rO- <. ^ ^^ A^ ,^^9< c> 6 o. L^^ % %; rO- .■ o,'^' %.,^' o.^ O^ -.0 oX^" % r.^ .^G' . "% ..A^ ^^rf'^^::^- ';:'. ^ .^^ '^^^ '"/^ o V .^^ ""^^ V^^ a^' •^a- •S cP^ ^^'^^''%. c^ -'-^ c^'- ^^':'v^ cP' cP\v^:;'-.% cp\\^:-:'- 1 cP\.^;,: % S. cP\;;.: <^ ( ^ ^d< / % 4^ Q^. % " ' -N .^^^' / -''^ -^'''^r^-^J" ^.'^:'r;>'^ ^^■^■;^^''->^' i) )^%i\\u% \) twxtwwmx. A X A (' C O U N T rET.EBRATTON IN ROXliURY NOVEMBER 22. 1876. ORA'rrON OF GEN. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, SPEECHES AT THE DINNER AND OTHER MATTERS. BOS T O N : 1' U K S S (.) 1' I! < ) (' K \V E T> L AND C II T R ( ' II I L L . X (). ■■■ '.' A K O II S T II K K T . 1877. ^Ipifeiirg^ entgiiiiiH AN ACCOUNT CELEBRATION IN ROXBUEY, NOVEMBER 22, 1876. WITH THE ORATION OF GEN. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, SPEECHES AT THE DINNER AND OTHER MATTERS. BOSTON: PRESS OF K C K W E L L AND CHURCHILL. XO. 30 ARCH STRKET. 1877. (."ff INTEODUCTOEY. Every native of that part of Boston within the limits of the old town of Roxbnry cherishes with patriotic pride the historic tradi- tions which clnster aliont its pleasant hills and valk\ys : and since the blotting of its name from the list of nnmicipalities of the State, — conseqnent npon the annexation of this district to Boston, — ver}' general regret has been expressed that no connected history of the town in the Revolntion had l)een i)nblished. To Gen. John L. S^'ift is dne the honor of recently calling public attention to this hiatus in the printed local records of the Revolntion. A sentiment uttered by him in an oration at the dedication of Kennedy Hall, in 1874, proved to be the mainspring of a movement which culminated in the celebration hereinafter recorded. Alluding to the incom- pleteness of the written history of Roxbury. Gen. Swift sug- gested that the histoiy of the town, in connection with the opening events of the Revolution, would justify the locality in selecting one day X)f the Centennial year for a conunemorative celebration, and the deliver}' of an historical address. The sentiment was loudly cheered at the time of its utterance, but no action was taken to carry out the idea. Indeed, it was for- gotten by the general public, and the Centennial year liad almost passed into history before it was recalled in a pn])lic manner ; and then by a mere accident. On October 9th, 187(5, a committee from the Roxbury City Guard met a committee from the Association of its past members — the Roxbury Artillery Association — to decide how the two organizations should obsei-ve their annual fall parade. It proved to be difficult to suggest a progrannne u[)on which all could agree, and there was some delay. At length ('apt. Wm. 11. Hutchinson, a private in the Guard, n'called the suggestion of Gen. Swift, and proposed that the old Norfolk Guards be invited 4 INTRODUCTORY. to join in the parade. He thonght tlmt the two corps, representing the oldest niilitarv organizations of Koxbnr}', conld arrange a pro- gramme tliat would be acceptable to the citizens, and appropriately cai'ry out the idea suggested by Gen. Swift. A week was taken to consult with i)ast members of both the veteran companies, and the committee voted to invite the Norfolk Guards to co-operate, by the appointment of a committee, which was accepted. The connnittee of arrangements, as thus constituted, Avas composed as follows : — FROM THE ROXBURY CITY GUARD. Capt. B. Read Wales. 2d Lieut. James R. Austin. Sergt. Isa.ac P. Gragg (Past Com.). Private F. C. t^rownell. 1st Lieut. Wm. IL Hawley. Lieut. S. Wm. Dewey (Co. Staff). Corp. Darius F. Eddy. Private Wm. H. Hutchinson. Private (Jliai-les E. Osgood. FROM THE ROXBURY ARTILLERY ASSOCIATION. 1 St Lt. Com. J. P. Jordan (Past Com. ). Jr. 2d Lieut. James H. Nugent. Capt. John A. Scott. Lieut. Wm. H. Mcintosh. Sr. 2(1 Lieut. Edwin R. Jenness Gen. Isaac S. Burrell. Capt. Henry A. Thomas. Sergt. ^Vm. IL Emery. Sergt. Henrv M. Jacol)s. FROM THE NORFOLK GUARDS. Capt. James Guild (Past Com.). John Dove. John F. Newton. Jonas Fillehrown. Joseph W. Tucker. J. Herman Curtis. Geo. W. Pierce. Geo. B. Davis. R. H. Wiswall. Various sul>coinmittees were appointed to arrange the several parts of the programme, and the date of tlie celebi-ation was first fixed for Novembei- l.")tli. Hon. William Gaston, ex-Governor of the Commonwealth and a former Mayor of Koxbury, consented to deliver an historical or.-ition, and the Standing Committee of the First Eeligious Society, Rev. (ieorge Putnam, D. D., pastor, voted INTRODUCTORY. O to allow the church to be used for that purpose. Mr. Samuel F. Williams, leader of the "Winthrop-street Methodist Church choir, volunteered to furnish a choir, and -Mr. T. M. Carter, leader of Carter's Band, became responsible for tlie organization of an old- fashioned bugle-band for the procession. Invitations were sent to the following-named organizations to participate in tlic procession : Encampment Thomas G. Stevenson Post 2G, G. A. R. ; Roxbury Horse Guards ; Past Members of the Reserve Guard ; Encamp- ments and Lodges of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Knights of Honor ; and the Battalions of the Roxbury- High and Latin Schools. General Isaac S. Burrell was chosen Chief Marshal of the Day, and he designated an efficient corps of Aids. An unexpected delav in the arrangements was caused by a fatal accident to the father-in-law of Hon. William Gaston, who was compelled to decline to deliver the oration. General Horace Bin- ney Sargent, of Salem, a former resident of Roxbury, reluctantl}' consented to prepare an oration during the brief time allowed, and mainl}^ to accommodate him the celebration was fixed one week later, viz., Nov. 22. When the anangements had thus far been completed, a sub-committee was authorized to publish in the two local papers — the " Home Journal" and the " Roxbury City Gazette " — and to mail two luuidred postal-card copies of the following: circular : — INTKODUCTORY. ; 1776. 1876. OLD ROXBUR^ AND THE Gkhsttei^d^i^^il 1^e.a.:e^! To the Citizens of tlie Tomu of Roxbury : It being deemed eminently appropriate tliat the Centennial Tear should be observed in Koxbury, owing to the prominent part taken by its citizens in the events of ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, the undersigned have been delegated a snb-committee to announce to our fellow-citizens, that a committee of the Rox- tonry Artillery and City Guard, together with the Past Members of the IVorfolk Oiiarcl, have decided to inaugurate a ROXBURY CENTENNIAL DAY, TO BE OBSERVED ON TVEI>]VE©I>A.Y^, 1VOVE3J15T3TJ 33d, And to invite all jiersons interested to give the occasion their countenance and support. As far as arranged, the programme for the day will include a Military Pro- cession, an Oration Ijy OKIV. HORACE Bi:\:\EY SARGEAT, at the Church edifice of the first Religious Society (Dr. Putnam's), .and a NEW ENGLAND DINNER At some suitable Ilall, to be hereafter announced. A-ia Olcl-Tinic l^nglo Band Will accompany the procession, and tlie "Wintlirop Street (Methodist) Old Folks Clioir have volunteered to sing at the church. Other organizations will be invited to .appear in the procession, .and it is hoped the occasion maybe observed as a H.\IjF HOI..mAY. The Committee desire to dispose of a large number of DINNER TICKETS, and have th.at part of the progr.amme partake of the nature of a GRAND RE-UNION OLD ROXBURY CITIZENS. Fnrtber details will he perfected as early as possible. C.VTT. B. READ WALES, ) ^oxburv Citv Guard EIEUT. W. H. HAWLEY, i '^"^""i^.^ <-"> Guairt. GEN.' T.'^S.^BURIUIT^' ( K'«^'"r.V Artillery Association. JOS. W. TI'CKER. } T.T „<• II ^- „, 1 .J NO. K. NEWTON, ) ^"'^"^^ ^^"•^"^- IXTKODl'CTORY. < For two days preceding the 22d day of November a severe rain- storm prevailed, and it was hoped that the third daj- would be pleasant. This did not prove to be the ease. The morning of " Roxbury Da}-" was cloudy, fogg}- overhead and muddy uaderfoot, Avith occasional thick mists. By noon there was a favorable change, and, although the clouds obscured the sun. no rain fell during the out-door exercises. The programme was fully carried out as pre\ioush' arranged. The Roxbury Cit}' Guard and the Roxbury Artillery Associa- tion met at their armory in A\^ebster Hall ; the Norfolk Guards, the Grand Arm}- Post and the Reserved Guard met at Dudley' Hall ; and the Knights of Pythias assembled at their hall at noon. THE PROCESSION. The procession was formed at half-past one o'clock, P. M., on Washington street, wuth the right resting near the site of the old fortifications at the corner of Williams street, in the following order : — Platoon ok Police, under Capt. Joseph Hastings, of Station 9. Vetekans of the Old Night Watch of Eoxbuet. — ^^ William I). Cook. Solomon Sanborn, Manly D. Butler, George R. Matthews, Morrill P. Berry, Samuel Mcintosh, Canberry Litchfield. Silas Dole, J. ]M. Swett. Marshals. — General Isaac S. Burrell, chief; Major George Curtis, Capt. John A. Scott, Capt. Isaac P. Gragg, and L. Foster Morse, Esqs., Aids. Carter's Centennial Band. — T. M. Carter, leader; composed of a portion of the regular Carter's Band, with Joseph Green, of Providence, E. H. Weston, Alonzo Bond, George Kinsley, and John Ballard, veteran musicians. Roxbury City Guard. — Capt. B. Read Wales, with honorary staff, consisting of Lieut.-Col. Nathaniel Wales, Major William A. Smith, Adj't H. B. Parker, Quartermaster Wm. H. Jones, of the staff of the First Battalion of Infantry, M. V. M. ; the company staff consisting of Past Commander Charles G. Davis, Lieuts. F. J. Ward, C. B. Rohan and A. W. Hersey, and Dr. G. T. Perkins ; —fifty rifles in line. The company Avore the gray regimental uniform, bearskin hats, and white cross-belts. The color- guard wore the Artillery Company uniform of gray, trimmed with scarlet, and gray shako. ^ IXTRODUCTORY. Jioxiu'itY Aktilleuy Association. — 1st Lictit. J. F. Jordan, commanding: Senior 2d Liont. Edwin R. Jonncss : Junior ]st I.ient. James H. Kugent. Commander's staff, Lutlier "\V. Bixby, Adjutant; Dr. Wm. H. Emery, Surgeon; 3Iajors W. C. Capelle and Cliarles A. Davis; Captains Henry A. Thomas, Joseph Knower, Edwin Adams; Lieutenants John P. Kohinson, and Isaac Chase, First 15attalion of Artillery, M. V. M. ; Sergeants Wm. T. ]\Iacarty, John Brooks, Benj. Noyes ; — sixty men in line. They were in citizen's dress, wearing slouched artillery hats, sabres and wliite belts. Tlu'v appeared as old foot artillery, with two iS-pound brass field pieces, loaned by the First Battalion of Artillery, M. V. M., by permission of the State authorities. NoiM'oLic Gr.vRDs Association. — Capt. James (Juild, 1st Lieut. John II. Brookhousc, 2d Lieut. Charles M. Jordan, 1st Sergt. Jonas Fillebrown, 2d Sergt. John F. Newton, 3d Sergt. R. H. Wiswall, 4th Sergt. George B. Davis, 1st Corp. D. C. Bates, 2d Corp. Joseph CuUigan, 3d Corp. Benj. F. Stone, 4th Corp. Edward Sumner, and seventy men in the ranks. The officers wore swords and belts, and the privates appeared in citizen's dress, Avith high black hats. They were accompanied Ijy Daniel Simpson, aged 86 ; Jonathan Stanley, aged 7G ; and Joseph B. Treat, aged 56, veteran drnnrmers, secured for the occasion. Reskhvkd Glmrds. — Col. Edward Wyman, connnander; — twenty-five men. Thomas G. Stevkksox Post No. 26, Grand Army of the Republic. — Rob- ert Bampton, Jr., commander ; C. C. Randall, Jr., Vice Commander; James B. Gardner, Adjutant; Frank B. Perkins, Quartermaster; P. ( )"Meara Edson, Surgeon; Kobt. (t. Seymour, Chaplain; J. JNI. Shoe- maker, Officer of the Guard; Hiram A. Wright, Sergeant Major; John L. Perkins, Q. M. Sergeant. The following Past Commanders of the Post appeared as staff": — Col. Giles H. Rich, Col. S. A. Bolster, Capt. John E. Killian: — fifty men. The members wore the regulation Grand Army hats and badges. Mas.sachusetts Lodge, Knights of Pythias. — William A. Blossom, Chan- cellor Commander, and fifty men, wearing the regalia of the order, and preceded by Gilligan's Band. Detachments of the Roxriry' School Battaltons, organized for the occasion; — composed of members of the Hoxbury Tiatin and English High Schools, fifty muskets, under conunand of the foUowing officers : Major J. L. Amory ; Adj't R. Long; (Quartermaster N. C. Fowler; Cap- tains W. A. Steidiens, (J. H. Williams: Lieuts. A. Bacon, W. A. Graham. P. IMorse, G. H. L. Sharpe. Roxmuv Horse (irAUU (on foot). — Capt. Aaron A. Hall; First Lieut. Wm. B. Femu'r;^ fifty men. They wore the company uniform of scarlet coats, felt lielmets, with white fountain plumes. Invited Guksts in Carriages. — His Extellency Alexander II. Rice, Governor of the Commonwealth ; Colonels AVm. V. llutchings and Wm. A. Tower, of the Governor's staff; General Horace Binney Sarjjent, Orator of the Day ; Rev. John 0. Means, D. Y>., and Rev. Henry M. King, Chaplains of the Day; Hon. John S. Sleeper, Hon. John J. Clarke, and Hon. George Lewis, former Mayors ofRoxhury; Hon. William A. Simmons, Collector of the Port of Boston; His Honor Samuel C. Cohh, Mayor of Boston; Hon. John T. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen of Boston ; Hon. John Q. A. Brackett, President of the Common Council of Boston ; Alderman Francis Thompson, of Boston; Gen. John L. Swift, Gen. E. W. Stone, Col. William Raymond Lee, Lieut. 01)ed Rand, William Fenton, Esq., formerly City Messenger ofRoxhury; Joseph W. Tucker, formerly Town and City Clerk of Roxhury. THE ROTTTE. The procession moved promptly :it2 o'clock, i)assing up Warren street, past the birthplace of Gen. Joseph AN'arren (which was saluted with cheers), and through Moreland, (ircenvillc and Dudley streets to Guild Row, and thence into Koxbury street, lialting with the right in front of the church of the First Keligious Society. During the march, the ears of older residents were charmed Avith such suggestive airs as " White Cockade," "O Lassie, art thou sleeping yet?" -'Yankee Doodle," " Capt. Brown's March," and "On the Road to Boston," which Carter's Band performed with old-time vigor and modern excellence combined. Despite the unfavorable weather, there was a general suspension of business and congregating on the line of march by citizens and residents to view the procession. The veterans of the Norfolk (iuards and Roxbury Artillery were the recipients of enthusiastic plaudits from every quarter. The column halted facing the old historic sanctuary, and was reviewed by the Governor and invited guests, who at once alighted and passed into the church. THE EXERCISES AT THE CHUECH. The venerable buikliiigof the First Congregational Society was tilled to its utmost capacity. His Excellency Hon. Alexander H. Kice, Governor of IMassachusetts ; the mem- bers of his statf ; Hon. William Gaston, ex-Governor of the State; His Honor Samuel C. Cobb, Mayor of Boston; Hon. John T. