USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire,1735-1905 > Part 52
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Reference has also been made to the tendency towards the formation of opposing and hostile classes ; to the disposition to create antagonism between labor and capital ; to array the employed against the employers ; to engender hatred in the poor against the rich, and even to deny the right to hold private property, and to make the possession of individual accumulations a crime against humanity. The teaching of these social- istic theories and leveling doctrines derives its chief force from some unfortunate and alarming conditions of our times.
It cannot be denied that there is danger, not only to our political in- stitutions, but even to the stability of our present social organization, in the rapidly growing tendency to the accumulation of colossal fortunes in the hands of a few men and a few families, if the laws are to be so framed and so administered as to render such fortunes permanent in these families. At the present day intelligent and benevolent men, as much as the ignorant and selfish, instinctively revolt against any social or political system which allows a concentration of power or of wealth
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in the hands of a small minority. There is peril when the few become very rich and the many become very poor, and more especially if there are indications that such a state of affairs is to become a permanent con- dition.
It is easy to delude ourselves with the idea that, in some way, things will settle themselves; that the laws of supply and demand, the laws of business and of the " survival of the fittest " will solve all these per- plexing and dangerous problems. We shall do well to remember that natural laws are slow in their operation, and that human nature is rest- less and impatient when constantly excited by crafty and plausible appeals of artful demagogues and irritated by real or fancied wrongs. It is better economy to guard against an explosion than to expend means in gathering up and caring for broken fragments. It is wiser to prevent a conflagration than to show energy and skill in putting out the fire after it gets under good headway ; better, if possible, to allay rising dis- content than to risk the action of a brutal mob.
Freely conceding the existence of real dangers and of serious and growing evils, I sse no reason for despairing of the republic, or for ap- prehending some overwhelming disaster to our social, religious, and political institutions. I do not believe that, on the whole, the former days were better than the present, that the fathers were essentially wiser, more virtuous, and more patriotic than their children. On the contrary, in many directions, real, genuine progress has been made. While it must be readily granted that in some things we are worse than the men of fifty years ago, it may be safely claimed that in other things we have improved upon their teachings, examples and methods.
While our times have less of certain types of religion, they have more of practical Christianity. They are without doubt less tenacious of theological dogmas ; less militant in the defense and propagation of iron-clad creeds; less positive in claiming to possess and to hold all re- vealed truth ; less harsh and denunciatory in dealing with those who differ from accepted standards. But the sweet graces of divine love and charity and beneficence are more cultivated and exhibit a richer growth. The gospel of "good will to men " is more earnestly preached and more constantly and consistently practiced. In spite of the tendency to the formation of classes, in spite of the prejudice arising from the accidents of race and color, simple manhood, without reference to birth or to past or present conditions and circumstances, is held in higher esteem and treated with more respect than in former times.
Call to mind the radical change of sentiment and action touching the questions of human bondage, and the education of the negro race. I have no reference to the positions and teachings of political parties or religious organizations, but to the general tone of public opinion and to the conduct of men irrespective of party or sect.
Happily to many of you slavery and the heated and bitter controver- sies growing out of it are only matters of history, like the discovery of America and the battle of Bunker Hill. To us, whose memories easily traverse the period of fifty years, they are not so much history as living and terrible realities. Our fathers had solemnly affirmed that all men have an inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
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By a strange inconsistency they denied to a whole race, guilty of only a darker skin and thicker lips than their own, every right which renders life desirable or existence tolerable. Men, women, children were bought and sold like horses and sheep. No ties of blood or family were re- garded as sacred. To teach a slave to read was a crime punishable by long and hard imprisonment. A public meeting of intelligent citizens and respectable members of Christian churches, held not in South Caro- lina but in Connecticut, resolved that it is "Highly inexpedient and even dangerous to the peace of the community to teach the negroes to read and write." The city of New Haven, at a meeting held with the mayor as chairman, voted by a majority of 700 to 4, "That the founding of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and danger- ous interference with the internal concerns of other States, and ought to be discouraged." "That the establishment in New Haven of such a college is incompatible with the prosperity, if not the existence, of the present institutions of learning and will be destructive of the best in- terests of the city."
In some places in the Northern States mobs tore down school build- ings erected for the education of free colored children, and compelled the teachers to flee for their lives.
Statesmen defended slavery on constitutional grounds in the Senate, and learned divines defended it on Bible grounds in the church. The honored president of Dartmouth College, whose name and memory I hold in highest reverence, while I was a student in that institution, affirmed, with strong emphasis, that prophecy and history, the will of God and the interests of humanity, united in declaring that bondage was the natural and proper condition of the African race.
