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THE CAPE COD 
 
 ^^aiTiriAib ®mam^^A^i( 
 
 AT BilRIVSTABLiE, 
 
 ff 
 
 Sept. 3, 183», 
 
 OF THE INCORPORATION OF THAT TOWN, 
 
 W X 8cpt. 3, 1639. 
 
 GIVING A FULL DETAIL OF THE PRELIMINARY PROCEED- 
 INGS OF THE COMMITTEES, AND THE SPEECHES 
 AND TOASTS AT THE DINNER. 
 
 CORRJECTL.Y REPORTED AND REVISED. 
 
 SARNSTABLi: : 
 
 S. B. PHINNEY, 
 
 1840. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 
 
 By S. B. Phinney, 
 
 In the Clerks Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 Printed at the 
 Barnstable Patriot Office. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE GREAT CENTENNIAL AT BARNSTABLE, 
 
 DEDICATED TO THE PRESENT GENERATION 
 
 AND TO THEIR POSTERITY 
 
 IN 1939. 
 
 Is it not befitting that the relics of this ever memorable festival 
 should be gathered up and preserved, as a memorial of those 
 who partook of its intellectual bounties, to be transmitted to 
 their descendants, when another Century shall have rolled 
 away ? With what delight should we have discovered an an- 
 cient pamphlet or manuscript, detailing the doings of the na- 
 tives of Cape Cod, at the first Centennial observance of its 
 settlement in 1739. No such record exists. Let it be our 
 care that a third Centennial shall not be without such a docu- 
 ment, establishing, as we believe this little pamphlet is destined 
 to do, a precedent for all coming time, and going forth, with the 
 force of a decree to posterity " in no case to let that day pass 
 without solemnity, but to celebrate, in every hundredth year, the 
 third day of that ninth month called September." 
 
 These considerations and the very general call to preserve 
 the doings of the 3d of September, 1839, in a more acceptable 
 |0fm, than through the scattered files of newspapers, *have induc- 
 ed the Publisher to collect all the materials of interest, connected 
 with that occasion, and embody them in a pamphlet, trusting, at 
 least to defray the expense of the labor through those who par- 
 
4 
 
 ticipated in llic pleasures of that day, and others who wouhl 
 have been but were not present. As a proof of the liberality and 
 promptness with which the arrangements were concerted and 
 carried out, it is proper to record the fact, that after paying 
 every expense incurred, a surplus of about $500 remained of 
 the subscriptions that had been raised to give effect to the cel- 
 ebration. 
 
 The following pages contain every thing of interest that oc- 
 curred on that memorable occasion, which gave universal plea- 
 sure, and which has been pronounced, by all who witnessed it, 
 as the most fortunate and effective public observance within 
 their recollection. Nor was the pleasure which was so univer- 
 sally enjoyed and so entirely unmarred on that day, trifling or 
 evanescent. The farther we shall be removed from it by time, 
 the more gratifying will it be to recur to it, and read over its de- 
 tails, to revive associations that we shall love to cherish in the 
 pleasant memory of the past. 
 
 In addition to the Speeches and Toasts that appeared in the 
 newspapers, the Publisher is indebted to several gentlemen for 
 sentiments and remarks that have not before been published, and 
 lie is now able to offer the public a full and corrected account 
 of the entire proceedings. 
 
 It was indeed a proud day for Cape Cod, and its moral influ- 
 ences will long be felt in the increased estimate abroad, of the 
 persevering industry and substantial wortli of her sons and 
 daughters, which had before been formed rather from the bar- 
 renness of her soil, than the dcvelopcment of her social virtues. 
 We do not know of a better recommendation that an enter- 
 prising son of the Cape could carry abroad, than one of these 
 pamphlets, with the right to claim Cape Cod as his native soil. 
 May another hundred years find her a hundred fold advanced in 
 frugal prosperity, substantial virtue and social happiness. 
 Barnstable, Jan. ], 1840. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 ttT^yl meeting of the citizens of Barnstable, will 
 be held at the Court House, on SATURDAY AF- 
 TERNOON next, at 3 o^ clock, for the purpose of 
 taking into consideration such measures as may be 
 thought expedient, preparatory to the celebration, in 
 June next, of the second Centennial year of the set- 
 tlement of Barnstable. 
 
 April 2Sd, 1839. 
 
 CEI¥TE]VI¥IAL< CEI.EBRATI01V. 
 
 Pursuant to notice published in the Barnstable 
 Patriot, a meeting of the citizens of Barnstable 
 without distinction of party was held at the Court 
 House on Saturday afternoon last, for the purpose of 
 taking measures preparatory to a celebration of the 
 second Centennial year of the incorporation of Barn- 
 stable. The meeting was called to order by David 
 Crocker, Esq., and Henry Crocker, Esq. was chosen 
 Chairman, and Nathaniel Hinckley, Esq. Secretary. 
 After some discussion, on motion of David Crocker, 
 Esq., Rev. George W. Woodward, Messrs. Josiah 
 Hinckley, Zenas D. Bassett, Zeno Scudder, and 
 Henry Crocker, were chosen a Committee to pro- 
 cure more particular information relative to the set- 
 tlement and incorporation of the Town, and report 
 at the adjournment of this meeting. On motion of 
 Mr. David Bursley, Voted, that the proceedings of 
 
this meeting be published in the Barnstable and 
 Yarmouth papers. 
 
 Adjourned to meet at this. place on Wednesday, 
 the 8th of May next, at 7 1-2 o'clock, P. M. 
 
 HENRY CROCKER, Chairman, 
 
 Nathaniel Hinckley, Secretary. 
 
 PUBLIC MEiETIIV^iJ. 
 
 An adjourned meeting of the citizens of Barnsta- 
 ble, for the purpose of making preparations for the 
 second Centennial Celebration, was held at the 
 Court House on Wednesday Evening May 8th. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Woodward of a Committee ap- 
 pointed at a former meeting, presented the following 
 
 REPORT: 
 
 That they have been much embarrassed in their 
 investigations by the short time allowed them, it 
 being but ten days, in connection with the fact that 
 no books Avere to be found in town which would af- 
 ford any light on the subject. They were obliged to 
 obtain them, by letter, mostly from those valuable 
 institutions whose object is to treasure up the rem- 
 nants of by-gone days. And they would take this 
 opportunity to say that but for the kind aid and in- 
 vestigations of that venerable Antiquarian, Doctor 
 TiiACTiER, of Plymouth, they must have failed, situ- 
 ated as they were, even of that success which they 
 have been able to meet with. 
 
 The only positive authority which they find for 
 the date of the incorporation of this Town, is that 
 of the Rev. Mr. Mellen, in a paper communicated to 
 the Mass. Hist. Soc. and published by them in their 
 
7. 
 
 collections for the year 1794, (vol. 3. p. 15,) entitled 
 " A Topographical description ot the Town of Barn- 
 stable " — He says, " There is no account to be found 
 of the first settlement made in this Town. Probably 
 there was none made much before its incorporation, 
 which was September 3d, 1639; but two persons 
 are named in the original grant." The author does 
 not state his authorities, but we may infer, from the 
 last clause, that he had the " original grant " before 
 him, and we find that which confirms his statements 
 strongly, in every particular, though no other author- 
 ity for the exact day. 
 
 Baley, in his " Historical Memoir of Plymouth 
 Colony," gives an account of the settlement of sev- 
 eral towns, going back generally to the original pur- 
 chases from the Indians, but when speaking of 
 Barnstable [vol. 1. p. 299] he begins his account 
 with the removal of the Rev. John Lothrop, with 
 most of his Church, from Scituate to this place, as 
 though this were the first considerable settlement of 
 the town, as it probably was. This removal took 
 place October 11th, 1639, [vide, Mr. Mellen's ac- 
 count — also. Dean's History of Scituate, p. 171 — 
 also, Holmes' American Annals, v. l.p. 311, who 
 says, " Yarmouth and Barnstable, in Plymouth Col- 
 ony, were settled this year — 1639," and adds in a 
 note, " the Church at Scituate was in a broken 
 condition several years. The Rev. John Lothrop, 
 with a part of that Church, removed to Cape Cod, 
 and settled Barnstable, 11th Oct. 1639," and refers 
 to Lothrop's M. S. Records, and President Stiles' 
 M. S. S.] 
 
 Baley likewise when speaking of the law, passed 
 
8 
 
 in March 1638-9 [v. Plymouth Colony Laws, p 63] 
 authorising the town to send deputies to the General 
 Court, thus changing the government from a pure 
 democracy to a representative form, says^ [v. 1 . p. 
 298] " At the time of the passage of this law there 
 were only three towns in this little Commonwealth, 
 viz : Plymouth, Scituate, and Duxbury. Roxham 
 or Mashfield, was yet a part of Duxbury, and Co- 
 hannet or Taunton, although settled, and a Church 
 either gathered or about to be gathered, was unin- 
 corporated. After the passage of the law, and be- 
 fore the next meeting of the Coiut, three important 
 settlements were established on Cape Cod, viz : one 
 at Mattacheest or Cummaquid, called Barnstable, 
 one at Pocassett, called Sandwich, and one at Matta- 
 cheest, called Yarmouth." And then, farther on, 
 speaking of " the first representative legislative as- 
 sembly in General Court," who met June 4, 1639, 
 [v. Colony Laws, p. 63] the first meeting after the 
 passage of the above law, he gives the names of the 
 deputies, or representatives, from Plymouth, Dux- 
 bury, Scituate, Taunton, Sandwich, and Yarmouth, 
 and says, " Barnstable was not represented in this 
 Court until December, and then Mr. Joseph Hull 
 and Mr. Thomas Dimmack, appeared as deputies." 
 
 We find, from the Plymouth Colony Laws, [p. 
 63-64] that there was a General Court held in Sep- 
 tember of this year, and an order passed at the same, 
 " allowing the townships within the government to 
 meet together, and to make such orders as shall be 
 needful for the maintenance of good neighborhood, 
 and to set penalties upon delinquents." All of which, 
 taken in connection with the abstract and imperfect 
 
 1 
 
9 
 
 ibrm of these published doings of" the Court, affords 
 a strong presumption that this might have been the 
 precise time of the incorporation of this town, thus 
 confirming the statements of Mr. Mellen as above. 
 
 In conclusion, your Committee would simply say, 
 that they have met with no one fact, or authority, 
 which would serve to invalidate the authenticity of 
 this date, Sept. 3, 1639, given by Mr. Mellen, as 
 that on which the town was incorporated. All the 
 evidence which they have met with, serves to show 
 that there could have been very little of a settlement 
 before that date ; none sufficient to mark any prom- 
 inent point in the history of the town ; and also, that 
 it must have been incorporated not far from the date 
 which he gives. These facts, together with the very 
 respectable authority of the Rev. Mr. Mellen, seem 
 to them fully to warrant the fixing upon the said 
 Sept. 3, 1639, as the date of the incorporation of 
 this town, the earliest prominent date in its history, 
 and therefore the one which should be taken, on 
 which to celebrate its anniversary ; and also, equally 
 to prohibit the selection of any earlier, or other day 
 for that purpose. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 GEO. W. WOODWARD, Chairman. 
 
 On motion of David Crocker, Esq. it was then 
 
 Voted, That the tivo hundredth anniversary of the 
 settlement of the town of Barnstable, be celebrated 
 on the third day of September next. And it was 
 thereupon 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of ten be appointed 
 on the part of the citizens of the town of Barnstable 
 to make the necessary arrangements for an ap])ro- 
 priate celebration of the 200ih anniversary of the 
 
10 
 
 incorporation of said Town on the 3d of September 
 next — and that said Committee have full power to 
 make selection of an Orator, and to make all other ar- 
 rangements for the occasion, without calling another 
 meeting of the citizens, miless they shall think such 
 meeting expedient — and, whereas much interest has 
 been manifested by many natives of Barnstable 
 County, now resident in Boston, in the contemplated 
 celebration of the settlement of the shire town of 
 their native County, therefore 
 
 Resolved, That the said Committee be requested 
 to invite the co-operation of such citizens of Boston, 
 by a Committee, or otherwise, in making selection of 
 the Orator, and in all the arrangements for the said 
 celebration. 
 
 Voted, That the citizens of the other towns in this 
 County, and tiie residents of any other towns or 
 cities, who are natives of Barnstable County, are in- 
 vited to join in the celebration. 
 
 Messrs. Eben Bacon, Zeno Scudder, Warren 
 Marchant, S. B. Phinney, and Isaac Chipman were 
 appointed a Committee to nominate the aforesaid 
 Committee of Arrangements — and they subsequently 
 nominated for that Committee 
 
 Messrs. 
 
 Nymphas Marston, 
 S. B. Phinney, 
 Stephen C. Nye, 
 William Lewis, and 
 Warren Marchant, 
 
 David Crocker, 
 Henry Crocker, 
 Eben Bacon, 
 Zeno Scudder, 
 Zenas D. Basset, 
 
 and they were chosen. 
 
 Messrs. Josiah Hinckley, David Bursley, and 
 David Crocker were appointed a Committee to report 
 a list of citizens of Boston, with whom the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements be directed to correspond 
 relative to the celebration — and they subsequently 
 reported the names of Messrs. William Sturgis, 
 
11 
 
 JBenjamin F. Hallett, Thomas Gray, George Hallet, 
 Joshua Sears, Francis Bacon and John L. Dhnmock, 
 which report was accepted. 
 
 Voted, That the Committee of Arrangements be 
 authorised to fill all vacancies that may occur in 
 their number. 
 
 Voted, That the proceedings of this meeting, sign- 
 ed by the Chairman and Secretary, together with 
 the Report presented by the Rev. Mr. Woodward, 
 be published in the County papers. 
 
 HENRY CROCKER, Chairman. 
 
 Nathaniel Hinckley, Secretary. 
 
 FOREFATHERS OF BAR]^^STABL.E. 
 
 The following interesting sketch of the first set- 
 tlers of Barnstable, who were also among the most 
 prominent men of the first New England Colonies, 
 is taken from the Boston Mercantile Journal, the 
 editor of which says, that it was written by "a 
 friend who is familiar with the early history of the 
 Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies." It can- 
 not fail of being acceptable to all who feel an in- 
 terest in the history of men and matters connected 
 with the settlement of this or any other of the Cape 
 towns. We have some reason to feel a degree of 
 pride in those sterling men who were the progenitors 
 of Barnstable. They belonged to that noble band 
 of christians and patriots who were the founders of 
 New England, and to whom she owes, by the bles- 
 sing of God, her present moral and intellectual 
 superiority, as well as much of her wealth and enter- 
 prise through the medium of commerce and agricul- 
 ture, which they promoted. If the forefathers of 
 
12 
 
 Barnstable were among the distinguished of their 
 day, so have been some of her sons. Tlie Hon. 
 Harrison Gray Otis, Rev. Professor Palfrey, Chief 
 Justice Shaw, the late lamented Attorney General 
 Davis, are natives or immediately descended from 
 natives of the town : 
 
 "Barnstable was incorporated in 1639, but had 
 then been settled some time by a few families. — 
 Rev. Mr. Lothrop removed there in that year from 
 Scituate, where he had resided over four years, with 
 most of his church ; the following named were among 
 them: — Anthony Annable, one of the first settlers of 
 Scituate, Henry Cobb, who had lived sometime be- 
 fore in Plymouth, George Lewis, J. Cooper, Isaac 
 Robinson, son of the celebrated John Robinson, Pas- 
 tor of the Leyden Church, B. Lombard, Henry 
 Bourne, Samuel Hinckley, father of Gov. Thomas 
 Hinckley, Thomas Dimmock, William Parker, John 
 Allen, Henry Ewell, Robert Shelly, J. Crocker, 
 Isaac Wells, Edward Casley. Mr. Lothrop was a 
 learned and pious divine. Thomas Hinckley was 
 chosen an assistant in Plymouth Colony in 1653, 
 and in 1681, was elected Governor, on the death of 
 Josiah Winslow. Mr. Hinckley was an able and 
 faithful Chief Magistrate of the Colony; and when 
 Plymouth was united with Massachusetts, 1692, he 
 was appointed one of the Council. Pie was also one 
 of Sir Edward x4.ndros's Council in 1686, '7, '8 — 
 and some one has expressed surprise, that he occupi- 
 ed the trnst under that arbitrary Governor. But he 
 did not consent to the measures of Andros, and very 
 seldom attended the meetings of the Council after 
 the first. This was also the case with Bradford, 
 Barnabas Lothro]), and John Walle}', '\^ ho were; the 
 other Councillors from Plymouth Colony. They 
 never attended more than one or two of the meet- 
 ings. Most of the Councillors of Massachusetts also 
 absented themselves, as they did not approve of the 
 conduct of the Governor. It was said that all was 
 
13 
 
 planned and ordered by Andros, his creature Ran- 
 dolph, and four others, were also the tools of his 
 will. J D y was one of them. 
 
 " Gov. Hinckley died some time in the year 1706, 
 at the age of 85 or 88. Gov. Hutchinson says, 
 aged 74, but it is a mistake, probably a typographi- 
 cal error. One writer says he was 88, and another 
 85 — one of these is probably correct, and eight be 
 five, or five eight. If either of these be correct, he 
 was then born in 1618 or 1621. If this be admitted, 
 then Rev. Mr. Mellen in his history of Barnstable, 
 is mistaken in saying he was a native of that town. 
 Then also is the writer of a history of Scituate mis- 
 taken. The father came to New England with or 
 about the same time with the Rev. Mr Lothrop, which 
 was in 1634. Even then, if Hutchinson is correct. 
 Gov. Hinckley was not born in New England. Rev. 
 Thomas Prince, the New England Annalist, says he 
 was 85, and he is the best authority, for he was very 
 accurate and had possession of Gov. Hinckley's papers 
 after his death, and was I think, his grandson. Gov. 
 Hinckley long had the care of the Indians on the 
 Cape, and was always anxious for their improvement, 
 and the protection of their rights, and they were nu- 
 merous there in early times. Gov. Bradford, in 1622, 
 describes Janough, the Sachem, as of a mild and 
 gentle spirit. Rev. Experience Mayhew father of 
 the celebrated Dr. Jona. Mayhew, married a daugh- 
 ter of Gov. Hinckley — but the mother of Dr. May- 
 hew was a Bourne, and his second wife. 
 
 " Major Walley was an able and brave man, second 
 in command under Sir Wm. Phips, in the expe- 
 dition against the French in Canada, 1690 — 1691. 
 Walley was also in higher civil office for several 
 years. He removed to Bristol R. I., but then within 
 the limits of Massachusetts, and afterwards to Bos- 
 ton, where he died in 1710, or 1711. The sons of 
 Rev. Mr. Lothrop were very respectable — one or 
 more moved to Connecticut, (Norwich,) and their 
 descendants have been useful and eminent citizens. 
 
14 
 
 James Otis was a native of Barnstable. His father, 
 James Otis, was also a public character, and an ar- 
 dent patriot. His chara^Lter was self made, for he was 
 a mechanic in earlj life — but rose to be a Jud^e of a 
 Court, a Representative, and one of the Council for 
 several years. He was a leading character in the 
 Old Colony in 1775 — 1776. His son is well recol- 
 lected as the most eloquent advocate for the rights of 
 the people, at that critical time, and one of whom 
 the British agents stood most in fear. For he w^as 
 learned, as well as eloquent, and could show that 
 their measures were arbitrary, and an infringement on 
 the rights of British subjects. 
 
 " In olden times, the West parish was the most 
 populous ; it was indeed the first, and for many years 
 the only one in the town. It was called Great 
 Marshes, on account of very extensive salt marshes 
 there, which was one great inducement with Mr. 
 Lothrop and his people, to settle there. But the 
 East part of the town is now the court end — there 
 is the Court House and the other public buildings of 
 the County, and it is now far the most compact and 
 populous." B. 
 
 BARlVf^TABIiE CEIVTEIVIVIAI. CELEBRA- 
 TIOIV. 
 
 We give annexed, the proceedings of a meeting 
 of citizens of Boston, and vicinity, who are natives, 
 of Cape Cod, held at the Supreme Court Room, 
 Boston, on the 5th June, for the purpose of adopting 
 measures of co-operation with the resident citizens 
 of Barnstable for celebrating the two hundredth anni- 
 versary of its incorporation. 
 
