USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > The history of Dublin, N.H. : containing the address by Charles Mason, and the proceedings at the centennial celebration, June 17, 1852, with a register of families > Part 10
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The few, but pleasant, years which it was my good fortune, in my youthful days, to spend in good old Dublin, sitting under the teach- ings of good old Parson Sprague, at the base of old Monadnock, on the shore of the pond, which poured forth its pure waters, and the kind and Christian-like treatment which I received from all the in- habitants, make it one of the most interesting places to me on earth. I assure you, gentlemen, that it would give me great pleasure to be present on the day of your celebration, but my engagements are of such a character as will deprive me of partaking the festivities of the day.
You will please to accept for yourselves and all your people my best wishes and kind regards.
Yours most respectfully, WILLIAM PARKER.
Messrs. JONA. K. SMITH, ASA H. FISK, RANSOM N. PORTER,
Sub-committee, Dublin, New Hampshire.
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P. S. Permit me to offer you a sentiment: -
"YOUR DISTRICT SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES. - In these, no town in the state is before you. Great credit, therefor is due to Par- son Sprague and his successor, Rev. Dr. Leonard."
Letter from JOHN H. FOSTER, M.D., of Chicago, Ill .: -
CHICAGO, June 10, 1852.
GENTLEMEN :
The reception of your very civil invitation to visit Dublin, and aid in celebrating the hundredth anniversary, afforded me much pleasure and gratification, inasmuch as it is some evidence that I am not altogether forgotten by my Dublin friends and acquaintance.
I should like much to attend this (that is to be) celebrated cele- bration, and learn something of the early struggles and privations, and ultimate success and prosperity, of the first inhabitants of Dublin, and especially to see, and take by the hand, my old associates and friends; but the cares of the world are likely to choke the good seed that your invitation has implanted in my breast, and prevent its bearing fruit at this time.
I know not, if, on such occasions, it is customary to be sentimental, and drink cold-water toasts; but, in case it is, I ask leave to give the following: -
"THE UNCOMMON SCHOOLS OF DUBLIN - are features as promi- nent in her moral, as are the hills and mountains in her physical, geography."
Respectfully yours,
JOHN H. FOSTER.
To JONA. K. SMITH, ASA H. FISK, and RANSOM N. PORTER.
Letter from REO ADAMS, late of Dublin: -
KEENE, OHIO, June 10, 1852.
GENTLEMEN :
Your circular, inviting myself and lady to participate in the cele- bration of the hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Dublin, is just received.
In reply, I would say, that I should be very happy to be present on that interesting occasion, as I have no doubt it will be. But, owing to the delay of the mail, the notice is too short; and my avocations are such as to deprive me of the pleasure of an interview with my Dublin friends at that time. Please accept my thanks for this com- munication, and my good wishes for the success of your celebration. I take an honest pride in the standing of my native town, particularly in regard to education. I see by the reports of school committees, and other ways, that she stands highest among the high in this respect,
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and this regard for her past history is highly honorable to the intelli- gence of her citizens. I send the following sentiment for your con- sideration: -
"THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN YOUR EX- CELLENT SCHOOLS: - The watch-tower of our liberties. Let that be flourishing, and the country is safe."
Go on, gentlemen, with your celebration; do it up handsomely, as I have no doubt you will; and my best wishes are with you.
REO ADAMS.
To J. K. SMITH and others.
15. Twelfth sentiment: -
"THE LATE AMOS TWITCHELL, M.D., OF KEENE, - Preeminent in his profession, - a man whom this or any other town might be proud to own as a son. His example admonishes all who would excel to 'aim high.'"
Dr. ALBERT SMITH of Peterborough responded: -
Mr. President, - Having been requested to respond to the sentiment just read, you may be assured that I have under- taken it with great reluctance, from the fear of my inability to do anything like justice to such a theme. Since he left no son, nor near kindred, who could respond this day to your kind remembrance of him, that duty has fallen on me, who can only claim a kindred profession with him, and an admiration and profound respect for the man. My acquaintance with him had been long and pleasant; and sad is it to me, that any one but himself should now stand here to respond on this occasion. A year since, I had occasion, by appointment, to make a com- memorative discourse of his life and character before the New Hampshire State Medical Society, in which I could but barely do justice to him, much less in the brief moments allotted to the speakers of this day.
