•|;iss Fq^-"' 
 
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 PieKSEXTlil) liY 
 
DORCHESTER DAY 
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 Two Hundred and Seventy-Seventh 
 Anniversary 
 
 Settlement of Dorchester 
 
 JUNE 8th, 1907 
 
 IN'CI.UniNG ALSO 
 
 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ORIGIN OF DORCHESTER DAY 
 AND THE THREE PRECEDING CELEBRATIONS 
 
 By JAMES H. STARK 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1907 
 

 CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 In Board of Aldermen, December 23, 1907. 
 Ordered^ That a second edition, consisting of one thousand 
 copies, of the proceedings of Dorchester Day, June 8, 1907, be 
 printed, the expense of same to be charged to the appropria- 
 tion for Printing Department; such documents to be distributed 
 under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing. 
 
 Passed. Sent down for concurrence. 
 December 26, came up concurred. 
 Approved by the Mayor January 2, 1908. 
 A true copy. 
 
 Attest : ^ J 
 
 .John t. priest, 
 
 Assistant City Clerh. 
 
 % 
 
 Gift 
 The Society 
 
 5 My '08 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OlJIGIN OF DOUCIIESTKR DaV ...... 
 
 FIRST DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION. 
 Opening Address by Richard C. Humphreys 
 Oration uy James H. Stark ..... 
 
 Page 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 SECOND DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION. 
 Poem, "The 'Mary and -Iohn ' in Dorchester Bay," 
 BY Hezekiah Bitterworth .... 
 
 SAiLiN(i Regatta ....... 
 
 Athletic Games ....... 
 
 THIRD DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION 
 Program ..... 
 Roster of Parade 
 Address by Richard C. Humphreys 
 Oration by Josiah Quincy . 
 Horse Races and Sailinc; Regatta 
 
 24 
 26 
 27 
 
 ;52 
 
 33 
 35 
 37 
 50 
 
 FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION. 
 
 Committees ......... 56 
 
 Program of City Committee ..... 56 
 
 Pro(;ram ok Dorchester Historical Society . . 58 
 
 Replacing the Old Dorchester Milestone . . 58 
 
 Address by Richard C. Humphreys .... 59 
 
 Address by Gov. Curtis Guild, Jr. . . . . 61 
 
 Address by Mayor Fitzgerald ..... 63 
 
 Address by James H. Stark ..... 65 
 
 Celebration at Savin Hill ..... 68 
 
 Oration by Daniel Chauncey Brewer ... 70 
 
 Address by Rev. W. H. Allbright .... 78 
 
 Address by Rev. Eugene R. Shippen .... 82 
 
 PoEiM, " Dorchester Pioneers " . . . . . 83 
 
 Yacht Races ........ 85 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Water Sports ...... 
 
 The Parade ...... 
 
 Athletic Games ...... 
 
 Historic Spots Located .... 
 
 Fireworks Display ..... 
 
 Banquet ....... 
 
 Address by the President of the Dorchester 
 TORiCAL Society ..... 
 
 Address by Rev. Peter Ron an . 
 
 Address by Guy A. Ham .... 
 
 His- 
 
 Page 
 87 
 
 88 
 93 
 
 95 
 97 
 99 
 
 100 
 103 
 
 106 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 « Replacing the Old Dorchester Milestone 
 
 v' Portrait of AVilliam H. Whitmore 
 
 ■I Birthplace of Edward Everett 
 
 -^ Old Blake House ..... 
 
 " Portrait of R. C. Humphreys 
 
 ^ Portrait of James H. Stark . 
 
 V Encampment of New England Guards . 
 / Portrait of Josiah Quincy 
 
 / Last Indian Camp on Savin Hill . 
 
 V City Committee ..... 
 ! Committee of the City Council 
 
 Portrait of Curtis Guild, Jr. 
 Portrait of John F. Fitzgerald . 
 Gkavestones from the Old Burial Ground 
 . Portrait of Eugene R. Shippen 
 
 Yacht Race off Savin Hill . 
 . First Burying Place in Dorchester, Tomb of 
 
 Gov. William Stoughton 
 "^ Committee of the Dorchester Historical 
 Society ...... 
 
 Frontispiece 
 Faeiug page ;"> 
 6 
 8 
 13 
 15 
 2'3 
 37 
 40 
 55 
 59 
 61 
 63 
 70 
 82 
 85 
 
 96 
 
 108 
 
tifu^ 
 
 FOUNDER OF THE DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND FIRST PRESIDENT 
 
 OF SAME FOR MANY YEARS CITY REGISTRAR AND 
 
 RECORD COMMISSIONER 
 
ORIGIN OF DORCHESTER DAY 
 
 On April 6, 1891, William H. Wliitmore, City 
 Registrar, and Mr. James H. Stark, both well-known 
 antiquarians and historical students, obtained a special 
 act of the Legislature incorporating the Dorchester 
 Historical Society. 
 
 This society succeeded the Dorchester Antiquarian 
 and Historical Society, wliicli was organized on Janu- 
 ary 27, 1848; but at the organizing of the new 
 society its membership had been reduced to but three 
 members, namely : Edmund J. Baker, President ; Henry 
 G. Denny, Secretary ; and William B. Trask, Curator. 
 
 The new society started with a membership of 
 twenty-hve. Since then many of the best known 
 and most influential men of the old town have 
 become members. 
 
 Among the results of the society's work may 1)e 
 mentioned the observance of the 274th anniversary 
 of the settlement of Dorchester and the inauguration 
 of Dorchester Day, which is now a fixture, and under 
 the auspices of the society the anniversary is observed 
 yearly, and is practically a ''home coming" for the 
 residents of old Dorchester that are scattered through- 
 out the land. Business houses and private resi- 
 dences are elaborately decorated. There are parades, 
 addresses, regattas, ringing of bells, fireworks, etc. 
 
6 ORIGIN OF 
 
 The principal purpose of the society is to collect, 
 preserve and publish information concerning the 
 ancient town of Dorchester. 
 
 The activity and industry of its members since its 
 incorporation have contributed much to the general 
 interest in Colonial and Revolutionary annals, and 
 many scenes of national historic importance before 
 unheeded and almost unknown have become through 
 research and publication familiar. 
 
 Among the results of the society's work may be 
 mentioned the location from ancient records of the 
 site on which stood the first town meeting-house and 
 the first public school. 
 
 April 11, 1894, the society celebrated the 100th 
 anniversary of the birth of Edward Everett, who was 
 born in the old mansion on the corner of Boston 
 and Pond streets, at the " Five Corners." A public 
 meeting was held in Winthrop Hall, at which delega- 
 tions from the Board of Aldermen and Common 
 Council took part in the services. An eloquent oration 
 was delivered by the Rev. James De Normandie, and 
 an address hy Mr. James H. Stark, giving a history 
 of the Edward Everett mansion, which prior to the 
 Revolution was owned by Thomas Oliver, the last 
 royal Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. The 
 meetings of the society were first held at the resi- 
 dences of its members, and the one thing that its 
 members stood in the most need of was a building 
 in which it could hold its meetings and store its 
 archives and historic treasures. The city purchased 
 a lot of land to be used for greenhouse purposes on 
 
I 
 
DORCHESTER DAY. 7 
 
 East Cottage street and Massachusetts avenue. On 
 this lot was situated one of the oldest colonial houses 
 in Dorchester, which was offered to the Historical 
 Society if they would remove the same. Mr. John 
 H. Blake and Dr. Clarence J. Blake, descendants 
 of the settler who built the house, and other mem- 
 bers of the family, very generously offered $1,000 
 toward the expense of moving and restoring it. 
 Another f 1,000 was subscribed by members and 
 others. The city allowed the building to be moved 
 upon the triangular piece of land at the junction of 
 Pond street and the Parkway, at the " Five Corners " — 
 now Edward Everett square — opposite the Edward 
 Everett mansion. This land was given to the city 
 a few years ago by the late Mr. Richardson, the 
 owner of the Edward Everett house, and was near 
 the site of the first meeting-house, town-house, and 
 first free school. The city afterwards contributed 
 $2,000 for grading and laying out the grounds sur- 
 rounding the building. 
 
 At a meeting of the society held in April, 1904, 
 the Vice-President, Mr. James H. Stark, proposed 
 that the society should celebrate the settlement of 
 Dorchester by proper observances on the crest of 
 Savin Plill, on the site where the first fort was 
 erected, and where the first settlers located. Mr. 
 Stark's object in this was to draw the attention of 
 the public to this most beautiful and attractive his- 
 toric spot, with the end in view that the city 
 should purchase it for a park and hand down to pos- 
 terity this lovely hilltop. At first it was difficult to 
 
8 ORIGIN OF DORCHESTER DAY. 
 
 see how it could be accomplished, for the treasury 
 was empty, all the funds of the society having been 
 used in moving and fitting up the building. Mr. 
 Stark argued that it would not only draw the atten- 
 tion of the public to the necessity of preserving to 
 posterity this historic spot, but it would advance the 
 interests of the society, as it would bring it more 
 prominently before the public, and if it proved a 
 success " Dorchester Day " would become the annual 
 ''field day" of the society. It was finally voted 
 that the society should celebrate the settlement of 
 Dorchester hj a band concert and addresses, etc., on 
 the crest of Savin Hill, on June 25, 1904, and that 
 the same should be known as " Dorchester Day," and 
 that Mr. James H. Stark be requested to raise the 
 funds and pay the bills for same. Mr. Stark accepted 
 the service, and collected $135, which proved suffi- 
 cient to pay all the bills for tent, printing, and light 
 refreshments, etc. The city furnished the Municipal 
 Band, flags, etc., free. And thus was " Dorchester 
 Day " inaugurated. The following account of the 
 observances of the occasion is from the Boston 
 Herald of June 26, 1904. 
 
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THE FIRST DORCHESTER DAY 
 CELEBRATION 
 
 June 2^, 1904 
 
FIRST DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION 
 
 June 25, 1904 
 
 Lifted nearly one hundred and fifty feet above 
 Dorchester bay, the craggy slopes and tree-covered 
 heights of "Rocky Hill," "Old Hill," or "Savin 
 Hill," as it has been variously styled, were yester- 
 day the scene of commemorative exercises that seem 
 destined to make a new place of historical pilgrim- 
 age for the tourist whose steps are annually bent 
 toward Massachusetts. The members of the Dor- 
 chester Historical Society, having planned to turn 
 this long-neglected spot into a park, wdiich shall at 
 the same time commemorate the settlement of Dor- 
 chester in 1630, and possess the character of a 
 national monument, had enlisted the aid of several 
 local societies, such as the Savin Hill Lnprovement 
 Association, Gen. Rufus Putnam Chapter, D. R.^ 
 Savin Hill Yacht Club, Harrison Square Association, 
 Dorchester Lower Mills Improvement Association, 
 Mattapan Improvement Association, Field and Forest 
 Club, Dorchester Veteran Firemen's Association, 
 Benjamin Stone, Jr., Post 68, G. A. R., and the 
 United Im])rovement Association of Dorchester. 
 
 Under invitation of these organizations some two 
 hundred citizens of Dorchester gathered in a tent on 
 the crest of Savin Hill, and there, alternated with 
 
12 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 selections by the Boston Municipal Band, under Emil 
 Mollenliauer, patriotic addresses were made on the 
 significance of the day and the site, the speakers 
 being Richard C. Humphreys, President of the Dor- 
 chester Historical Society ; James H. Stark, who 
 delivered the oration ; the Rev. Eugene R. Shippen of 
 the First Church in Dorchester, who presided; the 
 Rev. Peter Ronan and Representative Guy A. Ham. 
 In calling the meeting to order, Richard C. Hum- 
 phreys made the following address : 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
FIRST DORCHESTER DAY 
 
 OPENING ADDRESS 
 
 By President Richard C. Humphreys 
 
 We are standing on historic groiuid, where stood 
 the first fort in the early days of Dorchester, and at 
 the foot of this hill all along the shore stood a line 
 of fortifications which I well remember. Within rille 
 range of this hill was built the first free school in 
 the world, the first town meeting being held no far- 
 ther off ; on yonder river, tlie Neponset, was built 
 the first mill on this side of the ocean, and the first 
 potatoes raised in New England were planted on 
 what is now Savin Hill avenue. 
 
 In the good old town of Dorchester Edward 
 Everett was born and Daniel Webster lived. Time 
 would fail me to tell of all the governors, generals 
 and famous men who have lived within the limits 
 of Dorchester. 
 
 TO PRESERVE SAVIN HILL FOR ALL FUTURE TIME. 
 
 The Dorchester Historical Society made a great 
 effort, in which its former President, John J. May, 
 of sainted memory, took an active part, to save this 
 liill for all time by making it a park, and we wish 
 to have you all take a greater interest in our society, 
 to join it and help us make the people more fully 
 realize what historic ground we have here at hand. 
 
14 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 I have pleasure in introducing to you, as presiding 
 officer of the day, the pastor of the First Church in 
 Dorchester, which for more than 150 years was the 
 only church in the town. 
 
 The Rev. Eugene R. Shippen then made liis ad- 
 dress as presiding officer. " Dorchester's golden age," 
 said he, -'is in the past. In 1633 it was the great- 
 est town in New England, Boston being but a sub- 
 urb. It was within sight of this hill that the good 
 ship " Mary and John " rode at anchor, bringing 
 the men who came here to help found this great 
 republic." 
 
 The historic address of the occasion was then 
 delivered by James H. Stark, Vice-President of the 
 Dorchester Historical Society. 
 
FOUNDER OF DORCHESTER DAY AND OF THE DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF SAME. 
 
FIRST DORCHKSTKR DAY. 15 
 
 ORATION 
 
 By James H. Stark 
 
 Fellow citizens and members of the Dorchester 
 Historical Society who have shown such an interest 
 in preserving this historic hill and the landmarks of 
 your ancient town, we have come here to the 
 summit of " Old Hill " to-day to lay the offerings of 
 cherished memories and honest pride upon altars 
 which our fathers reared here in Dorchester in years 
 that are past. Two hundred and seventy-four years 
 have i)assed since the ship " Mary and John " arrived 
 here from England with the tirst Dorchester settlers, 
 composed of families from Devon, Dorset and Somer- 
 setshire. And standing, as we do, upon a spot which 
 was witness to some of their early struggles, and 
 whose occupancy was among the early fruits of their 
 triumph over the difficulties that surrounded them, 
 the memory goes back instinctively to that train of 
 events which was crowned by the planting of a col- 
 ony of free, enlightened Englishmen on the shores of 
 New England. 
 
 Among them was a young man named Roger 
 Clap, who informs us in his narrative that " many 
 of these people were trading men, and at first 
 designed Dorchester for a place of trade, and accord- 
 ingly built a fort upon ye hill called Rock-hill, 
 wherein were several pieces of ordnance, near ye 
 
16 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 waterside ; but ye channel being poor and landing 
 difficult, and Boston and Cliarlestown harbor being 
 far more commodious, they desisted from their 
 design and many of them removed afterwards to 
 Boston and other places." Therefore, strange as it 
 may appear, the level ground around this wild, 
 rugged spot was selected and occupied by the first 
 settlers a year before Boston was settled, and here 
 they intended to establish the future New England 
 metropolis, but were defeated in their design because 
 "ye channel being poor and landing difficult," which 
 defect, singular to say, was removed the ninth day of 
 this month [laughter and applause], when for the 
 first time since the settlement of Dorchester the 
 channel is good and a landing can be made at 
 low tide. 
 
 Among the most notable of the early settlers of 
 Rock Hill was Roger Ludlow. He was a brother- 
 in-law of Governor Endicott, and in 1634 was chosen 
 Deputy Governor. His home, which was probably 
 the best in Dorchester at that time, was situated on 
 the site of the Denny estate, at the foot of this hill. 
 Winthrop informs us that " Mr. Ludlow, in digging 
 the foundations of his home in Dorchester, found 
 two pieces of French money ; one was coined in 
 1596. They were in several places, and above a 
 foot within firm ground." From this it would appear 
 that the French were here trading with the Indians 
 before the English came. 
 
 At a meeting of the projectors of the colony, held 
 in England, October 15, 1629, a plan for fortification 
 
FIRST DORCHESTER DAY. ]7 
 
 was drawn up, by which it was agreed that the 
 Massachusetts Company was to bear half the total 
 cost for such work, the other half to be met by the 
 settlers. In accordance with this order, the General 
 Court ordered, in 1639, -'ye mounting of the great 
 guns at Mr. Hawkins' on Rock-hill." The town for 
 its part ordered " that Mr. Aderton and John 
 Wiswall shall p'cure wheels to be made and car- 
 riedge to mount the peeces that are at Mr. Hawkins' 
 by the sea and cause them to be mounted." 
 
 On the north side of the hill is an old house sup- 
 posed to be that of John Eells, erected previous to 
 1640. During the siege of Boston, 1775-6, it was 
 used as barracks by the American troo})S, this being 
 the extreme end of the Dorchester line, forming the 
 right wing of the American army. During the war 
 of 1812-14 earthworks were erected on the water 
 front around the southerly and easterly part of the 
 hill ; there is now but little left of them. The New 
 England Guards encamped annually at Savin Hill 
 for many years. The engraving on the programs 
 is a copy of a painting in the Old State House made 
 in 1819, and gives a very good view of the camp 
 and hill. 
 
