USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Albany bi-centennial. Historical memoirs > Part 17
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Prof. Oliver's "Sailor's Song " was next sung, when Miss Agnes R. Davidson, read "An incident of the French and Indian war" in finished style. The next tableau was the reception of Gen. Burgoyne and Baroness Reisdesel by Mrs. Philip Schuyler at the Schuyler mansion, in October, 1777.
A MINUET.
The scene opened with the reception and presen- tation of the general and baroness, followed by a minuet in which all the company participated. The costuming was very correct and the picture presented was pleasing. The cast was from pupils in the High School and was as follows :
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Mrs. Philip Schuyler, Luella Becker; Miss Marga- ret Schuyler, Elizabeth Spier; Baroness Reisdesel, Sadie Lipman; Lady Ackland, Nellie Pierson ; Lady Raymond, Bessie Washburn; Mrs. Gen. Westerlo, Florence Horne; Mrs. Ann Clinton, Eloise Lansing ; Lady Belinda, Carrie Low. British : Lieut .- General John Burgoyne, Edward Ellery; Earl Balcarras, Ran- dall Le Bouef; Adjt .- Gen. Kingston, Lewis Anderson ; Capt. Lord Petersham, Charles Scherer; Lieut. Wil- ford, Arthur Van Loon. Americans : Maj .- Gen. Philip Schuyler, Dwight Ruggles; Adj .- Gen. Col. Joseph Wilkinson, Frank T. Brown; Col. Gooshen Van Schaick, Harry McClure; Maj. Armstrong, Willard Van Wormer.
The " Bi-centennial hymn," written by Alderman Howard N. Fuller, music by Prof. Oliver, was sung with magnificent effect by the immense chorus, and called for many expressions of admiration.
Mayor Thacher and ex-Mayor Banks, the latter chairman of the education committee, hurried to the tent as soon as the ceremony of opening the city gates was completed. They arrived during the "Bi- centennial hymn," and, taking their places on the platform, joined in singing Prof. Oliver's magnificent chorus. The great interest of the day centered in the
AWARD OF PRIZES,
the report on the composition written by boys being read by Superintendent Charles W. Cole, as follows :
The committee appointed to examine the essays for the medal written by boys, report that seven essays on the given subject, "Albany's History and Growth During Two Centu- ries," were handed in for competition, and have been care- fully examined by us. Of these seven, the committee
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without hesitation agreed in considering the two signed respectively " Cohotatia " and "Alpha" superior to the others. These two were, in the opinion of the committee, very nearly equal in excellence, a few minor defects in the one signed "Alpha," which under other circumstances might readily be disregarded as immaterial, finally throwing the scale in favor of the other signed " Cohotatia," which we decide to be the best and entitled to the prize.
WILLIAM B. RUGGLES, LEONARD KIP, EDWARD A. DURANT, JR., Committee.
There was breathless silence as the envelope con- taining the real name of "Cohotatia " was opened, and tremendous applause followed the announcement that the winner of the prize was George L. Hodgson, of No. 565 Clinton avenue. The contestant coming so near the prize and receiving honorable mention was Frank E. Delaney, both being pupils of the Albany High School.
THE WINNER OF THE GIRL'S PRIZE.
Commissioner Ruso stepped to the front and read the following report :
The committee appointed to examine the essays written by girls, report that thirteen essays were submitted. Three of the manuscripts have, in addition to the pseudonym, the age of the girl competing for the prize, and as they are so young, ranging from thirteen to fourteen, the age may be taken in good faith, though the name be a fiction. All of the essays show patient and persevering research in the annals of Albany. Several show excellent judgment in the selection of the best points from the mass of matter in order to present so short an account as that to which the writer was limited. From the whole number of essays the com- mittee have unanimously selected the one signed " Janette Van Schaik" as entitled to the prize offered by your committee. The merits of this essay are that the writer
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commences where the printed instructions require her to, at the beginning of the two hundred years of Albany's history, the charter history of the city, and that the writer in a most original way, shows the growth of the city by the study of the development of the Dutchman, whom she analyzes in a keen, good-natured, sarcastic manner, whereby she shows the reason for the slow, sure and safe commercial progress of this unique and interesting town. As second best of the essays the committee have also with singular unanimity chosen the one signed " Katrinka K." This essay is prepossessing on the face, from the beautiful pen- manship, and from its good form, which have their weight before the literary inerits are taken into account. The essay presents a series of pictures, changing as a delightful pano- rama before the reader. From the graceful pen painting of " Ye Olden Time," the writer leads with nice tact to the commonplace history of to-day by giving an account of the ghostly visit of an ancient Knickerbocker, as he materializes in Albany for a space, to save the author from too abrupt a change in her style of writing, and the shock of the transi- tion from life in ancient Beaverwyck to that of wide-awake Albany in 1886.