With what delight would he meet you this day, if his life had been spared! If it is permitted to departed spirits to know what is passing in this world, and to be near to living friends, may we not hope that he, and many other departed ones, are now hovering over these scenes, and intensely watching the proceed- ings of this important day?
Would that he could stand here bodily, and, instead of my poor eulogy, address you himself! How would the broad and manly features of his face kindle, as he surveyed this immense multitude, to every one of whom, great and small, his name is familiar as a household word! His eyes, always so keen and ex-
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pressive, how would they glow and twinkle, - his noble and majestic form rise in dignity before you, as he would address you in the thrilling emotion of an overflowing heart! Would he not use language something like this? -
"My kind friends, this is a great occasion to me. Nothing could afford me more pleasure than to be remembered and recognized as a son of Dublin this day. I am not an exception to the general law, that the earliest associations and impres- sions are the last to be effaced. Towards this, my native town, I have always entertained a strong affection, which no separa- tion, no increasing wealth or wide-spread reputation, can es- trange; and, in all my active life, never have professional calls, from any quarter, however distant or honorable they may have been to me, been responded to with more alacrity and satisfaction than to the inhabitants of these, my native hills. Night or day, in storm or sunshine, has it always been pleasant to me to serve you. I have always felt a more than paternal regard towards you; and your confidence and reliance on me, as your medical adviser, has always been a source of sincere pleasure. You all very well know that no storms that ever howled round this mountain in sternest winter ever prevented me from attending to any pressing or urgent call, when any of you or yours were in distress or danger. Such as I am, always have I been at your service.
"Could I forget Dublin? Could I forget that here sleep the remains of all my early friends; my father; my mother; yes, . my mother, - that noble woman, to whom I owe so much, and to whom, under Heaven, I am indebted for all that I am? Believe me, my friends, no stronger tie was needed to bind me to my native town than that my mother sleeps here. Her memory, as it was the first of my impressions, so will it be the last. Such a mother! There may have been many as good; sure, none better.
"Living but a short distance from Dublin, through a long life, have I watched with much interest the progress of my native town; and nothing has given me more pleasure than to see the very great advancement made during the few past years. Though you may have but few sons to present this day, who have been very prominent in the many varied walks of life, yet you can offer what is of vastly more value and of greater honor, - jewels of the finest lustre from every hill and valley of this diversified and mountainous town.
"Such instances of universal mental culture, such general
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intellectual and moral development, as are here met with on every hand, are worth all the reputation of having a few names which stand high in the world's estimation, while the commu- nity might be correspondingly low. Go on with your good work; be earnest, be zealous; let no effort be spared to rear up men and women who shall be specimens of intelligence and integrity; always bearing in mind that there is nothing in the world worth caring for but knowledge and virtue. You have my heartiest wishes for your prosperity. In all human probability, it will not be permitted to me to witness many future changes in the affairs of this town; for old age and its infirmities must soon be creeping on, and I cannot escape its inexorable decree; but I may be pardoned in humbly imploring, that, when I change my earthly state, I may be called with the 'harness on,' and in the full vigor of my mind."
I have thus very imperfectly represented what I suppose Dr. Twitchell might have said, could he stand here and address you on this occasion. I need hardly say to you, that it is no easy matter for any one to imagine what such a man would say, and, much more, attempt to make a poor imitation of his thoughts and speech.
Well did a kind Providence accord to the oft-expressed wish of our excellent friend: he was called home in his full mental vigor, before hebetude or mental decay had touched him, be- fore he had lost one jot or tittle of his ability or skill. Blessed memory of the great and good physician! ten times more blessed in our affections than to our ambition to call him great!
