USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Rutland > Centennial celebration of the settlement of Rutland, Vt., October 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th, 1870, including the addresses, historical papers, poems, responses at the dinner table, etc. > Part 5
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Mr. Cunningham was succeeded by Rev. Edward Mills, who commenced his labors as pastor of this church, November 1st, 1868.
Rev. Edward Mills was born in Rochdale, England, June 30th, 1828, and came to the United States in January, 1831, studied the- ology with his pastor, Rev. Henry F. Lane, of Lawrence, Mass., and was licensed to preach by the First church of Lawrence, May 1st, 1860, and was ordained pastor of the church at Hermon, N. Y., June 20, 1861. He resigned July 9th, 1862, and immediately became pastor of the church of Adams Center, N. Y., where he remained pastor until May 1st, 1865, when he was settled at West- minster, Mass. From here he removed to West Troy, N. Y., and remained pastor of the Baptist church in that place until his settle- ment over the Baptist church in Rutland.
Rutland was formerly included in the Brandon circuit of the Methodist church,-but at what time Rutland became a separate station and had a preacher assigned to it and regular service, I have been unable to ascertain. Without access to the records of the church, the first preacher whose name I find as stationed here is Rev. F. W. Smith, in 1834 and 1835. From that time, at least, there were regular Methodist services at Center Rutland, and a church or chapel was erected there. The following are the preach- ers and dates, as near as I can ascertain them without reference to the records; 1838, William F. Barnes; 1841, E. Hall; 1842, M. Townshend, Thomas Hunt; 1843, William Griffin, William II. Hull; 1844, William Griffin ; 1846-7, HI. Warner, Jr .; 1848-9, A. Lyon; 1850, C. Barber; 1852, William Ford ..
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On the 12th day of March, 1853, James L. Slason and William A. Burnett were appointed a committee to make arrangements for Methodist preaching at the East Village during the year. They immediately took steps to employ a preacher, and to procure a place for holding meetings, and, strange as it may seem now, they were refused the Court House, although it had been before, and was then and for some time thereafter, used by other religious societies. The result of their arrangements may be seen from the following "Notice," which was left at every house in the village:
"Providence permitting, there will be Methodist preaching at the Railroad Depot in this Village, next Sunday afternoon at 5 o'clock, by Rev. John Parker, of the M. E. Church. Yourself and family-all are invited to attend Per order of the Official Board.
WILLIAM A. BURNETT, Secretary.
Rutland June 10, 1853."
The service was held, and from that time to the present there has been a Methodist church in this village. Steps were at once taken to erect a church building, the corner stone of which was laid July 27, 1854.
After this year the church in this village and at Center Rutland were united, and down to 1863 two preachers were stationed here, one for each church. The following are the names of the clergy- men and the years of their service: 1853, John Parker; 1854, Alexander Campbell, Angelo Carroll; 1855, Alexander Campbell, A. Carroll; 1856, John Kiernan, J. W. Carhart ; 1857, John Kier- nan, C. H. Richmond; 1858, C. R. Ford, Edwin H. Hynson; 1859, C. R. Ford, Geo. S. Chadbourne; 1860. M. Ludlum, W. W. Atwater; 1861, M Ludlum, W. W. Atwater; 1862, Geo. S. Chadbourne, J. E. Metealf; 1863, Geo. S. Chadbourne, Edwin H. Hynson; 1864, Alexander Campbell, Geo. S. Chadbourne; 1865, A. Campbell, J. W. Elkins; 1866, D. W. Dayton; 1867, D. W. Dayton; 1868, A. F. Bailey; 1869, A. F. Bailey; 1870, Barnes M. Hall.
I regret that I have been unable to give biographical memoranda in reference to the different Methodist pastors, but the peculiar nature of that ministry, particularly the shortness of their ministra- tions here, as elsewhere, has rendered it impracticable, if not impos- sible, to obtain the facts necessary, and I am therefore compelled to pass with this brief, imperfect, and to me, at least, unsatisfactory sketch.
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Prior to 1837 there was no organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Rutland, and in order to attend the services of their own church, the members of the denomination were compelled to, and did, go to Castleton and other places. During that year, or the next, this was made a "missionary station," and the Rev. J. Daly, a very learned and eccentric man, occasionally held services here and at other points in Western Vermont.
