<3:cc '< (. :c< ' < <.c C^ < <- 'CC C< c c ^EiC ^ <^ ^■^ dec jcr o'c,x:.cL ^.j^^ :^^^- cjd/cc: oc c r. ^^ CC : r^i^ ^^c( Od CC dd C -« ^ _ -*^cd^ C -CCd di ^.^Od CX'< c •_ rccccocc d:c«:^-'d cdCd cj.cdCfc-- 'C <:_ cL^cd. <^. CS"^ ' - •"^' —--——-''--- c>::^C': Cd cC; ^ ^y cfc:cdt- Bedford, Mass., Sept. 8, 1879. Eev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D. : Dear Sir, — At a recent meeting of the Committee of Arrangements for the late Sesqui-Ceuteuuial Celebration, by a unanimous vote the sincere and hearty thanks of the committee were extended to yon for preparing and delivering the eminently acceptable and instructive address upon the his- tory of Bedford. It was also voted to request of you a copy of the same for publication. Trusting you may be able to accede to this request, I remain sincerely yours, GEO. E. LOVEJOY, Secretary. Bedford, Sept. 10, 1879. Eev. Geo. E. Lovejoy : My Bear Brother, — I cheerfully comply with your request by placing a copy of my address at your disposal. Some matter which was omitted in the delivery for want of time I have taken the liberty to include. In so doing, let me acknowledge my indebtedness to those who have kindly aided me in the collection of materials, and particularly to my brother, Mr. Josiah A. Stearns, to whose manuscript " History of Bedford " I have had free access. I hope it will, at no distant day, be completed and given to the public in a permanent form. With the highest respect and esteem, Yours truly, J. F. STEARNS. ORATIO^^. How sublimely impressive and majestic is the march of Time ! Pulse by pulse beat the seconds and the minutes and the hours. Tramp, tramp, tramp ! like a file of soldiers marching under your Avindows early in the morning, when you are half asleep, go the days and the Avecks and the months. The annual festivals — Christmas, New Year, Fourth of July — are the mile-stones that mark the progress of the years, and on, on, on, pass the generations and the centu- ries and the ages, and the reons upon asons, to eternity ! We stand our little day on "this bank and shoal of time," and behind us arc the ages unnumbered and before us a shoreless Forever ! And here, just here, we have our work to do, our destiny to achieve. We Bedford bo^^s and girls have come home here to cele- brate our good old mother Bedford's diamond wedding-day. We reckon here by fifties, as you see. We cannot aftbrd to notice twenty-fives. Things have changed, it is true, from what they once were. The good old primitive days when Uncle Jim, the old bach- elor, went a-courting to Aunt Molly Pollard, just once a year, on Kew-Year's day, and sat with her into the little hours of the night, and then at lenglh was married — '' the Hassel he Avas ! " — and lived with her up there on the hill, at the end of the long, grassy lane, till they Avere both over fourscore, Avcre mostly matters of tradition Avhen the oldest 6 ORATION. of US wore young. There have been changes, too, in the face of nature. The l^rook that used to roar and dash so grandly after a long rain or a copious thunder-shower, up near the north school-house, and in which we boys used to lind so much sport, damming it up with stones and grass-sods and then letting it go, till avc were wet half up to the neck, and had to go straight to our seats when we came in, and dry up as best we could, does not seem to be just what it used U) be. And the tall, slender trunk of the old elm, which, till lately, stood stoo})ing over on the very edge of the bank, with half its roots bare, just as it stood, to my certain knowledge, more than sixty years ago, — w^hen the great hurricane of l^^lf), which l>lew oft" chinmeys, overturned sheds and l)arns, and rooted up whole orchards in all this region, to the wonder of us all, did not start it, — is gone at length, quite decayed, as it proved, at the heart, but green to the last on the top, heavenward. Yet there are still the same green meadows ! I wonder if the boys and girls get as good sweet flagroot, — calamus, they call it, I l»elieve, now, — and in the winter coast down the long icy slope with as merry yells, as they used to? Yes, times have changed, no doul)t. In many respects, they have changed much for the better. As I w^alk through this beautiful street, I see tokens of a thrift and taste which conserves all that is good in the old, while it superinduces the new. And the old leafy by-paths, kept in good order, though scarcely discoverable by a stranger, still carry you all lound from corner to corner of the town plot, through much of the most enjoyable scenery. And here are the same hills, and the same mill streams, and the same Concord Jiixcr, windinu: alonij the border, and the birds sinjj and look just as the}' used to, the robins and the bluel)irds, the bobolinks ;uid the ori(des. the " lire-haug-biids," we used to call them; Jiiid old IJedfoid i,> old IJedfoid still, ;uiil 1 am ix-advto shout, ORATION. 7 as we all intend to do to-da}', with a right good-will, Old Bedford foeever ! The anniversary we are now met to celebrate is the anni- versary of a toivn, an institution quite peculiar to New Eng- land. What are called towns exist elsewhere, Init i\\ej are a different thing, both in organization and in privileges and duties. In the South, except in Louisiana, the county takes the place of the town, and in the Middle States the town acts under the authority of the county. The same, substantially, is true of the towns or townships of the AVest. But in Xcav England the town is a complete body politic, having its own organization, its o^vn officers, its own functionaries, and its own administration. "It is," says an able writer (S. A. Gal- pin, LL. D., in the United States Political Atlas), "the i)o- litical unit, a municipal corporation, with full corporate rights and powers, and responsible solely to the legislature." It is in accordance with this theory that the lirst Constitution of our own State, having been framed l)y a convention of dele- gates from the towns, was submitted to the towns for their approval, in order to its final adoption, and that, till recently, the towns were the direct source of representation in the lower house of the Legislatiu-e. This distribution of the whole country- into towns secured, at an early da}', the emphatic approval of that very acute republican statesman, Thomas Jeflerson, the third in the line of our Presidents. He speaks of them as " the vital princi- ple of our government," and says, "they have approved themselves the wisest inventions ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government and for its preservation." "These little republics," he says, "are the main strength of the great ones. We owe to them the vigor given to our Revolution in its commencement in the Eastern States, and by them the Eastern States were enabled to 8 ORATION. repeal the Emljariro in opi)()siti()n to the Middle, Southern, and A\'t'steni States and their long and IuIiIxtIv division, whieh can never be assembled." It also attracted the attention and secured the warm approbation of that eminent French statesman, De Toc(|ue- ville, who visited this country many years ago, for the ex- press purpose of studying its institutions, and wrote one of the ablest l)Ooks on the subject that has ever been Mritten. What attracted him most was the well-regulated, independent sovereignty of the jieople. " In the United States,'" he says, " it is believed, and with trulh, that patriotism is a kind of devotion, wliicli is strengthenccl l)y ritual oliscrvancc. In this manner the activity of the township [he means the town] is continually pcrce})tible. The native of New Eng- land is attached to his township, because it is free. lie prac- tises the art of government in the small sphere within his reach, he accustoms himself to those forms which alone insure the steady progress of b'bei-ty ; he iml)ibes their spirit, and col- lects clear, practical notions on the nature of its duties and the extent of its rights." " England once governed the mass of the colonics, but the people was always sovereign in the towns." A very fine resume of their actual inlbuMice is to be found in a very able essay, read before the ^lassachusctts Histori- cal Society, and published in pamphlet form, some years ago, by lion. Joel Parker, of Cambridge, ^lass. "It is," he sjiys, "through the action of the town incorporations that the Puritan i)rinci})les have been sustained, the New Eng- land character formed, the industry and economy of the })eople promoted, the education of the whole })()j)nlatioii i)ro- vided for, and perhaps the independence of the country secured. I am sure I do not (exaggerate their importance, when I say that they have I)een the arterial syMon of .New I'jiuland, throiiiili which has eirculated the lif'e-hlood wliieli ORATION. 9 has invigorated, sustained, and strengthened her, making her expand in her religions, social, edncational, and political institutions and character." It was near the opening of a most momentous period in the history of our country that what is now the town of Bedford was introduced into the sisterhood of towns, and be- came clothed with their important functions and prerogatives. The earliest trace I have been able to find of a movement towards that result is in the "History of Concord, Bedford, and the Adjoining Towns," by Lemuel Shattuck, of Concord. (Page 255.) " The inhal)itants of Winthrop's Farms," he says, " which were included in this territor}^," that is, the Bedford territory, "petitioned the General Court, in 1725, to be erected into a separate parish or town. An order of notice passed upon this petition, but being opposed l)y Billerica, it was unsuc- cessful." From the Billerica records, it appears that a peti- tion to the same effect came before that town again on the 14th of May, 1728, which after two adjournments and as many long debates, was decided in the negative. Some con- cessions, however, were made to the petitioners in respect to taxes, and a committee was appointed "to give in reasons." Again the case came up in the General Court of the Prov- ince, June 19, 1728, on a petition of Edward Watkins, John Wilson, and a considerable number of others, setting forth the great difficulties to which they were subjected, by reason of their distance from the meeting-house, in the towns of Concord and Billerica, and therefore praying that they may be set off^ as a separate township. This petition was read, and referred to the next session, and the petitioners were directed to serve the towns of Bil- lerica and Lexington with copies of it, that they might show cause whv it slnjuld not be ate the whole matter, " notifvinir the town of Billcrica of their coming, hear all parties, and report at the next full session, Avhether they judge it reasonable that the petitioners should be set ofi' and constituted a sei)arate township or prec-inct," the charges of the committee to be borne by the petitioners of the town of Billerica. The connnittee took about five months, and then, Dec. 20, 1728, brought in a full report, the conclusion of Avhich is, "that the coinmittec are humbly of ()j)ini()n that the lands petitioned for. as well l)y the Billerica ])ctitioners as l)y those of C'oncoi-d, and l)v a vote of the toAvn of Concord set oft" to and Joined with the petitioners of Billerica, are well accom- modated for that purpose. That, therefore, the said lands, A\ itli the inhabitants thereon, l>e set oft" and erected into a distinct townshij)," with bounds which they then go on to describe. These arc substantially, I believe, with one or two exce])tions, the same boundaries which the town has to this day. In council, this was rea, I >hall >[)eak ORATION. 13 of her in what we may regai-d as the three principal functions of a town, as originally constituted in New England, viz., in her relations, 1. To the body politic of which she is a unit; 2. To the church and the interests of religion, which stand out so prominent among the reasons for her incorpora- tion ; and 3. To the general welfare and improvement of her own citizens, and of the comnmnity with which she is connected. Of course, in so wide a field, and with so narrow a space of time as I have now before me, I can but select salient points, and treat of them in the most cursory manner. 1. First, then, in relation to the body politic, — to the interests of the State and the country. Bedford, as I have said, was introduced into the sisterhood of the towns near the beginning of a critical period of our country's history. Already the approaching thunder-storm, which discharged itself more than fifty years later, was be- ginning to flash and rumble in the sky. The house of Hanover came to the throne in 1714. Men high in oflice were insisting that the charters of the colonies were not irrevocable. In the year 1715 a bill to that eflfect was pro- posed in the House of Commons. Great jealousy discovered itself in England, in regard to our rising manufactures. "In a little time," it was said with alarm, "they will be able to live without Great Britain." As early as November, 1728, it was suggested '' whether a Stamp Act should not be ex- tended to America." In 1729, the very year in which Bed- ford was incorporated. Governor Burnet, of Massachusetts, had suo-o-ested to Lord Newcastle that " some of the British forces would be necessary to keep the people within the bounds of their duty." Of course such signs were admoni- tory. But time passed on, and other interests delayed the crisis. 14 ORATION. But tho pooj)lo wore in a i-oiirse of preparation. In tlie old Indian and French wars, for example, they had l)een gettin versive of his ^lajesty's government," and that of the towns, in electing dej)uties to it, and the meeting of such conven- tion in consequence, "daring insults ofiered to his Majesty's iiuthority. and ;ui audacious usurpation of the powers of government." That was the same set of resolutions in which was made the startling declaration that to call in (juestion "the right of his Majesty, with the advice and consent of Parliament, to maki' laws and statutes, to hind the colonies and peoi)le of ORATION . 1 7 America, subject to the Crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever," was "illegal, iniconstitntional, and derogatory to the rights of the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain." (See "Newport Mercury," March 27, 1769.) But the people had carefully considered what their rights were, and knew well how to keep the limits of their char- ter. The governor at length made a distinct issue with them, at the opening of the Provincial Assembly, January, 1773. These were matters, he affirmed, which a town had no right to consider. He was answered in a masterly paper, said to have been written b}^ Samuel Adams. A town nieet- fng, as he clearly shoAvcd, by the express terms of the law, had the right to consult and act in matters " of puljlic con- cernment." And these were matters of public concernment. The governor saw it now, and acknowledged it in his private correspondence. "By an unfortunate mistake" he wrote, " soon after the charter, a law was passed, which made every town in the province a corporation perfectly democratic, every matter being determined by the major vote of the inhalntants " ; a law, he admits, " which was unfortuyiatehj allowed by the Grovm.'''' Thus the towns triumphed, and the proceedings which had been instituted to secure union and co-operation and vigilance in the maintenance of their rights, went on Avith increased vigor. Now, what I Avisli yon to take note of here is, that in all these movements, Bedford, as far as I can ascertain, never lost an oppoi-tunity. There arc some papers on the town book which, were they not too long to recite here, would show, I think, beyond all question, that she l)oth understood her rights and duties, and was ever ready 1)otli to maintain tlui one and, at whatever sacrifice, to discharge the other. When a letter of correspondence was sent out to the 18 ORATION. towns from :i town lucctinu- in lioston, askinir from each of them " a free eonnnunication of their sentiments," it stands on record, that on the first day of March, 1773, ''after sol- emu prayer to God for direction, and taking into onr most serious consideration the mehmcholy state of the British Colonies in Xorth America in oeneral, and this Province in ])articidar, the town proceeded to make choice of Deacon Steplieu Davis, John Keed, Es(|., Mr. John Webber, Dr. Joseph Ballard, ]\lr. John ]\Ioore, Mr. Joseph Ilartwell, and Mr. Iluii'li Maxwell, to be committee, to take onr grievances under consideration, and to rcjjort to the town" at the next town meeting, to be held on the 31st of May. This large committee, comprising some of the ablest and most trusted men in the town, having had three months to de- liberate, brought ill a very full and carefully prepared pai)er, declaring their loyalty to the Crown, asserting their chartered rights, condenming, in a very decisive but temperate man- ner, the op})ressive acts under which they Avere sutiering, defending the course pursued by the people of the colonies, reconunending the most earnest elforts to restore harmony and a good understanding with the mother country, urging to stremious exertions to increase "the present agreeable union between us and our sister colonies," and making this decisive declaration of their feelings and determinations: "We should rejoice," they say, "to see the ditliculties under which we labor, ri'Hioved ; but if every method which can be thought of for the removal thereof should fail of success, we are ready to j(»iu with our fellow-sull'erers, even to the risk of our lives and fortunes, rather than give up our con- stitulional rights and charter privileges." The town voted unanimously to accept the report, to have it recorded in the town book, and that a copy of it be sent to the town of Boston. Signed riohn Keed, Town Clerk. OIJATION. 