In the language of the sentiment, well may this town be proud of such a son as Dr. Twitchell: such descendants always bring honor to the domestic hearth, and no less to the place of their birth. Never was there a better specimen of our race physically, - his exterior large, stately, commanding; his head massive, with a high intellectual forehead; piercing eyes, that looked keenly enough on some occasions; a countenance strongly exhibiting confidence and self-reliance, - enough truly in physical conformation to make a man in the truest sense of the word. And such he was and he was no less superior and commanding intellectually than he was physically. He possessed a strongly developed intellect of the first order, together with a wondrous and peculiar vein of wit, humor, sarcasm, and fun, that led his biographer to term some of his mirthful effusions as Twitchellian. There was something in his personal appearance alone, without a particle of haughtiness or
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pride, which were entirely foreign to his nature, that forcibly impressed strangers with the idea that he was no common man. And how strongly would this opinion be confirmed, if he opened his mouth! for truly such originality, such power and force of thought, such funds of humor and anecdote, would ap- pear, as no man could utter who was not among the gifted of his race. What Dr. Johnson said of Burke applies to him with equal force: "If," says he, "a man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a shed to shun a shower, he would say, 'This is no extraordinary man.' If Burke should go into a stable to see his horse dressed, the ostler would say, 'We have an extraordinary man here.'" We can say, with great truth, that Dr. Twitchell was an extraordinary man, a superior man, a great man. He was great in all his purposes, great in his life, determined in his will, and possessed of that indomitable perseverance that is ever connected with the high- est success of human life. He was never daunted; he met every case with skill, self-possession, perseverance, and unwearied effort, as long as there was any hope. He discarded from his vocabulary altogether the word fail; and consequently he often succeeded when the chance seemed hopeless.
Dr. Twitchell was an extraordinary man in his natural en- dowments; and, wherever he might have been placed, and in whatever sphere, he was destined to excel. But he did not owe all his superiority to nature and genius alone, great as it was; it was only attained by long and hard study, - by careful ob- servation and experience, by constant training and application to the last day of his life. He was not what might be called a learned man, a man of books and book-knowledge; his active and laborious life forbade it; yet few men had more reliable knowledge at their command, knowledge that was always just ready when it was wanted; and few men were better "posted up" in all the improvements, new remedies, or important dis- coveries in his profession. He always had knowledge for every case; and he had, above other men, a kind of intuition, by which he arrived at conclusions in the investigation of diseases in a moment of time, while other minds were slowly going through all the processes of a careful examination to arrive at the same result. However rapidly he might have reached his conclusion, it was not safe to hold the opposite opinion, if one were solicitous to be in the right.
This wonderful faculty of his, called in medicine diagnosis, often unsealed the dark recesses of disease; often rendered that
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which before seemed unintelligible plain and clear and brought in light where only darkness had prevailed before. So rapid were his investigations, and so easily did he appear to reach his conclusions, that many who saw him could think it only a superior kind of guessing. Yet no man had better reasons for his opinions; and he could make all these so clear and plain, that even those unacquainted with the human form could readily apprehend, from his forcible and peculiar representa- tions, what part of the system was diseased, how much danger it portended, and on what principle the cure should be at- tempted. It was now made so plain, that the wonder was, that all this was not seen before. Against the opathics and isms of the day, he was accustomed to utter no measured invectives and cutting sarcasms. "That men and women uneducated in the healing art should have the presumption to descant upon the principles of homeopathy or hydropathy, or any other of the new-fangled systems of empiricism, as though they could understand their vast superiority over the long-established system of medicine, and be ready to utter invectives and ana- themas with all that confidence which ignorance usually inspires was to him a monstrous absurdity. It may be well imagined that he met all such cases with the most stinging sarcasm. He would have considered it a prostitution of reason to have called in its aid to weed out what had its only foundation in self- interest or caprice." He abhorred quackery of all the hateful things in the world, not less in medicine than in religion or any- thing else.