The Rev. Z. Druon came here as a missionary in 1854, and in 1855 established St. Bridget's Church at West Rutland and St. Peter's Church in East Rutland, both, however, in the same parish. He remained here until January 5th, 1857, at which time the parish was divided and became two separate parishes. Rev. Charles J. Boylan at that time took charge of St. Peter's Church, and remains Parish Priest to the present time. A small church was built in St. Peter's parish in 1855, and the corner-stone for a large, commodious and elegant church was laid July 5th, 1869, by the Bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, assisted by a number of clergymen, and which is now rapidly approaching completion.
Upon the division of the parish, January 5th, 1857, Rev. F. Picart became Pastor of St. Bridget's Church, where he remained until November, 1859. He was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Lynch, by whose exertions the funds for the erection of the beautiful church at West Rutland were collected. He continued pastor until Oeto- ber, 1869, when he was succeeded by Rev. Charles O'Reilly, the present Parish Priest.
About May, 1869, a Roman Catholic Church was organized from our French population, under the name of " Eglise du Sacre Coeur de Marie" (Church of the Sacred Heart of Mary), with the Rev. Louis Gagnier as Parish Priest. They for a time met for worship in Chaffee's Hall, on Merchants' Row, but almost immediately took measures for erecting a church building on Lincoln avenue, which was so far completed as to be ready for use in the spring of 1870. Rev. Louis Gagnier remained Pastor until September, 1870, when he was succeeded by the present Pastor, Rev. J. M. Cloarec.
The Universalists organized a society here about the year 1853, Rev. Charles Woodhouse supplying the pulpit. He remained here somie two years, and was succeeded by Rev. H. P. Cutting, who only remained a short time. Their place of meeting was in the
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hall of the building on the corner of Merchants' Row and West street. After Mr. Cutting left the society became practically extinct.
In February, 1858, a religious society calling themselves "Chris- tians," founded, if I mistake not, by Elder Miles Grant of Boston, , was organized by the name of "Christ Church." They, in 1860, built a church or chapel on West street, which is now known as the "Free Christian Chapel." The first regular preacher was Elder Matthew Batchelder, who remained about three years, and was suc- ceeded by Elder H. F. Carpenter, who was followed by Elder Geo. W. Stetson. The church is now, and has been for some time, vacant.
A Liberal Christian society was organized in Rutland, July 20th, 1867. Since the society was organized it has been supplied from one to five Sabbaths each by Rev. Dr. Stebbins and Rev. William Tilden of Boston, Rev. J. F. Moors of Greenfield, Mass., Rev. Mr. Reynolds of Concord, Mass. In addition to these tem- porary supplies, Rev. C. A. Hayden of Boston supplied the pulpit one-half of the time for six months. Rev. F. W. Holland was employed by the society from the second Sunday of February to the second day of August, 1869. He was succeeded by the Rev. L. W. Brigham, who commenced his labors on the third Sunday of September, 1869, and remained until the second Sunday of Septem- ber, 1870.
We have thus imperfectly passed in review the different religious societies in Rutland and their several pastors, and trust that we have succeeded in rescuing some facts and dates from oblivion, and placed others, which would soon be forgotten, in a form in which they may be preserved.
NOTE .- As the last pages of this address are passing through the press, we are pained to learn of the death of the Rev. Charles Walker, D. D., the second pastor of the Congregational Church of the East Parish of Rutland, which occurred at Binghampton, N. Y., Monday, November 28th, 1870.
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THIRD DAY.
OLD FOLKS' CONCERT.