 At a meeting of the citizens of Boston and vicini- 
 ty, native-born of Barnstable County, and their de- 
 scendants, held at the Supreme Court Room, June 
 5th, 1839, with reference to the observance of the 
 
15 
 
 200th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Barnsta- 
 ble, Hon. William Sturgis was chosen Chair- 
 man, andB. F. Hallet, Secretary. The following 
 Resolutions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That as Cape Cod Bostonians we dearly 
 cherish the good old frugal soil of our nativity, and 
 will most heartily co-operate with our fellow citi- 
 zens of Barnstable, in the observance of the 200th 
 anniversary of its settlement on the 3d of Septem- 
 ber, to which they have so kindly invited us. 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of nine be appoint- 
 ed to take the necessary measures to give etKciency 
 to the true meaning and intent of the foregoing 
 Resolution; and Messrs. William Sturgis, B. F. 
 Hallet, Thomas Gray, George Hallet, Joshua Sears, 
 Francis Bacon, John L. Dimmock, Lemuel Pope, 
 and Benjamin Burgess, were appointed the Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Resolved, That we tender to our fellow citizens 
 of Barnstable, all the facilities we can afford them, 
 in enabling them to give effect to the day. 
 
 Voted, That the Committee communicate the 
 proceedings of this meeting to the Committee at 
 Barnstable. 
 
 Voted, That the Committee call an adjourned 
 meeting to report progress when they think proper. 
 
 Voted, That these proceedings be published in the 
 papers of this city and of Barnstable County. 
 
 WILLIAM STURGIS, Chairman. 
 
 B. F. Hallet, Secretary. 
 
 [Extract from the Barnstable Patriot of July 31.] 
 CEIVTEIV]\1AL. AJ¥]VIVERSARY. 
 
 As the time approaches for our Grand Jubilee, 
 the interest therein increases. The preparations 
 
IG 
 
 makiiiii are intended to be eommensurate with the 
 company expected, and tlie hilarity which the occa- 
 sion calls for. The Address, which is to be hy 
 Professor Palfrey, will be at the Meeting House, 
 which is to be fitted for the occasion. The large 
 windows of the same are to be removed and addi- 
 tional wings on either side to be added. We learn that 
 the Committee for procuring the erection of a Pavil- 
 ion for the Dinner, have contracted to have one 
 erected near the Court House for the accommoda- 
 tion of from 1000 to 1200 persons, for the lease of 
 which for the occasion they have agreed to give 
 ;^'800. It is to be 112 feet long by 88 feet wide. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements for the Ball in 
 the evening, have also contracted for the erection of 
 another Pavilion for dancing merely, to be 75 feet 
 long and to be attached to the south end of the Court 
 House, of the same width with the Court House, 40 
 feet. For the lease of this building for the occasion, 
 they are to give $325. The builders of these Pavil- 
 ions are to remove them directly after the day of the 
 celebration — the above sums are only for the use of 
 the buildings on the occasion. The Ball Committee 
 have also procured the liberty of the County Com- 
 missioners to use the numerous rooms of the Court 
 House for saloons, dressing and refreshment rooms, 
 &c. for the Ball — and the building to be attached is 
 for dancing exclusively. 
 
 The escort duty of the day is to be performed by 
 the New England Guards of Boston, accompanied 
 by the Brass Band. The same Band is to perform 
 at the Ball in the evening. 
 
17 
 
 Tickets for the Dinner are deposited with the fol- 
 lowing persons for sale, viz : 
 
 Henry Crocker, ^ 
 
 Eben Bacon, > Barnstable. 
 
 S. B. Phinnej, ) 
 
 Stephen C. Nye, West Barnstable. 
 
 Z. D. Basset, Hyannis. 
 
 Warren Marchant, Osterville. 
 
 .Luther Hinckley, Marston's Mills. 
 
 Joel Powers, > o i • i 
 
 ^.T.,,. T • / feandwich. 
 
 William Loring, ) 
 
 Richard S. Wood, Falmouth. 
 
 Amos Otis, Jr. Yarmouth. 
 
 Nehemiah Baker, South Dennis. 
 
 Judah Paddock, East Dennis. 
 
 Jeremiah Mayo, Brewster. 
 
 Simeon Higgins, Orleans. 
 
 Samuel P. Bourne, Harwich. 
 
 Samuel Small, Chatham. 
 
 Ebenezer S. Smith, Provincetown. 
 
 Scudder & Parker, Nantucket. 
 
 Persons who intend participating in the celebra- 
 tion, are requested to purchase their tickets without 
 delay, as the number is limited, and no tickets will 
 be sold after the 20th of August. No provision can 
 be made to accommodate a greater number of per- 
 sons than has already been made. All persons hav- 
 ing tickets on sale, are requested to make returns to 
 Eben Bacon, Esq. on or before the 29th of August 
 next. Tickets for Gentlemen, - ,^1 50 
 
 Do. for Ladies, - - - 1 00 
 
18 
 
 [Extract froia the Barnstable Patriot of Aug. 7.] 
 
 CE]¥XEIV]V1AL.. 
 
 The interest in our grand Jubilee increases daily. 
 The Pavilion for dining and that for dancing, are 
 both going up. The Committee of Arrangements 
 finding the sale of tickets for the dinner more rapid 
 than was anticipated, and fearing that their prepara- 
 tions for the accommodation of the guests would not 
 be sufficient, have contracted for the erection of the 
 Pavilion on a larger plan than was first anticipated, 
 so as to accommodate three or four hundred more 
 persons. We advise our friends, far and near, to 
 secure their tickets early. 
 
 The arrangements for the Ball in the evening are 
 also being made on the most liberal scale. 
 
 The Collation is to be provided by the Committee 
 in Boston, who have contracted, we understand, to 
 do the handsome thing in that respect ; — as also to 
 furnish the refreshments for the Ball, &lc. 
 
 Our young ladies are also on the qui vice — and 
 are making preparations for dressing and decorating 
 the dancing Pavilion and Saloon in a tasteful and 
 appropriate manner. 
 
 The Steamer Bangor is to leave Boston on the 
 Saturday previous to the celebration, with the New- 
 England Guards, the Brass Band, and other guests, 
 and will return on Sunday, to leave again for Barn- 
 stable on Monday, with those who shall seasonably 
 procure passage in her. She will leave here again 
 on Wednesday after the celebration, for Boston. 
 
19 
 
 List of the Committees for the arrangements to cele- 
 brate, and of the Officers who are to participate 
 in the Jubilee on the 3d of September. 
 
 Committee of Arraiigementi^. 
 
 David Crocker, Z. D. Bassett, 
 
 Nymphas Marston, Josiah Hinckley, 
 
 Henry Crocker, Eben Bacon, 
 
 Stephen C. Nye, S. B. Phinney, 
 
 Warren Marchant, Zeno Scudder, 
 
 of Barnstable. 
 
 William Sturgis, Lemuel Pope, 
 
 Benjamin F. Hallet, Benjamin Burgess, 
 
 Thomas Gray, John L. Dimmock, 
 
 George Hallet, Francis Bacon, 
 
 Joshua Sears, 
 
 of Boston, 
 
 Chiei* j^[ar§hal, 
 
 HENRY CROCKER. 
 
 Aids. 
 
 John L. Dimmock, Z. D. Bassett, 
 
 William A. Lewis, S. B. Phinney. 
 
 i^Iarskalnsi, 
 
 David Bursley, Watson Freeman, 
 
 Nathaniel Hinckley, Thomas W. Sears, 
 
 Isaac Chipman, Lemuel B. Simmons, 
 
 Enoch T. Cobb, Thomas Holmes, 
 
 Job Handy, Sidney Ainsworth, 
 
 Freeman Howland, John C. Crocker, 
 
 Daniel Basset, Barnabas Davis, 
 
 Thomas Stetson, Jr., Samuel S. Crocker, 
 
 Thomas B. Pope, Joseph A. Davis, 
 
 Charles C. Bearse, Albert Alden, 
 
 George Jenkins, Seth Parker, Jr. 
 
 Elisha Atkins, Thomas Crocker, Jr. 
 
 William Haw^es, Frederick Lewis, 
 
 Luther Hinckley, Ferdinand G. Kelley. 
 Warren Marchant, 
 
 President of the Day, 
 
 Hon. NYMPHAS MARSTON. 
 
20 
 
 Vice Presidents, 
 
 David Crocker, - Benjamin Bangs, 
 
 Robert Bacon, Prince Hawes, 
 
 Benjamin Rich, John Munroe, 
 
 William Lewis, Josiah Sampson, 
 
 Lemuel Pope, Daniel C. Bacon, 
 
 Ezra Crocker, Josiah Hinckley, 
 
 George Hallet, Walter Crocker, 
 
 Ezra A. Bourne, Charles Marston, 
 
 Benjamin Burgess, Thomas Thacher, 
 
 Thomas Percival, Stephen C. Nye, 
 
 Matthew Cobb, Zeno Scudder. 
 
 Orator, 
 
 JOHN GORHAM PALFREY, D.D. 
 
 Chaplain, 
 
 Rev. GEORGE W. WOODWARD. 
 
 Toast Master, 
 
 BENJAMIN F. HALLET. 
 
 Toast Committee, 
 
 Benjamin F. Hallet, Zeno Scudder, 
 
 Henry Crocker, John L. Dimmock. 
 
 Joshua Sears, 
 
 Committee to proeure Collatioia. 
 
 William Sturgis, John L. Dimmock, 
 
 George Hallet, Eben Bacon. 
 
 Benjamin F. Hallet, 
 
 Managers of the Hall. 
 
 Francis Bacon, S. B. Phinney, 
 
 Thomas Gray, Warren Marchant, 
 
 F. W. Crocker, Eben'r. H. Eldridge, 
 
 Adolphus Davis, Jacob G. Ilallett, 
 
 Horace Scudder, James Davis, Jr. 
 
21 
 
 CEIVTEI¥I¥IAL. CELEB RATIOIV. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements for the 2d Cen- 
 tennial Celebration of the 3d of September next, 
 respectfully give notice to their constituents and 
 fellow citizens, that they have agreed on the follow- 
 ing plan: — All persons wishing to join in the Cel- 
 ebration, will assemble at the Old Court House and 
 its immediate vicinity, punctually at 9 o'clock, where 
 Marshals will be in attendance to form a procession, 
 which will move to the Meeting House, where an 
 Address will be delivered by Professor John G. 
 Palfrey. The best and most extensive arrange- 
 ments have been made, for the accommodation of 
 the largest number possible at the Church. Mar- 
 shals will be in attendance at 9 o'clock, at the 
 Church, to conduct Ladies, and aged and infirm 
 Gentlemen who are unable to join the procession, 
 to seats reserved for them. Although all cannot 
 obtain seats at the Church, the Committee trust and 
 hope all will join in the procession on this most in- 
 teresting occasion. Henry Crocker, Esq. has 
 been appointed Chief Marshal, and the order and 
 route of the procession will be duly made known by 
 him. After the ceremonies at the Church, the pro- 
 cession will again be formed, composed of those per- 
 sons who are to partake of a Collation in a spacious 
 Pavilion erected for the occasion ; the order of this 
 procession will also be made known by the Chief 
 Marshal. DAVID CROCKER, Chairman. 
 
 Eben Bacon, Secretary. 
 
 Aug. 21st, 1839. 
 
 CEI\TEI¥1¥IAE CEI^EBRATIO]¥. 
 
 BARNSTABLE, SEPT. 3d, 1839. 
 FIRST PROCESSION. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements, and those 
 Gentlemen to whom have been assigned offices for 
 the day, and invited Guests, will assemble at the 
 
Old Court House ; and all those who intend to join 
 the Procession, will assemble in the street East of 
 the same, where a procession will be formed pre- 
 cisely at 9 o'clock, by the Marshals, and when form- 
 ed w^ill move up the street, and counter-march and 
 proceed to the Meeting House, agreeably to the 
 following order. 
 
 Having appointed John L. Dimmock, William A. 
 Lewis, Z. D. Basset, and S. B. Phinney, Esqr's., 
 as Aids for the day, their orders, as such, are to be 
 respectfully obeyed. 
 
 HENRY CROCKER, Chief Marshal. 
 
 Order oi* First Procession 
 
 (From the Old Court House to the Meeting House.) 
 
 Escort. 
 
 Chief Marshal and Aids. 
 
 Marshal.-President of the Day, Orator and Chaplains.-Marshal. 
 
 Sheriff of the County of Barnstable. 
 
 {Governor of the Commonwealth and Aids. 
 Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and )■ Marshal. 
 Secretary of State. 
 C Adjutant General, and Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, 
 Chief Justices and Associate Justices of 
 the Supreme Judicial Courts, 
 and 
 Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, '( 
 Senators and Representatives in 
 Congress, and other invited | 
 
 Guests, four abreast. J 
 
 {Vice Presidents, four abreast, \ 
 
 Chairman of Committee of Arrangements, > Marshal. 
 Committee of Arrangements. j 
 
 Marshals.} Natives and descendants of Cape Cod, ) Marshals 
 ( Citizens and Strangers. J iudr&ii.iis. 
 
 Marshal. -( 
 
 ) 
 
 J> Marshal. 
 
23 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES AT THE CHURCH. 
 
 I 
 VOLUNTARY BY THE BAND. 
 
 H 
 INTRODUCTORY PRAYER, 
 
 BY REV. GEORGE W. WOODWARD. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ODE.— THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 BY MRS. HEMANS. T'lmc — Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 The breakinor waves dashed hicrh 
 
 On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
 And the woods, against a stormy sky. 
 
 Their giant branches tost ; 
 
 And the heavy night hung dark 
 
 The hills and waters o'er, 
 When a band of exiles moored their bark 
 
 On the wild New England shore. 
 
 Not as the conquerer comes, 
 
 They, the true hearted came. 
 Not with the roll of the stirring drums. 
 
 And the trumpet that sings of fame; 
 
 Not as the flying come, 
 
 In silence and in fear, — 
 They shook the depths of the desert's gloom 
 
 With their hymns of lofty cheer. 
 
 Amidst the storm they sang, 
 
 And the stars heard, and the sea ! 
 And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
 
 To the anthem of the free ! 
 
24 
 
 The ocean-eagle soared 
 
 From his nest by the white wave's foam, 
 And the rocking pines of the forest roared- 
 
 This was their welcome home ! 
 
 What sought they thus afar ? 
 
 Bright jewels of the mine ? 
 The wealth of seas, the spoils of war ? 
 
 — They sought a faith's pure shrine ! 
 
 Ay, Ccill it holy ground, 
 
 The soil where first they trod ! 
 
 They left unstained what there they found- 
 Freedom to worship God ! 
 
 IV 
 PRAYER, 
 
 BY REV. FREEMAN PARKER, OF WISCASSET. 
 
 V 
 HYMN. 
 
 From the Collection of Sternhold and Hopkins, A.D. 
 1609, as used by the Pilgrims. 
 
 Tune — Coronation. 
 
 1. Attend my people to my lawe, 
 and to my words incline ; 
 
 My mouth shall speake strange parables, 
 and sentences diuine ; 
 
 2. Which we our selues haue heard and learnd, 
 euen of our fathers old, 
 
 And whicli for our instruction, 
 ovr fathers haue vs told, — 
 
 ;{. That they and their posteritie, 
 
 that were not sprung vp tho : 
 Should haue the knowledge of the lawe, 
 
 and teach then- seede also. 
 
 3 
 
25 
 
 4. That they may haue the better hope. 
 In God that is aboue : 
 
 And not forget to keepe his lawes, 
 and his precepts in loue. 
 
 5. For of his holy couenant, 
 aye mindful was he tho : 
 
 Which to his seruant Abraham, 
 he plighted long agoe. 
 
 6. He brought the people forth with mirth, 
 and his elect with joy : 
 
 Out of the cruell land, where they, 
 had liued in great annoy. 
 
 7. And of the heathen men he gaue, 
 to them the fruitfuU lands : 
 
 The labour of the people eke, 
 
 they tooke into their hands. 
 S. That they his holy statutes might, 
 
 obserue for euermore : 
 And faithfully obey his lawes, 
 
 prayse ye the Lord therefore. 
 
 9. Giue prayses then to God the Lord, 
 
 and call vpon his name : 
 Among the people eke declare, 
 
 his workes to spread his fame. 
 10. Sing ye vnto the Lord I say, 
 
 and sing vnto his prayse : 
 And talks of all his wondrous workes, 
 
 that he hath wrought alwayes. 
 
 VI 
 
 ADDRESS, 
 
 BY JOHN G. PALFREY, D.D. L.L.D. 
 
26 
 
 VII 
 ORIGINAL ODE— BY a native. 
 
 Tune— Old Hundred. 
 When o'er th'horizon's utmost verge 
 
 With straining eyes, a pilgrim band, 
 Devoutly, ere another day, 
 
 Prayed they might see " the promised land ;"— 
 W^liat rapture thrill'd throughout their souls, 
 
 As with the earliest streak of light. 
 These barren shores and snow-clad hills, 
 
 Broke on their long expectant sight ! 
 
 What aspirations then arose 
 
 Of mingled gratitude and prayer, — 
 And how pealed forth their hymns of praise. 
 
 Upon the frosty morning air : — 
 Their perils on the stormy sea, 
 
 Their homes beyond the heaving main. 
 Were all forgotten in the joy, 
 
 With which they greeted land again. 
 
 Lo ! after Centuries have passed 
 
 Since they were gathered to the tomb. 
 Another and a numerous host, 
 
 To the same shores doth gaily come ; — 
 Those were our Sires ! that host are we ! 
 
 Of all their toil and thrift the heirs, 
 God grant our memories be bles'd. 
 
 As we this day do hallow theirs. 
 
 No empty tribute do we bear. 
 
 No cold and heartless homage bring, 
 For round their altars and their graves, 
 
 Our earliest recollections cling : 
 Look down then, spirits of the just, — 
 
 Ye who here lived and toiled and died. 
 We greet anew our native soil. 
 
 And ye, its glory and its pride. 
 
 VIII 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
27 
 
 Second Procession. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements, invited Guests, 
 and gentlemen who have accepted offices on the oc- 
 casion, and Gentlemen accompanied by Ladies, will 
 assemble at the Meeting House ; and all others -who 
 are provided with tickets to the Collation, will 
 assemble at the Masonic Hall, and at the rooms under 
 the same. The Procession will be formed precisely 
 at ONE o'clock, by the Marshals, in front of the Meet- 
 ing House, and will be divided into four divisions, 
 each to be headed by a Marshal and numbered. As 
 soon as formed, it will move down the street. East- 
 ward, there counter-march, and proceed to the en- 
 closed ground of the Pavilion. The head of each 
 division will halt opposite the entrance numbered to 
 correspond with it ; and will enter the Pavilion two 
 abreast under the particular direction of the Marshals, 
 delivering their tickets to the officers stationed at the 
 entrance. 
 
 The Pavilion is so constructed that all can be well 
 situated, and every person will be seated within a 
 convenient distance of the center, and facing the 
 same. There will be no occasion, therefore, for any 
 haste and pressing for seats ; and as the arrange- 
 ments will be much interrupted by such haste, and 
 confusion ensue, the Marshals respectfully request 
 the co-operation of all present in maintaining that 
 decorum and good order for which the natives and 
 descendants of Cape Cod are every where distin- 
 guished. 
 
 The following will be the order of Procession. 
 HENRY CROCKER, Chief Marshal 
 
28 
 
 Order ol' Second Procession 
 
 (From the 3Iceting House to the Pavilion.) 
 
 Escort. 
 
 First Division. 
 
 Chief Marshal and Aids. 
 
 Marshal.-President of the Day, Orator and ChapIains.-MarshaL 
 
 Sheriff of the County of Barnstable. 
 
 Governor of the Commonwealth and Aids. 
 
 Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and ^ Marshal. 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Adjutant General, and Speaker of the 
 
 House of Representatives, 
 
 Chief Justices and Associate Justices of 
 
 the Supreme Judicial Courts, 
 
 and 
 
 Marshal. 
 
 r 
 
 Marshal. 
 
 ) 
 
 L 
 
 Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, 
 
 Senators and Representatives in 
 
 Congress, and other invited 
 
 Guests, four abreast. 
 Vice Presidents, four abreast, 
 
 J> Marshal. 
 
 3 
 
 {Vice Presidents, four abreast, \ 
 
 Chairman of Committee of Arrangements, > Marshal. 
 Committee of Arrangements. J 
 
 Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 Second Division. 
 Marshal. 
 Marshals. Gentlemen and Ladies, four abreast. 
 
 Third J)irision. 
 Marshal. 
 Marshals i Natives and descendants of Cape Cod, 
 ' ( four abreast. 
 
 Fourth Division. 
 Marshal. 
 Marshals. Citizens and Strangers, four abreast. 
 
