USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Reading > History of Reading, Windsor County, Vermont. Vol. II > Part 2
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I know you are pained to hear this, and it seems to me eminently fitting and proper upon this day and oc- casion that his native town should send him some mes- sage expressive of kindly interest and affectionate re- gard.
I await your pleasure."
Mr. Thomas Curley then offered the following reso- lution which was unanimously adopted by a rising vote.
RESOLVED, "That the citizens of Reading, in meeting assembled, learn with deep re- gret of the illness of Rev. T. J. Sawyer, the most widely known and best beloved son of Reading, and hereby tender to him this public expression of their sym- pathy and the fervent wish that he may be speedily restored to health and re- main long among us;
"That Mr. Wade Keyes be request-
ed to communicate this vote to the Rev. Dr. Sawyer and his family."
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[NOTE : This vote was communicated to the family of Dr. Sawyer, and was the last thing read to him. He understood it perfectly, and was pe- culiarly touched and pleased by this message from his native town.
He died at Tufts College, Mass., July 23d, 1899, and was buried at Mount Auburn. He was born January 9, 1804.]
The assemblage then adjourned to the Library Building, but on account of the intense heat of the day, were kindly invited by Mr. T. E. Conant, to occupy his shady yard opposite, which was done; and the closing exercises were held there. 15 The President-
"The French have a proverb 'Noblesse Oblige,' meaning nobility has its special obligations or duties. This proverb arose in the old times, as you know, when the people of France were divided into two classes, those who were nobles or the nobility, and those whom the nobility were pleased to call the common people. But the wisest and best of the nobles clearly saw that their wealth and power and station rested upon the affections and the well being of the common people; and without this, could not endure. And these few who were both kind and wise did their utmost to promote the welfare and contentment of the community round about them.
In common speech today the proverb simply means that if any man has greater talents, greater learn- ing, greater wisdom or greater wealth than his neigh- bors, he is bound to so use and exercise his talents and learning, his wisdom and wealth, which ever his endow- ment may be, for the common benefit of his brethren whose endowments may be different in degree or kind.
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Will each one of you pause for a moment and con- sider what man, woman or child among all your ac- quaintances you love and esteem the most. Is it not the one who makes most liberal use of his powers, be they great or small, for the common benefit of all ? Is it not your unselfish friend whom you best love, and do not you yourself experience the greatest pleasure from the performance of kindly deeds ? I know you will bear wit- ness with me that this is true. And, ladies and gen- tlemen, while this has been called a selfish world, and while learning and refinement and the higher views of life have been criticised and reviled in certain quarters, and while the world has, been declared to be growing worse instead of better, yet on the contrary it seems to me that the world is much better today than it was yesterday, or ever was before. If the world as a whole looks worse to you than to your fathers it is merely be- cause your knowledge of men and events is wider than theirs. By reason of the newspaper, the telephone and the telegraph you have the evil doings of the world brought daily to your attention, and you pass judgment without stopping to consider the daily record of good deeds which pass unnoticed because they are so very common.
There never was so much unselfishness, so many unselfish acts of great wisdom and moment performed in any age as at this very time. Day by day our men of wealth are coming to see that they are but stewards of their riches, and daily giving us fresh and generous evidences of such regards; of which truth, may this ample building remain a lasting witness.
I assure you Mr. Davis, that I but voice the feelings of these people whom you see around you and my own
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in telling you how grateful we are that out of the abund- ance of your heart and wealth you have felt disposed to make this timely gift. Well does it reveal the inner working of your life ; a fitting culmination to the deep and active interest you have always taken in the welfare and education of the young. And this gift, long after you are gathered to your fathers, will keep alive and ac- tive for good the influence which you have constantly exerted toward the educating and uplifting of the chil- dren of this town.
