USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. I > Part 12
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Next to the development of cotton manu- facture, Moses Brown was probably most interested in education. He was appointed, with three others, by the town of Providence, in 1767, to draft the first ordinance to obtain free schools. He was greatly interested in Rhode Island College, now Brown Univer- sity, and only his membership in the As- sembly prevented him from being one of its
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charter members. When Newport, Warren, Greenwich and Providence were competing for this institution, Moses Brown and Stephen Hopkins, by their eloquence and convincing arguments, aided by offers of liberal endowment, obtained the College for Providence, and it was moved here on Feb- ruary 9th, 1770. Brown's first donation was $1,000, and a collection of books. His in- terest continued until his death.
During the Revolution, the Society of Friends sought to establish a school. In 1780, Moses Brown gave $575 to the fund, and through his energetic efforts the school was opened in 1784, in a little upper room of the old meeting house at Portsmouth. His son, Obadiah, was one of the first pu- pils. The school suffered sadly for want of funds and finally was forced to suspend after four years. Moses Brown was Treasurer and never gave up his determination to establish the school on a permanent basis. He got together every scrap of school prop- erty. He invested profitably and in 1814 offered to donate to the school its present site of 43 acres, a part of his farm. The school estate had grown to $9,300, and Brown started another vigorous campaign, which resulted in the opening of the first school building, on January Ist, 1819.
The school was conducted on strict Quaker lines, and the details of its develop-
ment make a fascinating story. The school prospered, although wars and adverse busi- ness conditions brought occasional setbacks. Moses Brown was always on hand with ma- terial aid, when needed; and the will of his son, Obadiah, who died in 1822, included a gift of $100,000, the largest donation for school purposes in the country, up to that time. The school was variously known as "Friend's School," "Providence School," and other names. It was given its first of- ficial name, "Moses Brown School", in honor of its greatest benefactor, in 1904. The old University School and the famous Mowry & Goff School were eventually ab- sorbed, resulting in the fine, modern institu- tion of which the city is justly proud.
Other outstanding accomplishments of Moses Brown which come to mind are: the founding of the Providence Athenæum Li- brary, of which he held share No. 1; The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in Rhode Island; the Rhode Island Bible So- city; the Rhode Island Peace Society. He was also a founder of the Rhode Island Historical Society, to whose archives he contributed a vast quantity of valuable letters which are today the source of much interesting data. The accomplishments of this great man were many and varied, and no honor we may do him can approach the eloquent testimony of his deeds.
'TWAS CHRISTMAS EVE
1 IT was the night before Christmas, about 125 years ago, and the Old Pidge Tav- ern (still standing on North Main Street in Pawtucket) was blanketed with snow, silent and almost dark. It was growing late, and the innkeeper and his wife were snuffing out the lights, one by one. The wind whistled and whipped around the corners, the shut- ters rattled, and the old house seemed to shake with the sudden gusts that drove against it.
The innkeeper carried two logs over to the fire and dropped them into the great fireplace. "Better put two on tonight," he said to his wife.
"I think we ought to stay up a while longer," she said to him. She had placed the lighted candle, which was to light them upstairs, on the table, and there it was going to stay if her husband, as she hoped, would agree with her.
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"Why?" he asked.
"Because I have a feeling," she said slowly, "that somebody is going to come." "Who?"
"Why, I'm sure I don't know. But this is Christmas Eve. I think we ought to wait up. Besides, that coach from New London hasn't come in."
"No," said the innkeeper, "and it's not going to."
"But how do you know?"
"They wouldn't come through on a night like this. I'm going to bed." He started toward the stairway, but waited for his wife to pick up the candle.
She sighed. "It's Christmas Eve," she said, "and here we are all alone. I wish we had some company-even John and Martha."
"Relatives," he grumbled. "A fine propo- sition this tavern would be if we kept enter- taining relatives all the time." He was still waiting for her to pick up the candle and go upstairs.
"I didn't say 'all the time.' I just said for 'Christmas Eve.' This is Christmas Eve, Joseph. You don't seem to know it."
"I guess I do know it. It's the night that everybody has some place to go but here. I'm going to bed, right now." But still he waited for his wife to pick up the candle. She had done this for twenty-five years, and perhaps the innkeeper would never be able to get upstairs at all if she didn't lead the way with the candle.