KATE STONEMAN, DORA WENDELL KIRCHWEY, JULIA A. WERNER.
The successful girl proved to be Miss Elizabeth G. Davidson, No. 752 Madison avenue. " Katrinka K.," who received the first honorable mention, is Miss Carrie Curry. Both of these were also of the High School.
INTRODUCING THE MAYOR.
While the audience was discussing the awards the scholars sang, with fine effect, "See the Conquering Hero Comes," from Handel's " Judas Maccabeus," after which President Oren E. Wilson, of the school board, introduced Mayor Thacher in these words :
Two hundred years ago to-day this city, which we all love to call our home, contained neither public school buildings nor public school children. It had no mayor, for it was not
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yet a city. To-day thousands of happy school children are celebrating with music and song the city's approaching anni- versary. In these festivities our mayor joins, and we bid him a hearty welcome, not only because history will honor him as the Bi-centennial mayor of the city of Albany, but because in his person are combined the sturdy independence of the ancient burgomaster and the public spirit and energy of the modern citizen. I now have the pleasure of annouc- ing the presentation of the prizes for the best essays by his honor, Mayor John Boyd Thacher.
MAYOR THACHER'S ADDRESS.
In reply, Mayor Thacher made the following felicitous address :
A hateful meaning has come to be attached to a grand sentiment, "To the victors belong the spoils." Not on the field of battle, nor in predatory raids have your vic- tories been won, but in that grandest of all conflicts, the struggle of intellect against intellect. Here spoils are legiti- mate and becoming. They deck the brow of him who has run the swiftest, who has struggled the fiercest, who has climbed the highest in the world of mind. They speak eloquently not only of the struggle and the contest, but they declare that the victories they represent are for the world and are dedicated to the service of the race. I take pleas- ure now in handing you your prizes so gallantly won. May they incite within you a spirit of emulation which shall bring you yet other prizes, so that trophies and honors may mark every upward step of your intellectual career. And now, children of the public schools, having performed the pleasant duty which brings me here, I desire to call your attention to the interesting path in literature into which some of you have entered in the labor for which these prizes were a reward. Many a traveler has stood on interesting ground without knowing it; has made his way into regions rich in importance and significance yet turned away because of some obstacle or, failing to rightly appreciate his vantage ground, has ceased to journey further on that way. History, American history, is the one path in the literary world which is little traveled and imperfectly explored. The question will soon present itself to you, as you arrive at the time of your graduation from the schools, what will you do with
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your education, what use will you make of it? Why not, let me suggest, continue along the road which has been opened to some of you in writing your highly interesting article on the history of Albany ? Why not make the writing of American history your life work ? It is a great field. History has always seemed to me something like surveying. The one is a survey of the earth, the other a survey of events. A survey may be of the highest order, like a geodetic survey, taking into account in its measurements the curvature of the earth. Such a survey will be absolutely correct, the angles will be positively straight lines and the lines will not lie. But this is not a satisfactory survey in its broadest, fullest sense We want a topographical survey. We want to know where the valley is which laughs so thick with corn, where the stream is that comes tripping down the hillside. We want to know where the mountains are, where Marathon is, where the sea is. We want to know that the mount- ains look on Marathon and that Marathon looks on the sea. Straight lines will not do. We must have a map filled in between the lines. It is so with history ; the straight lines there are the records of the annalist, the marks of the chron- ologist, the bare outlines of the narration of past events. The province of the historian is to take these annals and show the relation between events, the condition under which they happen, the source whence they have their spring, and a philosophical inquiry into the great future into which they have thrown their influence, and whither they are drawing, by mysterious cords, the present day and hour. In Ameri- can history the angles are not complete, the lines are not straight, the map is not yet filled in. What a grand field is there here for the ambition of the student ! Perhaps behind some modest but determined face, perhaps back of some eager and piercing eyes, to-day lost in the sea of faces that are turned upward at mine, is working the cunning machinery of the brain, which will one day write the history of America and win for some one here and for our old Dutch city an immortal crown of honor, fame and glory.