Since those days, slavery, though protected by constitutions and laws, by compromises and resolutions, has been swept away by a terrible deluge of human blood. The hot flames of Civil War have burned away the barriers which barred the progress of the colored race and closed against them the schoolhouse and the college. The logic of events and the mighty workings of an over ruling Providence have con- verted both statesmen and divines to a new gospel of universal freedom. It is no longer considered dangerous to teach negro children to read and write. The good citizens of New Haven do not tremble lest the estab- lishment of colleges for colored young men and women will shake the solid foundations of Yale university. The various religious denomina- tions emulate each other in contributions of men and means for opening and supporting institutions of learning for the emancipated slaves and their children. The South is not much behind the North in this benefi- cent and Christian work. A recent document states that since 1862 there have been expended the following sums for the education of the colored people of the South :
By the American Missionary Association, $10,000,000
Methodists,
2,250,000
Baptists, 2,000,000
Presbyterians, 1,600,000
Others,
1,000,000
Making a total of
$16,850,000
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The Southern States have expended since 1868 for common and normal schools for the colored race, $37,000,000.
Will anyone venture to assert that the former days of slavery and oppression were better than these latter days of freedom and education ?
There are serious problems yet unsolved touching the emancipated race. But in view of what has already been accomplished, we may face the perplexities and dangers of the future without overmuch apprehen- sion or fear.
Time forbids an extension of these comparisons. But it could easily be shown that real and healthful advance has been made in general edu- cation and in many departments of moral reform. Genuine progress has been made in the temperance work, and in moral and legal efforts for the suppression of the traffic in intoxicating liquors. "Evil men and seducers may have waxed worse and worse," but public sentiment in most of our communities and in the nation at large, in spite of many drawbacks, has steadily improved.
And whatever provisions may be put in or left out of the constitution of a State, whatever laws may be enacted or repealed, this remains true always and everywhere : that all permanent progress, either in political or moral reform, must have its basis and support in an intelligent public . sentiment. What the majority of the people demand in respect to temperance, or civil service reform, or emigration, or the public lands, they will ultimately get. Vexatious delays may be met, but the final result is sure. The waiting may be long and tiresome, but patient and persevering effort finally lias its reward. Right and truth will conquer in the end.
How can one who believes there is a just, righteous, all-wise and almighty Ruler of all things doubt the ultimate triumph of justice and righteousness ? This triumph will be secured, not by irresistible inani- festations of supernatural power, but by the working together of all principles, forces, and agencies, human and divine, which have for their end the production and spread of justice and righteousness in the world.
Among the agencies which have been mighty in the past, and are still mighty in every good work for the elevation and redemption of humanity are the principles and characters of the fathers and mothers who planted the rural towns of New England, and whose mortal remains sleep be- neath the soil which they loved. They were not perfect men and women. We do not honor them most by claiming for them that ideal perfection which they never thought of claiming for themselves. They were merely human. But, taken all in all, the world has not yet seen a nobler, and truer, and grander generation.
It is possible that the towns and states which they founded may pass under the control of men of a different race and of another faith, but their principles and deeds have not perished, and will not perish. The seeds of truth which they planted have sprung up and are bearing ripened fruits in fertile fields which their eyes never saw. The empire which had its beginning here among these rocky hills and in the shadows of these rough mountains has transferred the seat and center of its power to the broader plains and richer soil of the West. New England lives in Ohio, and Michigan, and Iowa, and other of the newer states. Her sons and
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daughters do not cease to remember the mother who nourished their in- fancy, though her features are rugged and her face is wrinkled with many a deep-plowed furrow. As we re-visit the scenes of childhood we do not hesitate to repeat the words of Scott-
" Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land ; Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand ?"
We enter into the feeings of Bryant when he wrote-
" Thou who wouldst see the lovely and the wild Mingled in harmony on Nature's face,
Ascend our rocky mountains. Let thy foot Fail not with weariness, for on their tops The beauty and the majesty of earth
Spread wide beneath, shall make thee to forget The steep and toilsome way. There as thou stand'st, The haunts of men below thee, and around
The mountain's summits, thy expanding heart Shall feel a kindred with that loftier world To which thou art translated, and partake The enlargement of thy vision."
As I close, permit me to record once more the oath of allegiance and fidelity to the State and the town of my birth. The remains of four generations of my ancestors sleep beneath this soil, and render it " hallowed ground." These rough fields, these narrow valleys, these winding highways, these rocky hills, these rugged mountains have charms for my eye and my heart which no other lands possess. I love the rich and beautiful State of my adoption, with her broad and fertile fields, with her magnificent forests, with her exhaustless mines, with her grand lakes, and her intelligent and enterprising population : but "if I forget thee, Jerusalem of my birth and boyhood, let my right hand for- get her cunning ; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not the Jerusalem of New England above my chief joy."
The President. A fine display of fireworks, consisting of rockets, Roman candles, and mines, to close with a set piece pre- pared for the day, has been provided by the Boutwell family. This will be exhibited on the common by a professional from Boston as early in the evening as it is possible to do so. All are cordially invited to attend.
