Class JIEJ';^^ 
 
Celebration 
 
 "^ ^ 
 
 OK THE 
 
 hit Pimbretr Hittr Jfiftict^ ^ititiberScTrg 
 
 OP THE ORGANIZATIOX OK THE 
 
 TOWN OF LEICESTER, 
 
 July 4, 1871. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
 
Celebration 
 
 OK THE S ' r 
 
 #ne punbrcb anir Jfiftictl^ ^nnibcr^ixrg 
 
 OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 
 
 TOWN OF LEICESTEK, ^^^ 
 
 July 4, 1871. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
 
 1871. 
 

 iMfMUklMVt 
 
PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 In accordance with a previous public invitation, the citizens of 
 Leicester held a meeting at the Town House, February 11, 
 1871, to consider the subject of celebrating their One Hundred 
 and Fiftieth Anniversary in some suitable manner ; and after 
 discussing the matter it was voted to do so, and a Committee 
 was chosen to invite an Orator, and other preliminary measures 
 were taken to carry out that object. 
 
 Meetings were subsequently held at various times ; and it 
 was decided that the day of our National Anniversary was the 
 most suitable and convenient time lor this purpose. 
 
 On the 20th of May, the citizens were again called together 
 to organize for the occasion, and 
 
 John E. Russell, Esq., was chosen Chairman, and 
 Dea. C. C. Denny, Secretary. 
 
 A Committee of Nomination was appointed, who reported the 
 following names, which were accepted, as a 
 
 John E. Russell. 
 John D. Cogswell. 
 C. C. Denny. 
 Wm. F. Holman. 
 Joseph Murdock. 
 Samuel IMay. 
 Edwin L. Watson. 
 Charles Siuley. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 L. S. Watson. 
 Jos. A. Denny. 
 L. G. Stuktevant. 
 Charles A. Denny, 
 a. ii. coolidge. 
 Alonzo White. 
 Lucius IM. Waite. 
 John N. JNIurdock. 
 
 L. D. Thurston. 
 John S. Smith. 
 D. E. Merriam. 
 Edward Sargent. 
 John Woodcock. 
 Joshua Murdock. 
 
 EUVING SrRAGUE. 
 
 Lucius Woodcoik. 
 
4 
 
 Cheney Hatch. 
 Charles W. Warren. 
 H. Arthur White. 
 Samuel Firth. 
 JosEPnus Woodcock. 
 T. E. Woodcock. 
 James A. Smith. 
 Anthony Hankey. 
 Parley Holm an. 
 rufus holman. 
 George PI. Munroe. 
 
 John W. Bisco. 
 
 John N. Grout. 
 James Whittemore. 
 Samuel L. Hodges. 
 Jos. M. Trask. 
 H. O. Smith. 
 Billings Mann. 
 
 TlIOS. S. LiVERMORE. 
 
 E. G. Carlton. 
 D WIGHT Bisco. 
 
 William P. White. 
 Dexter Knight. 
 John D. Clark. 
 Lyman I. Upiiam. 
 D. W. Kent. 
 Samuel Southgate 
 Albert Marshall. 
 William Bond. 
 Arthur M. Stone. 
 Joseph B. Upiiam. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting Messrs. Russell and Denny were 
 made permanent Chairman and Secretary of the Committee of 
 Arrangements ; and the whole Board were divided into various 
 Sub-committees to carry out the details of the Celebration. 
 
 Weekly meetings were held for some time previous to the 
 Fourth of July, to report progress in the work, and provide for 
 its satisfactory completion. 
 
 The following general invitation to the Absent Sons and 
 Daughters of Leicester appeared in the daily and weekly 
 papers in "Worcester ; and five or six hundred copies, in the 
 form of circular letters, were sent out by mail, by the Com- 
 mittee on Invitations, to those whose address could be readily 
 ascertained : — 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBEATION AT LEICESTER. 
 
 The citizens of Leicester will celebrate the ensuing Fourth of July, in 
 Commemoration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Organ- 
 ization of the Town, by an Address from Hon. Emory Washburn, and 
 other appropriate exercises. 
 
 A Dinner will be provided at as low a price as can^be afforded, not 
 exceeding $1.50 a plate. 
 
 The present citizens of Leicester, together with Spencer, Paxton, and 
 Auburn, a part of which territory was originally included in Leicester, and 
 all the Sons and Daughters of Leicester now scattered abroad, are cordially 
 invited to unite with us on this occasion, without a more particular invita- 
 tion. 
 
All persons intenditif^ to be present are respectfully invited to communi- 
 cate with either of tlie subscribers, on or before the twentieth day of June, 
 giving information of the number of Dinner tickets wanted, and provision 
 will be made for all who thus apply. 
 
 By order of the Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 I. 
 
 Jos. A. Denny, 
 
 L. D. TuuKSTOX, V- Sub-covimiUce- 
 Charles A. Denny, ) 
 Leicester, May 31, 1871. 
 
 As the day approached, all things seemed to be made ready 
 for the occasion. 
 
 Committees had reported that Hon. Emory Washburn, the 
 Historian of Leicester, had been invited, and had consented to 
 deliver the Address ; that all needful arrangements for music, 
 instrumental and vocal, had been made ; that Augustus Marrs, 
 of Worcester, had engaged to provide a dinner for about one 
 thousand persons ; that a large tent from Boston had been 
 engaged, to be erected on the common in front of the Town 
 House, and tables set for over one thousand plates therein ; and 
 that a suitable place had been prepared in the grove in front 
 of the Academy for the Orator and his audience. 
 
 Officers of the day were chosen as follows : — 
 
 Jos. A. Denny, Esq., President. 
 
 Hon. Waldo Flint, of Boston, Abraham Firth, Esq., of 
 Boston, Rev. Samuel May, L. S. Watson, Esq., Joun Wood- 
 cock, Esq., and S. L. Hodges, Esq., Vice-Presidents. 
 
 Capt. John D. Cogswell, Chief Marshal. 
 
 Dr. John N. Murdock, Toast Master. 
 
 The morning of the Fourth was ushered in, as usual on our 
 National Anniversary, by the firing of cannon and the ringing 
 of bells ; and Leicester Hill was made cheerful Ijy the early 
 arrival of friends from abroad, who continued to throng to the 
 village during the early liours of the day. 
 
6 
 
 The weather, though cloudy and somewhat threatening for 
 a while in the morning, proved to be fine and wholly favorable 
 throughout the day. 'J'he exercises in the grove commenced 
 at ten o'clock a.m., and were in accordance with the printed 
 programme. 
 
 Rev. Samuel May said, that in the universally regretted 
 absence of Mr. Russell, the duty of acting as Chairman of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, had been assigned to him. In 
 behalf of the Committee, and of all the citizens, he congratu- 
 lated the large audience on the happy circumstances of the 
 occasion, rejoicing especially to see so great a number of former 
 residents returning to take part in its memories and festivities. 
 At his call, the Worcester National Band, which had already 
 been filling the village with the echoes of its awakening strains, 
 opened the exercises with a suitable piece. 
 