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen; Hon. John Q. A. Brackett, President of the Common Council ; Alderman Francis Thomas ; Hon. William A. Simmons, Collector of the Port of Boston, occupied the seats imme- diately in front of the pulpit, on the left of the centre aisle. The Chief Marshal and staft' were seated in chairs in the aisle, in front of the pulpit. The Roxbury Artillery Association occupied the front part of the middle tier, and behind them were the membeis of the Grand Army. In the next tier, on the right, Avere the veterans of the Norfolk Guards. The left middle tier was allotted to the Roxbury City Guard, and the next tier on the left to the Knights of Pythias, in front, and the Roxbury Horse Guards. The band and the choir were in the front gallerjs and the side galleries and seats beneath w^ere filled with citizens and their ladies. The following-named gentlemen acted as ushers : George O. Fillebrowne, George E. Hall, S. Walter Wales, Henry Bliss, William H. Trcdick. In front of the pulpit was a choice collection of exotics, furnished by Messrs. Calder c*t Wis wall. The Hon. John J. Clarke, the first Mayor of the City of Roxbury, presided, and with him iu the pulpit were 12 KOXBIJKV CE^'TE^'^IAL. General Horace Binney Sargent, the orator of the da}', and the Kevs. Henry M. King and Jolni O. Means, D. D. The exercises began with tiie singing of the " Ode on Science," ))y the Old Folks Choir of the AVinthrop-street ]\Ietlii)dist Church, led by Mr. H. W. Bowen, and supported l)y Carter's Instrumental Band, T. ]M. Carter, leader: — ■ The morning sun shines from tlie east, And spreads its glories to tlie west; All nations with his heams are blest Where'er his radiant light appears. • So Science spreads her lucid ray O'er lands that long in darkness lay ; She visits fair Columbia. And sets her suns amnngtlie stars. ■ Fair Freedom, her attendant, -waits To bless the portals of her gates. To crown the young and rising States With laurels of immortal day. ' The IJritish yoke, tlie Gallic chain. Was urged iipon her sons in vain ; All haughty tyrants we disdain, And shout. ' Long live America I " " PRAYER BY KEY. HEXKY M. KING. Thou, who art our God, as Thou wast our fathers' God, we, neighbors and fellow-citizens, are assembled on this solemn festi- val, in this veuerable house of prayer, to acknowledge Th}- good- uess to us ill (lays gone by, and humbly to imi)lore Thy blessing for days tt) come. From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God, aud with Thee a thousaiid years are but as a single day ; Thou kuowest neither l)cgiuuiiig nor end of days. As we turn our thoughts backward through the period of a hundred years, they rest not upon the living, but upon the dead, upon those who did well the work of lile, aud were laid away iu honored graves ; ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 13 and Avc, their children and their children's children, render Thee our hearty thanks to-da^', O God, for tlie intelligent patriotism of our fathers, for their patience, their wise building, and their self-denials, the fruits of which have been preserved to us through the fidelity and sacrifices of their successors ; and as the persons, and the events, and the scenes of a hundred years shall be made to pass before our view to-da^' in vivid and rapid succession, we pray Thee that Thou wilt help us to gather lessons of wisdom from the teach- ings of the past ; and may we be made to have a truer and humbler faith in God as we trace Thy hand so distinctly in our local and national histor}' ; ma}' we be led to a higher appreciation of the great blessings which have been conferred upon us ; and may we gather inspiration from these memories, that we may be the more patient in the performance of duty, and the more sensitive to all personal . obligations, that we may b(; true to our convictions of right, and truly loyal to our country and to Thee. And we beseech Thee that Thou wilt help us to be more enlarged in our hearts, in the love of God, in the love of country', in the love of purity, and the love of home. And now we thank Thee that the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, and that we have a goodly heritage. We thank Thee that Thou hast made beautiful the place of our dwelling ; that Thou hast covered the rocky pasture lands of other days with many flowers ; that Thou hast filled these valle^-s and these hills with homes which are tlie abodes of peace, of virtue, and of comfort. We thank Thee that Thou liast made green the graves of our loved ones, and sustained our mourning hearts with the hope of the resurrection. We thank Thee that Tliou hast multiplied our schools and our churches, and that we and our children have the inestimable blessings of the Christian religion and the advantages of a good education. We thank Thee that Tliou hast made piet}', and integrit}-, and intelligence honorable in this community. Wfe tliank Thee that here Thou hast rewarded industry and enterprise, and tliat the labor of our hands has been blessed by Thee. Surel}- Tliou hast not dealt Avith us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ; forTiiou hast not only given to us Jesus Christ to be our Saviour, but Thou hast also, with Him, freely given us all things. Now we pray Thy blessing to rest upon this da}- and its services ; upon these citizens who are gathered together ; 14 KOXBUHY GE>fTENNIAL. to rest upon our lioines, our .schools, and our churches ; to rest u[)0n tlie lair cuty of which we have become a part, aud u[)on tlie houoied Commonwealth under whose protection we live. And forget not, we beseech Thee, to grant peculiar grace and wisdom to those persons whom we have elected to positions of high responsibilit}' and trust in city and state and nation. Extend Thy blessing to our whole country-, we pray Thee, which Thou hast made great among the nations of the earth. We entreat Thee to deliver us from all onr present agitations, and let wise and just, peaceful and righteous, counsels prevail ; and God grant that eveiywhere the principles of righteousness and of truth may be accepted, and that the voice of the people may be heard, and iccognized, and may prove to be the voice of God. Be pleased, O God, to foigive us all our sins, and to accept the service which we bring, enabling ns to dedicate ourselves anew to-day to the high interests of religion and freedom. And to Tii^ name, Father, Son and Spirit, shall be all the praise, forever. Amen. The choir snug " The Star-Spaugled Banner," and the oration was delivered. OEATION. B Y GEN. ir O R A C K B 1 N if E Y S A \i (i E N T . The Avord, antiquity, has many shades of meaning. Hux- ley, surveying the evidence of JBons past, thrills us with his vast expression, "the momentaiy appearance of mankind u2)on the earth." In contrast with this scale of thought, the two hundred and forty-six years, since this old town began, are less than a tljish of light. But the centuries of a people arc^ to bo measured by the facts of liMUian achievement, 'i'lio tweuty-two centuries of Grecian history, from Argos to Alaric, are nothing Avhen compared with a single glacial period. But, to the his- toiian, only fifty of those years are an Olympian Age : because they are immortal, with Herodotus, and Pericles, ThermopAdee, Salamis, and Marathon. We are the heirs of all the ages ; and the two and a halt centuries since the settlement of Xew England are venerable with toil and triumph. If we would understand the triumph of wrenching our- selves away from England, and develoi)ing thirteen feeble colonies into a nation of forty millions, resting on the two great oceans, and stretching from the Antilles to the Arctic sea, we can never study that toil too nnuh. Within eight hundred years England has known forty attempts at rclx'l- lion : and France has played at revolution again and again. 16 ROXBUEY CEXTENMAL. It is not strange that Americans should try to discover, among tlie embers of the past, the materials of a conflagra- tion so intense that it melted the chains of empire. These materials are the traits of cJiaracter and mind that the Puritans stamjied on unhorn generations. Other revolu- tit)ns, geneially, have been deficienf in that coxibination of close logical reasoning, reverence for legal authority, intense conviction, and unflinching assertion of a right, which marks our own. (3ther revolutions, the result of intense heat, difler from this, as the ebullition which lifts the thin cover from a kettle ditfers from an earthquake, which, gathering its forces in silence for a thousand years, under a mountain's weight, suddenly changes the face of the Avorld. Honest pride commemorates a revolt which had so little of fury and so much of power. And we ask, why was this? From the inii)ortance of Roxbury in the elder time, from her decisive position as a pass to be defended in the siege of Boston, and from her contributions of calm counsel and fiery valor to the revolutionary cause, she is entitled to a nation's grateful memory. Her early history is unusuall}'^ replete with those personal traits, and that tntense educa- tion, which seem to me to explain the Kevolution as a success. liocksberry, or Ivocksborough, was one of the earliest Puritan settlements. Some, of its primitive inhabitants came out with Governor Winthrop, in the armed vessel Arabella that war[)ed into Salem Harbor fJune 14, 1G30. AVhether previous settlers, of the same adventure (there were seventeen ships that year), first brokc^ the ground of KOXP.IRY CENTENNIAL. 17 Koxbury, is not quite clear. But a month and more before Governor Wiiithrop arrived, the " mercilesse " Capt. Squeb, of the "jNlary and John," left a little body of church mem- bers from Dorchester, Enoland, " in a forlorn wilderness" at Nantasket, Avhence the}' Avorked their Avay to their orig- inal destination, then called by the Indians " Mattapan." So t\ir as can be learned from (he Koxbury Church records, ^Ir. George Alcock, being joined to the church in Dorchester, was iirst chosen to be a Deacon, especially to the Brethren at Rocksborongh ; and ultimately, with Wil- liam Pynchon, Thomas Lamb, Thomas Rawlings, Robert Cole and AVilliam Chase, founded this first church in Rox- bur}' in 1632. Before that time the Roxbury people were adjoined to the church in Dorchester. Thomas Dudley, who, while the ship Aral)ella lay off Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, had been chosen Deputy Gov- ernor in place of Humphrey, resigned, narrates in a letter to the Countess of Lincoln Ihe story of weakness and fam- ine, in which the colony that had been sent out two years before was found. He says they were "for present shelter" obliged "to plant dispersedly," and that some planted them- selves "two miles from Boston, in a place Avec named Roxbury." And here he afterwards settled. A little fall- ing out with Governor Winthrop occurred. It is a little like reading Homers story of the contentions among the Olympian gods, to read that on this occasion, "the Deputy be2:an to ))e in a passion, and told the Governour that if he would be so round, he could be round, too. The Governour bade him be round if he would. So the Deputy rose up in great fury and passion, and the Governour grew very hot 18 ROXBUllY CENTENNIAL. also, so as tliey both fell into bitterness. But Ijj mediation of the mediators they were soon pacified." At iirst it was proposed to build a fortified town on the Neck between Boston and lloxbury. But want of " run- nino- water ■■ there, as well as at Charlestowne, then called Newtowne, prevented. For " they notioned no water good for a town but running springs." It is remarkable, that, though at an early period Jamaica pond was used as a power for a mill to grind bread, its water, which for many years supplied the later inhabitants, did not invite an early settlement upon its shores. July 31, 1(531, Rocksberry is ordered to furnish nightly two men to the Boston Watch. And that thorn in the side of our fathers. Captain John Underbill, the same who claimed an influx of the Holy Spirit while he was indulging in " 3'e earthely creature called tol)acko,"' was ordered to have a general training of his company at Boston and llocksberry. In the old time the training-field lay between what are now Eustis street, Dudley street, and jMount Pleasant. ^^'illiam \Yood, in 1G33, thus describes the general lay of the laud: "A mile from this town'' (Dorchester), which is stated to be "the greatest town in New England, well wooded and watered," "lieth Roxbnry, which is a fair and handsome country town ; the inhabitants of it all being very rich. A clear and fresh brook runs through the town." This brook, then called Smelt brook, now runs thi-oiigh the connnon sewer near Washington and Dudley streets. Bos- ton is described as " a peninsula hemmed in on the south side by the bay of Roxbnry, and on the north side by Charles river, the marshes on the back side being not half a TiOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 19 quarter of a mile over ; so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the wolves." Wolves were a constant dread, and one night Boston and Eoxburv turned out under arms in alarm all nio:ht, because tho people of Watertown fired their muskets off to deter the wolves from approaching too near a lost calf of Sir Richard Saltonstall's. Our fathers had too man}'' "low country " soldiers in their company not to maintain the military arm. The church founder and Treasurer, William Pynchon, is ''desired" to give a newly appointed ensigne "possession thereof I " Two barrels of powder out of Roxbury, and two " drakes " are "lent to Conecticott to fortifv themselves with all." In I grrrrjhr all the military men of Boston, Roxbury, Dor- chester, Weymouth and Ilingham are ordered to form one regiment, under John Winthrop as Colonel and Thomas Dudley as Lieutenant Colonel. The first regiment was certainly very creditably provided with ofiicers. TW'O years before, Ensign Morris, from some distaste, desired to resign. Therel)y he "gave offence to the congre- gation." x" Being questioned and convinced of sin in forsak- ing his calling," he " did acknowledge his error." He was promoted to a lieutenancy. We cannot be too grateful to the old Puritans that, while they trusted in God, they kept their pow^der dry. The military organizations that honor this occasion by their presence to-day, the old Roxbury Artillery of 1784, the Rox])ury City Guard, the Norfolk Guards of 1818, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Latin School Bat- talion, the Reserve Guards and Roxbury Horse Guards 20 EOXBUltY CENTENNIAL. of our later time, will jiUow me to call their attention to the fact, that in those good old times the ver\^ tirst and a1)lest and most devout men telt it a duty to accept a military connnand. Perhaps two of our military bodies that have disappeared, a lioxbury Horse Guard that was in existence a little while after the Revolution, and the Warren Light Infantry, trusted too little to " the covenant of works." Not a gala-day enthusiasm or skill in the gynmastics of a musket, good as they both are, make the soldier; but discipline and drill. Society, in the face of the resistant forces that abound to threaten its peace, is criminal in not suppcjrting by vigorous regular army legislation the brave men who, in the face of obloquy or indifference, tr}" to maintain military organizations. To-day, at least, we will recollect that with the Puritan settlers " Liberty meant Law," and Law relied on an armed force behind it. The best authority in this nation has asserted that the etlicient use of a single In'igade would have prevented our late civil war. And yet mad- ness, in the garb of economy, is likely to reduce ns to impotence again. A false economy may be the worst e xtra vagance . After the Revolution the Roxbury Artillery, now the City Guards, was formed, and John Jones Spooner, a gentleman of the best position and character, afterward a clergyman, was elected conmiandcr. This corps did good service in the disturbance known as Shay's rebellion. At the time of the Boston tire, 1872, the present organization, foi- thirteen days and nights, guarded the persons and pro[)erty of the city against apprehended violence. Peace has its honors as well as war ; and to-day this corps and its ROXHUllY CENTENNIAL. 