USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > The one hundred & fiftieth anniversary of Lancaster, New Hampshire, 1764-1914; the official report of the celebration held in August, nineteen hundred and fourteen; > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
"That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the Children of Israel forever."-Joshua 4 : 5-7.
In studying the history of the words of the text we find that at last the time had come for Israel to enter the promised land. The narrative relates how God miraculously caused the waters of the Jordan to divide for the people to pass over into the new land of promise, under the leadership of Joshua. The Lord then directs Joshua to arrange for a memorial which shall commemorate this great event for all time. Twelve men are selected (from each tribe a man) each one of whom shall bear on his shoulder from the midst of Jordan a stone, and the twelve stones are erected as a memorial on the other side of the Jordan where they lodged the first night after the river had been so wondrously passed over. It is expressly stated, as we have read, that these stones should serve the purpose of reminding the coming generations of the care and deliverance of God as a great memorial; and the entire narrative forms the interesting record of one of the first historic memorials to be found in the history of the world.
At this point it will be well to observe that one of the great reasons why the Bible stands as the "Book of Books," unique in the history of the world's literature and sacred writings, is because the scenes recorded are not simply those belonging to the life of the ancient people of Israel, but they are ever great type scenes of human life, and fit into the life conditions of every age, and it requires but little observation to discover that the same principles that pertain to the ancient memorial of the Jordan reach down to every true memorial and every true anniversary; so that we find the connection very close at this time between this ancient record and our present Anniversary and the memorial stones which are already in place in commemoration of the heroic and noble founders of this Town of Lan- caster.
[18]
---
Unitarian Church Methodist Church St. Paul's Church All Saints' Church
ANNIVERSARY
THE PLACE OF MEMORIALS
After these introductory words I wish to direct your thought first of all to the just and necessary place of all memorials and memorial observances.
At the time the stones were placed in commemoration at the Jordan the period was not an age of books and possessed very little of the written record common to the people. The method of Cairn building and oral tra- dition took the place of libraries. But all of this has changed as far as recorded and printed histories are concerned. We have our libraries and our printed records which all may read, both of the nation and of almost all of our local communities. It might seem under these conditions that the custom of erecting memorials might well be considered as obsolete. The facts in the case, however, show that while this is an age of books it is also a wonderful age for memorials. How many books have been written concerning the Civil War, yet well nigh every town has erected some mon- ument in honor of the heroes of that great struggle. During the last few years, owing to the labors of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a multitude of memorials of the Revolutionary War have also been erected. The lesson of all these facts surely is that books and the written record have their limitations and can never take the place of visible memorials. The difference and necessity is psychological, and must be recognized.
We will also do well to notice the just and necessary place of all forms of historic observances and all the work of honoring or emphasizing the past, and realize that the principles which are involved are real and vital. Let us consider this for a moment. Man is closely related to the past, the present and the future-all three. He lives happily and well only as he is in proper relation with all of these. Over emphasis of any one of these periods is detrimental. If he emphasizes the past unduly he loses his hold upon the stirring needs of life; if he emphasizes, falsely, the present he becomes either the materialist or the prodigal; if he emphasizes too much the future he becomes the dreamer without practical force. It is when he relates his life properly to past, present and future, all three divisions, that he acts wisely. With this in mind we all understand the tendency is always to neglect the past, as compared to the pressing demands of the present or the anxiety of the future, and therefore there is especial need of doing definite things to keep the past from being neglected with its necessary elements of instruction, inspiration and admonition. This is recognized by the Church, the nation and all moral teaching. Few things are more noticeable in Old Testament history than the great attention which is given in the development of Hebrew life, both in the religious and national sense, to the work of keeping the past sacred in faithful remembrance. The great feast of the Passover and other great observances of God's people were all designed to achieve this result, and this training caused the song
[19 ]
LANCASTER
of exile to break forth in the words of faithful remembrance, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."
From this review we see what great principles are involved in this Anni- versary recognition for us and for our children.
Following this study of the value and necessity of memorials and great anniversaries commemorating the past, we may very appropriately now consider the application to us and the significance of the question concern- ing which the people of Israel were, according to the text, to give answer, "What mean ye by these stones?" It is of the highest value that we should have the reasons definitely in mind, for all that we are about to do or have done for this anniversary time, that the true significance of it all may have full place in the minds of all of our people, and first we will consider those reasons which most naturally and easily occur to the mind as prompting this anniversary observance.