I am sure Mr. Davis, although you are not native to the town and have been compelled foi reasons of busi- ness, to live elsewhere for many years-I am very sure that you are more attached to this place than to any other ; for here you entered upon your long and successful pro- fessional career, here you brought your young bride and long made your home ; here your children were born, and here your steady industry and the aid of these people laid the foundation of the ample fortune, of which you have now made us partakers for evermore.
When regard finds expression in such useful and shapely form, strong indeed must be the attachment that binds you here. Nobly today are you cementing the bond.
We are more than grateful that this is so, and words are inadequate to give full expression to our gratitude.
You need no introduction to these people, and I am attempting none. I have merely sought to voice to you the sentiments we all sincerely feel.
If it now meets your pleasure, we are ready to receive your formal offering of this noble and appropriate edifice across the way."
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Mr. Davis came forward and in a few well chosen words, presented the deed of trust which conveyed the title in trust to his son, Gilbert Franklin Davis, the trus- tee, to be used forever for library purposes. He also de- livered a duplicate deed to B. M. Newton, Chairman of the board of Selectmen of Reading. Mr. Gilbert Frank- lin Davis came forward and accepted the deed, and ex- ecuted the acceptance, promising to carry out the trust, therein named.
[NOTE: This deed has been recorded in the real estate records. of Reading.]
16 The President-
"This Library Building is now deeded in perpetu- ity to a Trustee for the use and benefit of the Town. The Town as the beneficial owner of the Library Buil- ding, and as the owner of the books within its walls, has anticipated this occasion, by choosing trustees to have the care and oversight of the same; and the Chairman of the Board, Dr. F. C. Morgan, in their behalf, will now make a formal acceptance of the gift."
Dr. F. C. Morgan said :
PRESIDENT OF THE DAY, HON. G. A. DAVIS, FEL- LOW CITIZENS -- A new page is this day made for the his- tory of the town of Reading. There will be upon that page the record of an act, the most valuable which has ever been performed by any of the town's residents, past or present, in the full meaning of the expression. No words can portray at this time the value of this bestow- ment, but the results of the establishment of this fine in- stitution, in all the years to come, will delineate the full power wrapped up in a public edifice, devoted to the ad- vancement and wide dissemination of elevating know- ledge. What nobler act can any man do, than to spend some time and money, in the building of such structures
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as this, which are sure to promote the interests of all in education. There is at present a great interest in the growth of this enterprise, for so many of the old residents have given liberally of valuable volumes and money, to aid the good work, as have also local individuals. May the donor of this beautiful building live for many long years to see the influence of his noble gift to this town, spread far and wide, increasing the educational standard of the young especially as they mature to adult life. In behalf of the trustees of the library, the officers of the town and the people, I will express to you, Mr. Davis, our high appreciation of this gift, and our gratitude for your esteem for the town. This is indeed a most estima- ble motive, and again, I THANK YOU
17 The President-
"It was the custom of our first forefathers among these hills and valleys when about to enter upon any great and important undertaking first to invoke the blessing and the guidance of Almighty God. In this simple and reverent faith and in its public expression they lived and wrought and died.
And thus living and working in the constant sight and fear of the Lord, their works have endured. Yea though generations have since come and gone, the monuments of their toil still greet and serve us on every hand.
Let us therefore not wander from the safe path wherein our ancestors walked and were blessed and prospered of God; but rather let us imitate their wisdom and prudence, and, before entering further upon the exercises of this most important day, invoke the Divine blessing.
The Rev. Thomas Tellier will lead us."
Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Teller. The President --
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"In the olden days the church and the state, or in other words, the town and the parish were one, and though with the multiplication of churches and beliefs they became and have remained separated, yet the church- es have not suffered by the change nor lost their interest in all things that pertain to the welfare of the town. In behalf of the churches and the church-going people of this community, Miss E. H. Goldthwait, pas- tor of the Universalist church in Felchville was to have made response. And it is with regret that I announce her unavoidable absence. She has however put in writing what she desired to say, and Dr. F. C. Morgan will read what she has written."