 Since this little Gibraltar was dismantled its site 
 has not appeared in history, but during all these 
 years the many generations that have come and 
 gone have used this beautiful spot for their picnic 
 grounds. There are thousands now living in Boston 
 and its vicinity who can recall with pleasure the 
 many happy childhood days passed merrily at Savin 
 
18 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Hill. During this time the name of the hill has 
 been changed three times. For the first 100 years 
 it was known as " Rock Hill," the second 100 years 
 as the "Old Hill," and 75 years ago it was named 
 Savin Hill by Joseph Tattle, who established a 
 summer hotel here at that time. Savin being the 
 scientific name of the red cedar with which the hill 
 was formerly covered. 
 
 Edward Everett, the silver-tongned orator and 
 statesman, in his Fourth of July oration in Dor- 
 chester in 1855, referred to Savin Hill as follows: 
 " Old Hill, as we called it in the days of my boy- 
 hood, more than fifty years ago, has lost that vener- 
 able name in the progress of refinement. ' Though it 
 has become a half-century older, notwithstanding the 
 tasteful villas which adorn its base, it exhibits sub- 
 stantially the same grouping of cedars and the same 
 magnificent rocks, and commands the same fine view 
 of the harbor which it did before a single home was 
 built within its precincts. Venerable trees that 
 seemed to me in my childhood — I have been look- 
 ing at them this morning — seem but little bigger 
 now, though I trace the storms of fifty winters on 
 some of their well-remembered branches." 
 
 Edward Everett's description of Savin Hill, as it 
 appeared to him a century ago, is equally applicable 
 to the present time. When the question of public 
 parks for the City of Boston was first discussed, a 
 few years ago, and a commission appointed to select 
 locations, they selected Savin Hill for Dorchester, 
 as possessing in the greatest degree the natural phy- 
 
FIRST DOltCHESTEK DAY. J 9 
 
 sical characteristics necessary for a park, and requir- 
 ing the least expenditure for subsequent development, 
 also for its accessibility to all classes of citizens for 
 walking, riding and boating, or by means of car 
 travel, and for its adaptability and economy. Since 
 then the owners of the hill have very generously 
 offered it to the city on the payment to them of an 
 amount practically equal to the amount paid by 
 them in taxes since they owned it. 
 
 It is the hope and desire of every lover of what is 
 historical and beautiful in nature that tliis ancient land- 
 mark be preserved. Now is the time, for in a few 
 years more it will be too late, when the hill will be 
 shorn of its natural beauties and disfigured. Let 
 us hand down to posterity this beautiful spot, and 
 future generations will bless us for our forethought. 
 
 DORCHESTER DAY SHOULD BE PLACED UPON HISTORIC 
 
 CALENDAR. 
 
 The Rev. Fatlier Ronan then urged on his audience 
 the duty of co-operating with the Dorchester Historical 
 Society in the work of making Dorchester Day an 
 institution. "Let us," he said, "stand shoulder to 
 shoulder until this occasion shall be placed upon the 
 calendar of Boston's annual celebrations." 
 
 The Hon. Guy A. Ham also dwelt npon the signifi- 
 cance of Dorchester in the development of American 
 institutions, and strongly urged the inculcation of 
 more historic pride than was now shown in such 
 sites as Savin Hill. " Monuments of war," said he, 
 " have been erected throughout our country — let us 
 also remember the monuments of peace. " 
 
20 CELEBRATION OF FIEST DORCHESTER DAY. 
 
 The proceedings were brought to a close by the 
 passing of resolutions presented by President Savage 
 of the United Improvement Association, thanking 
 the Dorchester Historical Society and the owners of 
 the property for the opportunity to celebrate the 
 274th anniversary of the first settlement of the town 
 of Dorchester, and commending the labors of the 
 Dorchester Historical Society and other historical 
 associations in their efforts to preserve the records 
 of the past and in publishing accurate accounts of 
 the doings of the early settlers. 
 
 Dorchester Day proved to be a great success in 
 every respect. It was well received by the public, 
 it brought the Dorchester Historical Society into 
 prominence, and above all else it brought to a 
 successful issue the object for which it was origi- 
 nally started, viz., the preservation of the hill, and 
 its acquirement by the city to be forever used 
 as a public park. Among the visitors to the hill 
 on that occasion was the Hon. John F. Fitzgerald 
 and his family, who had recently removed to Dor- 
 chester. This was his first visit to Savin Hill, and 
 he was so struck with the beautiful surroundings 
 and magnificent view from the hill that he then 
 declared that, if he was ever elected Mayor of Bos- 
 ton, he would favor the securing of the hill for a 
 park, and in the fall, when he became a candidate 
 for the mayoralty, he made similar promises, which 
 he made good on July 26, 1907, when he signed 
 the bill which made a park of Savin Hill and pre- 
 served this beautiful spot, for which he will be 
 blessed by posterity. 
 
THE SECOND DORCHESTER DAY 
 CELEBRATION 
 
 June io, 190^ 
 
24 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Leaving Edward Everett square, the line passed 
 Upham's Corner to Meeting House Hill, where, on 
 the common in front of the First Church, the Rev. 
 Eugene R. Shippen delivered a brief historical address. 
 The line then reformed and proceeded, via Bowdoin, 
 Hancock and Pleasant streets, along Savin Hill 
 avenue, to the crest of Savin Hill, where a large 
 tent was erected on the site of the old fort " where 
 ye great guns were mounted." Here the exercises of 
 the day were held the same as on the previous year. 
 The President, Richard C. Humphreys, delivered the 
 address of welcome. He was followed by the Rev. 
 James Eells, pastor of the First Church of Boston, 
 whose ancestor, John Eells, was one of the first settlers 
 on the northeast side of the hill. He was the seventh 
 minister in an unbroken family line of ministers, a 
 most unusual genealogical record. The oration of 
 Mr. Eells was followed by addresses by Alderman 
 William J. Hennessey, John F. Ayer, President of 
 the Bay State Historical Club, and the Rev. Florence 
 J. Halloran, St. Peter's Churcli, and a poem hy its 
 author, Hezekiah Butterworth. 
 
 THE "MARY AND JOHN" IN D()RCHP:STER BAY. 
 
 Hezekiah Butterworth. 
 
 It was Thanksgiving Day, and the sea-meadows lay 
 In long russet curves around Dorchester bay ; 
 The sturdy oak mansions had opened their halls, 
 The chimneys had smoked on the Mystic and Charles. 
 And Grandfather Minot looked out on the sea — 
 The last of the Dorchester Pilgrims was he — 
 And he thought of the days of the pioneers gone 
 Who sailed on the deck of the " Mary and John." 
 
SECOND DORCHESTER DAY. 2^ 
 
 The blue birds liad gone from the gentians bhie, 
 The white clouds of gulls o'er the white waters flew. 
 " Go, Thankful, and bring me the Bible, " he said ; 
 And then how the old Hebrews murmured, he read. 
 And Thankful, his grandchild, looked into his face 
 And wondered that faltered the faith of God's race. 
 And wondered if faltered those pioneers gone 
 Who sailed on the deck of the " Mary and John." 
 
 "Fifty times, Father Minot, you say you have seen 
 The white islands change into islands of green ; 
 Fifty times in the elms seen the oriole's wings. 
 And heard the red woodpeckers number the springs. 
 I love the strange tales of the Pilgrims of yore. 
 And of those who first landed on Dorchester's shore." 
 And she thought of the days of the pioneers gone. 
 Did they falter who sailed on the " Mary and John " ? 
 
 Then said the old man at the set of the sun, 
 " The field blossoms long that has victory won ; 
 Look out on Point Allerton's headlands of pine. 
 And the oak-shaded beaches that Dorchester line. 
 'Twas there, off the bay, on summer's first morn. 
 That our anchor was dropped from the 'Mary and -lolui.' 
 The white sea birds' wings in the sunset there glow. 
 And cover the ledges like live banks of snow. 
 
 "The western winds l)lew through the horizons of calm. 
 And sweet o'er the waves rose young Maverick's psalm : 
 There dropped the white sails, and the anchor was cast. 
 And there we knelt down 'round the motionless mast. 
 And our Thanksgiving made, and psalms followed prayer. 
 And the birds sang with us on the spars in the air ! " 
 And dreamed the old man of the pioneers gone 
 Who sailed on the deck of the " IMary and John." 
 
 " Hut, Grandfather, listen : The islands turned gray. 
 
 And the north wind came down, and ice filled the Bay; 
 
 Of food there was little ; the women lay low 
 
 With fever and hunger ; men wandered through snow 
 
 To buy from the Indian a Inishel of corn ; 
 
 And returned not the sails of the ' INIary and John.' 
 
 Ah ! no, never more to those pioneers gone 
 
 Came the sea-shattered sails of the 'Mary and John.' 
 
26 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 "The sad heart turns back to its birthplace in pain, 
 And murmured the Hebrews for Egypt again. 
 Did my mother, whose grave now the gentians enfold. 
 E'er long for old England and Dorchester old ? 
 And did you ever murmur, or those who are gone. 
 Who sailed on the deck of the ' Mary and John ' ? 
 Which were the more worthy, my Grandfather, say, 
 The pilgrims of old, or of Dorchester bay? " 
 
 "1 am glad that you asked me that question," he said. 
 " I well know the faith of the pioneers dead. 
 A true heart has no secrets, but open it lies. 
 As the lips of the sea, and the smiles of the skies. 
 No, they never looked back, those i)ioneers gone, 
 They never looked back for the ' Mary and John.' 
 In the days of the famine, the sickness, and cold. 
 They never looked back to Dorchester old. 
 
 " 'Tis prospects that make the heart happy, and they 
 No golden calf worshipped on Dorchester bay. 
 To dream of the new hope and not of the old 
 Turns a measure of samp into banquets of gold. 
 When your mother looked out over Dorchester sea, 
 She dreamed of what life to hei' children might be. 
 And so dreamed they all. No regrets sailed away 
 When the ' Mary and John' left new Dorchester bay." 
 
 " AVere you better than Aaron? " What now could he say 
 
 Who well knew the Pilgrims of Dorchester bay ? 
 
 The woods were all silent, the sea winds were stayed. 
 
 When the lights of Nejwnset shone out in the shade. 
 
 " No Dorchester Pilgrim," he said, with a smile, 
 
 " In the wilderness dreamed of the palm-shaded Nile ! " 
 
 Tlien in silence they dreamed of the pioneers gone 
 
 Who never looked back for the " Mary and John." 
 
 This was followed by a song, " The New America," 
 by Brenton H. MacCurdy. 
 
 SAILING REGATTA. 
 
 At three o'clock a sailing regatta was held in Dor- 
 chester bay under the management of Alderman 
 
SECOND DORCHESTER DAY. 2i 
 
 Clark. The wind and weather was suitable and the 
 regatta was pronounced a great success. 
 
 ATHLETIC GAMES. 
 
 At 3.30 the athletic meet was held at the Chris- 
 topher Gibson Field. The events were 100-yard dash, 
 220-yard dash, 880-yard run, one-mile run, three-mile 
 run, high jump and relay races. There was also 
 amateur baseball games held on Franklin Field, in 
 which four teams competed. 
 
 TORCHLIGHT AND BONFIRE. 
 
 At eight o'clock there was a torchlight parade, held 
 under the auspices of the Dorchester High School 
 baseball team, to celebrate their winning the Inter- 
 scholastic League games. A bonfire was held in a 
 field near the High School. The Boston Letter 
 Carriers' Band gave a concert at the High School, 
 and the Benjamin Stone Band also gave one at eight 
 o'clock in Andrew square. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 The second celebration of Dorchester Day Avas 
 pronounced an unqualihed success. The committee 
 of arrangements consisted of Richard C. Humphreys, 
 Chairman ; James H. Stark, Thomas F. Temple, 
 the Rev. Eugene R. Shippen, William Hoag, Dr. M. 0. 
 Daly, Frank W. Merrick, William Kelley, Walter D. 
 Loring and C. Hodgdon. The Dorchester Historical 
 Society and the Dorchester Improvement Societies, 
 consisting of the Savin Hill, Harvard, Ashmont, 
 Harrison Square, Mattapan, and other societies assisted 
 in the celebration. 
 
I 
 
THE THIRD DORCHESTER DAY 
 CELEBRATION 
 
 June 9, 1906 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION 
 
 June 9, 1906 
 
 The 276th anniversary of the settlement of Dor- 
 chester by the English began at noon with the 
 booming of cannon on the United States cruisers 
 " Cleveland " and " Tacoma," Avhich had been ordered 
 to Dorchester bay, and the ringing of bells ; the cele- 
 bration continued unceasingly, concluding with a 
 display of fireworks on Franklin Field, personally 
 conducted by Mayor John F. Fitzgerald. 
 
 Never before was Dorchester in such a gala attire. 
 The houses and other buildings along the route of 
 the parade were one mass of flags and bunting. 
 Considering that Dorchester Day was instituted only- 
 three years ago, the sliowing was magnificent, and 
 made the citizens feel confident that this day of 
 celebration had come to stay. The arrangements 
 were in the hands of the Dorchester Historical Soci- 
 ety and of the local members of the city govern- 
 ment, headed by Alderman Tilton S. Bell, and they, 
 with the assistance of Mayor John F. Fitzgerald, 
 were responsible for the success of the day. 
 
32 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 PROGRAM. 
 
 RiCHAUD C. Humphreys, President of the Dorchester 
 Historical Society, presided. 
 
 Music, Cornet Solo . . . Karl Forsell. 
 
 Song, " The Sword of Bunker Hill" (adapted). Covert. 
 
 Brenton Haliburton MacCurdy, 
 Tenor, 
 
 Oration Hon. Josiah Quincy, Ex- Mayor 
 
 of Boston. 
 
 Music Post 68, G. A. P., Band. 
 
 Address Hon. John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor 
 
 of Boston. 
 
 Song, " Hail, thou Day of Days," Wenger. 
 
 Mr. MacCurdy. 
 
 Music Post (38, G. A. R., Band. 
 
 America, 
 
 My country, 'tis of thee. 
 Sweet land of liberty, — 
 
 Of thee I sing : 
 Land where my fathers died. 
 Land of the pilgrim's pride. 
 From ev'ry mountain side 
 
 Let freedom ring ! 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY. 33 
 
 ROSTER OF THE PARADE. 
 
 The parade was one of the principal e^'ent,s of tlie 
 day, starting shortly after 2.30 o'clock. It formed 
 on Talbot and Welles avenues and moved over the 
 following route : Talbot avenue to Pealjody square, 
 to Ashmont street, to Ocean street, to Welles avenue, 
 to Washington street, to Park street, to Greenbrier 
 street, to Bowdoin street, to Quincy street, to Colum- 
 bia road, to Stoughton street, to Pleasant street, to 
 Savin Hill avenue, to Grampian way. 
 
 The roster of the parade was : 
 
 Chief Marshal, Charles T. Harding. 
 Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Dudley M. Praj'. 
 Chief Aid, Captain F. A. Walker. 
 (Quartermaster, Lieutenant George A. Wardwell. 
 Coniniissary, Lieutenant C. L. Carter. 
 Surgeon, Lieutenant C. S. Capelle. 
 Aids — Sergeant Aaron Wolfson, A. and H. A. Co. ; Sergeant J. 
 J. Feeley, A. and II. A. Co. ; Sergeant Fred M. Wood, A. and 
 H. A. Co.; Lieutenant H. C. Cormerais, Fifth Infantry; 
 Lieutenant H. C. AVaterman, Fifth Infantr}^ ; Lieutenant F. 
 M. Whiting, Fifth Infantry; Lieutenant J. J. Dwyer, Nintli 
 Infantry; Captain J. J. Cully, Nintli Infantiy ; Captain C. 
 Harrison, staff First Brigade; Lieutenant C. A. Pettingill, 
 Fifth Infantry; Lieutenant C. I. Petersen, Sixth Infantry; 
 Lieutenant I). H. Fogg, C. C. A. ; Lieutenant W. C. Wilkins, 
 S. V. R. ; Lieutenant-Colonel .1. R. Smith, 15. N, and ]\I. 
 Veterans; Commander Louis Epple, L. S. AV. A".; Com- 
 mander-in-Chief AValter Penney, S. A^. ; Lieutenant F. H. 
 Turnljull, Naval Brigade; Commander F. S. Chubbuck ; 
 Colonel AV. H. H. Garry; Sergeant-Major F. R. Googins, 
 First Battalion Cavalry; Hospital Sergeant C. F. Drury ; 
 Orderly C. A. Kemp. 
 
 Tenth Artillery Band. 
 
 Forty-sixth Company U. S. Coast Artillery, 
 
 Captain C. R. Lloyd. 
 
/! 
 
 34 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Seventy-sixth Company U. S. Coast Artillery, 
 
 Captain J. F. Howell. 
 
 United States Marine Band. 
 
 Battalion United States Marines. 
 
 United States Naval Band. 
 
 Battalion United States Blue Jackets, 
 
 Lieutenant-Commander E. W. Davis, U. S. N. 
 
 Signal Corps, M. V. M., 
 
 Captain AV. C. Stevens. 
 
 A. L. Sixth Infantry, M. V. M., 
 
 Captain George W. Braxton. 
 
 Company H, Fifth Infantry, M. V. M., 
 
 Captain George T. Lattimer. 
 
 Seventh Company, C. C. A. M. V. M., 
 
 Lieutenant G. M. King. 
 
 Naval Brigade Battalion Band. 
 
 Company A, Naval Brigade, 
 
 Lieutenant D. M. Goodrich. 
 
