USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Windham > The history of Windham in New Hampshire (Rockingham country). 1719-1883. A Scotch settlement (commonly called Scotch-Irish), embracing nearly one third of the ancient settlement and historic township of Londonderry, N.H > Part 29
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SPEECH OF GEORGE W. WESTON, ESQ.
"To the Selectmen of the Town of Windham, -Gentlemen : On the sixth day of April, 1868, the town voted to repair and remodel the outside of this house, and finish off suitable rooms in the upper story for town purposes. Voted, to raise $1,500, and hire balance sufficient to finish said house. Chose George W. Weston, William C. Harris, and George Copp committee to execute contracts and superintend the repairs. Plans, specifica- tions, and estimates were made by Jos. B. Sawyer, of Manchester.
" We advertised for proposals for repairing and remodeling said house, and received only one offer, and that was $3,375. The committee decided that the repairing could be done more cheaply than the proposal. The work has been done at an expense of $2,765.63. No accident has occurred during the progress of the work, all contracts by ns made have been faithfully executed, and all bills adjusted.
" Having executed the trust reposed in us by said vote, I now, in behalf of the committee, formally surrender the keys of this building into your hands, as chairman of the board of selectmen and representative of the town."
ADDRESS OF WILLIAM C. HARRIS, ESQ.
" Fellow-citizens, -The occasion which has brought us to- gether to-day, is one of rare interest. Within the past few years we have met in the different districts of the town, and dedicated our noble school-houses to the cause of education. But this is the first time our town has assembled for dedicatory purposes. We have all felt the need of a hall like this; but have differed in opinion, and honestly too, as to the best method of procuring it.
" This house, as all are aware, was built by the town for a meet- ing-house, near the close of the last century. At a meeting holden in June, 1797, the town voted to build a meeting-house, by a majority of thirty-nine votes. Also, voted to finish the out- side and lay the under floor. A committee of five, viz. James Cochran, James Anderson, John Dinsmoor, David Gregg, and John Carr, were chosen to draw a plan of meeting-house, and lay it before the town at a future meeting.
"There was a strong desire to have the meeting-house built in the centre of the town, - some declaring it should be, even if the centre should be found to be in the middle of Cobbett's Pond. James Dinsmoor and David Gregg were chosen a committee to ascertain the centre of the town, according to a plan of the town, drawn by Colonel Varmum, of Chester. John Dinsmoor, David Gregg, and James Dinsmoor were chosen by the town a building committee, and instructed to divide the timber wanted for the
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ADDRESS OF WILLIAM C. HARRIS, ESQ., SEPT. 22, 1868.
meeting-house frame into six lots, and sell the getting of it, at vendne, to the lowest bidder ; the sale to be at the dwelling-house of Henry Campbell. Also, voted to raise one hundred pounds to defray the expense of building.
" The record does not show the spot selected by the committee as the centre; but at a meeting holden Dec. 28, 1797, the town voted not to build on the centre, as found by the committee, but to build on John Plummer's land, where his upper barn now stands, considering that as the nearest convenient place to said centre. Also, voted to raise the meeting-house at the expense of the town. On the twenty-eighth day of May, 1798, the town voted that the building committee invite eighty men to raise the meeting-house, and that they provide vietuals and drink for the raisers. Also, voted not to give the spectators victuals or drink at the expense of the town. The selectmen were instructed to purchase rum for the raisers of the house; some say ten gallons were purchased, others a barrel. The building committee were instructed to fix Mr. Plummer's barn fit for moving off the ground, and provide rum for the occasion. Mr. Plummer's house stood nearly opposite the one now owned by James Cochran, in the vil- lage. One of his barns stood near where the old pound was afterwards built ; the other barn stood where this house stands, and was moved near to Mr. Plummer's other barn by the town. Mr. Plummer gave the town three acres of land for a building lot, and the town paid him fifty dollars for the apple trees on the lot. It is said the house was raised on the Fourth of July, 1798, and witnessed by a large number of people from this and the adjoining towns.