 Marshals. 
 
 Marshals. 
 
 Marshals. 
 
 Note. — To prevent confusion, and particularly to guard against 
 accidents, owners and drivers of all horses and carriages are 
 requested to remove the same from the street on the routes dur- 
 ing the passage of this as well as the preceding procession. 
 
29 
 
 THE CAPE €«D CEMTEP^I^IAI. AT BARIV- 
 STABEE. 
 The following account of the day, appeared in the 
 Barnstable Patriot of September 4th. written by B. 
 F. Hallet, Esq., Toast Master. 
 
 The day has passed in all its brilliancy and beauty, 
 and gloriously animated spirit, and in a manner 
 worthy to make it the connecting link between the 
 present and the past, and to be remembered until our 
 posterity shall seek to emulate it at the end of anoth- 
 er century. It gives a new date to the history and 
 the fame of Cafe Cod, and if her sons were before 
 proud of their origin, they will henceforth stand a 
 tiptoe in the exultation of honorable and manly pride, 
 when this day is named in connection with their par- 
 ticipation in its brilliant and thrilling enjoyments. — 
 Not a spec obscured the horizon, and the softness 
 and splendor of the atmosphere which seemed to 
 have been given by a benihcent Providence as an 
 approval of the pious, filial duty we w^ere paying to 
 the memory of our illustriously untitled Ancestors, 
 was only equalled by the smiles and the brilliancy 
 of the thousand charming daughters of the Cape, 
 and their friends from abroad, who on this occasion 
 so delightfully participated in the festivities, as our 
 pilgrim mothers did in the trials and heroic endur- 
 ance of the physically stronger sex. 
 
 We hail this as a new and interesting element in 
 our public celebrations, and as restoring to woman 
 her equal rights to enjoy as well as to svffer with 
 man. It was most happily and felicitously alluded 
 to by several of the eloquent speakers during the 
 festivities. 
 
 But we must go back to detail. And- where to 
 begin or end in the midst of materials to fill a volume, 
 of delightful recollections in which all the taste of 
 beauty, and the lull ferce of manly energy and liber- 
 ality were employed and well employed in adding or- 
 
30 
 
 nament and zest tothis high moral and intellectual en- 
 tertainment ; this charming "femily party," this great 
 " Centennial thanksgiving," as it was happily styled 
 by the President of the day. We can only say, in 
 general terms, that all were happy because each was 
 resolved to make others happy. From this time 
 forward, we shall be the advocate of union with the 
 ladies in all public celebrations as well as in all 
 domestic relations. 
 
 The severe storm which preceded the time set 
 apart for this festival, but added to its enjoyments 
 by the agreeable contrast in the weather and in the 
 expectations of the participators of the scene. It 
 was like the genial summer that followed the dreary 
 November landing of the Fathers at Paomet on the 
 end of the Cape, and was as thankfully received. 
 
 The storm of Saturday unavoidably prevented the 
 Steamboat Bangor, Capt. Howes, a true Cape Cod- 
 man, from making her proposed tri]) on that day ; — 
 but the only inconvenience arising from it was that 
 the New England Guards with the Brass Band were 
 obliged to charter a packet on Saturday, in which 
 they arrived from Boston on Sunday, having seen 
 pretty severe service in the Bay. This, however, 
 did not damp their ardor nor diminish the effect their 
 gallant escort gave to the day. They were received 
 without salute or ])arade, from a just respect to the 
 Sabbath. The like propriety was observed on the 
 arrival of the Revenue Cutter Hamilton, Captain 
 Sturgis, the same day. The Guards encamped on 
 Sunday evening, some distance east of the Meeting 
 House, where they held their head quarters during 
 their encampment. 
 
 Monday presentcMl a gay and gallant scene. In 
 the for(uioon a national salute was exchano;ed be- 
 tween the citizens and the Cutter, the old Barnsta- 
 ble field piece being used by the former. At four 
 o'clock in the afternoon the Steamer Bangor arrived, 
 having left Boston at 9 o'clock, A. M., and came 
 majestically into the harbor. Salutes were fired 
 
31 
 
 from the field pieces on shore, and by the Culler in 
 the harbor, and were answered from the Boat with 
 her gaily crowded decks. The shores and hills and 
 wharves were lined with spectators and vehicles that 
 gave life to the beautiful picture presented by the 
 smooth waters of the bay and harbor, on which rest- 
 ed the Steamer, the Cutter, and other craft, with 
 their flags flying and waking the echoes with the 
 smart reports of the cannon. What a contrast with 
 the landing on the 11th of November, 1620, in 
 Provincetown harbor ! The moment the Steamer 
 dropped her anchor. Captain Sturgis, with the admi- 
 rable promptness and precision which distinguished 
 all his movements on this occasion, received Gov- 
 ernor Everett and two of his Aids Avith other gentle- 
 men, in his gig, and landed them at the wharf, which 
 was within a short distance from the anchorage. — 
 Chief Justice Shaw and other guests, with the Boston 
 Committee of Arrangements soon followed. The 
 disembarking was speedily accomplished in large flat 
 bottomed boats, provided by the Committee for this 
 service, which was most conveniently performed. — 
 There was a cordial greeting and hearty shaking of 
 hands on the landing, between the returning emi- 
 grants and the permanent natives of the soil, and 
 there were also hundreds there, of the former, who 
 had anticipated the passage in the Steamboat, and 
 who had come from almost every section of the 
 Union, to mingle congratulations upon their mother 
 soil. 
 
 The Governor was conveyed to the residence of 
 Captain Daniel C. Bacon ; Judge Shaw to that of 
 David Crocker, Esq. ; and every door was opened 
 in hospitable welcome to the ' coming guests.' The 
 Cape Cod ladies, God bless them ! had not only de- 
 voted all the taste and assiduity required in decorating 
 the Hall, and in adding elegance and ornament to the 
 general preparations for the day and evening, but the 
 neat and quiet housewifery, in which they cannot be 
 surpassed, was employed, in liberal profusion, in 
 
32 
 
 providing for the strangers the comforts of home, 
 which they so well knew how to dispense. 
 
 In the evening of Monday, the Brass Band gave 
 some of their most spirited touches, upon Meeting 
 House Hill, where the Parish Company was trained, 
 preparatory to their march for Lexington, on the 
 iirst news that British musquets had drawn American 
 blood. 
 
 Tuesday morning, the day (which opened glori- 
 ously and continued benignly to the last ray of sun- 
 light, followed by a night as lovely as ever smiled 
 on earth) was signalled by a grand salute and the 
 ringing of the village bells; and then the great gath- 
 ering began. Never were the quiet streets and fields 
 of Barnstable so densely populated. It was a living, 
 moving mass, as if Boston Common on a great gala 
 day had been dropped down among us ; but the 
 scene and the associations, as well as the admirable 
 order and propriety of the great assemblage, made 
 up, we must be allowed to say, a more attractive 
 and morally sublime picture. 
 
 The arrangements lor the celebration were perfect 
 and ample in all their parts. The Dining Pavilion, was 
 on the plan of ihe great Pavilion on Boston Common 
 in 1835, u])on which it was an improvement incon- 
 venience. It was erected under the superintendance 
 of Capt. Zcnas D. Basset, to whom great credit is 
 due for the perfect manner in which every part of it 
 was arranged. To his care in its erection the com- 
 pany were indebted, that all the arrangements for 
 the day were not frustrated by the destruction of the 
 Pavilion in the terrible gale of Friday night, 
 which prostrated fences and buildings all around it. 
 It was almost marvellous that the vast roof was not 
 lifted by the fury of the storm, and scattered to the 
 four winds. Some injury was done to the canvass, 
 but it was readily repaired on Monday, after the 
 storm, toward which, and its decorations by National 
 Hags and mottoes, Captain Sturgis of the Cutter, 
 (whom we also claim as a genuine Cape Codder) 
 
 4 
 
most essentially contributed, with the volunteer aid 
 of his gallant crew of seamen. To these last are 
 due an honorable mention for their volunteer service 
 in keeping night watch at the Pavilion, and in per- 
 forming, in fact, the whole police service of the day. 
 
 Can stronger proof be given of the self respect 
 which preserved universal decorum among the con- 
 gregated thousands, than that this little body of sea- 
 men were the only semblance of a police or guard 
 employed to keep order. And yet not an impropri- 
 ety or an act of rudeness occurred that can be re- 
 membered. But the fact is, the ladies were the real 
 police, and to their presence is mainly to be attribut- 
 ed the admirable propriety and decorum of the fes- 
 tival. 
 
 The Dining Pavilion covered an area on a well 
 selected spot, west of the Court House, of 130 feet 
 square, containing tables with single seats, arranged 
 in eight sections in a circular form, so that all the 
 occupants were seated fronting the platform. The 
 pillars were wreathed with flags, which also encir- 
 cled the railings of the platform for the officers and 
 guests, and the Orchestra raised in the centre for the 
 Band. Mottoes were hung around the sides bearing 
 the names of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Warren, 
 Hancock, Jefferson, Lafayette, Kosciusco, &c., to 
 which should have been added the names of some of 
 the Pilgrims who first landed on Cape Cod. The 
 names of the thirteen Cape towns were also conspic- 
 uous, with the mottoes, ' Our Country and our Con- 
 stitution, — ' What our Fathers achieved may their 
 sons ever protect.'' 
 
 At 9 o'clock the masculine procession began to be 
 formed at the Old Court House, in the form desig- 
 nated in the orders of the day, and proceeded in an 
 extended line, under escort of the New England 
 Guards, Captain G. T. Bigelow, through the main 
 Street to the Meeting House, which however, was 
 much better occupied by the ladies, except a few 
 reserved seats. Temporary wings were erected on 
 
34 
 
 each side, wliicli accommodated some hundreds, be- 
 sides the entire mass ^condensed inside, while thou- 
 sands covered the hills and streets, who could find 
 no entrance. This difficulty it was impossible to 
 avoid as no building could hold the assembly, and the 
 Pavilion could not be used for this purpose. We 
 believe it was the universal observation of all stran- 
 ers that the deportment of this crowded auditory, 
 was a model in propriety for similar assemblages. 
 
 The order of exercises in the Meeting House, 
 were a voluntary by the Band, introductory prayer, 
 by Rev. George VV. Woodward, pastor of the Par- 
 ish ; Mrs. Heman's Ode on the Landing of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers, by the Choir ; Prayer by Rev. Freeman 
 Parker of Wiscasset, Me., a native of Barnstable ; 
 and an old version from a veritable edition of 1609, 
 of Sternhold &: Plopkins, as used by the Pilgrims, to 
 the tune of Coronation. 
 
 " Attend my people to iny lawe, 
 
 and to my words incline; 
 My mouth shall speak strange parables, 
 
 and sentences diuinc." 
 
 It was proposed that a venerable gentleman should 
 deacon o1^' the Hymn in old style, but it was found 
 it would occupy too much time in this part of the 
 services. 
 
 The Discourse followed, by Professor John Gor- 
 HAM Palfrey, (who is of Cape Cod descent by the 
 maternal side) and occupied two hours and a half. — 
 Yet though time was precious, not one who heard 
 this admirable address regretted a moment spent in 
 listening to its attractive and curious details, and its 
 rich and beautiful passages of pure eloquence. It 
 will form one of the richest fragments of historical 
 collections growing out of these memorable occa- 
 sions, on which the living have assembled to brush 
 the dust from oil" the graves of their Ancestors, and 
 revive pious, filial recollections of their great and 
 good example. 
 
35 
 
 The Committee have requested a copy for publi- 
 cation, and Yve trust that otiiers will be able to par- 
 ticipate in the pleasure those enjoyed who listened 
 to this agreeable and eloquent discourse. 
 
 From the Meeting House the procession of ladies 
 and gentlemen moved, under escort, to the Pavilion. 
 The arrangements, by dividing olf sections corres- 
 ponding to the divisions of the tables, were perfect, 
 and this great " family party" of just 1458 persons, 
 were all quietly and comfortably seated, on arriving 
 at the Pavilion, in less than iiiteen minutes. The 
 Chief Marshal, Henry Crocker, Esq., and his 
 Assistants, performed their parts ^vith the precision 
 of thorough drill officers, but they owe as much to 
 the kind and polite disposition with Yvhich they were 
 seconded by the company, as to their own skill, 
 which was ample, for this usually most difficult ser- 
 vice. Not a vehicle nor an individual interfered ^vith 
 the procession in its whole route. 
 
 When the comjiany were all seated, the whole 
 presented a magnihcent picture. The ladies, about 
 equally interspersed among the gentlemen, sat uncov- 
 ered in all their brilliancy and beauty, forming a 
 charming relief to the stiff appearance of an indis- 
 criminate mass of broadcloth coats, which usually 
 make up these public festivals. With the minute 
 attention to every item that marked the accommoda- 
 tions for the day, hooks were provided under the 
 seats, where the ladies' bonnets ^vere securely dis- 
 posed. There was ample room in the seats and 
 sufficient space in the passages for the trig and 
 attentive waiters in their white jackets, to serve the 
 tables. 
 
 The set out was beautiful, all the service being of 
 white china on white cloths, which made a most 
 agreeably uniform show, the tables gradually descend- 
 ing from behind toward the platform in the centre, 
 parallel with whicli were two seats in an extended 
 line occupied by the Guards, who had a command- 
 ing view of the whole, and formed an imposing mar- 
 tial back ground to fill up the picture. 
 
36 
 
 Mr. Wiighi, of the Tontine House, Boston, who 
 catered for the occasion, had made most excellent 
 and ample provision, and performed his service even 
 beyond the expectations of the Committee, and to 
 the entire satisfaction of the guests and company. — 
 There was not an item of this part of the arrange- 
 ment in which there was an omission or a failure. — 
 We certainly never saw a public dinner better, if so 
 well served up and attended, and can confidently 
 recommend Mr. Wright for any like festival. 
 
 Grace was invoked by the Rev. Mr. Parker, and 
 thanks returned by the Rev. Mr. Woodward. The 
 President of the day. Judge Marston opened the 
 intellectual dessert by an apt and appropriate welcome 
 to the emigrants, of which the following is a copy: — 
 
 Friends and Fellow Cltize^is : 
 
 I presume that in the heart of every one who hears 
 me, 1 shall meet with an affirmative response, when 
 I say that we are here under the most pleasant and 
 auspicious circumstances. 
 
 We are assembled to celebrate the birthday, if I 
 may so speak, of this ancient town of Barnstable, 
 and to hold a Cape Cod Jubilee. 
 
 This is called an ancient town, and yet it is but 
 tivo hundred ijcars old — a short period in the long 
 lapse of time. But in this brief space oi tic o hnnd reel 
 years, what wonderful changes have been wrought 
 in this our New^ World. I speak not of the popu- 
 lous and busy cities and villages that have arisen as 
 if by magic, but the whole land has become " as the 
 garden of the Lord" — pleasant to look upon — de- 
 lightful to dwell in — the happy abode of a free and 
 prosperous people. How much has been done by 
 the patriotism and enterprise of the natives of Cape 
 Cod and their descendants, in bringing about this 
 result, I forbear to say ; but it has been partly shown 
 in the interesting and eloquent oration, to which we 
 have this day listened. 
 
31 
 
 In this period of tivo himdred years how numerous 
 have become the descendants of the people of this 
 town and County, and how widely scattered over 
 the face of our land and the world. They are found 
 in every country and in every clime, in every city 
 and on every sea, in every State of our Union, and, 
 I might almost say, in every town. Under these 
 circumstances the happy thought arose, to invite the 
 sons and daughters of Cape Cod home, to hold a 
 great family festival — a New England Centennial 
 Thanksgiving — to interchange friendly and social 
 congratulations — to commune upon the past, and to 
 contemplate and commemorate the virtues, the 
 deeds, and the sufferings of our puritan ancestors, 
 who pioneered the way to this goodly heritage which 
 we now enjoy. How this invitation has been 
 responded to, this assemblage shows. And is not 
 this a goodly assembly ? Our guests have come from 
 the four winds of heaven, and every class and condi- 
 tion of persons is here represented. I see around 
 me the accomplished scholar and orator, the able 
 judge and lawyer, the learned divine, the skilful 
 physician, the industrious cultivator of the soil, the 
 enterprising and successful merchant, the hardy and 
 adventurous seaman, the ingenious and active arti- 
 zan and mechanic, and lovely woman. And here 
 assembled, we are blessed in the splendor of the day 
 and the beauty of the feast. 
 
 To all the sons and daughters of Cape Cod who 
 have come, on this joyous occasion, to the parental 
 roof, to all our invited guests, to friends and strang- 
 ers, to all who have seen fit to honor us by their 
 presence at this festival, I say in behalf of those who 
 have arranged this celebration, we bid you welcome 
 and offer you our warmest congratulations. And 
 now having partaken of the bounties of Providence 
 from the well spread board, let the swelling heart 
 speak out its feelings ; and may the collation of food 
 and the libation of wine prove but the precursors to 
 '■'■ the feast of reason and the flow of soul." 
 
38 
 
 The Toast Master, then announced tlie thirteen 
 regular toasts, '\\ hich were emphatically responded to. 
 Kegwlai* Toasls. 
 
 1. This days'' commemmoration — to link the present to the 
 past. If history be philosophy teaching by example, it is a dic- 
 tate of wisdom to consult its pages ; and none can be more 
 instructive and profitable than the annals of our ancestors. 
 
 2. Tlie contrast — Cape Cod in 1639 — our ancestors fleeing 
 from persecution, struggling with want, and surrounded by dan- 
 gers. Cape Cod in 1889. Their descendants free and happy, 
 in the midst of abundance, and " none to make them afraid." 
 
 3. The memory of the first Settlers — Men and women worthy 
 to be the progenitors of a nation of freemen. In their frugaf 
 virtues and pious example, they have left to us an inheritance 
 richer than wealth, and nobler than title. 
 
 4. Our Fathers ! Where are they ? Echo answers where ? — 
 The orrass withereth and the flower fadeth, but their fair fame, 
 their pious patriotism, their long suff'ering, their public and pri- 
 vate virtues, are embalmed in the memory of their posterity. 
 
 5. Plymouth and Blassachusctts Colonies. The first planted 
 in the snows of December, the second in the scorching heat of 
 June. Both united under one governor in 1(592, and ever since 
 forming a flourishing and happy Commonwealth. In the eloquent 
 language of the present Cliief Magistrate, "Here on the spot 
 where New England begun to be, we come in our prosperity to 
 remember their trials, and to learn of our pilgrim lathers a deep 
 and lasting lesson of virtue, enterprise, patience, zeal and faith !" 
 
 This toast was replied to by Governor Everett, 
 as follows, who cliarmed his hearers for more than 
 half an hour, in the happiest strain of his ever ready 
 and effective eloquence. He was never happier in 
 his address on any public occasion : — 
 
 Mr. President — I rise in obedience to your call, to 
 respond to tlie toast aa hich has just been pro])osed. 
 1 feel gratified, that any language of mine has been 
 thought appropriate, to express the feelings, which 
 I am sure are common to us all on this occasion ; — 
 feelings of veneration and gratitude for our ' Pilgrim 
 Fathers.' 1 am sure also, that I express the senti- 
 ments of every individual of this immense com])any, 
 when I include, in this tribute of respect and affec- 
 tion, those excellent, noble hearted women, the 
 
39 
 
 Mothers of Plymouth and Massachusetts, who bore 
 their full share of the hardships and afflictions of the 
 first settlements. The sphere of woman is domestic. 
 She is not commonly called to the performance of 
 the duties, which figure on the page of history. But 
 who can doubt, that, amidst the wants and dangers 
 of the period w^e celebrate ; — under the pressure of 
 that extremity of fortune to which the colonists 
 were reduced, — that grim and gaunt poverty which 
 more than once, like one of the famished wolves of 
 the wilderness around them, forced its Avay over the 
 threshold of the pilgrims, — the task which devolved 
 upon mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, — the 
 task of making a destitute home comfortable, and a 
 weary life, tolerable, — the task of stilling the impa- 
 tience of children craving food which could not be 
 obtained for them, — the task of ministering to the 
 sick and performing the last offices to the departed, 
 — was to the full as severe, as that of the men who 
 bore the hardships of the field and faced the savage 
 foe? 
 