19 111 that same year, 1773, Bedford had a representative, though not hy any appointment of hers, at the famous "tea- party" in Boston Harbor. It Avas Thompson Maxwell, the I)rother of Hugh, of whom I have ah-eady spoken. "I had come to Boston," he says, "with my team. I had loaded at John Hancock's warehouse and was ahout to leave town, when Mr. Hancock requested me to drive my team into his yard, ordered his servant to take care of it, and recjuested me to be on Long: Wharf at two o'clock p. m., and told me what was to be done. I went accordingly, and joined the band under one Captain Hews. We mounted the ships and made tea in a trice. 'I his done, I took my team and went home as an honest man should." I shall not attempt to vindicate the destroying of the tea. If justified at all, it must be as a war measure, or something of the kind ; and about that such men as Hancock ouffht to know. . March 7, 1774, "the town voted not to use any tea till the duty be taken oft'." On the 30th of June, 1774, when in view of the Boston Port Bill, l>locking up the liarl)or of Boston, and other oppressive measures, the stringent covenant of non- intercourse with the island of Great Britain was prepared and sent around to the towns, this town adopted it, si)read it at fall length on the town l)ook, and appointed a commit- tee of five men " to make a proper return of these proceed- ings, and to hold correspondence with other towns, in l)clialf of this town, as they shall judge necessary, until the town otherwise order." This committee is the sanie, with two omissions, with that last named, and is supposed to be Bed- ford's first Committee of Correspondence. When, in view of the distress inflicted on the inhabitants l)y that measure, the poor of Boston had to Ije billeted out upon the neighboring towns, Bedford had twenty-nine of these assigned to her. 20 ORATION. The same year, Aug. 211, the town took into eonsideration "the })roj)riety of instructing the Committee of Correspond- ence Avith regard to a meeting of this county, to consider what is proper to he done at this alarming crisis, in respect to the several acts of the l>ri(isli Parliament," and left it with the committee to " do as they think best." I learn from Mr. Shattuck's History, that this county meeting or convention was held at Ct)ncord, on the thirtieth and thirty-first days of August, " consisting of one hundred and lifty delegates from every county in the State," and that the delegates from Bed- ford were Stci)heu Davis, John Reed, John Moore, and John AVel)I)er, the Committee of Correspondence themselves. In October of the same year, delegates were chosen to join with a Provincial Congress, "to be holden at Concord, on the second Tuesday of this month."' Dr. Jose})h lialianl and John Reed were the delejjates. At the same meetini;, the town voted twelve pounds to hepah: tiikih stock of row- DVAl AND OTHER AMMUNITION. On the 18th of Jamiary, 1775, they voted at tirst not to send a delegate to the Provincial Congress to be held in February; but on the 27th, a ni'w town meeting was called, and John Reed was chosen. Messrs. Moses Abbott, Thomas Page, Ebenezer Page, John Reed, and Edward Stearns were chosen at the same meeting, as "a Connuittee of Inspection." Now, there is something (juite sublime, as it seems to me, in the way in which this little town, one of the smallest in numbers in the State, " toed the mark," as we say, at every ste}>, and showed her hand, and that "a mailed hand," in cN'erv cineigciuy. 1)111 tlie lime for xotc^. conventions, deliberations, resolu- tions, was now nearly })ast. liatlle, bloodshcij, war. a long, ((•(lions, seven years' war, was just at hand. Tlie liatlle of liexiniitoii and Concord took place riglil ORATION. 21 licre on our bonler.s. I shall not take up your liuu^ with any general description of it, nor attempt to tell over again the story which has been tokl so often and so well. Only so far as I must, in order to place in just and clear view, the part performed in it l)y the people of Bedford, shall I allow myself to enter into its details. On the evening of the 18th of April, a 1)eautiful, moonlight evening, a detachment from the force under Gen. Gage was discovered moving up the road leading through West Cam- bridge (then called Menotomy, now Arlington) towards Lexington. Parties of British officers had been seen, also, sauntering along over the same road. The object of these, it was suspected, was to explore the Avay, and the object of the moving force twofold : to capture, if possible, the two men most obnoxious to the British government, and known to be in Lexington, Hancock and Adams, but chiefly (for that alone could account for so large a force) to destroy the mili- tary stores collected at Concord. You are all familiar with the preliminaries and with the first act of the bloody tragedy near the Common at Lexing- ton. There the battle l)egan, there the first martyrs in the war of the Eevolution stood and received the deadly shot. There the fact became revealed that the American people were aclually at war. It was at the corner of the Bedford road, in Lexino-tou, that the first blood was drawn. 1 waive, for the present at least, the mooted question, "Did they redst at Lexing- ton?" They took the fire at Lexington ! They stood, they fell, in arms! The troops, having done so much, moved on to Concord, Init the news of their coming had preceded them. It had already gone out into all that region, and all that night, in all these peaceful homes, rang out the cry, " To arras ! " 22 ORATIOX. The town of" rxMlford probably received the new-; nnionix the lirst. Two Lexington l)oys, or younir men, Nathan Munioc and Benjamin Tidd, at Capt. Parker's requesst, went up to Beii< slionld, for the .safety of the colonics, declare tlieiii iiKlei)eiuIent of Great Britain," the town voted "That -vve, the said inhabitants, will solcnnily engage with our lives and forlinies to sui)j)()rt thcni in the measure." There may not have been nuich poicer, i)erha})s, there certainly were not large imiubers or great resources, but surely there was much "pluck" and readiness, in what our daft, old roving Jester Chaplin used to call atfcctionately, "Our little disposition Bedford." In "Shay's licbellion," as it has been called, which l)roke out several years later, the town seems at tirst to have leaned strongly towards conciliatory measures. In the .tir.st conven- tion of delegates from the towns, which met at Concord, Aug. 28, 178(), such measures seem to have prevailed : and to the second, which was to meet on the Dth of September, its delegates Avere appointed cxpres.sly "in order to devise some salutary measures to <]uiet the minds of any ])ody or bodies of })eople that shall attemj)t to oi)})ose government in any unconstitutional manner whatsoever." AVhen, however, it became phiiu that attemi)ts at conciliation served only to aggravate violence, the town showed its hand ver}' decidedly in another direction. Fir.st a l)ody of volunteers was called for, who .should "march to AVorcester for the support of the Government"; and for the; encouragement of such enlist- ments, forty-two shillings per month was agreed upon. This body of volunteers, tradition says, was actually raised, and marched to Worcester under the command of Capt. David Reed. Another body of men marched to Concord and then to Stow in order to join (Jen. Lincoln's army, under the conmiand of Cai)t. Christopher Page. It does not ap[)ear, however, that any active service was re(juired of either of them, and the insurrection, though very violent at fir.st, was soon sup})ressed. ORATION. 29 111 the war of the French Revokition, the people of this country took a deep and excited interest. At tirst it seemed to them all as if a new millennium was breaking in, but as time passed, and they saw what atrocities were enacted, and how perfectly mad many of the actors seemed, thoughtful and conservative men began to pause. A little anecdote may serve to illustrate this. An old sage of Billerica, who, however, lived just on the border and had many connections with Bedford, and no doubt spoke its sentiments, being away from his home, had occasion once to stop at a tavern. As he sat by the fire in the chinmey-corner, a company of rather noisy young men began discussing the French Revolu- tion. Not relishing their coarse jokes and profane expres- sions, he kept silent, and being a plain farmer, they did not notice him. By and by, however, the conversation flag- ging, they turned that way, hoping to get some sport out of him. "Come, daddy," said one of them, "what do you think of it?" "Humph!" said the old man and kept silent. "Come, come, old daddy," said the}' all, "you've got to tell us." At length the old man opened his lips, and began oracularly: " When the French Revolution began, and they were struggling, as I thought, for libei-ty, I went heart and hand with them ; but Avhen they cast oft" fear, and restrained prayer, gave their noble for ninepence, and their ninepence for nothing, then I gave 'em up." "AVell done, daddy!" cried they all, "well done, daddy ! " He said afterwards, "I felt small:' In our own war with Great Britain, the apprehension of French influence aflfected the minds of many. '1 hey thought the war unnecessary, and that it was stimulated l)y the intrigues of France. Still, when we were fairly in it, the people generally sustained the government. I well remem- ber the panic, when the apprehension got abroad that the 30 ORATION. British were about entering Boston IIarl)or. The people of Boston scattorcul in cvorv direction, several faniiHos moved up to Bedford, — the Fitches and the Larkins and Es(|uire Hurd and his family, — and remained, I know not how h)nir. Al)out the same time a call was made for the militia coiniiany of Bedford. I well remember the panic that pervaded the families here, as they saw their husbands, brothers, and sons going forth, they knew not to what deadly conflicts. It was on ;i Sabbath afternoon that the company set forth : they marched first to the meeting-house, where solenni and car- nest prayer was offered l)y the minister on their behalf, after which the company was drawn up on the Common, near the east end of the meeting-house, and the ammunition distrib- uted to the soldiers, and then they nuuvlicd away, and the p(M)[)lc \vith sad hearts returned to their i)laces in the house of God. Ilappil}' for them all, the call proved to have been a mis- take. It was another compau}' that was intended. In a few days they wei'e released. I was playing by the roadside near the school-house, all alone, making forts, I guess, in the cart- ruts, when the sound of fife and drum caught my ear, and presently I saw the whole company march u}) the hill and pass by. These wars being over, there Avas, for m:my years, no general c-all for military sacrifices on the i);irt of tlu^ peo})le. PeMce princi[)les began to bo carried to an extreme. Many among us began to fancy that there was to be no more fight- ing ; but the time for that was not yet. In our <>-reat and terrible ci\ il war, when fratricidal hands were, raist'd for the destruction of tlu' uatiou, our goodly town was true to its aiu-estral character. The yomig men i"espondeel\A's iu pri'j);iring condbrls I'oi' ORATION. 31 f the sick and wounded, and lint to stanch the l)lood, which, they foresaw, might be soon flowing from the veins of sons, brothers, fathers, husl)ands, lovers, in the deadly conflict. Some went as nm^ses to the camp. Fonrteen young men gave iip their lives in the service. In various w^ays, I learn on good authority, "not less than $5,000 was contributed to the war by this little town." The Soldiers' iMonument, a beautiful red granite obelisk, surmounted by an urn, erected at an expense of about |1,600 in our beau- tiful cemetery, is an afiectionate tribute to their memory from the ladies of the town. 2. I pass noAv to consider my second proposed point, viz., the relations of Bedford, as a town, to the interests of the church and religion. This part of the functions of a town had its root in Avliat Avas the prime o1)ject of the settlers of this country. We have seen how this object stands foremost in all the plans and motives of the settlers here, and the prominence that was given it in the charter. The meeting-house, being uoav finished, at least so far as to be occupied, £40 was raised (the Jirst money ever raised by the town as such) " to maintain preacJiing among us." N"ext, as in old Bible times, the people '' ofiered wUUngJi/^'^ and a subscription of £179 10*-. was made on the spot, in sums of from £5 to £')ij to a man. Then they held a fast, and after the fast a town meeting for the election of a minister ; and the choice fell on Mr. Nicholas Bowes. This done and the terms for settlement and salary agi^eed upon, the pastor elect signified his accept- ance, and the ordination took place Jvdy 15, 1730. At the same time, and by the same council, the church was organized. The covenant on which it was founded is very 32 OHATION. dearly and liappily oxpivssod and breathes an earnest and evangelical si)irit. Twenty-four male members, including the pastor, set their names to it, and a fe^v Avecks later the Lord's Supper was first administered. Of the ministry of Mr. Bowes I glean but little. One eminent citizen of the town and member of the church, John Heed, Esq., made profession of his faith during his ministry. We are already familiar with his name b}' its fro(|Ucnt recurrence in the town reccntls. lie died Nov. 20, liSOa, in the sevcnty-tifth year of his age, during the minis- try of Mr. Stearns, to whom he was as a counsi'llor and a father, and who, at his death, paid a most all'ectionatc and admiring tribute to his memor}'. ]Mr. Bowes sustained the otficc of minister here about twenty-four years. Some occurrences of a painful nature, it is said, led to his dismission. There must have been, however, some redeeming features in the case, or the town Avould not have emplo^'ed him live months after his dismis- sion as a teacher of one of their schools, nor the military company already referred to have chosen him for their chaplain. His dismission was given him by the church Aug. 22, and by the town Sept. 2, 1754. The whole num- ber received into the church on profession of their faith during his ministry is one hundred annpply ol' the pnlpil OEATIOX. 33 when lie was disabled, and only once seem to have got out of patience. It was during his ministry that Hugh Maxwell, whose name has been mentioned here more than once, came into the communion of the church. The Maxwell family came to this country from Ireland in 1733, and settled in Bedford. The parents were of the Scotch-Irish race, and very strict in their religious princiiiles. Hugh was but six weeks old when they emliarked Avith him for America. He must have had his home in Bedford al)out forty years. He was a fine specimen of a Christian soldier, as ardent in his piety as he was unflinching in the service of his country. He served not only, as I have said, five campaigns in the old French war, but through all the Eevolutionary war, from Bunker Hill till peace was fully restored. It was in that old French war that he narrowly escaped butchery from the sav- ages. And to the impressions made upon him in that provi- dential rescue, he ascribed his conversion. The whole case is very tenderly related by his daughter in a licautiful memo- rial of him, in which we find this record : " At the age of twenty-two he joined the Congregational Cluirch in Bedford, Rev. Mr. Sherman, pastor, and during his whole subsequent life gave evidence that his professions were sincere." Some time after Mr. Sherman's settlement a controverey arose respecting the terms of church membership. It was not peculiar to this town, but was one that was agitating the community of churches. The people diflcred (some of them) from their pastor, and that led to his dismission. His ministry lasted only twelve 3'ears, during which, it is said, forty-seven were received into the church. The next minister was the Rev. Joseph Penniman. His ordination took place May 12, 1771. A curious vote of the town stands on record here : " The toAvn voted that the day should be religiously oljserved, agreeably to the solemnity of ,34 OKATION. the occasion, that they Avcro (Icteriiiincd, as much as in them lay, to prevent all levity, profaneness, music, clancins:, frol- icking, and all other disorders.'