THE REASONS FOR THE ANNIVERSARY
Foremost among these more readily recognized reasons for this Com- memoration is the realization that we possess really a notable Anniversary from even a general historical viewpoint. It is true that the period of one hundred and fifty years is not great in measuring the centuries of human history, only perhaps as a fragment broken from the temple of the ages, but we must remember that while this is the case, as to the time factor alone, it is also true that the last one hundred and fifty years have witnessed more great changes than the centuries unnumbered before them. The world has been transformed. Almost every one of the great modern won- ders has been inaugurated; our nation itself has been born and has come into the full measure of its great strength during this time, and the great world movements among all peoples have taken place, so that this period must always rank as one of the greatest if not the greatest period of history.
We also feel at this time that we have a good reason for our observance in the pride we justly feel in the beauty of our town, "Lancaster, the Gem of the Mountains." Surely if the heart of the stranger is thrilled by this wonderful beauty of river, mountain and fertile fields which God has given in such generous measure, the hearts of our citizens should recognize its just place in honoring the beginning of our community life. We also have pride in our honored name of "Lancaster," and it may well have a place in our thought at this time. There is something in a name. Per- sonally it is a great satisfaction to me to live in a town that has a name of great historic association-Lancaster, the ancient name of English his- tory, great in the struggle of the War of the Roses five hundred years ago, when the houses of York and Lancaster contended for the royal power of the Kingdom, York taking as its emblem the white rose, while Lancaster
[20]
ANNIVERSARY
chose the red rose and honored it with the outpouring of the tide of crimson blood.
"When the red rose was redder than itself, And York's white rose as red as Lancaster's
With wounded peace which each had pricked to death."
All of the historic associations of the ancient name touch us in this Lancaster across the sea, and the emblem of the red rose may well become ours from this day forward, bringing us into touch with the historic past. Personally I should like to see during the coming week in the decorations of the floats or otherwise some special place for the ancient emblem of the red rose.
Other reasons which may be given truly for our observance readily coming to mind are found in the remembrance of the noble history of this Town in not only its development from the days of the wilderness but in bearing its honored share in the struggles for the nation and the Commonwealth, and our desire to honor the memory of the brave men and women who laid the foundations of the life of our community.
THE WEIGHTIER REASONS
Excellent and worthy as these foregoing reasons are for our observ- ance of this anniversary period, there are others far more weighty which should have our definite attention, and among these we may name, first of all, the recognition of the real greatness of the men and women of the pioneer days. Man is ever unique in his essential greatness. The Psalm- ist three thousand years ago cried out to God, as he meditated upon the wonders of God's universe, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." Long before even these words were written man gave witness to his great- ness. One writer has well expressed it in the thought that while Abraham did not have a library, or Job a daily paper, they were intellectual giants. We ever find that advanced conditions do not explain the greatness of man, but oftentimes we find that this greatness shines forth with peculiar power in primal conditions of life. This is true in the pioneer days, and it is seldom that we find more of real dignity coming to man than when we see him standing well-nigh alone before the wilderness and with faith saying, "I will conquer thee," and proceeds to "make the wilderness blossom as the rose." This was the greatness of the early pioneers of Lancaster, whom neither the wilderness nor the presence of its perils could dishearten or discourage. Consider for a moment how it would be in our thought to place side by side with the men of the early settlement here the successful business men of to-day, either in city or town; to place
[21 ]
LANCASTER
beside Ruth Page, that noble woman of the pioneer days, some woman of the present period busied with the various social functions of our complex modern life; would there be a moment of hesitation in understanding that there is a strength, dignity and real greatness of the past which is lost in most of present-day life?
Again a great and weighty reason for our Anniversary observance is found in the just recognition of our large indebtedness to the pioneer days and the achievements that they hold. Nothing is farther from the truth than to imagine that we are in any sense independent of the sacri- fices and toil of the early days. On the other hand the legacy of our fertile fields and the excellence of our beautiful place of habitation and the record of honor of the town which we love are very closely related to the lives of the men and the women of the early period. You may look with wonder and admiration upon the beautiful unfolding of the flower in its marvelous florescence, but you must remember that the beauty of the blossom is related vitally to all of the plant structure which supports its life and that otherwise this beauty never could appear or exist. You may also look upon the noble elms, which line our streets and give to our Town so much of the distinctive beauty, which characterizes the towns of New England, and as you view the noble symmetry of the topmost branches which catch the glory of the early sun, you need also to remember here that this splendid development is dependent upon the mighty network of roots, which reach down beneath the soil, invisible, but the real sources of sustenance, strength and beauty. These examples are only inter- pretations of that close relationship which we sustain to the past, and illustrate the indebtedness we should justly recognize to those who labored so faithfully and heroically in their day and generation.