Address of Miss Goldthwait, as read by Dr. F. C. Morgan :
Environment and Association form a large element in the moulding forces of noble character. The sense of beauty fitly trained exerts a great influence upon the deeper life of man. We have in this magnificent library building a potent illustration of this thought. I main- tain that this village will progress along the higher lines of being because of the artistic structure in our midst. A year hence our homes in their outward semblance will have become changed, our village street will, I be- lieve, be even more beautiful than it is at present. And the year's influence of the power which is held within this building will have become manifest within our homes and within our own lives.
No element in the past has come into our village life that will so materially help on the work the church is endeavoring to do, than this gift of our former towns- man.
Education and religion are working hand in hand for the uplift of humanity, and today we are become the proud possessors of an instrumentality which will make our town,-if we use the power it contains-even more illustrious in the future for its worthy and notable
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men and women than it has even been in the past.
Personally, I rejoice at the good fortune of our town and in behalf of our churches, I express heartfelt grati- tude to the donor and sincere congratulation to our peo- ple for this power given unto us for the moulding of that life which is abiding.
18 The President-
"The spirit of progress is renewing its ancient vigor in these good old hill towns. To be sure its people do not imitate their city brethren in vain waste of effort and strength over things that are futile or spend their time or substance in societies and clubs that are detri- mental to the community's welfare; but they do seize hold of and cling to that which is good.
They have recently established here a lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, because this order is proving of great benefit to mankind. I do not have the honor of membership but I freely give my testimony to its merit and worth. I congratulate this community upon having this lodge in its midst. I am sure its influ- ence will be all for good.
We have with us a member of the order from Wind- sor, a minister of God, and a minister and fellow to his fellowmen, who has kindly consented to speak in behalf of the members of the local lodge-the Rev. C. E. Ord- way, will tell how the Order views the establishment of this library in its midst."
Rev. C. E. Ordway responded eloquently in behalf of Felchville Lodge, No. 62, I. O. O. F.
19
The President-
"The community is formally represented here today in its political capacity by its Board of Selectmen. whose chairman, Mr. Burton M. Newton, will now respond in behalf of the Town."
MR. PRESIDENT, HON. GILBERT A. DAVIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-After listening as you have to these most eloquent speeches, it would be a failure upon my
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part to even attempt to say anything further of inter- est relative to this dedication ; but, Mr. Davis, you have been a resident of this town for a great many years, and since you moved to Windsor a few years ago, you have visited this place almost weekly, and you have met the people of this town and immediate vicinity, and have done business with them and for them, which has placed you in a position to acquire a personal knowledge of their requirements better than any man living or dead, and you have learned by your long experience that which would be of the most value for their future happiness and prosperity.
You have at this time very appropriately expressed your love and affection for these people with whom you have associated during this long number of years,. by the erection and gift of this most worthy building.
I in behalf of the Board of Selectmen, in behalf of every man woman and child of this town, extend to you today our sincere thanks and due appreciation for your greatness and your goodness, for this most excellent and noble edifice.
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The President-
"'The great good that is to be derived from the books that from this day forth are to be freely offered to this fortunate community will be the benefit conferred not up- on you, but upon your children. Upon the parents, and much, very much upon the teachers in your schools will rest the privilege and the duty of arousing among the children a genuine and hearty liking for the reading of instuctive and entertaining books. Let your children but acquire this habit, and the continued well-being of this neighborhood is permanently assured.
Among the present teachers in your schools who are fully conscious of all this, and alert in the performance of their duty, is Miss Carrie Driver, who will say a few words on behalf of the schools."
2I Miss Driver read an address in behalf of the schools of Reading.
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The President-
"This closes, ladies and gentlemen the formal exer- cises of the day, but before closing I desire to emphasize the remark of the donor that this gift is worth to you pre- cisely what you make of it. You have been very active in securing additions of books and pictures. You already have books enough, if carefully read and studied, to make one well read and learned in almost any department of human endeavor. I sincerely hope that you will now devote equal activity and industry in seeing to it that the youth of this town are made to make the best possible use of the opportunities which are here and henceforth to be freely offered them.