We extract from the Rutland HERALD the following account of the Old Folks' Concert on Tuesday evening:
The Old Folks' Concert at Ripley Opera Hall, last evening, will long be remembered by our community as one of the happiest and most delightful features of this joyous, festive Centennial; and for ourselves we can but express grateful thanks to all who contributed to its success. It was a happy conception, and most admirably carried out. Not a little of the praise so universally bestowed is due to the Wales Cornet Band. North Bennington may well be proud of it, as we are of our Rutland Choral Society. Every ticket was sold by noon of yesterday, and to say there was a full house does not at all express the idea. It was packed, jammed, and long before the curtain rose hundreds or more had gone away, unable to gain a foot place on the floor of the Hall. As previously announced, the orchestra consisted of the above named band. Mrs. W. N. Oliver of our town appeared as soprano soloist, Mr. S. C. Moore of Burlington as pianist, our townsman, Mr. J. N. Baxter, as solo flutist, with our Rutland Choral Society, under the direction of R. J. Humphrey, for the chorus. Of the band we have only good words. They have most agreeably disappointed our community. Their full band introduction to the second part of the evening's entertain- ment was certainly very finely given, and, as an unusual character- istic of such music, we noticed that it did not seem to oppress the ear of the listener, although confined, as it was, within the walls of a concert room. We attributed this in part to the fact that they played so well in tune, depending upon their harmony rather than their brass for effect. When they go from us they will bear with them the thanks and kind wishes of a host of friends in Rutland.
Of Mrs. Oliver's singing we cannot say too much. Her praise was in all mouths. She seems to have fairly captivated our com- munity by her bird-like purity of tone and sweetness of voice and manners. She completely reversed the old adage that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." In singing the old Scotch air, "Within a mile of Edinboro' town," she received the
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especial compliment of applause at the end of each stanza, and in recognition of the encore, at the end of the song repeated the last verse. She next sung "Thou Everywhere," with a flute obligato, admirably executed by Mr. Baxter, accompanied by Mr. Moore, 'which was encored, when they favored the audience with a new, fresh bird song by somebody who knows how to write songs to please an audience. The "Italian Waltz," Mrs. Oliver's last song . on the programme was also something new to a Rutland audience, and the most difficult bit of execution we have known this lady to have ever attempted. She was again encored, and, in response, sung " Waiting," by Willard, taking the high E in the cadenza with perfect ease and precision. The degree of excellence to which this lady has attained as an amateur is, we think, something remarkable, and is justly deserving of hearty commendation.
Mr. Moore was quite too sparing of his solo playing to fully sat- isfy his audience. He played but once during the evening. We cannot give the title of the delicate morceau he favored us with, but it was exquisitely rendered, as is everything he performs. He is a great favorite with Rutlanders, and cannot come among us too often.
We enjoyed an unwonted pleasure in listening, as we have not in years before, to Mr. Baxter's liquid flute. He performed an over- ture from one of the Italian operas delightfully. If it was as easy to play the flute as he makes it seem, we should all be flutists. "May his shadow never be less."
Last, not least, we desire to say a few words in honest praise of what has been accomplished by our Rutland Choral Society. And just here we cannot give too much credit to Mr. R. J. Humphrey, their excellent and indefatigable conductor. He has been identified with the society from its beginning, and without promise of reward has labored incessantly for its welfare. From feeble beginnings he has seen the society come to be one of the established institutions of our county. Their performance last night was truly gratifying to all who listened. They showed marked improvement since their last appearance not long ago at the same place. They sing in bet- ter tune, and the several parts were much more evenly balanced than ever before. We noticed that many tearful eyes bore testi- mony to their effective singing among the older portion of the audi-
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ence while the old fugue tunes were being sung, their memory doubtless quickened by the quaint tableau of the spinning-wheel and yarn-swifts in the corner. But in our mind the grandest, noblest feature of the entertainment was when, in instant recognition of the first notes of the closing piece of the evening, the entire audience, without a word or hint, voluntarily rose and joined in our sublime national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."
A rich display of the occasion, which we had almost omitted to mention, was the display of the "Flood-wood Militia," dressed and undressed, between the first and second parts of the concert. Their drill, perhaps though not according to Hardee's tactics, was for the occasion much more pleasing, eliciting ROUNDS of applause, and though they beat a hasty retreat, there was none able to CHASE 'em.
FOURTH DAY.
At ten o'clock on Wednesday, being the fourth and last day of the Centennial Celebration, a large audience assembled at the Opera House, when the Rev. James Davie Butler, LL.D., a native of Rut- land, but now a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, delivered the following address:
ADDRESS OF REV. JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL.D.