 Company B, Naval Bi-igade, 
 
 Lieutenant C. A. Lewis. 
 Company E, Naval Brigade, 
 
 Lieutenant J. B. Blood. 
 
 Camp 30, Sons of Veterans, 
 
 Commander H. C. Thomas. 
 
 British Na\ al and Military Veterans, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. Smith. 
 
 Letter Carriers' Band. 
 
 Dorchester Letter Carriers, 
 
 T. N. Dunican, Chief Marshal. 
 
 Dorchester High School Cadets, Four Companies. 
 
 Dudley School Cadets, 
 
 E. W. O'Dowd, Commandant. 
 
 Sons of Union, 
 
 W. T. Beals, Commandant. 
 
 Mystic Side Drum Corps. 
 
 Boys' Brigade, 
 
 W. S. Harvey, Commandant. 
 
 Kitchamankin Tribe, I. O. R. M. 
 
 Carriages. 
 
 ll 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY. 35 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By Richard C. Humphreys 
 
 President of the Dorchester Historical Society 
 
 Following the parade, the historical exercises took 
 place on the crest of Savin Hill, under the auspices of 
 the Dorchester Historical Society. 
 
 In opening the historical exercises President Hum- 
 phreys said : 
 
 Why have we invited you to gather here this after- 
 noon to celebrate Dorchester Day ? It is because this 
 is a historic spot, and we feel we can more easily inspire 
 in your hearts the sentiment of patriotism — yes, the 
 sentiment of patriotism. Do you realize that the larger 
 part of the joys and pleasures of life come to us through 
 sentiment ? It was sentiment that inspired the hearts 
 of our Revolutionary fathers to resist the encroachment 
 of England. It was sentiment that filled the patriotic 
 hearts of those Ijnive souls who died for us in the War 
 of the Rebellion. It is only sentiment, you say, the 
 desire to preserve this historic spot. It is only senti- 
 ment that causes so much to be said, and well said, 
 about saving the Old State House, which has greater 
 historic associations than any other building in the 
 country, except Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 
 It was sentiment that inspired the eloquent and soul- 
 stirrino- words uttered ]jy the Memorial Day orator 
 
36 CELEBRATION OP 
 
 who spoke to the crowd of eager listeners as they 
 gathered about the Robert G. Shaw memorial monu- 
 ment. 
 
 We wish to inspire in the hearts of the rising gen- 
 eration a sentiment that will manifest itself in a love 
 for historic spots and historic buildings, that tliey 
 may as they grow older do their part to preserve 
 Faneuil Hall — the Cradle of Liberty — the Old South 
 Meeting House, the Old State House, and this spot 
 where stood the first fort built after the landing of 
 our Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 We hope that Dorchester Day with its display of 
 flags and its patriotic utterances will kindle in our 
 young people a sentiment of patriotism that will 
 make these Stars and Stripes mean more tlian ever 
 before — 
 
 And the star-spangled banner, 
 long may it wave 
 O'er the land of the free 
 And the home of the l)rave. 
 
 Following Mr. Humphreys' address there was a 
 cornet solo by Karl Forsell, and Brenton H. MacCurdy 
 sang " The Sword of Bunker Hill." President Hum- 
 phreys then introduced the Hon. Josiah Quincy as the 
 orator. He introduced him as a direct descendant 
 of Josiah Quincy of Revolutionary fame. 
 
THIRD DOKCHESTEK DAY. 
 
 ORATION 
 
 By the Hon. Josiah Quincy 
 
 Three centuries ago this ground was part of the 
 virgin wilderness. Its only inhabitants were the wild 
 Algonquin tribes, whose melodious place-names, like 
 Neponset, Squantum and Mattapan, still cling to 
 prominent features of the landscape, and whose blood 
 has trickled down in the veins of a few old families 
 dwelling in the townships south of the Blue Hills. 
 
 It was a period of deep unrest in England. Below 
 the surface, in remote hamlets and counties far from 
 the capital, the waters of discontent were seething, 
 and prescient minds easily foresaw the gathering of 
 the waves of revolution. Under the pressure of 
 political and religious tyranny the land lost many 
 of her sturdiest children, whose migration, under 
 these circumstances, [)artook of the character of a 
 flight. The settlers of New England were half 
 colonists, half refugees. They loved their mother 
 country, l)ut preferred the perils of the ocean and 
 the horrors of the wilderness to the fate threatened 
 by her rulers to those of their way of thinking. 
 
 In 1G29 a company, projected by the Rev. John 
 White, of Dorchester, obtained a charter from King 
 Charles I. granting them the rights of settlement in 
 the country along the Massachusetts shore between 
 
38 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 a point three miles south of the Charles river and 
 three miles north of the Merrimac. White was a 
 Nonconformist minister, of forceful character and 
 deep convictions. He had rendered substantial aid 
 to the Plymouth Pilgrims, and had already promoted 
 two expeditions to the region of Cape Ann. Under 
 his guidance the Dorchester immigrants, before set- 
 ting out, organized a congregation, with the Rev. Mr. 
 Maverick as senior pastor and the Rev. Mr. Warham as 
 his assistant. Nothing, indeed, is more striking about 
 the Dorchester colony than the religious spirit which 
 characterized the pioneers and their descendants for 
 many generations. They carried their English Bible 
 as the ancient Hebrews bore with them the Ark of 
 the Covenant. And, however clearly we of to-day 
 may realize their limitations, we cannot refuse our 
 sympathy to the principle of liljerty of conscience 
 heroically proclaimed by these English exiles. Their 
 dogma may not attract us, but we may all derive 
 inspiration from their matchless faith. 
 
 The fleet of the new company consisted of four- 
 teen vessels, and the passengers were men of good 
 social position, most of them artisans, tradesmen and 
 farmers, with not a few mariners from the channel 
 ports and a sprinkling of clergymen and professional 
 men. Their numbers are estimated at fifteen hundred. 
 In most cases their wives and children accompanied 
 them, and all the circumstances of the voyage pointed 
 to a permanent separation from the mother country 
 and the fomiding of a powerful colony, the Dor- 
 chester party, or " Western men," as they were 
 
TIIIKD r3()KCIIESTER DAY. 39 
 
 called, seemed to have travelled apart from the 
 others in their own ship, the " Mary and John," 
 which was the first vessel to reach Massachusetts 
 l)ay. Tliey made Nantasket point about the 1st of 
 June, 1630, and were put ashore by the captain, 
 " notwithstanding," as one of their number wrote, 
 " that they held that he was engaged to bring them 
 to the Charles river." Fortunately there were sev- 
 eral planters in the neighborhood of Boston at this 
 time, and from one of these the leaders of the party 
 procured a boat, in which they explored the harbor. 
 They visited Mishawum, or Charlestown, and rowed 
 up the river as far as Watertown, where they met a 
 band of three hundred Indians. But the landlocked 
 waters of Dorchester bay and the rich pastures at 
 the Neck had attracted them from the first. They 
 noted the falls of the Neponset, promising power for 
 their mills, and this rockv hill, which mio;ht serve as 
 the acropolis of their little settlement in case of an 
 attack by the savages. These advantages seemed to 
 them to outweigh those of the u})per harbor and the 
 three-hilled peninsula, and on June 6, 1630, a site 
 was formally selected for the new town. This was 
 a week before the "Arbella," with John Winthrop 
 and his party, reached Salem and proceeded to Charles- 
 town, so that the settlement of this residential suburb 
 preceded that of .the city. In September the name 
 of Dorchester was given to the place. The land was 
 parcelled out in an orderly way, and rude homes 
 began to arise between Savin Hill and the " Five 
 Corners." Like the Plymouth Pilgrims, the colonists 
 
40 ('ELEBRATION OF 
 
 suffered severely in the first years of their settlement. 
 [Shell-fish was at times a staple article of food, and 
 the log cabins afforded little shelter from the blasts 
 of the harsh New England winter. But these trials 
 soon passed away, and for a decade or more Dor- 
 chester was a successful rival of Boston. A meeting- 
 house had been built in 1631 at what is now the 
 junction of Cottage and Pleasant streets. In 1633 a 
 second shipload of eighty-five passengers arrived. A 
 grist mill, said to be the first in New England, was 
 erected by Col. Israel Stoughton, and the sea-faring 
 men of the colony took a leading part in the cod- 
 fisheries, besides making voyages to Maine for val- 
 uable furs. 
 
 At this stage of its development Dorchester, which 
 then extended southward almost to the Rhode Island 
 line, surpassed the other towns of the colony in 
 wealth, and paid the highest taxes. But the unequal 
 competition with Boston could have only one result. 
 
 The advantages of the deep upper harbor soon 
 asserted themselves. While Boston advanced rapidly 
 in commerce and manufactures, Dorchester remained 
 a comely village, or cluster of villages, enjoying a 
 certain distinction as the home of prosperous farmers, 
 and particularly admired for its orchards, gardens 
 and cornfields. In 1654 there were one hundred and 
 forty dwellings in the town. At the time of the 
 Revolution it had about fifteen hundred inhabitants. 
 A century later the number had increased to twelve 
 thousand, while South Boston, a part of the original 
 Dorchester, contained a population of nearly forty 
 
42 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 imposing. I have spoken of the beauty of the village 
 and its garden-like appearance. It is no accident 
 that an interest in horticulture should have been one 
 of the conspicuous traits of the Dorchester people 
 down to the present time. Neither is it so extraor- 
 dinary as perhaps it seems that in this little town, 
 of retired aspect and invitingly tranquil atmosphere, 
 the seeds of some of our greatest institutions sliould 
 have been sown. It is not the first time that epoch- 
 making ideas have come up to Jerusalem from Galilee. 
 
 It was in Dorchester, on October 8, 16o3, that 
 government by town meeting, which has so power- 
 fully influenced the character of our people, the 
 structure of our institutions, and the course of history 
 itself, was first established in New England. On 
 that day the colonists agreed to hold regular weekly 
 meetings for the management of their affairs, and soon 
 afterwards a board of twelve selectmen, chosen by 
 popular vote, was elected. 
 
 Popular government implies an educated citizenship. 
 By a mutual necessity, a kind of instinctive logic, 
 tlie establishment of free schools followed the accept- 
 ance of democratic principles among the colonists, 
 and in this departure the Dorchester pioneers again 
 took the lead. It was within the precincts of this 
 town, in 1639, that the first free public school, sup- 
 ported by direct tax, in America was founded. Later 
 generations of Dorchester townsfolk showed themselves 
 no less devoted than their predecessors to the cause 
 of general education. Many bequests were left by 
 prosperous townsmen to the public schools, two of 
 
THIRD UOKCIIESTEK DAY. 43 
 
 which, at least — the Christopher Gibson Fund and 
 the Stoiighton Fnnd — are still used for the benefit 
 of the school children of Dorchester. Up to 1792, 
 thirty residents of the town had graduated from 
 Harvard College. The founding of your High 
 School in 1852, when the population was barely 
 eight thousand, reflects this inherited or traditional 
 passion for intellectual and spiritual improvement. 
 
 Nor did the relations of the early settlers with 
 the aborigines belie their expressions of Christian 
 piety. It must be indeed gratifying to those estimable 
 families among you who bear the names of the 
 Dorchester Puritans, or claim descent from them, to 
 be under no painful necessity of extenuating their 
 conduct toward the weaker race that preceded them 
 on the soil. In 1G57 the town gave 6,000 acres in 
 Ponkapoag to John Eliot, the missionary, for the 
 prosecution of his noble labors. 
 
 In the main, life seems to have flow^ed on gently 
 here, an occasional bounty on blackbirds, striped 
 squirrels, or rattlesnakes showing the everyday 
 proldems which vexed the good husbandmen. Man- 
 ufactures never flourished among them ; although 
 fulling, snuff and paper mills were built by the river, 
 and the chocolate industry, which has since acquired 
 so wide a celebrity, was established as early as 
 1765. 
 
 The eminent names connected with Dorchester, 
 such as Roger Williams, Increase Mather, Edward 
 Everett, William Stoughton (commemorated in street, 
 township, and university hall), are those of clergy- 
 
44 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 men, scholars, and public men rather than of suc- 
 cessful merchants. 
 
 Though somewhat aside from the main current 
 of trade — a coast town, but not a port — Dorchester 
 played a conspicuous part in every great movement 
 that affected the colonies. It sent its quota of 
 soldiers to the Indian wars, and no town in America 
 was more resolute in its attitude of resistance toward 
 the oppressive acts which culminated in the War of 
 Independence. Its representatives in the General 
 Court were repeatedly instructed to oppose the 
 enactments of the British Parliament, and the reso- 
 lution of May 23, 1776, that "if the Continental 
 Congress should think it best to declare independ- 
 ency with Great Britain, we will support them with 
 our lives and fortunes," anticipates the very ring of 
 the great Declaration of July 4. The story of the 
 fortifications thrown up on the Neck and at Dor- 
 chester Heights in March, 1776, makes the town 
 for once the scene of great historical events and the 
 theatre of critical military operations. In the fol- 
 lowing year eighty of its townsmen were still at the 
 front, and the records of the War of Emancipation 
 show that the descendants of these patriots had not 
 forgotten their sense of duty in times of national 
 peril. One hundred Dorchester men were killed 
 during the Rebellion, and the 1,342 soldiers fur- 
 nished were considerably more than the quota of so 
 modest a population. 
 
 In several of these developments it appears to me 
 we may trace a certain continuity, a conservation, 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY. 45 
 
 due in part to tradition and filial })ride, and in part, 
 no doubt, to the physical character of the district, 
 which inevitaldy affects its inhabitants. More faith- 
 fully than many towns you have preserved the 
 monuments of your past. The Blake house, built in 
 1650, must be one of the oldest dwelling-houses in 
 the country. The burying-ground, in which the 
 tombs of ten generations stand side Ijy side, still 
 touches the passer-by with its mute appeal. Several 
 of your local names are brief historical documents, 
 epitomizing the story of the places that bear them. 
 Such are Meeting House Hill, on which the second 
 house of worship was erected in 1670 ; Milton, or 
 Mill Town, wdiere Israel Stoughton built his corn 
 mill, the first of its kind ; and Cow Pasture, a part 
 of the great meadow where a stout fence, running 
 across the Neck, effectively pemied the cattle in the 
 peninsula and guarded them from the manifold 
 dangers of the encircling forest. The name of Old 
 Harbor street in South Boston reminds us of the 
 defeated hopes of the original settlers, and explains 
 in three words why Boston and not Dorchester has 
 become the capital of New England. 
 
 You have other memorials which it is grateful to 
 visit, other episodes and characters pleasant to recall, 
 on this birthday of Dorchester town. The original 
 charter granted to the liev. John White is, I believe, 
 still preserved in the Secretary of State's office at the 
 State House, and I suggest that if every pupil in the 
 Dorchester schools should visit and read that docu- 
 ment before graduation it would conduce to rever- 
 
46 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ence and patriotism, and that profound sense of the 
 continuity of life upon which the greatest people of 
 the east, the Japanese, have founded their incompar- 
 able discipline. 
 
 And what a vivid index to local antiquities are the 
 great highways of the district. With changed names, 
 modern residences, and ever shifting occupants, they 
 still follow the paths traced by the founders, along 
 the lines of natural advantage, and something of the 
 atmosphere of olden days seems to hover about them 
 still. Pleasant street and Savin Hill avenue were the 
 first roads laid out, running through the heart of the 
 original village. Adams street still winds to the ford 
 in the river and thence follows the shore line to 
 Plymouth. Dudley street is still the main artery of 
 travel to lloxbury and Boston, though the vehicle of 
 the traveller no longer passes over a slim, sandy neck 
 only thirty paces wide at its point of greatest con- 
 traction. 
 
 No part of the district is richer in historic reminis- 
 cence than the portion near Savin Hill. The colonists 
 had agreed, before setting out, to build their village 
 compactly, and in accordance with this policy — a 
 wise one in view of the danger from the Indians — 
 the land in this vicinity was divided into four, six 
 and eight-acre lots. A rude fort was Imilt on the 
 hill, whose steep sides made it a miniature Gibraltar, 
 and even the meeting-house was strongly palisaded 
 and stocked with military stores. In these provisions 
 for safety we can trace a vivid picture of the perils 
 to which the early planters were exposed. Doubtless 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY. 47 
 
 our Dorcliester families at first went to their place 
 of worship armed and prepared for grave emer- 
 gencies. But the natives with whom thej came in 
 contact proved susceptible to the kindness shown 
 them, and the raids of the fiercer tribes seldom 
 threatened the well guarded settlements near the 
 capital. The farmers were soon enabled to disperse 
 over tlie district without fear, and built homes con- 
 veniently near their farms. These were in some 
 instances of considera))le area. An investment of 
 fifty pounds in the original company entitled the 
 shareholders to 200 acres, which would probably be 
 worth upwards of $5,000,000 to-day. This increase 
 measures the value which has been added to the land 
 by the skill and industry of ten generations of Eng- 
 lish-speaking people. We have only to ascend any 
 one of your numerous elevations and look out over 
 the panorama of pleasant homes spreading out before 
 us to feel that our dispossession of the red men is 
 justified by its results. 
 