Finally, with another sigh, she picked up the candle, and reluctantly started for the stairs. The shadows moved like specters across the dark walnut panellings, and the creak and echo of the stairs accompanied the whistling of the wind so that the dark upstairs was more silent, cold and lonely than ever before.
"Listen, Joseph!" She stopped suddenly in the middle of the stairway. "Sh! Listen!"
Joseph stopped to listen, but was so sure he would hear nothing that he paused only for the barest instant.
"But wait," said his wife, as he began to ascend again. "Don't you hear ?"
"What do I hear? I never saw you take on like this. People aren't going to come just because you think you hear 'em." But at this point he stopped. As sure as he was
alive and on his way to bed, a coach was coming. He could hear the thud of hoof- beats on the snowy ground, and the rumble and grind of wheels.
"A coach!" he exclaimed. Before he could get to the door, someone had already alighted, and was pounding on its great oak expanse and calling "Ho! In there!"
"I told you someone was going to come," said the wife joyfully, hurrying down the stairs behind her husband. "We'll hurry and light some candles."
The innkeeper unlatched the door and it was fairly blown open. A flurry of snow blew into the room with the entrance of the guests, and the coachman addressed the inn- keeper by name, saying he was going im- mediately to the stable.
"Four of us," said the first guest. "Can you put us up?"
"Always," said the innkeeper, who could be cordial at the prospects of guests and their fees. "I'm surprised you've come on from New London tonight."
The other guests were now in. There were two men and a woman who had a sleeping child in her arms. The innkeeper's wife came up at this moment and urged the young woman to sit down in the settle by the great fireplace.
"We wanted to be in Boston tomorrow for Christmas," said the guest.
The innkeeper shook his head. "If this keeps up, which it will, you're going to spend Christmas right here in Pawtucket, in this very room. If we aren't snowed in here by midnight, I've lived fifty years for nothing."
The young woman turned to her husband beside her as she heard these words. "Do you think we'll be snowed in, Dave?" she asked. He nodded his head.
"What are we going to do?" she asked in dismay. "This is the first time in four years we've been able to get away, and everybody is so anxious to see little Davy, and he's been looking forward to this for weeks and weeks."
"We'll have to disappoint them, I guess. Too bad, but I don't see anything that can be done."
She sat silent a moment, then said: "Mr. Landlord."
"Yes, madam." He turned solicitously towards her.
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"Are you sure we won't be able to make Boston tomorrow?"
"As sure as I've been called Joseph for fifty years," he replied. "Too bad for you, young Mistress." He looked at the large bundle she had in her arms, and suddenly became interested. As he looked, she loos- ened the blanket about her child, for the warmth of the fire was beginning to pene- trate.
"Boy or girl?" he asked, with respectful curiosity.
"Boy," she told him proudly. He's asleep."
The landlord bent over him. "Stout young fella, isn't he? Just about old enough to know about Santa Claus."
"Oh, more than that," asserted the mother. "He's known about Santa Claus for two years. He's been looking forward to Christmas at his grandmother's in Boston for the last month. This storm is so wicked."
The landlord thought a moment, then, under the inspiration of a bright idea, said: "You go up and put the little boy to bed, and when he gets up in the morning, he'll have his Christmas."
The husband looked at him skeptically. "How?" he asked.
"Easy," said the innkeeper. "What say you?"
"It's a fine thought," said the husband, "but it looks rather impossible."
"Nothing," he said pompously, "is im- possible. We can't have a child in here Christmas, without a tree and decorations and a whole party for him. Just you wait." And so saying, he went out of the room for a minute and came back clothed in a great- coat, a heavy woolen cap, a large scarf that was more like a shawl, and a pair of buck- skin boots. In his hand he carried an axe.
"Joseph," asked his wife, "what are you going to do?"
"Get a Christmas tree," he said, and was out of the door before she could recover from her surprise.
The innkeeper's good wife now told the guests that she would soon have their rooms ready. Presently the little boy was put to bed, and then the guests gathered around the fire where the good wife served them with brandy.
In about half an hour the innkeeper re- turned with a small fir tree, which he laid on the floor only long enough to remove his heavy outer clothes.