^ Very good in the main ! It is to be hoped, however, that sacred music was not intended to he excluded. Mr. Penniman is said to have had some marked peculiar- ities. . His expressions in pra3^er, it is said, were sometimes grossly irreverent and familiar. In my childhood several such were currently reported by the old people. Charity, howe\'er, would lead me to hope that some of them had got somewhat exajjoferated. HoAvever that may be, dissatisfaction at length arose on several accounts. An ecclesiastical council Avas called, and after three days' session, they advised unanimously a se])ara- tion. The church and town accepted the decision, and he accordingly took his dismission Nov. 1, 1793. Thereupon, the town voted, "To exempt Mr. Penniman's estate from taxation for five years, provided he should continue to occupy it so long." I come now to the ministry of Eev. Samuel Stearns. It was the last ministry which the town, as a town, had, and by far the longest. Having heard a larofe number of candidates, the church chose him for their pastor and. the town con- curred, and having agreed with him as to the provisions for his settlement and su})port, they made arrangements for the ordi)iation.* Col. Timothy Jones made the generous ofter to entertain the council and other ministers and candidates, free of expense, which olicr was accepted. Five men were chosen * Mr. Stearns's salary was cliaugcil several tiuR's duriiia.' lii-^ miiiistr^v, to meet tlie fluctuations of the eurrenc}' and other changes of tiie times, and was not llnally settled until the year 1811. In this matter tiie town always manifested toward liiiu a icenen^us lilterality. ORATION. 35 as a committee to prop up the galleries, also to reserve seats for the clmrch and (X)imcil, and pews in the galleries for the singers. The churches of Lexington, Billerica, second in Wobnrn, Concord, Lincoln, Carlisle, Andover, Epping, N. H., Chelmsford, and the Rev. Drs. Willard, President of Harvard College, and Tappan, Professor of Theology in the same, constituted the council. Rev. Mr, French, of Andover, preached the sermon. A little anecdote may serve here to illustrate old times. When the answer to the call was sent in, the new pastor's expected father-in-law passed a Sal)l)ath in Bedford and read it to the people. On his calling the next morning at the house of one of the parishioners, conversation fell naturally upon the young lady who was to be the minister's wife. The story is, that the old grandfather, sitting in his big chair in the corner, put in a question, perhaps roguishly, " Can she work ? Can your daughter work ? " " Work ! Oh yes," was the quick reply. "I wish you could see. She works laces and muslin l^eautifully ! " jNIr. Stearns was the son of Rev. Josiah Stearns, of Epping, New Hampshire, a native of Billerica and a descend- ant of one of the first settlers. His mother was the daugh- ter of Rev. Samuel Ruofo-les, one of the ministers of that town. He Avas prepared for college at Phillips's Exeter Academy, and was a protege of its honored founder. He passed the first two years of his college life at Dartmouth, and then removed to Cam])ridge, Avlicrc he was graduated in 1794. During all the early years of his ministry, he kept up very close and cordial relations with his Alma Mater, whose pres- ident and one of the most distinguished mcml)ers of its foc- ulty, as we have seen, took part in his ordination. They 36 ORATION. were accustometl to send to him their suspended students, and a long list, ineluding some afterwards distinguished names, were from time to time thus plnced under his eare and instruetion. Among these was President Webbers own son, a young man of high promise and many attractive qualities, whose early death sent sorrow into the hearts of many. During his stay here, the visits of President Web- ber and his estimable lady were very frequent at the pastoral mansion. In those days, Avhen there were no theological seminaries, young men preparing for the ministry Avere accustomed to })lace themselves under the guidance and instruction of pastors competent to instruct them. ]\rr. Stearns, from time to time, had several, one of whom attained to high distinction. I refer to the Rev. Dr. AVillard Preston, of Savannah, who used to speak with nnicli ajjpar- ent satisfaction of having preached his tirst sermon in our old first Bedford meeting-house. In those days, the demands on clerical hospitality were much greater than people now have any conception of. The country taverns were not always a pleasant })lace of accom- modation for travelling ministers. Hence those who were disposed to be hosjjitable found their hospitality often drawn ui)on (juite beyond tlieir convenience. Such was the case not seldom at the pastoral house in Bedford, yet I never heard cither its master or its mistress utter a word of com- plaint, although the children, especially the boys, did some- times experience rather close packing. Mr. Stearns's ministry, reckoning it to the time when he ceased to preach for the town, extended over a period of a little less than thirty-seven years, or reckoning it to tlie time of his decease, a little less than thirty-nine years. It will, of course, be impossibh- for me even to allude to the many interesting events of that prolraded period. The ORATION. 37 o;ood old fathers and mothers of the conijreofatiou came around him, and stood by him with a cordiality seldom real- ized. They were his counsellors, his supporters, his friends, and they, in turn, leaned upon him with afiectionate confi- dence ; and the young people, as they grew up, found in him the most cordial sympathy and the most tender interest in their welfare. Nothino- i^lcased him more than to enj^aoe their afiections and make them happy, and nothing seemed to please them more than to attract his attention and win his smile of loving recognition. He preached regularly on the Sabbath morning and after- noon, — never in the evening in the earlier days. The old meeting-house, I fancy, never saw a light except through the doors and windows, and never a fire, except in the foot- stoves. There was no part of the worship in which Mr. Stearns took greater pleasure than in the music, in which he often bore his part. He had a fine tenor voice, and in his college days had led the singing in the college chapel. If it chanced, as it sometimes did, that the choir was missing, the minister would set the tune and carry his own part ; and Uncle Sol- omon Lane, who had a voice, as they used to say, heavy enoug-h to " make the summers start " in the old oaken ceil- ings, would put in his bass ; and the ladies, with their sweet, gentle voices, would supply the treble, and the people gen- erally liked it so well that the choir soon got reconciled and came back. As to evening meetings, they were not much approved in the early days, but prayer-meetings were held at frequent intervals in private houses or at school-houses, and many other methods were from time to time adopted. Among others there was a society of the young people, called "the catechetical society," in which questions were given out, with 38 OIIATION. references to Scripture places, which the members -were to find and write out, and to bring them in at a subsequent mcetinfl:. The minister had also his semiamuial " eatechis- ing,*' at Avhieh the children and youth used to attend, in numbers of from fifty to a hundred. For the younger ones, there was a book of easy questions, and for the older, the larm'r and more abstruse one. To encoura":e attention to this last, it "was provided that those who should recite the answers through at any one time, should be advanced to a special seat, called the " spectators' seat." It was very sel- dom that a meeting occurred, "where there was not some one or more, who aspired to that honor. Exercises like these have been superseded by better ones since the introduction of Sabbath schools. But Sabbath schools in those primitive days had hardly been thought of. In the visitation of the sick, ]\Ir. Stearns was [)eculiai'ly assiduous. I have been astonished in lookins: over his mem- oranda, to see how constant was his attendance, sometimes daily and even twice in the da}^ and from month to month, on the sick and dying ; and very signal was his success, espe- cially with the young, in soothing their sufferings, im])ress- ing upon them the truths of the gospel, and i)reparing those who were approaching death for a peaceful and even joyous departure. I could mention names not a few, but that is not desirable. He took a deep interest, too, in the secular affairs of the town, and used to open the town meetings with i)rayer, but never voted, except for State officers and in State and national aff'airs. In these he was always careful not to be wanting. I remember how the selectmen used to call ui)on him, sometimes in a l)ody, and walk with him to the place of assembling, and with what feeling of respect I used to look upon that dignitietl body of town magnates. It was OIIATIOX. 39 one of the special advantages of the old town system, that the minister would reiyard the whole settlement as his charore, and its highest welfare, temporal as well as spiritual, as a proper subject of his attention. Mr. Stearns felt this, in the •early \ydvt of his ministry, to an eminent degree. He had taken Bedford as his charge, and having done so, he turned a deaf ear to the most flattering solicitation. His motto was, "I dwell among mine own people." One of the objects he had in view, in purchasing the fine, large estate in the middle of the town, which, with his small settlement and moderate patrimony-, he hardly felt able to do, was that by bringing the front lots into the market, he might promote the prosperity of the town. And so it proved. The first store ever built in Bedford was built on ground furnished by him for that purpose, and the first man that ventured on so bold an undertaking was a young friend of his and of his nol)le wife, by whose joint influence he was induced to under- take it. AVlien he had leisure or felt the need of recreation, nothing pleased him more than to go out into the fields with the farmers, and to talk with them about their methods and the results, and having had some experience in his youthful clays, he would sometimes drop a valuable hint. One of the best farmers we ever had here used to say that Mr. Stearns first taught him the Ijest way to plough. And so it was, in difterent ways and degrees, in respect to all the interests of the people whom, Avithout distinction of persons, he was accustomed to call " 7ny ijeople.'''' And the good old fathers of the town saw and appreciated it. They confided in his judg- ment ; they made him chairman of their school committee ; they sought his counsel in things secular as well as religious. And here, I must not fail to mention one of our most char- acteristic parochial institutions. I refer to the annual wood- cutting, to us boys at the old pastoral house, and perhaps 40 ORATION. jilsf) to some of oiii" young ii(M2'IiJ>ors, ;il)oiit llio biuirost hol- iday of llu' year. As a i)art of tin; salary of Mr. Stearns, the town had ai^rced to mve him "twenty eords of i^ood, morohantable oak wood." It was given out in i)arcels, larger or smaller, to the lowest bidder, and brought on sleds during the winter, and })iled or " corded " up in stieks of four feet long and piles of four feet iiigh, along the east wall of the side doorj'ard. At the March meeting, the select- men came, often in a body, and viewed and measured the ■wood, and if they found it satisfactory, would accept it and so rei)ort to the meeting. Thereupon, a time would be agreed upon, and an invitation given to meet and ''give the minister a lift towards cutting it up." Early in the after- noon, the men of the town, old and young, with axe on shoulder, gathered in the yard. And sure enough, it was a merry time, — ibrtyor tifty axes, wielded by the strong, nuis- cular arms of the farmers of the town, and two or three big- saws, each plied by two old men, and the big chips Hying in every direction, and the boys running to and fro with their wheelbarrows piling up the wood ; and then the lunch, with the big table set out of doors, and the doughnuts and the delicious droi)-cakes, and the bread and cheese, and the other refreshments, then regarded as salutary if only taken very moderately, and the jokes and the laughs and the shouts, which now and then made the welkin ring. I tell you, it Avas a merry time in the old wood-yard on " wood-cutting day." But the most conspicuous event in the history of this min- istry was the building of the now meeting-house in 1810 antl 1S17. It was a great undt'rtaking' as the times were, liut the people of the town showed a large degree of resolu- tion and unanimit}'. Of all the pew-holders, not more than two or three showed any permanent dissatisfaction. The last ORATION. 41 service in the old meeting-liouse was held early in July, 1816. The sermon of the day took note of the event, but did not dwell upon it. That venerable house had been the theatre of nearly ninety yeai's of the experience of this ancient town. There had the four pastors of the church taken upon them their ordination vows, there had the old fathers and mothers worshipped, and there had three gener- ations of the children been baptized. There too, all through the memorable struggles of the Revolutionary period, had all the town meetings been held. But the dead past must not be in the way of the living and in-breaking future. That very week, as I suppose, the frame was stripped, and the old, heavy, oak timbers came to the ground with a crash. When the new frame was ready for the raising, the people assembled on and near the foundation, and with a few intro- ductory words, the minister led them in prayer. It was a bright July morning, and young and old felt the intensest interest. It was no trifling matter, to take up bodily the huge sides of that heavy frame and fix them together in their places, but the result was soon reached without accident. It took three da^^s, however, to complete the raising, and then again, on the seventeenth day of the month, the people assembled, and the minister led them in a prayer of thanksgiving, "standing," the record says, "on the floor of the ncAV meeting-house." Meanwhile, arrangements had been made to hold public worship in the school-house. The centre school-room was in some respects well constructed for that purpose. The meetings were generally well attended. Every corner of the house, gallery, entry, and floor was occupied with seats. The great wooden shutters, that separated the entry from the main room, were lifted up. "VVe little boys had to sit on the steps fronting the desk, and sometimes on the low, narrow steps leading to the higher 6 42 OKATIOX. range of l)enohos. On ploasant (la>'.s, it was not unconnnon to see the window-frames filled with caaer faces of those who were standinjj outside. The season ]n"oved to be one of peculiar religious interest, and was unu.-ii.iliy iVuitfiil in Christian results. The interest was kept u[) during all that autunni and winter, and in the spring, when Election Day eanie, that holiday of holidays in those times, at the particular request of the 3'oung j)eoi)le, the i)astor held a service specially for them, and })reached to them a very tender and ])aternal discourse from the second book of Chrou. xxv, D, "Jf thou seek Ilim, he will be found of thee." At the next communion in June, a comi)any of seven made profession of iheir faith, among them the pastor's eldest son, then a student at Phillips Academy. In a little more than a year, the innnber received rose to thirty, among them some Avho jiroved themselves, through a long course of 3ears, among the most efficient members of the church and citizens of the town. I Mell remember a remark made by the minister as we were takinor leave of that school-house sanctuary, that this had been to him one of the happiest years of his life. But we were all s^lad enough Avlien the new house was finished and we got fairly into it. The " dedication day " was a great day in Bedford. Everybody congratulated the people. Many came in from the neighboring towns to attend on the services. The music was prepared with great care, and was SAveet and stirring:. The rich-toned bell rang out joyously from the steei)le, a sound not heard before by us under our own Bedford skies, and the beautiful inside clock, with its rich gilded frame, surmounted by a gilded eagle with sjjreading wings and a chain of gilded balls hehl in his beak, though not yet set in its })lace, was in full anticii)ation, and now as we look back, can hardly be sep- ORATION. 