 The changes symbolized by your growth in poi)u- 
 lation and by the increase in property values are 
 indeed great, yet they have not destroyed the essen- 
 tial character of the district. Dorchester, always the 
 home of well-to-do middle class people, is still the 
 most favorably situated residential section of Boston. 
 The ocean on the east, with its dreamy jirospect, its 
 invigorating winds, the river and mountains on the 
 south, the superb country park and boulevard on the 
 west, the teeming city within an easy half hour's ride 
 to the north, offer a variety of advantages which no 
 
48 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 other section can dispute with }'ou. Nature has 
 framed one part of Boston in ideal surroundings for 
 a district of comfortable homes, and for once man has 
 wrought in harmony with her promptings. 
 
 It was then a happy inspiration which led to the 
 setting aside each year of a day in which this 
 uniquely favored suburb may review its memorable 
 record. We may well spare a brief interval, out of 
 the haste and struggle of our lives, for contemplation 
 of those two centuries and a half, between settlement 
 and annexation, when growth in Dorchester was 
 gradual and changes came almost imperceptibly. In 
 such imaginative reviews we acquire a sense of sta- 
 bility, as when we tread the curious pavement in the 
 vestibule of your High School and learn that it was 
 laid down by Roman masons in old Dorchester in 
 England nearly two thousand years ago. The dig- 
 nity, the responsibility, of our own lives seem en- 
 hanced when we realize of what an estate we are the 
 heirs. We feel ourselves elements in an ancient 
 structure which has endured so long that we may 
 safely predict it will not soon pass away. 
 
 I congratulate you, fellow citizens and gentlemen of 
 the Historical Society, upon the revival and more 
 and more general observance of this pleasant anni- 
 versary. With pageantry and pastime, public cere- 
 monial and private hospitality, you honor fittingly 
 the virtues of the nation builders of old Dorchester. 
 Every resident of your district should take part in 
 the exercises of this day. Whoever has absorbed its 
 true spirit will have escaped from the transient inter- 
 
TIIIKD DORCHESTER DAY. 49 
 
 ests of the hour and regarded for a while those vaster 
 issues and movements which sketch their shadows 
 across the centuries. I believe he will return to his 
 usual calling a better American for this interruption 
 of his labors. Indeed, I seem to foresee, growing out 
 of these celebrations, the erection in due time of 
 some enduring; monument. Perhaps a tower will 
 arise on the crest of this rock — fit pedestal for some 
 Rhine baron's castle — affording views of the whole 
 harbor and the adjacent land, and typifying by its 
 elevation the loftiness of the historical outlook which 
 this day opens to our vision. The hill, at least, 
 should be kept sacred, both for its rugged grandeur, 
 which is intrinsic and imperishable, and for the asso- 
 ciations which cluster about it from the earliest days. 
 
 After a selection by Post 68, G. A. R., Band, 
 Mayor John F. Fitzgerald was introduced. The Mayor 
 responded briefly, and told how much })leasure it was 
 to him to have seen the celebration such a success. 
 
 When the Mayor had finished, Mr. MacCurdy sang 
 " Hail, thou Day of Days," and the exercises were 
 brought to a close by the singing of "America" and 
 the passing of the following resolution, which was 
 unanimously adopted by upward of one thousand 
 persons assembled on the top of the hill : 
 
 Resolved^ That we express what we believe to be the sentiment 
 of many citizens, not only of Dorchester, but of the whole City of 
 Boston, when we declare that the city should accept the offer 
 made by the Worthington heirs, to dispose of this property at a 
 stipulated price for use as a public park. 
 
 We are the more willing to make this declaration in view of 
 the fact that the contemplated purchase has met with the approval 
 
50 
 
 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 of three of the mayors of Boston and of members of the Park 
 Commission. Let it he consummated, and tlie voice of approval 
 will be heard from all people who know the value of this property 
 to the City of Boston and the citizens of Doi Chester. 
 
 The residents this year entered into the spirit of 
 the occasion with more enthusiasm than heretofore, 
 and as a result the decorations were far more elab- 
 orate. 
 
 This, in a measure, was a tribute to Mayor Fitz- 
 gerald, who lived in the district. He had taken an 
 active part in making the day a notable one, and it 
 was mainly because of the interest that he had shown 
 that a liberal appropriation of $2,000 was made for 
 the celebration, which was expended in the following 
 manner : 
 
 Historical exercises 
 
 
 
 
 
 $150 00 
 
 Yacht races . 
 
 
 
 
 
 200 00 
 
 Athletic games 
 
 
 
 
 
 200 00 
 
 Fireworks 
 
 
 
 
 
 500 00 
 
 Baseball 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 00 
 
 Water sports 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 00 
 
 Dorchester Driving Club 
 
 
 
 
 
 150 00 
 
 Parade 
 
 
 
 
 
 300 00 
 
 " Contingent " expenses 
 
 
 
 
 
 350 00 
 
 Total . 
 
 . $2,000 00 
 
 There was little going on in the district during the 
 morning hours, but by noon the streets began to be 
 crowded with those desirous of witnessing the many 
 events scheduled for the afternoon and evening. 
 
 The official programme began at one o'clock. At 
 that hour the first of the eleven races on the Frank- 
 lin Field Speedway between horses owned by the mem- 
 bers of the Dorchester Gentlemen's Driving Club took 
 
 I 
 I 
 
THIRD DORCHESTER DAY. 51 
 
 place. In the eleven events there were thirty entries, 
 and all of the races were for silver cups donated by 
 the city. At the same hour the water sports began 
 off the public pier on Freeport street. These inchided 
 forty and eighty-yard swimming races for boys and 
 girls, a diving competition, old clothes race, obstacle 
 race, tub race and a plunge for distance. An exhi- 
 bition of the various strokes used in swimminu- were 
 given by Professor George de Cost. 
 
 At one o'clock the yacht races began at Com- 
 mercial Point and Savin Hill, with the Boston, Dor- 
 chester and Savin Hill Yacht Clubs as the competitors. 
 There were seven classes, in all of which were numer- 
 ous entries, and tliere were three prizes in each class. 
 This event was in charge of a committee comprising 
 Alderman Bell, Louis M. Clark, Oliver F. Davenport, 
 Joseph T. Preston, F. W. Merrick, Loring Sears, 
 Allan M. Davis and Hjalmar Lundberg. The judges 
 were well-known yachtsmen of the district. 
 
 At three o'clock there was a baseball game on the 
 Dunbar-avenue grounds between the Dorchester and 
 Soraerville High School teams, and there was also a 
 baseball game on Franklin Field and the Neponset 
 playground. 
 
 In the evening there were band concerts at Frank- 
 lin Field and at the Neponset playground. The official 
 celebration concluded with a grand display of fire- 
 works on Franklin Field under the direct supervision 
 of Mayor Fitzgerald. 
 
 Practically all of the clubs and other organizations, 
 with which the district abounds, kept open house dur- 
 ing the afternoon and evening. 
 
THE FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY 
 CELEBRATION 
 
 June 8, 1907 
 
CITY COMMITTEE, 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATION 
 
 June 8, 1907 
 
 In the preceding chapters a brief account has been 
 given of the origin of Dorchester Day and the pro- 
 ceedings of the three previous celebrations. 
 
 It was decided that the 277th anniversary should 
 excel any celebration that had ever taken place in 
 Dorchester since its settlement. This was largely 
 due to tlie assistance of JNIayor Fitzgerald, who had 
 recently removed to Dorchester. It was mainly 
 because of the interest he had shown in this matter 
 that a liberal appropriation of $3,500 was made for 
 the celebration. This year the celebration by the 
 Dorchester Historical Society was independent of the 
 other features of the program. The exercises as 
 prepared by the Society were as follows : 
 
 Dorchester Historical Society. 
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND SKVENTY-SEVENTII ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
 SETTLEMENT OF DORCHESTER. 
 
 The officers of the Society announce that the celebration of 
 Dorchester Day will lie observed in the following manner on 
 Saturday, June 8 : 
 
 At two o'clock, in front of the '^ Old Blake House," the " Old 
 Dorchester Milestone" will be formally placed, it having been 
 removed from its ancient resting-i)lace on Hancock street, where 
 it was erected by the Colonial Governor 173 years ago. Mr. 
 James H. Stark will deliver an address. After the address the 
 Society will march to Savin Hill, accompanied by a band of music. 
 
56 cp:lebkation of 
 
 At three o'clock the exercises in the tent at Savin Hill will be 
 of an interesting character. One hnndred children from the pub- 
 lic schools in the vicinity will sing national airs. Five prizes will 
 be awarded for the best composition on "Old Dorchester" to 
 members of the ninth-grade pupils of the grammar schools. In 
 addition to this feature there will be speeches and music liy the 
 band. Admission tickets will be given to the members and their 
 friends. 
 
 At 6.30 o'clock a reception will be held in the Library of the 
 Municipal Building on Columl)ia road. 
 
 At seven o'clock there will be a supper served in Gymnasium 
 Hall, followed by speaking and music. 
 
 EICHARD C. HUMPHREYS, President. 
 JOHN A. FOWLE, Secretary. 
 
 COMMITTEES. 
 
 The General Committee in charge of the events 
 were James H. Stark, Chairman ; the Rev. W. H. 
 Allbright, P. J. McDonald, the Rev. E. R. Shippen, 
 Miss Nellie J. Breed, Richard C. Humphreys. 
 
 Milestone Committee. — John A. Fowle, R. F. 
 Delano, James H. Stark. 
 
 PROGRAM OF CITY COMMITTEE. 
 
 A most interesting program was prepared by 
 the joint committee of the City Council, of which 
 Alderman Tilton S. Bell was tlie chairman. It 
 was one that gave pleasure to young and old alike, 
 and was as follows : 
 
 During the entire day there will be all kinds of sports. In the 
 morning there will ))e water sports off Savin Hill Beach, and at 
 the Ward 16 ward-room bath-house. In the afternoon there 
 will be yacht racing in Dorchester bay, athletic games on the 
 Town Field, and baseball games for prizes on Franklin Field and 
 throughout the district. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 57 
 
 The Dorchester Gentlemen's Driving Chib will also have horse 
 races on the Franklin Field Speedway. The club, and in fact 
 practically all of the many clubs of the district, will keep open 
 house during the day. 
 
 In the evening there will be band concerts on Franklin Field 
 and in P^dward Fverett square, followed by fireworks. 
 
 The General Committee in charge of the events comprises 
 Aldermen Tilton S. Bell, John E. Baldwin, George H. Battis, 
 William H. Woods and Frederick A. Finigan, Councilmen 
 AVilliam C. Clark, John L. Costello, Charles A. Clark, 
 John D. McGivern, William S. Bramhall, William B. Willcutt, 
 James II. Kelly, Edward M. Green and Charles T. 
 Harding. 
 
 The sub-committees are : 
 
 Yacht Races. — Alderman Bell. 
 
 Parade. — Councilmen Harding, Willcutt and Kelly. 
 
 Athletic Games. — Councilmen Bramhall, W. C. Clark and 
 McGivern. 
 
 Water A>or;s. — Councilmen Costello, C. A. Clark and 
 Alderman Woods. 
 
 . Dorchester Gentlemen's Drivitig (?/?^/>. — Councilman Green. 
 
 The day's celebration was ushered in at six o'clock 
 by the booming of cannon and the ringing of l)ells, 
 and did not end until midnight. The residents as a 
 whole took more interest in the occasion than here- 
 tofore, and as a result the district, especially in the 
 Ashmont and Dorchester Centre sections, was adow 
 with colors, the decorations on some of the club- 
 honses and private residences being especially pretty. 
 
 Better weather could not have been asked for, the 
 cool weather being in marked contrast to the heat of 
 the year before, when the troops found it difficult to 
 continue over the entire route of parade. Governor 
 Guild and members of his staff lent brilliancy to 
 the occasion by participating in the " Milestone " 
 
58 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 exercises at the Old Blake House in Edward Everett 
 square, and riding in the procession. 
 
 The exercises of the day were commenced by the 
 Dorchester Historical Society, in accordance with the 
 following program, as issued by the society : 
 
 PROGRAM OF THE DORCHESTER 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Exercises at Blake House, at 1.45 P.M. 
 
 (Owned and occupied })y the Dorchester Historical Society, Edward Everett square.) 
 
 A¥elcome by Richard C. HiMrHREYS, President. 
 Address by His Excellency Curtis Glild, Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 Address by His Honor John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor of Boston. 
 Replacing of the Old Dorchester Milestone, erected in 1734. 
 Address on Old Milestones, by James H. Stark, Vice-President. 
 
 Invited guests will proceed to Savin Hill in carriages and barges, 
 where historical exercises will be held in the tent on the crest of the 
 hill, on the site of the first fort. 
 
 Program of Exercises at Savin Hill. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Opening Address by Richard C. Humphreys, President of the 
 
 Dorchester Historical Society. 
 Singing by One Hundred School Children. 
 Oration by D. Chauncey Brewer, Esq. 
 Address by Rev. AVilliam H. Allbright, D.D. 
 Address by Rev. Eugene R. Shippen. 
 Music. 
 
 The exercises at the old Blake House, attendant 
 on the replacing of the old Dorchester Milestone, 
 began at 1.45. In opening the exercises President 
 Richard C. Humphreys said : 
 
COMMITTEE OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 
 
FOURTH DOKCIIKSTEIi DAY. 59 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By Richard C. Humphreys, 
 
 President of the Dorchester Historical Society 
 
 We have gathered here this afternoon to carry 
 out one of the objects for which the Dorchester 
 Historical Society was organized — for it was organ- 
 ized to preserve this Milestone and other landmarks 
 that were in danger of being lost. Standing under 
 the shadow of the Blake House, which is more 
 than two hundred and fifty years old, and was 
 saved by our society, close to the spot where stood 
 the liouse in which Lieutenant-C4overnor Oliver lived 
 and where Edward Everett was born, it is not 
 strange that sentiments of patriotism arise in our 
 hearts and urge us to go on with our good work of 
 saving all these things that pertain to old Dor- 
 chester; things that will help the rising generation 
 to more fully appreciate what this dear old town 
 has done for them. 
 
 Let us not forget that Washington marched along 
 yonder road on his way to Dorchester Heights 
 and that the first settlement of Dorchester was in 
 this immediate vicinity. Think what changes have 
 taken place about here! When I was a boy I used 
 to skate on Newhall's pond where we now stand, 
 and on Andrew's pond, opposite, separated from the 
 
60 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 former only by Pond street as it runs to-day. Before 
 1776, a cow had wandered into the swamp about 
 where the William E. Russell school-house now stands 
 and stuck fast in the mud, so that the wolves from 
 the forest had come down before morning and 
 devoured her. 
 
 In my day there was a dense wood from Mag- 
 nolia street to Blue Hill avenue, where we hunted 
 for wild rabbits. A part of the swamp opposite 
 was filled in by Lieutenant-Governor Oliver's slaves, 
 who carried thither on their heads boxes or baskets 
 of gravel from the higher land around what is now 
 Edward Everett square. 
 
 We would express our gratitude to Mr. Parkman 
 Dexter, to Mr. Fowle and Mr. Delano, to whom we 
 are indebted for saving this Milestone. 
 
 We deem it fitting to emphasize the importance of 
 saving these landmarks by inviting our Vice-President, 
 James H. Stark, to say a few words to us on 
 " Milestones and Landmarks." 
 
 To you, our Chief Magistrate, allow me to express 
 the heartfelt pleasure of the people of Dorchester for 
 the honor conferred upon them by your presence to- 
 day. All honor to our Governor, who has the heart 
 and mind to conceive, the understanding to direct 
 and the hand to execute. 
 
 To his Honor our Mayor we give a cordial 
 greeting — a man of ceaseless energy, a,n eloquent 
 orator and a citizen of Dorchester. The old proverb 
 says, " Poets are born, but orators are made." He 
 is a born orator. 
 
(i. 
 
 GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 61 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By Gov. Curtis Guild, Jr. 
 
 Governor Guild, the chief executive, as he took his 
 position upon tlie steps of the famous house, was 
 accorded three cheers and given the Chautauqua 
 salute. The Governor, together with Mayor Fitz- 
 gerald, Congressman Joseph F. O'Connell, Senator 
 Leavitt and others, had previously assisted in reset- 
 ting the old Dorchester Milestone, which had been 
 removed from Hancock street, where it had stood for 
 a number of years, to its new resting-groimd. Each 
 with mortar and trowel cemented a stone about the 
 base of the relic. 
 
 During: the course of his remarks the Governor 
 said that it gave him great pleasure to Ije present 
 upon the noteworthy occasion and to extend his 
 congratulations for the preservation of the memories 
 and monuments to the distinguished predecessors of 
 old Dorchester. He said that it was a pleasure for 
 him to assist in restoring the old Milestone to its 
 conditions of ancient days that it might ever remind 
 us of the struggles of our fathers. 
 
 He took issue with some who declared that the 
 seal of the Commonwealth represented war, claiming 
 that the Indian upon the seal was a hunter and not 
 a warrior ; that the words spoken by the Indian 
 
62 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 were, " Come over and join with us," at the time 
 when the fathers of the nation left their native 
 shore to set up for themselves a free government in 
 the new world. He said that the hand which is 
 extended upon the seal means simply that it is 
 hostile to tyrants and only draws the sword against 
 those who oppose law, order and peace. 
 
,T,Callahaii.Ba5.l 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 63 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By Mayor John F, Fitzgerald 
 
 I am very glad indeed to be present to-day at 
 these exercises, to bring to you the greetings of the 
 City of Boston, and to all who have striven for the 
 perpetuation of her glorious history her warmest ex- 
 pressions of gratitude. That the people of Dorchester 
 should take this op})ortunity of setting up the old 
 Milestone, a silent reminder of the days of old and 
 the achievements of those who have gone before us, 
 is most gratifying. This year, perhaps more than 
 any other in the history of our city, w^ill })rove a 
 source of historical inspiration because of the number 
 of landmarks that will be erected by the City of 
 Boston. 
 