Another reason of great significance and importance, deserving faithful and zealous attention, why we do well to set apart these days for joyful and yet thoughtful observance, is found in the fact that we should earnestly desire to conserve the great life elements and principles which gave dignity and greatness and achievement to the men and women of the pioneer days. We are living in an age of wonderful change and transformation of past conditions. We find the magic touch of modern invention and discovery on every hand, beyond all the dreams of men in their wildest fancy, revolu- tionizing so many conditions of human life; but in the midst of all of this transformation we do well to understand that great life principles are not subject to change but go on from generation to generation, scarcely touched by the changing wonders of modern days. Consider for instance how little difference it would make in paying our bills of indebtedness, whether they arrive by the fast mail as they do to-day, or if they were to arrive by the old-fashioned post; or as we look forward a little, will it be any easier to pay our bills when they arrive by airship and we read the
[ 22 ]
ANNIVERSARY
request "Please remit by next Airship"? Another illustration, as we read of the ancient courtship of John Alden and the Puritan maiden Priscilla, down at old Plymouth, in the early days of the Pilgrim settlement or think of the early love that blossomed here in this wilderness with the coming of the early settlers, will we consider that there has been any great change in the life forces and elements involved between these ancient lovers and those of yesterday, who truly gave their vows touched with the same mystic power and beauty? To carry the illustration of the truth still farther in a more serious way, touching the darker side of life's experi- ences, ask yourself the question, will it make it any easier for that sorrowing mother across the sea to-day, in the midst of this condition of war in Europe, who may receive word of the death of her soldier son, to know that he was killed by a bomb from an aeroplane instead of the more primitive weapons of warfare; or as we think with deepest sympathy of our honored President, who waits to-day with the black shadow of his sorrow resting upon the Executive mansion of the nation, in the loss of his noble wife, do we consider for a moment that the wealth and beauty of the Capital City and the glory and greatness of the nation make this sorrow less than it would be in more humble surroundings or more primitive conditions of life? These examples clearly set forth the truth that we are altogether too prone to forget-that the great principles of life are not subject to changing conditions. Any element of life which made life strong and splendid one hundred and fifty years ago, or a thousand years ago, is needed to-day, and ought to be carefully conserved and emphasized, for I think that we all must recognize the fact, as we think carefully, that there is a tendency in the conditions of modern life to lose sight of some of the great life elements of other days, which made the men and women of the past to possess strength, dignity and power. I have only time very briefly to call your attention to the following elements which it seems to me were especially prominent in the lives of the pioneers, which need to be conserved by us for successful and worthy living to-day. I must content myself with simply enumerating the elements of integrity, courage, perse- verance before all difficulties, simplicity and wholesomeness of daily living, independence of luxuries, fidelity to duty and a splendid patience in slowly but surely bringing things to pass, together with the element of neighborly helpfulness.
It is surely unnecessary for me to dwell upon the necessity of all of these great principles in and for present-day life, and how earnestly we should seek to conserve them that we in our day may not fail in true and noble living. However important and great these elements are we must not forget in this Christian Church to-day that the greatest of all elements in the pioneer days which needs to be conserved, without which we may, indeed, not expect that the other principles shall be maintained, is the religious element.
[ 23 ]
LANCASTER
The wilderness with all other conditions of great trial bring men near to God. Providence and prayer are then no idle words and the claims of righteousness and the Church and Christian service are readily recognized. This was true in the early days of Lancaster. If you will study the records of our history you will find that when the Town was yet far from being strong in either resources or population, action was taken in the Town meeting (according to the custom of the times) to provide for the erection of a Church building and the settlement of a minister, whose salary was paid, not by individuals especially interested in religion, but by all the property owners, in the taxes of the town; and of course such action could only take place with the firm conviction that religion was of paramount importance to the entire community, and thus we find that this Congre- gational Church of ours (as the pioneer Church of the Settlement) was organized July 7th, 1794, with twenty-four members, under the leadership of "Parson" Willard, who for twenty-eight years faithfully ministered to the people. One of the most striking and solemn scenes of the history of Israel is found in the record of the wonderful assembling of all Isarel on Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, for the reading of the sacred law of God. The location was a remarkable one, the valley which the mountains enclosed being 200 or 300 paces wide by about three miles in length, and the moun- tains rising about 800 feet. Mt. Ebal was on the right hand and Mt. Geri- zim on the left. Half of the tribes were assembled on Ebal and half on Gerizim and as the law was read the tribes on Mt. Gerizim responded with the simultaneous "Amens" to the blessings of the law, to those who should be obedient while the tribes on Mt. Ebal responded with the "Amens" to the cursings of the law for those who were disobedient. Well has this been pronounced perhaps the grandest scene of nations, in this mighty assem- bling of a nation and the great antiphonal regarding the law of God: and as our people shall be assembled during the days of this week for the anni- versary exercises in which we commemorate the faith and labors of the past, shall we not feel that in these observances we are brought to the Ebal and Gerizim of the law of God and religious obligation, and allow the ancient and ever living claim of religion and our duty to God and the Church to have a new place in the thought and purpose of all of our lives.