 Mr. May. — One of our own poets has said, — 
 
 " The groves were God's first temples ; " 
 
 and in such a temple, fair to see, and, as we can truly say, 
 " not made with hands," are we met to observe our country's 
 great anniversary, to recall the struggles, sufferings, and virtues 
 of those who first planted this town, and to render honor to 
 their character and their work. 
 
 The whole audience, led by a well-trained choir of thirty 
 singers, then sang, to the tune of Old Hundred, the following 
 
 INVOCATION. 
 
 Great God, to thee we raise our prayer, 
 Our grateful song for thy kind care 
 And guiding hand, which all our way 
 Has led us, till this gladsome day. 
 
 Here on our nation's natal day, 
 Here 'mid our fathers' graves, we pray 
 That we their virtues may j)Ossess, 
 Their courage, faith, and holiness. 
 
Rev. A. H. CooLTDGE, Chaplain of the day, read the following 
 passage of Scripture : — 
 
 " Give ear, my people, to my law : incline your ears to the words of my 
 mouth. 
 
 " I will open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark sayings of old : 
 
 " Wiiich we have lieard and known, and our fathers have told us. 
 
 " We will not hide them from theirchildren, showing to the generation to come 
 the praises of the Lord, and his strcngtli, and his wonderful works that he hath 
 done. 
 
 " For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, 
 which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their 
 children : 
 
 " That the generation to come miglit know them, even the children which 
 should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children : 
 
 " That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, 
 but keep his commandments." 
 
 After which Mr. Coolidge offered a fervent, appropriate, and 
 impressive prayer. 
 
 Tiie choir next sang the following original Hymn, written 
 for the occasion, by Rev. A. C. Denison, of Middlefield, Conn., 
 a former Pastor of the First Congregational Church of this 
 town : — 
 
 From far and near to-day we come, 
 As children to our early home, 
 These pleasant scenes again to greet, 
 These friends of by-gone years to meet. 
 
 These smiling vales, these massive hills, 
 These gleaming lakes, these laughing rills, 
 Are little changed from year to year ; 
 All ! not so we who gather here ! 
 
 But -where are they who dwelt upon 
 These hills in seventeen twenty-one ? 
 Life's busy walks no more they tread, 
 Their names long niunbered with the dead. 
 
 It may be we shall never more 
 Clasp hands upon this earthly shore ; 
 But may we, an unbroken band, 
 All meet at last at God's ri^ht hand ! 
 
8 
 
 Following which the band played " Keller's American 
 Hymn." 
 
 Mr. May said, — To most of this audience the Orator of the 
 day needs no introduction. A son of Leicester, he has always 
 loved his native town, and given her many sure proofs of his 
 affection. We recognize him as the conscientious and able 
 lawyer, the learned jurist and just judge, and a Governor of 
 our State. But here and to-day we more gratefully honor 
 him as the Historian of Leicester, diligent and faithful. To 
 that history we have summoned him to make to-day a further 
 contribution ; and we are all here to listen to the Hon. Emory 
 Washburn. 
 
 ADDRESS BY EMORY WASHBURN. 
 
 Let us congratulate ourselves, my friends, that, on a day 
 dedicated to the commemoration of a nation's independence, 
 we are permitted to gather once more around the altar of a 
 common home, and live again in the pleasant memories which 
 cluster around this consecrated spot. Let us congratulate our- 
 selves that it is our privilege, at the close of a hundred and 
 fifty years from the organization of our native town, to read, in 
 the prosperity which greets us on every side, how wisely its 
 founders planted here the germinal principle of a free and iur 
 dependent community, in the solitude of the wilderness and 
 upon the then verge of civilization. 
 
 In tlie light of its history, and of that of the little band who 
 first made a lodgment here, we may read an epitome of the 
 agencies which, upon a broader field, built up a colony into a 
 State, and spread out the little belt of population that then 
 hugged the shores of the Atlantic into a vast and mighty 
 republic. 
 
 But, interesting as this might be to any generous mind, there 
 is a deeper sensibility awakened in some of us on revisiting 
 these pleasant scenes. Busy Memory repeoples it with the 
 forms of loved ones ; and the friends of earlier days that used 
 to meet us in these familiar walks start up, in fancy, at every 
 
9 
 
 turn, to welcome ns back to our former homes. Ilouscliolds 
 long- since scattered are thus gathered once more around ihc 
 hearthstone where they ])layed in their childhood. ]>ut, as we 
 pause till a sense of what is real comes back ui)on us, we find 
 that — 
 
 " Our playmates have passed on, 
 And left us counting on the spot 
 The faces that are gone." 
 
 There arc, mingled with these emotions, lessons of deej) phi- 
 losophy to be drawn from sucli a commemoration as this. The 
 busy world stops for a day, and gives us a chance to look back 
 over the way along which our fathers and we have been trav- 
 elling, and to measure the progress which, as individuals and 
 as a community, we have been making in this lapse of years. 
 
 Counting by the aniuial recurrence of the seasons, the present 
 completes the hundred and fiftieth since the people of Leicester 
 were organized into a town. The first meeting of its inhabi- 
 tants for the transaction of municipal business appears to have 
 been held on the first Monday of March, 1721. The propriety 
 of commemorating this event was obvious ; and those having 
 the matter in charge wisely concluded to unite with it the 
 celebration of the declaration of our national independence. 
 And it only needs a single suggestion to impress upon every 
 one the fitness of such a union. The one event was the birth 
 of a town, the other the proclaiming of the birth of a nation; 
 and the relation between the two becomes more apparent as we 
 trace the connection there was between the action of the towns 
 of New England and the achievement of the independence of 
 the nation. 
 
 The real causes and origin of the American Revolution lie far 
 back of 1776. The spirit that gave it life, and animated the 
 counsels which guided the Colonies in their struggle with the 
 mother country, may be traced to the Puritans of Old England, 
 but took its most active and efficient form in New England, in 
 the little independent democracies, called towns, into which the 
 Colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were early di- 
 vided. 
 