 One of the chief advantages to Ije derived from 
 the Old Home Week celebration will be the dedi- 
 cation in different parts of the city of tablets and 
 other memorials commemorating historic sites and 
 historic places. During the present year the Governor 
 and the Mayor united in a request to the Legislature 
 for authority to expend the sum of $15,000 for the 
 preservation of the Old State House, and for the pur- 
 pose of restoring the building as far as possible to 
 its original appearance. The authority has been 
 granted, and the work will be started this year, to 
 
64 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 the great satisfaction of all lovers of Boston, who 
 revere the Old State House, the seat of the Provincial 
 Government. 
 
 The history of Boston and its historic sites will 
 always be preserved and honored as long as associ- 
 ations of the character of the Dorchester Historical 
 Society exist, and the traditions of the early settlers 
 who sacrificed so much that we might receive the 
 great advantages which we have will never be for- 
 gotten by a grateful people. I am proud, indeed, to 
 be a resident of a district whose past is filled with 
 the achievements of patriotic and honorable men. 
 Coming from a home near the site of the Old North 
 Church, where Paul Revere hung his lanterns, to live 
 among you, many of whose ancestors descended from 
 those who came here in the " Mary and John " two 
 hundred and seventy-seven years ago, I am to-day, as 
 chief executive of the City of Boston, more proud of 
 one thing than any other, and that is, that historic 
 sites, brave deeds, patriotic devotion and love of 
 country have not been confined to any section, but 
 have been found in every nook and corner of the 
 city which now embraces the old town of Dorchester. 
 
 Following the Mayor's remarks. President Hum- 
 phreys called on Vice-President James H. Stark to 
 speak on "Milestones and Landmarks." Mr. Stark 
 said : 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 65 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By James H. Stark 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen of the Dorcliester Historical 
 Society : 
 The occasion of our meeting to-day on this his- 
 toric spot is tu reinstate one of Dorchester's old mile- 
 stones. It was originally placed on what is now 
 Hancock street, during the administration of Gov- 
 ernor Belcher in 1734. This road was the first main 
 thoroughfare in Massachusetts, for it connected 
 Plymouth Colony with that of Massachusetts. It led 
 directly past Governor Belcher's heautiful residence 
 in Milton, and every time the Governor went to 
 Boston he passed this Milestone. It was passed also 
 on that eventful night, March 4, 1776, by Washing- 
 ton and his troops, when they took possession of 
 Dorchester Heights. Three hundred teams loaded 
 with white birch fagots with which to erect forts 
 on the frozen ground silently passed this Milestone 
 on their way from Captain Holman's farm in the 
 upper part of the town — the place selected by 
 Washington himself — to the heights which com- 
 manded the town of Boston. 
 
 Here the forts were constructed that led to the 
 evacuation of Boston. A little more than a year 
 before one of Boston's most famous sous left forever 
 
66 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 his beautiful mansion on the crest of Milton Hill, 
 and passed this Milestone in his carriage, which the 
 following year was confiscated and appropriated to 
 the use of Washington. Governor Hutchinson passed 
 the Milestone for the last time, proceeding to what 
 is now South Boston point. He was rowed to the 
 Castle, the last bit of his beloved Massachusetts 
 earth ever to receive his footfall. From here he 
 embarked in the ship " Minerva," his vast possessions 
 confiscated, fleeing from the wrath of his fellow 
 townsmen. He in a few years died a broken- 
 hearted exile from his native land. 
 
 These are a few of the events witnessed by this 
 old Milestone, which this society has rescued from 
 the fate of many that have gone before it. The 
 attention of the proper authorities should be called 
 to the preservation of these historic landmarks. It 
 should be the duty of the superintendent of streets, 
 and a penalty imposed for their injury or removal 
 by any person. A few years ago the most noted 
 Milestone in the vicinity of Boston was rescued from 
 destruction — the Parting Stone erected in 1744 by 
 Paul Dudley near the Norfolk House, at the corner 
 of Washington and Centre streets and Eliot square, 
 Roxbury. This old stone undoubtedly pointed the 
 way to what was once considered the termination of 
 civilization. A gentleman driving in from Brookline 
 a few years ago missed this well-remembered land- 
 mark. Leaving his carriage, he searched in a heap 
 of rubbish and found the old stone. Men wdth tip- 
 carts were taking away the dirt and stones, prepar- 
 
FOURTH DOKCH ESTER DAY. 67 
 
 ing to erect a new Iniildiiig. He paid a man a 
 dollar to sit on the stone and to see that no one 
 touched it till he could get back from City Hall, 
 where the Mayor at once gave orders to have the 
 stone replaced. That was all that saved the famous 
 Parting Stone from destruction. 
 
 Milestones are of very ancient origin. "Mile" is 
 derived from the Roman '' milliare," which contained 
 a thousand steps of five Roman feet each, the pace 
 or step being the length of the step made hy the 
 foot. The Roman mile is 1,G17 yards, which is 
 modified in England and the Ignited States to 1,760 
 yards. This measurement was adopted in England 
 in the thirty-fifth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. 
 
 At tlie conclusion of Mr. Stark's address the party 
 entered barges and carriages and were driven to 
 Savin Hill. 
 
68 
 
 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 CELEBRATION AT SAVIN HILL 
 
 On arriving on the crest of Savin Hill, where 
 formerly stood the first fort erected in that vicinity, 
 there was a selection by the band, after which 
 President Humphreys called the gathering to order, 
 saying : 
 
 " Again we have invited you to this memorable 
 spot to celebrate Dorchester Day. We congratulate 
 you all that our Mayor and others in authority have 
 assured lis that there is a good prospect of saving 
 this beautiful plateaLi with its historic interest for 
 a public park. We wish to make Dorchester an 
 example to surrounding towms to save their historic 
 spots, their milestones and landmarks. We wish to 
 cultivate the historic spirit in the rising generation 
 and to make our young people realize that Governor 
 Winthrop, the Mathers, Roger Clap and other early 
 settlers of Dorchester represented the great historic 
 forces that sowed seeds of Puritanism in this good 
 old town which spread all along the shores of 
 Massachusetts bay, and that Dorchester was the very 
 centre of many of the most noted scenes in the 
 beginning of New England. We hope the time will 
 come when the " Dorchester spirit " will be synony- 
 mous with patriotism and a reverence for historic 
 places, when it will be no lunger necessary for us to 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 09 
 
 worry over the danger of the destruction of the Old 
 South Meeting House, the Old State House and 
 other historic buildings. If the John Hancock House 
 was standing to-day it would not be in danger of 
 l)eing torn down, such lias been the growth of this 
 spirit which we are trying to cultivate. 
 
 "The placing of the tessellated pavement in the 
 vestibule of the Dorchester High School at the 
 Talbot avenue entrance carries us back well nio-h 
 two thousand years. This pavement, which was 
 walked upon by Julius Caesar's legions, if not by the 
 ruler himself, is to-day trodden upon by hundreds of 
 the boys and girls of our Dorchester High School, 
 and if they are thoughtful they can receive an 
 inspiration that will aid them in their study of 
 ancient history." 
 
 Next on the program was the singing of national 
 airs by one hundred school children. 
 
70 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ORATION 
 
 By Daniel Chauncey Brewer 
 
 The most famous of the living officers of the 
 Civil War, Major-General Howard, has recently said 
 that the principles of our government were founded 
 upon the family, the church, the town meeting and 
 the public school. 
 
 This being so, it is fortunate, in a time when our 
 fathers' ideals are obscured by involved modern con- 
 ditions, that we can come back for inspiration to 
 scenes that are full of suggestion. Here, in the 
 beginning of our national history, the family rang 
 true and the church (I speak of congregations of men 
 worshipping God without regard to polity or creed) was 
 sublime. Here the town meeting and the public 
 school first crystallized into form ; and gathered here 
 to-day we naturally select for loving review the story 
 of Dorchester's heroic or golden age. 
 
 That classic period rightly commences with the 
 sailing of the " Mary and John " from Plymouth, Eng- 
 land, in 1630, with the first consignment of the 
 Massachusetts colony. 
 
 That the little vessel of four hundred tons, no 
 larger than a Gloucester fishing vessel, was seventy 
 days on her way, is generally known. The suffering 
 on board no one pretends to imagine. Whatever 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 71 
 
 horror l^efell them, the one hundred and forty-five 
 valiant souls that formed the colonizing party were 
 undivided ; there was a brave and united church, and 
 brave and united families in which the tender women 
 and the children deserve even greater credit for for- 
 titude than do the men. 
 
 On the oOth of May they were off Nantasket, 
 where the skipper anchored (unheeding every pro- 
 test), on the ground that he was at the mouth of 
 the Charles river, the place to which his cargo was 
 consigned. How the pioneers reached Dorchester is 
 now immaterial. There were explorations made by 
 pinnace, and sage conferences, which resulted finally 
 in the choice of a home. 
 
 Near us, at the Town Meeting square, they raised 
 their first blockhouse, which also served as church 
 and school, and, running south from this rallying 
 spot, they hewed their first lane (now known as 
 Pleasant street) out of the forest. 
 
 Alontr this road, referred to later as Settlers' 
 street, and in the immediate vicinity, possibly along 
 the path now called Savin Hill avenue, which led 
 to "Rock Hill" (where we are now gathered), on 
 which a colony fortress was soon to frown, the first 
 houses were budded, none of them more tlian a half 
 mile from the blockhouse, for better protection, and 
 each surrounded with a half acre of yard or garden. 
 
 Such was the settlement. Shortly after the initial 
 step was taken. Cottage street was laid out along its 
 present lines, to be later extended to Roxbury ; and 
 the path to the marshes, where, as in other New 
 
72 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 England communities, the cattle were pastured, 
 became a road. It is now Pond street. 
 
 These accomplishments, together with the dedica- 
 tion of the old graveyard on Stoughton and Boston 
 streets, with which many generations of their de- 
 scendants have been familiar, and the setting aside 
 of the level plain which still borders Pleasant street, 
 and which was immediately adjacent to their meet- 
 ing-house, for a training field, mark the close of 
 the first period of the settlement life. 
 
 Such were the bare outlines of the stage on which 
 the founders of Dorchester played their part. 
 
 To secure the accessories, to understand the people, 
 you must get a glimpse of the England that nour- 
 ished and the New England that welcomed them. 
 
 Let us bridge time and the seas to the home and 
 the reign of Queen Bess, and more particularly let 
 us make our way to the ports which fringe the 
 southwestern countries. 
 
 Now we understand the spirit which exalted our 
 ancestry. Here live and move the people who are 
 to make England great and our democracy possible. 
 Every town and hamlet has, or has had, in the past, 
 at least one representative who helped Admiral 
 Howard repel the great Armada, or who sailed with 
 Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins and other brave captains 
 to the new lands for trading and the fisheries. 
 
 As a consequence, the love of liberty which char- 
 acterizes these adventurous spirits who have known 
 freedom from restraint characterizes also the towns 
 that they inhabit. A grain of leaven has leavened 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 73 
 
 the whole lump, and it is as natural to he hrave, 
 out-spoken, broad-minded in the southwest of England, 
 at the period of which we speak, as it w\as for an 
 Athenian in the time of Pericles to be cultivated. 
 
 To this peo})le, thrilled with the new thought tliat 
 is arousing Great Britain, has come the acts of 
 uniformity, dictating the method of worship for 
 Catholic and Protestant alike. 
 
 Do yon wonder that high-minded men and women, 
 of such a mould as has been indicated, dared to pro- 
 test against such dictation, and preferred to suffer 
 what amounted to severance from home and kindred 
 for conscience sake? 
 
 Further, do you not get in the light of this review 
 the meaning of Governor Stoughton's words, spoken 
 about 1G7(>, of the Dorchester pioneers whom he had 
 previously known, " They were wheat garnered out 
 of all England." 
 
 Whatever our thought, the causes and conditions 
 given filled the first vessel that Governor Winthrop 
 sent to the shores of Boston harbor with serious- 
 faced people. 
 
 Returning now to this side of the Atlantic, imagine 
 the ship's company as it takes possession of these 
 lands so familiar to us. Both sexes are soljerly 
 garbed. The men wear hats bell-crowned and formal, 
 but perfectly adapted to the belted doublets and 
 short breeches which seemed fashioned for people of 
 a melancholy mood ; while pelobeers (straps hung 
 with wooden cartridares) are caught about the 
 shoulder of each, and a gun of curious pattern is 
 
74 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 either carried or lies conveniently at hand. The 
 women are modestly gowned with white kerchief 
 and cap. 
 
 Both men and women are sagacions, courageous 
 and determined. Among them are many of good 
 family and fortune. Some of the men have been 
 schooled at the English universities in a day when 
 learning is rare, and others have achieved reputation 
 as soldiers in the continental wars. Unobtrusive in 
 dress and bearing, jeered at by the frivolous as dis- 
 senters and purists, they are, from our standpoint, 
 as distinguished a group as ever disembarked from 
 an English ship. 
 
 To a people less heroic the new world's wilderness 
 would surely have proved more than depressing. 
 Let their scouting parties pierce ever so far inland 
 and climb the loftiest hills, there was nothing to the 
 west but forest pressing upon forest. 
 
 There was a storm-swept ocean before them, coursed 
 by pirates and Spaniards. There was an ocean of 
 trees behind, in whose shadows lurked mysterious 
 savages and dreadful beasts. 
 
 To realize something of the natural awe which 
 must have enfolded them as they moved along the 
 trails that their axes blazed, we have only to refer 
 to an ancient chronicle which recites: "To the north 
 of Boston there is often heard a horrid roaring 
 which is not unlike that of lions and demons." 
 
 This reference introduces us to the unseen world, 
 ^vhicli was very real to that generation, and which 
 closed round about the people of Dorchester with 
 
KOKKTII DORCHESTER DAY. 75 
 
 chilling effect. Did the wind roar and whistle in 
 the tree tops or around the corners of their rudely 
 built two-room shelters — who knew whether the 
 very spirits of darkness were abroad or not? Did 
 a. twig catch the cloak of the returning yeoman as 
 he threaded his way home from his outlying farm 
 through dense thickets — it might be a witch or a 
 demon ! 
 
 Amid such surroundings, the clearing of the wood- 
 land and the tillage of the ground must have pre- 
 sented sufficient difficulties to absorb the infant 
 colony's attention. Nevertheless these exceptional 
 men found time also for such an ordering of their 
 affairs as signified much for i)osterity. We find in 
 the old town records these entries : 
 
 ''Monday, Octol)er 8, 1633. Imprimis. It is or- 
 dered that for the general good and well ordering 
 of the affairs of tlie plantation, there sliall ))e every 
 Monday before the court by 8 o'clock P.M. and 
 presently by the beating of the drum, a general 
 meeting of the inhabitants of the plantation at the 
 meeting-house, then to settle and set down such 
 orders as may tend to the general good as aforesaid, 
 and every man to be bound therebv without train- 
 saying or resistance." 
 
 This was notable legislation, and it was followed 
 May 20, 1G31), by a hardly less remarkable ordi- 
 nance, viz. : Tlie adoption of a scheme which, 
 depriving the settlers of the income of Thompson's 
 Island, owned by the town, and which might prop- 
 erly have been used to meet urgent expenses, and 
 
76 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 devoting the same to the support of a free school, 
 taxed every inhabitant in the interest of education. 
 
 Mr. President, the learned of all ages have extolled 
 the democratic form of government as ideal, permit- 
 ting such modifications as appear in our republic 
 when necessity requires, but have also noted that 
 such a government can not exist without virtue and 
 education. 
 
 The men of the " Mary and John " were not 
 content to theorize. They first established local 
 government as we know it, in which every citizen 
 has a voice (it was quickly copied by Boston and 
 Cambridge and the neighboring towns), and they 
 buttressed it by virtue and education. 
 
 From these beginnings, more directly than from 
 the compact in the "Mayflower" or the Jamestown 
 precedent, were evolved the civic institutions which 
 have made the United States great, prosperous and 
 a pattern for all peoples. 
 
 The lives these devoted colonists lived, and the 
 ordinances they framed, guaranteed for them good 
 government and personal liberty. If we of this 
 generation are to enjoy the same privileges, we, too, 
 must be virtuous as a people and maintain the same 
 institutions. 
 
 The peril is 'Mest we forget," that through autoc- 
 racy or dictatorial leagues we endanger liberty, or 
 that by license we forfeit equitable government. 
 
 How shall we prevent this ? I know of no better 
 way in which this community can aid than by seek- 
 ing to perpetuate the memory of the Dorchester 
 
FOURTH DOKCII ESTER DAY. 77 
 
 company by raising a monument which shall record 
 their accomplishments for humanity. 
 
 Such a memorial should be as notable as the artist 
 and the architect can make it, that with its lesson it 
 may compel the attention not only of residents of 
 Boston, but of the multitudes of our fellow country- 
 men from every corner of the land who annually 
 visit this city. The municipality would honor itself 
 by such a project; the State, which takes its name 
 from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, might with pro- 
 priety lend its aid ; and the descendants of these men, 
 now a mighty multitude, many of whom have 
 amassed great wealth, would perform a filial and 
 praiseworthy duty Ijy joining in such an enterprise. 
 