"Now, Libby," he said to his wife-this was the first time he had called her by name since she could remember-"Now, Libby, you go upstairs and get a sheet for us to put around the bottom of this, and I'll have a brace made for it in a minute."
Libby hurried away, almost flabbergasted at this conduct in her husband. But she was inexpressibly happy. He had not been so cheerful in years. She had paused to won- der if he would begrudge the coming of these guests at this time of night. Begrudge them! She had never seen him give anyone a truer welcome in her life. She wondered how much he was going to charge them. He was always proud of his ability to judge the wealth of his guests, and he made them pay accordingly.
She returned with the sheet, and found him busy with a knife, fashioning two pieces of wood so that they would fit crosswise and support the tree.
"Now, Libby," he said, "we've got to have some decorations for the tree. Go in the tap-room and get some little liqueur- glasses, and-what's become of that silvery ribbon you used to have on a dress? We'll tangle that up on the tree, and get some feathers, or cotton, or something for snow, and we've got to have a star up there. I can cut it out of that new tin we got for the kitchen. "
With whatever he suggested, his wife was quick to comply. The guests sat around, offering to help, but he would have none of it. "Not a word," he would say. "This is my party. Libby, get them some more brandy. They need warmth. It's a cold night out."
By midnight, as the landlord had pre- dicted, they were snowed in, but the tree was all in readiness.
"Now," said the innkeeper, proudly, "we'll put the presents around." The mother and father of the little boy went to their luggage, which had not yet been carried upstairs, and took from it all the presents which they had been hiding so that Santa Claus could get the credit for their delivery.
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And when all the presents were set around, the innkeeper said, "I'll give him my pres- ent in the morning."
On Christmas morning, when the child came downstairs and found the tree and all his presents, he shouted with joy as only a five-year old can. The inn-keeper entered presently with a little dog, and gave it to him. It was difficult to tell who was more overjoyed, the little boy or the innkeeper's wife."
The guests stayed two days, and when at last the time arrived for them to leave, the oldest guest, who was the child's uncle, went to the innkeeper to settle his bill.
"Not a penny of it," the innkeeper said brusquely. "The party was mine." And he firmly refused, against all protests of his guests. And when they left, the innkeeper's wife kissed the little boy good-bye, and put her arm in Joseph's as she watched them get into the coach and set off to the north.
THOMAS SMITH WEBB
A' RECENT estimate placed the number of persons of voting age in this country at 68,000,000. If that figure is reasonably accurate, then it can be said that nearly half of the persons of voting age belong to one or more fraternities. With nearly half of our adult men and women belonging to organ- izations which teach and practice helpful- ness to others, we might assume that these people and these organizations must ac- complish no little good. The assumption would be correct, but conservative. The in- fluence of fraternities on American life to- day and the amount of good they do are incalculable.
Conspicuous among these is the great and honored craft of Freemasons, of whom, in the United States, Porto Rico and the Phil- ippines alone, there are close to three and a quarter millions. They unanimously ac- claim as the brightest star in the Masonic firmament, that illustrious Rhode Islander, Thomas Smith Webb, the founder of the American system of Chapter and Encamp-
ment Masonry, who developed the ritual- istic and ceremonial forms now universally employed.
Thomas Smith Webb was born in Boston, of English parents, on the 30th of October, 1771; he was named after an uncle of his mother's, the Rev. Thomas Smith, who was the first minister in Portland, Maine. He was educated in the public schools of Bos- ton, and because of his keen interest in, and special aptitude for, the ancient classics and higher branches of knowledge, he was trans- ferred from Grammar School to the Latin School, from which he graduated at the age of 15.
He immediately started to learn the printer's trade at which he worked after his removal to Keene, New Hampshire. At Keene, Webb, then in his 20th year, entered Freemasonry, for which he was later to ac- complish so much, receiving his first de- gree in Rising Sun Lodge on December 24th, 1790.
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An unsuccessful business venture in Keene was followed by his establishing a paper staining factory, in Albany, New York, which he operated successfully until the early part of 1799, when he came to Providence to engage in the manufacture of wall paper. This business he sold in order to become the managing head of the Hope Manufacturing Company, in which he had purchased a large interest. Here again he prospered, and it is generally conceded that he played a large part in the advance- ment of Rhode Island's cotton manufactur- ing industry.