He was by many supposed to be a skeptic, because he could not endure cant and hypocrisy, - because he scorned preten- sion where there was no heart. We have every reason to be- lieve that he possessed an unqualified belief in God and im- mortality. He always reverenced the true manifestations of piety, wherever exhibited. When a female acquaintance (says his biographer), while under high religious excitement, with the kindest intentions and the utmost sincerity, called to con- verse with him, saying that God had sent her to speak boldly to him on the state of his soul, and urging him, through religion and the church, to prepare for death that might happen to him at any moment, - he heard her with gentleness, and thanked her for her kind thoughts, and concluded by saying, "But, my friend, you are mistaken. God never told you to call on me. He knows my heart better than any one else, and I know he never sent you. Our prayers," he said, "should arise in every
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action of our lives; and we should be continually prepared for death, by always living rightly." Noble thought, kindly ex- pressed by a true heart!
The time and occasion will not permit me to speak of his professional qualifications. I need only say, that such was his reputation as a surgeon and physician, that he was universally acknowledged to rank among the most eminent of New Eng- land. Indeed, his bold and successful operations carried his fame to every part of our country; nor was his name unknown to the profession in the old world.
But, alas! as has been beautifully said, "His life died with him." So few and meagre are the writings he has left, and these so unworthy of his great fame, that it must be said that he now only lives in tradition and in the transitory memories of the living.
Fame thus transmitted, how uncertain and short-lived! Such great beacon lights of their age should rear to them- selves, in their lives, some permanent work, that may be a dur- able monument to their fame.
In the death of such a man, how much do we regret that such stores of experience, of knowledge, of tact and skill, should all perish at once! But this is the unalterable decree of our nature: our light, however bright, - however wide it may throw its beams, and however much illumine the dark places and dark scenes of earth, - must go out. This excellent man bowed to the common lot of all; and, while we ought to rejoice that he was spared in his usefulness and prime to the allotted period of human life, threescore years and ten, nevertheless we can- not but follow his departure with sincere sorrow, because -
"He was a man, take him for all in all, We shall not look upon his like again."
How worthy of commemoration is such a man on an occasion like this! How many pleasant memories cluster round his name, as we here utter it on the first Centennial of Dublin! May distant posterity learn his character and fame; and may his life of good deeds, benevolent acts, and untiring devotion to the good of his fellow-man, be so deeply impressed upon the history of our times, that future aspirants for fame may learn that it is only to be attained through excellence, goodness, and usefulness.
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I close with the following sentiment, suggested by these remarks: -
"GREATNESS AND GOODNESS: - Though not now always asso- ciated, may the time soon be hastened, when to be great is to be good."
16. Thirteenth sentiment: -
"OUR DEPARTED FRIENDS. -
"Friend after friend departs. Who has not lost a friend?" Nay, "Not lost, but gone before."
MUSIC - "STRIKE THE HARP GENTLY," etc.
17. Fourteenth sentiment: -
"OUR FEMALE FRIENDS: - Forming the mind and character of youth, smoothing the asperity of manhood, and soothing the infirmity of age. Their intellectual and moral culture is the best guarantee for the welfare and happiness of those who come after us."
To this, Mrs. J. K. SMITH responded as follows: -
If the sentiment just read was intended by the committee, or is considered by others, as a compliment to the ladies, I reply that it is but simple justice. If it was meant as flattery, I take them at their word because it is true. By taking this position, I claim for my sex nothing beyond or above what is clearly indicated by the allotment of Providence. The traits of char- acter here enumerated are those in which woman is peculiarly qualified to excel, - those in which it was clearly designed by our Maker that she should excel. The possession of these quali- ties, therefore, implies no peculiar merit; but the absence of them in a female indicates a great deficiency in the true female character. The sexes have different offices to perform in the economy of social life, and admirably are they fitted by nature for the places assigned them. The one is qualified to make up the deficiencies of the other, that united they may make as perfect a home as is consistent with the imperfections of mortal- ity. As has been said or sung: -
" Man is the rugged, lofty pine; Woman, the soft and flexile vine, Whose clasping tendrils round it twine, And deck its rough bark sweetly o'er."