" At the raising of the frame of this house, 'Squire Gregg, who was the master-workman, becoming vexed because his men were so noisy, said in a loud voice, 'I swear I will throw my broad- axe at the first man that speaks!' Order was quickly restored, and all remained quiet until the work was completed.
"Nov. 18, 1799, the town voted to raise seventy pounds to glaze the house, and lay the lower floor. In August, 1800, the town voted to build porches to the house, and to raise fifty pounds lawful money to pay the expense. In March, 1803, the town voted to paint the meeting-house, and to raise two hundred dollars for that purpose. In the fall of 1805, just previous to the ordination of my father, the Rev. Samnel Harris, the gallery was fitted up for the choir, and occupied by them on ordination day, Oct. 9, for the first time. The seats in the house were made of słabs, without backs. The ladies occupied one side of the house, the men the other. The pulpit was made of rough boards.
"In February, 1814, the town voted to finish the meeting- house, agreeably to a plan already accepted, in a workmanlike manner, with materials equally as good as those used in finishing the meeting-house in the First Parish in Londonderry. The pew- ground had been previously marked off and sold, bringing be-
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HISTORY OF WINDIIAM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tween two and three hundred dollars more than it cost to finish the house, which sum was added to the ministerial fund. Subse- quently this house was shingled, clapboarded, and painted by vote of the town, the expense being paid from the ministerial fund.
" Within the past few years several unsuccessful efforts have been made to remodel and repair this house for town purposes. On the 6th of April last, by a vote of 82 to 37 (more than two thirds), the town voted to make the repairs, which have just been completed. The plans and specifications for remodelling and re- pairing the house were drawn by Joseph B. Sawyer, of Manches- ter, an experienced architect. The carpenter work was com- menced on Monday, the first day of June, under the direction of Mr. Stickney of Derry, assisted by Messrs. Bodwell and Wheeler of Derry, and J. N. Colman of Windham, and completed in a little less than ten weeks. The mason work has been done under the direction of James Marden, of Windham. The painters em- ployed were Messrs. Smith and Underhill of Manchester. The repair committee were fortunate in securing the services of good mechanics, and the work has been done in every respect to the entire satisfaction of the committee.
" And to dedicate this Hall to social, educational, and political purposes, is the object of our gathering to-day."
ADDRESS OF NATHANIEL HILLS .*
" Fellow-townsmen, - It is with feelings of unmingled pleasure that I meet with you upon this interesting occasion. Pleased indeed should I be, could I say something that would add to its interest. As a topic of discussion I have chosen, 'The Duties of the American Citizen.'
"Under a government like ours, where the laws are made by the people and for the people, there is the greater need that this sub- ject be well understood. There may also be some danger of underestimating the value of citizenship.
" Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, freedom and citizen- ship were held in great estimation. More than four hundred years before the Christian era, Cyrus, in conducting his great expedition against the Persians, in addressing the Greek soldiers whom he had taken as allies, said : 'O Greeks, it is not from any want of bar- barian soldiers, that I have chosen you as auxiliaries, but because you are more efficient and valuable than a multitude of barbarians. Sce, then, that you prove yourselves worthy of the liberty you possess, and which I should prefer to all I have, and to other possessions many times as great.'
* I give the larger part of Mr. Hills' address, and have made only such changes as were necessary to fit the space at my command, and to make the popular address appear proper in historic and permanent form.
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ADDRESS OF NATHANIEL HILLS, ESQ., SEPT. 22, 1868.
" It was the pride of the Roman, that in his severest trials he could exclaim, 'I am a Roman citizen !' To lose this privilege was his greatest misfortune. Regulus, one of Rome's noblest sons, after many successful battles with the Carthaginians, at length being taken a prisoner by them, declared that he ceased to be a Roman citizen upon that very day in which he came into their power, and refused to take any. means to prolong his life. Paul availed himself of this privilege, saying, 'They have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans; nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out.' The chief captain answered, . With a great sum obtained I this freedom.'
" The Frenchman is proud of his nationality. The Englishman can say, 'God save the king! God save the queen !' How much greater is the propriety that we, enjoying the right of franchise, and participating directly in the affairs of government, should feel a laudable ambition in exclaiming, 'We are American citizens!' Surely Americans, of all nations, ought not to undervalue this privilege of citizenship, nor shrink from its responsibilities, or neglect to prepare themselves for the proper discharge of its duties.
