence upon the young has been marked, so much so as to be observable to strangers ; and I remember that an old gentleman of high respectability in an adjoining town once remarked to me, that he always knew when he had crossed the line between the towns by the deportment of the boys ; for, said he, the last boy, as a traveller passes in, is sure to throw a stone after his carriage, while the first boy he meets in Dublin is as sure to take off his hat and make a bow. Experience in various places has convinced me, that this is but a fair illustration of the happy success of our sabbath-schools.
And what, now, may we ask, is the secret of the superior influence of this school ? For such results do not come by chance.
Undoubtedly the secret is traceable to more than one cause. Connected with this school have been devoted su- perintendents and faithful teachers, without whose aid very little could have been attained ; but all these, we venture to affirm, will concede to another the higher wisdom and devo-
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tion which have been the directing influence over this and the common-schools. No pastor has ever devoted himself more assiduously to the culture of the young, or done more for their improvement, than he who has just left this stand, and who, in his remarks, has been too modest to say any thing of himself; but to whom, for his untiring efforts in our behalf, we who have grown up under his care owe a lasting debt of gratitude.
I will not now speak of the superior intellectual, moral, and religious influence which his public teaching and social intercourse have shed over the young in this town ; for that is obvious to all. But there are other means which have been prodigally used for our benefit, and yet so modestly that I fear few of us have ever been sensible of their origin.
I am sure that I need not remind very many who hear me, how, when we were children, we used to repair to the minister's study, in the old tavern-house, which is soon to give place to the new church, - a fitting spot, already conse- crated in our memories by the associations to which I allude, - for those little books which his personal kindness always provided so liberally to culture our early love for reading. Thus were those books, furnished at his expense, carried into almost every family in town, till, at length, they at- tracted the attention of a practising physician, Dr. Carter, who, perceiving their happy influence, took the matter in hand, and soon induced the people to establish the present juvenile library. The three hundred books then already in circulation were presented by the minister ; and from this gratuitous nucleus has grown this library, which now num- bers nearly two thousand volumes, and which, under the direction of its librarian,* has done more than any other influence to mould the acknowledged intellectual character of this town.
Neither is it necessary for me to remind those who have been pupils in this Sunday-school of the annual present of books which has been awarded to each scholar since the first organization of the school. But perhaps all may not be aware, that, for these, they have been chiefly indebted to him who has just declined saying any thing of what he has done himself, as they are also for all the manuals which have been used in the school for thirty years.
Dr. Leonard.
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I am aware, that, were I to wait for his permission before divulging these facts to the public, I should be obliged to wait till the next centennial ; so I have deferred asking it ; nor do I think we are under any obligations to consult him at all in this matter.
I have lately had occasion to refer to the records of the library and the Sunday-school ; and, in looking them over, my eye rested on some items of expenses which modesty ought not longer to be allowed to conceal. I will not say that I obtained the perusal of these records under false pretences, because that would hardly be honorable to my- self. But I can say that I did not avow my whole purpose in requesting a sight at them ; for it was not necessary to do so ; and besides, if I had, my principal design in seeking access to them, which was to be able to show the pecuniary expense which the pastor of this school has incurred for the library and the school, might have been defeated. The result of my investigations and inquiries may be told in few words. The money paid by the minister for the three hun- dred books first given to the library, together with subsequent donations, would, if put at interest at the time of the several donations, amount now to more than $510; nor does this include the expense of paper for covering the library, which, together with the whole care of the books for thirty years, has been a gratuitous offering of the librarian. I find also that the money which the pastor has paid annually for manuals and presents for one hundred and fifty or sixty scholars of the sabbath-school, if put at interest at the time of the several payments, would now amount to upwards of $1,114, which, added to the sum expended on the library, swells the amount of his free-will offering for the benefit of his pupils to the large sum of $1,624.
In these facts, the reflecting mind will not fail to discover the secret of the uncommon success of this school, and of the high excellence which this town has attained in consequence.
Nor do these figures reveal our pastor's beneficence in but a single department of his numerous spheres of useful- ness. I say our pastor ; because, when he was settled here, and when he commenced these plans of usefulness, he was the pastor of the town. There are others who can testify to similar deeds from the same hand. Nor have I yet an- nounced all I might reveal ; but I forbear the rest, as well from other considerations as from want of time.
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Allow me now, Mr. President, to close these remarks with the following sentiment ; in offering which, I do not forget the former minister of this society, who has been remem- bered with gratitude here to-day, nor yet others, present and absent, who have contributed of their means for the benefit of this town ; but, with many thanks to them all for their liberality, allow me to offer -
" THE TOWN OF BRIDGEWATER, MASS. - Our pastor's native place ; Dublin's greatest benefactor."
12. Eleventh sentiment : -
"OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. - Under the guidance of one who has ever pointed onward and 'led the way,' they have risen from ' the District School as it was,' to a condition of which we have no cause to be ashamed."
JEREMIAH BEMIS, Jr., Esq., now of Weathersfield, Vt., a native son of Dublin, and a veteran teacher of thirty-seven terms, responded in the following remarks : -
Mr. President, - In connection with a few words referring to the invaluable services of " one who has led the way " so successfully and so honorably for more than thirty years, I hope you will not deem it inappropriate for me to allude to " the District School as it was " between the years 1795 and 1817.
During fifteen of the seventeen terms of my attendance as a scholar in Dublin, and three terms of the eight in Marlborough, my teachers were of the former town. I do not remember hearing any one say, that either of them was unfaithful in teaching, did not sustain good order, or, in reclaiming delinquents, preferred not other expedients to corporal inflictions ; but, when the former had been unavail- able, it was then to be expected that their belief in the utility of the latter would be practically manifested. And may we not conclude that the other schools in town were as well conducted ?
The terms were generally not so long as to prevent the employment of an instructor in two districts in the same winter ; and some scholars attended other schools, when their own were not in operation.
Some of the school-houses were old and inconveniently constructed ; others, though recently erected, and far more convenient and comfortable than their predecessors, contained seats and desks fashioned after a faulty model. In one of
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them was a stove, in which dry fuel was consumed ; and, in each of the others which I had been in, a brick fireplace, mostly supplied with green wood. But few of the books were well adapted to the end designed; and stationery consisted not of "first-rate articles." No apparatus was furnished to facilitate improvement ; nor a well-regulated clock, to indicate to idle or tardy scholars precious and inestimable time lost by them for ever, and also to admonish the teacher if he came in too late.
Omitting other inconveniences, which caused, apparently, but few if any discouragements, I wish to observe, that, were I to form an opinion of the kindness of parents and others to teachers, the punctual attendance, studiousness, good deportment, and improvement of scholars, in all the districts in Dublin, by my experience, as an instructor during eleven terms, in five of them, I should say, their worthy efforts tended, in no small degree, to encourage teachers in discharging their duties.
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