 The country lias been so long familiar with this division 
 
10 
 
 of territory into separate townships, that we are apt to overlook 
 its inllucnce and importance. But I doubt if any one thing 
 has done so much towards promoting and sustaining their 
 capacity for self-government, as a people, as the organization 
 of these little democracies. In this consists the great differ- 
 ence there is between the people of the old world and our own. 
 In France, for instance, every thing emanates from a central 
 power, and the government takes care of the internal and 
 domestic affairs of the people in their cities and villages. The 
 police is ever present to protect the citizens, and enforce the 
 laws. And when, therefore, tliey undertake to proclaim a re- 
 public, they fail, because, instead of governing themselves from 
 within, they are so accustomed to an outside force to regulate 
 tliem, that they fall into discord and confusion, till some strong 
 hand seizes hold of the administration and restores order by 
 substituting a single will for the combined wills of the nation. 
 Whereas, from the very first, the people of New England have 
 been accustomed to manage their own domestic affairs by the 
 free and intelligent action of the citizens in their town-meet- 
 ings, and were so far independent of any general government 
 over the whole, that when its administration in Massachusetts 
 was suspended from Oct. 5, 1774, to July 20, 1775, the towns 
 went on conducting their own affairs in quiet and order, and, 
 in fact, supplying a government for the whole province, till it 
 was again organized under the advice of the Continental Con- 
 gress. Nor does it speak well for the maintenance of th6 
 democratic form of government which was sustained by the 
 self-regulating power of the towns, that, instead of exercising 
 their own police, they have been made dependent, for the most 
 important department of it, upon men appointed by the execu- 
 tive of the State. Such was not the theory or practical work- 
 ing of the system which laid the foundation of these self- 
 regulated repul)lics in New England. Wliile as colonies they 
 recognized the sovereignty of the home government, they were, 
 as to their domestic affairs, as free and independent as we are 
 to-day. The freemen of Massachusetts came together in their 
 own towns upon terms of equality of rights, where every one 
 had a voice and a vote. 'J'liey chose their own local officers, 
 
11 
 
 selected their ministers, regulated their schools, voted their 
 own moneys, and saw to their disbursement. As parts of the 
 larger body politic of the colony or province, they chose each 
 its owMi delegates to meet in a commou assembly to make tiic 
 general laws by which they were to be governed. And so im- 
 portant did they deem this coming together of the representa- 
 tives of the several towns in wiiat, from the first, was called 
 the General Court, that the occasion became a general holiday 
 of the people, which, under the name of Election Day, came 
 down from the planting of the colony till some of us were old 
 enough to enjoy the well-remembered sports and amusements 
 to which it was devoted. 
 
 It w^as in this way that the colonists not only learned how to 
 govern themselves, but how to take care of themselves. And 
 in doing this, it was the towns which spoke and acted, and their 
 action became the pulse and tone of the sentiment of the colony. 
 In the absence of newspapers, the towii-meetings became the 
 medium by which the people examined and discussed the politi- 
 cal questions of the day ; and the doings and resolves of Boston 
 were echoed back from every town in the country. Among tlie 
 instances to which I might allude, where the people came together 
 ill their respective localities to consider the great questions in 
 which the country was interested, and where a sentiment was 
 matured upon wliicii the people as a nation ultimately acted, 
 was that of this town on the 2Gth May, 17TG, upon the suV)ject 
 of declaring the Colonies independent of the British Crown. 
 On that day the people of Leicester were called upon to con- 
 sider this momentous question. Tiiey came together, and by 
 a solemn vote, without a dissenting voice, pledged themselves, 
 " that in case the Honorable the Continental Congress should 
 declare these Colonies independent of Great Britain, tlicy would 
 support said Congress in effectuating such measure, at the risk 
 of their lives and their fortunes." And this was followed in June 
 by a like resolve by the people of Spencer. And nobly did 
 these towns redeem that pledge, though it is altogether beyond 
 my limits, on this occasion, to dwell upon the details of the part 
 they took in achieving that independence. There is, then, I 
 repeat, a fitness in thus uniting the commemoration of the two 
 events to which this day has been consecrated. 
 
\'> 
 
 But, ill doing this, we arc to remember that the men of the 
 Revolution were not of the generation who planted the town. 
 More than fifty years had intervened between these events; and, 
 if we would do justice to the actors in both, we must go back, 
 and call up before us the men and women who were the pio- 
 neers in penetrating this, till then, unbroken wilderness. Who 
 and what manner of men they were who laid here the founda- 
 tion of a community which at the end of a hundred and fifty 
 years are sharing the fruits of their faith and their fortitude, 
 is a tiieme worthy of such an occasion. 
 
 In the first place, they were of pure English stock. Several of 
 the families were direct immigrants from England, and none 
 of them were more than two or three removes from native 
 English parents. With scarce an exception, they were small 
 farmers, who did their own work, and relied upon their own 
 resources. There must, in this way, have grown up a condi- 
 tion of great equality among them, while their isolation from 
 the rest of the world, which rendered them mutually dependent 
 upon each other in many things, must liave bound them to- 
 gether by strong ties of sympathy and attachment. The growth 
 of the town was slow ; and the families of which it was com- 
 posed were scattered over its entire territory, so that there was 
 nothing like a village or group of dwellings within it for many 
 years. It could have had but few attractions, at first, to draw 
 new settlers to it. They were in constant fear of the Indians, 
 and had to build " garrison houses " in different parts of the 
 town, to which they could flee when threatened with attack. 
 There is a letter on record which was addressed by some of 
 the most cons! I "rablo men of the town to Lieutenant-Governor 
 Dummer, in 1725, which gives us some insight into their condi- 
 tion. " It was so late," say they, " the last summer, before we 
 had any soldiers, that we were exceedingly behind in our busi- 
 ness." And in another they tell him that tliis is a frontier town, 
 and has been much exposed, and reduced to very low circum- 
 stances, by reason of tlie late Indian wars. The town, more- 
 over, was so poor that the province abated tiiat year's tax which 
 had been assessed upon it. 
 
 What is said of its l)oing a frontier settlement was literally 
 
1:3 
 
 true. There had been one in Brookfield ; but it liad been 
 broken up and dispersed by tlie Indians during Philip's war, 
 and only a few families had begun again to establish them- 
 selves there. With this exception, there were no white 
 settlers between Leicester and the Connecticut River. On 
 the east a few families had gathered in Worcester, after the de- 
 struction of that settlement, in the same year with the one at 
 Brookfield. Even with those settlements there was next to no 
 means of communication. The only pretence for a road w'as a 
 path through the woods, which it was difficult to travel even on 
 horseback. It was along what was called the " Connecticut 
 Path," by which persons going from Boston to Connecticut 
 River threaded their way through the wilderness. It had never 
 been laid out as a highway until after the organization of the 
 town ; and, wdien that was done, it took the name of the " Coun- 
 try road," which Avas the same, substantially, as that which 
 was travelled here fifty years ago. The roads to the north and 
 south from the present village were commenced at a still later 
 period ; so that, when the people of the town took upon them- 
 selves the burdens and responsibilities of supporting the civil 
 and religious institutions of a body politic, they were an iso- 
 lated community, dependent upon themselves alone for success. 
 By a wise foresight, there were reserved, from the grant of the 
 township, a lot of land for the ministry, and another for a 
 school. But as no provision was made for a house for public 
 worship, the people came together and erected one in 1710, two 
 years before they had been organized as a town. 
 