Mr. Hodgson and Miss Davidson were then called to the platform and presented with the beautiful gold watches chosen by the committee. The applause as they received the tributes was hearty. The audi-
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ence dispersed after the singing of the "American Hymn." The greatest credit must be given to Prof. Oliver for his masterly training and conducting of the chorus, and to Mr. Edward Low, who so artistically arranged the tableaux.
THE PRIZE ESSAYS.
GIRLS' PRIZE.
ALBANY'S HISTORY AND GROWTH IN TWO CENTURIES.
" Albany was indeed Dutch in all its moods and tenses, thoroughly and inveterately Dutch. The people were Dutch, the buildings were Dutch, and even the dogs were Dutch."
Although Albany, in 1686, had been under English rule more than twenty years, it still retained its Dutch aspect.
" Crowns or thrones might perish, Kingdoms rise or wane,"
but the old Dutch burgher would still have retained his Dutch ideas and Dutch customs, would still have looked with horror upon all innovations and improvements as plots of Satan against his peace and comfort.
" Rocks have been shaken from their solid base," but never a Dutchman from his immovable prejudices. For more than a hundred years did these doughty mynheers wage an obstinate fight against the progressive spirit of their English rulers and neighbors. Conquered at the beginning of this century, they sleep peacefully, while the hated improvements go on over their very graves. Ah! they fought a valiant fight, those venerable Knickerbockers of by-gone days.
Twenty years before the English conquest, the people of the province, weary of Dutch tyranny, had compelled their governor, Peter Stuyvesant, commonly called “ Hardköppig Pieter " because of his extreme obstinacy, to surrender to an English fleet, which had appeared in New York harbor. The brave old warrior had at first refused to deliver up the trust reposed in him. For days he had maintained an obstinate resistance, during which he cursed alternately the rapacity of the English invaders and the stubbornness of his
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Dutch subjects, who would neither fight nor furnish him with money or arms with which to carry on the defence of the city. Under such conditions resistance was in vain, and the fierce old governor, yielding to the angry threats of his subjects, " cowardly poltroons, one and all," said he, accepted the English terms. Thus, in the book of Time, was written the first chapter of Albany's history. This act was the beginning of a great change, which, taking place gradually and imperceptibly, would none the less surely convert a small and primitive village into a large and flour- ishing city. It was the beginning of the inevitable conflict between progress, personified in the English, and conserva- tism, embodied in the Dutch. No matter upon what vantage ground these two elements have met, the victory has been ever to progress, and this was no exception to the rule. Still, the pithy saying, " Rome was not built in a day," might, with propriety, be applied to the change which took place; not suddenly and violently, but so slowly and imperceptibly that no sign of the gradual wearing away of old ideas and customs and of new ones replacing these was given. The English made little change in the govern- ment or laws, but allowed the Dutch to manage their weighty public affairs in whatsoever manner best accorded with their consciences and their prejudices. An English governor replaced Stuyvesant, and the taxes were paid to the English instead of to the Dutch government. Beyond this no outward change was made.
Shortly before the English conquest the Dutch, with an overwhelming zeal for the spread of true worship, had per- secuted and banished the Lutherans. But the religious intolerance of the Dutch was obnoxious to the spirit of English freedom, and in 1669, Governor Lovelace, in a proclamation, said : "I do, therefore, expect that you live friendly and peacefully with those of that profession, giving them no disturbance in the exercise of their religion ;" thus establishing for the first time in Albany the grand principle of religious freedom, a principle of which the honest, but slow minded Dutch, knew nothing.
Shortly after, but at what time is uncertain, they were per- mitted by the English to build a meeting-house. This the Dutch had always sternly refused to permit them to do. The old Dutch Church on hearing this fairly trembled with indignation. As for the people, their anger and amazement
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could scarcely have been greater had they been ordered to tear down their own substantial building stone by stone.