43 arated in memory ; and to ns boys and girls, who had watched everj' timber and board and carving, as the work had gone on, the whole residt seemed a peerless specimen of the best and most iitting style of "meeting-honse '' architecture. The l)ell, weighing nine hundred and ninety-three pounds, was imported from London by Mr. Jeremiah Fitch, a mer- chant of Boston, and the clock was presented by him as a token of his affectionate interest in his native town. Bed- ford never had a warmer friend or a more generous and un- tiring benefactor. The widow's heart blessed him, the little children saw his carryall pass through the streets, as he came and went on his occasional visits, with a thrill of pleas- ure, and in the pastoral house his name with 3'oung and old was a household word. Mr. Fitch was particularly interested in the children. It made a lively time in the old Centre School when one of his big packages of "picture- books " was handed in for distribution ; and one scene has impressed itself unfadingly on my memory, in which the children in the summer school, being formed into a proces- sion under the leadership of the " schoolma'am," marched from the school- house to the Fitch mansion, and there being formed into a line, received each his little gift from the hands of two beautiful children of their beloved benefactor. The large association of ministers, of which the pastor was a member, were here in a body. Bedford town, in her ecclesiastical capacity, had by the acknowledgment of all acquitted herself nobly, and Avas prepared to enter upon a new era. Just one year after this, July 19, 1818, our first Sabbath school was organized. It was the result of a good deal of deliberation and forethought, and was at once attended with decided success. Eighty-seven members were present at 44 ORATIOX. the iirst meeting. The largest nuinl)er at any one time was ninety-eight, the .smallest seventy-four, the average eighty- eigiit, the whole number of difi'erent persons during the season one hundred and nine. The school was divided into four classes, and each class into two divisions, the male and the female. Each division had its teacher. Mr. Benjamin Simonds was the first super- intendent, and managed its aifairs admirably. The movements were all conducted with a soldierly precision. Punctually at nine o'clock the exercises began, and punctually at the appointed moment wc left the school for the meeting-house. Each class walked in the order of its number, with its teacher at its head, and at the head of the whole column was the superintendent. Sometimes in crossing the Common, the pastor, arriving from the other direction, would meet them at an angle, and he then taking the lead, the whole procession would tile into the house, and then the M'hole company disperse to their places. I shall never forget those days, I am sure, or cease to hold them in grateful remem- brance. I have been acquainted with many Sunda}' schools since, and witnessed the introduction of many Sunday-school improvements ; but after all, none occupies a more conspic- uous i)lace in my memory, or a warmer one in my heart, than our dear old first Sabl)ath school in Bedford. But I nmst not dwell longer on this department of my subject. The ministry of ]Mr. Stearns was, as I have said, the last ministry in which the town, as such, exercised its functions. The town of Bedford, in its organic capacity, ceased to act a little less than forty-six years ago. It was an excellent arrangement at the beginning, — this constitut- ing towns into p:n-ishes, and making man, woman, and child interested in and responsible for the support of religion, bul it ceased to be so the moment men began substantially ORATION. 45 to differ. The moment the disagreement became general, the system was doomed. Thenceforth, they who differed in opinion had to become separate in action. I do not propose to discuss here the movements that led to the separation. I was here on the ground during most of them, a not unin- terested observer ; although, not l)eing at that time a legal voter in the town, I took no part in its proceedings. Much there Avas that was painful about them. I have never been disposed to hold my fellow-townsmen on either side as alto- gether responsi])le for that. They did not originate the movement. It was the result of a great tidal wave of chang- ing opinions and ncAvl}'" aAvakened activities, which was sweeping over this whole region and Avas predestined to reach Bedford sooner or later. Different persons regarded the same measures in different lights. I am not here to be either an umpire or a partisan. The whole proceedings Avere related, as I think, in a very candid manner, many years ago by my lamented brother, the late President Stearns, of Amherst College. If any desire to read his narrative, it is to 1)6 found on the pages of the " Congregational Quarterly " for 1868, He says, in conclusion, "If Ave have said enough to meet the demands of the case, let everything else unpleas- ant be buried forever." Believing that enough has been said by all of us, and perhaps more than enough, I say Avith him, "Let CA^erything else unpleasant be buried forever." But I have a word or two more to say, before leaving this subject. The proper functions of the toAvn, in its corporate capacity, ceased, as I have said, in this department, Avith that separation ; but their results are not lost, and the responsibility which Avas once borne and discharged so Avell under the old system has not ceased, but is only transferred. We have now here two religious societies, each organized upon its oAvn principles, the heirs respectively of the okl 46 ORATION. chiurh, and the old town in its ecclesiastical capacit}'. Let them now, each hy their own methods, and accordinir to their own convictions of the trne and the right, responsible only to (lod, and [)ayinii" all due deference to each other, con)l)ine their strenirth to make this whole favori'd po[)ula- tion, with all that shall arise in it or come into it, in the highest, fullest sense of the words, a pure, temperate, ui)riuht. God-fearing and God-loving j^eople ! And may God AlmightN' bless them both in so doing, and guide them in His way! H. There is one more dejiartment of my subject which I must not leave altogether unnoticed. It is the relations Avhieh our town of Iknlford has sustained to the general wid- fare and inj})rovement of its own citizens and of the connnu- nily around it. One of the first things that engaged its attention was the condition of the roads. It must be remembered that the territory which Bedford occupied was composed of the out- most wings of two contiguous towns. Of course it had really no centre, and no suital)lc system of intercominuniea- tion. The roads, if such they might l)e called, were like those ohl streets of New Amsterdam, described bv Washing- ton Irving in his " Knickerbocker," where, the magistrates not being up to their duty, the cows took \\\) the matter and trod them out as they went to and fro between bai-n and l)asture, according to their (jwn sweet will. During the first twenty-four years of its corporate existence this town was chiefly occupied with this matter. " Hearing the i-eports of" coinniitte<'s, hiyiiig out new higliways, widen- ing paths into comfortable roads, changing the })osition of roads, ehielly engrossed the attention of every town meet- ing." At the first settlement of the town, tliere seems to Uiiw been \U) direct road to Ii«'.\ington, cxeepi through ORATION. 47 ''gates and liars." So with the road to Concord. These beautiful streets, with their fine shade trees and smooth car- riage-paths and sidewalks and the well-built thoroughfares, leading in every direction to the adjacent towns, and through ihein to every part of the countiy, h;ive been the result of years of hard labor, perseverance, and expense. It is indeed exceedingly difficult, even for the local antiquarian, to find out where the first paths ran. They went straggling hither and thither, and most of them were hardly better than foot or bi-idle paths. The people had then no vehicles except carts, horse-sleds, and the like. They came to meeting, for the most part, either on foot or on horseliack, the husband sitting on the saddle, the wife on the pillion behind him, and the children tucked in here and there, wherever there was a place to bestow them. One of the two old horse-blocks which were conspicuous at the two ends of the old meeting-house, I understand, is still in existence. That tells the story. It ought, I think, if it were possible, to be brought out of its hiding-place, and exhibited here to-day as one of our most significant antiqui- ties. Gradually, however, the routes becoming fixed and the paths straightened, the whole became consolidated into a very comfortable, if not A^ery direct system of carriage- roads. Most of these remain to the present day, and A\ind- ing sweetly over hill and through hollow, aflbrding some of the most charming glimpses and surprises of natural scenery, far away to the ^Monadnock and Wachusett Mountains, being- kept in good condition, as i\\Qj have been and no doubt can be at a moderate expense by the town, still constitute and will continue to constitute, by the pleasant drives which they afford, one of the most charming and attractive features of the place. 48 OUATION. But the advance of business and the opening up of the interior country at length l)egan to require facilities for more distant interconnnunication. In the year 17"J1, a pro- ject was st:u-t('(l for a new road with a new bridge over Concord River to Carlisle. Bedford shrunk from it at first : very little of the advantages and a large share of the expense, she perceived, was to come upon her. When, however, it was proposed, four years later, to carry it through and make it a thoroughfare, she took hold of it in good earnest and ])('rf()rnKMl lu-r ])art liberally and energetically. She gave orders that the town should be divided into eight districts or wards for the raising of the means, and clothed her large committee with ample powers to build and complete the road on her side of the river, award damages to the parties who should suffer from it, and assess the inhalntants for the expense. It has proved, I Ix'lit've. ever since, a very valual)l(' aveinie of eonnnunication, and contributcMl an inijxjrtant part towards the convenience and prosperity of the town. jMan}^ years later, about the year 1823, another enterprise of a similar character engaged the attention of the jieojde. I refer to what was known at the time as the Chelmsford road. It was designed to o])en a ncAV channel of comnnniication l)etween Boston and the noitliwcstiM-n ])ortion of New Eng- land, the southeastern termimis l)eing in Bedford. It was a county road, and the county connnissioners of course took the res])onsibiIity : but the wishes of the towns lying along the route had an influence with them, and those towns, ill tiini, had to bear each their i)art in the exjiense. The project met. in some (juartei's, with a very determined oj)l)osition ; in one case, the bridge- by which it was to j)ass llie Concord River was demolished by a lawless mob; l»iit it was carried llir(»iii;li. 1 well rcnienib«'r the denioii>(rations ORATION. 49 of delight with which its friends hailed its completion, the great sleigh-ride with which they celebrated it, and the flaunting guide-board with which they marked the corner, at which it terminated at the Bedford end, "Free Koad, Free Trade, and Teamsters' Rights." The expectation and completion of this road again gave a ncAV spring to the activities of the town. New houses were erected, new stores and places of public entertainment opened. Those whose memory extends to that time Avill readily recall the large, spreading wagons, loaded with barrels, that passed through our street in the summer, and the long train of pungs, that peculiar species of sleigh, laden with produce from New Hampshire and Vermont, some of them having passed through the Notch of the White Moun- tains, and every one of them made picturesque if not ghastly by one, two, or three large hogs' carcasses with snouts pro- jecting, on their way to the Boston market ; and how dole- fully, when they got caught in a thaw, the clumsy vehicles grinded their way back through the mud (every man walking by the side of his team and sometimes lending it a lift), bringing up loads of merchandise of various sorts, adapted to country use and for the supply of the country trade. That was a hard way of transportation, no doubt, but it displayed a merry scene to the lookers-on, when, on a fine day, the long trains, sometimes a hundred or more in a train, came coursing down tlje road and drew up in front of one of the taverns, seeking refreshment for man and beast, or per- haps lodging for the night. It was in close connection with the opening of this road, and over its track, that our first stage-coach, running from Concord, N. H., to Boston, made its regular trip through Bedford ; and when that failed, the Carlisle road afforded the requisite facilities, and for many years there was a stage 50 ORATIOV. passing througli tlic town over Carlisle Bridge, between Groton and Boston. Now, tlic introduction of railroads has superseded all that sort of transportation, and after a long course of efforts, with many discouragements on the part of the people liere, the Middlesex Central, with a station within ten minutes' walk of the centre of the village, and with ciglit trains each way in a day, making connection with the great lines of transportation to all parts of the country, has left little to be desired in that department. Till about 1825, Bedford had no post-office. Now, the telegraph conveys our messages to tlie remotest regions, and tlie wires of the tele- phone, already stretched through our streets, will soon enable us to talk lip to lip across the breadth and length of the continent. But the industrial interests of our community are of own more importance to it than its communications. Bedford was, in the beginning, almost exclusively a farming toAvn. I dare say the mothers and sisters of the olden time spun as good thread and yam, and wove it into as good homespun cloth, as most of their neighl)ors. But manufticturing as a business had not been tried here. Mr. Shattuck says of it, "Bedford is not very well situated for an agricultural town. About half of it is meadow land, unimproved and partly incapable of improvement." No doubt such was the case, and more even might have been said. Our fathers had a invtty hard task set them to perform. But how have they fulfilled it? Look over these beautiful, smooth fields, with their rich l)urdcn of sweet hay which has but just now been removed into the barns, or those green corn-fields, where every stalk looks as if it might b(> a vast cluster or sheaf of living emerald, or those orc-liards, loaded Avith red apples and luscious pears. How came lliey to be what tliev ai-<^? Look Innk a lew vears. 'ranii:led >wanip>, wet mead- ORATION. 51 ows, producing nothing but the coarsest of wild grass, rocky pastures, where the huge stones lay so thick together that the cows and even the sheep could scarcely get their noses between them ! Look at those heavy stone-walls ! Who piled those huge stones ? Who dug them out ? Who was bold enough to put a plough between them as they lay in their original places? Depend upon it, there has been hard work done here with brawny arm and 1)ack and sweat- ing brow, and there has been much wise, prudent, and enterprising management. I honor the men who can grapple with the forces of nature and reduce them to submission, and so make of the tangled wilderness a fruitful field and a garden of beauty ! And there has been a great deal of tliis laborious transforming work done here. Witness, for exam- ple, the beautiful grounds and picturesque lakelet and com- modious hotel at Bedford Springs. Who that remembers that spot as it was forty years ago could have supposed such a transformation possil)le ? But the activities of the people of the town have not been always and exclusively confined either to the cultivation or improvement of the soil. If tradition tells true, most or all of these little streams, some of which at the present day hardly do more than trickle through their obscure channels, were once the source of a very considerable degree of mill power which did not fail to be utilized by the people. Here, it is said, there was a fulling mill, and there a gun factory, and there again a carding mill, a saw mill, and a grist mill. Some of these have been in active operation within a few years. One of them, it is said, was so before the time oi King Philip's war. At one of them was established, not long since, a very thriving manufacturing enterprise, which bade fair to be permanently successful. But in the full tide of its activity, a disastrous fire destroyed both the building 52 ORATION. and the machinery, and the workmen were dispersed and the undertakini^: abandoned. The town was also, at one time, the seat of a very success- ful manufacture of what were called " sale shoes," that is, such as were designed for the general market. It was intro- duced here by Messrs. John Hosmer and Jonathan Bacon as early as 1805, and is believed to have been one of the first of the kind in the country. It Avas pursued afterwards by the Messrs. Bacon, Simonds, Chamberlin, Billings, and others. About 90,000 pairs are said at one time to have been made in the town annually. The numerous Avorkmeu employed increased its population, the crowds of young apprentices tilled its schools, and the shops where hands were busily employed, and wits and tongues perfectly at liberty, were the scene of a social as well as industrial activity Avhich reminded one of the hum of a beehive. It may be thought this dci^artment of the activities of the town belongs rather to the enterprise of individuals than to the agency of the body politic, and so it does. But the two agencies cannot be separated. They act and react constantly on each other. The town itself acquires a character Avhich reappears in that of individuals, and the individuals have a character which they impart to the town as a body. It is through the peace, order, and security which the town gov- ernment insures to all the inhabitants, and in wliich they all partake, that the energies of individuals are best stimulated and their true manhood and sense of ]iersonal responsibility and self-reliance called forth. Tlu' industrial interests of our town have had their iliict nations, their successes, and reverses; but few towns, I think, in })r()[)()rtii)n to its numbers and I'acilitics, can show, on tlu' wliolc, a Ix'tter record. I intended to speak sonicwhal liilly of (he history dl' our ORATION. 