 But before we inquire how far they redeemed the pledges 
 they made to the colony and posterity when they assumed to 
 act for themselves, it would be pleasant to gratify a natural 
 curiosity which every one nuist feel to know something more 
 of the character and condition of the men wdio laid the founda- 
 tion of a social structure which has stood firm amidst all the 
 changes through which the country has ))cen passing. In this 
 connection, too, we are inclined to ask. What were their aims 
 and purposes in coming here, and under whose patronage did they 
 come ? Unfortunately, they left no record of themselves, save 
 here and there an isolated fact, from which, however, we are 
 
u 
 
 able to infer what that record woukl have been if it had been 
 preserved. Of some things connected with their history, we 
 can be at no k:)ss for a judgment. And, in the first place, 
 they recognized no man as master or as patron. They came 
 in the consciousness of their own integrity, to build up homes 
 here, and to share the civil and religious privileges of a respect- 
 able New England town. Within that happy mediocrity of 
 life for which Agur, in his wisdom, prayed, they had " neither 
 poverty nor riches," and seem to have been content with that 
 humble lot. Rich and poor are, indeed, relative terms; and I 
 have sought for some test by which to judge how far these 
 words were applicable to the first settlers of the town. I have 
 accordingly looked into the inventories of the estates of sev- 
 eral of them, which were made up at different times, from 
 fifteen to forty years after the first settlement of the town. 
 The real estate of Judge Menzies, whicli was one of the 
 largest in the town, although incumbered with mortgages, was 
 valued at =£2,700, and his personal at <£319. John Lynde, Jr., 
 a still richer man, and perhaps the richest of the original 
 settlers, had lands valued at =£1,377, and personal estate of the 
 value of X900. Of those estates forming something like an 
 average with others in the town, I find the amounts varying 
 from £327 to £680.- But while these statistics lielp to show 
 the pecuniary condition of the first generation, there are other 
 facts to be* collected from them which throw further light upon 
 the condition and habits of their domestic life, which are 
 equally curious and interesting. Thus, for instance, while 
 these inventories are very minute and particular, even to trifling 
 articles of furniture, I have found neither carpet nor clock nor 
 watch in any one of them ; and while we can imagine that 
 they would have substituted, as they used to do, sand for 
 carpets, and a scratch on the window-sill for a clock, to tell 
 them at what time to eat their dinners, it is difficult to con- 
 jecture how they contrived to live without looking-glasses. The 
 men must have worn their beards as long and shaggy as some 
 do in our day, without ever tliinking of a razor ; and as for our 
 mothers, it was lucky for their toilets tliat no evil genius had 
 before that day invented that strange outrig for the brain, a 
 
15 
 
 chignon., or discovered how to pile a bale of dry goods upon a 
 Avomairs back and call it a lady's dress. In the inventory of 
 the richest man in town, I find three of those necessaries of 
 life, looking-glasses, varying in value from 6s. Of^. to 40s. 
 In that of another man of substance, I find only one of the 
 value of 4s. ; while among tlio household goods of others no 
 article of the kind is to be found. But the most curious con- 
 trast with the habits of our day is found in the matter of 
 books. In many a well-to-do family we do not find a single 
 volume. John Lynde, Jr., whom I have already mentioned, 
 was the first school-master in the town, and held the office of 
 justice of the peace, when it was really a mark of distinction. 
 He had what is called in his inventory a " library of Latin 
 books and English," which was valued at XI IG5. M. ; while 
 the books of three other substantial farmers varied in value 
 from 5s. to 15s. Such as had any books generally possessed a 
 Bible ; and we occasionally find a psalter and a psalm-book. 
 But the use of psalm-books was rendered unnecessary by the 
 universal custom of the deacon in leading the singing in pub- 
 lic worship, reading a single line of the psalm at a time, which 
 was taken up by the congregation, and repeated by them in 
 chorus rather tlian in harmony. 
 
 Perhaps I shall have no fitter place in which to speak further 
 of the social habits and domestic lives of the good Puritan fathers 
 and mothers who flourished here a century and a half ago. 
 As we look back upon what we know to have been their sur- 
 roundings, as well as upon the lives of incessant toil and self- 
 denial to which they were subjected, it would seem to be a mis- 
 application of terms to speak of their pleasures or amusements. 
 Every thing they saw and heard must have checked every approach 
 to joyousness and hilarity. In the day-time their vision was 
 hemmed in by the tangled forest, into which the sunlight hardly 
 found its way. Their slumbers at night were broken by the 
 howling of wild beasts around their dwellings ; while within, 
 sickness was often a dreaded visitor, and death every now and 
 then stole in upon their scanty number, to snatch from them 
 the companion they could least spare. What could there be 
 in such a life but sadness and sorrow, and the constant fore- 
 
16 
 
 bodino; of coming evil ? But, fortunately for them as for us all, 
 there is a silver lining to the darkest cloud, and a light that 
 relieves the most sombre picture. Human nature has an 
 elemen't of joyousness in the young, the hopeful, and the con- 
 tented, wherever they are found ; nor was it wanting even here. 
 That their pleasures partook of what we are taught to call 
 gayety or fashionable life, is not to be imagined. Such a pro- 
 fane thing as dancing must have been unheard of. Dress and 
 style furnished rather a narrow range for fashion, where the 
 good wife spun and wove and dyed the cloths which she after- 
 wards cut and made into garments for the family. They 
 doubtless had their social gatherings, and the tattle and gossip 
 which made up the talk of every neighborhood. But they had 
 never readied the luxury of a " tea-party," for the reason 
 that that delightful beverage first began to be heard of in the 
 colony in 1720. They had to manufacture their own news, as 
 there were only two small weekly newspapers then printed in 
 the province ; and as they had neither post, nor mail, nor stage- 
 coach, these probably never found their way so far into the 
 country. But, where there are youth and health, nature is not 
 niggard of its elements of jAeasure. There was hunting in the 
 forest and fishing in the streams. The young men had their 
 matches of strength and agility, and the old men told to willing 
 listeners, the stories of English life and what the Puritans had 
 suffered. And so life moved on. The young people came to- 
 gether and loved and courted and married, and started in life 
 with the same rose-colored hopes that they do now, though, in 
 their simplicity, they had never thought of turning a wedding 
 into a " gift enterprise," by taxing the bounty of every guest 
 they invited. Children were born to gladden the household, as 
 they do now ; and in the rearing and training of these, parents 
 were too busy to feel the want of frivolous amusements. Even 
 toil and labor put on the garl) of pleasure and social enjoyment, 
 wlien neighbors came together to help raise each other's build- 
 ings, or by the light of the golden harvest moon sat and husked 
 one another's corn, or crowned the achievement of a new co- 
 operative bcdquilt by an evening of free and cheerful hilarity. 
 In these and a luindred other ways the kindlier feelings within 
 
17 
 
 them found room for free play, and pleasures sprung ui) as 
 spontaneously as the wild flowers and fruits around them which 
 ministered to their senses. 
 