Notwithstanding the bigotry of the Dutch, they pursued a most kind and liberal policy toward the Indians,-for policy it was, as it was dictated by self-interest. When his gains were concerned the Dutchman's intellect brightened. His eagle eye for discerning anything of benefit to his trade, soon perceived how necessary it was to gain the friendship of the Indians. Originally settled by traders whose object had been to obtain wealth through the resources of a new country, Albany grew slowly but surely through its trade in furs. Thither came the Indians of the Five Nations, ever at deadly enmity with the Canadian Indians and their allies, the French, whenever they had furs to sell, to obtain the trinkets that delighted their savage hearts; and so it came about that friendly relations were established between them and the Dutch to the advantage of both, and also that they became allies of the Dutch against the French, who had always claimed the New Netherlands by the right of prior discovery, and regarded the Dutch as intruders to be expelled. Upon the first settlement of Albany, the Dutch made a perpetual treaty with the Indians, which was kept by both nations for over fifty years, and never broken. The English, after their conquest, renewed this treaty and did everything in their power to cement a firm alliance with the Indians. Perceiv- ing the important situation of Albany for trade, the English governors, alike good, bad, and indifferent, pursued the same wise policy with even greater success than their Dutch pred- ecessors. With hostile French and Indians ready at any moment to swoop down upon the almost defenceless settle- ment, the freedom from attack which Albany enjoyed during a long and stormy period was largely due to the alliance and protection of the Indians of the Five Nations. Those same English governors, against whom the colonists contended so long and fiercely, builded better than they knew, when they provided so well for Albany's safety and trade, for by keeping to the terms of the treaty they raised up a defence to the city stronger than any wall.
One change was noticeable after the English conquest. Whereas the population of the village before that time had consisted of traders and adventurers, after that time mechan- ics and laborers began to come and settle permanently there.
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The conquest affected Albany but little during the first hundred years of her history. Easier was it for Hercules to slay the Nemean lion than for the English to destroy the prejudices of the Dutch. As the skin of the lion bade defiance to every weapon, so the intellect of the Dutch could not be pierced by any idea. Under the new rule, the Dutch enjoyed even more of freedom than before, for the village grew more under English rule in twenty years than under Dutch rule in fifty.
In the year 1686 the city of Albany sprang forth fully epuipped and armed with the charter, as did Athena, with the Ægis from the head of Zeus. "Pieter Schuyler, gent., and Robert Livingston, gent., commissionated by ye city of Albany" had been sent to New York to procure this charter, and had urged Gov. Dongan to grant it, because Albany was a "very ancient city," and the inhabitants had already erected, at their own expense, a town hall, a watch tower and a church. After many "whys " and " wherefores," and much earnest talking, the charter was at length obtained. The quaint old records tell us that after the return of Mynheers Schuyler and Livingston, the char- ter was published with " all ye joy and acclimations imagin- able." Then in the most intensely solemn Dutch way, Pieter Schuyler was sworn in as mayor, and Robert Living- ston as town clerk. No doubt the good townspeople con- gratulated themselves on the advance and prosperity of Albany. Each stately Dutch burgher, as he walked the street, strove to put on an added dignity; the buildings tried to increase in size ; the gable ends to bristle more aggress- ively ; while even the weather-cocks on the roofs appeared ready to crow more lustily than ever before. If our Dutch ancestors were able to reappear in the streets of Albany to-day, what words could describe their astonishment at the changes made by the restless and abhorred Yankee ! Their wonder would be greater than was Rip Van Winkle's upon his reap pearance in his native town at the end of his long slumber.
If we had visited Albany in 1686, what should we have seen ? After a long, tedious voyage from New York, for the Dutch skipper was a Fabius on a small scale, and dropped anchor every night at sunset, we would have beheld a city whose very quaintness was refreshing to the eye. As we glanced around we would have taken note of the old Dutch houses, with their gable ends to the street, and upon
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each house the date of its erection in large curious iron figures across the end, and of the old Dutch church standing in solitary grandeur at the foot of State street.