On September 12th, 1797, while still in Albany, Thomas Smith Webb made his first bid for fame as a Masonic ritualist and authority by publishing "The Freemason's Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry". This small volume, now exceedingly rare, was in two parts, the second containing a descrip- tion of "The Ineffable Degrees of Masonry" and his own original Masonic songs; the "Master's Song", "Senior Warden's Song", "Junior Warden's Song" and the "Senior Warden's Toast". Webb published succes- sively enlarged and improved editions of this work in 1802, 1805, 1808, 1816 and 1818, and there have been numerous edi- tions since the author's death. The work is to-day regarded as the standard on the sub- ject of which it treats.
Webb was given a warm welcome by the Masons of Providence, then a bustling com- munity of 7500 people, and he accepted the invitation to affiliate with St. John's Lodge, one of the oldest and most flourishing in the State, signing its By-laws in February, 1801. Immediately he began to make Masonic history by instituting a Lodge of Instruc- tion with himself as principal instructor. In June, 1802, Webb was elected to the Grand Lodge as Junior Grand Warden and a year later was elected Senior Grand Warden. He became Grand Master in 1813, was re-elected in 1814, but declined another term in 1815.
Thomas Smith Webb framed the present system of Royal Arch Masonry, following his election in 1801 to the office of High Priest of Providence Royal Arch Chapter. He was instrumental in the forming of the first Grand Chapter in 1798, and was elected
Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island in 1803, and continued to serve until 1815 when he removed to Boston.
Webb's cherished ambition was to form a General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the government and regula- tion of the Grand and Subordinate Chapters throughout the country, and in October, 1797, he presided over a Convention of Committees for this purpose, at Boston. The first General Grand Chapter held its first meeting in Middletown, Connecticut, in September, 1798, and adjourned to meet again in Providence in January, 1799. At this meeting a new constitution, presented by Webb, was adopted. At the third meeting held in 1806, Webb was elected General Grand King, succeeding to General High Priest at the fourth meeting in 1816 and continuing until his death in 1819.
During this same period, the untiring Masonic zeal of Thomas Smith Webb accom- plished the formation on August 23rd, 1802, of St. John's Encampment No. 1 of Knights Templar-now known as St. John's Com- mandery-in Providence, the ranking body of all the Templar organizations of America. Webb provided the ritual and ceremonial of the Templar Orders and was made the first Eminent Commander, be- ing re-elected annually until December 5th, 1814, when he declined re-election.
Then came the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, organ- ized by Webb in 1805, and headed by him until he voluntarily retired in 1817. The achievement which has been declared the crowning glory of Webb's Masonic work- The Grand Encampment of Knights Temp- lars of the United States-came into being in 1816, in New York City, with Webb as Deputy Grand Master, the office he held at the time of his death in 1819. St. John's Commandery has as one of its most care- fully guarded possessions the original draft of the Constitution of the Grand Encamp- ment, with all of the changes, additions and interlineations in Webb's own handwriting.
The Masons of Rhode Island may well be proud of their association with this re- markably able organizer and keen minded ritualist. This pride has been expressed in
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the Thomas Smith Webb Commandery of Providence; the Webb Council, No. 3, Royal and Select Masters of Warren; the Thomas Smith Webb Lodge of Providence; and the recently instituted Thomas Smith Webb Chapter of Providence, now meeting under dispensation and soon to receive its charter.
Thomas Smith Webb's death came sud- denly, at the early age of 48, while he was on a business trip to Cleveland. His body was first buried in Cleveland, being later sent to Providence, in accordance with his wish that he be laid beside his first wife in his tomb in West Burial Ground, the site of the present Hayward Park. A Masonic As- sociation was formed in 1859 to raise funds for a suitable monument to this much loved man, and in 1862 the memorial was com- pleted and it now stands in North Burying Ground to mark where the body of this great Mason now rests.
Webb lived in Providence at the corner of Westminster and Eddy Streets in a three-story brick house, where the Brown- ing, King & Co. store stands today. Webb married, in 1797, Miss Martha Hopkins of Boston, and two of their five children sur- vived him. The death of his first wife in 1808 was followed one year later by Webb's marriage to her sister, and she and two of their four children survived his death. A son, Dr. Thomas H. Webb, who died in 1866, graduated from Brown University in the class of 1821.