 But we must look dee[)er than these outside forms of 
 social life for the efficient causes of the traits of character 
 which we discover in these early settlers. There were a 
 variety of circumstances which were calculated to foster 
 within them habits of thought which made them self-reliant 
 and independent in sentiment and opinion. In the first place, 
 there was a practical equality in their social and political 
 condition, which contributed to their individual independence. 
 In the next place, a large proportion of them had been born in 
 Massachusetts, and had inibil)ed in their cliildhood the prevail- 
 ing notions of Puritan belief and independent church polity 
 which tlie Congregational churches of New England had adopted. 
 Many of them, doubtless, had been more or less trained in the 
 common schools of the colony, and had learned the important 
 lesson of self-government in the town-meetings in which they 
 had taken a part. Another circumstance which ought not to be 
 overlooked was that they owned the lands which they tilled, 
 and were no man's tenants. It is difficult for us, with our 
 habits, to realize the practical difference there is, in point of 
 manliness and independence of spirit, between owning lands 
 and occupying them as tenants. One sees it everywhere in Eng- 
 land ; and in Prance the old system of feudalism, which kept the 
 great body of the cultivators in the condition of slaves, was 
 never broken down till the Revolution of 1789, — more than a 
 hundred and fifty years after tlie farmers of New England had 
 been accustomed to till their own lands and to think their own 
 thoughts. 
 
 The scattered and isolated condition of the early settlers of 
 the town left them much alone, and drove them to habits of 
 self-reflection and self-examination. If they knew little of the 
 outer world and what we call science, they were conversant 
 with the workings of their own hearts, and dwelt much upon 
 the solemn and mysterious connection there is between man 
 and his Maker, in the light of that revelation which they ac- 
 cepted without reserve. Darwin's wonderful discovery of man's 
 
18 
 
 relation to the ape had not disturbed their confidence in the 
 Bible account of the creation of our first jjarents. The vaunted 
 philosophy of Positivism had not then got in advance of revela- 
 tion, as we are now told it has done. Nor had modern theori- 
 zers found out a better code of moral law than that which our 
 fathers innocently believed was delivered on Mount Sinai. And 
 while it would be out of place to raise questions of creeds on 
 such an occasion, it is not to be denied, that the Calvinism of 
 that day was calculated to make a class of profound thinkers, 
 whatever may be thought of its doctrines as a system of faith. 
 The very effort to comprehend and reconcile with one's reason 
 the inexplicable mysteries of original sin, of free-will and fore- 
 ordination, was an exercise of intellectual gymnastics which 
 helped to develop and strengthen powers of the mind which, 
 under ordinary circumstances, would have been likely to lie 
 dormant and inactive. Right or wrong, it was just such a 
 system of faith as was suited to fit that generation for the 
 work which tliey were commissioned to do. That they were 
 religious men of the then prevailing school of theology is seen 
 in every step of their growth and progress. Sunday was to 
 them a day of sacred rest ; and their cliildren, trained in the 
 mysteries of the Shorter Catechism, grew up in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 Another circumstance which showed the character and spirit 
 of the men of that day was the manner in which they strug- 
 gled against their pecuniary embarrassments in their attempts 
 to establish and maintain a free school. In 1731 they made 
 provision for such a school, but were obliged to suspend it the 
 following year, though they resumed it in 1733. Nor were 
 they able to provide a school-house till 173G, when they built 
 one of the humble dimensions of twenty by sixteen feet, and 
 six feet and an half " between joints." This, moreover, was 
 the only school-house which the town had for many years, and 
 stood upon the Common, a few rods to the east of the meeting- 
 house, of which I have already spoken. 
 
 Passing from the social and intellectual condition of the 
 people to the circumstances in which they must have found 
 themselves in respect to the nuuiber, size, and situation of 
 
19 
 
 their dwelling-houses : as near as can be ascertained, when 
 they built their meeting-house, it was placed in the woods upon 
 the common land, and only two houses had then been built 
 near it, — one where Mr. May's now is, the other where Cap- 
 tain Knight's stands. The latter was of a single story, kept 
 as a public house, and was furnished with wooden hinges and 
 latches which were raised by strings passing through the door. 
 And in this respect the same was doubtless true of every 
 house in town. I have a description of what is now the vil- 
 lage from an eye-witness who knew it in 17G7, fifty years after 
 the first settlement of the town. The public house which I 
 have spoken of had just been burned ; the little nondescript 
 school-house was still standing ; a rude brush fence, which 
 came up to the meeting-house at its rear, inclosed the burying- 
 ground then in use. The dwelling-house of the first minister 
 stood some fifty or sixty rods to the north-east from the meet- 
 ing-house ; and a small building, containing two rooms, stood 
 where the tavern now is. If to these we add a small house 
 near the brook, west of the Common, and another between 
 that and the Common, a small house upon the slope of the hill 
 east of the meeting-house, and two or three small houses upon 
 the south road (one of them near where the late Mr. Hobart 
 lived), we have the entire village and its surroundings as they 
 were within the memory of persons who have described them 
 to some of us who are here to-day. And I may perhaps add, 
 in respect to the style of the buildings of that day, that the 
 house now standing on the east side of the road, half a mile 
 north of the meeting-house, was, I imagine, one of the most 
 imposing structures in the town, and none of these were at 
 any time painted. 
 
 If now we attempt to gather hints from the meagre records 
 before us to guide us in our study into the characteristic 
 qualities of the men and women who left their impression 
 upon the society which tiicy planted here, our only regret is 
 that we are so circumscribed in our inquiries. If, as we arc 
 told, " the child is parent of the man," the first settlers of a 
 town are not only the physical parents of the future genera- 
 tions of that town, l)ut give to their moral qualities a shape an(J 
 
20 
 
 character as distinctly marked as the complexion or personal 
 habits which distinguish families from each other. Applying 
 this test, I am led to believe that, with all the counteracting 
 influences which tended to make them selfish and exclusive, they 
 had an element of liberality in their natures which amounted 
 at times to magnanimity. Their convictions in the matter of 
 religious belief must have been strong and decided. They 
 took upon themselves a heavy burden when they undertook to 
 maintain the stated ordinances of the gospel, and must have 
 felt it almost as a personal wrong if one of their number broke 
 away from the communion which had bound them together. 
 It must have, therefore, been a severe trial of their spirit of 
 forbearance, when, in 1736, before the troubles in which they 
 had been involved in their long controversy with their fii'st 
 clergyman had been healed. Dr. Green gathered, in what is 
 now Greenville, a society of Anabaptists, and became himself 
 their preacher. And yet I cannot find that this secession 
 brought with it any of the accustomed alienation of feeling 
 between those who composed the two societies. But this, per- 
 haps, should excite no surprise after we are told that the town 
 had already safely passed through a far more severe invasion 
 of the Orthodox proprieties of church order in 1732, when Ralf 
 Earle and seven others certified to the town-clerk, who, though 
 an excellent tailor, was an indifferent model for good spelling, 
 that they were what he chose to record them, " those people 
 called Quackers," which was followed a few years after by 
 Steward Southgate leaving Mr. Goddard's church, and joining 
 these recusant-seceders. What makes it the more remarkable 
 is, that all this took place while the memory was still fresh of 
 what the colonists had done to convince these two classes of 
 religionists of the error of their ways, by hanging a few and 
 banishing more. They were too dull to accept the force of 
 the argument, and kept on multiplying worse than before. 
 