21 old commander, Capt. Isaac Paul Graair, who deserves com- memoration, are attempting to rescue the old history of Eoxbury from ol)livion, b}- forming a special historical society for the old town. It is to his efforts, in large measure, that Ave owe this celebration, and the fact that Roxbury had any military re[)resentation at the grand anniversary of Lexington last year. Not only did the Puritans of this old town train them- selves to arms. With famine in their faces and the savasfe at their doors, they entered into covenant, onl}- thirteen years after the town was settled, and pledged their houses and farms and lands to maintain " The Free Schoole in Roxburie." They lived in the age when the sentence was uttered, that to be a founder of States was chief of glories. And they knew that education of tJieJiead and Jieart tofjelher was the corner-stone of a State. It Avas a necessity that the descendants of such men should ])uild a structure on that corner-stone. It is fitting that we, who have seen that " Free Schoole " become an opulent power in the United States, say a gratefid word for the men of 1()30, who defended this nation in the Revolution and the Rebellion, by founding it on intelligence two hundred and thirty-one years ago. It is two hundred and eight years since Mr. John Prudden of Roxbury engaged to "instruct in all scholastic-all, morall and theologicall discipline." At first, it would seem that scholars who did not bring two feet of wood, or a certain sum of money, were not to come near the lire ; and after- ward, the master was not to instruct such scholars. If they studied Virgil then, how thev must have sniveled throusfh 22 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. the prophetic hexameter, in which the poet laments that ]\Iantu;i was so near Cremona. The verse eminently applies to Koxbnrv, so near to Boston in the Revolntionary war; and still later, w^hen the seven hnndred acres of Boston have swallowed the eleven thousand of Roxbur}', in a way that Avould have given to Pliaraoh a nightmaav, instead of a dream. If it were not that a most competent author, INIr. Francis G. Drake, has now a history of Roxbiiry in hand, there would be danger of losing a large part of the traditional history of a town which existed as a town two hundred and lifteen 3'ears, from 1(j31 to 184(5; which then, in 1851, became a city, of which the distinguished President of the day was the first ISlayor ; and which was then absorbed in two parcels, in 18(38 and 1874, when the part, annexed, con- tained near 29,000 people, by its little neighbor of Boston. A hundred years before the first annexation the whole town contained about 1,500 people. A little attempt may be made to-night to show those dominant traits of our fathers which explain the success of the Revolution. In this attempt I have been indel)ted to the Alassachusetts Historical Society, and have availed myself of the valua])le labors of Messrs. Ellis, C. R. Dillaw^ay, Franklin Williams, F. G. Drake and others. But a local Historical Society should be fin-med to gather the vanishing material around the names of Eliot and Dndley and Eustis and Shirley and Sumner and Lowell and Dearl)orn, the authors, the pastors, the physicians, the soldiers, the patriotic men and women of this town. The birthplace of ROXBUKV CKXTENNIiVL. 23 Warren surely deserves a Historical Society of its own. 1 believe the harvest is white. It would be curious to collect evidence, that, in conse- quence of the presence of the Court in Boston, the Puritan sentiment of religious fervor, the iutellectual habit of acute religious reasoning, and the sternness of manner that charac- terized the early settlers and produced traits conspicuous in the devolution, were exhibited to a later period in Koxbury than in Boston, I think we should learn the philosophy of a conduct which seems to have as much vigor, and as little violence as was shoAvn by any community in the llevolution. When "morall and theologicall discipline"' was the business of life, religious fervor was the prevailing tone ; self-control the prevailing habit, and logical discussion of religious questions the chief amusement ! The first pastor of this church was one of the sternest combatants in that contro- versy of opinion and logic which drove Governor Codding- ton, Ro2:er Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson out of Massachu- setts. We see something to-day of the excitement among clergy and lait}' which a discussion of physical evolution creates. But Avhen, in an age which had no intellectual ex- citement l)ut religious discussions, Mrs. Hutchinson broached the idea of a spiritual evolution, by which, through the influx of the Hoi}' Spirit, man became an immortal creature, men drew their sharpest texts on each other and ran them into their antagonists up to the hilt. But, though logic was suffered to cut as deep as it might, the softest Christian phrase and mien prevailed. Brethren who believed, and perhaps a little hoped, that other lirelhren would — not be saved, — ''admonished them in love." It Mas an age of 24 KOXBUKY CENTENNIAL. spiritual hull-baiting. "But it was an age of sclt-eonti-ol." Everything was relegated to the Bil)l(?, and squared hy ''Moses his judicials." But no Spanish Pieador was ever more drlighted, when he plunged a ticry dart neatly behind the ear of a bailed bull, than was the conseientious and honest Re\('rend Thomas W'ehle, when he could transfix one of Mrs. Ilutehinson's texts, full of hope in the Holy Spirit, l)y a '' cross text " of despair. 'Tasts for strife and debate were held," when hungry clergymen wrestled, ostensibly, in l)rayer, 1)ut, really, with some other clergymen. Even little children, with squeaky voices, debated Avhether their |)arents, respectively, " stood for a covenant of grace " or "for a covenant of works." The holiest men, boilini;' with indio- nation at the heresies of their op})oneiits, enforced on them- selves the calm exterior of (Quakers. Governor AMnthrop, writing to some who su})ported Mrs. Hutchinson, says : " Beloved Brethren, ... I hope soon, by God's assistance, to make it appear what wrong had been done to the Court, yea, and to the truth itself, by your rasli, unwarranted and seditious delinquency. . . Your loving Brother, J. W." Under a guise of perfect serenity the people were seeth- ing. The excitement had some monstrous consequences iq)on the liealth of women, as the old records curiously tell. It lasted for years, ajid even aifected the phrases and tone of generations. It nnist have aifected the embiyonic nation, and its libri; and functions. When in the great (k'ntennial Hall we sec the central engine moving in awful silence, like a force ot the universe, KOXBUEY CENTENNIAL. 25 we know that compression as well as heat is the source of that vast engine's power. Even the very coal, that is its food, Avould have passed off in powerless gases, if mountains had not overhiid the decomposing forests. In like manner, I)y the enforced habit of repression and calmness, energy was stored up in oui- very lihres, till steam was needed for a revohition that was, in some degree, to equalize the condition of men. Even in the trivial early legislation of Roxlniry the principle is manifested that men were expected to restrain themselves. Men were not to be softly helped to Heaven by the removal of temptation. The nettle, danger, was to be boldly grasped and crushed by self-control. The muscles of moral nature were called into strong exercise by exposure to temptation and punishment for a fall. For examples : the Deputy Governor, writing to the Countess of Lincoln, praises the excellence of the water, gravely adding, " until] wine and beare canue be had;" to which end he said they proposed the next season to use the wild grapes. At a Court held :\Iarcli 4, 1633, ''It is ordered that Rob- ert Coles, for drunkenes, by him comitted at Roxbury, shall be disfranchised, wearc al)out his necke, and soe to hange upon his outward garm', a D made upon redd cloath and sett upon white : to contynue this for a yeare, and not to leave it of att any tyme when he comes amongst com- pany," etc.; and "to wear the D outward." But the instances are many where parties are allowed to "draw wine " or " l)care," or to sell strong water. Yet the Puritans dreaded excitements. There was a con- 4 26 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. sidcrahlc disarming of certain religionists. Among those disarmed, rive Koxl)ury men are ordered to give np all their arms, powder, shot and match, lest as disciples of Mr. VVheehvright and Mrs. Hutchinson, the}'^ may "upon some revelation make some suddaine irruption upon those that differ from them in judgment." Our fathers feared a ""rev- elation" more than rum. While repressing the slightest outbreak of intolerance in others, that generation " tj^ed to the cart tayle," stripped, and whip[)ed, with from ten to twenty stripes, through the towns of Boston, Koxbury and Dedham, poor wretches, indicted for being Quakers, and not saying even '' Yea " or " Nay " to the Court. It is no wonder that a Quaker quietly vented his feelings by a tract entitled, " A sigh of sorrow for the sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the wall of an earthly vessel, known among men by the name of Samuel Fish." The stern repression of feeling in that fervid age cannot be better marked than by the fact that such a scene of tor- ture took place in Roxbury street ])efore the doors of the most angelic man of the time, — the second pastor of this church ; of whose tender charity it is related that, because he could not easily untie the knots of the handker- chief, in which the good town treasurer had purposely tied up the pastor's salary, to prevent him from giving it away before he should reach his own somewhat destitute home, the pastor gave it — handkerchief and all — to a poor woman, saying, with tears and trembling accents, "Here! Take it, my dear ! 1 believe the Lord designs it all for you." The town treasurer is not the first or last man who UOXBUltY CENTENNIAL. 27 has defeated his own beiiovok'ut iiitentions by tying up funds too tightly. Nor do I wonder that the pastor's heart was lighter, if he always received his salary in the form indicated by a town receipt of April 8, 1G73 : — "Received of Colo. Williams, of the Feoffees of the Grammar School, a Bag of Coppers, weight, thirty-four jiounds, in part of my salary for the year current, the same being by estimation, £4.' 13. 4. lawful money, and for which I am to be accountable. " I say, received in j)art. "JOHN ELIOT." One wonders how, in an age of stern repression tof all iesthetic elements, Eliot's beautiful charity could bloom. Men were forced up to religious observance under its most unattractive form. To warm a church was deemed a wile of tlie devil. The first little church upon this hill had neither shingle, plaster, gallery, pew nor spire. Its benches were plain ; and to make it as little like Paradise as possi- ble, the men and women sat apart ! One of the sternest of polemical divines, the Rev. Thomas Welde, of Tirliug, in Essex, England, "after many impar- lances and days of humiliation by those of Roxbury, to seek the Lord, for Mr. Welde his disposing," was ordained first pastor in July, 1632. Of resolute non-conformity, though educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, he had excited Bishop Laud's anger. Thomas Shepard says he afid Welde and others, speaking one day of Laud,/' consulted whether it was best to let such a swine root up God's plants in Essex, and not to give him some check." Mr. 28 KOXBUKY CENTENNIAL. Welde, thereupon, soon found an officer of the law after himself. He came to America, and, as pastor, exhorted and ruled ten years, when he returned to England with Hugh Peters, the Eegicide Judge. When I reflect that Mr. Welde called the virtuous and half-inspired Anne Hutchin- son " The American Jezebel," because of her peculiar views about "grace " and "works" and the " Holy Ghost," though he might have borrowed the phrase from Josselyn, I think an " exhortation " in his roughest style of piety must have been a little like a drum-head court martial. But no one who would understand the intellectual and moral iil)re of the Boxbury men, who a hundred and thirty years later applied inexorable logic to their chartered rights, and calmly pressed Parliament and King liackward to the sol- emu end of battle, can overlook or easil}^ overrate the probable efiect of such honest and inexorable ministrations for ten years, in an age when a calm face veiled spiritual ago- nies, and the gospel of peace was the skirmish line of a war that l)rought Charles I. to the scaftbld. The stern mental influence of Mr. Welde over this people probably continued after he went with Hugh Peters to England. His correspondence undoubtedly continued to his death, in 1GG2. But, if it did not, his colleague, John Eliot, a man whose sixty years of pastorate were an example of (juiet courage and intense purpose, supplied his place in educating men to the calm pursuit of a determined end. He, too, was polemic enough to confront jNIrs. Hutchinson and her supporters. He taught tw^o generations of the men whom our "revolutionary sires" called their "Puritan ances- ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 29 tors." With infinite toil translating the Bible into a lan- guage without an alphabet, he then M'^ent out into the forest, with a heart as tender as a wonuin and as brave as the lion of Judah. The five nations could place near twenty thousand Avar- riors in battle before the earlier New England settlements ; and a formidable array remained. King Philip, who refused to treat with any but " my Brother King Charles of England," and detested the white man, told Eliot that he did not " care a button for the Gospel." But Eliot went on as if the words of Isaiah were thundered in his ear, " Fear NOT, thou worm Jacol:) ! For I the Lord thy God wi^l hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Feak not ! I Avill help thee ! " It is sad to think that Eliot's Jndiau policy would have saved poor Custer's life and prevented most of our Indian wars. Mr. Eliot would never have made the Indian a fiend, and then whined over a fair, square Indian fight and terrible victory as a " massacre."' He thought that one "season of hunting"' undid his missionary work. He would have the Indians forced into some kind of civil society, and taken from their wild ways of living. " One season of hunting makes them complete Indians." Our Congress has begun at the wrong end. Like all enthusiastic men who live nuich with nature, he had some comical notions. And one of them illustrates that one feature of the age, which so much aflccted the logical men who in 17G5 tried the claims of Parliament l)y the square and level of chartered rights. It was a logical ajje. The sermons and discussions were lessons in acute 80 noxBiTRY ct:ntennial. reasoniiif^ on subjects that fired the heart. Logic Avas their opera and drama. Mr. Eliot ilhistiates this areat peculiarity of that time by proposing a school of logic and theology for the Indians of Natick. A logical Indian, with a keen perce[)tion of final causes and armed with a tomahawk, would be a new terror in Indian war. And I should distrust Sitting Bull and Spotted Tail as theologians. JMy fair hearers will also be displeased, perhaps, that Mr. Eliot should class three thinirs too-ether, as distinanishiuix the "praying" from the " prophanc " Indians, to wit : ''howling; greasing their bodies; an;l adorning their hair." But these are trifles in the life of tlie apostle to the Indians. The Indian Bible has survived its earthly use. But the eye of love and reverence can still picture that devout and earnest teacher gathering the simple forest children together in the blessed land, leading them likt? children to the feet of Jesus, and singing the psalms of Israel in the plaintive Indian song, thouo-h the confusion of tono-ues is forc:otten. lie was pastor for sixty years, and sleeps, by the side of his old wife, in "the j\linister's toml),"' in the old burying- ground on Eustis street. From the first little church on this hill to Waltham Abbey, in the [)arish of Naseing, in the English County of Kssex, is a long flight in space and time. John Eliot was born in the parish, perhaps neat the ruins of the Al)bey that carries us back on the stepping-stones- of nine centuries to the founding there of a religious house by the standard bearer of the first Danish Kins: of Ensfland. ROXBURY CENTENNIAL.. 