You will be pleased to know that the old library of six hundred odd volumes, which was all you had a few months ago, has been added to with gifts of upwards of nine hundred volumes of new and useful books, besides several hundred reports and magazines, the voluntary gifts for the most part from the natives of the town who have taken this means of showing their regard for the place of their birth.
The list of donors is altogether too long for me to read to you at this time owing to the lateness of the hour, but I cannot refrain from mentioning a few.
The Hon. Wallace F. Robinson, of Boston, Mass., whose recent munificent gift to the town for the care of the South Reading cemetery is fresh in your minds, has just given fresh token of his affection for his native town by placing in the library more than one hundred volumes which have been this day received from Little, Brown & Co., and are now unpacked in the library for view. These books are selected wtth reference to American History, and cover almost every phase of the develop- ment of this continent. With these books in your midst each and every one of you may become thoroughly con- versant with whatever portion of that history claims your interest.
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The Hon. A. N. Swain, of Bellows Falls, has donated over two hundred books from his private Library; and those who are familiar with his constant interest in the town of his birth, and his well known generosity of heart are aware that the success and welfare of this Library will be his constant care.
You will also be pleased to hear that Mrs. Dr. Os- borne is with you to day, and has promised to give a por- trait of her husband, who successfully practiced med- icine here for many years, more than a generation ago.
I also have in my hand a letter from Mrs. Annie E. Robinson, of Taunton, Mass., promising a like portrait of her late husband, the well remembered and beloved Dr. Robinson, who succeeded Dr. Osborne as the practicing physician of this village.
If you will now all join in singing "America," we will then close the exercises of the day with the offering of the benediction."
22 Exercises closed by singing of "America."
23 Pronouncing of the benediction by the Rev. J. K. Fuller.
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CHAPTER III.
OLD HOME DAY IN READING. - A Celebration which Marks a Red Letter Day in the Calendar.
Sons and Daughters Gladly Responded and about 1000 People Gathered in the School Yard .- Vt. Standard.
Wednesday, Aug. 14, 1901, was the day selected for the observances for this town.
A large crowd assembled in front of the schoolhouse in Felchville and as a preliminary exercise there was a registration of the returning sons and daughters of the town and a hearty exchange of greetings and renewal of acquaintances of by-gone days. Natives and former res- idents came by the hundred.
The Windsor Cornet Band of fifteen pieces was in at- tendance and gave some of their choicest selections and were most heartily applauded.
Rev. Chas. Wells, former pastor of the Universalist church here, now located in Bethel, asked the great con- course to unite in the Lord's prayer, and all, with bowed heads, joined in the recital. This was followed by a brief invocation of the divine blessing upon the returning chil- dren of Reading. The President of the Day, George D. Burnham, in a few well chosen welcoming words, intro- duced B. M. Newton who delivered a very cordial greet- ing to the home-comers in behalf of the residents of the town. The remarks of Mr. Newton were in a happy vein and touched a sympathetic chord. He said that the citizens of Reading felt honored by the presence of so many.
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This was followed by a greeting song by that veteran singer, O. S. Holden. Mr. Holden is the survivor of that well known trio, Geo. M. Clark, Hank White, and O. S. Holden, whose melodies have so often delighted Vermont audiences. The President then introduced Hon. Gilbert A. Davis of Windsor as a gentleman who held a warm place in the respect and gratitude of the peo- ple of Reading for what he had done for the town in pro- viding a public library building and in many other re- spects. . Mr. Davis was heartily applauded as he arose to speak. Mr. Davis said in substance-
"The word 'home' touches a tender chord in every heart.
Be it ever so homely, there is no place like home.
'Tis sweet to be remembered in the old home town.
The sight of these beautiful valleys and hills, these rocks and rills, these woods and homes, these churches and schoolhouses, brings crowding into the memory the happy days of 'long ago'.