Thomas Smith Webb joined the Second Regiment of the State Militia as a private and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His various commercial activities included his association with Col. John Carlisle and
William Wilkinson as trustees of the Provi- dence Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
An interesting event occurred during the second war with England and just before Webb retired as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge. It was in 1814 that the English fleet filled Narragansett Bay and menaced the safety of Providence and its 11,000 inhabi- tants. Something must be done and done quickly. Webb accordingly headed a Com- mittee of Defence organized at a Special Meeting of the Grand Lodge on October 3rd, and 230 members of Lodges from all parts of the State marched to Tockwotton Hill (now Tockwotton Park). They built in a single day, in the name of the Grand Lodge, an earthworks, 430 feet long, 10 feet wide and 5 feet high, giving it the appro- priate Masonic name of "Fort Hiram."
The Masonic bodies, during Webb's day, met in the upper floor of the Market Build- ing, now the Chamber of Commerce Build- ing. Many old timers will recall the Masonic emblem which occupied the spot high up on the Market Square wall which now houses the clock-which, by the way, was originally in the old horse car station in the square.
Thomas Smith Webb Commandery has converted some wood taken from the old lodge room into a frame which holds the only remaining piece of iron from the old Point Street Bridge, and which now serves the Commandery as a gong. As a matter of sentiment, this same Commandery received its dispensation for organization in the old lodge room on the third floor of the Mar- ket Building, where its revered namesake held forth so gloriously.
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THE BRIG "YANKEE"
0 UR little State of Rhode Island has ever been one of the first to furnish practi- cal and valuable aid to the country in time of war. The pages of history are liberally sprinkled with the glorious accomplish- ments of valorous Rhode Islanders on land and sea. Leading the way, as we always have, in so many important things incidental to the building of this mighty nation, it is only natural that this sea-bound State should provide the greatest number of those daunt- less, but privately owned armed vessels of war, known as privateers. In the year 1756, alone, there were 50 of these Rhode Island ships roaming the seas.
The quaint and charming old town of Bristol, in 1680, assumed almost from the time of its founding, a dominating place in the business of privateering. It was this port which sent forth, during the War of 1812, America's most successful privateer, the brig "Yankee."
It is perhaps not strange that many of the present generation make the mistake of con- fusing privateering with piracy, inasmuch as these activities seemingly had much in common. Actually the difference was very great. The pirate roamed far and wide, cap- turing, pillaging and destroying ships of friend and foe alike, with robbery as their only motive. The privateer, on the other hand, operated only in time of war and, under commission from the government, sought to cripple the enemies' merchant marine by the simple expedient of remov- ing from the service of the enemy country as many ships as it could capture. A priva- teer never sought to destroy, but merely to disable or force into surrender the enemy ship.
The privateers were really privately owned war ships which specialized in clear- ing the sea of enemy commerce. Enemy warships were invariably given a wide berth by the privateer, which had nothing to gain in attacking a vessel thoroughly equipped for fighting. Glory alone was not for them. It was their mission to capture for financial profit only, and the undertaking was risky enough on its own account without inviting disaster.
It may surprise you to learn that few pri- vateering ventures brought a profit to their sponsors. The result was more likely to be a loss. Many a privateer returned from its cruise after doing enormous damage to en- emy shipping and yet had nothing to show its backers except a report with red figures in the profit column.
The "Yankee," which set out from Bristol in July, 1812, is, therefore, doubly famous for the serious damage meted out to the en- emy's commerce and the enormous profit earned for its owners. Bristol's leading merchant, James DeWolf, later a United States Senator from Rhode Island, was re- sponsible for the "Yankee" and its success. British war vessels had caused him heavy losses by sinking many ships in which he was interested, and good business man that he was, he had kept an accurate account of these losses. The declaration of war on the 19th of June, 1812, gave Mr. DeWolf his long awaited opportunity to even the score, by the "eye for an eye" and "tooth for a tooth" method. He accordingly lost no time in fitting out the "Yankee," a fine ship with every qualification necessary for success. A John Smith owned one-quarter and Mr.
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