" While every man should employ the strength of his body and the energy of his mind, in acquiring wealth and influence in so- ciety, he should by no means, through selfishness, forget that he at the same time should have a proper regard for the interest of the town, the State, and the Nation. The practical workings of pure Democracy are found almost nowhere else in this country, but in the little district-school meeting and in the town-meeting. We do not find it in any of our legislative bodies, or in congress. These are all representative. But in the town-meeting we come to the foundation. Here the people meet and cast their ballots directly, individually, for the man of their choice. Hence the im- portance of all primary meetings.
" Politicians may be necessary ; but as a class, without some check, they cannot be trusted. Is it saying too much? ''Tis true ; and pity 'tis, 'tis true.' But there are too many examples before us, some of them fresh in mind, showing how sadly our best hopes have been disappointed. Some men seem to die a little too soon, others to live a little too long. If Secretary Sew- ard had perished by the hand of the assassin with the lamented Lincoln, history might have placed him higher than she now will on the scroll of fame. So, too, is it with Chief-justice Chase, whom many supposed as firm as adamant; almost idolized but yesterday ! A pioneer in the cause of liberty ; an early friend of the poor laborer and the down-trodden bondman; noble, gener- ons, magnanimous; now abandoning his noble principles, and trailing the robes of his high office in the dust of political strife. The setting sun of our great statesman, Daniel Webster, seemed to many minds to be obscured through the same political aspirations. I have alluded to these individuals for no party pur-
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poses, but simply to illustrate the point, that however great and good politicians may be, they cannot be trusted.
"The Constitution of the United States was originally designed as the fundamental law of the land. It was clearly expressed in language not to be misunderstood ; and for many years it received, in the main, but one interpretation by men of all parties. And it never would have received any other, had it not been for the selfish interests of designing politicians, sometimes of one party, and sometimes of another. Pope might have applied his lan- guage to them, when he said, -
' The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still.'
" If we look into the Sacred Book, we find the same facts. King Solomon, the greatest, the wisest of men, near the close of his eventful life, fell from his high moral position, and foolishly and wickedly cast away the golden laurels which he had won in his early life. Alas for the frailty of poor human nature ! Solo- mon knew better. No man ever gave better advice. No man ever led in devotions more humble, more fervent, and at the same time more sublime. What prayers ! what holiness! Yet in less than twenty years what mysteries of wickedness in the same man ! So, too, an ancient Roman poet, in a single sentence, uttered the same truth : 'The better way I see, approve, but fol- low the worse.'
" Politicians may, and often do, wield an influence almost overwhelming. But it is like the power of the ship driven by the wind, dashing alike over the broad ocean, or among the rocks and breakers, without rudder or helmsman; or like the loco- motive rushing madly over the iron track, with no skilful engi- neer to direct its course or regulate its speed.
"The various changes, and persistent, but fruitless attempts, of some political aspirants for office, remind one of what Rev. Sydney Smith once said of such a person : 'Yes, he has spent all his life in letting empty buckets into empty wells; and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.' I say, then, that the interests of our government cannot with safety be trusted to the hands of the mere politician.
"Do you ask, then, whom shall we trust? Yes, that is the question ! Who will save our country ? Whom shall we trust ? In old Revolutionary times, men were urged to trust in God, but that was not all; for it was immediately added, 'but keep your powder dry.' The eloquent Fred Douglass says, that he when a slave used to pray to the same Great Being for his freedom ; but his prayers were not answered till he began to pray with his legs. When he started for the North Star, putting faith and works together, he sneceeded ; not before.
"Now we are ready for the question. Politicians in whoin we have not confidence are but a small class of those who are enti-
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ADDRESS OF NATHANIEL HILLS, ESQ., SEPT. 22, 1868.
tled to the privileges of American citizenship. There is another class, and much larger, in whom we have confidence. We can trust the intelligence and plain good sense of the laboring man, the farmer, the mechanie, and the artisan. Here is the only hope of our country. Faith in a Higher Power, and works by this class, will prove our salvation.