Once again we direct our thought to the honor of the Fathers and the Mothers who toiled and redeemed this town from the wilderness. Their noblest eulogy is not in the words of any orator or the song of any bard or minstrel or in any record we may place in bronze or granite. It is rather found written on these fields and scenes of our habitation, and the writing is read with each new sunrise and reflected in every sunset glow. The record of their toils and conquests and virile strength of life are also guarded by the mighty sentinels of the mountains which they loved, while their influence continues to go out to the nation and the ends of the earth, with
[24]
Bank Building High School Union Grammar School
ANNIVERSARY
the going of the sons and daughters of Lancaster, even as the mighty river, whose current touched their early habitations, continues to go on to the sea and through the sea to the farthest lands. The night with its calm and silent witness of majestic beauty proclaims with its gleaming altar fires their high and holy covenant for honor and Godly living, as they, in the early days before they possessed even the Church or service of worship, gathered the lessons of the same unchanging God, who ever watches His own, in love and mercy, even the Shepherd of Israel; and, moreover, the darkness of the tempest and the strength of our long winter days bear witness to their faith and courage with the mighty voice of wind and storm.
Finally, as we come to the close of this memorable service to-day we may well feel like crying out, "All honor to the men and women whose toil and faithfulness redeemed not only the wilderness but the days and years of their generation in honor for the real dignity and power of human life"; and let us, moreover, realize, as we think of their part so nobly performed, that all of this is not to be looked upon as simply a broken or isolated frag- ment of human experience and struggle, finally passing from the scenes of earth, but rather as part of the great and eternal purpose of the Creator and Father of the Universe, which binds the toil of the pioneers of the wilderness to the infinite plans of the Almighty, and this not only for the present in its fruition but also for the still larger future, that infinite purpose which joins our lives also to the working out of that great plan, which turns the faces of expectant hope toward the world's new mornings, and causes us, as we come more and more to understand it, to learn the truth of the lines of Tennyson,-
"One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves."
[25]
LANCASTER
Methodist Episcopal Church
REV. GEORGE N. DORR, Preacher
(Synopsis)
"We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old." Psa. 44 : 1. The words describe a most natural act. The Israelites had a marvelous history which the father readily rehearsed to the son, from generation to generation. We of the present do the same thing. Thus one of our hymns to be sung on National occasions is a paraphrase of my text-
"O Lord, our fathers oft have told In our attentive ears Thy wonders in their days performed And in more ancient years."
Hence as a town we have our anniversaries, the Centennial, fifty years ago, and our One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary which we observe this week. Most proper is it for us to recall the past with its sacrifices and useful lessons. Whittier's lines are particularly suggestive,-
"With smoking axle hot with speed With steeds of fire and steam,
Wide-waked To-day leaves Yesterday Behind him like a dream.
"Still from the hurrying train of Life Fly backward far and fast The milestones of the fathers, the landmarks Of the past.
"But human hearts remain unchanged: The sorrow and the sin, The loves and hopes and fears of old Are to our own akin."
The poet, you see, suggests a reason for recalling the lessons of the past, -"Human hearts remain unchanged: the sorrow and the sin, The loves and hopes and fears of old, are to our own akin."
Therefore it will do us good to recall the sweet story of Ruth Page and Emmons Stockwell, their associates and successors. Thus shall we become a little stronger to meet life's struggles and hardships.
[ 26 ]
ANNIVERSARY
The text however gives an additional reason,-the commemoration of God's former glorious doings,-"What work Thou didst in their days." We ought to remember that God directed the footsteps of our fathers to this land, guided and sustained them as the years went by. The dangers were many and much endurance was required. Permit me to mention three events which must have been most trying experiences. Major Jonas Wilder began to build his house (the first in town to have a second story) on May 19, 1780. This was the famous "Dark Day" which history described as "a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England." Workmen were digging the cellar for Mr. Wilder's house but soon ceased to work on account of the darkness. Think of the terror which must have come upon all. Recovering from their fright they went on with their work and the record shows that the frame of the house was raised July 26, 1780.
In 1816 came the "cold season" by which name that year was long remembered. The soil that season produced but little for the husband- man. On June 8, snow fell all day till at evening it reached a depth of six inches. Of course there was much suffering.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.