This concludes the speaking by those who have prepared ad- dresses for this occasion from manuscript. I now have the pleasure of introducing to you Jacob A. Woodward, who will take charge of the further proceedings in my place.
Mr. Woodward. Ladies and gentlemen : Before proceeding
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to the task which has been assigned to me, you will please par- don one brief thought. While we have met here together to renew old acquaintances and to form new acquaintances, and to revive the happy memories of young manhood and young womanhood, this thought comes to me : that we should this day give some meed of honor to the gray-haired men and women who have been true to old Lyndeborough and have remained here, and who make this celebration to-day possible. While we reverence and honor the names of those who founded this town, I still submit that it is those who live here to-day and are to remain here who make the town what it is and what it is to be. And I call upon all residents of the town, to-day, upon this one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its settlement, to pledge ourselves anew, that whatever is tried that is new and that is practical, we will adopt it in our industry ; that whatever is new and best, we will have it in our schools and upon our roads ; that we will give a liberal support to all of our institutions ; and that Lyndeborough shall have the reputation, and deserve it, of being a live, go-ahead place, abreast of the times. Communism and anarchy do not flourish in the homes under the shadows of these hills.
In giving the first sentiment that is to be responded to, I would say, by way of introduction, that whenever you mention the military record of Lyndeborough, every true son of Lynde- borough stands up a little straighter and says, " You can scruti- nize that record as much as you please ! " The sentiment is, "Our Military Men."
From Bunker Hill to Appomattox, from '76 to '61, when duty called, the men of Lyndeborough responded where
. . Bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder, The rattling musketry, the clashing blade.
And ever and anon, in tones of thunder,
The diapason of the cannonade."
Our military record, second to none.
About a year before the civil war opened, up here in District No. 2, a district which has the reputation of sending out lots of live, smart and mischievous men, a young man went out into the world to try his skill in its warfare. When duty called he responded, and has made for himself a name and fame. He needs no introduction from me to many of you. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Surgeon- General Holt of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
Gen. Holt. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow-townsmen : Before commencing the few sentences that I am to utter, I wish to say a word of explanation or apology. I had supposed up to yesterday morn- ing that it would not be possible for me to be present at this celebration, although no amount of inconvenience or expense to myself would have kept me away. I supposed that I should be employed in a Government office which I am unfortunate enough to hold, that would, perhaps, call fifteen or twenty veteran soldiers from their homes all over Massachu- setts, and I felt that I had no right to put them to that inconvenience. But, happily, we were able to arrange the matter yesterday, and so I am here. But I have been able to give but very little thought to the sen- timent that your toastmaster has asked me to respond to.
One hundred and fifty years ago this fall, our sturdy ancestors came into the wilderness that clothed these grand old hills, and carved out for themselves and their children, homes. And among their first thoughts was that of caring for their own protection. Although the savage Indian had been driven from all the southern part of New England, still he was jealous of the approaching civilization, and sought every opportunity to get revenge; and so the settlers of the extreme frontier were never with- out danger of attacks from them, and the settlers here, as tradition says, like those elsewhere, built for their protection a block house. It is not probable that they had any military organization at that early day, although it is more than probable that there was some leader to whom they looked up in times of danger. And if they did not have a man worthy of that high place, they certainly had a leader in the woman that the speaker mentioned this morning, who called the roll of her children when the Indian was crawling about her home. It is probable that they had more or less alarms, when they fled to this block house for protec- tion, but time has proved that such alarms were causeless; and in a few years the fast advancing settlement of the surrounding country freed them from the danger of Indians. It is more than probable that some of the restive spirits joined in some of the contests against the Indians and French that took place between 1739 and 1775, but there was no organi- zation for such a purpose.
The great war for Independence, like all great wars, and particularly like all great civil wars, came unheralded, and, up to the 19th of April, 1775, there was little or no thought of a contest of arms, although the colonies had been outspoken in their opposition to the wrong and injus- tice that had been heaped upon them, and revolts and riots had occurred in two or three instances. It is said that one of the officers of Louis XVI. carried to his master the news of a riot in the streets of Paris just before the French Revolution, when the starving people were crying for bread. The monarch listened impatiently to the recital and said, " It is nothing but a riot ; the troops can dispel them." But the officer, more observing than his master, knowing better the temper of the people, an- swered, " No, sire, it is not a riot, but a revolution." So, when the mid- night courier fled like a phantom through the streets of Cambridge and on, calling to arms, on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, it was not a riot or a revolt, but it was a revolution. The people in the colonies had borne until it had ceased to be a virtue, and they were obliged to re-
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sort to arms to obtain right and justice. We all know that the battle of Lexington and Concord was fought by a few companies that had been aroused by the ride of Paul Revere, in the immediate vicinity of Boston, for there was no time to collect troops from anywhere else. But the spirit of revolt was not confined within narrow limits. The spirit of lib- erty that aroused the men of Concord and Lexington to do deeds that will live in song and story so long as American history lives, had perme- ated and ramified to the remotest points of the settlements in the colo- nies ; and nowhere in all the towns of the colonies was there a quicker response to that call ; nowhere was there a town that answered sooner than this grand old town of Lyndeborough, when the call came. For, notwithstanding it was in the busiest season of the year, when work must be done if they were to reap a harvest in the coming fall, in less than eight weeks from the 19th of April, from the battle of Concord and Lex- ington, nineteen of the gallant sons of Lyndeborough stood on the battle line with Stark before Bunker Hill.