"Let no laboring man feel that he occupies a low position. Washington, Wellington, Napoleon, or Grant, or any of their rank, are not the only heroes. There are heroes in the ordinary callings in life, just as worthy as any in the so-called higher walks of life. When I see a man wielding the hoe, the seythe, or the axe, from morning till night ; when I see 'him, the livelong day, following his team, putting in practice the sentiment of that old rhyme, -
' He that by the plow would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive';
When I see the mechanic in the morning wending his way to his labor, carrying his dinner-pail with him; when I see his better- half, as a faithful helpmeet, doing the work about the house, - in all such instances I behold the true heroes of American liberty. This is the class that must step to the helm of that ship, flounder- ing among the rocks, or to the engineer's position on the rushing train, and guide and regulate the whole. Depend upon it, this is the only hope of our nation.
" Fellow-townsmen, you have a duty to perform to your coun- try, and a responsibility to assume, which you can no more shun or get rid of, than you can roll back the wheels of time, and cause yourselves never to have been born. The fact that you, like Paul, ean say, 'But I was free born,' lays you under ever- lasting obligations to that country in which you first drew your vital breath. It is your duty to attend the town-meetings, and their preliminary preparatory meetings. It is often at these primary meetings that the whole matter is definitely arranged and virtually settled. If it requires time, you must take time ; if it requires self-denial, you must practise self-denial ; if it re- quires you to meet disagreeable company, you must meet disa- greeable company ; if it requires you to go into the haunts of vice to bring men out of their degradation, to discharge their duty at the polls, you must go to those haunts of vice. Do you say this is low, disagreeable work ? So, is not ditching your land, and many other kinds of disagreeable work in this world ?- and yet none of you shrink from doing them.
" You are not to consult your inclination or taste, but duty. There is no Christian citizen so good, so pure, that he should not interest himself in primary meetings. It is the business of every city or town in the State, it is the business of every neighborhood and corner of the town, to see to it that true, uncorrupted, and uncorruptible men are first nominated to office, then elected, and
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finally watched that they faithfully discharge the duties required of them. If they prove to be good officers, it will do no harm to watch them; if bad, they need watching.
" Would it not be well for those voters who take no interest in political affairs, but, while seeing matters going from bad to worse, do nothing but complain of the degeneracy of the times, and find fault with rogues and robbers, to ask themselves, indi- vidually, ' What have I done to prevent or cure corruption ?' That there are many of this class before me I have no reason to fear. But, on the contrary, your absent sons felt a degree of pride, when they read from the city papers, soon after your last annual election, that in the town of Windham, N. H., there were on the roll of voters two hundred and four names, and every man had cast his ballot. That looked as though you had done your duty. And when men have done that, they may leave the rest, and say with the ancient poet, Homer (altering but a single word), -
'For our success we trust the heavenly powers ; Be that their care; to work like men be ours.'
"I had proposed to speak of the qualifications of the Ameri- can citizen, necessary to the proper discharge of his duty. But I will confine myself wholly to one of them. It is this: the necessity of knowledge and mental culture. In a republican form of government there is but little hope of stability, unless the laboring classes are, to some extent, educated. This is the view taken by the early settlers, and has been maintained by the more intelligent classes from their day to the present time. We should come to the same conclusion, if we compare the present and past conditions of the Northern and Southern portions of our country. The recent war could hardly have taken place, had there been the same intelligence at the South there was and is at the North.
"'An ignorant man,' says an Arabian writer, 'is dead, even while he walks upon the earth.' Strange our Southern brethren could not have seen this as clearly as the writer just mentioned. Burke says, 'The elevation of the mind ought to be the princi- pal end of all our studies ; and if they do not in some measure effect this, they are of very little service to us.' The acquisition of knowledge is not confined to the schools. You need not be too particular from what source, or in what precise manner, you receive instruction. 'Sir,' said a man of great acquirements, ' there is nothing too little, for so little a creature as man.' It, is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible. Conversation with friends, whose calling is remote from your own, or with strangers ; travelling away from home, or even a thorough and practical knowledge of your own individual employment, are means of improvement by no means to be neglected. Reading is
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ADDRESS OF NATHANIEL HILLS, ESQ., SEPT. 22, 1868.
a source of improvement within the reach of all. And because of this fact, many infer the more books they read, the wiser they shall become. Never was mistake greater. The amount is of less consequence than the manner of reading. No matter how much a man may read, if he does not meditate on what he reads, he will not be instructed.