 But, from some cause which I am ready to believe was good 
 sense as well as liberal sentiment, the fathers of this town 
 seem to have early reached a conclusion to whicli half the 
 world is still slow to yield, that a man may be a good neighbor 
 and a valuable citizen, though he may differ from the majority 
 
21 
 
 in matters of speculative theology. And this sentiment they 
 seem to have transmitted to their children ; for when a colony 
 of Jewisli families removed here from Newport, during the 
 war of the Revolution, they not only found a ready welcome, 
 but intimacies and friendships grew up between the citizens 
 and them, whicli lasted as long as they lived. The town and 
 parish remained entire until 188'] ; and the fact that the pasto- 
 rates of six ministers cover the whole hundred and fifty years 
 shows the general harmony which has prevailed upon subjects 
 upon which people ai-e so ai»t to betray feeling and ill-blood. 
 To understand the force of this, we ought to remember how 
 great have been the changes in a denominational point of view 
 within tlie memory of persons now living. I had grown 
 almost to manhood before I ever saw what I supposed was a 
 Catholic in the town ; and one or two would, I think, have 
 covered the entire numl^er of Methodists ; and as for Unita- 
 rians, the term had then hardly become known here. Whereas 
 now the regret is, not that each of these denominations and 
 Episcopalians have a place of worship here, but that the relig- 
 ious society which was the first to secede from the original 
 parish lives here no longer, save in its honorable history, and 
 the memory it has left of the worth and intelligence of those 
 who commanded for it the respect of the entire town. 
 
 While we may well honor the catholic spirit whicli seems to 
 have characterized the place, we ought to remember how much 
 of this harmony has been due to one who for fifty-nine years 
 has been the guide and pastor of the church which was 
 founded with the town itself. His influence has been felt in 
 the prosperity as well as harmony of the town, and has 
 added value to every farm and workshop and manufactory 
 within it. Posterity will honor his memory, as those who 
 have met him in his daily walks have honored him. 
 
 Let it not be supposed, however, that while dwelling upon the 
 old-fashioned ways and notions which had so much to do with 
 the character of the earlier and later generations of the peo- 
 ple here, I have been unmindful of the progress which the 
 race has everywhere been making, nor how far the world, 
 through the progress of science, has got in advance of many 
 
22 
 
 of the superstitions which kept down the free aTction of the 
 liuman mind. I have no time to dwell upon the assumed 
 triumphs of modern science over the credulity of a former age. 
 But we cannot, in passing, forbear asking ourselves which of 
 all its discoveries could have supplied our fathers, for an hour, 
 with the support they found, in their periods of gloom and 
 discouragement, in the evidences they saw around them of a 
 present God, and the unquestioning confidence with which 
 they read in their Bibles the sublime truths which in their 
 simplicity they believed he had himself revealed to man. 
 
 There is another characteristic incident in the lives of these 
 men, which is the more remarkable, when we remember that 
 they were mere farmers' sons, whose unromantic habits of life 
 were associated with home and the quiet, unexciting pursuits 
 of peace ; and that is the readiness with which they yielded to 
 the calls which were so often repeated for men to take part in 
 the military enterprises of the day. I know not how many of 
 its citizens went into the service in obedience to these calls ; 
 but wherever I have been able to trace the history of the 
 expeditions in the " French wars," as they were called, I have 
 found the names of Leicester men upon their rolls. They 
 were at the taking of Louisburg in 1745, where Captain Brown 
 commanded a company. They were in the Canada expedition 
 in 1747, and with General Winslow in that to Maine in 1754. 
 They were with General Abercrombie at Crown Point in 175G, 
 and with General Amherst at Ticonderoga in 1759, in both of 
 which William Henshaw was a lieutenant. And more than 
 thirty officers and soldiers from the town took part in the con- 
 quest of Canada in 1760. Indeed, so many had taken a share 
 in these wars, that some of us can remember with what famil- 
 iarity the older men of the town used to speak of the events 
 of these campaigns, which made the names of Crown Point 
 and " Old Ti " almost household words among the people of 
 that day. 
 
 And it may be to this cause that we sliould ascribe that 
 traditional respect for military titles whicli once prevailed so 
 universally here and throughout New England, and of whicli 
 we may now see traces in the prefixes attached to so many 
 
23 
 
 names which arc inscribed on the older head-stones in our 
 cemeteries. Tlicy were marks of distinction which had been 
 won by gallantry and desert in fields of actual service, and 
 were cherished and respected accordingly. 
 
 It was by these " old French " wars, as they were called, 
 that the men of New England were trained in the school of 
 the soldier for the coming struggle for our national indepen- 
 dence. And nothing, in all its stirring and memorable events, 
 was more fraught with hopeful interest to those who were 
 watching its progress than the manner in which seemingly 
 raw troops, gathered from the farms and villages of the country, 
 without organization or discipline, or even knowing who was 
 their commanding officer, stood in an unbroken line, and 
 received the fire of the advancing columns of an enemy whom 
 they were meeting for the first time, until they could deliver a 
 fire ill return, with so sure and steady an aim that the finest 
 troops of England quailed before it, and fell back with a 
 recoil from which it was difficult to rally them. Leicester and 
 Spencer had their men there too ; and when the company made 
 up of these were ordered by the commandant of the regiment 
 to which it belonged to halt at Charlestown Neck, which they 
 reached after the battle had begun, they to a man refused to 
 obey the order, and gallantly followed their captain, who led 
 them into the thickest of the fight, and they were among the 
 last in the retreat.^ Nor did this martial spirit of its men flag 
 for a moment, till their inde}jendence had been achieved. In 
 addition to those who marched at the alarm of Lexington, and 
 those who enlisted in the first eight months' service, and in 
 addition to more than thirty who served in the regular Conti- 
 nental army, the town answered, during the first five years of 
 the war, twenty-eight drafts for men, although the entire num- 
 ber in the town capable of bearing arms, in the year 1781, was 
 only one hundred and fifty-one. With such a liistory before 
 me, I looked with no little solicitude for the record of what 
 Leicester had done during that last grand struggle for the 
 Constitution and the cause of human liberty against a wicked 
 
 ^ The captain was Setli Washburn, of Leicester ; the lieutenant, Joseph Liv- 
 erniore, of Spencer. 
 