Eighteen hundred and eighty-seven years ago, and perhaps on this self-same day, imperial Rome was celebrating one of her cen- tennials. The cry of the heralds was, Convenite ad ludos spec- tandos quos nec spectavit quisquam nec spectaturus est, " Assemble yourselves and behold a spectacle which no one has ever beheld, or will behold again." The festival lasted three days. Every night was enlivened by dances, every night and every day was solemnized by sacrifices. The choral ode had been composed by the poet Hor- ace, then at the height of his fame. Its intricacies made Byron, and still make classical tyros hate its author, but its patriotic and exultant strains were equally perspicuous and welcome to thrice nine
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youths and as many maidens, no one of them bereaved of either father or mother, who formed the choir which rung them out in the Circus Maximus. It was a happy era. Legends regarding the Trojan origin of Rome had just been crystalized, as in a mammoth Kohinoor, in the Æneid of Virgil. The city which Augustus had found brick he was fast transforming to marble. The temple of the war-god, Janus, was shut, for there remained no foes to conquer worthy of the Roman steel. Rome was the only universal empire the sun ever shone upon, and hence was greater than all which had gone before, or that were to come after her. She only wore without corrival all its dignities. Such was a centennial in the most high and palmy state of the Cæsars.
What is ours to-day? We celebrate the arrival of the first pil- grim-train which here settled. One century ago a dozen people entered this valley with a view to make it their home. They brought with them nothing save what they could carry, either on their own backs or on pack horses. No farmer's ox-team had as yet been driven over the mountain. They had not much of education or property. Their houses were of logs, low, narrow, and destitute of furniture. For twenty years the title to their lands hung in doubt before them. They were far from markets where they could sell ·what they did not want, and buy what they did. War to the scalp- ing-knife soon raged around them, and that for seven years. For forty-nine years there was no church really in this village. The recruits who joined the first comers, some of them outlawed by New York,-others deserters from more than one army,-others leaving their country for their country's good, or having lost caste there, remind one of David's partisans when "if any man was in distress, or if any man was in debt, or if any man was discontented," they betook themselves to his cave in the cliff. Moreover, during forty years of the nineteenth century Rutland was notorious as a case of arrested development, like the legendary monkeys who were intended for men, but whose creation being begun on Saturday afternoon, was stopped in accordance with Connecticut Blue Laws, by the coming on of the Sabbath, while they were still "scarce half made up." Hence a satirist would say that Rutland was fitly named after the smallest county in England, and one chiefly fiumnous for producing the smallest specimen of a British dwarf. It is clear,
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therefore, that the pompous ceremonial of this week, in honor of the birth of a town so insignificant long after its cradle years, may appear the comedy of "Much Ado about Nothing,"-like the sacri- fice of an ox on an altar dedicated to a fly. To what purpose is ' this waste? Imperial Rome and Infantile Rutland! That was to this, Hyperion to a Satyr.
Nevertheless, townsmen, you, like me, have beheld with equal wonder and delight the primitive pettiness of Rutland after long burial come forth in a better resurrection and swelled to fair propor- tion, thanks to my life-long friend, Henry Hall. Minutiae picked from the worm-holes of long vanished days, and raked from the dust of old oblivion, struck by his wand, rejoice, like Pompeii, in newness of life. His historical regenerations brought to my mind the mosaics in St. Peters, in elaborating which there was keenness discriminating multitudinous shades of color, patience imitating them all in a sort of porcelain types,-ingenuity ranging them bit by bit till all jagged atoms are fitly joined together, and a species of genius sprinkling curious touches even to the perfection of a faultless picture.
But how has Mr. Hall been able to discover all things from the very first? This is a hard question, and yet I can answer it. Drowning men remember a great deal they had forgotten. There- fore Mr. Hall has had all the oldest inhabitants ducked in Otter Creek, and held under water till near the drowning point. When they came to from strangulation he sat by and noted down their revelations from first to last.