" Robert Hall once remarked of an acquaintance of his, that he had piled such an amount of learning on his brain, that it could not move under its weight, thus showing that a great amount of learning does not necessarily produce a strong intel- lect. No more is necessary than the brain, in its healthy state, can work into proper form. A greater amount would be a cum- bersome load. Undigested learning is as useless and burden- some to the mind, as undigested food to the stomach. Thoughts are to the brain what tools are to the mechanic, or gastric juice to the stomach. The listless, inattentive habit of perusing books that allow the thoughts to roam at large, to rest anywhere or nowhere, or to settle down into a state of perfect vacnity so that the mind becomes lost in its own waking dreams, must be destructive to all mental growth. What I wish to say on this subject is briefly this : if you read carefully good books and papers, and ponder well their contents, it will help you to become good and intelligent citizens.
"I am pleased to see so many youthful faces in this audience. Perhaps I shall be allowed to address a few words more directly to you, as you are soon to be the citizens, and manage the affairs of this good old town. Gladly would I impress upon your minds the value of knowledge and mental culture. Not simply that knowledge which you may obtain from books, but also that which, in a thousand ways, you may receive from Nature's open page.
"'Learning,' says Lord Bacon, 'makes the mind gentle, gen- erous, and pliant to government, while ignorance leaveth it muti- nous.' A great error is sometimes committed in estimating the value of knowledge only as a means of procuring worldly gain. Those who take this view of it; degrade its excellence, and at the same time the value of the human intellect. Not thus did the learned Erasmus view it ; when assigning as a reason for reject- ing a lucrative office, he said, . I will not be hindered from prose- euting my studies for all the gold in the world.' You cannot easily overestimate its value. The flames cannot consume it. In the crash of business it is safe.
"True, your time may mostly be occupied in other pursuits ; yet industry is the grand secret of success. If you have great talents, it will improve them ; if you have but moderate abilities, it will in a measure supply the defect. Let the little spare moments be well improved, and much will be accomplished in the course of years. Time is your estate. Waste none of your shin- ing hours in gloomy reflections over the past, or in dark forebod-
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ings of the future, over which you have no control. Seize rather upon the present opportunities for improvement and usefulness. Presume not too much on the future. Life may be short.
' Years following years steal something every day ; At last they steal u's from ourselves away.'
" Friends, we have alluded to the intelligence and plain good sense of the laboring man. We have confidence in his judgment, in his honest integrity, in his pure patriotism, and in his deter- mination to adhere to truth and righteousness, rather than to mere party preferences. He (though he may be ignorant of the fact) holds the destinies of millions in his hands ; and if he will carefully inform himself upon all the political questions of the day, and will faithfully discharge his duty without the aid of professional politicians or party wire-pullers, our town, our State, and Nation will be safe.
" For this class we this day dedicate this hall, - beautiful, new, and yet old. And to some, the old, if not more beautiful, may seem more sacred. Fond recollection carries us back to other days, when these same walls echoed the sounds of inspired truth, of prayer and sacred song. Here, able and faithful servants of the Heavenly Master proclaimed the truth of the everlasting Gos- pel, alike to childhood, strong manhood, and hoary age. In the Sabbath school gathered here childhood's lasting impressions were made. Here, divine influences, holy and impressive, were felt. Here, too, the penitential tear, unbidden, moistened many eyes; and a passage from the Holy Book seems almost to force itself upon our minds, -' Put off the shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.'
" While, therefore, we dedicate these new apartments to the necessary and appropriate uses for which they have been so taste- fully fitted, may the associations of the old cast their benign influ- ence npon all that shall take place in the new !
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