 At Plymouth, there stands a splendid statue in 
 recognition of the virtues uf the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 At Jamestown, the fleets of the world are met to 
 applaud the act of the founders of Virginia. 
 
 Let us now have a suitable monument to tell the 
 story of the foundation of the town meeting and 
 the public school. 
 
 The Pvev. W. H. Allbright was the next speaker. 
 He spoke on the "Enjoyment of History." 
 
CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By the Rev. W. H. Allbright 
 
 Mr. President and Friends of Dorchester : 
 
 I liave here a manuscript on Dorchester history, 
 but I will not use it. Instead, I propose to address 
 myself to these pupils of our public schools, whose 
 bright, eager faces are the inspiration of this occa- 
 sion. Their presence here indicates an interest in 
 this Dorchester Day celebration, especially in this 
 historical and educational part of the program. 
 Some, no doubt, will prefer the pageant and parade ; 
 others will be glad to get their feet under tiie 
 tables this evening and enjoy the prandial and post- 
 prandial feast. Many of us hope to be there. But, 
 for the present, these exercises command us. 
 
 I am specially glad to participate in them for 
 several reasons. 
 
 First, because I was born and lived for twenty 
 years in the land whence the Pilgrims and Puritans 
 came. I have only one grudge against them. It is 
 that they were two hundred years ahead of me. It 
 was not fair. They ought to have waited ; I should 
 surely have been one of them, though my name and 
 achievement might not have added any special lustre 
 to their memorable exploit. 
 
 Then, secondly, I am glad to participate in this 
 observance because fifty years ago the church which 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 79 
 
 T have the honor to jserve was planted on tlie soil 
 which their feet first trod. Right there, next to tlu; 
 Athenauim building, stood Pilgrim Church for nearly 
 a quarter of a century. To be sure, we are not 
 mentioned in the history of good old Dorchester ; 
 but what matters, we have made ourselves known 
 without the aid of the historian. Some cliurches 
 need factitious and outside helps ; we have made 
 something of a record without nuicli advertising. 
 
 Then, thirdly, I am glad to be identified with the 
 progressive life of our district. I have lived here 
 longer than in any other place. In England, I li\'ed 
 in town and village. Here I have lived full seven- 
 teen years, so long that I am the oldest pastor, in 
 point of service, in this part of our city. Mr. Shippen 
 is not young in years, or knowledge, Init I recall two 
 of his predecessors in the historic Meeting House Hill 
 pulpit. It is Ijecoming in us all, as citizens of this 
 })art of Boston, to cherish a just })ride in its traditions 
 and achievements ; its institutions and its homes ; its 
 })eople and their material and moral welfare. 
 
 Speaking of our history, 1 may remind you that 
 there are four things essential to a true interpreta- 
 tion and enjoyment of history : 
 
 ] . Knowledge. To enjoy history we must he 
 informed. Our pleasure is in })roportion to our 
 acquaintance with the men and movements of our 
 land and age. Here it cannot be said " that igno- 
 rance is bliss." 
 
 Let me encourage you scholars of our schools to 
 the fond pursuit of historical knowledge. Do not 
 
80 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 say, give me fiction; let me be lulled to rest with a 
 novel. All novel reading is not to be discouraged, 
 but there is so much that needs to l)e known of a 
 past to which we are all debtors, of the men and 
 women who cleared for us a track and made the 
 way of our feet all glorious. I beg you to read 
 history — the history of your own country — with 
 avidity and relish. You have no claim to social recog- 
 nition, and you will not get it, if you prefer to remain 
 uncultivated and uninformed as to the great epochs 
 and events of your country's history. 
 
 2. The next essential to enjoyment of history is 
 truth. 
 
 It is so easy for any and all of us to be narrow- 
 minded — to be partial and prejudiced in our views 
 of men and movements. What we want is a pur- 
 pose to be true to the facts, even though they cut 
 like the knife of a surgeon into the sensitive and 
 sore places. 
 
 If our schisms are more to us than the truth, 
 then we are a bigoted and blighted nation. Give us 
 truth at all cost ! This should be our imperative. 
 This will enable us to be just to one another and 
 honorable to those who made the way for our 
 coming. 
 
 3. I mention imagination as a prerequisite to the 
 enjoyment of history. Imagination is that which 
 gives color and life to the literature of the past. 
 By it we can rehabilitate the scenes and surround- 
 ings of the past, reanimate and reclothe the^ people 
 who once trod these hills and vales. I seemed to 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 81 
 
 see them in their quaint dress and dwellings as our 
 friend, Mr. Brewer, was si)eaking. They lived again 
 before me in very llesh and blood. Imagination 
 lends enchantment to history; it affords color and 
 vivacity. It is worth cultivating. You can clip the 
 wings of an eagle, and prevent his soaring too high, 
 but if he has no wings you cannot aid him in his 
 flight toward the sun. 
 
 Then, finally, I mention appreciation. This is 
 necessary if we would get any good out of history. 
 Some persons are everlastingly dinging at the foibles 
 and faults of their forebears. God pity them ! 
 Would that they could see themselves as others see 
 them. 
 
 It is all too common for newspapers and poli- 
 ticians to sneer at our Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors. 
 If they knew how nuich tliey advertise their own 
 limitations in so doing, they would desist. What 
 S]jlendid eulogies have been written on Puritan and 
 Pilgrim character and achievement. Who, then, are 
 these cheap statesmen that dare to defy and defame 
 the verdict of history ! Appreciation is a rare faculty. 
 It can be acquired. Let us all covet it. It will 
 enable us to see more of good in eacli other, and 
 to be sure that all the good of this world is ours if 
 only we will appropriate, appreciate and enjoy it. 
 
 The Rev. Eugene R. Shippen, pastor of the First 
 Parish Church, Meeting House Hill, was the last 
 speaker of the afternoon. 
 
82 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By the rev. Eugene R. Shippen 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Shippen spoke on "Dorchester Poetry." 
 Emphasizing the second word on the Dorchester seal, 
 " Literis," Mr. Shippen read specimens of poetry 
 written in Dorchester in the seventeenth, eighteenth, 
 nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first ex- 
 ample was taken from the " Bay Psalm Book," pub- 
 lished in 1639, in the preparation of wdiich the Rev. 
 Richard Mather had an important part. Except for 
 the rhymes, the liymn read had no element of 
 poetry, being most wretched stuff from a literary 
 point of view, yet valuable as reflecting the taste of 
 the day. The Dorchester settlers w^ere evidently men 
 of common sense, not of uncommon sense or imag- 
 ination. It is difficult to account for their literary 
 crudity, however, when we remember that Milton's 
 " L' Allegro," " Comus " and " T^ycidas " had all been 
 written within the first ten years after the landing 
 of the Dorchester settlers. 
 
 The eighteenth century selection was a specimen 
 of tombstone poetry, grandiloquent ej)itaphs being 
 characteristic of the times. The next century Ijrought 
 with it genuine culture and a much higher literary 
 standard. An ode written by Miss Eliza T. Clapp for 
 
PASTOR OF FIRST PARISH CHURCH OF DORCHESTER. 
 
FOURTH DOKCIIKSTER DAY. 83 
 
 the 2-30tli anniversary of the First Parisli was read, 
 one of its noble verses being as follows : 
 
 But guard us, O thou living Lord, 
 
 If, lost our silken lines among, 
 We miss the high, heroic chord 
 
 That through their manly accents rung. 
 
 This verse gave occasion to Mr. Shippen to dwell 
 npon the need of the times, the '^high, heroic chord" 
 of independence, social and political, without which 
 all our boasted progress would amount to nothing. 
 
 In closing, the speaker read from the original 
 raanuscri})t lines written for Dorchester Day by Mrs. 
 William H. Allbright, wife of the popular minister 
 of Pilgrim Church. 
 
 DORCHESTER'S PIONEERS. 
 
 Bv Mary E. Alliuught. 
 
 Out from the storms of the sea, fog clinging to sail and spar, 
 A small, quaint craft, hke a ghost in white, glides over the 
 harbor bar. 
 
 Onward she comes, straight on, to her fate of woe or weal ; 
 Dauntless, staunch as a hero's soul, from her top-sail down to 
 her keel. 
 
 She hails from a distant land ; on her deck are the pioneers ; 
 And the fog that wraps her 'round is the mist of near three 
 
 hundred years. 
 A look — and she fades away! There is nothing Imt sea and 
 
 shore. 
 'Twas a glimpse from the scenes of a vanished past ; — a vision, 
 
 and nothing more. 
 That was our ship, good neighbors, gathering here to-day, 
 That was our ship, the " Mary and John," and that was 
 
 Dorchester bay. 
 
84 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Those were our sires and mothers ; — women and men of God, 
 Who had left behind them every inch of ground whicli their feet 
 
 had trod. 
 Here on this soil they landed ; found what their souls had sought; 
 Here it was that they lived, and here that they planned and 
 
 wrought. 
 Churches and schools they reared, of the best that thej' could give 
 S^imple and unadorned, like the lives that they had to live. 
 Out of their dim ideals, and out of their " hope forlorn," — 
 Out of their toils and tears our happier lives were born. 
 Theirs was an empty cup which for us has been blessed and 
 
 filled ; 
 They saw in dreams the statelier walls which it has ])een ours to 
 
 build. 
 Shall we forget them, friends? Shall only their names be read 
 On the old gray stones in the graveyard there, the sleeping place 
 
 of the dead? 
 Forget them? No, they are ours! They are part of our joy 
 
 and pride. 
 What matters it that centuries have passed since they lived and 
 
 died? 
 The answer comes with a thrill, although our voices be mute ; 
 With one accord, we join our souls in a reverent salute. 
 " All hail ! All hail ! " we cry, across the gulf of the years ; 
 " Honor and love and praise ! All hail to the pioneers ! " 
 
 After the speech making the prizes were awarded 
 to the six school children who had written the best 
 essays on the history of Dorchester by the Rev. W. 
 H. Allbright. 
 
 The pupils of the William E. Russell, Mather and 
 Edward Everett schools had prepared essays, and 
 those receiving prizes were Florence E. Turner, 
 Arthur A. Donovan, Francis Grosscup, Frank Daly, 
 Svea Brink and Louis Goler. 
 
 The exercises were brought to a close by the 
 singing of " America." 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. §5 
 
 YACHT RACES 
 
 Skippers, yacht owners and yaclitsnien in general, 
 together with their friends, assemljled at the Savin 
 Hill Yacht Club quarters and witnessed as fine a 
 series of races as has ever been run on the course 
 opposite the quarters of that organization. At ten 
 A.M. sharp the whistle on the official boat, the tug 
 "Cormorant," announced the start of the class A 
 boats, and the racing continued until five P.M. 
 
 The winners of the races, which were held under 
 the management of tlie Savin Hill Yacht Club, 
 the Dorchester Yacht Club and the Boston Yacht Club, 
 are as follows : 
 
 Class A. — ^ Yachts over 32 feet and under 45 feet, over-all 
 length. — First, Sentinel; owner, G. A. Crawford; corrected 
 time, 1 hour 3 minutes 27 seconds. Second, Dorchen ; owner, 
 R. C. Goudy ; corrected time, 1 hour 7 minutes 44 seconds. 
 Third, P^leanor ; owner, George F. Sawyer ; corrected time, 
 1 hour 7 minutes 28 seconds. 
 
 Class B. — Y'aclits over 21 feet and not over 32 feet, over- 
 all length. — First, Goblin; owner, R. M. Lothrop; corrected 
 time, 1 hour 5 minutes 11 seconds. Second, Dorcher ; owner, 
 A. W. Finley ; corrected time, 1 hour 6 minutes 9 seconds. 
 Third, Sintram ; owner, Harry B. Green ; corrected time, 
 1 hour 7 minutes 45 seconds. 
 
 Class D. — Cape cat boats, according to the Cape Cat Boat 
 Association rules. — First, Arawak ; owner, H. C. Nickerson ; 
 corrected time, 1 hour 31 minutes 51 seconds. Second, Almira; 
 owner, J. M. Whittemore ; corrected time, 1 hour 35 minutes 34 
 seconds. Third, Solitaire; owner, C. C. Colhns; corrected time, 
 1 hour 39 minutes 34 seconds. 
 
86 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Class E. — For all yachts 21 feet and under, over-all length. — 
 First, Teaser; owner, Joseph Vaux ; corrected time, 1 hour 15 
 minutes 14 seconds. Second, ICmcrell ; owner, vS. Harding; cor- 
 rected time, 1 hour l(i minutes 11 seconds. Third, Swastika; 
 owner, G. H. Murray; corrected time, 1 liour 21 minutes 35 
 seconds. 
 
 The judges of the course were Frank W. Merrick, 
 Commodore of the S. H. Y. C. ; Hjalmar Limdberg, 
 Commodore of the D. Y, C. ; Louis M. Clark, Allan 
 M. Davis, Charles F. White, Bernard Martin, Edward 
 J. Wynde, William JS. Mace, Thomas F. MacManus, 
 0. F. Davenport, Loring Sears, William H. Besarick 
 and L. P. Sears. 
 
FOURTH DOKCHE.STER DAY 
 
 WATER SPORTS 
 
 The water sports held at Savin Hill heach proved 
 a very interesting feature of the Dorchester Day pro- 
 gram. One of the most interesting events of the 
 sport, and which aroused tlie spectators to a great 
 degree of enthusiasm, was the victory of little Rosa 
 Pitonof of Dorchester in the fifty-yard race for girls 
 under sixteen years of age. The smallest girl in the 
 race, she won easily from the other four entrants. 
 George Connelly won the first race of the morning, 
 tliat of fifty yards for l^oys under sixteen, and Peter 
 McHugh w^as second. In the quarter-mile race for 
 l)oys over sixteen, William Pendergast came in first 
 and John F. McGee second. The next race on the 
 program was that for girls under sixteen for a 
 distance of fifty yards, which was won by Rosa Pit- 
 onof, with Catherine Berlo second. Buddy Ryan was 
 first and William O'Brien second in the fifty -yard 
 contest for boys over sixteen. The quarter-mile for 
 girls over sixteen was won by Lillie Berlo, with her 
 sister, Anna Berlo, second. 
 
 The last contest on the program was that of 
 diving, each boy making three dives. Adolp Pitonof 
 won the first prize and Ernest McLaughlin second. 
 The prizes offered were silver cups. After the races 
 Peter S. McNally, who had charge of the events, 
 gave an exhibition of trick and fancy swimming. 
 
88 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 THE PARADE 
 
 The parade was one of the leading features of 
 the day. It was witnessed by more than 75,000 
 persons. The decorations along the route were 
 unusually fine and profuse, and more elal)orate than 
 in many years. Many new devices were displayed, 
 while from every flag-staff flags snapped in the 
 breeze all day. Red, white and blue bunting was 
 seen everywhere. 
 
 In Peabody square the decorations were unusually 
 fine and profuse. Engine Company No. 46 had 
 completely covered their house with the tri-colored 
 bunting. The decorations of the Ashmont Club 
 were also noticeably attractive and striking. 
 
 Among the prominent displays in the square were 
 those of the Ashmont Real Estate Excbano-e, Ross 
 Dry Goods Company, Stevens' upholstery establish- 
 ment, the Hopkins news stand, J. A. Hart & Co.'s 
 store, the real estate offices of J. W. Paul, 
 C. E. Weymouth's dry goods establishment, E. W. 
 Burleigh's real estate offices, the drug store of A. 
 H. Tripp, E. P. Jacques' grocery store and the Casey 
 shoe stores. 
 
 STORES AND CLUBS GAY. 
 
 Both the Columl)us House, Pearl and Pleasant 
 streets, and the Dorchester Municipal Building were 
 most tastefully decorated for the day. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. gQ 
 
 Every building in Codman square was decorated, 
 those especially noticeable for tlie excellence of 
 design being Thomas Tobin's news store, Garland & 
 Sons' grocery and meat market, tlie drug store of E. 
 W. Higgins, the Dorchester Gentlemeu's Driving Club- 
 house, the drug store of G. E. Coleman, the Dorchester 
 post-office and the grocery store of Morris Bros. 
 
 On Melville avenue the houses of the Rev. Dr. 
 Little and Benjamin O'Neill attracted much atten- 
 tion by the decorative schemes with which they 
 were adorned. Also noticealjle for the taste of the 
 decorations were the Wheeler, Wallace, Field, Ter- 
 hune, Watson and Sullivan estates. 
 
 Waldeck street was ablaze with color, and llaos 
 were flaunting everywhere. Prominent decorations 
 were those of Charles F. Riordan, the Galvin estate, 
 C. J. Flynn, the McDonald estate, W. J. Paul, the 
 Whitmarsh drug store, Johnson's creamery and the 
 Geneva Avenue market. 
 
 On Harvard street, equallj' patriotic were the dis- 
 plays and color scliemes. The O'Connell estate was 
 prettily decorated, as were the drug establishment of 
 Harrington & Teele, Fink's grocery, the Colonial 
 pharmacy and Warden & Co.'s grocery. 
 
 At Mayor Fitzgerald's home in Welles avenue, 
 flags and bunting were so grouped and displayed as 
 to make most effective and striking decorations. 
 Conspicuous between two large American flags was a 
 great Irish flag. 
 
 At Upham's Corner, the buildings were hard to see 
 for tlie rich and lavish display of flags and bunting. 
 
00 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Aside from the Columbus Club and Municipal Building 
 and the Old Blake House in Edward Everett square, 
 all of the other buildings were prettily adorned. 
 