Your pleasure in surveying Mr. Hall's portraiture of Rutland pri- meval,-perhaps I ought to say paradisaical,-has been umnixed. But mine has not. On the other hand, my thought has been, "What shall the man say that cometh after the King?" The truth is that Mr. Hall, and he only, holds the key to everything worth knowing regarding antiquarian Rutland. while I have long been, not only far from such keys, but divided by oceans and continents from the very key-holes. Accordingly, when invited to speak on this anniversary, I could not forget a minister who had agreed to preach on a text sent to him in a sealed envelope, and which he was not to open until he had stood up for his sermon. The envelope contained noth- ing but a sheet of blank paper. One blank page betokened my ignorance of Rutland archives .- the other my inability to unroll
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them. Concerning that preacher the story is that, gazing on one blank page, he exclaimed, "Why, here in nothing!" and then, turning the sheet over, added, "And Lo! here is nothing!" But then, his good angel coming to his rescue inspired him to add, "Nothing! nothing! why, out of nothing God made the world, and so my subject shall be the creation." I cannot boast of such oppor- tune inspirations, and, in my western home striving to vie with Mr. Hall in reference to those local details by which he has made the past re-live and look us in the face, I should be dropping buckets into empty wells, and growing old with drawing nothing up, while my chronicles of Rutland, through lack of local coloring, would resemble that picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea which was all one dead wall or barn door of Spanish brown. When the artist was asked, "Where are the Children of Israel?" the answer was, "They have all passed over" -- and when the question recurred, "Where are the hosts of Pharaoh ?" "Why they," said he, "they are all drowned."
After all, as a child of Rutland, as the son of a man who settled in this town in the second decade of its existence, and made it his home during more than half a century,-yes, as myself a Rutlander who, while traveling more than half round the world, has still retained an untraveled heart, I would fain speak to you as I can,-though I cannot as I would. Nothing on one page, and nothing on another, suggested a sermon on creation out of nothing, so the founding of Rutland, which we now commemorate,-a mere blank as it regards my means of knowledge, and, when antiquaries have done their utmost, a blank to all who care only for the sensational, brings to my mind a creation of which I now propose to speak, a creation not natural, but social and political.
It is often said, "How much there is on board every ship not noted in her bill of lading." In like manner the Rutland pioneers brought with them not a little that no sharp eye could detect in their scanty outfit. Those of them who were most eager to escape from the past, those who had ' deserted their native lands lacking both inheritance and occupation there, as it were instinct- ively, established institutions analogous to those on which they had turned their backs.
In reference to law, their spirit was that of the forefathers of 4
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Connecticut, who voted to be bound by the laws of Moses till they had time to make others better. As to the execution of law, they appointed the needful officers and backed them up by the whole force of the community. A convicted criminal could not get ' reprieved for a second trial unless some reliable man would volun- teer to be hanged as his substitute if legal trickery should clear him, as Ethan Allen once volunteered in Bennington. Some of them were ignorant, but you have heard how early they established a school and built a school-house. Too many of them were personally irreligious, but they soon called a minister and reared a sanctuary, though rather far off,-and out of the way. Moreover, the Rut- landers brought with them to their new abode the township system in which they had been nurtured. That style of local government for maintaining the neighborhood poor, as well as for providing roads, bridges, police, schools and churches, in the way which seems best to a majority of the citizens convened in a town or church meeting, was long deemed an expedient too simple and natural to deserve any fame, but since the eulogies of the philosophic De Tocqueville it has become famous as the best illustration extant of pure democracy. States made up of such elements are immortal, and
"Vital in every part, Cannot but by annihilating die."
I need scarcely add that the Rutland community, like sister town- ships, by sending delegates to conventions and then to a Legislature, gave a specimen of many slender democracies woven together in one web of representative union, like Esop's feeble arrows gathered together into a strong sheaf, or, better, like the soldiers in an army co-ordinated, and subordinated, till each does what he can do best, and all are correspondent to the command of him who can guide to the noblest achievement.
The word "Town," then, which Texans to this day define "a place where whisky is sold," to a Rutlander meant protection, edu- cation, social ili y, religion,-mutual relations which
"Bide each on others for assistance call, Till each one's weakness grew the strength of all."
In the next place, the event which we have gathered to hold in remembrance has come to scem to me more memorable than I at first thought it, as a representative specimen of colonization.
Colonization has been one of the great means by which man has .
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improved his condition. Such has been its tendency among Jews downward from when Abraham heard the voice of God, saying, "Get thee out of thy country, and I will make of thee a great nation." See Carthage a colony of Tyre. See Grecian colonists spreading from the farthest shores of the Black Sea to the Sicilies, where they developed great Greece. See Rome becoming a tree like that in the visions of Daniel, the height thereof reaching to heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, through surrounding herself with a hundred annular rings of colonies, each including the growth of all former time. See European barbarians swarming from their northern hive, and thus civilized and christian- ized.
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