And all through the Revolutionary war this town furnished more than a hundred men for that contest. Some of them heard the brave and gal- lant words of Stark at Bennington. Some of them saw Burgoyne, shorn of his pomp and glory, lay down his arms in defeat before a ragged line of Americans at Saratoga. Some of them, barefooted, footsore, ragged and hungry, followed Washington through the icy waters of the Dela- ware. Some of them heard the roar of cannon at Monmouth, and some of them followed the fortunes of that gallant army through to the end, and saw the final triumph of American liberty at Yorktown.
Grand old revolutionary heroes! Some of us remember the tottering form of one as he came into the church Sunday after Sunday to occupy his usual seat. Grand and heroic their deeds were, and we remember with gratitude and pride the work they did, to-day ; and well we may, for in all the history of the world there is no grander page than that written out by the bayonets of the Revolutionary heroes in their struggle for lib- erty ; and the town of Lyndeborough furnished more than its share of men for that service.
There seems to be no record of the men that served in the war of 1812 from this town. And it is not probable that a great many of them en- tered that service, as it was a short war compared with the others, and its contests were mostly far beyond the Hudson, except one or two naval battles. The town, I believe, did send a company to do garrison duty at Portsmouth.
The great civil war of 1861, like the revolution, came unexpectedly. Although political contests had been fierce and political animosities and angers were strong, yet there was no thought on the part of the North of settling the great questions brought about by African slavery by a contest of arms, until the firing upon Fort Sumter. Then all political animosi- ties ceased and were hushed. Then disappeared party lines. Then it was union or dis-union - the North against the South : loyalty against disloyalty. Then the men of Maine, the men of New Hampshire, the men of Massachusetts, at a moment's warning, with only a single hour's notice, seized their arms, rushed to the rescue and saved the nation's capital. And among the very first to respond to that call were the boys who first saw the light of day upon these hills.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
And the first of all New Hampshire's sons to lay down his life on the field of battle in that great contest was a boy who enlisted from this town, a handsome, black-eyed boy, full of life and happiness, who was born and raised on yonder farm, was killed almost at the first fire in the first battle of Bull Run. During tliat great contest this town furnished for actual service in the army over eighty of its citizens. I refer to those who saw actual, active service. This, of course, is exclusive of the ser- vice of the artillery company, of which I shall say a word later. And to-day, beneath the Southern skies, all along the line from the Potomac to the Mississippi, they are sleeping their final sleep. For the life of one went out amidst the whistling shot and screeching shell at Gettysburg ; another fell beneath the burning sun of Louisiana, in front of the breast- works of Port Hudson ; another passed away amidst disease and suffering and death in the hospital at New Orleans ; another at Gettysburg, and so on. They were in all the great battles of the war. I think you cannot find a single one, where, in the ranks of the Union army, there was not a Lyndeborough boy. And at the final surrender at Appomatox over a score of Lyndeborough's sons were still in the service, many of whom had won commissions.
I intended to say only a very few words here, but the response to the sentiment your toast-master presented me would be very incomplete without a word in relation to the artillery company and the militia. This town has furnished to the militia, in days past, two infantry companies that are long since extinct, and an artillery company, the glory and re- nown of this old town, so far as its military record is concerned, now over eighty of age, but not decrepit and broken ; having still the strength and vigor of its manhood. I suppose the two principal objects of keep- ing up a militia force are, first, to have a force that we can call upon at any time, in an emergency ; second, to keep alive in men the military spirit. That this old company has well fulfilled these two objects we all can testify, for it responded with alacrity and with full ranks to the call that took it to Portsmouth for garrison duty during the war. And, dur- ing all its life, there is scarcely a son of Lyndeborough that lias not at some time been enrolled in its ranks. It has an honorable record, and we are glad to speak of it in terms of praise to-day. We can only hope that interest in it will be kept up, and that its drill and discipline will be continued, so that, fifty years from now, when the two hundredth anni- versary comes, it can show as grand and noble à record as it does to-day.
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