31 Possibly, in the chiircli of Avhicb this Abbey is a part, the sister of John Eliot, then a young thing, in 16 18, was mar- ried to William Cuitis, of the same parish, who came out here with his brother-in-law, "The Apostle," in the ship Lyon. In 1839 this "William Curtis built the old Curtis house, that has stood by Stony brook for nearl}^ two hun- dred and tifty years ; always in the lineal possession of the same family, and which has seen every war in this country represented by one or more descendants of that first settler. The hou^e is overshadowed by an elm which was planted as a sapling in 1775. It is the oldest house in New England. Under its quaint ro(jf, now stored with curious memorials of a far-olf past, when deftt" were shot in the door-yard, and wolves were " killed on the Curtis farm,"" by wl.ich a hundred railroad trains run now, daily, — a company of men, a hun- dred years ago, were quartered. A hundred and Oiirty years })efore that, John Eliot must have often sojourned there. It is said to have been used as head-quarteis by Washington. The present occupant, Mrs. Isaac Curtis, who gave a husband and a son to the late war, has many relics of anticpiarian interest. The future historical society of Koxbury may well be proud of this old home of a patriotic, puritan race ; and the preservation of the building, intact, is a matter of public interest. It seems strange, that before Gustavus Adolphus or Charles the Twelfth of Sweden were born, a Roxbury man should have ever commanded a company of foot at the siege of Amiens, under Henry of Navarre. Yet Thomas Dudley, the tirst Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, was the man. '32 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. Page to the Earl of Northampton, of kui to the Earls of Northunil)erlaii(l, steward for long years to the Earl of Lin- coln, four times Governor and thirteen times Deputy Gov- ernor ; he lived down here by the side of Smelt brook, where the Universalist Church^ now stands. Two sentences, from that life of liim which Cotton Mather is supposed to have written, might be applied to the men of the Revolution : " A very wise man and knew how to express his mind in apt and gentle expressions.'' " Severe enough, but yet when matters were not clear he was slow to prdt'ced to judgment, as most wise men used to be." " Courage and constancy to the truth." '' One that would not shrink therefrom, for fear of favor or hope of reward." One might think he was reading Deacon Gridley's town records of ftstruction to Joseph Wil- liams, about taxation, a century later. Thomas Dudley's son Joseph, a Roxbury man, seemed to have a full measure of determined purpose and sweet Avays. For he was Representative, Assistant, Agent, Commissioner, President of New England, Chief Justice of the Superior Court, Chief Justice of New York, Deputy Governor of the Isle of ^Yight, Member of Parliament, Captain General and Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay. Courtier of Queen Anne, and basking in favor, he was not of a revolutionary temper. But he seemed to have the qualities of purpose and manner which, if directed to a public cause instead of to private advancement, would have calmly, sagaciously and obstinately pushed the o])ject to a successful end. The third generation, which brings us down near the Revoluticju, presented, in Paul Dudley, a writer on Revela- tion, a theologian and a strand Chief Justice, whose career ROXlUnV CENTENNIAL. 33 was one of great dignity and poAver, — a thorough ex- ample of the best transmitted traits of Puritan cahn- ncss and vigor. That okl polemic life has another example in that founder of this church, A\'illiam Pynchon, whose entirely pious book on the sufferings of Christ was " ordered to be burned by the exe- cutioner." A mition, of logical faculties, intense convictions and patient self-control, was getting ready for 1776. The civil wars of England, the religious wars of France, the revo- cation of the Ed>ct of Nantes, which flooded Europe and America with fugitives for religion's sake, kept the flame aglow. The Church and State in England were too closely connected to let the old despotism of church be forgotten Avhen Parliament began t» invade the colonial rights. The old chord vibrated again. But the Puritan habit of repi-ess- ing intense emotion prevented premature revolt. Even forty-five years ago some of the aged inhalwints about the country flirnis talked a little like old covenanters. The word " sanctuary " was used instead of "church," and " the house of God " almost always instead of '' meeting- house." Some of the old people talked with a sort of religious glow about the Britishers and Hessians as their ancestors had talked of the Antinomians and Cavaliers. Koxbury was veiy primitive then. Roxbury street concen- trated the town life : all the rest was country. Walnut avenue, then Back street, was a narrow road, from the sides of which large coveys of quail would frequently start up. Forest Hill street, then called Jul)e"s lane, had l)ut one habitation upon it, — a wretched collection of hovel and sheds, occu[)ied by a Moorish-looking man, who kept swine. P)4 IfOXBI'K'Y CENTEXISIAL. and had a l)evy of wild-c\ycd childrcD. And in my childish rambles, as the squealing herd Avould come rattling througii the dry leaves of the woodlands, followed l)y a troop of these screaminii' young Bedouins, I have imagined the terrors of Mnngo Park in Central Africa, when his lonely path was crossed by savage tribes hunting the hippopotami. There was a majestic tree upon the Williams homestead, near Walnut avenue. It was planted, perhaps, by the old settler of 1630, Ilol)ert Williams, whose descendants, as l)atriots and patrons of learning, have left the family name on the Declaration of Independence, on the corner-stone of Williams College, and on the battle-tields of the Eevolntion. A very ancient dame, mother of old men as they then seemed to me, told me that, under that tree, she had fed the soldiers of 1775 as they came from Lexington. A " Over her grave for forty years The grasses have been growing." But I have thought of that tree and of her, Avhen, as one of hundreds of thousands of marching men, I have been fed ])y the loyal women of Philadelphia, who kept their halls open through the whole of the Rebellion ; and I have thanked God for the apostolical succession of ministering ans^els to mankind. There Avas on Warren street an old wooden house, black and shattered with more than a centnry of storms. A herd oLcows that, I believe, Avere once stabled on the parlor floor, had found better quartei'S in the cellar — before the house Avas abandoned. Many a time has my honored father stopped on our Ava}' IIOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 35 to my school in Boston, and pointed out the bedroom in which Major General Joseph Warren was born. And then, dwelling on the story of Lexington and Bunker Hill, or telling me some moving incident of heroism by field or flood, my good father would lill my eyes Avith tears and my young heart full of Warren's sentiment : — " Dulce ct decorum est pro jyatria moriy And it seems to me that Warren, nunc lliau any other man, has impressed this sentiment on the heart of America. When the British General said that Warren's death was worth five hundred men, he forgot that Warren had done his M ork ; that his early death, at thirty-four, had put the seal of glory on it ; and that the l)lo()d of martyrs is the seed of the church. Great Britain Avould have better sacrificed five thousand men to save his life. For he was at the height of his Tame. He had given hostages to fortune. No one could be sure that the heaven-born orator and patriot would also be " a heaven-born general." His glory, already won in the field of eloquence, demanded eipial glory in the command of troops, — a good fortune, such as no civilian, suddenly placed in conmiand ■ as Major General without passing through grades of actual service, c^ould have expected. Who that stands by Warren's grave Avould take him from his assured immortality in the nation's heart, and expose him to the chances of defeat in the field, or to the caprice wjf popular favor? His death was the key-stone to the arch of his labor. For when the sun went down on the 17th of June, 1775, oC) KOXliUlIV CKNTENNIAL. rcvolutiou Avas an aceoptcd fact. On the morning' that followed that light the astonished and wounded pride of the English, victors though they were, could not have sul)niitted to any terms which the defeated, but astonished and exultant, colonists, would have accepted. The 17th of Jime had verified that defiant prophecy of AVarren : ''These fellows say we won't fight ! l>y Heaven, I hope 1 shall die np to my knees in blood ! " The battle of Bunker Hill Avas the irrevocal)le covenant of successful revolt. And the mission of Warren was to bring the nation up to Bunker Hill. For this work the intense magnetic nature of the man was adapted. And here comes in the marked Puritan element again — conviction at tvhite /teat, and inexorable loyic, and patient tvaitimj. His Avords Avere like a cavalry charge. His personal qualities assured him leadership. But just as the old Puritans Avould say, and honestly too, "BeloA^ed Brother," Avhile their hearts Avere on fire — Warren, Avhile concentrating everything on Union and Pevolution, and Avhile making ofiicers shudder Avhen he delivered their com- missions, could say — and he meant it — "No mobs! No confusion! No tumults ! " " Let the persons and property of our most inveterate enemies be safe ! " This old Puritan toyn may claim in him the best re\'olu- tionary example of the old Puritan concentrated force, directed \\\Mn\ tlie turning-point of our del)ate, and then ei^'ely cx[)ended like a shell in the most eflective Avay to carr\' it. The town records of Roxl)ury are particularly instructive. They offer models of temper, and constantly show the iufiu- KOXUUKY CEMEX>vl.LL. 37 encc of the stern Puritan lieart and mind and will and manner. They recall the men who " admonish Avith love," .spend weeks in argument, and slay "for the Gospel's sake." As carl}^ as October 22, 1665, when the town contained 1,487 people, town meeting, "expressing the greatest loyalty to our ]\Iost Gracious Sovereign and our sincere veneration for the British Parliament," instructs its repre- sentative, Joseph AVilliams, who lived down here by Hog bridge, and Avho commanded a regiment in the French war, "That you readily join in snch dutiful remonstrances and humble petitions." . . . "That you do not give your assent to any act of assembly that shall imply the willing- ness of your constituents to submit to any internall taxes that are imposed otherwise than l)y the Great and Generall Court of This Province according to the Constitution of this Government. We also recommend a clear, Explicit and Inspirited Assertion and vindication of our rights and I^iber- ties as inherent in our very natures and confirmed to us by our charter." October 22, 1667. Town meeting, called to consider "suitable and prudent measures" to encourage domestic manufactures, adjourns to December 7, 1()()7 ; and it is then voted that this town " will take all proper and Legall measures " to lessen the use of imported articles ; specifying a list that includes almost everything known among men, from loaf sugar and cordage, to cheese, "chiney ware," fire engines and " Glew." Meeting uas then adjourned ifek) meet after Lecture." Soon after, the names of iniporters are published in severe o lout l)y Mr. Drake. It bears date 1774, and is signed by Samuel Iluntingtrjn. The lirst "General Order" for the army was siuned by General A\'illiam Heath, a l\oxbury man, and the son ot a Eoxburv farmer. lie was at Lexington and Bunker Ilill, and commanded a i^art of the riirht wing in the sieofe of Boston. His conspicuous qualities of honesty and patriotism were rewarded by the especial favor of Washington, who appointed him to the command of West Point after the treason of Arnold. Here, too, lived and died Major General Henry Dearborn, distinguished in the great battles of the war, and having the honor of beino; on the stall' of A\'ashington. ^ Lemuel Childs, Avho commanded a company at Lexington, kept the old Peacock Tavern, which stood on Centre street, at the corner of the present Allendale street, once owned by Samuel Adams, and visited by Washington, Knox and the other army officers. Xear it the army, in event of disaster, was ordered to reassemble. Moses Whiting and Wjlliani Draper, botli Koxbury men, commanded companies at Lexington. Rol)ert Williams, Master of the Latin School when the war broke out, changed his ferule for a sword, and took a commission in the army. One hundred and forty RoxI)ury men Averc at Lexington. Only a few rods from this church was the old fort built l)y General Knox. The Cochituatc stand-pipe marks the place where it stood. Whether the eye turns backward or forward to survc}' the distinction of this toAvn, the page is bright with names 10 i;(>XIU'i;V CKXTENXIAL. of Governors and fliulo-es and Senators, historians, authors, clergj'imMi, and ph^'sicians, who are patrons of h'arninix sis Avell as heroes. Perhaps no New EngLind town can show so many names of such distinction in two hundred and forty- six years. A citizen of Iloxbury was counsel for the War Depart- ment in the gravest questions and darkest years of the Government. Every chiki in America has read and studied the Histories, the Geographies, the Headers and Speakers of citizens of Iioxbury. Roxhury was the seat of the most curious contribution to transcendental thought and life in America. The Dudleian Lectures and the Bussey Institute coi^titute part of tlic delit of Harvard College to the citizens of this town. The Constitution of Massachusetts owes to a citizen of Roxbury the insertion, in her bill of rights, of the immortal Avords "All men are born free and equal." And this clause was then introduced with the intention of putting an end to slavery in Massachusetts. The tongu(\s of Eui'ope and Asia have translated, and arc this day translating, w^ords of l)eauty and power that were written forty years ago by a citizen of Roxbury, and passed through hundreds of editions, in aid of the Temperance Reform. If I turn my eye to the Governors of Alassachusetts, who were sons of Roxl)urv by l)irth, another, who was her citizen l>y temporaiy residence, and who is a respected example of the gn^at Pin-itan virtue, cqui/ibriiim under inlluence, meets my eye. An hcnir's oration is not long enough to recite the merits of tliose who, as well as he, have; enjoyed her numicipal honors. KOXBUKY CEXTEXMAL. 