 I feel most happy, Sir, in being present at this 
 celebration. I cannot for myself, it is true, lay claim 
 to a direct relationship with any part of the Old Col- 
 ony. My fathers from the first settlement of Massa- 
 chusetts proper, rest beneath the soil which they 
 tilled for six generations, in the village of Dedham 
 in the nearest adjoining County. But you will not 
 wonder, if, on this occasion, and especially before a 
 company graced by so large an attendance of the 
 ladies of the Old Colony, I am disposed to boast, 
 that a portion of that pure Cape blood, which man- 
 tles in so many fair cheeks around this board, flows 
 in the veins of my better half at home. If I may 
 presume to go a step farther, Mr. President, and, as 
 you have happily called this a family party, be in- 
 dulged in another allusion to family matters, I would 
 add, that I have four hopeful scions partaking of a 
 true, honored, Barnstable stock, of which I hope you 
 will not think the worse for being engrafted upon a 
 
40 
 
 sound though humble Massachusetts trunk. I sliall 
 feel most happj, Sir,— proud as they will be of their 
 Old Colony lineage,— if they shall grow up to the 
 possession of the sterling virtues, which have in all 
 times characterized its sons, and the maidenly charms 
 and matronly graces of its daughters. Sure I am, 
 that if, on the great voyage of life, my children shall 
 take their departure from the principles of Plymouth 
 rock, and steer by the good old Cape Cod compass 
 of industry and probity, come fair weather or foul, 
 they will lay a straight course, and if I may without 
 impropriety end the figure as I have begun, come to 
 anchorage at last at the Cape of Good Hope in the 
 Divine Mercy. 
 
 But, Sir, I did not need associations of this kind 
 (though I value them,) to give me a deep sympathy 
 with the feelings awakened by this occasion. I regard 
 all these historical celebrations as highly interesting 
 and important. I have attended many of them ; — 
 and always with the highest satisfaction. I love to 
 see the dust swept from the graves of our fathers. — 
 I love to see the talent and patriotic feeling of the 
 gifted of this generation employed, as we have seen 
 them to day, like Old Mortality in the romance, in 
 cutting broader and deeper the inscriptions on their 
 moss-grown monuments. I do not know how the 
 faculty of looking before and after, which belongs to 
 us as iational beings, can be better employed, than 
 calling up to grateful recollection, on appropriate 
 occasions, the toils and sufferings of those, to whom 
 as a community, we owe our existence. It is a pious 
 office to the past ; — and who is there that can still 
 the i\md hope within him, that when the sun has 
 again for a hundred times performed the mighty 
 circuit of the heavens, and each of us in this throng- 
 ed and happy assemblage, — from that aged head 
 whose silvery honors demand our veneration, [Dr. 
 Thacher of Plymouth was seated near the Chair] to 
 the most youthful of the blooming and heaven-light- 
 ed countenances before me, — shall alike have been 
 
41 
 
 for years laid low, like a weary infant at even-song 
 in its mother's lap, — Our children's children, in re- 
 turning to renew these pious rites at the close of 
 another century, will retrace with pleasure the record 
 of these proceedings, and feel grateful to us that we 
 have this day lighted the torch of memory at the 
 shrine of our Fathers ? 
 
 In the anticipation of that day, Sir, and in the 
 desire of transmitting a slight but not unpleasing 
 memorial of this, I have taken steps to have a copy 
 of the Original Campact, Charter, and Laws of the 
 Old Colony, recently published by order of the Leg- 
 islature, together with a copy of the splendid chart 
 of the noble harbor where the Mayflower first came 
 to anchor, lately executed by the engineers of the 
 United States, suitably prepared for preservation ; — 
 in the hope that they will be contemplated with 
 some interest by those who shall be gathered on this 
 spot, at the third Centennial Celebration. 1 meant 
 to have them in readiness to offer to you. Sir, and 
 through you to my fellow-citizens of Barnstable, at 
 this time ; but I have been disappointed by circum- 
 stances beyond my control. As they will not be 
 wanted till the 3d of September 1939, I suppose 
 there is no great hurry. We will have them ready 
 before the end of the Century. 
 
 The sentiments. Sir, to which I have been invited 
 to respond, associates in one retrospect the sufferings 
 of the fathers both of the Old Colony and Massa- 
 chusetts, the former in the depth of winter — the 
 latter under the scorching heats of June. All sea- 
 sons, I fear, are inclement, all seas boisterous, all 
 shores inhospitable to the afflicted and heart-stricken 
 fugitive. It is sad indeed to reflect, that, of that 
 portion of Governor Winthrop's party, who passed 
 the summer of 1630, in tents on one of the heights 
 of Charlestown, and of the Plymouth settlers who 
 were wretchedly housed upon the hill which over- 
 looks the harbor of that place, in the dreadful winter 
 of 1620, the larger half, in the course of the first six 
 
42 
 
 months, sank beneath their sufferings. It would be 
 out of place to dilate, on this occasion, upon the 
 hardships of the founders of Massachusetts; but I 
 think it can be truly said that from the 12th of July 
 1620, when the first settlers of the Old Colony pas- 
 sed the night in tears, and in prayer at Delft Haven 
 in Holland, with Mr. Robinson and the brethren who 
 were to remain at Leyden, down to the ripening of 
 the first crop in 1621, they endured as great an 
 amount of suffering, bodily and mental, as was ever 
 borne in an equal space of time, by the same number 
 of men, women and children. I say nothing now of 
 the hardships previously endured in the persecution, 
 which drove them from their native land. In fact, 
 sir, though we live upon the soil where our fathers 
 landed ; though we can trace them as it w^ere every 
 mile of the way along the shore ; though we can 
 look out upon the w aves which bore the Mayflower 
 to these uttermost ends of the earth, (as they were 
 then regarded,) Ave see not, we know not, we com- 
 prehend not the dreary land and the pathless sea, 
 whose united ])erils struck terror into their hearts. 
 Do you think, Sir, as we repose beneath this splen- 
 did pavilion, adorned by the hand of taste, blooming 
 with the festive garlands, wreathed with the stars 
 and stripes of this great republic, resounding Avith 
 strains of heart-stirring music, that, merely because 
 it stands upon the soil of Barnstable, we form any 
 idea of the spot as it appeared to Captain Miles 
 Standish and his Companions, on the 15th or 16th 
 of November 1620? Oh, no. Sir. Let us go up 
 for a moment, in imagination, to yonder hill, which 
 overlooks the village and the bay, and suppose our- 
 selves standing there, on some bleak ungenial morn- 
 ing, in the middle of November of that year. The 
 coast is fringed with ice. Dreary forest interspers- 
 ed with sandy tracts fill the back ground. Nothing 
 of humanity quickens on the spot, save a few roam- 
 ing savages, w^ho, ill-j)rovided with what even they 
 deem the necessaries of life, are diefeins: with their 
 
fingers a scanty repast out of the frozen sands. No 
 friendly light-houses had as yet hung up their cres- 
 sets upon your headlands ; no brave pilot-boat was 
 hovering like a sea-bird on the tops of the waves, 
 beyond the Cape, to guide the shattered bark to its 
 harbor ; no charts and soundings made the secret 
 pathways of the deep as plain as a gravelled road 
 through a lawn, no comfortable dwellings along the 
 line of the shore and in your well-inhabited streets 
 spoke a welcome to the pilgrim ; no steeple poured 
 the music of Sabbath morn into the ear of the fugi- 
 tive for conscience's sake. Primeval wildness and 
 native desolation brood over sea and land ; and from 
 the 9th of November, when, alter a most calamitous 
 voyage, the Mayflower first came to anchor in Prov- 
 incetown harbor to the end of December, the entire 
 male portion of the company was occupied, for the 
 greater part of every day, and often by night as well 
 as day, in exploring the coast and seeking a place of 
 rest. Amidst perils from the savages, from the 
 unknown shore, and the elements, which it makes 
 one's heart bleed to think upon. 
 
 But this dreary waste, which we thus contemplate 
 in imagination and which they traversed in sad real- 
 ity, is a chosen land. It is a theatre upon which an 
 all-glorious drama is to be enacted. On this frozen 
 soil — driven from the ivy-grown churches of their 
 mother land — escaped alas from those loathsome 
 prisons, which were so touchingly described by the 
 eloquent orator of the day — the meek fathers of a 
 pure church will lay the spiritual basements of their 
 temple. Here are the everlasting rocks of liberty, 
 they will establish the foundation of a free State. — 
 Beneath this ungenial wintry sky, principles of social 
 right, institutions of civil government shall germinate, 
 in which what seemed the Utopian dreams of vision- 
 ary sages, are to be more than realized. 
 
 But let us contemplate for a moment, the instru- 
 ments, selected by Providence, for this political and 
 moral creation. However unpromising the field of 
 
44 
 
 action, the agents must correspond with the excel- 
 lence of the work. The time is truly auspicious. — 
 England is well supplied with all the materials of a 
 generous enterprise. She is in the full affluence of 
 her wealth and character. The age of Elizabeth 
 has passed, and has garnered up its treasures. The 
 age of the Commonwealth, silent and unsuspected, 
 is ripening toward its harvest of great men. The 
 Burleighs and Cecils have sounded the depths of 
 statesmanship ; the Drakes and Raleighs have run 
 the whole round of chivalry and adventure ; the 
 Cokes and Bacons are spreading the light of their 
 master minds through the entire universe of philos- 
 ophy and law. Out of a generation of which men 
 like these are the guides and lights, it cannot be 
 difficult to select the leaders of any lofty undertak- 
 ing ; and through their influence to secure to it the 
 protection of royalty. But, alas for New-England ; 
 No, Sir, happily for New-England, Providence 
 works not with human instruments. Not many wise 
 men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
 noble are called. The stars of human greatness, 
 that glitter in a court, are not destined to rise on the 
 lowering horizon of the despised Colony. The feeble 
 company of pilgrims is not to be marshalled by 
 gartered statesmen nor mitred prelates. Fleets will 
 not be despatched to convoy the little band, nor 
 armies to protect it. Had there been honors to be 
 worn, or pleasures to be enjoyed, or plunder to be 
 grasped, hungry courtiers, mid-summer friends, god- 
 less adventurers would have eaten out the heart of 
 the enterprise. Silken Buckinghams and Somersets 
 would have blasted it with their patronage. But 
 safe amidst their unenvied perils, strong in their in- 
 offensive weakness, rich in their untempting poverty, 
 the patient fugitives are permitted to pursue unmo- 
 lested the thorny paths of tribulation; and landed 
 at last on the unfriendly shore, the hosts of God, in 
 in the frozen mail of December, encamp around the 
 dwellings of the just : — 
 
45 
 
 Stern famine guards the solitary coast, 
 And winter barricades the realms of frost. 
 
 While Bacon is attuning the sweetest strains of 
 his honied eloquence, to sooth the dull ear of a 
 crowned pedant ; and his great rival, only less obse- 
 quious, is on his knees to deprecate the royal dis- 
 pleasure, the future founders of the new republic be- 
 yond the sea are training up for their illustrious mis- 
 sion, in obscurity, hardship, and weary exile in a 
 foreign land. 
 
 And now, — for the fullness of time is come, — let 
 us go up once more in imagination to yonder hill, 
 and look out upon the November scene. That sin- 
 gle dark spec, just discernable through the perspec- 
 tive glass, on the waste of waters, is the fated vessel. 
 The storm moans through her tattered canvass, as 
 she creeps, almost sinking to her anchorage in Prov- 
 incetown harbor ; and there she lies with all her 
 treasures, not of silver and gold, (for of these she has 
 none,) but of courage, of patience, of zeal, of high 
 spiritual daring. So often as 1 dwell in imagination 
 on this scene ; when 1 consider the condition of the 
 Mayflower, utterly incapable as she was of living 
 through another gale ; when I survey the terrible 
 front presented by our coast to the navigator, who, 
 unacquainted with its channels and roadsteads, should 
 approach it, in the stormy season, I dare not call it 
 a mere piece of good fortune, that the general north 
 and south wall of the shore of New-England should 
 be broken by this extraordinary projection ^f the 
 Cape, running out into the ocean of a hundred miles, 
 as if on purpose to receive and encircle the precious 
 vessel. As I now see her, freighted with the desti- 
 nies of a continent, barely escaped from the perils of 
 the deep, approaching the shore precisely where the 
 broad sweep of this most remarkable headland pre- 
 sents almost the only point at which for hundreds of 
 miles she could with any ease have made a harbor, 
 and this perhaps the very best on the sea-board, I 
 feel my spirit raised above the sphere of mere natural 
 
46 
 
 I sec the mountains of New-England 
 rising from their rocky thrones. They rush forward 
 into the ocean, settling down as they advance ; and 
 there they range themselves a mighty bulwark around 
 the heaven directed vessel. Yes, the everlasting 
 God himself stretches out the arm of his mercy and 
 his power in substantial manifestation, and gathers 
 the meek company of his worshippers as in the hol- 
 low of his hand. 
 
 Within that poor tempest-tossed vessel, there lay, 
 on the 11th of November, 1620, a moral treasure, 
 of value wholly inappreciable ; faintly conceived of 
 by us, its immediate inheritors, after two hundred 
 years possession ; — principles of social and moral 
 growth and improvement, which for ages to come 
 will not be developed in all their virtue and efficacy. 
 There lay scarcely organized the elements of a pure 
 democracy. On that day the first written constitu- 
 tion of popular government was drawn up and signed 
 by the people assembled in Convention for that pur- 
 pose. Cycles of human history may pass, before 
 events of equal importance to humanity shall recur. 
 And what a disaster to the general cause of freedom 
 and truth, had this vessel and all she contained been 
 lost ! Embattled navies might contend and go down. 
 Foundered galleons might pave the green floors of 
 the ocean with ingots of silver and gold, and the next 
 generation be neither the weaker nor the poorer for 
 the loss. But if this weather-beaten Mayflower 
 and her company had sunk beneath the waves, which 
 so often seemed o})ening to engulph her, (decisive as 
 the event would probably have been, for an indefinite 
 period, of all further attempts to colonize America) 
 there would have been inflicted a wound, which 
 might never have been healed, on the great cause of 
 Conscience, Free Government and Truth. 
 
 I meant, sir, to have said a few words on the prin- 
 ciples and institutions of the fathers of the Old Col- 
 ony, as the direct sources of those blessings which 
 we have inherited from them. I meant to have 
 
47 
 
 spoken briefly of the two great pillars on which they 
 rested the temple of liberty ; — freedom in the church- 
 es, as opposed to the domination of a hierarchy ; and 
 freedom in the state, founded on the absence of all 
 hereditary privileges, on a recurrence to the popular 
 will by frequent elections, and on a system of public 
 education in free schools. This last object early 
 received the attention of the government of Plymouth 
 Colony. Besides requiring the towns to support 
 schools, the proceeds of the public fisheries were 
 appropriated to their encouragement. But I leave 
 these fruitful topics to gentlemen around me, who 
 are abundantly able to do them justice. There is one 
 point only which can never be wholly overlooked, in 
 speaking of the pilgrims, 1 mean their faults. They 
 were men, and of course had faults, upon which those 
 who like the occupation may descant. I do not, and 
 I am sure there is no one who does. This counsel 
 only 1 would give to any one, who takes in hand to 
 rebuke the errors of the Fathers of Plymouth or 
 Massachusetts, viz : to settle with himself at the 
 outset, considering what human nature at the best is, 
 whether precisely the kind of virtues, the unyield- 
 ing, dauntless, all-enduring, all-daring spirit necessa- 
 ry to accomplish the great work of founding a new 
 state, under every imaginable discouragement, could 
 have subsisted without something of that austerity 
 and sternness, of which it must be admitted there are 
 lamentable memorials in the pilgrim annals. 
 
 Besides, Sir, our poor fathers were pestered with 
 troubles, and had to provide against evils, of which 
 in these latter days we know nothing. It seems that 
 it was thought necessary, in the early legislation of 
 the Colony, to enact that " no man shall strike his 
 wife, nor any woman her husband, on penalty of such 
 fine, not exceeding ten pounds for one offence, or 
 such suitable corporeal punishment as the Court may 
 direct." I see by the smiling faces of both sexes 
 around me, that there is no occasion at the present 
 day in the Old Colony for any such legislation as 
 
48 
 
 this ; that, law or no law, that man is held to be a 
 villian, on Cape Cod, who raises his hand toward a 
 woman except in kindness ; — and that, in return, no 
 man is in danger of being smitten by the gentler sex, 
 with any other weapon, than the bright glance which 
 heals while it wounds. Again, the learned and elo- 
 quent orator of the day has reminded us that it was 
 deemed necessary to provide, among the first acts of 
 legislation in the Old Colony, that " if now or here- 
 after any were elected to the olKce of Gov ernor, and 
 would not stand to the election, nor hold and execute 
 the office for his year, that then he should be amerc- 
 ed in twenty pounds sterling fine." All trouble up- 
 on this score, I believe has disappeared ; at least 
 since the happy period when the Old Colony was 
 united with Massachusetts. But I cannot answer 
 for it, Mr. President, that this will always be the 
 case, if things continue to be managed, as they have 
 been to-day, — I must candidly tell you, that, when 
 I found myself moving along to this pavilion in soli- 
 tary grandeur, excluded from that part of the pro- 
 cession which was honored by the presence of the 
 ladies, and when I perceived that my position here, 
 on this elevated platform, was to be one of like pri- 
 vation, (to say nothing of the natural misgivings 
 which may well come over one, who finds himself 
 directly in front of his honor the Chief Justice and 
 the Sheriff) I say. Sir, \v hen I found that these were 
 the consequences of official dignity, I had some 
 thoughts of taking advantage of the Old Colony law, 
 and paying my fine. 
 
 A single sentence more. Sir, and in the serious 
 strain which perhaps better becomes the occasion. — 
 In all that concerns the history and character of the 
 Old Colony, the people of Barnstable have a peculiar 
 interest. Your shore was pressed by the feet of the 
 Pilgrims before they rested on Plymouth rock. — 
 When the good seed raised around the chosen spot 
 began to be cast abroad, one of the first handfulls 
 fell on your genial soil ; — and from that time to this, 
 
49 
 
 through two centuries of humble beginnings and rich 
 fruits, — of trial and hardship — of success and glory, 
 you have grown up a living, leading, intregal part of 
 that illustrious "Old Colony" with whose annals 
 commences, if I may so express myself, the New 
 Testament of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 With your permission I would say, in taking my 
 seat, — 
 
 The Cape ; God bless her ! The sons and daughters of 
 Barnstable are among the fairest jewels in her crown of honor : 
 wherever dispersed, there is not one of them who will not ex- 
 claim, 
 
 Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, 
 My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee. 
 
 6. The love of our Native soil. — Always strongest where 
 nature has been least bountiful. If any wonder why we love 
 the barren sands of old Cape Cod, tell them that in 1623 it was 
 the unanimous resolve of the first settlers in these parts "that 
 seeing by God's providence this place fell to their lot, they 
 would not leave it, nor languish after other places, though they 
 had discovered more rivers and more fertile places than where 
 they were." 
 
 7. Paomet, (noio Provincetown) — The birth place of popu- 
 lar constitutional liberty ; where the first written compact for a 
 government of "just and equal laws" was made on board the 
 May Flower, Nov. 11, 1620 — by John Carver, and forty others, 
 " in the name of God" and for " the general good." 
 
 8. Cape Cod. — Though she has few lawsuits of her own, she 
 is justly proud of having furnished the distinguished head of the 
 Judiciary of the Commonwealth, to settle the disputes of her 
 neighbors. 
 
 This toast was responded to, in an impressive 
 and deeply affecting manner, by Chief Justice Shaw, 
 who recurred to his early associations as a Barnstable 
 boy, with heartfelt emotion, of which the following 
 is a sketch : — 
 
 Mr. President. — It would be mere affectation in 
 me, not to understand at once, that the sentiment 
 now expressed, alludes to myself. Such an expres- 
 sion of kind and respectful remembrance, by such an 
 assembly as the present, on an occasion so full of 
 deep and solemn interest, fills my heart with unmin- 
 
50 
 
 gled j^ratitude, and I can do little more than to ex- 
 press to the company my heartfelt thanks. 
 
 To be held in cherished remembrance by my earli- 
 est associates, the friends of my beloved parents, the 
 companions of my infancy and childhood, by those 
 who cherish an ardent love for my dear native land, 
 whatever may be their pursuits, or whatever their 
 residence — this indeed affords me a gratification, 
 which I would not willingly exchange, for any 
 advantage which rank or distinction could confer. 
 