53 schools. It is to me an exceedingly interesting one, and highly creditable to the people concerned in it. It will l3e recollected that this suliject was among the con- ditions of the charter. The people must " provide a school to instruct their youth in writing and reading." The first record which I find of their action is in the year 1732. The town then decided that they would have a school, and appropriated five pounds for the purpose. The next year again, they voted to have one, "but not at the centre." It was to be what was termed a " moving school," and four men were appointed to move it, that is, to change the place of holding it, " at their ow^n discretion." A committee of three was appointed to provide a master, and ten pounds was appropriated to sustain it. By and by they felt the need of a school-house, and a dwelling-house was purchased and fitted for that purpose. That now be- came the fixed place for the school. It stood near the west side of the Common and not far from the meeting-house. But there was need of schools in the "Quarters," and they made provision for one in each, the people furnishing room and fuel. During all this period, the appropriation ranged from ten to thirteeft pomids for the year. Then the Revolutionary war broke out, and for many years seems to have absorbed everything. That being over, the subject was again taken up. All the previous action was reconsidered and a new plan adopted. The town was divided into five districts and a plan adopted for the erection of five school-houses, none of them to be placed more than a mile and a half from the meeting-house. Those in the Quarters were first undertaken. A committee of twelve men was appointed, and eighty pounds was appro- priated for the purpose. This work being accomplished and the schools all well 04 ORATION. settled in their respective districts and each provided with a new and suitable school-house, the town })roceeded, in the year 1804, to adopt a plan for their permanent management, and for this end a committee of five men were appointed. It consisted of llcv. Samuel Stearns, AVilliam Merriam, WilHam Webber, Thompson Bacon, and Col. Timothy Jones. At a subsequent meeting, this committee brought in a full and elaborate repoil. It contained seven articles : No school master or mistress was to be accepted unless " qualified according to law." The winter schools were to l)c opened and closed with prayer. The Bible was to be read in the schools daily. The Assemljly's catechism Avas to be taught in it. The masters were required to "impress upon the minds of their pupils the ininciples of virtue and piety, as connected with their respectability and usefulness in life, and also as highly essential to the support and well-being of our free Republican Form of Government." A school com- mittee was provided for and their duties prescribed. They were to use their endeavors to secure constant attendance on the part of the pupils, and those whose parents were unable to furnish them with books were to be furnished at the expense of the town. They were also to " examine the schools according to law," and make report of their condi- tion, and all difficulties that might arise in the schools Avcre to l)e adjusted l)y the committee, according to their own wisdom and good judgment. This last provision proved itself, in many a difficult crisis, a most salutary resort. It would often happen that some pretty rough elements would find their way into the schools. Of course complications would arise, requiring no small degree of vigilance, resolution, and decision on the part of the committee. I have in my mind two or three, whiih came more or less under my own observation, but I will mention but one. ORATION. 55 That admirable old gentleman and admired preacher, the Rev. Dr. Gannett, of Boston, whose sudden death, by rail- road accident, sent sorrow and consternation through the whole community a few years ago, in his early college life came up to Bedford one winter to keep a school in one of our districts. He was young and delicate and refined. The rough, lubberly boys soon saw that he could not stand rough handling : they put him down, they ran all over him, they did just as they chose ; and the hardly less lubberly fathers got up an irregular district meeting, and forthwith voted him out. But passing through the middle of the town, on his way to Cambridge, he called on the chairman of the committee to bid him good by. Inquiries were made. The true state of the case was divined. "This is all wrong," said the chairman. " I will call the committee together, and we will have the matter investigated, and if you will come up, I will notify you of the time, and you shall have a hearing." It was done accordingly. The district were invited to be present. The boys and men were questioned, and the men required to bring in all their charges. Mr. Gannett was there. All parties were heard. The com- mittee came unanimously to a decision, exonerating the master from all blame, and reiustating him in his place ; and then granting him a dismission on his own request, they gave him a very kind and cordial testimonial. The gentle youth went back cheered to his home, but he never forgot it. You will find, I think, some traces of the case iu the admirable memoir of him prepared for the press by his son. The schools of Bedford, as far as I have had occasion to know of them, have been in general of a high order. It was only occasionally that serious difficulties arose in them. The admirable regulations of which I have given an abstract were renewed substantially fifteen years later, on the rec- 56 ORATIOX. oramendation of a much larger committee, and with a few clianax'S, adapting them to the changing times, continue, I believe, to be the law of the schools here to the present day. Bedford has had, I tliink, no permanent high school or academy. One of the latter order was at one time contem- plated, but as there were several such institutions within easy access, it was not thought best to attempt it. How it was and where it was that the early college graduates obtained their preparatory instruction does not appear. Perhaps it was in their minister's study. Several of them, however, appear on the college catalogues. And one of them, Job Lane, who was graduated at Yale in 17G4, attained to high distinction, was a tutor in the college, and his monument, Avhicli still remains in Xcw Haven, bears a highly laudatory inscription in Latin. He died at the age of twenty-seven, Sept. IG, 1708. The whole number of col- lege graduates from the town, as far as I have ascertained, is eighteen, besides those who have received professional degrees. Private schools, however, from time to time, supplemented the instructions of the town schools. Such a school, for example, was kept for a considerable time for young ladies by ]\Ir. Stearns, in the early part of his ministry, and pupils from Concord, and even from Boston, came and availed themselves of the benefit. Such a school was kept for a time, also, by ]Miss Pha'be Sprague. ]\Ir. Stearns had also private pupils, titting for college, or pursuing some branches not ordinarily taught in the common schools. There Avas also a singing-school almost excvy winter in the centre school-house, at which all the young pooi)le throughout the town had the privilege to attend, Bedford schools come up in vivid rcnioml)rancc to some of us as we gather here on an occasion like this, — the spelling- ORATION. 57 matches and the examination days, the snow-ballings and the wrestlings, the competition and the successes or failures, the merry shouts that made the " welkin ring," and the chasing of one another over the benches when the magic words Avere uttered, "The school is dismissed."' The dear old teachers, some of them, however, not much older than some of their scholars, who indeed " corrected us," some of us, " and we gave them reverence," at least after a while, — Master Chandler, Master Wheeler, Master Simonds, Joel Fitch, Philo Litchfield, Jesse Robinson, Miss Lucy Porter, Miss Betsy Sprague, Miss Patty Stearns, Miss Sarah Gragg, — how they come gleaming in upon the memories. These are all gone now ! But there is one left, and in " my heart's just estimation, prized above" them all, whose prolonged life still leaves her among us at the ripe old age of ninety-two. Yes, yes ! I shall not easily forget the tender care, the gentle correction and encouragement, which, at the tenderest age, I received, the first summer after her marriage, from Ruhamah Lane. But most are gone, and the dear companions of our boy- hood and girlhood, they too are getting fewer and fewer. Soon shall we all be "dismissed." ' May we get safely home ! But I must leave this subject, tempted as I am to pursue it. Our hour is more than out. I have come hither, fellow- townsmen and friends, to enjoy with you this gladsome anni- versary. I have felt myself highly honored by your choice of me for this service ; but many a time since I undertook to perform it have I wished most profoundly it had fallen into some more able and readier hands. And now what have we to do ? We have glanced over the past, and have been proud to see that our predecessors have proved themselves so worthy of their trust and privileges. Well it is that we should keep their memories fresh, and 58 ORATION. teach our children and onr children's children to emulate their virtues. Bedford lias within her borders one memorial of the past which is of great interest. I refer to what is known both in our topographical and our civil history as " Brother Rocks," two large masses of granite, standing face to face with each other near the banks of our beautiful Concord River. John AVinthrop and Thomas Dudley were two of our first men in the early colonial days, the one the governor and the other the deputy governor of what is now our goodly Commonwealth. They had differed with each other, and the contest at one time became sharp. But they came up here to look after their lands. "They went to Concord," we are told, "to view some lands for farms, and going down the river about four miles, made a choice of a place of one thou- sand acres for each of them." There they halted. The con- test between them was now for precedence in concession, and each " offered the other the first choice." Finally Winthrop prevailed, and the first choice was accepted by Dudley. " So," the story proceeds, "at the place where the deputy's land was to Ijegin, there were tivo great stones, which they called the two brothers, in remembrance that they were brothers by their children's marriage, and did so brotherly agree." The General Court, we are told, in adding shortly after to the governor's land, " adopted the name of the rocks," in the act making the grant. Now what I wish to suggest is, if the intrusion may be pardoned, that this most interesting memorial, standing as it does on our own soil, in that part of Bedford known of old as Wintltrop Farms, ought to be carefully preserved and made as attractive and accessible as may be. AVe have many monuments all over the land to victories in war, and ORATION. 59 the heroic men that achieved them. But here is one per- fectly unique. It is to victory over self, to hrotherly love and mutual deference, to peace and good-will ! Bedford Town, it seems to me, ought to secure the custody and man- agement of it. And an immediate movement to that effect, pardon the suggestion, would be a most fitting sequel to this our ses5'W2-centennial anniversary. The past has its claims, but the past itself is in order to the future. The old, even of the now present generation, are fast passing from the stage ; but the young, full of vigor and hope, are pressing on. Let young and old to-day clasp hands in mutual covenant, that, come what will, we will never sho\f ourselves unworthy of our birthright ! We, who return now from this venerable spot to our respective fields of labor and responsibility elsewhere, shall carry with us a profounder sentiment of respect and honor, and warmer filial affection for this, our own mother town, than we have ever cherished before. And let those who still enjoy the privileges of residents and citizens resolve with all their hearts to do the best in their power to make this beautiful and salubrious spot one of the most desirable, and that morally and religiously, as well as physically, in all the land, this goodly town a very jewel in the crown of her country and a source of blessings to all coming generations. SKETCH OF THE CELEBKATI0:N^. On the 30th of September, 1878, the citizens of Bedford, in town meeting legally assembled, voted to celebrate the one hun- dred and fiftieth year of their incorporation ; and chose a committee of five " to carry the action of the town into effect." This committee organized by the choice of Mr. Josiah A. Stearns as chairman, and the Rev. George E. Lovejoy as secretar}'. Several meetings were held. The 27th of August, being the anniversarj- of the assembling of the General Court that granted the charter, was fixed upon for the celebration. A few preliminary arrangements were made, and the subject was reported to the town, with a request to enlarge the committee, and also to appropriate a moderate sum for the defrayment of neces- sar}' expense. It was discovered that such an appropriation could not legall}' be made, and that matter was dropped. The town, however, enlarged the committee, gave them full power to fill vacancies and appoint all needed subcommittees ; and then selected the Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D., of Newark, N. J., one of Bedford's native sons, to deliver an historical address. The committee now began to work in earnest. Meetings were held nearly every week ; but as the business pressed and anxieties increased, it was but natural that some should become discouraged and withdraw. The places of such, however, were soon filled, and those Tvho now constituted the committee determined to persevere. They selected Mr. O. J. Lane for treasurer, and then sent forth, to all friends of Bedford, a circular, inviting contributions in sums of five dollars, more or less, to forward tlie cause. This met a very general and gratifying response. To inspire further enthusiasm, a grand rallying meeting was held, at which the AYoburn Band was employed, and speeches were made by the Rev. Messrs. Reynolds, Patrick, and Batt, the Hon. Jonathan A. Lane, and the president and secretary of the committee. A general interest was aroused, and everybody was willing to aid by funds or b\ work. 62 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. Mrs. M. R. Fletcher gave the use of her beautiful fields near the Common for an assembling ground and a place to spread the mammoth tent. One set of individuals conti'ibuted money for putting tilings in oi'der about tlie ancient meeting-house, and repair- ing and painting the Common fence ; another, at the other end of the street, headed b}' Mr. Frederick B. Cutter and his father, pre- sented and erected an elegant liberty-pole, while still another col- lected a liberal sum for fire-worUs in the evening. Materials were freel}' loaned for tables and seats in the tent, and for arranging the antiquarian-room. Intelligent, gratuitous labor was also lavishly* given. P^ven the selected orator, tliough offered pa}-, declined to receive any pecuniar}' compensation. The town became every- where alive with preparation. The committee's plans rapidl}' matured. The governor and other distinguished gentlemen invited, sent in letters of acceptance or of cordial encouragement. The streets were adorned, and private residences were profusel}' decorated. The morning of the 27th of August saw everything in readiness for the following programme. 1729. 1879. SESQUI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS. "Wednesday, August 27tii, 1879. ORDER OF EXERCISES. 1. Salutk at Sunuisk by Battery. 2. PUOCKSSION AT 9 o'clock A. M. Exercises in the Tent at 11 1-2 o'clock a. m. 1. Mirsic BY TUE Band. 2. PiiAYKU BY TUH CHAPLAIN, Kcv. Griiidall Ivcj'nolds. 3. Intuoductouy Kkmauks by the presitlciit of the day, Josiah A. Steams, Ph D. 4. OmoiNAL Ode by the president of tlic day. (Tune, " Scotx, vha ha'e.") Sung by ilio audience. Let us, o'er the loinithened way Turn a backward thoii-rht to-da}'. And the fathers' worth disphiy. Bless the uoIjIc men ! How with saiiitlj' step they trod, Bowed the heart to worship (iod, Scattered li^jfht and truth abroad, Taii;rlit thuiu t(j their hoiis ! SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 63 Oh, when wild the savage strode, Filled with terror each abode. How their breasts with courage glowed, Trusting still in God ! Maul}^ lessons thus they learned, Every tyrant spirit spurned, And with noble ardor burned, Ever to be free. Backward still exulting look. See the stand the fathers took, When the nation's pillars shook — Briton burst in twain ! All the world sent forth a shout. Passed the joyous word about, — "Tyrants everywhere in rout, Let us all be men 1 " Grateful children as we stand, Loving sons of noble baud, Grasping each a brother's hand. Like them, let us be ! Fan the patriot flame yet higher, All to noble deeds aspire. Make the gazing world admire Worth and liberty ! 