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But although, as I said, the possession of these qualifications implies no merit, it does imply a great, a fearful responsibility. The character of the young, the comfort and welfare of all, is in some measure put into our hands; and woe be to us if we per- vert or misapply our power. Who can take the infant, and un- fold the budding beauties of his mind like the mother? - who, like her, draw forth his affections, and develop the moral na- ture implanted in his soul? Who, like her, can lead the child along the rough pathway of life, and make it a "path of pleasant- ness and peace," because the path of virtue? The latent powers of his mind, the blushing flowrets of his soul, come forth at her bidding, or they remain in their dark recesses forever.
And man, too, in his highest estate, how much of his com- fort and happiness depends on the character of his wife! It has been said, that the greatest man must "ask leave" of his wife to prosper, or to be happy. And there is very much of truth in the remark.
In sickness or sorrow, or old age, whose hands can bring al- leviation, whose words cheer and bless, whose sympathy and affection bring all our better feelings into action like the kind ministrations of the wife or mother or daughter?
Standing thus at the very fountain of social and domestic life, on her it greatly depends whether the streams issuing therefrom shall be sweet or bitter. Ministering at the altar of connubial intercourse, the happiness or misery of her house- hold is in her keeping. Happy would it be for many a family, if the female head duly appreciated her position, and cheerfully and conscientiously performed all the duties it imposes.
In the performance of these duties, the females of the present day may well take lessons from the generations that have pre- ceded them here. The trials and hardships of the mothers of the town drew out many admirable traits in their character. Patience under privation, fortitude in suffering, firmness in danger, and skill in all domestic accomplishments, qualified them for their position as the pioneers of civilization; and, at the same time, the circumstance in which they were placed served to develop these very qualities they so much needed. If the present generation is largely indebted, for the character they sustain, to the worthy females of the past century, ought not we to see to it that the generations of the next century are under equal obligations to us? If we duly appreciate the im- portance of the position we occupy, and conscientiously dis- charge the momentous trusts committed to us, then indeed
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will the "welfare and happiness of those who come after us" be comparatively secure, and the blessings accruing to the present generation greatly enhanced.
18. Fifteenth sentiment: -
"THE CONTRIBUTION OF DUBLIN TO THE POPULATION OF OUR LARGE CITIES. - Among them are men whose untiring business- habits have enabled them to amass much wealth; but their gold has not encrusted their hearts. We trust their liberality and benevolence will continue to increase in a ratio proportionate to their additional means."
SOLOMON PIPER, Esq., of Boston, spoke as follows: -
Mr. President, - I have been called upon to respond to a very flattering sentiment. I only regret it is not better de- served. I am unaccustomed to public speaking, and shall not attempt to make a speech. In the few remarks I propose to offer, I trust I shall be pardoned if I follow my own inclina- tion, rather than the suggestions of the sentiment, and speak of my native town and its interests.
Public speaking was not among the branches taught in the schools of my day. The condition of the schools in Dublin at that day would compare very unfavorably with those of the present time. Our schools were then kept but a small portion of the year. The schoolhouses were small, inconvenient, and uncomfortable. Old hats were the common substitute for broken panes of glass; and it was not unusual, on a cold morn- ing, for a detachment of the larger boys to be sent into the adjacent fields to collect decayed stumps to replenish the fire; and a large portion of the time of the scholars was spent in vain attempts to keep themselves comfortable.
Just forty-two years ago, at the age of nearly twenty-one, I shouldered my bundle, containing all my worldly effects, and started for Boston on foot, in pursuit of employment. I soon engaged in a business which I have ever since prosecuted on the same spot. During that comparatively long period of man's life, there has been no very striking change in the phys- ical appearance of my native town. The same mountains and hills appear in the distance; the same streams trickle down their sides; and generally the same houses and fields and or- chards are still in view. But, Mr. President, the occupants of those houses, the cultivators of those fields, where are they?
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Alas! where are they? A generation has passed away; and their faces, once so familiar, with few exceptions, are seen no more. At that time, I could call by name nearly every man and wo- man in the town. Now I feel almost among strangers.
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