24 
 
 and groundless Rebellion ; and I only wish I could give it entire, 
 as it has been given to me. I quote when I say, " Her sons 
 marched at the first call of the President for the defence of the 
 capital, and were among the first armed troops to reacli 
 Washington. They received their first baptism of fire in the 
 streets of Baltimore, with the old Sixth Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment, April 1*J, 18G1 ; Colonel Jones, its commander, and others 
 among its officers, being natives of Leicester." She sent into 
 the service more than three hundred of her sons. They were 
 in more than one hundred battles. ^lore than forty of them 
 were wounded, and twenty-one of them fell on the bloody 
 field. It was the story of the Revolution over again. It 
 was tlie Leicester of the fathers revived in the action of the 
 sons.^ 
 
 In what I have thus far said of the character and intelligence 
 of the settlers of Leicester and their immediate posterity, as 
 well as of the part they took in the events of the Revolution, I 
 ought, perhaps, to have spoken more at large of the individuals 
 who, from education and position, exerted an influence upon 
 the conduct and opinions of others. While I should be unable 
 to name, much less to do justice to, all who deserve notice, I 
 have ventured to mention a few of these rather as representa- 
 tives of the period in which they lived, than from any wish to 
 signalize any, where so many are equally deserving. Among 
 them Judge Menzies stands the earliest in point of time. He 
 had been bred as a Scotch barrister, and held the office of Judge 
 of Admiralty in the province, which was one of much dignity 
 and importance, and brought him into contact with those en- 
 gaged in foreign trade, as well as the men of influence in the 
 province. His estate was what is now known as the " Henshaw 
 place ; " and he could hardly have failed to exert an influence 
 over his neighbors by the style in which he lived, and the ex- 
 ample wdiich he set before them, socially as well as personally, 
 in his manners and address. 
 
 Of the earliest native-born children of the town, I have in 
 my mind two, whom I name in connection with the problem 
 how that generation could have acquired the education which 
 
 1 Soe Appendix. 
 
2;-) 
 
 is now supj>licd by our schools. But that they were well edu- 
 cated by SQine means, is apparent from the history of the town, 
 as well as the recollection of some still alive. Thomas Denny 
 was born three years after the town was organized ; and his 
 sister, Mrs. Nathan Sargent, three years after that. This was 
 some years before any school had been established ; and the dis- 
 tance at which they lived from it must have rendered it of 
 little or no use to them when it was in operation. And yet 
 there are those living who remember this lady as a person of 
 agreeable culture and great intelligence ; and it would be diffi- 
 cult to name one who could better represent the patriotism of 
 the Avomen of the Revolution, who were not a whit behind their 
 brothers in spirit or devotion. It was of her that the incident 
 has so often been told, how when the company of minute-men, of 
 whom her son was one, were on their march for Lexington, on 
 the alarm of 19th April, 1775, they halted at her door, but not 
 being supplied with bullets for their cartridges, she and her 
 husband took the leaden weights from their clock and melted 
 them down, to supply the want. It told more than words could 
 do that war had indeed begun in earnest. The brother, Mr. 
 Denny, would have been a leading man in any community by 
 his intelligence, patriotism, and public spirit. He died just 
 before the breaking out of the war ; and his loss was felt as a 
 public calamity in the province. While a member of the Gen- 
 eral Court, he was associated with such men as Samuel Adams, 
 James Otis, and John Hancock, and is named by Governor 
 Hutchinson in his History. He had taken a part in the cele- 
 brated controversy with the Governor in 1771, which was one 
 of the immediately exciting causes of the Revolution. 
 
 Two of her citizens, Colonel AVilliam Henshaw and the Hon. 
 Joseph Allen, by their relation to the leading men of that 
 day in Boston, formed an important medium by which the 
 spirit of Adams and Otis and Warren was widely diffused 
 through this community. Mr. Allen was a nephew of Samuel 
 Adams, and removed here in 177 1, and did much, by way of his 
 pen and his personal influence, to give a right direction to tlie 
 sentiment which animated the people. Colonel Henshaw was 
 in the cause from the first. He was the Adjutant-General of 
 
 4 
 
•2() 
 
 the American army until the arrival of General Washington 
 at Cambridge, and acted in that capacity for some months after. 
 He was of tlie Council of War, and recommended the occnpation 
 of Bunker Hill, which led to tlie battle of the 17th June. He 
 was afterwards lieutenant-colonel in the Continental service, 
 and fought in some of the severest engagements during the war. 
 He was long a type of that courtesy which distinguished the 
 gentlemen who had been trained in the military school of the 
 Revolution. But, in attempting to speak of individuals, I should 
 at once be at a loss where to stop, if it were only to name the 
 men and women who in their several spheres did their full share 
 towards building up the town and sustaining the country in its 
 struggle. I should have to speak of the farmers who contrib- 
 uted of their hard and scanty earnings to keep the church and 
 the school from being closed, as was done in other of the towns, 
 caring for the soldiers' families in their absence, and going in 
 turn themselves when needed, to fill the ranks of the army. 
 I should have to tell of the wives and mothers, who, with more 
 than Grecian or Roman heroism, went on training up their 
 children in tlie ideas of the true dignity of manhood, and sup- 
 plying by their own lessons of wisdom and experience the teach- 
 ings of the schools, and inspiring within their sons a desire for 
 that learning which their own limited opportunities had denied 
 to them in their youth. If I have any claims to the place 
 with which you have honored me to-day, I owe it to the les- 
 sons of a mother, who, coming from a neighboring town, had 
 never enjoyed the advantages of a school beyond a single week. 
 A history of those days would show that the mothers and 
 daughters were as nuich in earnest as the sons and the fatliers. 
 And, living as we do in an age of progress, the thought starts 
 up, in spite of the gravity of the hour, how, after having 
 brought up their children to honorable lives and generous pur- 
 poses, the mothers of that age went down to their graves in 
 blissful ignorance that they had been all their days cheated out 
 of their rights, in never having voted at the hustings, or made 
 a speech at a caucus ; though, if it would not be turned 
 against us in the coming contest, we ought in frankness to con- 
 fess that the country would have been quite as well off, if the 
 
27 
 
 ballots of half the men who did vote had been written for them 
 by their disfranchised sisters who were denied the privilege. 
 
 In speaking of the causes which have helped to give a char- 
 acter to^tiic town, we ought not to forget the influence which 
 the Academy has exerted in educating the successive genera- 
 tions who have come upon the stage since it was founded in 
 1783. Nor should we ever cease to honor the memories of 
 Colonels Ci-afts and Davis, who were its founders, nor of those 
 who, from time to time, have l)ecn its patrons and benefactors. 
 