5. Historical Okation, by Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D., of Newark, N. J. G. Psalm Ixxviii. (Tune, St. Martin's.) Sung by the audience standing. Let children hear the mighty deeds AA^'hich God performed of old. Which in our younger years we saw, And which our fathers told. He bids us make his glories known. His works of power and grace ; And we '11 convey his wonders down Through ev'ry rising race. Our lips shall tell them to our sous, And they again to theirs ; That generations yet unborn May teach them to their heirs. Thus shall they learn, in God alone Their hope securely stands ; That they may ne'er forget his works. But practise his commands. 7. Bknediction. 64 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. At the close of these exercises, persons holding dinner-tickets will form two and two, and proceed to the tables. Toasts, sentiments, and responsive speeches by the governor, distin- guished guests, and citizens, will follow the dinner. A salute will be tired at sunset and the bell will be rung. There will be an antiquarian exhibition, free to all, open through the day at the Town Hall. Conveyance may be had for a small price to the ''Two Brother Rocks," visited and so named by Gov. John Winthrop and Gov. Thos. Dudley, 1G38. Evening. Open-air concert at 7.30 o'clock by the Natick Band, and dis- play of flre-works. Cars run as follows during the day : Leave Boston and Lowell Depot, Boston, at 7.10, 8.25, 9 40 (Special) a. m. ; 12.20, 4.20, 5.25, G.25, 11.10 p. M. Leave Bedford at 5.55, 7, 7.50, 8.55 a. m. ; 12.55, 3.30, G, 7.40 (Special), 9.50 P. M Notices selected from the " Daily Adverliser" and other papers show liow well the programme was executed. A SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE INCORPORATION OF BEDFORD. DKCOKATIONS OF TlIK TOWN AND THE MOl:NINO PROCKSSION — AX IIIS- TOUICAL ORATION BY TlIK UEV. DR. JONATHAN 1'. STKAUXS — AI'TEK-DINNKR SPEECHES BY GOVEUN'OR TALBOT, EX-GOVERNOU KICK, CONGRKSSMAN RUSSELL, JUDGE HOAR, AND OTHERS. "It's a great day for Bedford," said a motherly old lad\' to her neighbor yesterday, in the large tent in which were held the exercises of the sesqui-centennial celebration of the town's incor- poration. Perhaps the strange and formidable name given to the celebration upon the circulars increased the impression of some- thing vague and imposing, which one hundred and QtXy 3'eav6 and a long list of distinguished guests had already made profound. Con- sidering the size of the town and the length of the name given to the occasion, the people came up nobly to the requirements of the day. Even the procession, in length of route and time occupied, had a scsqui-centeiniialish character, and the celebration programme was not (iuished till m'cU into the evening hours. At frequent inter- vals about the village were fresh-looking national Hags, which cer- taiul>' could not be charged with duty upon a like occasion before, and many private residences were brilliant with red, white, and blue. In the Town Hall were many historic articles, some of which wanted an older term than " sesqui" to express their antiquity, and the modern part of the demonstration was in the vehicles, costumes, and persons who made ihe audience, though the old gentleman SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 65 who revived his brass buttons and continentals must be excepted. A sunrise salute, a long procession, an historical address, a dinner, after-dinner speeches b^- good speakers, an open-air concert in the evening, and a displa}' of fire- works was the programme of the day, and it was thoroughly carried out. DETAIL OF THE PROGRAMME. BETWEEX THE SUNRISE GUNS AND THE EVENING FIRE- WORKS — A HOLI- DAY FOR THE PEOPLE — RELICS OF THE FATHERS —BEDFORD IN CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LOCAL HISTORY — WHAT THE GOVERNOR SAID — MIDDLESEX COUNTY, BEDFORD, AND CONCORD, AND THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS CITIZENS. Bedford had been decorated before the important day had actu- ally dawned, so when the sun looked over the hills, and had recov- ered from his surprise at the salute of thirteen guns that greeted his every-day morning performance, he saw the village lying be- neath him in unwonted beauty, with her red, white, and blue deco- rations strongly set off by the heavy green of the trees and pure white of the houses. Many houses were adorned, and places of historic interest were especially designated. Mention may be made of the houses of Josiah A. Stearns, the Rev. George E. Lovejoy, Merton Symonds, Mrs. George Button, the First Church, Isaac P. Bacon, Miss Caroline M. Fitch, A. E. Brown, Frederick Cutter, Mr. Charles Lunt, and others. Miss Fitch's house bears the fol- lowing inscription : " The oldest house in this village. Older than the town. Opened as a tavern by Jeremiah Fitch, Jr., in 1773, and occupied as such until 180?S. Capt. Jonathan Wilson, who was killed in the Concord fight, drew up his company of minute-men before this house, on the morning of April 19, 1775, and said to them, • We give you a cold breakfast, boys, but we will give the British a hot supper.' Here, also, the Reading and Billerica militia rested, and left their horses before going in pursuit of the enemy." Near by, in an old orchard, is the following record : " In this orchard, one Blood, a notorious thief, was publicly and legally whipped, about the beginning of this century." The old Stearns mansion, which was built by the Rev. Joseph Penniman, who was minister of the town from 1771 to 1793, bears upon its front the following, on the right of its main entrance : •' Built by Rev. Joseph Penniman, 1790." On the left, "Stearns Mansion. Rev. Samuel Stearns, 1796-1834. Owned by his son, 1879." The site of the first store, that of the old First Church, those of several residences that have G() SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. long since disappeared, were also marked. Mr. Fred Cutlor and his father, Amos B. Cntler, Ksq., presented to the town a liberty- pole, which was planted in tlie old square. In front of the village cemeter}' was a flag inscribed " Revolutionary Heroes," while on the other side appears " Capt. Jonathan Wilson, killed at Concord light, April 19, 1775." In the cemetery, six graves were decorated with flags, being those of Capt. John Moore, leader of the Bedford militia at the Concord fight. Lieutenant Edward Stearns, Dea- con Moses Fitch, who was wounded at the battle of White Plains, Timothy Page, who was killed in the same encounter, and Job Lane, who was wounded at Lexington, April 19, 1775. In front of the Page homestead was displayed the banner which was carried by Nathaniel Page, with the Bedford minute-men company in the Con- cord fight. Mrs. Kenrick's house is supi)0sed to be the Shawshine House that records speak of in 1642, Hiram Dutton's house was an old garrison, and there ]\Iary Lane wrested tiie gun from the senti- nel, whom she could not convince that an Indian was lurking about the place, and fired at what he called a stump, but what her shot made a dead redskin. Historic sites generally were marked, among them being the grist-mill built before King I*hilip's war, by INIichael I>acon ; the hostehy where the Bedford, Billerica, and Read- ing farmers gathered to hasten to Concord and Lexington to repel British invasion ; the site of the first belfty used in the town ; the First Church, which for A'ears was the only one of the town ; the first store, and the house of Mrs. Stiles, erected by Rev. Nicholas Bowes, Bedford's first minister, in 1729. In the Town Hall was a collection of venerable relics illustrating the industr}', art, customs, comforts, and discomforts of old times. Among them may be named various portraits of Bedford worthies of pre-Revolutionary days, old books, deeds, and pamphlets, one being credited bj' the legend with being a cop.y of a letter of Jesus Christ, which would save the one in whose home it was from being hanged or drowned ; another lieing the record of a conference held at Saint Georges, in the count}- of York, Sept. 20, 1753, between com- missioners appointed by Gov. William Shirlej* to treat with the Eastern and Penoi)scot Indians. There were also a mirror in pos- session of the Stearns family, which is some three hundred years old ; top of the pine-table from which Hancock and Adams look their meals at "Parson" Clark's house in Lexingtou. in 1775; chairs some two centuries old ; the fiddle lirst usi'd iu the old church by "Jim Wriiihl," leader of the choir for iU'lx years ; a SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 67 scarlet broadcloth cloak, lined with satin, which was a portion of the wedding trousseau of Madam Stearns, the wife of the minister of the town from 1796 to 1834 ; sword carried by Eleazer Davis in the war of 1776, also his commission as lieutenant; pulpit-window of the First Church in Bedford, built in 1727; flintlock musket carried in the Concord fight b^' Solomon Lane of Bedford ; mirror owned by Major-Gen. Putnam ; wedding hat worn by Madam Stearns in 1797 ; solid silver buckle given by a British drummer to Edward Flint of Bedford, on the day of the Concord fight, for his attention to the drummer, who was wounded ; Stearns family record (that of ex-Gov. Onslow Stearns of New Flampshire), wrought in silk ; desk and secretary formerly owned by Francis Rotch, owner of the ship ''Dartmouth," from which the tea was thrown overboard in Boston Harbor, Dec. 16, 1773 ; four engraved glass tumblers, given Madam Stearns on her wedding-day by Bushrod and Augustine, grand-nephews of Gen. Washington ; and a copy of the " Ulster Gazette," giving a full account of the death and funeral of George Washington. THE PROCESSION. Gov. Talbot arrived at Bedford at nine o'clock, being driven in a barouche from his Billerica home, and accompanied by Col. Lin- coln as aid. Upon his arrival, the Concord battery, which was stationed near the Middlesex Central depot, fired a salute of four- teen guns in his honor. Then Chief Marshal Calvin B. Rice and his aids, Charles Woods, Frederick Davis, and Joseph Goodwin, mounted, headed the procession, which was formed at nine o'clock, and after them the order was as follows : — American Baud of Boston, twentj'-five pieces. Concord Artillery, Ciipt. Benjamin. Concord Battery, Capt. Dakin. Six baronches containing invited guests. Natick Brass Band, twenty-two pieces. Sliawsheen Engine Company of Bedford, forty men. Wentwortli Extinguisher Company of Lexington, sixteen men. Barge, drawn by six gray horses, containing the girls of the Bedford public schools. Barge, drawn by four horses, containing the boys of the schools. Display of the trades of the town and citizens generally. Tn the street parade appeared the old chaise which the Rev. Mr. Stearns, last minister of the whole town, used to ride in fifty years 68 SKETCH OF THE CELEBrATIOX. ago. Into it was harnessed an old, white, hucklebeny-and-milk- colored horse, so exacth' resenibhng the one that used to take the parson every Monday morning to visit the sick, who '• had up notes" the da}' before, that the oUl people thought both horse and chaise had been resurrected for the occasion. The team Avas driven b}- the minister's 3-oungest grandson, Master Wilfred Dudley Stearns, of Nashville, Tenn. The route of the procession was through South, Loomis, Lane, Spring, Main Streets to North Road to the North District School, countermarching to the tent on a lot opi)Osite the Bedford Hotel, twenty-five rods from the road. EXERCISES AT I'HE TENT. It was half past twelve when the procession reached the tent. "When all were gathered and the invited guests were on the plat- form, there were perhaps five hundred people beneath the canvas ; and among those on the platform were Gov. Tall)Ot, Ex-Gov. Rice, Ralph AValdo Emerson, A. lironson Alcott, Judge E. R. Hoar, Congressman "W. A. Russell, the Rev. Ilenr^" J. Patrick, Rev. Grindall Reynolds, Rev. Wm. J. Batt, Eben S. Stearns, D. D., Chancellor of tbe University of Nashville, Tenn., Rev. II. F. Jenks, Rev. John F. Gleason, Norfolk, Conn., Rev. J. F. Stearns, D. D., Hon. John S. Kej'es, Frank B. Sanborn, Rev. Mr. IIussc}' of Billcrica, Rev. H. A. Hazen, Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop, Rev. George E. Lovejoy, Rev. Dr. Grout, Samuel Hoar, Esq., Josiah A. Stearns, Ph. D., president of the day, and the selectmen and clergy of all the neighboring towns. A medle}- of patriotic airs by the Natick Band opened the exer- cises ; and pra3-er by the Rev. Grindall Reynolds followed. Then the president of the day, Mr. Josiah A. Stearns, Ph. D., gave a brief address, reciting how the committees on the celebration had been ap[»oiuted and how they had discharged their iluties. ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Frievcls, Sons and Daughters of Bedford, — I congratulate you on the auspices of this occasion. A few days ago the heavens scowled, the skies wept, and though there were occasional signs of bright- ness, all was dark and portentous. So has it been with our period of pre[>aration. Our toils have been full of anxiety and desi)on- ileucy, but now, the skies smile, and if tliere still be some of nature's SKETCH of THE CELEBRATION. 69 clouds above us, the.y can only serve as a darkened glass to secure our eyes against the effulgent glory of a divinely descending bene- diction. At an autumn town-meeting, Sept. 30, 1878, it was voted tliat the town would celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth year of its existence. A large and able committee was chosen to carry this vote into effect. Tiiej' were endowed with full powers, and authorized to fill all vacancies and to appoint all needed subcommittees. In town meeting assembled, an orator was chosen from among Bedford's own sons, to prepare an historical address for the occasion. The committee began their work. Various changes were neces- sarily made in their organization, till, at the present time, it con- sists of the following gentlemen : — JosiAir A. Stkarns Chairman. Cyrus Page. Rev. Geo. E. Lovejoy, Secretary. Chas. A. Corey. Oliver J. Lane, Treasurer. Calvin Rice. Jerome A. Bacon. M. B. Webber. A. P. Sampson. Amos B. Cutler. Henry Wood. E. G. Loomis. A. E. Brown. Chas. C. Clarke. Samuel Huckins. Under this committee several subcommittees, both of gentlemen and ladies, were appointed, partly from the people at large for the pei-formance of specific duties, and most efficiently have they wrought in their several spheres. Their names are registered, and will appear on the records of our celebration. As the town could not raise money for the purpose without an especial enabling act, it was determined to appeal to the sons and daughters of Bedford for assistance. Only small sums were asked for, and they came in from all directions, not only from the children, but from their "uncles, aunts, and cousins," till the general fund, aside from the sums contributed for special objects, amounts to more than $600. The various committees have toiled with unwearied faithfulness and through much anxiety ; but to-day they come forth triumphantly and present you with their finished work. I need not detail its particulars. You will find them sufficiently set forth upon the printed programme. And now, throwing off all care, we are ready to join you in the entertainments of the day. We do so with the full assurance that when we shall have listened to our town's history, we shall have no occasion to hang our heads, but much reason to rejoice and to glorify our ancestry. 