Although Reading is not my birth place, here I be- gan my professional career, here my children were born, here was my home for nineteen years; and so I join the multitude today, of pilgrims to this Mecca of earlier years, and place my grateful wreath upon Reading's altar and greet one and all of my acquaintances.
The invitations went out, and from places far and near have come the boys and girls to give an account of themselves while away from home. I notice that you have not "killed the fatted calf " for us nor put a ring upon the finger-have not treated us as Prodigals-but have spread for us a feast of such good things as I do not find away from Reading, and you have greeted us with a hearty Reading welcome.
We find to day that all roads lead to Reading and have been built not to enable Reading people to get away from this town, but to enable its sons and daughters to get back to the old home. Reading is the grand center to-
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day. As the wag expressed it, 'You can start at Read- ing and go anywhere in the whole world.'
The great object of this gathering is to strengthen the home ties, to keep the non-residents in touch with the residents and interested in the welfare and development of the town.
Reading boys and girls, wherever they locate, are proud of the old town. No other town can equal it in the beauty of its scenery, the productiveness of its soil, the healthfulness of its breezes, the variety of its climate or the depths of its snow banks.
The old roads are rough, yet beautiful; fish are just as scarce as ever, and game just as plenty.
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land' ? "
Be this as it may, it behooves us to counsel together here today as to the future of Reading, having in mind the changing trend of affairs.
So far as our ancestors were right, we follow in their illustrious footsteps. Ours is no Chinese worship of the ancestors. We must unlearn many things that we have learned. The science of fifty years ago is almost obsolete now. Discovery pushes ahead with leaps and bounds, and beckons colleges as well as private citizens to follow. In this age of collossal fortunes, it is inter- esting, to watch and learn as to how much money has been generously given for the endowment of colleges. libraries, hospitals and other public institutions.
Some of the old professions are certainly being badly cut into by modern systems and ideas. It has reached that point that the old toper has found a new and to him unanswerable excuse for taking his whiskey straight, for fear of the death-breeding microbes, bacilli and germs recently discovered in the sparkling water.
At the time of the great flood of 1869, that so badly wrecked the roads and farms in Reading, another excuse
HISTORY OF READING.
was found by the same veteran toper: 'Water is dan ous stuff-let it alone.'
The story of Vermont will never cease to be of in- terest. Ethan Allen, the Rangers, the Green Mountain Boys, the story of Captive Johnson and other captives, as commemorated by the tablets erected in this town, the beech seal, the battle of Bennington, the Westmin- ster Massacre where was shed the first blood of the American Revolution, the Independent Republic (organ- ized at Windsor in July, 1777, at a convention in which Andrew Spear sat as the representative of Reading) and maintaining its integrity, resisting alike the pretentious claims of New Hampshire and New York to jurisdiction over its territory and inhabitants, until admitted into the Union in February, 1791, as a sovereign state, the subdu- ing of the forests, her remarkable record as the mother of statesmen and of men and women eminent in every de- partment of life, her loyalty in the Great Rebellion, fur- nishing over 34,000 men for the Union Army, are told throughout the Union and listened to with intense inter- est, for there is not a nook or corner, a hamlet or city, to which the restless energies of her sons has not penetrated. I have ever taken a lively interest in her history.
Every fact relating to the history of Reading from the charter of the town, July 6, 1761, to the publication of my history in 1874 was then gathered and published. Since that time, I have been an industrious student of its history, and have gathered a large mass of data which ought to be published in a second volume.
You, each of you, are possessed of facts that ought to be added to this history, and I ask you to put them up- on paper and hand them to me for use at the proper time.
By the choice of your committee, I am honored with an invitation to address you, and will take this occasion to express some of my ideas about the welfare of Reading, leaving the eloquence and frill to the boys who are to
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have the platform this afternoon. Then the fountains of wit and eloquence will be tapped, and you will have a feast of reason and flow of soul.
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