 Sir, you have been pleased to allude to the emin- 
 ent judicial office which I hold. I have indeed, been 
 honored by my native state, greatly beyond any 
 merits which I can claim. I have been entrusted 
 with an office of great responsibility, dignity and 
 honor. 1 can only express the earnest and sincere 
 wish, that I had the ability to discharge the duties 
 of this office in a more worthy and acceptable man- 
 ner. But, Mr. President one thing I can say, in all 
 truth and sincerity, — that whatever of honors and 
 distinctions my fellow citizens have been pleased, in 
 their generosity, to bestow upon me, I can make no 
 better use of them — I desire to make no better use 
 of them, than to present them hore, on this occasion, 
 as a grateful tribute to the land of my birth — to add 
 them to the beautiful garland which we are all this 
 day contributing to make up, to deck the venerable 
 brow of our beloved native town. 
 
 Here, on such an occasion, all minor distinctions 
 of occupation, of condition, of fortune and residence, 
 vanish before the one dec]), absorbing sentiment 
 which binds our hearts indissolubly to our native soil. 
 Here the merchruit may rejoice to come, leaving be- 
 hind him, for a time, his ledgers and accounts, leaving 
 his ships, his stocks, and his merchandize to take 
 care of themselves ; — the clergyman, in perfect con- 
 sistency with his holiest duti(!s, may for a short time 
 leave his pulpit, and liis flock ; — the farmer may well 
 leave his fields and his marshes ; — the seaman his 
 vessel — the shoresman his fish-flakes — and judges 
 
61 
 
 and lawyers are glad to tear themselves away from 
 the wrangles of the courts, and the turmoil of judicial 
 controversy, to indulge together, for a few brief 
 hours, in the cherished recollections of by-gone years; 
 recollections always dear, though often sad. But 
 joyful or sad, prompted by the better principles of 
 our nature, and deepened by a common sympathy, 
 we know and feel that they bind thousands of hearts, 
 in one common feeling of mutual attachment. 
 
 And why should it not be so ? — Indeed, it is good 
 for us to be here — to be here upon such an occasion, 
 and to yield to the thoughts and feelings which come 
 thronging upon us. Sir, there's pleasure and profit 
 in it — there's wisdom, plilosophy, and religion in it. 
 Was not this the home of our infancy and childhood ? 
 Here we first felt the dear delights of parental love — 
 here the first thoughts and feelings of our social and 
 intellectual nature were enkindled and developed — 
 here we first felt the pleasures of friendship and the 
 joys of social existence, when every feeling carried 
 with it the purity, the ardor, and the joyous freshness 
 of youth. 
 
 Why sir, every house, every field, every grove has 
 its history, and brings back a clustering throng of 
 recollections. Almost within sight of the place 
 where we are, still stands a modest spire, marking 
 the spot, where a beloved father stood to minister 
 the holy word of divine truth, and hope, and salva- 
 vation, to a numerous, beloved and attached people, 
 for almost half a century. Pious, pure, simple- 
 hearted, devoted to, and beloved by his people, never 
 shall I cease to venerate his memory, or to love 
 those who knew and loved him. I speak in the 
 presence of some who knew him, and of many more, 
 who I doubt not were taught to luve and honor his 
 memory as one of the earliest lessons of their child- 
 hood. But 1 must not dwell on a theme like this; I 
 may have gone too far in saying thus much ; though 
 in alluding to it, 1 am sure I touch a chord, which 
 will vibrate through many a heart. 
 
52 
 
 Indeed, my friends, every local object is a talis- 
 man, which revives its long train of remembered 
 joys, or sorrows, amusements and occupations ; the 
 school, the wedding, the funeral, the social circle, the 
 play-ground, the meeting-house, the burying ground : 
 — time would fail me in naming a mere list of the 
 thousand objects, which awaken vivid recollections 
 of the past, and above all — -more than all, remind 
 us of those who participated in our early affections 
 and friendships. 
 
 And is it not good thus to be moved sometimes, by 
 a noble feeling of generous sympathy and affection ? 
 Does it not teach us all, — the merchant, the seaman, 
 the farmer, the lawyer, each and all of us, whatever 
 our employment, or whatever our success in life, 
 that there is something worth living for, beside 
 profits and wages, and fees and salaries : — that there 
 is something in the joys of memory, — of hope and 
 imagination — in our social affections and sympathies 
 — in the consciousness of our moral and intellectual 
 being, which rises above the ordinary routine of cares 
 and labors, whose object is bounded by the acquisi- 
 tion of mere worldly goods. May it not even inspire 
 a holier thought ? If, as we feel and know, these 
 attachments and sympathies so closely connect the 
 past with the present, may it not lead us to indulge 
 the hope, and to rest on the assurance, that there shall 
 be some similar connection between the present and 
 the future — that the affections of the soul, so pure 
 and perennial, are not destined to have their full 
 accomplishment here, and shall not be crushed and 
 annihilated by the termination of our earthly exist- 
 ence ; but that, surely, there is another and a better 
 life. 
 
 But sir, let us not be thought wild or visionary, or 
 to depart, too widely, from the spirit and feelings of 
 the occasion. Indeed the very spirit of the occasion 
 is, to perceive in the persons and objects around us, 
 not the mere visible and sensible images, but the 
 recollections and feelings which they suggest. Take 
 
a single instance. Did we not observe, as the pro- 
 cession was moving on to day, a long range of sand 
 hills skirting the town ? You and I, sir, know it by 
 the name of Sandy Neck. And what does it present 
 to the eye of the casual observer ? Why a range of 
 sterile sand hills, interspersed with a few patches of 
 brown woods and swamps, and surrounded by marsh- 
 es. Who of us, has not heard the tremendous roar of 
 the surf, as its mountain surges lash the long line of 
 beach, back of those hills ? But to the eye of a na- 
 tive Cape Codman, what does it suggest ? — a barren 
 waste of waters, a barrier to his exertions, or a con- 
 finement to his sterile soil ? Not at all ; it reminds 
 him of the ocean that lies beyond ; — the ocean, with 
 all its grand and beautiful associations. He looks 
 at it not only as the lield of his fame and of his glory, 
 but as the field of his industry and enterprise, of his 
 enjoyment and improvement, aye, even of his 
 social and intellectual improvement. It connects 
 him with all lands—with all that is magnificent in 
 nature, or polished in art — with all that is valuable 
 in knowledge, refinement and civilization. His 
 neighbors are not those only, who live in the next 
 town, or state, or kingdom ; — wherever there is 
 commerce, there he has neighbors and friends. He 
 not only repeats the words of the seaman's song, but 
 imbibes its spirit, 
 
 "In every clime we find a port, 
 
 In every port a home." 
 But the home of his memory and his affections is 
 here ; — to his native land, amidst all his wanderings, 
 he looks with a steady eye ; — and whatever acquisi- 
 tions of property or pleasure, of hospitality and 
 friendship, he finds elsewhere, he regards them all as 
 the means of comfort and enjoyment on his return. 
 The land and the sea are alike fertile to thoSe who 
 have the hardihood, the skill and the enterprise to 
 improve them, and the hearts to enjoy them ; — 
 and they are alike sterile to the idle, the dissolute 
 and the heartless. Indeed, that soil can never 
 
64 
 
 l)c deemed sterile, which yields a large and steady 
 growth of intelligent and enterprising men, and of 
 amiable and accomplished women. 
 
 But I am encroaching on precious time, and will 
 only propose as a sentiment, 
 
 " Cape Cod — our beloved birtli place — may it long be the 
 nursery and the home oftlie social virtues — a place which all her 
 sons and daughters, whetlier present or absent, may for centu- 
 ries to come, as in centuries past, delight to honor and to love." 
 
 9. The characteristics of the first settlers of Mattacheest* — 
 Frugality, enterprise, temperance, and independence — the tools 
 with which any able bodied man in this country can get an hon- 
 est living off a rock or a sand bank. May they ever be kept 
 bright and transmitted from lather to son, to the latest generation. 
 
 10. Banks and Banking. — We wont quarrel about U. S. 
 Banks, Ten Million Banks, nor Suffolk Banks, so long as tlie 
 great charter of nature secures to us our Clam Banks, Sand 
 Banks and Grand Bank ; the only Banks that have stood a run 
 of two hundred years and redeemed all their drafts in the same 
 solid sjjeeics. 
 
 11. The men of reverend age who liave survived to witnes.s 
 this day. They have preserved in their lives and habits, and 
 we trust impressed on ours, the simple virtues of the Pilgrims. 
 May the rising generation never forget to cherish and imitate 
 their example. 
 
 To this toast, a reply was read, by Professor 
 Palfrey, on behalf of the venerable octogenarian. Dr. 
 Thacher of Plymouth, a native of Barnstable, who 
 was present. It was pleasant to see him and many 
 other of our venerable sires, who had been active 
 sharers in the dangers of the revolutionary struggle, 
 ])resent on this day, surrounded by the present and 
 the rising generation, in their manhood and youth- 
 ful promise. Ever cherished be their memories, and 
 ever active our respect and veneration for the " rticn 
 of reverend age," who shared M'ith us in this honored 
 festival ! 
 
 *Now Barnstable. 
 
55 
 
 Memorandum from Dr. James Thacher, of Plym- 
 outh. 
 
 I rejoice that I am permitted once more to visit the place, 
 where my pious ancestors for generations past devoted their 
 lives to their Creator, and where their remains are deposited. — 
 This occasion, so interesting to all, is peculiarly so to me. My 
 emotions are truly unutterable. I drew my first breath in this 
 ancient town more than 85 years ago, and in this great assem- 
 bly I seek in vain for the companions of my childhood and youth. 
 With such preparation as the town schools of Barnstable, afford- 
 ed, I pur-sued the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. 
 Abner Hersey, of this town, a Physician of great celebrity in 
 that day, whose circle of practice was limited only by the bounds 
 of his county. His eccentricities, and few men had more, are 
 forgotten, but the memory of his good and generous qualities, 
 will not soon pass away. His donations to the churches of his 
 county, and in aid of the Hersey professorship of Anatomy and 
 Surgery at Cambridge, evinced his attachment to Religion and 
 Science, and entitled him to honorable remembrance. The first 
 sound of the revolutionary War interrupted my peaceful pur- 
 suits, and with the ardor natural to that age, I joined my coun- 
 trymen in arms. Perhaps I need not add that I followed the 
 fortunes and shared the hardships of Washington's army until the 
 liberties of the country were established. 
 
 An incident of that period which occurred on this spot, as it 
 shows the spirit of the times, may be worth relating. My spirit 
 is animated by a view of your meeting-house, on Training hill, 
 and the recollection that on its summit your patriotic Fathers, 
 who composed the Militia of the parish, were arrayed, on the 
 day when tidings were received, that the blood of their coun- 
 trymen had been shed at Lexington. The company immedi- 
 ately marched for the post of danger, and on passing from the 
 village, an elderly man, Mr John Annable, came tottering down 
 the hill near the Jail, where his house stood, to bid adieu to his 
 only son, who was a soldier in the ranks, and not without emo- 
 tion, yet with Spartan heroism, he said, " Joseph, my son, if 
 you go into battle, behave like a man, or never see my face again 
 — God be with you all my friends !•" A distinguished native of 
 this town, the late Solicitor General Davis, then a lad, officiated 
 as Fifer of the Company on this occasion. Joseph survived 
 many years after the Revolutionary War. I proffer my respect- 
 ful acknowledgments for the kind attentions which the Commit- 
 tee have been pleased to bestow upon me, by their invitation to 
 participate in the pleasures of this highly interesting occasion, 
 and beg leave to propose as a toast, 
 
 The memory of the puritan founders of the ancient town of 
 Barnstable, and their worthy compeers, who, exiled from their 
 own land, and subjected to a perilous pilgrimage, achieved for 
 
56 
 
 posterity a rich inheritance, a land of civil and religious freedom. 
 May it ever be honored and sustained by wisdom and justice in 
 our rulers, disinterested patriotism and frankness in our citizens, 
 and pure religion in our sanctuaries. 
 
 12. Boston and Cape Cod — Often doubled, but never run 
 down. The first has furnished the capital, the second the indus- 
 try, and botli together have made a strong firm whose mutual 
 relations have always been a source of profit and pleasure. May 
 succeeding centuries continue to enlarge the stock and increase 
 the dividends. 
 
 13. Witchcraft. — AVe pretend to be wiser than our Fathers 
 in this matter, and deny its existence, although every man of us 
 is in imminent danger of being bewitched to day. But the con- 
 jurations and spells we have to encounter are the pleasant words 
 and bright eyes of beauty, and the only way we propose to hang 
 the Cape Cod witches is — about our necks. 
 
 After the regular toasts, (the 10th and last of 
 which were received by three lively cheers) the 
 President of the day read the following, to which 
 Hon. William Sturgis, of Boston, a native of Barnsta- 
 ble, responded in his best manner, and with many 
 pleasing allusions to the co-operation of the ladies in 
 the festivities of the day : 
 
 The emigrants from Cape Cod. — Found every where on sea 
 and land, the busiest among the busy of the "universal Yankee 
 nation." A hearty welcome to those who are here to day, and 
 good luck and good will to the absent. May none in the wide 
 world ever show themselves ashamed to claim Cape Cod, and 
 may Cape Cod never have cause to be ashamed to claim them. 
 
 For want of time Mr. Sturgis's remarks were 
 somewhat abridged in their delivery, but were in 
 substance, as follows : — 
 
 " As Chairman of a Committee of those who orig- 
 inated here, but have taken up their abode elsewhere, 
 it is my duty, Mr. President, and it would be my 
 pleasure, to respond to the toast Just given, did I feel 
 sure that I could oflbr a response worthy of the occa- 
 sion. But I do not recollect that, in the course of a 
 somewhat adventurous life, I have ever undertaken 
 
 7 
 
57 
 
 a task with less confidence of accomplishing it in a 
 satisfactory manner than when 1 attempt to address 
 mv Cape Cod friends upon their own soil, a i'ew 
 yards only from the spot where I was horn, amidst 
 the well remembered scenes of my childhood — with 
 the recollections of early days, when here was my 
 home, and of the changes since I left this home, pres- 
 sing upon me, and calling forth mingled feelings of 
 pleasure and pain. But I must not dwell upon these 
 feelings : Let me rather proceed at once, in behalf 
 of those emigrants who have the good fortune to be 
 present upon this occasion, to tender our warmest 
 thanks for the frank and cordial welcome you 
 have given us, and to assure you. Sir, that we recip- 
 rocate with heartfelt sincerity, your friendly wishes, 
 and kind expressions of good will. 
 
 Were proof needful to support the assertion in 
 your toast, that " Emigrants from Cape Cod are 
 found every where," I would offer testimony founded 
 upon personal observation. In early life it was my 
 lot to visit every quarter of the Globe, and some of 
 its remotest regions. Wherever I went I met those 
 who claimed their origin here. They are literally 
 " on every sea and in every land, the busiest among 
 the busy." In truth, Sir, I know not the spot, ever 
 w^hitened by the sails of commerce, that has not been 
 visited by the intrepid sons of Cape Cod, nor do I 
 know the honorable and useful pursuits in which 
 they have not successfully engaged. 
 
 From every quarter we have come. Sir, at your 
 summons to visit once more the homes of our fathers; 
 to renew the associations of early life, and to unite 
 with our friends here in a suitable observance of this 
 day, so interesting to every true-hearted native of 
 Cape Cod. We bring w^ith us, not only the feelings, 
 implanted in every human bosom, of attachment to 
 the place of our birth — where the days of childhood 
 were passed — but many of us come with this feeling 
 deepened and strengthened by experience, w^hich 
 has taught us to appreciate the advantages we have 
 
58 
 
 derived from, and made us sensible how much we 
 are indebted lor success in life, to the circumstances 
 of having been born, and brought up, in this favored 
 region. 
 
 I call it a " favored region." Should any one cast 
 a look of incredulity upon our parched hills and sandy 
 shores, I would tell him wc boast not of the rich pio- 
 ductions of a bounteous soil, but of something better, 
 
 for 
 
 " Man is the nobler growth our realm supplies." 
 
 I would ask him to follow the steps of the distin- 
 guished Orator of the day, (no easy task. Sir, in the 
 paths of learning and eloquence) to go where he has 
 lately been, from one extremity of the Cape to the 
 other — see the flourishing appearance that every 
 where meets the eye, and the evidences of prosperity 
 that are every where visible — and then I would 
 challenge him to ])oint out any other place under the 
 broad canopy o( Heaven, with an extent of country, 
 and a population equal to this County, where for two 
 hundred years the sound principles, and virtuous 
 practices, of the early settlers have been more uni- 
 formly adhered to and followed ; where the comforts 
 of life are more universally diffused, and the means 
 of rational enjoyment more easily secured, by all 
 those who have iixed an abode in the land of their 
 birth ; and whence a greater number have gone forth 
 qualiiied and prepared, to take an active part in the 
 busy scenes of life, and make their own way in the 
 world by their own vmaided efforts. Sir, this is no 
 idle declamation ; I give the challenge in sober earn- 
 est, and if any one accepts it, 1 am ready, in the 
 language of your profession, to "file a bill of partic- 
 ulars," and go into the proof. 
 
 I have alluded to the advantages enjoyed by those 
 who originated here. Some of these advantages are 
 common to the whole New-England sea-board, oth- 
 ers are in a degree peculiar to this section. Were 
 this to be a four-days'-mceting instead of four hours, 
 I would gladly go fully into this subject ; would enu- 
 
59 
 
 merate these advantages ; trace them back to causes, 
 and forward to effects. I would not do this in the 
 spirit of vain boasting, which Americans are, perhaps 
 justly, charged with displaying when speaking of 
 their country and its institutions ; with those who 
 know me, I scarcely need to disclaim so unworthy a 
 motive. My object would be to influence the rising 
 generation. I would speak to the younger part of 
 my auditors, and if possible would address every 
 youth — every young man just coming into life, from 
 one end of the Cape to the other. To inspire them 
 with hope I would call their attention to what may 
 this day be witnessed — would tell them that all those 
 present whose situation may appear desirable, began 
 life but a few years since, with even fewer advan- 
 tages than are enjoyed by young men of the present 
 day. 1 would refer them to the history and present 
 condition of every State of the Union. In nearly all 
 of them they may find natives of Cape Cod, filling 
 places of trust and honor — distinguished in the learn- 
 ed professions as they are called — prominent among 
 the most intelligent and skillful of those engaged in 
 manufactures and the mechanic arts — standing high 
 among enterprising and successful merchants, and 
 in the front ranks of industrious and thriving farm- 
 ers. But in the greatest numbers they will be found 
 engaged in nautical pursuits — there they early took 
 the lead and they have kept it. Born, as most of 
 them were, within sight of the ocean — many of 
 them upon its very borders — they are familiar with 
 it from infancy, and thousands embark upon it long 
 before the years of boyhood are passed, and there 
 they are at home. Look at your fisheries — so valu- 
 able to Massachusetts, so important to the whole 
 Union — whether to pursue the Mackerel, the Cod 
 or even the great Leviathan himself, can you, Sir, 
 can any man — tell me where to find those who 
 would be preferred to the fishermen of Cape Cod ? 
 Examine the coasting trade ! now employing nearly 
 half the tonnage of the country. Within my recol- 
 
60 
 
 lection one of the most important branches of it in 
 the Commonwealth, that which is carried on with 
 the Middle and Southern States, has sprung into 
 existence, and grown to its present magnitude, un- 
 der the management of natives of this County, and 
 at this day it is almost exclusively in their hands. 
 Look at the navigation employed in foreign trade — 
 from the smallest West India craft to the largest 
 freighting ship — at the New- York packets, those 
 " floating palaces" as they are justly called — at the 
 splendid steamboats upon all our waters — at the val- 
 uable ships employed in the East India and China 
 trade. In all these there are millions of precious 
 lives, and many millions of property, annually en- 
 trusted to the vigilence, skill and prudence of their 
 commanders ; and among the loremost of these com- 
 manders are the native sons of Cape Cod. Many of 
 them still claim their residence among you ; and 
 while we are this day enjoying the delights of social 
 intercourse, they are engaged in arduous duties on 
 the ocean, or in distant lands, with their thoughts 
 turned to what is passing on their native shore — their 
 hopes, their wishes, their affections centering here, 
 and clustering round the spot where dwells the dear- 
 est objects of their love. Were it proper to do so, 
 Mr. President, I could give the names of a host of 
 such as I have described, who began their career in 
 humble stations — names now known far and wide, 
 respected and confided in by the whole comnnmity ; 
 names familiar to the ears, and dear to the hearts of 
 many Avho now listen to me. I would thus call the 
 attention of my young friends to the past and the 
 present, and would animate them to exertion by the 
 assurance that what has been done by the sons of 
 Cape Cod, may, and must, be done again by their 
 successors. That the same, nay, a broader field of 
 enterprise, a more extended sphere of action is be- 
 fore them ; and that by superior education, they arc 
 better prepared to enter upon this field and exert the 
 energies that God has given them. 1 would tell 
 
61 
 
 them what many of us have experienced, that, thanks 
 to the well-earned reputation, and fair fame, which 
 our fathers secured by their labors and their virtues, 
 the birth-right of every child of Cape Cod is an in- 
 heritance more precious than silver or gold ; and that 
 wherever they go, or wherever they seek employ- 
 ment that requires integrity, industry, energy and 
 perseverance, the best letter of recommendation they 
 can carry, is a certificate of their birth-place — evi- 
 dence of their Cape Cod origin. With this they will 
 be sure to find the employment they seek, and in the 
 exercise of the qualities I have enumerated they can 
 scarcely fail, with God's blessing, to command suc- 
 cess. While I thus give encouragement to youthful 
 aspirants for fame or fortune, I would impress upon 
 their minds the high responsibility thyt these advan- 
 tages impose upon them ; 1 would remind them that 
 they owe much to the past, and the future, as well 
 as to the present, and would bid them remember the 
 motto before us, " What our fathers obtained, may 
 their sons ever protect." I would tell them that 
 the best return they can make for the rich inherit- 
 ance they have received, is to use it faithfully and 
 wisely, and transmit it unsullied, unimpaired, to 
 those who are to come after them, so that when 
 another Centennial wave of time shall have rolled 
 into the boundless gulf of eternity, and a future gen- 
 eration assembled here, or elsewhere, to celebrate 
 the return of this anniversary, they may think, and 
 speak of those who in this interim shall have been 
 gathered to their fathers, with the same honest pride 
 with which we cherish the venerated memory of 
 those who have already passed away. 
 