70 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. An original ode of fonr stanzas was next sung to the tune '' Scots, ■wha ha'e wi' "Wallace bled," a part of the audience singing for the occasion, and the other part so far behind that the\- miglit have intended their strains for the next sesqui-centennial. Finall}' the singers came out together at the end, and then the president of the day introduced the orator, his brother, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan F. Stearns, of Newark, N. J. Dr. Stearns was closely listened to and frequently applauded, but as his dis- course is here printed in full, an}* abstract of it would be out of place. The Sevent^'-eighth Psalm, wliich had been printed to be sung by the audience, owing to the lateness of the hour was omitted. Benediction by the chaplain closed the exercises. AFTER-DINNER SPEECHES. Bedford Engine Company had entertained the visiting company from Lexington at the Bedford House, where a very fine repast was served in the dance-hall, and the excellent and generous dinner pro- vided by Caterer Tufts at the tent, in his best style, had been par- taken of by nearly five hundred people, when the president, at about four o'clock, called the assembly to order for after-dinner speeches. There was music bj- the band, and then the toast- master, Rev. John F. Gleasou, of Norfolk, Conn., a native of Bed- ford, announced the first toast, " The Commonwealth." Three cheers were given for Gov. Talbot, and His Kxcellenc}' spoke as follows : — GOV. Talbot's speech. Mr. President, — As chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, I bring ^'ou her congratulations upon this higli festival of Bedford's loyal children. Let me offer wiih those congratulations, my own heart}' personal greeting as a citizen of the mother town of Bil- lerica, as a neiglibor and a friend. I deem tlie presence of tlie executive peculiarly fitting on occasions like this, when the people of our ancient towns meet to celebrate their anniversaries, rehearse their inspiring history', revive tlie memory of tlieir founders, and contemplate the simple, sturdy qualities of character, in whicli the very basis of our Commonwealth is laid. "We read in the Massa- chusetts Bill of Rights, that — "A fre(]uent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice. SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 71 moderation, temperance, indnstry, and frngality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty and to maintain a free government." It is because events like this recall to us the principles of the Constitution, and that piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industrv, and frugality so necessary to their conservation, that the Commonwealth may well give them her official countenance and encouragement. Upon an adherence to these virtues depends the welfare of the towns ; upon the welfare of the towns rests the pros- perity, nav, the very perpetuity of the State. We owe to the towns what is distinctively the Massachusetts character. It is the product of the red school-house, the village church, and the town meeting. Preserve these nurseries of popular education, of reli- o-ious freedom, and of pure democracy, and we need fear none of the dangers which may seem to menace the future of the Republic. Now, Mr. President, the borough of Bedford passes into the ven- erable company of municipal corporations which have numbered one hundred and fifty years or more. Nearly sixscore of those in our borders have preceded her, and others will follow soon. West- ford reaches her sesqui -centennial less than a month hence ; Wil- minolou, a year later ; Tewksbury, in three years ; and half a dozen otlie's in ditferent parts of the State within five years. Among her new companions, Bedford stands the peer of any. She cannot boast, as can her more ancient and famous neighbor, of sons who have made themselves conspicuous in the councils of the State and nation, who have worn the judicial ermine, or led eager disciples along philosophic mazes of which no man can discern the begmmng or the end. But she points with just pride to accomplished and de- voted scholars who, hke the late President Stearns, gave the best fruit of their talent and culture to the cause of sound education. She displays, too, a long record of Bedford men, standing in the front ranks of business and the learned professions ; enterprising, suc- cessful merchants at the centres of trade, and at home, a sturdy, prosperous yeomanry, the sinew and muscle of the town. It is often said that, go where you will, in whatever part of the world you may travel, you will find our old Commonwealth represented in every vocation calUng for skill, brains, or self-sacrifice. You find everywhere the New England missionary, lawyer, doctor, merchant, manufacturer, and navigator. In all this the little town of Bedford has borne her full part. Mr. President, I wish to express once more the pleasure it gives 72 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. me to take part in tliese festivities, and the personal interest I feel in all of 3"ou as neighbors and friends. Let us not forget in our rejoicing, that this da}-, like all others, brings us a dul}'. That duty, as I read it, is to adhere more closel}' to the principles on which our fathers founded this government, and transmit them to posterity in all their purity- and strength. Do this, and as we honor the memor}- of our fathers, so will our children, when we have passed away, " rise up and call us blessed." THE nON. "WILLIAM A. RUSSELL. " Tlie President of the United States" was the next toast, and the Hon. AV^illiam A. liussell, member of the national legislature, responded. Mentioning his lack of acquaintance with the town, he contrasted the virtue of the small towns with the vicious tenden- cies of large cities. In this connection, he spoke with praise of the action of I'resident Hayes in obstructing the attempts to give the cities power to offset the vote of the towns in the country. His mention of the character of President Hayes was applauded by his listeners, and he said that the Southern policy of conciliation, though not entirely successful, would doubtless become so. The United States having ceased its hostilities, proceeded to the honest payment of her debts with a fixed currenc}', in accord with other nations of the globe, and is now to enter upon a career of indus- trial and commercial prosperit}' which seems to be a fitting supple- ment to her recent heroic deeds. The President is in syinpnthy with the best interests of the whole country. With returning prosperit)' and the firmness of the President, our nation will main- tain its integrity, and all its people will be protected, at home and abroad. EX-GOVERNOR RICE. '' Middlesex Count}- " was toasted next, and as a representative of the county not onl}-, but also the State, l'>x-Gov. Kiee was called upon, and as he rose he was greeted with cheers, which bore witness to the popular esteem in which he is held. The substance of his speech follows : — Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Genllenien., — I have been trying to discover what fortunate incident or circumstance brought me within the circle of your kind remembrance, and extended to me the privilege and the courtesy of coming up here to Bedford to see how you would celebrate this notable and interesting anniversary. I have been enjoying the da}' without any limitation and without any SKETCH or THE CELEBRATION. 73 restraint, though I confess to you, sir, that when I saw that pon- derous numerical adjective which preceded the announcement of your celebration llangJiter^, 1 thought there must be something crooked and sinister about the occasion. ILaughter.'] '• Sesqui- centennial," thinks I to myself, and I began to rub up all the ancient Latin in the primers and in the small dictionaries contain- ing phrases of various languages, to see whether I could find anj^ interpretation of that long-tailed and mysterious word. ILaugh- ter.'] Now the whole thing is explained. You invited me to come up here and listen to an oration and eat a dinner with you, and now you impose upon me your sesqui-centennial. \_LinigJUer.^ You have asked me to say something in regard to the county of Middle- sex. I am a native of the county of Middlesex, and am glad to be here because I am thus linked to the town of Bedford, and therefore I was brought into your celebration. The county is not so impor- tant in our State as it is in some other States, or in other countries, where it forms a little sovereignty by itself. With us it seems to amount to little more than geographical boundaries with judicial limitations and a few secondary powers, while the city and the town appear to us of greater prominence. I agree most heartily with what the orator said about the importance of the towns, and also with what was said about Jefferson and De Tocqueville. As His Excellency, the governor, has well said, so long as we preserve these little municipalities, the State will be safe, and as long as the States are safe, the country will be safe. But, sir, what the great Webster said of Massachusetts on a notable occasion, may be said of Middlesex County : " There are Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill," there they will be forever ; they are here in our glori- ous old county of Middlesex. It was here in Concord that " the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world." lApjyl'ivse.^ The echoes of that shot have not yet ceased their reverberations. They come back to us on the wings of the air. They are gathered into the life of every day. They have entered into the civilization of our country and of the world. Liberty has taken from them new life. It was fired in the hope of a higher and purer manhood. But we need not go back to Revolutionary days for praises for the county of Middlesex. In the recent war of the rebellion, who answered first to the call? From what county in Massachusetts were the men first in line ? Who first shed their blood to maintain in its integrity the morality which their fathers saved, but men who 74 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. went from the old coiinU' of IMiddlesox? It seems to me that much of the liistoric greatness of Massachusetts maybe traced back to Middlesex, and that she has contributed more to inspire patriot- ism and the hope of the world than an}- other communit}' of her size on the face of the earth. \_Ap2)lause.'] She is an important division of our Commonwealth. She is the largest count}' in terri- torial extent save one. She has a population of nearly 300,000 people, and her wealth amounts, I believe, to something like $300,- 000,000. She is a community in herself, and if she be called upon to do her duty in the present, as her representatives have always done in the past, I know that she is prepared to answer any reason- able expectation. I rejoice in American prosperity and in the present revival of business, and in the full share which Middlesex County bears in the maintenance of American industry. The next toast was " Jonathan Bacon, a principal inhabitant of Bedford, directed by the General Court to assemble the citizens of the town for their first town meeting." This called up Mr. Albert Bacon, who said he " supposed he was the oldest Bacon in town," when, the audience perceiving a joke, and beginning to make merry, the president responded, "Oh, never mind the age, we all love the Bacon that is so well pre- served." Mr. Bacon, recovering himself immediately, went on with a very interesting account of his illustrious ancestor, and of the Bacon family generally, that has played a conspicuous part in the history of the town. " Our chaplain, — coming to us weekly in the spirit of Concord, he proclaims peace and good-will among men," elicited a response from the Kev. (Jrindall Reynolds of Concord, who also lills the Unitarian l)ulplt of Bedford at the present time. UEV. GRINDALL REYNOLDS's RESPONSE. I should hardly have been willing to occupy your time had I not wished to express the satisfaction I feel in being, through this ollice with which you have honored me, connected witli this celebration ; one which must be i)leasant to remember and full of good intluence in the town for many years to come, — for all years to come. You have kindly said that I come in the spirit of Concord. I shall leave my friend. Judge Hoar, to say what the spirit of the town of Con- cord is ; but if our chairman refers to the kindly quality of concord, SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 75 how could I come to a centennial mid to this sesqui-centennial in any other spirit ? For what is a town celebration but the remembrance of love and good-will enacted into practical facts? AVhat is the life of a town but the drawing of its people out of separation, out of isolation, into relations of the most satisfactory and helpful charac- ter? What is a town meeting, with all its varied interests, what is the church, what are schools, what even are all such material things as the very pathways and roads through our villages, but so many bonds to unite those who otherwise would be separated, each man caring for his own business, without thinking much of other people's interests and needs? And especially how could I come with any- thing but the spirit of concord to a town whose very soil keeps in memory a great act of concord You go to the banks of the Con- cord Eiver, and there are two stones named the " Two Brothers," which celebrate and keep vivid in memory the kindly and friendly action of Gov. John Winthrop and Lieut.-Gov. Thomas Dudley. And so in truth the first land in this region of Bedford, which was dedicated to the occupation of the white man and to the uses of civilization, was thus dedicated through a great and beautiful act of concord. You have heard the admirable address of this morning, and from it you can see what one little town can bring of great and honorable import fiom the storehouse of its memories, from the ample store- house of its history. And it seems to me that the best influence and the most useful result of a centennial celebration is that it thus engages all the people of a town (and I may say all the people of "neighboring towns) in common interests and common thoughts of a noble and strengthening character. And so I believe that when the pleasantries of this hour shall have passed, when all that has been done so well shall be simply a thing of memory, still, after all, it will be the memory of your common interests in something noble and good, and that this town will always be a better town, with higher feelings and especially with more love and good-will and concord, for such a memory. " Billerica, the loving mother who endowed her daughter Bedford with more than half her present territory," called out the Rev. H. A. Hazen, historian of Billerica, who said : Bedford represents the first dismemberment of Billerica. Since then, Tewksbury, Lowell, Wilmino-ton, and Carlisle have each taken a slice of Billerica. 76 SKETCH OF THE CELERRATTOX. Eveiy town has its own pecnliar liistoiy. You can't put it all into the census returns. It is character in the men and women that counts. He regretted that the " Two Brothers" rocks had not been made the boundary between the two towns, and thought a perma- nent inscription sliould be placed on these stones as a memorial of interest to tlie people who are to come after us. "Concord and Bedford was given. Their intimate relations are fitly represented by Concord's distinguished son, the grand-nephew of Bedford's second minister, Nathaniel Sherman.'' Hon. Judge E. R. Hoar replied : — 3Ir. President, and Ladies and Gen'Iemen, — Considering it for the time being as the principal distinction of my life that I had one of the ministers of Bedford for an uncle [laughter^, though on paus- ing to think of it for a moment, I do not see that it was a distinc- tion that I myself achieved, still, I am very much gratified at being called upon b}- j'ou to express to this town, on this delightful occa- sion, the feelings of the town of Concord towards the town of Bedford. I speak, sir, with a certain distrust, because, with that care which the town of Concord always takes that anj' of her children who are liable to go astray shall be looked after, I find myself seated with the town-clerk of Concord on my right, and three of the selectmen immediately Ijcfore me [^laughter and applavse'], and if I do not sa}' exactly what Concord would like to have said on this occasion, you see I am in a fair way to be stopped. [Laughter and appli%ise.'] Now, the relations of Concord and Bedford have always, 1 believe, been intimate and affectionate. When I heard or read, rather, that this was to be a " sesqui-cen- tennial" performance, I went to the dictionary like Gov. Rice [_kmgliter'] , but not being so modest a man as he is, I did not come to the conclusion that it referred to my speech. [^Laughter .^ But I saw tlirough it at once, when I came to find what the meaning was in the dictionary. I found tliis " sesqui " to l)e a thing and a half. As I say, 1 saw through it at once ; the natural instinct of the town of Concord would enable me to do so. \_Appl'nise.'\ Why, tliese Bedford people, knowing that we are some on the centennial up there, are going to get up a centennial and a half. {^Laughter and applause.