41 Shall I speak of her later soldiers? If name afior name comes before nic, fond voices whisper in my ear, " I, too, can lead you to a hero's grave." The choice which I, per- haps, might make, retires from my embarrassed lips. In illustration more than in eulogy, I have mentioned Warren. He is the representative soldier of this town for other and later generations than his own. Many of "the three hun- dred " were as brave as Leonidas ; but he stands for all Sparta, and all time. The splendor of his fortune prevents all throb of envy. No one can blame me if I name one other, whose achievement will never be forgotten till the pilgrim can Avalk dry shod from Calais to Dover. What American can ever forget that ecstatic nineteenth of Apiil, 18G4, when the Kearsarge went into the British channel with the Ala- bama, and came out of it alone? The God of veligeaiice chose the place, that England might never scowl across the water into French eyes again without seeing the grave of HER pirate. Commodore John A. Winslow, of kin to the Pilgrim blood, who thrilled the nation twelve years ago by that victory over the selfishness of England, Avas a resident of Roxbury for nearly thirty years. The fervor of that old iiraying, reasonin2:, fisfhtinof, but self-controlled, Puritan blood has never failed to mark the historic p.ige. Little peculiarities of to-day show the old marked influence on the habit of mind, and on the staid severity of manner. The peculiar Puritanic habit of giving such names as ^Nlercy, Faithful, Increase, and Desire, has forgotten the cause of an effect which remains. The odd trick of addressing a child by everv one of his names when impressiveness is intended, may be traced to the Puritanic 42 EOXBURV CENTENNIAL. a. It is the scntiniont and voice of old Roxbury that forty millions of in- tellijrcnt American citizens know neither partisanship or prejudice, only respect and obedience to the National Chief Majjistrate, ivhoever he is, or iclioever he is to he. [Cries of "Good," ;intl long applause.] , INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. Gentle.men : — I shall have the pleasure of inviting to respond to this toast a gentleman who is a resident of Rox- bur3% and whose eloquenee is adequate to the occasion of responding for the Chief Magistrate of the United States — Mr. Collector Simmons., [Applause.] RESPONSE or HON. WILLIAM A. SIMMONS. Mr. Presidext axd Gextlemex : — 1 rejoice that I am privi- leged to participate in the veiy impressive and plcasiu-able ceremo- nies of this Roxbnr}' Centennial observance. I rejoice, too, sir, that we of the present time are privileged to stand, as it were, upon the very threshold of the second centnr}' of our national ex- istence, and feel our hearts thrilling with emotions of patriotic pride and pleasure over the magnificent outlook which the unparalleled prospcrit}' of the countrj' in the past indicates as the destin}- of the republic in the future. [Applause.] As has been well said, the President of these United States does represent forty millions of free people, a large majority of whom, happily, are loyal, peaceful, patriotic, liberty-loving people, who believe in the great underlying principles upon which our whole fabric of government rests ; who believe in the widest dissemina- tion of education and information among the masses ; who believe 52 ROXBURY CENTEXNIAL. in the spirit of religious toleration which the Constitution incul- cates ; who lielieve in that freedom of speech and of the press which has convinced the world that for more than a century we have been among the foremost of the nations of the earth ; and it is because of the almost universal belief of our people in these great principles, these fundamental principles of free government, that we are, to-da}-, permitted to enjoy the privileges, the liberties and the blessings of the Union in which Ave live. Push aside for a moment the curtain which hides from our view the glorious labors of the century which has passed.; look at the almost fabulous results of our national researches, at the marvellous de- velopments of our industrial interests — 250,000 manufacturing establishments ; 3,000,000 farms, each one, with rare excep- tion, cultivated by its owner; 75,000 miles of railroad, half the number in the whole world ; 3,000,000 tons of shipping upon our inland lakes alone, and a mci'cantile marine larger, with one exception, than that of any other nation on the civilized globe ; and all these wonderful evidences of thrift and wealth and power are simph- tlie logical results, the natural outgrowth of the ettbrts and labors of those heroic men who gathered upon these Roxbury hills one hundred years ago as volunteers in tlie sacred cause of human frec'lom. [Applause and cheers.] The lo_yal men of this time, sir, are the direct inheritors of the faith and principles of their fathers. They have endeavored to live up to the full measure and spirit of the genius of our insti- tutions. The}' have established all over this fair land of ours free schools in which to educate the 3'outh of the nation [Applause] ; Christian churches in which to worship God ; free libraries to en- rich the minds; newspapers to enlarge the information and under- standing ; society in which law, order and justice prevail, and where, thank God, labor is considered honorable ; and all these taken together have made possible that magnificent American citi- zenship which has developed the wonderful wealth, power and thrift of the American continent ; which has attracted 500,000 new settlers to our sliores each recurring year ; and "which, better than that, has convinced the world that the broadening influences of American civilization Avill continue to give, in all the centuries that lie l)efore us, power, wealth, union, libert}', peace and grandeur ROXBUKY CENTENNLVL. 53 to this republic as long as luinian liberty shall find name and place among the children of men. And for these reasons, sir, I am led irresistibl}' to the conclu- sion that notwithstanding the unfortunate complications of the present, the intelligence, the patriotism, the good sense, the loyalty of the American people will elevate them above and bej'ond the narrow sphere of political prejudice and partisanship, and will lead them, in the language of your sentiment, to accord to tlie President of the United States, whoever he may be, the same unswerving, patriotic devotion, which has characterized the American people for more than a century, [Loud and long-continued applause.] And now, in conclusion, let me express the hope that when the smoke of these transitory battles shall have lifted and faded into air' we may find the North, the South, the East, the AVest, keeping step to the music of the Union, and marching in accord and harmony with the patriotic utterances of our own great poet, when he sings : — •• Thou, too, sail on, ship of State; Sail on, O Union, strong and great ; Humanity, with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years. Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! " We know what master laid thy keel, What workman wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and spar, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat. In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy fate. " In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee ; Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faitli triumphant o'er our fears. Are all with thee — are all with thee ! " [Loud and long-continued applause, ending with cheers for the speaker.] 54 ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. Cbtrtr Sentiment. "The Commonwealth or Massachusetts." The Old Biiy State is proud of her t?lorious past and her triumphant present. She is proud of the memories which cluster about riyniouth Rock, Faneuil Ilall and Bunker Hill. She is proud of her staples of sjranite, ice, and sterlinjr men and women, and she is also proud of her nuir took his seat, the company spontaneously rose and gave three cheers and a tiger '' For Our Old General." ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 61 S^bxntb .Sentiment. " The Oi.i> Xoufolk Guards of Roxbuet." In days forever fled, Along each old-time street, The Norfolk Guards kept even step To fife and to drum-beat. These gray and reverend heads With us to-night are met — The remnants of a former band, With martial bearing yet ; And ma}' they all fall in once more On yonder shining banks. When to the last upon the roll The order comes, "Break Ranks 1 " [Applause.] INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. I am happ3' to present to a'ou a former commander of that ancient and patriotic association, — a gentleman whom ever}- Rox- bnr}' man knows, and whom everj'bod}' honors and respects. I mean Capt. James (^uild. [Applause and cheers.] RESPONSE OF CAPT. JAMES GUILD. ^NIk. Chairman AND Gextlkmex : — "When I was asked to take command on this centennial da}- of the " Old jSTorfolk Guards," I assure you, sir, I felt exceedingh* embarrassed to know how 1 could, after so iBan}- years' retirement to private life, again buckle on the armor, and, with credit to mj'sclf or with honor to the famous old corps, place myself at their head. And now, sir, I feel doubly embarrassed to be called upon to respond to the sentiment 3'ou have so kindly proposed. I have alwa3-s tried to follow, if in nothing else, in this one trait of reti- cence^ our great war general, who now commands tlio armies and the navv of these United States ; and if T could have followed him 62 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. in military matters one-half as well, I, too, might possibl}' have become lamous. Besides, sir, tliere are "A'eterans" in my ranks to-day whose drum and fife, when a bo}-, I used to follow up hill and down dale ; for when the " Guards" came out, sir, the school was always dis- missed, and in many a long march I have helped to raise a dust till no doubt they wished us all grown-up men and in their places. And, Mr. Cliairman, these were the days that tried the soles of men's boots, when steam-cars and horse-cars were not availed of. And, under Gibbs and Doggett and Spooner and Curtis and Cook and Dudley, — to say nothing of Knower, who still lives, hale and hearty, I sincerely hope, — in those days, sir, the " Guards" thought nothing of a march to Salem and back, or to a muster at Dedham Plains or Quincy. And in those da3-s of "Old Lang S^'ne" the true soldier did not stop at every pump by the wayside to refresh ; and " Cochituate " was an unheard-of beverage. But ever and anon they came into line, and something of a darkish color in new " Ilingluim buckets" was passed along the ranks, and served from bright tin dippers. I don't know what it was, sir, but 1 always noticed that the men marched brisker, if not steadier, after partak- ing of it. The bo3's, too, sometimes found a little of it, vcr}' sweet and palatable, in the bottom of the dippers, and I think it nuist have been tlie same that Old Hip Van Winkle partook of on the mountain, for some of it was given to rae once up on the " Old Fort," now, alas, levelled and devoted to " weak Cochituate" only, and it allectcd me very nnich as Old Rip was atfectcd. I did not sleep as long as ho did, butwlien I awoke the day was far spent, no "Guards" were in siglit, and I wended my way down from this " Cold Water Mountain " a wiser if not a better hoy, and I made a solenni vow that, from that time forth, whatever else I did, I would " dare to do right." But in tliose days, Mr. Chairman, "training" seemed to many persons a good deal like " boy's play." Since then, however, the country has liad an experience that has led us to honor the militia. and to look to it as the salvation of the land. And some of these " veterans" of the " Old Guard," whicli I only followed as a boy, should, I think, have been asked to respond to the sentiment just given. For, sir, tliey could tell you of deeds of prowess on land ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 63 and sea, on tented field and in endless marches, that we of more modern times know bnt little of. But, Mr. President, I meant to sa}^ only one word in acknowl- edgment of the honor 3-ou have done to the " Guards." And, if you will allow me, I will close, as in the olden time an after-dinner speech always closed, with a sentiment. Let me say, sir, " The memory of Gibbs and Doggett and Spooner and Curtis and Cook and Dudle}-." They were each and all " every inch a soldier." They have all, alas, marched on to that bourne from which no traveller and no soldier returns. "The Old Roxbury Aktilleuy." To tlio tune of Yankoe Doodle, In the time of '76, The old Artillery mustered When the land was in a fix. No guns did better service, No men did any more In honor of old Roxbury town Than our artillery corps. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. For this ancient and honored association I invite Capt. John P. Jordan to respond. [Applause.] RESPONSE OF CAPT. JOHN P. JORDAN. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — A gentleman, tliis even- ing, — one of tlie previous speakers, — said that this centennial arose with the idea of our association. That is true, in a certain measure ; but, as soon as they became warmed up, they forgot about laboring for our association, and the}' onl}- thought of old Rox- bury, and that has been almost their entire idea. [Applause.] I 64 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. have l)ecn iiitrodiieed b}- rather an ancient name to-night ; but I assure you, genthMnen, that we have in our company to-da_y several of those men who paraded at the time that has been spoken of by the toast-master. We have many of them with us, and we have also many new men. Our association was formed principally to encourage the active compan}-. We have been taught a lesson b}' the great struggle through which we have passed, and that is, — which was the motto in 1784, when the company was organized, but which was in ill-repute before tlie war, — " In time of peace prepare for war." [Applause.] We, gentlemen, have seen the necessity of that. I believe that the militia comi)anies of this vState should not be too numerous, but that they should be good. I believe that the}^ should be to the State what West Point is to the nation, so that every private could be so drilled and perfected in this direc- tion that, shouhl his services be needed in the field, he would be able to come at a moment's warning. Gentlemen, I do not propose to take up much of the time, but I thank you one and all for the part you have given the Artillery Company in the observ- ance of this da}" ; and in saying that, it is not a mere compliment. Gentlemen, I cordially give way to some of those older and more eloquent gentlemen to whom you would gladly listen ; but I will give way to no man in mj^ honor, and love, and esteem for Old Roxbury. [Applause.] Uintb Sentiment. 'The JIoxuuky Pulpit. Wc place within a pastor's power A tlieme where worth and virtue blend Reversing here the casuist's rule, Our Means will justify the end. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen : — I remember, many years ago, when you honored me by making me Mayor of the old city of Roxbury [AjDplause], that during my administration treason raised its miserable stand- ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. (If) arcl, and I culled around me the leading men of Roxbiiry to assist me ill doing Avhat could be done to rescue an endangered country, and for the purpose of giving it back to libert}' and to law. And I remember that I then found no more efficient supporter than the Rev. Dr. Means, whom I now have the pleasure of presenting to you. HESPONSE OF THE KEV. JOHN O. MEANS, D.I). Mit. Presidknt and Felloav-Citizens : — 1 am sure you will all agree with me that there is but one man in this cit}' who ought to stand here ^o-night and respond to this toast to the clergy of Rox- bury. It was he whose eloquent lips brought men to sign the rolls in those days to which allusion has been made, and who pleaded for them in tlie j)ul[)it after thev had gone to the field, — our dear friend (Rev. Dr. (Jeorge Putnam), whose bodily health alone pre- vents him from being here, and who stands in the lineal succession from tlie first minister. It was not jnerely when the alarm of war rung out a few years ago that the authorities of Roxbury called the clergy to their aid. Tlity have been wont to do this from the first. A hiuidred 3'ears ago Roxbur}' had no minister, because he had laid down his life for his country when the great struggle for freedom was just com- mencing. There was then but one churcli and one meeting-house, which all the inhabitants were exi)ected to attend. No other denomination had come in, nor for forty years afterward did au}^ come in. The meeting-house stood where it now stands. When AVashington was beleaguering Boston, in 1775, Roxbury was one of the fortified posts. Rev. Amos Adams, who for twentj'-two or three years had been the faithful pastor, was indefatigable in min- istering to the troops, as well as to his own people. After preach- ing faithfully to his congregation, he held a service with a regiment of soldiers in the open air. The exposure, one Sunday, after all his fatiguing labors, says his biographer, brought on a fever, from which he died. So it came about that during the earl^- 3-ears of the Revolution tiiis ancient town and church was without a minister. It is proper to say, and as we are speaking of things a hundred !) QQ ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. years ago it is not indelicate to say, that the pulpit of Roxbiuy has had a large influence in determining the character and growth of the town. I was interested in noticing that our eloquent orator this afternoon occu[)ied no small part of his time in telling what the ministers had said and done. He would not have been true to history, and he would have missed some of the most important materials of liislory, if he had done otherwise. In the early davs of the colon}' there could be no complete organization of a town till a church had been gathered. There might be two or more churches in one town ; there could be no town Avithout one church. In an important sense, therefore, each town had its very beginning in the church. General Sargent has spoken in fit Janguage of Thomas Welde as the first minister, and of tlie great influence he exerted. But it is a little difficult to say who should be regarded as the first minister of Roxbur}'. There were often two ministers to each church in those days, one called the pastor and tlie other called the teacher. Rev. Thomas Welde was ordained as pastor in July, 1G32, and in November following Rev. John Eliot was ordained as teacher. Neither alone could be called the minister : the teacher Eliot, I think, was the most of a minister. Mr. Welde took a more active part in the civil affairs of the colon}' than in the spiritual welfiire of the town. In 1641 he Avent to England, on a political eirand, and never returned. John Eliot, on the other hand, lived and labored here unremittingly till his death in 1690, nearly sixty years. He was one of the great lights of New Eng- land ; liis fame filled Europe ; he made Roxbury known the world over as the town whica had for its minister the great Apostle to the Indians. It seems fair to call John Eliot the first minister. Tlie town has owed its prosperity in part to the eminent ability and to the eelebrit}' of some of its ministers. In early days they discharged a variety of functions. Eliot was not only one of the founders of our Latin School ; by his will he endowed a Grammar vSchool in Jamaica Plain. He was one of the authors of the first book published in English America. The gentlemen of the press will be interested to know that the first printing press brought to English America was procured by a minister, and set up in the house of a minister, President Dunster of Harvard College. The first issue was the Freeman's Oath ; the second, an Almanac ; the ROXBURY CENTENNIAL,. 07 third issue and first volniiie was the Bay Psalm Book, which has recently been so mncli talked about, and one early copy of which has been sold at such a fabulous price. Thomas Welde and John Eliot, the two Roxbury ministers, with Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester, were the authors of this famous book. As our toast-master has been rolling out his rhymes upon us, I have been thinking of a criticism which one of the Cambridge men of that day made ui)ou the Roxbury poets, for there were critics in Cambridge from the earliest times. Mr. Shepard, of Cambridge, addressed the authors of the Bay Psalm Book : — " Yc Roxbury poets, keep clear of the crime Of missing to give us very good rhyme ; And you of Dorchester, your verses lengthen, But with the text's own words you will then strengthen." We heard many pleasant stories of John Eliot this afternoon. He was facetious and witty, and ver}' entertaining in conversation. Above all he was remarkable for his kindliness of spirit and his charity. But there were bounds to his charity. The ^ood minister who gave the poor w'oman all his quarter's salary, because he could not untie the knots in his handkerchief in which the prudent parish treasurer, knowing Mr. Eliot's weakness, had tied up the money, could not abide certain persons, — and many to-daj- cannot abide them any better ; he could not abide the men who part their hair in the middle. " For men to wear their hair with a luxurious, fa?menine, delicate prolixity," saj's Cotton Mather; " to preserve no plain distinction of their sex b}' the hair of their head and face ; much more for men to disfigure themselves by hair that is not their own ; and, most of all, for ministers of the gospel to ruffle it in excesses of this kind, he could not abide. But the hair of them that professed religion, before his death, became too long for him to swallow, and he would express himself with a boiling zeal con- cerning it, until at last he gaA'e over, with some regret, complaining ' The lust is become insuperable.' " Nowadays clergymen, we are told, have no business to know anything about science. One of our earl}- ministers, Samuel Dan- forth, a colleague with Eliot from 1650 to 1674, was eminent as a mathematician and astronomer. He published almanacs, and ()^! ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. gave ji description of the comet of 1(jG4. Mrs. Eliot, the minister's wife, was " skilled in pln'sics and chiriirgery, and dispensed man}- safe, good and useful medicines unto the poor tliat had occasion for them ; and some hundreds of sick and weak and maimed people owed praises to God for the bene[it whi(;h therein the}' freelj received of her." At that time, it must l)e remembered, there was hardly a regular pliA^sician in the Massachusetts Buy Colony. The testimony of those who have written about the matter is in- variably of the great ability, eloquence, learning and piety of the Roxbury ministry. There has been also, on the part of the people, a most honorable and kindly recognition of the services of their pastors. John Eliot would not consent to receive a salary raised by a town rate ; it was raised bj' voluntary contribution. In his extreme age, for fear his people might not be forward, on account of the expense, to procure such additional pulpit ministration as the}' needed, he proposed to relinquish his salary. " 'Tis possible you may think the burden of maintaining-two ministers may lie too heavy for you ; but I deliver you from that fear ; I do here give back my salary to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and now, brethren, you may fix that upon any man that God shall make a pastor for you." " liut his church, with a handsome reply, assured him that they would count his xevy j^resence worth a salary, when he should be so sujicrannuated as to do no further service for them." How hainnonious have been the relations between the ministers and people of Roxbur\- appears in the fact that, with the single exception of Thos. Welde, who returned to lingland, no minister has ever been dismissed, — I s[)eak of the old chureh which covered the whole ground till recent years ; all the pastors have died in otiice. The pastorate of two of the first ministers, Eliot and his successor, Nehemiah AYalter, cover a i^ei'iod of one hundred and eighteen years ; and the pastorate of two of the last. Dr. Put- nam, — long may he continue among us! — and Dr. Porter, his predecessor, alread}' cover a period of ninety-four years. Let us hope that in the future, as in the past, the Roxbury pulpit may deserve and may exert an influence for good in all directions, as lai-ge as is legitimate. KOXBlUn' CENTENNIAL. 69 ^'Cntb Sentiment. " Ouu RoxBuiiY Patuivucii." Once; on the vcssol's deck he stood, and once he held a pen, And honors full and plentiful have come to him since then ; At fourscore years he proved himself a seaman good and brave, For he sailed into the Senate on a sweeping tidal wave. INTIiODUCTION HY THE CIIAUIMAN. Our Roxbury Nestor ; our ablest representative of the press ; our fifth INIayor ; ahnost our ohlest inliabitant, and our 3'oungest Senator. I have the pleasure of presenting to you Hon. John S. Slekper. [Applause and three prolonged cheers.] RESPONSE OF HON. JOHN S. SLEEPER. Mr. President : — I am almost overwlielmed at this welcome, and at the recei)tion I have received from the citizens of Roxbury. I have witnessed the glowing fires of patriotism which this Cen- tennial celebration has kindled among our [)eople, and listened to the stirring, eloquent and exceeding!}' interesting address of the orator of the dav with much gratification, and I gladh' seize this opportunit}' to offer a few remarks of a suggestive nature, on a subject far removed from nrjself, but somewhat coimected with the spirit of this occasion, and in which I feel a deep interest. It is, Mr. President, a singular tact, that that portion of the great city of Boston — that section in whicli we live, and whose glories and honors we this da}' commemorate — is no longer known in any official proceedings at Roxl)ur3'. It is true we still have our " Roxbury Charitable Societ}'," our '' Roxbuiy Latin School," our, " Roxbur}- Savings Institution," our " Roxbur}' Athen.X'um," and our Roxbury military companies. But Roxbury itself, — old Rox- burv, — one of the earliest settled towns in New England, after an 70 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. existence of almost tAvo centuries and a half, with a record of which any township or city in the Commonwealth may be proud, — the home of the Apostle Eliot, the Dudleys, the Sumners and the Warrens, — no longer exists ! It is not onl}' erased from the map of Massachusetts, but it is no longer met with in the public records ! "• Boston Highlands " has taken its place, — a name not only inappropriate, but possessing little beauty and no significance. Why this change was effected I could never learn. AYhen it was suggested, soon after the annexation to Boston, I was opposed to it, and lifted my feeble voice against it; but, in vain. Time has rather strengthened than weakened ni}' repugnance. A distin- guished writer has said that '• a rose by any other name will smell as sweet." I do not believe the assertion. I know that the name "Boston Highlands" does not sound so musically in my ears, or carry such fragrance to my nostrils, as the simple word " Rox- bury," surrounded and beautified and glorified with a halo of pleasing and sacred and patriotic associations. Esau, when pressed by hunger, sold his birthright for a mess of pottage ; but the residents of Roxbury, not realizing at the time the revolution- ary nature of the act, parted with the long-cherished name of " Roxbur}-," without an}' apparent reason, and without receiving an^- equivalent; for the name of "Boston Highlands" can never be regarded as such. But there is some consolation left. The name of Roxbury is not irrevocably lost. Boston Highlands, I believe, has never been established by any formal act, and the post-office station is still known as Roxbur}' throughout tlie Union. Then let us take back the good old name of Roxbury, wliich cannot be too often repeated, and which we have reason to regard as a sacred deposit. Let it be restored as identifying the precincts from which it has been so strangely spirited, and let it be firinl}' fastened there by an adamantine chain. And now, INIr. President, I will offer as a sentiment, " Roxbury in the })ast ! Roxbury- in the present! and Roxbury forever!" [Applause and cheers.] ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 71 (L-(cbcntb Srnttmcnt. " The RoxnuKY Bak." Ambition sought no loftier goal. Respect could reach no higher, Than that profound esteem we paid In old times to the " Squire." INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. I have now the pleasure of introducing to you a gentleman who has probabh" tried cases for or against almost all of jou, — one of the most eloquent respresentatives of the bar, — lion. James M. Keith. RESPONSE OF HON. JAMES M. KEITH. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — If it be true that I have tried cases either for or against almost all of the gentlemen here, I would infer that I should be the last man that the}' would desire to hear from. A response to this sentiment would come more fittingly from the Nestor of the bar. I suppose the reason that he is not called upon to respond is on account of tiie arduous duties that he has performed during the day. M}' experience with the Roxbur}' bar dates back thirty 3'ears. It is thirty years since I became a citizen of Roxbur^-, and a student at law ; at that time, knowing very few upon these pleasant hills and in these valley's. It was not, sir, the strong attraction of the men of Roxbur}' that brought me here, but one of the daughters. [Laughter.] And liaving been drawn by female influence to the citizens of Roxbury, I have never, sir, from that moment, regretted my connection with it. [Applause and laughter.] When I came to Roxbury, the leading men of the bar — and I may say the leading men of the bar of the County of >sorfolk — were, first and foremost, the Hon. John J. Clark, who was at that time the first Mayor of the city of Koxlniry. He has since filled a high position in the State, and 72 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. has received an appointment upon tlie Superior Bench, which he declined ; a practitioner to whom we all look with respect, and whose (botsteps we delight to follow. Another of the leading- members of tlie bar of that da}', and with whom I came into intimate relations, was the lion. David A. Simmons, a man who had come from the conntr}- into Boston early in life, and fouglit Iiis way up, inch by inch, to a high position in his pro- fession. He occupied for several years the position of counsellor, under Governor Everett. He had been a senator of the State, and through life retained an active interest in public alfairs, and the prosperity of this his adopted Innne and city. Another distin- guished member of the bar was the Hon. Francis J. Hilliard, who has written many text-books on tlu; law. His books upon torts and sales, and mortgages of real properly, liave a very leading in- fluence to this day. And, although living in a distant cily, we still look back with pleasure to our association with him in former times. Another •\ounger member of the bar was the Hon. William Whiting, a leading practitioner in patent cases, and whose recent departure from your midst, after having Ijeen elevated to Congi'ess, makes it entirely superfluous for me to dwell upon his many vir- tues. These were the members of the bar at that time ; and since then man}' younger members have grown up to take their places. And altliough the