 Mayor Fitzgerald, accompanied by Councilman 
 Charles T. Harding of the parade committee, called 
 for Governor Guild at the State House snortly after 
 twelve o'clock, and in an automobile went out to 
 Dorchester. The Governor was taken to the Mayor's 
 home in Welles avenue, where he was entertained 
 until time to start for the exercises in the Old Blake 
 House. At the conclusion of these the Governor 
 was taken to Peabody square, where the parade 
 formation took place. 
 
 The procession formed on Talbot and Welles 
 avenues, and started shortly after 2.30 o'clock, pass- 
 ing over this route : Peabody square to Ashmont 
 street, to Ocean street, to Welles avenue, to Wash- 
 ington street, to Melville avenue, to Waldeck street, 
 to Geneva avenue, to Bowdoin street, to Harvard 
 street, to Franklin Field. Here the procession was 
 reviewed by Chief Marshal Pray and his staff, after 
 which the soldiers were dismissed. Then followed a 
 band concert by the consolidated bands, and military 
 evolutions by the Roxbury Horse Guards and the 
 Lancers, and a gun drill by the Naval Brigade. 
 
 There was a large crowd of spectators at the start- 
 ing point, and the streets were well lined along the 
 route, while enthusiastic grou})S applauded the march- 
 ers liberally from decorated verandas, and wherever 
 halts were made citizens were ready with refresh- 
 ments, which were distributed along the line. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 91 
 
 The Rosteu of the Parade. 
 
 Mounted Police. 
 Chief Marslial, Lieutenant Dudley INI. Pray. 
 Chief of Staff, Captain C. II. Keene, Fiftli Infantry. 
 Staff — Lieutenant Charles Carter, Commissary ; Lieutenant 
 Commander D. II. Sughrue, Surgeon ; Captain F. A. 
 Walker, Captain Frank Chubbuck, General W. H. 11. 
 Gary, Captain ¥j. F. O'Dowd, Lieutenant XL C. Connerais, 
 Captain David Hanson, Lieutenant-Colonel .John Perrins, 
 Jr., Lieutenant George A. Wardwell. 
 First Company of Infantry, Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company, as Escort to Chief Marshal. 
 Post 68 Band; G. A. Betteney, Leader. 
 Eighty-Ninth Company, Coast Artillery. 
 Seventh Company, Coast Artillery. 
 Company A, United States Marines. 
 Compan}' of Bluejackets from Warships. 
 Poole's Jiand ; L. E. Poole, Leader. 
 Signal Corps, M. V. JM., in Command of Lieutenant F. B. 
 
 Edwards and Lieutenant R. E. Belcher. 
 Aniliulauce Corps, M. \'. M., Lieutenant E. AV. Shinn Com- 
 manding. 
 Provisional Battalion, Fifth Infantry, M. Y. M. 
 Company L, Sixth Infantry, M. \'. M., Captain G. W. Braxton, 
 Lieutenants AV. B. Gould, W. S. Carpenter. 
 Provisional Battalion, Coast Artillery, M. V. M. 
 Roundy's Band ; A. B. Roundy, Leader. 
 Battalion IMassachusetts Naval Brigade, Lieutenant D. H. Good- 
 rich Commanding : Lieutenant E. R. Peale, Adjutant. 
 Company A, Lieutenant F. G. Rol)inson. 
 Company B, Lieutenant J. H. Marks. 
 Company C, Lieutenant W. A. Lewis. 
 Company I, Lieutenant J. B. Blood. 
 Troop D, Roxbury Horse Guards (Mounted), Captain P>. A. 
 Coliurn Commanding; Lieutenants C. A. Schmitz and W. L. 
 vSwan. 
 Troop A, National Lancers, Captain F. A. Robinson, Command- 
 ing ; Lieutenants J. S. Barrows, D. Ai)pleton. 
 Letter Carriers' Band. 
 Post 6<S, G. A. R., W. B. Robinson Commanding. 
 John Drum Camp, U. S. W. V. 
 
92 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 Camp 26, U. S. W. V. 
 
 Camp 6, U. S. W. V. 
 
 Camp 4, U. S. W. V. 
 
 Camp 8, U. S. W. V. 
 
 Camp ;50, 8. of V. 
 
 Commander A. J. Nott. 
 
 Senior Vice-Commander E. Wallingford. 
 
 Junior V^ice-Cominander A. L. Gardiner. 
 
 Camp ol, S. of V. 
 
 Camp 74, S. of V. 
 
 Camp 9, S. of V. 
 
 Marathon Company, Uniformed Ranlv, Knights of Pythias. 
 
 Captain Robert Thurlow. 
 
 Lieutenant H. 'J\ Pond. 
 
 Dorchester Letter Carriers. 
 
 Ninth Regiment Veteran Association. 
 
 Captain J. C. Clark. 
 
 Adjutant Fred Robinson. 
 
 Boston School Cadets Drum Corps. 
 
 Dorchester High Cadets, Major Crosby Commanding. 
 
 Dudley School Cadets. 
 
 Boys' Brigade Drum Corps. 
 
 Provisional Regiment, U. B. B. A. 
 
 Nepouset Company. 
 
 Winthrop Company. 
 
 Wollaston Company. 
 
 Upham's Corner Company. 
 
 Roxbury Compan3^ 
 
 Milton Company. 
 
 Mattapan Company. 
 
 Romsey Street Company. 
 
 Atlantic Company. 
 
 Everett Company. 
 
 Carriages containing invited guests. 
 
 Engine Company No. 18. 
 
 Hook and Ladder Company No. 23. 
 
 Ambulances. 
 
 While the evokitions were going on Chief Marshal 
 Pray was entertaining his staff and guests at luncheon 
 at Hendrie's, directly opposite the field. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY, 
 
 ATHLETIC GAMES 
 
 Fully three thousand people gathered at the town 
 field at Field's Corner to see the athletic events. At 
 2.30 P.M. the sports started with the 100-yard dash, 
 which included forty-five entries, the race being run 
 off in heats. The winners and time of the different 
 races are as follows : 
 
 100-yard dash: winner's time, lOi seconds — H. Wade, 
 C. G. A., first; Fred Burns, Boston Latin School, second. 
 
 440-yard run: winner's time, ^7 seconds — P. D. Fogg, Dor- 
 cliester Higli, first; F. E. Miles, C. Y. M.C.A., second. 
 
 One-mile run: winner's time, 4 minutes oOi seconds — J.J. 
 Sullivan, Catholic Y. M. C. A., first ; C. Anderson, Swedish G. C, 
 second. 
 
 880-yard run : winner's time, 2 minutes 12| seconds — F. P. 
 Sheehan, first; Samuel L. Bryant, N. Y. M. C. A., second. 
 
 Team race : Dorchester High vs. Roxlniry High ; won by Dor- 
 chester High. 
 
 Team race hy two teams from the Columbia road gymnasium : 
 won l)y team cai)fained l)y William ()"Brien. 
 
 100-yard dash for boys over fifteen years: A. W. Davidson, 
 first; J. F. Cullen, second. 
 
 50-yard dash for boys under fifteen years : Louis Neiderbeiger, 
 first; William Ormsby, second. 
 
 oO-yard dash for girls under fifteen years : Ethel Harwood, 
 first; Mary Mahan, second. 
 
 220-yard dash for boys under fifteen years : Louis Neider- 
 berger, first; Harold Kyan, second. 
 
 220-yard dash for girls under fifteen years : P'.thel Harwood, 
 first; Alice O'Keefe, second. 
 
 Running high jump: A. L. Ross, C.G. A., first, 6 feet i inch; 
 W. Oesting, second, 5 feet Hi inches. 
 
94 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 The games were run off luicler the supervision of 
 Councilman William S. Bramhall, Chairman of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, and the following officials 
 supervised the field events : Referee, Peter F. Kelley; 
 Timers, William O'Brien, James L. Walsh, M. R. 
 Smith and Frank X. McGrath ; Judges, George 
 De Cost, Oscar Pearson, Thomas J. Riley, Thomas 
 L. Owen and Frank Pendergast ; Inspectors, James 
 J. Dolan, John J. Lalley, Frank MacDonnell and 
 D. J. Murphy ; Clerk of Course, John J. Haverty ; 
 Assistant Clerk of Course, William Hines ; Scorer, T. F. 
 Conrick ; Starter, Joseph MacNamara ; Announcer, 
 William Smith ; Awarder of Prizes, Councilman 
 William S. Bramhall ; Manager, John A. Lane. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 95 
 
 HISTORIC SPOTS LOCATED 
 
 The Dorchester Historical Society located man}^ 
 historic spots, which were suital)ly marked by Edward 
 W. McGleneii, City Registrar. During Old Home 
 Week they were visited by many people from all parts 
 of the country. The inscriptions were as follows : 
 
 [Cottage street, near Town Meeting square.] 
 
 FIRST MEETING HOUSE. 
 
 (1631-164G.) 
 
 Near this spot the first meeting house was erected in 16.31, 
 used for town meetings and the first scliool. The second meeting 
 house, lC)-46-167<s, stood on site close by. 
 
 [East Cotta(iE street, near Dorchester avenue.] 
 
 Near this spot stood the liome of Major-General Humphrey 
 Atherton, 1635-1661. 
 
 [Edward P]verett square.] 
 
 On this site stood the mansion of Robert Oliver, erected 
 in 1745 ; afterwards the residence of his son, Thomas Oliver, 
 Lieutenant-Governor. Here Edward Everett was born, April 
 11, 1794. 
 
 [Boston street.] 
 
 This marks the location of the American Lines extending from 
 the South Bay to the Old Harbor, occupied by the right wing of 
 Washington's army during the siege of Boston, 1775-1776. 
 
96 CELEBRATION OF ' 
 
 [CoRNEK Savin Hill avenue and Pleasant street.] 
 
 Here was the home of Israel Stoughlon, 1630-1645; also 
 of his SOD, Gov. William Stoughton, 1631-1701 ; and of his 
 nephew, Lieutenant-Governor William Tailor, 1702-1732. 
 
 [Site of the First Fort, 1634.] 
 
 SAVIN HILL. 
 
 "The 6th of January, Mooneday 1633. It is ordered that 
 there shall be a fort made upon the Rocke above Mr. Johnsons." 
 
 [Savin Hill.] 
 
 Site of two buildings used as barracks by Washington's soldiers 
 during the siege of Boston, 1775-1776 ; one still standing. 
 
 [Savin Hill avenue.] 
 
 Near this spot was built the home of Roger Ludlow, the first 
 Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 [Savin Hill avenue.] 
 
 During the war of 1812, entrenchments were constructed 
 around the southeast side of "Old Hill" on the bluff near the 
 water side. The magazine was erected near this place. Here 
 the Indians dwelt before the white man came. 
 
 BRIDGE AT LOWER MILLS. 
 
 Here, on the banks of the Neponset, Israel Stoughton built the 
 first grist mill in New England in 1633; the first powder mill 
 was erected in 1675; the first paper mill in 1728; and the first 
 chocolate mill in 1765. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY 
 
 FIREWORKS DISPLAY 
 
 On Franklin Field over 1U,00() people gathered to 
 witness the display of fireworks, which was far more 
 successfnl than the display last year. The illumina- 
 tion of the words " Dorchester, June 8th," in a 
 large arch, won great applause from those on the 
 field, as did also a " Teddy Bear, " which performed 
 amusing stunts in the air. 
 
 From the balconies of the Hendrie Casino, Mayor 
 J(jhn F. Fitzgerald and a specially invited party of 
 four hundred saw the great display, which w^as the 
 finest ever given on a Dorchester Day. 
 
 The Mayor was accompanied by his wife and 
 children, while in the party were Aldermen Bell, Bald- 
 win, Whelton and Finigan, Councilmen Harding, Cos- 
 tello. Green, Bramhall and Clark, Mayor's Secretary 
 Richard F. Field, Congressman Joseph F. O'Connell, 
 Building Commissioner Charles Logue, Superintendent 
 of Bridges Patrick F. McDonald, Superintendent of 
 Streets James H. Doyle and Superintendent of Public 
 Buildings James F. Nolan. 
 
 At eight o'clock Edward Everett square was thronged 
 with people to hear the concert given l)y the Boston 
 Municipal Band from a large stand built in the 
 center of the square. 
 
98 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 At eight o'clock there was a promenade concert at 
 the Savm Hill Yacht Clnb, which was attended by all 
 the principal residents of Savin Hill. 
 
 The closing feature of the day was the reception 
 and banquet given by the Dorchester Historical 
 Society in the Municipal Building on Columbia road. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 99 
 
 BANQUET 
 
 In the evening, the Historical Society held a re- 
 ception and ])anquet in the Municipal Building on 
 (Johunljia road. 
 
 At 6.30 the Receiving Committee, Richard C. 
 Humphreys, President ; James H. Stark, Chairman ; 
 the Rev. William H. Allbright, D.D., James F. AVat- 
 tles, A. F. Delano, the Rev. Eugene R. Shippen and 
 James L. Miller, met the guests of the occasion in the 
 library of the spacious building, and at seven o'clock 
 tlie two hundred present assembled in the gymnasium, 
 which had been converted into a dining hall. 
 
 The speechmaking began at eight o'clock, and Presi- 
 dent Humphreys acted as toastmaster. In opening 
 the speeches, he said : 
 
 Lora 
 
100 CELEBKATION OF 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By President of the Dorchester Historical 
 Society 
 
 Gentlemen, — As President of the Dorchester His- 
 torical Societ}', it becomes my duty to call 3'ou to 
 order, not that I have noticed any disorder, but to 
 call your attention to what I trust will not only be 
 interesting, but instructive as well. Let us "mix 
 reason with pleasure and wisdom with mirth." 
 
 Perhaps some of you may have noticed that 1 
 looked a little sober during the supper. It was 
 because I knew I would be expected to make a 
 speech after the meal. I have been comparing my 
 position to-night with that of Daniel in tlie lion's 
 den. In a celebrated picture Daniel is made to look 
 happy in the presence of the wild beasts. A young 
 man, after examining the picture, asked the artist 
 why he had painted Daniel with such a smiling 
 countenance and apparently so happy. The artist 
 replied, " That is because he knows he will not have 
 to make a speech after the meal." Here I am in 
 the presence of all these lions. 
 
 As I look over this audience and see the renowned 
 orators and eloquent divines, I have magnified my 
 office as I recall a quotation from Shakespeare, for I 
 can say with the Bishop of Carlisle, in " Richard II.," 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 101 
 
 "And who sits here who is not Richard's subject?" 
 Yes, this is the chance of my life, for I can lord it 
 over you to my heart's content. A presiding officer's 
 duty is to the whole company, and not to the indi- 
 vidual. If I see a person at the table whom I know 
 the audience would like to hear, I shall call him, 
 even though he does not wish to speak. Now, you 
 ministers, doctors and professors have enjoyed the 
 physical feast, and we are now to enjoy " the feast 
 of reason and the flow of soul." 
 
 But, friends, I would not be true to the position I 
 hold if I did not sound the keynote of this after- 
 glow of the banquet by calling your attention to the 
 object for which the Dorchester Historical Society 
 was organized. We wish to make this gathering to- 
 night educational, to inspire in your hearts a love 
 for " Good old Dorchester," and a determination to 
 make the rising generation realize what an important 
 part it took in moulding and developing the beginning 
 of New England. Let us do honor to the memory 
 of John White, the founder of Dorchester — yes, the 
 founder of Massachusetts — by seeing to it that every 
 boy and girl in our community knows who he was 
 and what he did. I am proud of being one of a few 
 who caused to be placed in St. Peter's Church in old 
 Dorchester, England, where John White's body lies, 
 a tablet stating the fact that he is buried there, and 
 I am proud to have joined with several whom I see 
 before me in having placed in our Dorchester High 
 School some of the tessellated pavement of Roman 
 origin from Dorchester, England. 
 
102 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 I thank God for the Puritanism of Dorchester, and 
 let us see to it that in the abolition of Puritanical 
 laws and the growth of liberalism we do not go too 
 far and our liberty become license. There is little 
 danger to-day of the rising generation becoming too 
 Puritanical, but there is danger that the influence of the 
 lives of Governor Winthrop and the Mathers be lost. 
 Let us throw the mantle of charity over their faults 
 and remember their virtues. Let us do our part to 
 make the " Dorchester spirit " known throughout New 
 England as the spirit of reverence for all that is good 
 in the past, respect and love for those Ijrave souls 
 who in the early settlement of Dorchester laid down 
 their lives for us, and set an example of self-sacrifice 
 and devotion to what they felt to be the will of God. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 103 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By the Rev. Peter ronan 
 
 The first speaker introduced by President Hum- 
 phreys was the Rev. Peter Ronan, pastor of St. 
 Peter's Church, Meeting House Hill. The venerable 
 clergyman was warmly applauded as he arose to 
 speak. He took for a topic " The First Settlers of 
 Dorchester." As a sort of })reface to his remarks, 
 he said that he considered the celebration the best 
 Dorchester Day up to the present time. He con- 
 sidered Dorchester a district of homes, and these 
 homes, he said, were the homes of citizens who are 
 second to none in loyalty, good citizenship and 
 perseverance. He admitted that there was much 
 poverty in tlie district, but claimed that the wealth 
 of the citizens of Dorchester strikes a very high 
 average even for an American community. 
 