 Mr. President, after hearing the interesting and 
 eloquent addresses that have been made, and in the 
 expectation that we are to be favored with more, I 
 feel that in barely touching upon these "matters, I 
 have already occupid time that might have been bet- 
 ter spent ill listening to others. But whatever may 
 be the consequence, I cannot refrain from adverting 
 
62 
 
 to one circumstance in this celebration which has 
 given me more gratification than I shall attempt to 
 express. The occasion itself brings up so many 
 interesting associations that it could scarcely fail to 
 call forth the best feelings and emotions of our na- 
 ture — to inspire us with grateful sentiments for the 
 past and the present, and with cheering hopes for 
 the future. But the circumstance to which 1 allude, 
 gives life and animation to the whole, and throws a 
 charm over it that nothing else could impart. I need 
 notname this circumstance, for sure I am there is some- 
 thing in the bosom of every Man which will tell 
 him what it is. Can any one survey the scene before 
 him — can he listen to Woman's gentle voice, and 
 gaze upon her cheerful smile, and not feel in every 
 vein a warmer glow ? Is there a man — gathered as 
 we are with all our social sympathies awakened, to 
 commemorate an event which has tended to secure 
 to us so many social blessings — is there a man, aged 
 or youthful, whose bosom does not swell — whose 
 heart does not expand with a more joyous feeling, 
 to find himself surrounded by, and mingling at the 
 festive board, with that brighter and better portion of 
 Heaven's creation, without whose participation and 
 sympathy, all the blessings, all the blandishments 
 of life would be cold and valueless ? 
 
 I am not, Sir, by any means a thorough going dis- 
 ciple of the Miss Martincau school, but I do so far 
 concur in some of the views of that distinguished 
 lady, as to believe that even in this favored country, 
 Woman is not yet in possession of all her rights ; — 
 and I doubt not the time will come, (and at no dis- 
 tant day too) when important changes will be made 
 in the law s relating to her rights of property, and 
 her personal rights. But this is neither the time 
 nor the place to revise the Statutes. Let me not be 
 misunderstood. I am not one of those visionary 
 enthusiasts who profess to believe that no distinc- 
 tion should be made in the employment and pursuits 
 of the sexes — who propose that husband and wife 
 
63 
 
 shall change Work, and in sailor's phi'asc take " spell 
 and spell" at hoeing corn and tending baby. On the 
 contrary, Sir, I believe that the great Creator has 
 imposed upon woman appropriate and peculiar du- 
 ties ; and that there is marked out for her a proper 
 sphere of action Irom which I would not have her 
 deviate. 1 should regret to see her enter the ])olitical 
 arena,engage in party struggles,or participate in party 
 triumphs. Her proper place is not the Hall of Legis- 
 lation, nor the tented field. I wish not to see her pre- 
 senting repoits, nor presenting arms (hostile arms, I 
 mean Sir,) — and above all, 1 deprecate the practice, 
 which I fear is becoming too common, for woman, un- 
 der the influence of an excited imagination, to leave 
 her domestic circle, abandon the care of her family, and 
 go forth, roaming about the country, making address- 
 es to crowded and mixed assemblies, and striving 
 to excite and agitate the community. I would not 
 have her do this for any purpose, in any cause ; no 
 Sir, not even in the sacred cause of human Ireedom, 
 the noblest cause to which human energies can be 
 devoted. But upon occasions like the present — at 
 all celebrations of the birthday of our National In- 
 dependence — whenever the event to be commemor- 
 ated is one in which all have a common interest, I 
 deem it proper that woman should share in all that 
 is proper to be done. I rejoice that Cape Cod has 
 set so good an example, though I should expect no 
 less from her, for the records of history show, that 
 for the first hundred and fifty years after the settle- 
 ment of the country, the women of Cape Cod were 
 " ever ready to set, and to follow, a good example," 
 and for the other fifty years, I want no record, for I 
 can bear testimony to the fact myself. I trust that 
 the example will be widely followed, and that ere 
 lono; no such celebration will take place without 
 the full participation of those whose presence glad- 
 dens every heart. And why should it not be so. If 
 these celebrations are designed to connnemorate the 
 toils and sacrifices of the early settlers, did not 
 
64 
 
 woman take full share in such trials ? and could our 
 lathers have endured their privations and sufferings, 
 but for her sympathy, and the support her presence 
 gave ? If they are designed to commemorate the In- 
 dependence of our country, does not the pure flame 
 of patriotism burn as brightly in woman's gentle 
 bosom as in the sterner breast of man ? I believe 
 that her love of country, and of the institutions of 
 our country — silent and unobtrusive as it may seem 
 — is as deep, as sincere, aye. Sir, and as disinterested 
 too, as that which is felt by the most clamorous 
 Patriot who writes himself Man. I may be told that 
 such scenes are not suitable ibr woman — that excess- 
 es are oftimes committed \vhich would shock her 
 delicacy, and wound her feelings. I admit that 
 excesses are too often indulged in, upon these occa- 
 sions, but can any man devise a more effectual check 
 upon them than the presence of woman ? I believe 
 that in this way she can do more to promote the 
 righteous cause of temperance, than by ail the pledg- 
 es of totnl abstinence that she can sign, or all the 
 memorials she can prepare to enlighten Legislatures 
 on the subject of license laws. 
 
 But, after all, Mr. President, the power is in her 
 own hands if she chooses to exert it. We know. Sir, 
 that it is customary at these celebrations to have an 
 address, a dinner, and a ball. It has been usual to 
 permit the ladies to hear the address, (and seldom 
 has the indulgence been so great a boon as on the 
 present occasion) dull or eloquent as it might chance 
 to be. They are then virtually sent home " solitary 
 and alone" to attend to domestic cares, while we, 
 self-styled " lords of creation" set down at the con- 
 vivial board, and after indulging to satiety in all the 
 luxuries we can gather round us, we condescend to 
 summon the ladies to the ball room and favor them 
 with our company for the rest of the day. Now, Sir, 
 I propose to tlie ladies to take this matter into their 
 own hands, and address our sex to this efiect — 
 
 Gentlemen — " We have a common interest with 
 
 8 
 
65 
 
 you in the object of this celebration — we feel this 
 interest as deeply as you do, and are disposed to unite 
 in a suitable manifestation of it, and to join in all 
 festivities proper for the occasion. But we must 
 share in all or none — if you choose to exclude us 
 from the dinner-table, we choose to exclude our- 
 selves from the ball-room — if jou dine alone, you 
 may dance alone, and then you may retire alone, and 
 indulge in " sweet or bitter fancies" as they may 
 chance to come." Try this, my fair friends, for a 
 single year ; let your motto from one end of the 
 Union to the other be, " dine together and dance 
 together," or " dine alone and dance alone," and 
 trust me you will have no further cause to complain 
 in this matter. 
 
 Mr. President, upon such a topic one scarce knows 
 when to stop. I will not, however, trespass longer 
 upon your indulgence, but with your permission will 
 propose a sentiment which I have cherished from my 
 youth upward — one that 1 hope to cherish to the 
 last hour that may be allotted me on this side eterni- 
 ty. It is a sentiment in which there is no mingling 
 of party spirit — about which there can be no party 
 strife — for its truth is felt and acknowledged by whig 
 and tory — by " barbarian, scythian, bond and free." 
 It is stamped upon the heart of every human being 
 who claims to be a man. Nerveless be the arm that 
 will not fill a bumper — sealed in unbroken silence be 
 the lips that will not respond when I give you 
 
 Woman! lovely woman. — The guardian of our childhood — 
 the companion of manhood — the solace of declining years, and 
 through life the source of our highest, and holiest earthly joys. 
 
 " The world was sad, the garden was a wild, 
 And man, the hermit sighed, 'till woman smiled." 
 
 The remarks of Mr. Sturgis were followed by a 
 neat original Yankee Song for the occasion, rhyming 
 the changes with ready wit, on the Cape towns and 
 
66 
 
 Cape names, which was sung by Mr. Richardson, of 
 Boston, to the tune of Yankee Doodle. 
 
 ISoiig^ for file ISariistable Celebration. 
 
 BY WILLIAM HAYDEN, JR. ESQ. 
 Our Pilgrim Father!? started off, 
 
 Two hundred years ago, sir — 
 To seek their fortunes o'er the sea, 
 
 And anchor'd down below, sir — 
 And, as they had no other food, 
 
 Considered worth the dishing. 
 They got their sinkers, hooks and lines, 
 
 And went right out a fishing — 
 
 Yankee Doodle, keep it up — 
 
 Yankee Doodle Dandy — 
 At catching fish, or sailing ships, 
 
 Our Cape men are quite handy. 
 
 They pulled the Cod and Haddock in. 
 
 And fished without a rod, sir — 
 And, for the first big fish they caught. 
 
 They named the Cape, " Cape Cod," sir — 
 And, as they had amazing luck, 
 
 The fishing was so handy, 
 They thought they'd settle on the Cape, 
 
 Although 'twas rather sandy. 
 
 And though our sand won't raise much grass, 
 
 It renders us some sarvice — 
 It is the sand which makes the glass. 
 
 That's made by Deming Jarvis. 
 The Oyster-beds around our shores. 
 
 They serve to make the land rich — 
 East-/trt7H and Chat-^awi are as good 
 
 As any hams for Sandwich. 
 
 'Tis truly wonderful, I'm sure, 
 
 I can't tell how it happens — 
 We furnish all your Ships with mates. 
 
 And almost all your Cap'ins. 
 
67 
 
 You can't expect much wealth down here — 
 
 We live by waves and surges — 
 But yet, sometimes, a t^ape Cod boy, 
 
 Gets rich like William Sturgis. 
 
 To trace your debt to old Cape Cod, 
 
 It needs no brush or pallet — 
 There's Dimmock, Gray, and Thaciieu too. 
 
 The Searses and George Hallett. 
 Some service we have done the State — 
 
 From us you get your law, sir — 
 There's Mr Bassett, he's your clerk, 
 
 And there's Chief Justice Shaw, sir. 
 
 There are as good fish in the sea, 
 
 As from it e'er were draw'd sir — 
 And so, we've some as good men left. 
 
 As those who've gone abroad, sir. 
 Among the nice men left behind, 
 
 Of Marstons' we've two brothers — 
 The Swifts, the Crockers, and the Cobbs, 
 
 And yet a host of others. 
 
 Our lot is something like Lot's wife. 
 
 When on this spot we halt sir, — 
 Our only monument must be 
 
 A pillar of good salt, sir — 
 Your richer lands, and fertile soils, 
 
 We will not waste a wish on — 
 We find our own quite good enough, 
 
 For us to dry our fish on. 
 
 When we get through our toasts and songs, 
 
 We'll go to t'other Hall sir — 
 We mean to finish off the thing, 
 
 By giving you a Ball, sir ; 
 And if the Cape Girls want to dance, 
 
 'Till morn puts out the taper. 
 Let every Cape man show that he 
 
 Is ready for a Caper. 
 
68 
 
 Yankee Doodle, keep it up — 
 
 Yankee Doodle Dandy — 
 At catchmg hearts, and keeping them 
 
 Our Cape Girls are right handy 
 
 By the First Vice President. The Orator of the day. In 
 his eloquent and impressive address, he told us, among many 
 other most excellent things, that in 1690 Ichabod Paddock went 
 from Cape Cod to Nantucket to teach them how to Mil and try 
 whales. We thank him that in 1839 he has come to Cape Cod 
 to learn us how to immortalize and appreciate our ancestors. 
 
 Professor Palfrey, the Orator of the day, made 
 a few brief acknowledgments, in the course of which 
 he gave a vivid description of wooing and Avedding 
 of a Yarmouth beauty, wife of Josiah Quincy, of 
 Quincy, and mother of Josiah Quincy, Junior, the 
 eminent revolutionary patriot, and concluded by j)ro- 
 posing the following toast : 
 
 The daughters of Cape Cod ; worthy to be wives and moth- 
 ers of good and famous men 
 
 By a Vice President. " The younger Winthrop of Connec- 
 ticut." — A pure example for modern Statesmen. When Charles 
 2d, wishing to advance him, wrote thus — " the world shall take 
 notice of the sense I have of your merits in promoting the 
 happiness of your country," the disinterested man thought not 
 of himself, and asked favors only for the community of which he 
 was a member. 
 
 To this toast, Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives, briefly replied, as 
 follows : 
 
 I cannot fail, Mr. President, to feel highly gratified 
 at being called on to respond to the seniiment which 
 has just been given ; and at thus being introduced to 
 this large and most respectable assembly as a de- 
 scendant of the distinguished settler of Connecticut, 
 to whose memory so handsome a tribute has been 
 paid. Nor w ere the services of the younger Winthrop 
 confined entirely to Coimccticut. Were I stand- 
 ing on the opposite shore of this noble Bay, I might 
 
69 
 
 point, I believe, to a large and flourishing town, no 
 less than one of the shire towns of old Essex, as the 
 fruit of his enterprise within the Colony with which 
 his father was more prominently connected. 
 
 But while I heartily thank the company for the 
 respect they have shown for the name of a venerated 
 ancestor ; while I tender, too, my most sincere ac- 
 knowledgments to the Vice President, from whom 
 the sentiment proceeded, for taking so kind a mode 
 of calling me up, I cannot refrain from saying, that 
 it is to other names than that by which it is my 
 humble birthright to be called, that this occasion 
 belongs. It is to the Bradfords and Carvers, the 
 Brewsters and Hincklcys, the elder and younger 
 Robinsons, the elder and younger Winslows, the 
 elder and younger Otises, and not to the Winthrops, 
 whether elder or younger, of Connecticut or of Mas- 
 sachusetts, that the honors of this day are exclusively 
 due. 
 
 I may be pardoned, also, for suggesting, in expla- 
 nation of the sentiment which 1 propose to offer, 
 that it is to no hereditary claim that I am indebted 
 for the distinction of a seat at this table, — that it is 
 not to name or blood, but to the relation which I 
 have the honor to hold to the Legislative Depart- 
 ment of the State, to the station to which I have 
 been called in the service of the Representatives of 
 the People, that I am indebted for the privilege of 
 being present on this occasion. And let me add, 
 Sir, that I felt as if I should have been almost faith- 
 less to that station, as if, now, if never before, I 
 should have neglected one of its plainest and most 
 peremptory obligations, had I disregarded the kind 
 summons which was served upon me by Mr. Sheriff, 
 to participate in the festivities of this anniversary.— 
 There is at least one eye. Sir, in the HalJ which is 
 the sphere of my official duties, always open, or cer- 
 tainly never sleeping ; — there is at least one repre- 
 sentative, if not of any portion of the ])eo|)le them- 
 selves, certainly of a great and leading interest of 
 
70 
 
 the people, a representative which depends on no 
 party distinction, either for his annual return — I 
 should rather say, lor his perpetual presence there — 
 which 1 should scarcely have dared ever again to 
 confront, had I failed, on any score but that of im- 
 perious necessity, to make an appearance at this 
 Cape Cod celebration. 
 
 The company have already been informed of the 
 origin of the name by which this Cape is designated. 
 The Orator has told them that Bartholomew^ Gos- 
 nold, in 1602, having found great store of Cod fish 
 here, denominated the Cape accordingly. But they 
 have not yet been told of an attempt which was 
 made not many years after to alter this appellation. 
 When John Smith, the famous founder of Virginia, 
 Avrotc an account of his voyages to New England in 
 1616, he dedicated his book to "the High Hopeful 
 Prince Charles," afterwards King Charles the First. 
 And in that dedication he made it his humble suit to 
 his Royal Highness, that he would be pleased to 
 change the barbarous names which had been hitherto 
 attached to the various points along the coast, and 
 to substitute for them some genteeler and more ele- 
 gant English appellations — " so that posterity might 
 ever be al)le to say that Prince Charles was their 
 godfather." 
 
 Prince Charles, accordingly, appears to have tried 
 his hand at christening the Capes and Bays and 
 Rivers along the coast. And some of his names 
 remain to this day. To Cape Tragabigzanda, for 
 example, lor such was the truly barbarous title of 
 the Northern headland of the Massachusetts Bay, 
 (though there were tender associations with it which 
 must have rendered it any thing but barbarous to 
 Smith's ear, and it was probably the last name that 
 he himself woukl have desired to have changed,) to 
 Caj)c Tragabigzanda, he gave the name of Cape 
 Ann, — and it has been called so ever since. But 
 although to Cape Cod, the Prince assigned no other 
 name than that of Royalty itself, calling it Cape 
 
71 
 
 James, after the dread King James, his father, the 
 bold and noble headland, whose settlement we this 
 day celebrate, as if in anticipation of the glorious 
 destiny which awaited it, as if in vindication of its 
 claim to be not only the scene of the hrst great orig- 
 inal contract of Democratic self-government, but 
 the birthplace of him also, who was to breathe the 
 breath of life into the independence of a vast Amer- 
 ican Nation, refused to acknowledge either a Prince 
 as its godfather, or a King for its namesake, and 
 clung fast and forever to its old, original, homely, 
 but plain, republican title — Cape Cod. 
 
 But this. Sir, is not the only instance in which a 
 Cod seems to have proved an overmatch ibr a King, 
 in this Commonwealth. In one of those letters of 
 John Adams to Mr. Tudor, in which he describes 
 the principal revolutionary incidents of which Mas- 
 sachusetts was the theatre, and of which the Orator 
 of the day has already given us so many strik- 
 ing extracts, — in that very one, of these letters, 1 
 believe, in which he sketches the scene of your own 
 Barnstable Patriot, engaged in his immortal argument 
 against writs of assistance, — we are told that there 
 might have been seen in those days in the Old State 
 House, where this scene occurred, two gorgeous, 
 full-length portraits, supposed to be real Vandykes, 
 of Charles the II., and James the II. Those portraits 
 have long since disappeeued from our public halls. — 
 But if any one will enter our Representative's cham- 
 ber in the new State House, he will find suspended 
 there instead of them, a full-length likeness of a fine 
 large Cod. This, Sir, I need hardly say, was the 
 Representative to which I alluded, — and, I say again, 
 that, though it does not become me to rely too con- 
 fidently, in the uncertain state all of things human, 
 and still more of all things political, upon being again 
 permitted to take a seat in that chamber, either as 
 officer or member, yet should such a fortune be in 
 store for me, I should hardly dare to look that fish 
 in the face again, had I absented myself, without the 
 
72 
 
 most compulsory and overruling reasons, from the 
 celebration of this day. 
 