^ As they say in the game of poker, "I see you, and go you one better." \_Laughter ] I call upon heaven and earth to witness that I know nothing about the game of poker, so you will SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 77 pardon the quotation. \_Laughter and applause.'] But, on contem- plating what you were to celebrate, I tliought, What is it that our Bedford friends and neighbors are going to celebrate on this occa- sion ? There are various ways of looking at it. The first view that occurred to me was this, — that one hundred and fifty years ago there were a people that were discontented at having so far to go to meeting, and they concluded not to go so far an}' longer ; and now here is this great audience and this immense procession coming together one hundred and fift}' years after, to commemorate that event. The question would at once be raised, Why did n't the}' adopt the remedy that would occur to a very large portion of people nowadays and stay at home? \^Laughtt:r and ojjplause.] Well, in the next place, being excellent, pious folks, these Bedford people at that time, why didn't they think of the remedy which has occurred to their successors in this pleasant town, that if the mountain could not go to Mahomet, why, have Mahomet come some Sunday afternoon over to the mountain, dividing one minister between them, the way Ave have done since? [^Laughter.'] Well, there is another fact, a thing that makes the proceeding seem singular, and that is, that now, when you are celebrating their refusing to go so far to meeting, I believe that at this moment a majority of the church-going population in the town of Bedford go regularly up to Concord to meeting every Sunday to the Catholic Church, which I suspect their pious fathers would willingly have seen located a great deal farther away, so that it shows that the mere fact of adopting some method to avoid going to meeting at a dis- tance is of such temporary interest that it would scarcely be con- sidered of great moment on this occasion. My friend from Billerica has said " that Bedford people did not do any pioneer work." AVhy, yes, they did ; they were a part of Concord, our flesh and blood, until they left us ; they were a part of the family, and have fought it out on the same line as the rest of us. The way we look at it up there is, that this is the oldest daughter of the family, setting up housekeeping, marrying into a Billerica connection. [^Laiighter.'] Bedford was the oldest daughter, the first that was taken off from the old town of Concord. They have since chopped off several portions of her. "• Nine Acre Corner" once petitioned to be made into a separate town. If the petition had been granted, we could not have gone out of doors without stepping upon some one of the familv, like the " Old Woman in 78 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. her Shoe." Of course, then, we have alwaj's been affectionate. There is a neighborhood in towns and a friendliness in towns, just as in families and individuals, and we have alwaj's counted on you. One curious tiling occurred to me during the deliver}- of the oration (if His Exccllenc}' will excuse m}' referring to it). AVlien I heard it stated that Concord gave its heart}* and willing assent to Bedford's incorporation as a separate town, and that Billerica opposed it until after the General Court had ordered it (the}' made the best of what they could not help) , I noticed that, in the recital of the act of the incorporation it says, "And it was enacted by the lieutenant-governor and council," etc. And I wondered whether they might not have had some Billerica gentleman as governor at the time, and the town was so much opposed to it that the lieutenant-governor had to see the thing through. \_Oreat langhler and «^)7)7a«S(?]. It looked very probable. [^Renewed laughter.'] "Well now, in thus making up two towns, and joining yourselves to Billeiica, you have undoubtedly escaped some things which you would have had if attached to Concord. In the first place, you have escaped the Stale Prison [cjreat lavgJder and ajyplaiise], by which, I mean collectively, in your municipal capa- city {_re7ieived laughter] ; your individual chances are not at all impaired. {_Uproarious laughter.] But I notice that whether on aii}' Scriptural basis or not, in your railroad system in this town, you have a broad road that leads to Concord and you have a straight and narrow gauge that leads to Billeiica. \_IJik(rious mirth.] But I do not want to disregard the fact that the orator of the day rehearsed to us, that one hundred years ago the people of this town disapproved of all levity. I trust they still continue to ; perhaps they do, perhaps they do not. But» to leave all levity aside, what you here celebrate to-day is the establishment of a New England town, and the importance and value of such an occurrence cannot, in my judgment, be overesti- mated. One of those communities which, as John Adams said, " rested upon the meeting-house, the school-house, the town meet- ing and the training-field," being the four elements of the man and citizen which have produced consequences in the government of the country which no other system of popular government has ever ap[)roached. " Men that stir senates with a statesman's words and look on armies with a leader's eye," have been the men, in our country's history, who were trained U[) in these little democracies. SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. 79 AVhat makes a, town in some parts of our country is a tavern and a blacksmith's shop ; what made a town in Massachusetts, jjjCrom the beginning, was a meeting-house and a school-house. [^Applause ."] It is well that jou come together and remember from what fathers 3'ou are descended, what honest power and conduct marked their lives and the history of your town. It is for us to remember with pleasure and pride that 30U are a part of Concord, you were with us in the Revolution. We remember that this little town of eight hundred inhabitants sent to the late civil war its eighty-two soldiers, of whom eighteen never returned ; we remember that Bedford has been true to the principles upon which it is founded ; on the principles to which, we trust, every town in Massachusetts, in all trial, will be found adhering. [_Tre7nendous apj^lause.'] A toast was given to " Ralph Waldo Emerson, grandson of Concord's most patriotic minister, that high son of liberty, the Rev. William Emerson. The world honors him for his own free- dom of thought and for his philosophic wisdom." The president of the day stated that he had invited Ralph Waldo Emerson to speak and he had declined, but he would call on him again, in hopes that he would respond. Mr. Emerson spoke A'ery briefl}^ : "I spoke the truth, sir, at first. I am sorry that I am not able to respond. I can understand with joy the speeches that I hear, but I cannot make one." The president replied: " It is a satisfaction to the people of Bedford just to see the man whom they admire, and, if I judge them rightl}', whom they love." \^ Applause.^ " The Eirst Church in Billerica, which furnished Bedford with half its original church-members," called up the Rev. C. C. Hussey, of Billerica, who believed in these old country towns, and advised his hearers to stay here, and keep up the culture and tone of the place, rather than to go to the cities. The First Church of Billerica has a most honorable record. He believed in these old churches, and would have these centres of worship well supported. Let the denominations burj' the old schisms of the past, and go forward together to bless community by being each other's helpers. "■ Schools and Education, they find a loving advocate in that friend of high culture and veteran teacher, A. Bronsou Alcott. 80 SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. His pupils have in their turn sent forth ' Little Islen,' and ' Little Women,' and ' M}- Bojs,' to delight and instruct the world." The venerable Mr. Alcott, now an octogenarian, replied to this toast in a lively and spirited manner. He recognized with pride the allusion to the illustrious authoresses, his daughters, and acknowl- edged their skill in the use of words. He urged upon all classes the need of more thorough training, especially' in our mother tongue. He claimed that now the women are far more accurate than men in the use of English. He would have more culture and refinement in our primary-school teaching. He sharply criticised the use of the word " depot," when we mean station ; and urged that our sisters be admitted to all the opportunities that are open to their brothers. " Samuel Fitch, the first town-clerk of Bedford, grandfather of Deacon Moses, wounded at Wliite Plains, and of Jeremiah Fitch, Jr., at whose house the minute-men were entertained on the morning of April li), 177"), and great-grandfather of the Jeremiah Fitch who imported the bell, and gave the clock and the Bible for the old society, and the land for a meeting-house to the new, and was a constant benefactor to all classes of Bedford people." Rev. Henr}' Fitch Jenks, grandson of the last Jeremiah, responded by pleasant allusions to the responsibilities of the earh' town " clarks " ; and b^' apt and striking selections from the Bible, excused himself, as a young man, from further speaking in the presence of age and wisdom. "The * Two Brothers' or 'Brother Rocks,' so named by Gov. John Winthrop and Deputy-Gov. Thomas Dudley in 1638," was responded to b}' the following letter from the Hon. Robert C. Win- throp, who counts among his ancestry both Dudlev and Winthrop. " BuooKLiNK, Mass., 22 August, 1S79. " JosiAii A. Steakns, Esq., Chairman of Celthrution Committee: " Mil dear Sir., — I am compelled to abandon all idea of attend- ing the Bedford celebration on the 27th inst. It would have given me great pleasure to visit ^our town on its one hundred and firt ieth anniversary, and to listen to the stors' of its rise and progress, as it will he told by your distinguished brother. I should have eagerly eiiiltraced the o[)portunilv to look on •• The Two Brothers,* — tho.se monumental stones within your town limits which com- SKETCH OF TTTE OKT.EP.UATIOX. 81 meinorate one of tlie most characteristic and charming incidents in our earliest Massachusetts history. " Tlie controversies of Gov. Winthroi) and Deputy-Gov. Dudley, and their reconciliation in 1638, while your town was a part of Concord and Billerica, furnish an edifying example to contentious statesmen in our own and in all other days. As I inherit the blood of both these first fathers of Massachusetts, I may be pardoned for not presuming to decide which had the best of the quarrel, or which deserves most credit for its amicable settlement. Mutual concessions and brotherly love were abundantly displaj'ed by them both, and, instead of throwing stones at each other, they made the imperishable rocks their witnesses, that all malice and evil speaking and strife between them had ceased. "I cannot but hope tliat such an inscription may be put on these historic landmarks that they may never be in danger of being overlooked or mistaken. The Bedford of New England may thus have almost as notable an association with Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop as the Bedford of old England has with John Bunyan, whose statue I saw there a few years ago, not far from the jail in which he wrote ' Pilgrim's Progress.' " I thank the citizens of Bedford for their most kind invitation, and you for its courteous communication, and regret my inability to accept it. "Believe me, dear sir, with great regard, your obliged and obedient servant, "Robert C. Winthrop." The president now said these rocks had been so long visited only by the moles, he would make it an even thing, and call upon Mr. Butt to speak in their behalf. Rev. William J. Batt, a former pas- tor of Bedford, but now settled in Stoueham, responded. He commended the wisdom of the men whose lives and deeds are com- memorated by these historic rocks, and urged the protection and preservation of these sacred memorials of the past, so long as time shall endure. " Capt Jonathan Wilson," killed while leading the minute-men of Bedford, in 1775, called for a dirge by the band. "Bedford, the geographical centre and heart of Middlesex County," called up the Rev. H. J. Patrick, former pastor of the Evangelical Church here, at present settled in Newton. He said 6 82 SKETCH OF THE CELEBT^ATION. lie had lived in Bedford long enough to know and lovo tlie town, lied ford was m}- first love, and I love it still. Its rich farms are always attractive, lied ford is the safest place to bring up a famih' of children tliat 1 know. I shall ahvays rejoice in the prosperit}- of the place. Several toasts were unexpectedly but necessaril}- omitted for Avant of time. Among them were *■• The workers upon our committee. No one is better qualified to speak for them than the secretarj-, a prime mover, a skilled and elficient supporter of the cause, Kev. George E. Lovejo}." " The sons and daughters of Bedford, wandering North or South, turn back in loyal devotion, like the needle to the pole." This was intended to bring out Chancellor Eben S. Stearns, D. D., of the University of Nashville, Tcnu. " Our Editors, a press-gang which promotes order and intelli- gence," was a call for Mr. Frank B. Sanborn. " Pages of History. Nathaniel Page,, ensign of the Bedford minute-men in 1775, and his daughter, Mrs. Kuhamah Lane, still living in town, with intellect unimpaired, at the age of ninety-two, and at whose house the Page tribe have to-day been assembled." Kev. Lucius R. Page and George "W. Morse, Esq. "The Peed Famih', one of the oldest in Bedford." This was responded to by a congratulatory telegram from tlie Reed famih', assembled at Taunton, and signed by the Rev. S. Hopkins Emerj-, a former pastor in Bedford. The following, among other letters, were received from invited guests : — "Boston, Aug. 25, 79. " Dear Sir, — It is with great regret that I respond in the nega- tive to jour invitation for Wednesda}'. It would afford me very great satisfaction to be present, but I am not so far recovered from my accident as to allow me that privilege. Hoping that everything may go olf to the honor of your good old town and the benefit of American history, "1 am with great respect, yours, etc. " Marshall P. Wilder. " .losiAii A. Steauns, Chairman Celebration Cum." SKETCH OF THE CELEBRATION. bO "Naiiant, Aug. 23, '79. " Gentlemen, — Vleane to accept mj' thanks for the honor you have done me by inviting me to the Bedford celebration, on the 27th proximo, kothing would give me greater pleasure than to visit the old familiar scenes, and to listen to the address of the friend and guide of my youth, the Rev. Dr. Stearns, long revered and loved by all who know him. An engagement to be at another meeting obliges me to decline this one. " May the memories which will be revived on this day serve to incite the youth of your ancient town to emulate the good deeds of their fathers. "Yours very truly, " Amos A. La"\vrence. " Messrs. Webber, Clark, Stearxs and Loomis, Committee:' '• Lexington, Aug. 19, 1879. "JosiAH A. Stearns, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of In citation : " In reply to your polite invitation to be withyou at your celebra- tion, I must say that while I thank you for the honor you have shown me, it is very doubtful whethei- I shall be able to attend. I can say most sincerely that ordinarily it would give me great pleas- ure, but while 'the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.' Age and growing infirmities admonish me to avoid extra fatigue and excite- ment. I can only say that, if the day should be favorable and I should feel pretty well, I may possibly attend ; but the chances are against it. ••' I regret it the more because I have always felt an interest in 3'our town and people. Having been your guest on several festive occasions in days gone by, I have always been pleased with the zeal and unanimity with which your people have acted, all classes and condilions of the population manifesting a deep interest in the occasion. " In fact, if I mistake not, the good people of Bedford have always been ready to turn out fvomptly, whenever duty called. On the 19th of April, 1775, Bedford required no public command to go forth and meet the foe of popular rights. It Avas enough to know that the oppressor was abroad, to enforce the arliitrary acts of the British Parliament. The gallant Capt. Wilson did not stop to inquire whether the British had slaughtered any Bedford men, or had even set foot upon Bedford soil. It was enough for him and 84 SKETCH OF THE CELEBKATION. his patriotic men to know that hnman rights Iiad been invaded and freemen had been slain, to induce him to appear in the held and add one more to the list of martyrs to the cause of freedom. What Bedford was then, she has continued to be, and I think tliere is good reason to believe she will continue to maintain her character by showing herself read}' for ever}- good work. " Ver}- respectfulh' ^'ours, " Charles Hudson." The festivities in the tent closed, and the people went forth to view the variousl}' decorated and l)cautifully illuminated dwellings, while the roar of forty-two guns and the ringing of the bell per- formed an evening salute. "When all was quiet, the multitude repaired again to the celebra- tion grounds, and were entertained b}* a brilliant display' of fir.e- works and the stirring music of an open-air concert given by the Natick Band. Every undertaking of the da}' seemed to prosper. The " Arling- ton Advocate" does but speak the general voice when it says, "Never have we been present on an occasion when eveiy one seemed to be enjoying themselves so fully. No accident marred the pleasures of the da}', and the management can but led that it was a success." SPECIAL COMMITTEES. FINANCE. O. J. Lane, Chairman. JosiAH A. Stearns. Chas. H. Clarke. Jkromk a. Bacon. E. G. Loomis. A. P. Sampson. Henry Wood. S. W. HucKiNS. C. A. Corey. BANQUET, TENT, AND GROUNDS. M. B. Webber, Chairman. Jonas E. Monroe. O. J. Lane. Henry Wood. S. W. HucKiNS, C. A. Corey. A. P. Sampson. Calvin Eice. procession and SALUTE. Calvin Rich:, Chairman. G. E. Lovejoy. E. G. Loomis. Capt. Cykus Page. JosEi»u Goodwin. Ered Davis. Henry Wood, Chairman. G. E. Lovejoy. A P. Sampson. M. B. Webber. ANTIQUITIES. Amos B. Cutler, Chairman. A. E. Brown. JosiAii A. Stearns. .Capt. Cyrus Page. LADIES assisting THE SAME. Mrs. Amos B. Cutler, Miss A. C. Stearns. Mrs. Chas. H. Clarke. Mrs. Sarah Sampson. Mrs. A. E. Brown. ladies to solicit funds. Mrs. Abbie Clark. Mrs. Henry Wood. Miss Lula Kenrick. Miss Sarah C. Sampson. Miss Annie Cooledge. Miss Hattie Mudge. Miss Mary Davis. Miss Anna March. Miss Lucinda Hosmer. fire-works. Mr. Joseph B. Goodwin. invitations. M. B. Webber. .Josiaii A. Stearns. E. G. Loomis. Ciias. H. Clark. PRINTING THE ADDRESS, ETC. Josiah a. Steauns. A. E. Brown. BEDFORD SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, AUG-. 37, 1879. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, BY ."^ JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. 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