 He detailed at some length the history of the 
 first settlers of Dorchester, telling in a pleasing 
 manner of the crude homes built by them, and as 
 time passed on how they improved their dwellings 
 by building- them of the sturdy oak. As a result of 
 their using such material, many of their old homes 
 are standing to-day, he said, and he named a num- 
 ber of famous old-time dwellings which are located 
 in the district. 
 
104 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 He recited in a most entertaining way the inci- 
 dents connected with the building of the first churcli 
 in Dorchester at the corner of Pleasant and East 
 Cottage streets, and told of how it was built of logs, 
 was twelve feet high, and that there were military 
 stores in it and guns on the roof. vSaid he, •' His 
 Satanic majesty must have trembled when the first 
 church in Dorchester got going." [Laughter.] He 
 told how the first stove ever to be introduced into 
 a church was placed in the local churches in 1820, 
 and of the vigorous protests of several staunch 
 members, which created a deal of amusement among 
 his audience. He related how the first settlers met 
 with many trials ; how man to man they fought 
 and died that they might overcome these obstacles, 
 which they so successfully did. " We should remem- 
 ber the patience and fortitude of the first settlers hi 
 our troubles," said the speaker. " They should help 
 us in overcoming our perplexities and teach us the 
 lesson of patience, which means victory over every 
 trouble." 
 
 In closing his remarks, Father Ronan strongly ad- 
 vocated the necessity of a park at Savin Hill. " We 
 must have the park at once," he said. He told of how 
 three-apartment houses are being built all over the 
 district, and said that we did not want such things 
 to mar the spot where the first settlers of the now 
 great district landed. Furthermore, he declared, the 
 park should not only be made at once, but it should 
 also be amply protected and cared for by the city. 
 
 Father Ronan' s remarks were heartily applauded. 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 105 
 
 Tlie Hon. Guj A. Hani, Assistant United States 
 District Attorney, was the orator of the evening, and 
 his address was one of the treats of the day. He 
 spoke at some length n])on the first settlers, and his 
 address was received with a tremendons ontbnrst of 
 enthusiasm. 
 
106 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 By the Hon. Guy A. Ham 
 
 At this period of the year we celebrate many an- 
 niversaries that are commemorative of great events 
 in American history ; ]jut these anniversaries, for the 
 most part, commemorate great miUtary conflicts in 
 which other generations of Americans have engaged. 
 
 It is highly fitting, therefore, that at this time, 
 the citizens of Dorchester shonld set apart a day in 
 memory of tlie peaceful settlement of this commu- 
 nity, that we may have an opportunity, by gather- 
 ing together on occasions of this description, to do 
 honor to the achievements of those who planted the 
 seed from which sprung the institutions which have 
 been, in large measure, responsible for the success of 
 the American government. 
 
 As we reflect upon the character of the men and 
 women who first settled in this community, we are 
 especially impressed witli their high devotion to prin- 
 ciple, and this characteristic was found existing, 
 also, among the early citizens of the colony and 
 their descendants, who, later, established the American 
 Republic. 
 
 Other nations, it is true, have produced citizens 
 that have undergone heroic self-sacrifice for the sake 
 of their country, but few of them have been actu- 
 
FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 107 
 
 ated by that liigli resolve and unselfish devotion to 
 principle that inspired the first settlers of America. 
 
 It is true that, as we peruse, tlie history of ancient 
 Greece, we note numerous instances of magnificent 
 sacrifice on the part of their people, but they were 
 urged to that sacrifice, for the most part, to save 
 the cities of Greece from the invaders that threat- 
 ened their existence. In the annals of the old Roman 
 empire we read many stories of patriotic sacrifice on 
 the part of thousands of hei'oie Romans, but they 
 were actuated by the desire to place the imperial 
 eagle of Rome over lands that had hitherto refused 
 to acknowledge their dominion. 
 
 Throughout the middle ages we find abundant 
 evidence of a willingness to give up life and every- 
 thing that man liolds dear, when they heard the 
 call of their country, but too frequently they were 
 inspired to undergo that sacrifice because of religious 
 bigotry or from some mistaken sense of chivalric 
 honor. Not until we cross the broad bosom of the 
 Atlantic and delve into the history of the American 
 colonies do we find an entire race or people actuated 
 by principles that had hitherto failed of expression 
 in the conflicts undertaken by other people. The 
 early colonists and the fathers of the Revolution, all 
 of those that participated in the early struggles that 
 made possible the existence of the American Republic, 
 were actuated by a high devotion to principle — the 
 principle that all men should be equal before the 
 law ; and to that end they forsook the comforts 
 that a life of ease held out before them, thrust aside 
 
108 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 ambition, and as occasion demanded sacrificed life 
 itself to the end that they mioht make, possible a 
 form of government where the principles in which 
 they believed might find expression. 
 
 While the struggles in which they engaged have 
 been ended, and the problems that confront them 
 have been solved, there have arisen new problems 
 which to-day demand solution. The scene, however, 
 has been transferred from the field of battle to the 
 halls of legislation. In the days to come the era 
 through which we are now passing will undoubt- 
 edly be known as the era of law enactment and law 
 enforcement. 
 
 Inventions like the steam and electric roads, the 
 telegraph and telephone, the growth of great centres 
 of population that are constantly demanding easier 
 and more economical sources of supply, the develop- 
 ment of mines and the factory system, have all revo- 
 lutionized the conduct of industrial enterprise. The 
 capital and effort of single individuals was not suffi- 
 cient to carry on these undertakings with complete 
 success. It required a combination of effort and a 
 combination of capital. As time advanced there 
 came a demand for a greater economy in the main- 
 tenance and administration of these combinations, 
 and as a result we have witnessed a consolidation 
 of combinations. 
 
 The practices of these combinations were revealed 
 to the public eye as the years passed on, and it was 
 discovered that through the influence that they 
 exerted over the transportation facilities of the land 
 
COMMITTEE OF THE DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
FOURTH DORCIIESTKK DAY. IQO 
 
 it was possible not only for them to ruin individual 
 competitors, but to affect the prosperity of entire 
 communities as well. To prevent abuses of this 
 description, to render exact justice to these combina- 
 tions, to give them the widest opportunity to pro- 
 mote their enterprises in a manner consistent with 
 good morals and sound public policy, to give to the 
 humblest citizen an opportunity to display his talents 
 and achieve success, is the aim and scope of the 
 legislation now being demanded on every hand. In 
 other words, while other generations of Americans 
 solve the question of the equality of all men before 
 the law, we are endeavoring to discover how we 
 may secure e(|uality of opportunity for all men under 
 the law. 
 
 A celebration of this description is useful in so 
 fai- as it affords us an ojjportunity to study the 
 nobler elements of character in the men and women 
 that first settled in this community, and in so fai- as 
 we endeavor to follow their example and with high- 
 minded motives strive to lal)or for the common 
 weal. The passage of time brings with it changed 
 conditions that demand the Ijest thought and atten- 
 tion of the citizens of to-day. We look behind us 
 and behold a magniiicent record of achievement on 
 the part of other generations of Americans. It 
 should be our ambition to add sometliing to their 
 record that may make this age worthy of remem- 
 brance. 
 
 I shall never forget how that lesson was impressed 
 upon my mind by a little incident that occurred a 
 
110 CELEBRATION OF 
 
 few years ago while on a vacation in the State of 
 Maine. One Saturday evening I climbed a hill, near 
 the farmhouse where I was staying, for the purpose 
 of viewing the landscape. On one side I could see 
 the White Mountains bathed in the golden light of 
 a magnificent sunset. Looking toward the east I 
 could see the dim outline of the ocean, where at 
 that hour so many thousands were in search of 
 health and pleasure. At the foot of the hill 
 stretched out the farms and the woodlands, every- 
 thing peaceful about them as if awaiting the 
 approach of the Holy Sabbath. On the right hand 
 I beheld the ridge where the ancestors of my father 
 had settled long years before, coming into what was 
 then a wooded wilderness for the purpose of build- 
 ino; homes. Before me were the farms where the 
 ancestors of my mother had labored with fidelity, 
 overcoming the obstacles placed in their way by 
 nature, that they might provide suitably for them- 
 selves and families. As I looked out upon that 
 scene, as I looked at the headstones that marked 
 the places where many of them were buried in the 
 midst of the scenes of their life labor, as I noted 
 how the results of their labor had lasted after they 
 had gone, as I reflected upon the joys and sorrows 
 that they had experienced as they attempted to 
 better the condition of those dependent on them, 
 there rushed to my mind in that solemn moment 
 the thought that I, as one of their descendants, 
 was under a serious obligation to prove worthy of 
 their labors and try to add something to the work 
 of those who had gone before. 
 
FOTTRTH DORCHESTER DAY. , HI 
 
 As a people we stand on the eminence of time, 
 and gazing down through the centuries that have 
 passed we behold a magnificent record of wonderful 
 achievement on the part of other generations of 
 Americans. We should not rest content with ex- 
 pressions of admiration for what the}^ have done, 
 but should labor as did they to uphold the right 
 and defeat the wrong. 
 
 Too much cannot be said in praise of those two 
 institutions, the town meeting and the public school, 
 that the early settlers of Dorchester established, in- 
 stitutions that have exerted a profound effect upon 
 American history. May we not say of those insti- 
 tutions as Macaulay said of the civilization of ancient 
 Greece : " When civilization shall have fixed her 
 abode in some distant continent, when the sceptre of 
 powder shall have been wrested from the American 
 people, when travellers from some distant shore shall 
 visit our land and hear savage nations chanting their 
 hymns over our fallen temples and shall labor in 
 vain to decipher the names of our proudest chieftains 
 on some mouldering pedestal, still the memory of 
 those institutions will survive fresh in immortal 
 youth, eternal and immutable as the principle from 
 which they derived their origin." 
 
 To the early settlers of Dorchester we dedicate 
 this day, a memorial to the past, an inspiration to 
 the present and a prophecy of the possibilities of the 
 future. 
 
 Jolm A. Fowle, Secretary of the Dorchester His- 
 torical Society, was the next speaker, and he was 
 
112 CELEBRATION OF FOURTH DORCHESTER DAY. 
 
 followed by Mrs. Julia K. Dyer. The Rev. George L. 
 Paine, rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, was 
 next called upon, and he delivered a stirring address 
 on patriotism. 
 
 The Rev. Clifton D. Gray, Ph.D., pastor of the 
 Stoiighton Street Baptist Church, spoke briefly, as did 
 Mr. Patrick F. McDonald, who was the last speaker of 
 the evening. After a few remarks by President 
 Humphreys, the exercises were closed. 
 
 The speakers dwelt upon the matter of saving 
 Savin Hill as a park to connnemorate the first 
 settlers of Dorchester, and lauded the history of this 
 beautiful suburb of Boston. 
 
 The banquet brought Dorchester's great celebration 
 to a close. The weather had been ideal, and the 
 whole program was carried out completely without 
 any accident or omission, and it was the universal 
 opinion that Dorchester Day had come to stay. 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO 
 
 DORCHESTER DAY CELEBRATIONS 
 
INDEX 
 
 Vac 
 
 Algonquin tribes former inliabitants -^ ' 
 
 Allbright, Mary E., poem by 83, 84 
 
 Rev. W. n., address of "78 
 
 American lines during siege of Boston, location of 95 
 
 '' Arbella," arrival of ■^•* 
 
 Atherton, Major-General Humphrey, location of home of 95 
 
 Athletic games: 
 
 On Fourth Dorchester Day 9?>, 94 
 
 On Second Dorchester Day 27 
 
 Banquet: 
 
 Address by Guy Ham 10^ 
 
 Address by President of the Dorchester Historical Society ... 100 
 
 Address by Rev. Peter Ronan 103 
 
 Celebration of Fourth Dorchester Day 99 
 
 qq 
 Committee of same 
 
 Baseball games, Third Dorchester Day. 51 
 
 Bell, Alderman Tilton S., Chairman of City Committee 56 
 
 Blake, Dr. Clarence J., and .John U., descendants of James Blake. 7 
 
 Blake House: 
 
 One of oldest in country '^'* 
 
 Replacing old Dorchester Milestone at • 58 
 
 Starting point of parade ^'^ 
 
 Brewer, Daniel Chauncey, oration of ■ • • • • '^ 
 
 Butterworth, Hezekiah, poem by -■* 
 
 Clap, Roger, His narrative 1'^ 
 
 De Normandie, Rev. James, address of •' 
 
 Dorchester: 
 
 Declares independence 
 
 Description of Town of '^^ 
 
 '' Dorchester Pioneers," by Mary C. Allbright «3, 84 
 
 , 1 • 42 
 
 First free school in 
 
 First town meetmg in 
 
 (Jentlemen's Driving Club race 50, 51 
 
 Its part in Indian Wars 
 
 Part taken in Rebellion '^^ 
 
 Two Hundred Seventy-fourth Anniversary of 5 
 
 Dorchester Day: 
 
 First celebration of 
 
 Fourth celebration of 
 
 Second celebration of ^'^ 
 
 o-i 
 
 Third celebration of 
 
 Dorchester Historical Society: 
 
 Incorporated '^ 
 
 Program of Fourth Dorchester Day celebration 55, 58 
 
116 IXDEX. 
 
 Pnge 
 
 Eells, John, first settler .... 17 
 
 Rev. James, oration of 24 
 
 Essayists, prizes given to 84 
 
 Everett, Edvv^ard: 
 
 Mansion of 6 
 
 Oration of 18 
 
 Fireworks display CT 
 
 Fitzgerald, Mayor John F. : 
 
 Address by, on Third Dorchester Day 40 
 
 Address of, at resetting of old Milestone 63 
 
 Display of fireworks by 81 
 
 Entertains Governor Guild at his residence 90 
 
 Grants appropriation for Fourth Dorchester Day 55 
 
 Guild, Gov. Curtis, Jr., address of 61 
 
 Ilam, Guy A 12 
 
 Address of 1!) 
 
 Address of, at banquet 106 
 
 Hawkins', Mr., great guns are mounted at 17 
 
 High School, Roman pavement at 48, 60 
 
 Historic spots located 95 
 
 Humphreys, Richard C: 
 
 Address at banquet of Dorchester Historical Society 100 
 
 Address of welcome 24 
 
 Address on Fourth Dorchester Day 59 
 
 Address on Third Dorchester Day 35 
 
 Opening address on First Dorchester Day 13 
 
 President Dorchester Historical Society 12 
 
 Ludlow, Roger : 
 
 First Deputy Governor 16 
 
 Site of home 96 
 
 MacCurdy, Brenton II., song by 26 
 
 " Mary and John " : 
 
 Arrives at Nantasket 71 
 
 Arrives with first settlers 15 
 
 Leaves Plymouth 70 
 
 Poem 24 
 
 Massachusetts Company 17 
 
 May, John J., former president of Dorchester Historical Society. 13 
 
 Meeting House, location of 95 
 
 Nantasket Point, arrival of " Mary and John "at 39 
 
 New England Guards, camped at Savin Hill 17 
 
 Old Hill 11 
 
 Oliver, Thomas : 
 
 Location of residence of 95 
 
 Royal Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts 6 
 
 Parade : 
 
 Roster of Fourth Dorchester Day 91, 92 
 
 Roster of Third Dorchester Day 33 
 
 Second Dorchester Day 23 
 
INDEX. 117 
 
 Program : Pa^g 
 Of City Committee of Fourth Dorchester Day Celebration. . . 56, 57 
 
 Of Dorchester Historical Society f,^ 
 
 Third Dorchester Day 32 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, oration of, on Third Dorchester Day 37 
 
 Resolve, requesting city to purchase Savin Hill 49 
 
 Rock Hill is fortified J5 
 
 Rocky Hill, original name j 1 
 
 Rouan, Rev. Peter 12 
 
 Address at banquet 103 
 
 Address of I9 
 
 Sailing Regatta, on Second Dorcliester Day 26 
 
 Savin Hill : 
 
 Celebration at, on Fourth Anniversary 68 
 
 Entrenchments constructed at. during War of 1812 96 
 
 Order for building first fort at <J6 
 
 Origin of name IS 
 
 Selected for a park ]g^ 19 
 
 Site of home of Roger Ludlow 9(i 
 
 Site of two buildings used as barracks during siege of Boston. 96 
 
 Yacht Club, promenade concert at 98 
 
 Sliippen, Rev. Eugene R. : 
 
 Address of 14 
 
 Address of, on Fourth Dorchester Day Celebration 82 
 
 Historical address 24 
 
 Pastor of First Parish Church in Dorcliester 12 
 
 Recitation of " Dorchester Pioneers ''. . . 83 
 
 Stark, James II. : 
 
 Address on Milestones 65 
 
 Founder of Dorchester Day 7 
 
 Incorporates Dorchester Historical Society 5 
 
 Oration of, on First Dorchester Day 15 
 
 Stoughton, Col. Israel : 
 
 Built first grist mill in New England 96 
 
 Leading man of Colony 40 
 
 Location of house 96 
 
 Tailor, Lieut.-Gov. William, location of home 96 
 
 Torchlight and bontire, on Second Dorchester Day 27 
 
 Town Meeting, order for first 75 
 
 Water sports 87 
 
 White, Rev. John, obtains Charter 37 
 
 Whitmore, William H., founder of Dorchester Historical Society. 5 
 
 Winthrop, Governor, refers to Roger Ludlow 16 
 
 Yacht race : 
 
 Fourth Dorchester Day 85 
 
 Third Dorchester Day 51 
 
MAY 4 iaOb 
 
m.