 Nor being here, Mr. President, can I find it in my 
 heart to give any other sentiment than that suggest- 
 ed by this time-honored emblem. And did not the 
 horizontal beams which now penetrate the seams of 
 yonder canvass, warn me that the dinner must be 
 soon relinquished for the dance, I should pray leave 
 to enter briefly but seriously into some account of 
 the influence which has been exerted upon our 
 Commonwealth, and our whole country, from its 
 earliest settlement to the present day, by the branch 
 of industry which it was designed to represent. I 
 had proposed so to do. But at this late hour, and 
 while so many other gentlemen remahi to be called 
 upon, I should be unpardonable, were I to trespass 
 longer on your patience. Let me only say then, as 
 a sentiment, — 
 
 The Fisheries. — Their emblem is in our Hails of Legislation 
 — may tlieir interests never be absent from the hearts of those 
 who have a seat there. 
 
 The Toast Master, in reading the following letter 
 of Judge Mellen, introduced it briefly by a reference 
 to the remarkable fact that though Cape Cod fur- 
 nished the least amount of litigation of any equally 
 populous and busy community in the country, or he 
 might add in the civilized world, yet it had furnish- 
 ed an unusual proportion of eminent and high Judic- 
 iary officers. Among these \^ ere our native towns- 
 man the present Chief Justice of the State, and one 
 of the Associate Judges, (Morton) who was a de- 
 scendant from Cape Cod ancestors. [His Grand- 
 parents were of Sandwich.] The ex-Chief Justice 
 of Maine, was also an adopted citizen of Barnstable 
 in the early part of his life. Judge George Thach- 
 
 cr, late of the Supreme Court of this State, was a 
 
 9 
 
73 
 
 native of Yarmouth. Daniel Davis, the late Solicit- 
 or General, his father, Judge Daniel Davis, of the 
 Common Pleas, and Colonel James Otis, (the father 
 of James Otis, who gave the first impulse to the ball 
 of the American Revolution) a Judge of the Supreme 
 Court under the Colonj ; were natives of Barnsta- 
 ble. 
 
 But though the Cape was so fertile in judges, the 
 dockets of her Courts were scarcely more than form. 
 Disputes were rare, and most of those were settled 
 between the parties or left out to men. This fact 
 was the more honorable to the people from the cir- 
 cumstance that there was a vast amount of active 
 business involving every variety of contract out of 
 which litigation was most likely to grow. 
 
 Mr. Hallctt said that we should value this trait the 
 more because we could trace it directly to the men 
 who first landed at Provincetown. They brought it 
 here with them, and it Avas one of the best among 
 the grand moral assets of the inheritance they have 
 bequeathed to us ; for it is related of them, that upon 
 their departure from Leyden in Holland, (where they 
 had resided for twelve years of their pilgrimage, be- 
 fore embarking for the new world ;) the magistrates 
 of Leyden, in the public place of Justice, made this 
 memorable remark concerning them. " These Eng- 
 lish have lived among us now these twelve years, 
 and yet we never had any suit or accusation come 
 against amj of them." Mr. H. concluded by hoping 
 that the frugal people of Cape Cod might always 
 cherish the notions their Ancestors had about going 
 to law. 
 
74 
 
 From Judge Mellen, ex-Chief Justice of Maine, 
 to the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 Portland, July 19, 1839. 
 
 Yours of the 13th inst. Avas received yesterday. Be assured, 
 sir, that I entertain a grateful sense of the honor, which, in this 
 instance has been conferred upon me. Your venerable town 
 was the scene of my early years, immediately after leaving col- 
 lege, and a thousand delightful and interesting associations are 
 intimately connected with the period when it constituted my 
 home for several years, more than half a century since. It 
 would add much to my happiness to revisit the scene, and join 
 in the recollections and social joys of your Celebration ; but 
 pre-engagements, of a professional character, are such that I 
 must reluctantly decline accepting the invitation. My heart 
 will be among you : and I avail myself of the privilege of being 
 ])resent, so far, as to jjlace the subjoined toast at your disposal. 
 Be pleased, sir, to accept, for yourself, and those whom you 
 represent, my hearty thanks and best wishes. 
 With esteem and respect. 
 
 Your obd't servant, 
 
 PRENTISS MELLEN. 
 
 The Memory of James Otis. — An illustrious native of the 
 town of Barnstable ; an ornament of his country, and devoted 
 champion of her freedom. The lightning of his genius and 
 impassioned eloquence, threw a dazzling splendor on that life, 
 which, at an after period, was instantly extinguished by the light- 
 ning of Heaven. 
 
 As an appropriate and interesting appendage to 
 this sentiment, Mr. William F. Otis was called 
 upon to read at the dinner, the following letter from 
 his father, Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, who is a 
 nephew of the illustrious James Otis, whose name 
 on this occasion as " the pioneer of American Inde- 
 pendence," was held in most honorable reminiscence. 
 
 Letter from H. G. Otis. 
 
 Boston, Aug. 31, 1839. 
 
 Your polite invitation to attend the Centennial Jubilee at 
 Barnstable was duly received ; an answer has been delayed, in 
 the hope of my being able to make it in person. 
 
 Many years have elapsed, since 1 found it expedient to impose 
 upon myself the restraint of absence from all convivial assem- 
 
75 
 
 blies, but the feelings of my heart dictate to me that this, should 
 be an exception. I am, however, embargoed by the gout, and 
 can only send you my kindest sympathies and respects. 
 
 There can be, in the course of nature, but few persons, pres- 
 ent at your Jubilee, who retain the vivid and precious recollec- 
 tions which I do, of what Barnstable was in the year 1775 ; of 
 its scenery, its localities, its people ; and of their firmness, and 
 patriotism, during that terrible year. 
 
 Barnstable, was not only the place of the birth and residence 
 of my immediate ancestors for four generations, but it afforded, 
 to my childhood, an asylum from the storms of war, and a retreat 
 for my peaceful studies, during the siege of Boston. 1 had been 
 there but a few weeks, before the news arrived of the conflagra- 
 tion at Charlestown. This came to us, not in the shape wliich 
 it has since assumed, of a real victory, though nominal defeat ; 
 but with the unmitigated horrors, of conflagration and massacre, 
 and as a specimen of the mode in which our peaceful villages 
 were intended to be swept with the fire and sword. 
 
 Never can 1 forget the sensation of the people of Barnstable 
 in that dismal hour ; I sincerely believe, from impressions then 
 made, and constantly renewed since, that every man, capable of 
 bearing arras, was ready to rush to the death in revenge of his 
 martyred brethren, and in defence of his country. The minds 
 of the people were convulsed by all the violent passions of our 
 nature, except fear, which seemed to be unknown. 
 
 From that time, the good people of Barnstable and Cape Cod, 
 were harrassed by perpetual alarms. The militia were con- 
 stantly on the alert, the minute men and volunteers often slept 
 upon their arms ; on one day, the British Tenders were making 
 demonstrations outside of Sandy Neck, at other times, their 
 larger vessels were cruising off Hyannis, and the southern coast, 
 threatening to land, no one could tell where ; and during the 
 whole of this period, nothing was heard among the people of 
 Barnstable, but the note of preparation, the voice of patriotism, 
 and the universally expressed determination to conquer or to die. 
 
 These scenes, to say nothing of the part taken in them by my 
 near relatives, were sufficiently stirring to make a deep impres- 
 sion, on the mind of a boy in his tenth year ; but a thousand per- 
 sonal circumstances, concurred to inspire me with a deep and 
 abiding interest in Barnstable and its inhabitants. 
 
 I was placed at school with the amiable Mr. Hilliard, Pastor 
 of the East Parish, where I passed my time from Mondays to 
 Saturdays. On the last day of the week, I was sent for and con- 
 veyed to the patriarchal mansion, and attended on Sundays the 
 religious instructions of the pious and venerable Mr. Shaw. In 
 these weekly journeyings, I became familiar with the location 
 of every house and buiiding between my points of departure, 
 and with the younger inmates, of many of them ; and I feel as 
 if I could jot down, the principal part of them, upon a plan of 
 the road. 
 
76 
 
 At this school, I formed a friendship, which has endured ta 
 this hour, without any variableness or shadow of change, with 
 Thomas H. Perkins, my fellow exile, whose successful enter- 
 prize, and magnificent bounty, have raised him to be an orna- 
 ment to his country and profession. 
 
 I also formed other intimate acquaintances, and among others, 
 with the, then future. Solicitor General of this State; — he was 
 somewhat my senior, and assumed some little pretensions over 
 his schoolmates, in consequence of liaving been chief volunteer 
 Fifer to the Barnstable minute men; in the rudiments of which 
 art, as well as of agriculture, he was instructed by a Patagonian 
 Sybil, named Phillis, his Father's servant, who taught him alter- 
 nately to play the fife, and to plough potatoes. 
 
 Barnstable was not only the scene of my earliest friendship, 
 but of my first love. I became enamoured of a very charming 
 young person, nearly of my own age — but the course of this love 
 did not run smoothly. In an innocent ramble over the fields 
 and hedges, with her and other young persons, she had the mis- 
 fortune to lose a necklace of genuine gold beads; the lault was 
 neither hers, nor mine, but of the string on which they were 
 threaded ; but still, as real mint drops were in that day very val- 
 uable, and Treasury notes greatly on the decline, the circum- 
 stance brought me into some discredit with the family as acces- 
 sory to a loss, which impaired the faculty of resuming specie 
 payments, when the time should arrive, and resulted in a future 
 non-intercourse. 
 
 These bagatelles, I fear may seem to be misplaced, and too 
 light for the occasion ; but I feel as if I were writing to my 
 kinsfolk, and am anxious to gain credit for sincerity on express- 
 ing my sense of the claims of J3arnstable and her people upon 
 my affectionate recollection and respect. 
 
 It would indeed be most gratifving to me, to witness the tran- 
 sition of Barnstable and its inhabitants from the clouds that 
 liovered over them, in my time, to that sunshine of prosperity 
 which enables her, this day, to present a spectacle Mliich her 
 Patriots and Patriarchs would have rejoiced to see, but could not 
 liave been sanguine enough to have anticipated. But I nuist 
 sui)niit to my disappointment, and content myself with hoping 
 that whatever changes may happen in the circumstances of her 
 people, their character, as well as that of the other inhabitants 
 of Cape Cod, may remain as it was in the beginning, and is now. 
 
 " Dear lovely bow'rs of innocence and ease, 
 
 Seats of n)y youth, when cv'ry sport could i)lease." 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great consideration and respect, 
 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 
 II. G. OTIS. 
 
77 
 
 The following sentiment was sent by nn eminent 
 member of the Baltimore Bar, and lineal descend- 
 ant of Governor Thomas Hinckley, of Barnstable, 
 who w^as the Executive of Plymouth Colony from 
 1681 till its union with Massachusetts in 1692. 
 
 By Edward Hinckley, of Baltimore. The Erportx of Cape 
 Cod. — May they be, for generations to come, what they have 
 been in generations past, men of intelligence and integrity ; — 
 commodities which never fail to bring welcome returns. 
 
 By one of the Marshals of the day. Thomas HincMey, tlie 
 last Governor of Plymouth Colony and the only Chief Magis- 
 trate that resided in Barnstable. May his numerous descend- 
 ants among us, hold in reverence his exemplary piety, strive to 
 imitate his virtuous, unostentatious and industrious life, and 
 each of them have as good a wife and make as good a husband 
 as he did. 
 
 The Toast Master announced the following well 
 deserved tribute to our escort, in behalf of the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements, which was warmly received. 
 
 The New England Guards. — A gallant specimen of an in- 
 dependent, self-sustained, volunteer militia. Cape Cod gives 
 them to-day, as friends, what they are always prepared to give 
 their country's enemies — a warm reception. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow, on the part of the corps, replied, 
 in a neat and brief address, and concluded by offer- 
 ering the following sentiment : 
 
 The town of Barnstable. — Honored in the history of the past, 
 distinguished in the present by the talents and patriotism of her 
 sons. May the future see no change but that consequent upon 
 the progress and improvement of succeeding generations. 
 
 Toliiaiteer Tosasfs. 
 
 [The following is a specimen of the spirit and 
 feeling which pervaded the whole company. We 
 regret that we could not collect and string, together 
 all the pearls that adorned that day.] 
 
 By the Chief Marshal of the day, Henry Crocker.— C«pe Cod 
 and her emigrant children. Though her sterile soil and circum- 
 scribed boundaries shcdl continue to expatiate her sons to wider 
 
78 
 
 fields of enterprise and into more certain paths to greatness — 
 yet may she, on her tri-ccntennlal Jubilee, gather home to her 
 rejoicings, a like goodly family — eminent in the jurisprudence 
 and literature of the State, and of enviable rank in the science, 
 commerce and productive labor of the whole world — none of 
 whom shall ever forget their origin, or he ashamed of their 
 ancestry. 
 
 By the Toast Master. The prophecy of James Otis in 1768,, 
 verified by living history on his native soil, in 1839. "Our 
 fathers (said he to a British advocate of the Stamp Act) were a 
 good people, we have been a free people and if you will not let 
 us remain so any longer, we shall be a §^?-cr/# people." 
 
 By Nathaniel Hinckley. 21ic next Centennial— ^M?iy it find 
 our places filled by those, who, having heeded the injunction of 
 the pious Robinson, " to adopt and practice upon any ncjo prin- 
 ciples of truth which might break forth," shall be blessed in the 
 exercise of perfect, civil and religious liberty and equality. 
 
 By Rev. Henry Hersey. Inhabitants of Cape Cod. — The 
 purity of their love for their ancestry, is evidenced, in a re- 
 markable degree, by the fact, that they have travelled longer than 
 those of neighboring communities, in the good old ways of their 
 fathers. 
 
 By Benjamin Hallet of Barnstable, a revolutionary soldier and 
 seaman. Revolutionary light — May it continue to shine bright- 
 er and brighter unto the perfect day of civil and religious free- 
 dom. 
 
 By Joshua Sears, of Boston. The spirit of the Pilgrims — 
 the spirit of reasonable liberty ; the liberty of conscience, and 
 the liberty to exercise their own judgment in the management 
 of their domestic affairs. No perils, no sufferings deterred 
 them in the pursuit. May the same spirit animate their poster- 
 ity to defend and perpetuate what their Fathers acquired. 
 
 By W. J. Dewey, of New Orleans, a Cape Codder. Cape 
 Cod Fishermen — May their " lines ever fall in pleasant places," 
 for they always gain more by hookihvin by crook. 
 Tune — 'It was Sam Jones the Fisherman.' 
 
 By Capt. Josiah Sturgis, of the U. S. Cutter Hamilton. Com- 
 mcree — May every fathom of cordage employed in its service 
 prove a halter, and every yard of canvass a pall, to its enemies. 
 
 By Capt. Benjamin Rich, of Boston, (sent.) The whole of 
 Cape Cod — When our Pilgrim Fathers wrote out the records of 
 Liberty upon the one end, the other furnished the sand that 
 kept them from blotting. 
 
 By Russell Freeman. Mr. President, much has been said 
 and sung about the Last CocWd Hat — I propose to you, sir, 
 and I do it with reverence, 
 
 The Last White Wig — The memory of the Rev. Timothy 
 Alden, who lived and died the minister of Yarmouth, and whose 
 life filled nearly half the space of the time we celebrate. 
 
79 
 
 By a Marshal of the day. Civilization and Social Liberty — 
 Two hundred years have brought them to perfection : can any 
 doubt it, when we see around ih\s festive board, on such an oc- 
 casion, the bright faces and glowing smiles of our fair country 
 women ? 
 
 By a Lady. Chief Justice Shato — There is HOPE* in the 
 Judiciary. 
 
 By Francis Bassett, Clerk of the U. S. District Court, (a na- 
 tive.) Cape Cod — The first discovered land of the Pilgrims, it 
 will be the last to loose sight of their virtues. 
 
 By John L. Dimmock, one of the Marshals. Our descend- 
 ants in 1939 — May they then as we do now — come from the 
 North, South, East and West, and celebrate our natal day — 
 with an honest pride and pleasure worthy of their ancestors. 
 
 By S. B. Phinney. The Commerce of the U. States. — The 
 wealth of the Indies could never repay the sons of Cape Cod, 
 for their toils and sacrifices, to extend its bounds and perpetuate 
 its prosperity. But the only reward they wish is the fruits of 
 honest industry and a good conscience. 
 
 By F. W. Crocker. IVie Inhabitants of Cape Cod — Their 
 birth place a narrow strip of earth, their homes the whole sur- 
 face of the globe. 
 
 By John Henry Clifford, one of the Governor's Aids. Cape 
 Cod — Her pine trees once furnished to Massachusetts the de- 
 vice for her flag. She has retained the prouder destinction of 
 furnishing, through all her history, the truest hearts and the 
 stoutest arms by which that flag has been defended. 
 
 By Col. Peter Dunbar, of Boston. The Cape Codders of 
 1639. — May their descendants for two hundred years to come 
 be as patriotic, industrious and virtuous as they were, and the 
 inhabitants of these United States will never suffer for want of 
 Codfish or have a prohibitory act to prevent eating tliem. 
 
 By E. M. Gardner, of Nantucket. The Scholars of Barnsta- 
 ble County, cd}sent and present. — Amid the fairest flowers in 
 the garden of our Literature, and among the noblest trees upon 
 the hill of Science, we find exotics from the barren sands of 
 Cape Cod ; those sands that were early pressed by the pilgrim's 
 feet, and are still the home of the Pilgrim Spirit. 
 
 By Henry J. Oliver, of Boston. Our Forefathers — 
 " The world was all before them, where to choose 
 Their place of rest, and Providence their guide." 
 
 By B. F. Ilallett, of Boston. Cape Cod Farmers. — One of 
 the best samples of that frugal and virtuous class who labor in 
 the earth ; of whom Jefferson well said " They are the chosen 
 people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breast he 
 has made his peculiar deposite for substantial and genuine vir- 
 tues. 
 
 *The name ol llie wife of the Cliief Justice, a Barnstable lady. 
 
80 
 
 By James Harlow, of Carver. Religious Freedom. — A senti- 
 ment in which every true American must concur. He should 
 wear it upon his arm, and bind it upon his heart, and guard it 
 as the most sacred right of man. 
 
 By Thomas W. Sears, of Boston. Cape Cod. — The place 
 where the wanderers in the " 31ai/ Flower'''' first found a resting 
 place. It has since been distinguished as a place of rest and 
 hospitality to the tempest-tossed mariner, and the weary travel- 
 ler. 
 
 By Walter Crocker, one of the Vice Presidents. Descend- 
 ants of the Pilgrims. — May we act well our part in handing 
 down in their purity, the blood bought privileges, civil and re- 
 ligious, which our Pilgrim Fathers, under God, handed to us, 
 even to the latest generations — and finally meet the former with 
 the latter, around his throne to celebrate His praises through 
 eternity. 
 
 By J. Farris, of Plymouth. Our Ancestors mid our Postcri- 
 ty. — May we never forget that the only way we can discharge 
 our obligations to the former is transmitting their dearly- 
 bought bequest of freedom, unimpaired to the latter. 
 
 The following alluded to the Rock, a mile west 
 from the Court House, on the main road, where 
 Lothrop and his Church partook of the communion 
 on the first settlement. 
 
 By Uriel Crocker, of Boston. 21ie West Barnstable Church 
 — the first independent Congregational Church in the icorld. — 
 May the adhesion of their descendants to the principles of civil 
 and religious Liberty, he as firm, as the consecrated Rock 
 around which their Fathers worshipped with the venerated 
 Lothrop. 
 
 By Prince Hawes, of Boston. Co/;f Cod. — Though barren 
 in her soil, she is productive of men who honor the Bench and 
 the Bar — who flourish in commerce — are respectable as me- 
 chanics — industrious in their husbandry — and the fame of her 
 seamen is proverbial the world over. 
 
 By Z. D. Bassett. The Beaut i/, Brilliancy and Order of the 
 scene before us : May Heavens richest blessing rest upon it ; — 
 and in that day when God shall make up his Jewels, not an in- 
 dividual be missing. 
 
 By Joseph A. Davis. Cape Cod Farins. — Selected less for 
 the depth of their soil, than the depth of their soundings. 
 
 By Adolphus Davis, of Boston. The Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements — The skillful navigator to the wealth 
 of the Indies. 
 
 [The following were by the absent and the pres- 
 ent without the names being appended. We have 
 
 10 
 
81 
 
 found all so good, that not a single sentiment which 
 came to the hands of the Toast Master was omitted.] 
 
 Cape Cod — Though she may not boast of her Colleges and 
 Halls of Learning, she has a prouder moral monument in her 
 nursery of hardy, industrious and fearless mariners, the Fisher- 
 ies ; the great Primary School of our gallant Navy 
 
 Our Clergy — Laborers in the good vineyard, may they incul- 
 cate temperance in all things, and eschew fanaticism. 
 