Roxbury bar embraces a very small number, I venture to sa}- that its members have taken full rank in all the honors of the profession in proportion to their numbers. It has furnished, during my residence in Roxbury, a judge of the Probate Court, the Hon. William S. Leland, whose services as an upright judge, following in the footsteps of his honored father, who preceded liim, you will remember, and you all look back with moui-nful regret to the many social and pleasant relations of life with him now severed forever. Roxbury has also furnished, as its quota from the Itar, a district attorney of the Southeastern Dis- trict, consisting of Norfolk and Plymouth counties ; it has fur- nished a commonwealth's attorney for tlie County of Suffolk ; it has also fui'uished in move modern times a Mayor for the city of Boston, and a (iovernor for the Conunonw'ealth of Massachusetts. [Applause.] To what higher and greater honors you may attain, ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 73 sir, we know not. [Applause.] But we ma}- say in the language of the weird sisters : — " Glainis thou art, and Cawdor, And shalt be what thou art promised." The practice of the profession of the law is a high and honorable one. I have often been amused when the question has been asked ina somewhat quizzical and cynical way, whether an honest man could be a lawyer. [Laughter and applause.] Why, no one but an honest man has any business to be a lawyer. No one but an honest man can conceive the high dignit}' and honor of the position of a lawj'er. The lawA'crs of this country have marked and fixed the history of the, country- ; the}' have fixed its legislation; and they have given tone and character to the institutions of this country ; they have created respect for the law and its peaceful en- forcement ; and to-day if 3'ou find a man who is thoroughly grounded in the law, he looks to the Constitution of these United States as the foundation and bulwark of our liberties. I am not responsible, nor is the profession responsible, for tlie idiosyncrasies of the bar ; but I have the right to say that the man who correcth' conceives the duties and assumes the position of a high-toned lawyer has need of all the genius awarded to man ; he has need of all the breadth of mind, of all the knowledge, and science, and art, and labor, and skill which he can command to attain success in the practice of the law. There is no knowledge too high to be of ser- vice, and there is nothing so low and remote in the labors and duties of life that is hot serviceable as an illustration of the prin- ciples that he is called upon to maintain. Now, sir, turning to another subject, I could not help listening with a great deal of pleasure to the sentiment announced here this evening in honor of the President of the United States, " whoever he might be now, or in the future." Any man who is legally elected to that high office should be honored and respected as the chief executive of this great nation. All must feel that no man has any right to give up to party what is due to his countr}-. [Applause.] 1 believe that the great body of the people, of all 10 74 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. parties, in the United States, are thoroughly honest :it heart, and desire the best interests of the country ; and it is not for one party to assume all of the honor, all of the morality, and all of the in- tegrity in the country. It is a base falsehood upon humanity, arid upon mankind, for any party to assume that ; the truth is that the great bod}' of the people of all parties are honest and desire the best interest of the country. [Applause.] We have a government of law, and its great significance is, that it is a government of law. Our Constitution provides how our electors shall be chosen by the people, and how their choice shall be inaugurated after he is chosen. The principle of the government is that the majority shall rule ; and when an^Mnan is elected by a clear majority, it is the right and, the duty of that man to assume the responsibility of the govern- ment. [Applause.] Now, sir, I cannot believe that we have had eighty years' ex- perience in constitutional government for nothing. I cannot believe that this government, that has attained such magnificent results in the past, is to come to naught under the influence of a high party spirit which is unwilling to yield when the majority at- tained is on the one side or the other. I believe there is still suffi- cient patriotism and integrity in this country, and in the people, to maintain a republican form of government, however part}- interests ma}' clash and whoever may be successful. Why, if we all had patriotism enough to defend our country against the assaults of a rebellion organized in one part of the country, haven't we patriotism enough to yield when one party is swept from power b}' the success of the other? Most assuredly we have. We are not to give up this magnificent republic, extending from ocean to ocean, with its forty millions of people ; we are not to give that up to anarchy and revolution, but in this Centennial 3'ear we will not forget the lessons of one year ago, when we sang tlie song of peace on earth and good- will to men. We were honest and patriotic then, and we will be honest and patriotic still ; and so let us once more unite and secure peace on earth, and especiall}' peace throughout these reunited States of America. [Applause.] ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 75 Cinclftfj SciTtimcnt. "The Roxbury City Fathers." 'Twas in the days of Auld Lang Syne — the date is not at hand — There met within our City Hall our primal civic band ; And one was young and Little, — he is old and Little now ; But before his gathered honors we must reverently bow. He fills up now the city flats, sees the institutions run, And as a City Father he ranks A No. L INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen : — I have a high respect for the men who have been members of the Cit}' Council of the cit}- of Boston, but I believe that they arc in no respect superior to the men who w^ere members of the Board of Alclerinen and of the Common Council of the city of Roxbury. I regret that ex- Alderman Samuel Little, who was expected to respond to this toast, is not able to be present this evening ; and I shall 'invite Major George Curtis to respond in his place. [Applause and cheers.] RESPONSE OF MAJOR GEORGE CURTIS. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — You may well be sure that I feel embarrassed in rising to respond to this toast, and I regret that Mr. Little is not present. But, gentlemen, when I was called to take part in tliis celebration, I thought that it belonged to some other citizen who is recognized in some of the old organizations. But I always stand read}' to perform mj- dut}' when called upon, and I accepted the position I have taken to-day ; and as I have ever found it in the cit}' of Roxbury, tlie militaiy are always on hand whether it rains or shines. I was perfecth' astonished to find so many military and citizens out on this storm}- day. But, as I said, when you call upon the militia of Roxbury- the}- always turn out. It gives me great pleasure to find that the military of Roxbury 7() ROXBUKY CEXTEXiNIAL. keeps 111) its organization. But I want to say that tlie military of Roxbnrv are not snpported by what tliey get from the State, and they have to put their hands into their pockets to keep up their organization. And I want to say to the citizens that it is their duty to put their hands into their pockets and see to it that not one of the military companies should want for funds to keep up their organization. [Applause.] In response to the toast I will relate a little incident which occurred in the Mayor's otlice whilst I was one of the Aldermen. Mayor Dearborn, whom you all knew, was a verj' popular man amongst us, and an honored and respectable citizen, who has now gone to his long home. This occasion was a time when the firemen had petitioned for pay. They never received paj' in those days, and the}' had come to the Board of Aldermen for it. A meeting of the committee was called to see what to do about paying tlie firemen. As 3'ou very well know, we had a City Clerk of Roxbury who held the position a great man}' years, and whom we all loved to honor ; and we think a great deal of him at the present time. His head is now covered with white hair, and we honor him to-day [Joseph "VV. Tucker]. [Applause.] His Honor the Mayor opened the meeting of the committee, and this gentleman [Mr. Tucker] came in He said to the JNIayor, '^ It will never do to pay these firemen in the world." — '• Well, what shall we do?" — " If you pay those firemen vou will have the whole of the citizens down on 3'ou." — " Well," sa3's his Honor, " what shall we do? Shall we pay them, or shall we not?" — " Well, if you do not pa}' them you will have the whole firemen of the city down on you." Mayor Dearborn turned round in his quiet way, and said, "■ Well, Mr. Clerk, what shall we do?" — " Do the best you can under the existing circumstances." [Laughter] Gentlemen, in conclusion I offer you the senti- ment, '' The military of Roxbury : may their light never be less than at the present time." [Applause.] ROXBURY CENTEKNIAL. /V Ojirtcenib .Sentiment. "Tiri; KoxiUKY' IMeciianic." He builds, and paints, and mends first-rate, And his plumbing we can brag on. And never does our patience tire In waiting for the wagon. IXTRODUCTIOX BY THE CHAIRMAN. For this bocU' of men, who have done so much for the growth and the honor of Old Roxbury, I invite Cupt. Joiix A. Scoit to respond. [Apphiuse and cheers.] RESPONSE OF CAPT. JOHN A. SCOTT. Mk. President and Fkllow-Citizexs : — I fully appreciate the honor that is conferred npon me on this occasion to speak for so large a body of men as is represented here to-night in the Roxbury mechanics : for I find, as my eye runs over this hall, that I am speaking for the largest representation of tliose here. And, although these gra}' hairs have cropped out and the hair dye has failed to conceal them, yet I feel that I am but a stripling when I look around and see so manj' mechanics here whose 3ears number threescore and ten ; and, therefore, I feel it more of an honor to speak for so honorable a body of men. The organization which I represent in a military' point of view — the Old Roxbury Artillery — has alwa^'s been composed of mechanics, and I could not help thinking, when listening to Gen. Sargent, why this organization lasted so long was because, when it was first started, its first com- mander, he told us, was a minister. He laid the foundation well, and then the meclianics built upon that good foundation. [Ap- plause.] From the time of tlie Old Roxbury Artillery down to the Cit}' Guards its commanders were mechanics, and I believe the officers were men made up from that class ; and I could not but think 78 ROXBTTRY CENTENNIAL. to-night, when Gen. Sargent w.is telling ns of the mischief which occurred at Bunker Hill, — wlien the quarter-master failed to see that the balls would not fit the guns, — that if some of these Rox- bur}' bummers had been there, the}' would have made the holes fit the balls [Loud laughter and applause], and then they would have been ready to fire the charge [Applause] ; because I have never known this old organization to be in such a place that they could not find themselves out. I remember, when but a bo}', seeing tliem march under command of the venerable John M. Stanton (who is not able to be here to-night on account of ill-health), to Portland, and all the citizens turned out to see them ; and the women were so enthusiastic that they stayed in camp all night, and the question arose among those military men, What shall we do to make room for these ladies? The Roxbury meu soon found a way. They fixed the tents into berths, and gave tlie women the lower berths. [Applause and laughter.] As they came marching home beliind the old Boston Brass Band, under the leadership of Flagg, though tired from fatigue, when we came up State street every man braced up and walked like a boy. And when T look around to-night, and see how many Roxbury boj's are here, — and you can count them upon the ends of your fingers, because they are scat- tered all over the State, — and I am hai)py to say one who went down to build Rhode Island is liore to-night, and so they are here from Maine to Georgia. They are sometimes called the mud-sills of society ; ^-et when those mechanics of Roxbury liave constructed the printing-press, and have been at the laying of the foundation of almost every good institution started in this country, I have thought that they were not only mud-sills, but the very top-stones of society. [Applause.] I feel that, although honorably as tlie clergy, and the bar, and the Legislature have been represented here to-night, the Roxbury mechanic is second to none [Applause] ; and it has stirred my soul to its veiy depths to-day, when 1 have seen gathered here these old white-haired men, these men who have spent so man}' happy hours and years together, that have been separated for years and have now come togetlier to-day, and we see them shaking the friendly hand; and, while their bodies are tottering, we see the fire flash from their eyes, and I feel that the grip they gave each ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 79 other brought up recollections of a happy bo3-hood. I was glad to be here, and I am glad to be permitted to speak for those men at this gathering. I feel that it is an honor to speak for the Roxbury mechanics, and I feel that it is an honor to be a member of the Roxbury Artillery Association. Thej' have always been readj"^ when called upon. On this occasion the}' were called upon at short notice, and you all see how goodly a representation they have here to-night. I hope, gentlemen, that when we are called here again, we shall have as many, if not more, and that a'Ou will never forget the old organizations, and that you will alwa^'s feel a pride in the anniversaries of these old organizations. In behalf of the committee who have arranged this celebration, I thank you for your presence here to-night, and for your assistance in this anni- versary. [Applause.] "The Old Eoxbuky Fireman." When flames commence their mad career, And devastate with savage ire, The best of " Munroe doctrine " is To rush the engine to the fire. INTRODUCTIOX BY THE CHAIRMAN. For these gallant and faithful men I think j-ou will all agree with me that none other than Capt. James Munroe, the head of the old Roxbury Fire Department, should respond. [Applause.] I will call upon him. Capt. Munroe was unavoidably absent, and there was no response. 80 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. ififtfcntb Sentiment. Post 2G, Gkaxd Arjit of the Republic. Brave men in war, modest in peace, They bring tlie laurels from afar; No nobler title can they wear Than comrades of the G. A. R. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. As citizens of Roxbuiy we are all proud that there were born on our soil men by whom American libert}', in her infanc}', was rocked. We are proud that in the subsequent war with Great Britain there were men from Roxbury who gallantly defended the flag which their fathers first flung to the breeze. And in the recent war of the Rebellion we are proud that the sons of Roxbur}' proved themselves worthy of their fathers, and came to the rescue of an endangered republic. I have the pleasure of calling upon Colonel Giles II. Rich to respond to this toast. [Applause.] RESrONSE OF COLONEL GILES H. RICH, PAST COMMANDER OF POST 2(5, G. A. R. Mr. CiiAiiniAX and Gentlemen : — I am quite overwhelmed with the feeling that the task of replying for the Grand Army has acci- dentall}' fallen on this occasion into very incompetent hands. I plead guilty to one charge in the sentiment, and that is the charge of modest}-. I did not come here expecting to reply to any toast. The one who is in the position to reply, and who should be expected to do so, is not present. I believe he sent a letter, and I think it had better l)e read ; and if you are not satisfied with that, our worthy toast-master himself could have spoken words fitting the subject and the occasion which I am not competent to do. The Grand Army of the Republic, as we all know, is composed entirely of those who went forth in the late rebellion — which I may say with some modesty — to save the countiy. How much the great EOXBUIIY CENTENNIAL. 81 success was indebted to their efforts, or how much it was indebted to a higher power, it is not necessary to discuss ; the gratitude of the nation has placed the responsibility' of success upon them. They did their dut}', as the}' understood it, and as well as the}' could, and returned home. When the}- returned home, sir, they found that their duties were not yet completed ; they found the widows and orphans of comrades, who had laid down their lives in defence of their countr\', — comrades whom they had assisted to bury beneath the southern soil, — tlic}' found these widows and orphans dependent to a certain extent upon them, — not actually dependent upon their purses, but dependent upon these returned soldiers to keep alive a public sentiment which we know is very apt to die unless some means are adopted to strengthen and sustain it. It seemed necessarj-, therefore, that these returned soldiers should organize into an association for such a puri)()se. It seems to me, sir, that no object could be more holy tluui that. How well it has succeeded it is not necessary to call to mind. I venture to sa}' that in Koxbuiy no disabled soldier, no widow of a deceased sol- dier, and no fatiierless child of a departed comrade, has been actually obliged to suffer from want. 1 believe the reason of that lies chiefly in the exertions of the Grand Army of tlie Republic. We have heard a great deal to-night about old RoxVhut. I was not born in this city, though reared here from early life ; but I have long since learneel to revere the name, and have been glad to love and honor the citizens of Roxbury. I am glad to see, pre- siding over this banquet, one who, although he has partly expatri- ated himself from our midst, b}' his presence to-night shows tliat his heart is witli us still, and that he is true to the old name. I am glad that old Roxbur}' has answered the call and seconded the efforts of those who have endeavored lo carry out the objects of our organization. I know of no place in the Commonwealth, and I am aware of no place in the country, where our organization has been so liberally seconded b}' the patriotic, large-minded citizens of a district, as Post 2(3 has been supported b}' these liberal spirits in our midst. It is significant of the same patriotic spirit that, as we ha^'e learned to-da}-, has prevailed in Roxbury from its earliest existence ; and I have no doubt tiiat that spirit will continue in this place so long as there is any necessity for the Grand Arm}'. Mr. 11 82 KOXBURY CENTENNIAL. Cliairmnn, tlie (tI'uikI Army of the Republic, as I said, is com- posed of men upon whom tlie defence of the nation was placed. If there shall be a time, hereafter, when tlie nation shall be in danger, I confidently assure you that the^y will be as ready to respond then as they were iu the jjast. [Applause.] <§h'twntb Scnttnunt. " The Old Koxbury Towx Officers." No praises from our lips shall fall More cheerful or more fervent, Than those which honor and commend The faithful pnl)lic servant. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen: — Tlie words '' Roxbury Town Oliicers" recall to my mind, and to 3'our minds, the name of a gentleman who has gone to his rest. I refer to Joseph W. Dudley, the Town Treasurer and City Treasurer of Roxbury [Applause] , and I know you will pardon me for availing myself of this opportunity' to render a passing tribute to his great heart, and to his [)atriotic and faithful public services. Roxbury would not be RoxI)ury without the presence of our yenerable City Clerk, Avhom I now have the pleasure of introducing to you, with the assurance that he will "do the best he can under tlie circumstances." [Laughter and loud applause.] RESPONSE OF JOSEPH W. TUCKER, ESQ., FORMERLY CHAIR- iMAN OF THE LAST BOARD OF SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN, AND CITY CLERK OF ROXBURY. Mr. President anj» CiENTLE:\iEN : — I did not think of making a speech at this late hour of the night. My friend Mr. Clarlie has called himself an old man ; but I speak to you to-night as a 3'oung man [Applause and laughter], aUliough i was born many years ROXBURY CENTENNIAL,. 83 before him. AYhat I want to impress upon j'our minds to-night, young men of Koxburv, is, to preserve the old name of Rox- bur}-. [Applause.] 3Iy friend Capt. Sleeper has anticipated me in some remarks I intended to make. I do not like the name Boston Highlands. [Cries of " Good ! " Long applause.] I want people to remember Koxburv wjien thev post their letters. If they send their letters to Roxbury, they will come direct to Roxbur}- ; if the}- send them to Boston Highlands, they will go round about, and probabl}- be found at the dead-letter office. [Applause and laugh- ter.] The name of old Roxbury, sir, is dear to me, for I have lived here many years : and my friends have been here who have done me many favors which I shall never forget. Why, sir, when 1 presided at a town meeting in 1840, I could call almost ever}- man by name who Avas at the head of a family ; but now, sir, I hardly know anybody, times have changed so nuich. Then, sir, we did business up quick. It didn't take so long to make a President then as it does now. [Applause, laughter, and renewed ap|)lause.] We were faithful, we were true, sir, and we meant to be true. The old Roxbury town officers did business straight ; the}- didn't keep their books by double entry. [Laughter and applause.] They didn't have to make two entries for everything ; but they made one entry, and -there it stood correcth' [Applause], and if their cash was short they put their hands into their pockets and made it good. [Applause and laughter.] Why, Mr. Presi- dent, when I settled with ni}- predecessor, when I took the office of Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, he put his hand into his pocket, took out a roll of bills and some change, handed them to me, and said, " That is the balance I owe the town." I said, "All right." I have no doubt it was all correct to a cent. lie kept the accounts in his head [Laughter and applause], but his iieart was right, sir, and those men alwaA-s had their heads clear. [Applause.] Why, sir, speaking of the " Norfolk Guards," I joined them in 1823 ; and I speak of it at this time because fifty-one years ago the seven- teenth of last Juno, on that beautiful and that bright morning after a storm, which we expected would last over that day, I, sir, went out in that company, with my uniform on, at the laj-ing of the cor- ner stone of Bunker Hill Monument. I never felt better in my life, and no man could have felt prouder than I when I went out to 84 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. do duty for Ihnt noble man, (U'lioral Lnfayelte, to escort him to Blinker TTill [Applause] ; that man Avho came here nearly fifty years before to lielp us malce a country, — and we made it, and we have kept it. [Ai)plause.] Why, sir, it seemed as if it was play foi- us, that (h\y : it seemed as, if the good God had watered the streets and waslied everything clean ; he gave us his bright sun to cheer us on our way, and we marched as T think men never marclied before; and every man of us did our Citizens of Old Roxbuuy : — I find my- self in rather an anomalous position to-night, for I was born and bred across tlie wav in oM Dorcliestei- ; and wliile 1 have tlic lionor ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 87 to command the Old Roxbur}- City Guard, I still do not forget mj- own old town. However, I need to sa}' very little about the Rox- bury City Guard ; those Avho have preceded me have spoken of them nobly and well. They need no eulogium ; you know what they have been in the past, you all see what they are in the present ; and it shall be our aim that tliey hold the same high place in the future. Gentlemen, in returning you our sincere thanks for the cordial support we always have received at your hands, w^e ask you to give us that needed support in the future. [Applause, and three cheers for the Roxbury City Guard.] Ilinctccntb Sentiment. "The KoxiiuuY Home Guard." 'Tis true they saw no foeman's face, nor far from hearthstone did they roanj ; But bless, forever bless, the men who fed the loyal flame at home. INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN.. This coni[)aii\', gentlenieu, was created for a patriotic service during the time of the Avar, and, as (Jen. Swift says, this service was to be performed at home. It was a necessary service, and 1 am happ}^ to l)ear testimony that it was most faithfully performed. I invite Colonel E. C. Wvman. its former (MJiuniander, to respond for it. [Applause.] RESPONSE OF COL. EDWARD C. WYMAN. Mr. Pkesidext : — 1 thank you, sir, and this conunittee, for the opportunity to be present to-night. I know that the past members of the Home Guard experience great pleasure in looking upon their old comrades, and particularly upon those wliose fortunes have led them away from old Roxbury, and who have come back 88 KOXBURY CENTENNIAL. here to-night ; txnd in seeing so man}' liapi)}' faces, and in grasping the hands of tliose they love so well. 1 cU) not ])(>lieve tiiat a person has gone fortli from old Koxbiuy, with all its glorious memories of the past, hut thinks it is the most pleasant place in the world ; and as he comes back he is sure to lind the place of all his pleasant memories. Your toast-master has called upon me to res[)ond to a toast to the " Home Guard." I know it is popular to poke fun at the Home Guard; l)ut I think you will bear me out in saying it was not entirel}' an easy task. We had some difficulties to en- counter, and some delicate duties to perform. Your toast-master will I'emember that when he recruited his compan}' it was no easy task. I heard him speak forty nights, and never repeat the same speech once ; and when he s[)oke the last time he had nearly re- cruited his companv, and one or two men were wanting, and tiien a gi'and rally was held and he let oif a grand speech. I recollect saying tliat this last man must be got ; and he said that he must have one more pidl, and cited an instance of the engineer who launched the Great Eastern ; when all (^ther means had failed, the engineer cried out, " Wet down the rej)Oses ! " and when they were wet the mighty ship moved ; he called for a. pail of water, and wet down the ropes, and two days later he was off for camp ; and before he left, the Home Guartl procured a sword and pre- senteil it to him, and he bore it off; ;uid I have no doubt that many a rebel heart trembled at the sight of it. [Ai)plause and laughter.] Mr. Tresident, you will recollect that we had many curious scenes in those days. Sometimes there was pleasure, sometimes scares. I recollect that during the riots of 1S()3 we got into a considerable excitement, and thought the enemy really upon us; aning again their earliest iKjfes, when the willow has brought once more its vernal Ijeauty ; and, instead of having upon my bier the choicest flowers of the greenhouse, I would prefer that the}' would go back to Tonnny's Rock, and cull for me the May-flower, the honeysuckle, the I)lue violet, and the blueberry blossom, as the fittest decoration that friends could bring; and it would mingle delightfully with the murnnn's of a coming joy to hear in my departing moments once more the rush- ing waters of " Stony Brook." And, when all is over and I shall be (piielly resting at Forest Hills, place over me no Italian or Egyptian marl)le ; search not in New Hampshire, Quiucy, or else- KOXIiUlJY CENTENNIAL. 93 where for the clioiccst <>ranite ; but simply" go to yonder rock}' ledge, cut out n shaft of the ohl Roxbury pudding-stone, and erect it o'er my grave, showing to every behohler that beneath its enduring and rustic l)eauty sleeps a loyal son and school-bov of old Roxbury. [Applause.] ^Ixicntn-sctont) Sentiment. " KoxBOUY AS A Part of tuk Capital." Shall we unite or not unite, Was a sea we once were tossed on ; Shall Roxbury go it all alone, Or shall she go to Boston? That was the vital question ; It worried one and all, Till we compromised it neatly — We took the Capital. INTRODUCTION BY TITK CHAIRMAN. 1 have the pleasure of introducing to 3'ou, gentlemen, to respond to this toast, a gentleman whom we all know and respect, and to whose zealous labors we are all largel_y in(U'l)tetl for the success of this celebration, L. Foster Morsk, Esq. RESPONSE OF L. FOSTER MORSE. ESQ. j\Ir. Chaiumak and Gentlemen : — I hardly know how to res[)ond to the sentiment read by the toast-master, for I exi)ected that he would [)lace me on another line altogether. As he sa^'s, the ques- tion was, " Shall we unite, or go it alone?" Well, I was in favor of uniting ; not that I loved Roxbury less, for I love Roxbury as well as any man in this hall : I love her streets, her rocks, and her people. Wh^-, we have the finest property, the finest building- lots. The onl}' healthy place within the city of Boston, to-day, is 94 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. ill old Roxbury ; and while we love it so well, should we dei^y its benefits to the citizens of Boston? Shonld we be selfish and keep it? Or shonld we allow them to settle within our borders, and we 1)(' one with them? These were my reasons for favoring annexa- tion ; and the growth of Koxlmry shows that we have done a good thing. \Ve annexed with twenty-live thousand people, and now within the limits of old Roxbnry we have sixty thousand, and land enough for a hundred and fifty ; yes, three hnndred thonsaiid, besides West Roxbury. The time is coming when business shall so increase that all the low lands will be needed for com- mercial purposes, and people will ])e obliged to live on the high lands ; and then if we have the same feeling that we have now, we will change the name of Boston and call it all Roxbury. "The voice of the people is the voice of God." and if the voice of the people wish to call it Roxbury, it will be called Roxbury. Let us look back a little. We had " Pigeon Lane," " Tommy's Rocks," "Grab Village," "Clay Hill," "Hogg's Bridge," " Tory Hill," " Sodom Turnpike," " The Point," and all those places ; and where are they? The}' have gone. You don't want to tell me that yon live on "Pigeon Lane." Perhaps that so(,nded well two hundred years ago. But I would rather live on a street. Then " Tomm^-'s Rock" is almost gone. It is the high land. My irien ■ V ■- " " , '1 c<:>- <>' o,^' ^ ''/^r^-' ^ ^''^- gO\ ^ ,« --^ ., V .. - 0' A''^ '-^ ^^A ..^'' ■^>. ■^'^ '-^^ '^S^ '^^ <. 'J- V o 'U .\^' '-7=;^ <> \^".c^ .^ ^^ < <. ^^ .r <> -^^ ,^^ -e^ -.^^ ^' rO"- %' %d^' T> •vV' -.^^ \..<^- -<• CL^^ -.^^ ',..vV^- \'- '>^. '^ ^ <. ^^ ,-5 ^ 9^> ■^" J ^ ,<^ °- 1/ . X *X) >^ ^\x^^ \x^ .V. ^. %% "^...^^ -.^' ay' 4^ ^^^, ^^ '-"'^^^/ .^ ^• # <- ■ K .<'■' # % V- > > „ 1 " I'' , ,^^ 9.. X ^\ ^x<^ cP- <*^ 0^ c -' .*^ ^ ' » <, - A r^ / ^ ft s A" ^ ' / „ „ s ^ A^ ,^ ^.s^ b"^ << 95 '^»..^^~"