Possibly we might have seen Mynheer leisurely smoking on the front " stoop," while his children played about the foot of it; looking into the bright kitchen with its sanded floor, we might have seen his good Vrouw and daughter preparing the dinner of their lord and master, or busily engaged in scouring the already spotless pots and pans. We may have seen a dear son, returning from his first attempt at trade with the Indians, and may have heard him tell of the perils he had undergone and the bargains he had made, while his mother, woman-like, shudders at the dangers he has encountered, and thanks the good God who has preserved her Jacob uninjured. Everything was primitive,-people, streets, man- ners, and ideas. The bustle and haste of modern life had not yet touched this gem of the antique. Simplicity and honest-hearted kindness were the chief qualities of the people. Everything, both animate and inanimate, was characterized by quietness and quaintness.
As we pass through the streets of Albany to-day, two hundred years later, what do we see ? Glancing around we behold the degenerate descendants of the ancient burghers jostling each other in the streets; and the noises heard on every side are bewildering. The old-time inactivity and slowness has died a natural death; Yankee activity reigns supreme. Oh! it is well that Peter Schuyler, the first of Albany's worthy mayors, did not live to see the day. His very wig would have trembled with dismay at the sight of our " modern improvements." Could he view the city he might say :
" Once more I stand, but now unknown by sacred Hudson's tide, With unfamiliar scenes around, no friendly hand to guide, For in Albany, forsooth, they've been working such a change, With their modern innovations, that the place looks very strange. All the old lanes and pasture fields with clover tops so fair, Are lost to sight, no fences left, no shady bouweries there, Old places once so very dear to these old eyes of mine Are scattered like the hoar-frost by the ruthless hand of time. Old things have changed so quickly since last I saw the town ; The honest old Dutch customs; the degenerated race Has begun with its improvements to wipe out the old Dutch place. I would not care to live, and see such altered folks and ways, Since half-doors swung wide open in those palmy old Dutch days, When streets were cleaned by private hand, and all the city's light Was furnished by the lanterns hung from each tenth house in sight."
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" Yet, call not each glorious change decay," though Peter Schuyler, should he see the city, might lament the passing away of the olden time, even he must acknowledge that Albany has changed for the better.
No longer in need of stockades for her defence, she lives in peace and grows in prosperity; no longer the worthy Dutchman discourses at the street corner the price of beaver skins or exults over his latest bargain. All, all is gone, even old Albany herself has disappeared. Well may our hearts swell with pride, as Albany is seen stretching over her many hills, and the numerous evidences of her growth and prosperity are beheld. Proud is Albany to-day of her City Hall, which has replaced the ancient Stadt-house ; of her Capitol, which towers so grandly at the head of State Street ; a landmark for many miles around ; of the High School and the other public schools, which shows what Albany is doing for the cause of free education ; of the many other public buildings which have replaced the old and worn-out structures ; of the city itself as it stands to-day, an advance and improvement upon the one which the old Dutch burghers called Albany.
The old Dutch burgher was stolid and substantial, with an unutterable contempt of all useless haste Honest, sober, frugal, industrious, he had many virtues and few vices. Yet like the Greek hero Achilles, he was vulnerable in one point, his pocket. A bargain to a Dutchman was a joy forever. As far as the rays of his light stretched, he was honest, but his ideas of honesty were not as strict as those of his Yankee neighbors, and his love of driving a sharp bargain occasionally led him into questionable dealings with the Indians. Yet, in justice to the Dutch, it must be said, that the strictest laws were enacted and enforced against dishonest trading. Indeed, the utmost strictness of life, manners, and morals prevailed in those days. The simplicity of the people was remarkable. Unpretentious and unami- bitious, their wants were easily satisfied. One who lived for many years among the Dutch says of them : "The very idea of being ashamed of anything that was neither vicious nor indecent, never entered an Albanian head." The desire for show and display, so prominent in the life of modern American cities, was entirely wanting. The fickle goddess fashion had no worshippers among them.
By their manners and customs must the civilization of a people be judged, and as we read of the honest, true life of
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the Dutch settlers our respect and admiration for them increase.
The typical Dutchman was not only unchangeable in his ideas, but the thought of changing had not even entered his mind. Not easily moved to anger or strong emotion of any kind, he neither could, nor would, become an enthusiast on any subject. As he was slow in thought, so was he also slow in speech and motion.
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