 Boston and Cape Cod — As inseparable in their mutual rela- 
 tions to each other, and as unpalatable alone, as Codfish and 
 Potatoes. 
 
 A fair division — Clams, quahaugs and codfish to our friends 
 — the shells and scales to our enemies. 
 
 The Union — May the maxim adopted by the Fathers of the 
 Revolution, be recognized, and respected by their posterity to 
 the last period of time, — " That united we stand, divided we 
 falir 
 
 The County of Barnstable — She points to this assembly, and 
 in the language of the Roman Matron of old, exclaims, " Lo ! 
 these are my jewels." 
 
 Cape Cod Industry, Cape Cod Frugality, Cape Cod Pros- 
 perity, and Cape Cod Forever. 
 
 The Ladies of Cape Cod — Pre-eminently exemplary for cdl 
 the domestic virtues. 
 
 By this time the last rajs of the sun were passing 
 through the Pavilion, and the ladies began to think 
 of dressing for the ball. It was time to retire, though 
 half the good things on hand had not been served up. 
 There were letters to be read from several distin- 
 guished invited guests, who had been obliged to de- 
 cline being present. 
 
 An Original Song by a descendant of Cape Cod, 
 was sung by the whole company to the tune of 
 "Auld Lang Syne," and the gratified assembly, 
 apparently charmed with all they had enjoyed and 
 with each other, left the Pavilion at 7 o'clock, in the 
 same admirable good order that distinguished every 
 movement of this ever memorable day. " And," 
 in the words of the Apochraphy, " they ordained 
 
S2 
 
 with d common decree (for their posterity) in no 
 case to let that day pass without solemnity." 
 
 The following is the Song referred to. 
 Song'. 
 
 TUNE AULD LANG SYNE. 
 
 Across the sea for other homes, 
 
 And leaving all behind, 
 Our father's came from England's shores, 
 
 A refuge here to find. 
 
 Chorus. 
 The rolling sea, the whistling wind, 
 
 The peril and the toil, 
 Ah ! what were these compared with joys 
 
 They found on Freedom's soil ! 
 
 They left the green fields of a home, 
 
 The sympathy of love. 
 The luxuries of social life, 
 
 A trackless path to rove. 
 
 Chorus. 
 They left behind all thought of wealth, 
 
 The joys of age and youth, 
 Resolved to hold a nobler aim, — 
 
 The sacred love of Truth. 
 
 And now two hundred years have passed, — 
 
 With grateful praise to God, 
 We turn our steps to honor those 
 
 Who sleep beneath the sod. 
 
 Chorus. 
 To IIiM who staid the savage arnj, 
 
 Who made our Fathers free, 
 Our hearts as brothers we would raise, 
 
 As brothers bend the knee. 
 
 Oh ! sacred be this spot to us, — 
 
 The sons of Freedom's sires, — 
 Although it teem not with the fruits 
 
 Which grow 'mid tropic fires ! 
 
83 
 
 Chorus. 
 Dearer its sands, than those gay scenes 
 
 O'er which we elsewhere roam, — 
 No grace it needs to make it sweet, 
 
 For 'tis our Fathers' home. 
 
 The North, the South, the East, the West,. 
 
 May all declare their worth;: — 
 This is a spot we cherish more 
 
 Than all the rest of Earth : 
 Chorus. 
 
 And though full many years have passed,, 
 And time hath changed us some. 
 
 Let all join hearts and hands as one, 
 And bless the Pilgrims Home. 
 
 The closing scene was the Ball in the splendidly 
 decorated hall prepared for the occasion, in the rear 
 of the new Court House, 76 by 40 feet in extent. — 
 The hand of taste had enriched it with every elegant 
 decoration. The walls and roof were hung with 
 white cloth, presented by a gentleman of Boston for 
 the occasion, which beautifully contrasted with the 
 wreaths of evergreens and flowers that festooned the 
 sides and entwined the pillars and rafters in most 
 graceful arrangement, interspersed with horns of 
 plenty and appropriate adornments ; the whole bril- 
 liantly lighted with chandeliers and side lamps in 
 rich profusion. Over the door was the inscription 
 in evergreen, (which also hung at the entrance to 
 the Pavilion) " Barnstable incorporoted A.D. 1639," 
 and in front of the Orchestra in large capitals, 
 "Welcome Home." 
 
 The Court Room was transformed, as if by magic 
 into a supper hall, and never was a place of justice 
 filled with such a throng of beauty. The round 
 tables of the lawyers were more graced by the fair 
 
84 
 
 Vecipients of their delicate refeshmeiits, than if tliey 
 had been the veritable round table of King Arthur's 
 gallant Knights. The walls were decorated with 
 choice portraits of James Otis, Judge Daniel Davis, 
 his son Solicitor General Davis, Judge George 
 Thacher, late of the Supreme Court, Charles Hal- 
 lett, and other sons of Barnstable. 
 
 Between the cohnnns of the gallery w^as suspend- 
 ed a venerable cradle, built by the Great Grand Fa- 
 ther of Dr. Thacher, and a blanket brought over in 
 one of the early vessels of the settlers wrecked on 
 Thacher's Island near Cape Ann. These relics have 
 been preserved for more than one hundred years in 
 the family of Peter Thacher, of Yarmouth. 
 
 The refreshments for the ball prepared by Mr. 
 Wright, were as successfully and agreeably provided 
 as was the dinner, and the graceful dance was con- 
 tinued until an early hour. 
 
 In the evening there was a shower of sky rockets, 
 but, as if the powers above smiled propitious on this 
 joyous occasion, the whole sky was sublimely illu- 
 minated by a magnificent dis})lay of Heaven's own 
 fireworks, an aurora borocalis, which shot up its ra- 
 diant light from all the surrounding horizon to the 
 zenith, in a galaxy of glory. And so ended this 
 never to be forgotten festival. 
 
SecoattI C'otis'se or the CeaaleaBtsfal. 
 
 We will now notice the only omissions which has 
 occurred to us, in the general account o(" the day. 
 The reception of the Boston Committee and Guests 
 at the landing, by the Barnstable Committee, was 
 appropriate and cordial. David Crocker, Esq. as 
 Chairman of the latter, and Hon. William Sturgis 
 of the former, with their fellow committeemen, in- 
 terchanged greetings and repaired to their respective 
 quarters. Among the decorations of the Pavilion, 
 the flags that floated from the three staffs in the 
 centre and wings, should not have been forgotten. — 
 In the centre moved the national flag, with its thirteen 
 stripes, corresponding, by the way, to the thirteen 
 towns of Barnstable Countv. On the left was a flair, 
 for the occasion, with the Massachusetts arms, an 
 Indian, &c., and on the right another with the pine 
 tree, which was the Old Plymouth Colony emblem, 
 the flag under which the brave men of New England 
 fought many a gallant battle in the old French wars. 
 
 The following letters were received by the Chair- 
 man of the Committee of Arrangements, from invited 
 guests, who were unable to be present : 
 
 From Ex-President Adams. 
 
 QuiNCV, .July 23, \Sm. 
 
 I have received, with grateful sensibility, the invitation to at- 
 tend the Celebration of the Second Centennial Anniversary of 
 the incorporation of the town of Barnstable, and to participate 
 in its festivities. 
 
 It would give me great pleasure to accept this proposal, and 
 I regret that a precarious state of health, and tiie growing in- 
 firmities of age, with engagements which confine me necessari- 
 
86 
 
 ly at home, deprive me of the hopes of being able to share iiT 
 the enjoyments of the day. 
 
 Tliat the inliabitants of ETarnstable, at the close of every cen- 
 tury of their corporate existence, may have equal cause to re- 
 joice in their condition, and to glory in their ancestry with those 
 of the present day, will be the unceasing wish and the fervent 
 prayer of their friend and iellow citizen. 
 
 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 From Judge Story, of the United States Su- 
 preme Court. 
 
 Cambridge, August 17, 1839. 
 I have deferred answering your letter for some time, under 
 the expectation, that [ might possibly be able to accept the po- 
 lite invitation of the Committee of Arrangements to unite witli 
 them in the celebration of the second Centennial Anniversary 
 of the incorporation of Barnstable. It is now certain, that my 
 engagements will prevent me from participating in the festivi- 
 ties of such an interesting day. I beg to return, however, to 
 the Committee, my sincere acknowledgments for the honor 
 which they have done me, and to assure them that I should have- 
 been highly gratified in visiting your venerable town on so joy- 
 ous an occasion. If I had been able to be present, I should 
 liave asked leave to offer as a toast — 
 
 The Town of Barnstahle — The sands of her shores may shift, 
 but the principles of the Fathers remain unchanged and un- 
 changeable in their Children. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obliged servant, 
 
 JOSEPH STORY. 
 
 From Judge Davis, of the United States District 
 Court. 
 
 BofJTON, August 2G, 1830. 
 
 It would be highly gratifying to me to attend the celebration 
 of the second Centennial Anniversary of the incorporation of 
 Barnstable. 
 
 Circumstances, not to be disregarded, oblige me to deny my- 
 self the pleasure of meeting with the happy thousands, who will 
 be assembled on that occasion. Though absent, my heart will 
 be with you. 
 
 These Centennial observances are of no common holiday 
 character. A filial duty is thus honorably discharged, instruc- 
 tive lessons arc inculcated, and considerations of salutary and 
 abiding influence, suggested and impressed. 
 
87 
 
 The early settlement of tlie Cape town?, with the best princi- 
 ples of social order, and with the gladsome light of Christianity, 
 I have ever considered a most happy occurrence for our beloved 
 country. The whole community, and, especially, the connner- 
 cial world, have had large experience -of its beneficial effects. 
 In addition to such precious results, those settlements have, I 
 believe, been found to afford support and comfort to their popu- 
 lation, not surpassed in locations of greater apparent promise. 
 Of this there is abundant evidence. It is manifested by the 
 cordial attachment to their native home, uniformly observable 
 in the sons and daughters of the Cape, wherever dispersed. 
 Their own poet, John Osborn, of Eastham, early in the last 
 century, indicated that sentiment, in his Wkalini^ ^ong, when 
 describing a departure, in that employment, at the opening of 
 spring : 
 
 " Cape Cod, our dearest native land, 
 
 We leave astern, and lose 
 Its sinking cliffs and lessenning sands, 
 
 While zephyr gently blows. 
 
 The effusions of that child of genius always occurred to re- 
 collection, when viewing, on some bright day, the magnificent 
 sweep of the Cape, from the heights between Plymouth and 
 Sandwich. 
 
 If with you, at your festival, I should ask permission to offer 
 the subjoined sentiment, which is submitted to the disposal of 
 the Committee. 
 
 Very respectfully 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN DAVIS. 
 The Right Arm of Massachusetts Bay — Strong, steady, and 
 efficient, never weary in well doing. 
 
 From Judge Wilde, of the Supreme Court. 
 
 Boston, July 30th, 1830. 
 I received, a few days since, your obliging favor of the 13th 
 instant, by which, in behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, 
 you have done me the honor to invite my attendance at the cel- 
 ebration of the second Centennial Anniversary of the incorpora- 
 tion of the town of Barnstable. For which I pray yoUj and the 
 Committee, to accept my best thanks. I regret exceedingly, 
 that my engagements are such that I am obliged to deny myscll' 
 the pleasure of participating in the festivities of the day ; but 
 though absent from you in the body, I shall be present with you 
 in the spirit ; and on this interesting occasion, I beg leave to 
 transmit to you my best wishes for the increasing prosperity of 
 your good town ; — may it continue not only for another century, 
 but as long as the sun and the moon shall endure ! 
 
88 
 
 Anionic the desceudauts of our Pilo-rini Fathers, none have 
 done more to sustain tlie honor, good morals, and prosperity ot 
 our country, than the industrious, intelligent, and enterprising 
 .sons of the Cape — those of your town always taking the lead, 
 ^nd this, under Providence, may be principally attributed to 
 that which may have been erroneously considered as a local dis- 
 advantage and misfortune — namely, the lightness and poverty of 
 your soil, which have led to, and established early and continu- 
 ed habits of industry among the people ; without which, no 
 country can long continue prosperous and happy. For as idle- 
 ness is the mother of all vices, so industry is ihe mother of all 
 the virtues which adorn the human character. 
 AVith great respect, 
 
 I am, dear sir. 
 
 Your fiicnd and servant, 
 
 S. S. WILDE. 
 
 Judge Morton, of the Supreme Court, was also 
 obliged to decline an acceptance of the invitation, 
 which, in a private letter to a friend, he stated he 
 had hoped to be able to comply with, until the last 
 day of August. He mentions the fact of being him- 
 self almost a Cape Cod man, both his grand parents: 
 having removed from Sandwich to Taunton. 
 
 From Judge Dewey, of the Supreme Court. 
 
 NoHTUAMrTON, August 2()th, 1830. 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the invitation 
 of " the Committee of Arrangements, appointed by the citizens 
 of Barnstable, for the celebration of the second Centennial An- 
 niversary of the incorporation of that town, requesting me to 
 be jMesent on that occasion, and to participate in its festivities." 
 
 The event you propose to commemorate, is truly one of thril- 
 ling interest. If the dccendants of Cape Cod are fully repre- 
 sented on the occasion, you will lind around you a brotherhood 
 cnd)racing in its circle many of our wisest, most learned, and 
 j)atriotic citizens, in our Commonwealth. Such men will, 1 
 doubt not, do ample justice to the day. 
 
 It would give me great ])leasure to be with you on this inter- 
 esting occasion, but my ollicial duties on the Circuits call me 
 elsewhere. Respectfully, 
 
 Your ob't serv't 
 
 CHARLES A. DEWEY. 
 11 
 
89 
 From Lieut. Governor Hull. 
 
 Sandisfield, Aug. 25tl], 18;J9. 
 Your letter of July 13th, in behalf of the Committee of Ar- 
 rangements, inviting nie to be present at the proposed Celebra- 
 tion of the second Centennial Anniversary of the incorporation 
 of the town of Barnstable, was duly received, and you would have 
 received a more prompt reply, had I been enabled, at an earlier 
 Jay, to decide whether I should be able to gratify my strong in- 
 clination to visit your interesting section of the Commonwealth, 
 on the occasion alluded to. 
 
 I regret now, that circumstances will prevent my being pres- 
 ent and participating in the festivities of the day — but beg leave 
 to offer a brief sentiment, which I hope may not be deemed un- 
 fitting the occasion. 
 
 With much respect, 
 
 Your odedient servant, 
 
 GEORGE HULL. 
 The Matron of lioo Centuries — Whose prolific properties in- 
 crease with her years. May her sons always continue patriotic, 
 and her daughters virtuous. 
 
 Letter from the Collector of Boston. 
 
 Boston, August 30, 1839. 
 
 I cannot easily express to you how much I regret my inabili- 
 to be present at the great Celebration at Barnstable, My heart 
 will be with those who commemorate the early days, when 
 Gosnold adventurously landed on the promontory of Cape Cod ; 
 when Smith, pressing boldly from isle to isle, from inlet to iidet, 
 made himself familiar with its streams and harbors ; when the 
 Pilgrims, enduring every hardship, and manifesting every virtue, 
 in their settlements round the bay, and lighted the little candles, 
 which have kindled into a brightness, that earth itself cannot 
 overshadow. I beg leave to offer as a sentiment. 
 
 The Memory of Bartholomcio Gosnold — A martyr to his zeal 
 for America. His early death prevented his beholding his vis- 
 ion realized. It shall not defraud him of his well earned fame. 
 
 With every sentiment of respect, 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 The following sentiment was designed to have 
 called up Mr. Bancroft, had he been ])rescnt : — 
 
 The History of the United States — In his researches into the 
 foundation and structure of our republican institutions, the 
 philosophical and faithful historian must make his first pilgrim- 
 age to the cabin of the May Flower, " where humanity recovered 
 
90 
 
 its rights, and instituted government on the basis of equal laws 
 and the general good."* 
 
 Hon. John Davis, United States Senator, it was 
 expected would have been present, and to have re- 
 plied to the following :— 
 
 Commerce and Fishci-ies — Two centuries ago the navigation 
 of New England consisted of a single vessel and a little shallop. 
 To day her thousand ships, and her fleets of hardy Fishermen, 
 penetrate every sea, secure in the protection of the General 
 Government, and the vigilance and elocjuence of able defenders 
 of her interests in the National Councils. 
 
 Letter from the President of Harvard University. 
 
 Cambridgk, August 31, 1839. 
 
 I have delayed answering your invitation, from my great un- 
 willingness to decline joining in a celebration so appropriate 
 and interesting. But I find my official duties, at the present 
 period of the College year, urgent, and my presence at the 
 University indispensable. I am compelled, therefore, with re- 
 gret, to decline the proffered honor of attending your celebra- 
 tion. As having been once the residence of one branch of my 
 maternal ancestry, the town of Barnstable has a strong claim 
 on my affections, and in common with all the intelligent inhabi- 
 tants of our land, I hold it in greatful remembrance as the 
 place of the birth and education of many seamen, merchants, 
 and statesmen, who in times past have been and at this day are 
 among the most successful, useful, and honored citizens of the 
 metropolis, and of the Commonwealth. 
 
 I ask leave to propose the following sentiment for the occa- 
 sion. Very respectfully, 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
 27tc Town of Barnstable — Planted by the fearless spirit of 
 the Fathers of New England, among rocks, and sands, and seas, 
 it stands — may it for ever stand ! — a monument to the prosperi- 
 ty and honor of those, who exemplify in their lives, the industry, 
 fidelity, and virtues of their pilgrim ancestors. 
 
 From the Treasurer of the Commonwealth. 
 
 TrEASUUI' OlTKE, ) 
 
 Boston, July 3()lh, 1839. ] 
 For your polite invitation to participate in the festivities of 
 the second Centennial Anniversary of the incorporation of your 
 town, you will i)lease accept my thanks. 
 
 "Sec IJancrod'.s History of United States. 
 
91 
 
 T regret that my engagements will prevent me from being 
 present on that joyous occasion. 
 
 That the good town of Barnstable may enjoy Heaven's rich- 
 est blessings for many centuries yet to come, is the sincere wish 
 of your much obliged friend. 
 
 DAVID WILDER. 
 
 From the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Secretary's Office, i 
 Boston, August 3lst, 1839. ] 
 I esteem it a most distinguished honor to have been invited 
 to the Centennial Festival of your ancient town ; and it is with 
 no ordinary regret that I feel constrained to forego the pleasure 
 of being present. 
 
 In token of my heartfelt interest in the occasion, and my re- 
 spect for the people of the Cape, I ask leave to submit the ac- 
 companying sentiment. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN P. BIGELOW. 
 The thirteen towns of Cape Cod — Their hardy sons, in the 
 pursuits of peace, or the conflicts of war, have nobly upheld 
 the thirteen National Stripes, on every sea. The nation recog- 
 nizes, with pride and honor, their enterprise and bravery. 
 
 The day after the celebration which was as love- 
 ly as the preceding, our friends from abroad embark- 
 ed in the Steamer Bangor, at 9 o'clock, and return- 
 ed homeward, amid the loud echo of cannon and 
 the silent prayer for their prosperity and happiness. 
 May our posterity, at the next centennial have as 
 much reason to rejoice, and as many, and as good 
 friends to reciprocate the joy with them, as we have 
 had at this. 
 
92 
 
 INTENDED FOR THE DINNER, AT THE 
 
 CeiitcBftiiial Celcliratioii at I{arii»»tablc. 
 
 CY A NATIVE. 
 
 I would not breath my latest sigh, 
 
 Upon a foreign strand, 
 And sink into my final rest, 
 
 Within a distant land ; — 
 No, rather let my last repose 
 
 Be on my native shore, 
 Where the wild sea-bird's frctiuent note, 
 
 Blends with the ocean's roar. 
 
 It is not that in other climes, 
 
 I would not like to rove, 
 Where fragrant flowers, and warbling birds, 
 
 i'erfume and deck tlie grove ; 
 Oh no ! for life then hastens on 
 
 Serenely to its end, 
 And with dear friends 't were paradise. 
 
 Existence there to spend. 
 
 But yet this barren sandy soil 
 
 A cradle was to me, 
 And cooling breezes fann'd my brow. 
 
 From yonder swelling sea : — 
 Therefore when death shall come to me. 
 
 As come full soon he will, 
 I'd meet him here, amid these scenes 
 
 That speak of boyhood still. 
 
 P D - 1 8 1 
 

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