 But while the town, from the causes to which I have referred, 
 was able to sustain an honorable rank as an orderly and intel- 
 ligent community, there were causes at work adverse to its 
 material growth and advancement. Its soil was hard and un- 
 suited to profitable agriculture. It was remote from market, 
 and its isolated situation had little to attract new settlers. I 
 well remember the man whom 1 knew in early life, who " rode 
 post," as it was called, during the Revolution, between Boston 
 and New York, and carried the public letters and despatches 
 between those cities. As the journey had to be made on horse- 
 back, it took an entire fortnight to go and return. The first 
 stage-coach between Boston and New York was established in 
 1783, and the town was without any post-office until 1798. 
 For these and other causes the growth of the town was exceed- 
 ingly slow. Its territory originally embraced a portion of Pax- 
 ton and Auburn ; but, including these, for the first forty years 
 after its settlement there had been added less than one hun- 
 dred families. During the period of the Revolution it made 
 no increase, and in 1790 it had added only seventy-one to what 
 its population was when that war began. And even if we 
 come down to 1820, although the State, exclusive of Maine, 
 had since 177(3 increased more than eighty per cent, Leicester, 
 between those periods, had added but two hundred and forty- 
 seven, or less than twenty-five per cent. In the mean time 
 she had been sending out her sons and daughters to help 
 people Vermont, Maine, New York, Ohio, and Virginia ; and 
 wherever they went, they carried with them the habits of thrift, 
 enterprise, and good order in which they had been trained in 
 the homes in which they had been reared. 
 
28 
 
 Fortunately for the town, while this had been going on, an 
 clement of prosperity and growth had been developed which 
 has since turned the tide of its prosperity, and scattered 
 evidences of thrift on every side, although we look in vain for 
 many of the farms on which some of the best families who 
 flourished here in our childhood were reared and educated. 
 The manufacture of cards had been begun here soon after the 
 Revolution ; but that of woollen cloths was inaugurated in 1814, 
 by one whom, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, we welcome 
 here to-day as the pioneer in that great source of the prosperity 
 which we witness in the villages which have been springing up 
 here by the magic power of mechanical enterprise and inge- 
 nuity. 
 
 Never has there been a more signal illustration of the value 
 of home industry, or of the wisdom of encouraging home manu- 
 factures, than is here exhibited in the changes through which 
 the town has been passing during the life ot a single individual. 
 Art has literally triumphed over nature, and turned the once 
 fitful brooks, which ran to Avaste between drought and freshet, 
 into perennial sources of enterprise and wealth. 
 
 If we were to contrast the population and wealth of the 
 town at the date of my own birth with what we now find it, we 
 should be told that the eleven hundred and tliree inhal)itants 
 of that day had multiplied to twenty-seven hundred and sixty- 
 eight ; and the valuation, as returned by the town, of tit;182,000, 
 had grown to that of $2,000,000.^ Nor is there any secret as 
 to the manner in which this change has been wrought, when 
 we read in the Statistics of the Industry of Massachusetts for 
 1865, that the woollen goods and cards manufactured here in a 
 single year exceeded in value $1,600,000, employing a capital 
 
 1 Tlie statement here made requires a word of explanation, lest a wrong- 
 conclusion slioiild be drawn in undertaking to compare tlie valuation of the 
 town in 1800 with that of 1870. The statement as to 1800 is taken from Mr. 
 Felt's work on the Statistics of the State, collected from authentic sources. I 
 am led, however, to conclude that the valuation, as returned for purposes of tax- 
 ation, must have been below the actual value of tiie property of the town, for I 
 find in the assessment of the United States direct tax in 1799 the houses and 
 lands liable to be assessed in the town were valued at §238,869. Either can prob- 
 ably be little more than an approximation to the true value. 
 
29 
 
 of half a million, and the services of almost half as many per- 
 sons as there were people in the whole town at the close of the 
 Revolution. Political economists may speculate about the 
 fancied benefits which are to flow from free trade. Here we 
 have a living proof around us of the blessings which have 
 actually flowed from a wise protection of home industry. 
 
 Style and manner of living, in the mean time, may have 
 changed, and the frugal habits of the fathers may have given 
 place to what would have seemed to them an unwonted display 
 of luxury and extravagance. But there is nothing in this for 
 apprehension or alarm, so long as the elements of character 
 which made them what they were, are cherished and respected 
 by those who are filling their places in the social structure 
 which they built up here. All will be safe, if, as the passing 
 generations look back upon the institutions which their fathers 
 planted, and the example of true manliness which they illus- 
 trated, the sons shall emulate their virtues, and imitate the 
 courage with which they always stood by the right. 
 
 If there is danger from any cause, it is that a generation 
 shall arise, who, secure in the enjoyment of what their fathers 
 earned by diligence, frugality, and prudence, shall forget that 
 the true dignity of a people is not in the magnitude of their 
 wealth, or the splendor and style in which they live. There is 
 a dignity of manhood vvhicli outweighs them all, and in the loss 
 of which a nation is bankrupt, though rolling in wealth and 
 luxury. 
 
 " 111 fores the land, to hastening ills a pre}^, 
 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay." 
 
 And on such an occasion as this we can hardly forbear to 
 muse and meditate upon what is to be the future of this our 
 early, our honored home. Who is bold enough to read in the 
 simple aiuials of its past history a forecast of the next hun- 
 dred years ? Is the progress of the last to be an earnest to 
 the next century of its growth and prosperity? Less than a 
 century ago it took nearly as many days to reach New York or 
 Albany as it now does hours ; while we read in papers of the 
 morning the events which transpired yesterday in Paris and 
 
80 
 
 San Francisco. Science, too, in all its multiform departments, 
 has been making such wonderful progress, that the child of 
 to-day knows a thousand of its profoundest mysteries, which 
 puzzled and confouuded the wisest philosophers of that day. 
 And when I remind you that we ourselves have witnessed the 
 invention of railroads and telegraphs, and have seen pain and 
 suffering disarmed of its terrors by the still more signal dis- 
 covery, by Dr. Morton, of the ana)stlietic power of Ether, who 
 will dare even to guess what a single century is to bring fortli ? 
 
 To us as individuals tbe question is of but little moment. 
 But as parts of that endless current of human life which is to 
 flow on when another generation shall have taken our places, 
 every generous heart yearns to have the mystery solved, not 
 for a single town alone, but for this vast and mighty continent, 
 whose boundless domain had hardly been opened to the tread 
 of the white man when our fathers chose this spot for a home. 
 The imagination is lost in conjecture as it vainly attempts to 
 sketch in outline a picture of what they are to witness who are 
 to stand where we do at the recurrence of another jubilee. But 
 may we not rest assured that when that day shall come, it will 
 find, all over the continent, the ripened fruits of that germ of 
 civil liberty which was first planted here in Massachusetts, and 
 to maintain which her sons helped proclaim and establish a 
 nation's independence, which we have met to commemorate ? 
 May we not glory in the thought that before that day shall 
 come, even the old world will have started into new life under 
 the example of what we are witnessing, and that the tinsel and 
 glitter of rank and royalty will have grown dim in the light of 
 the noble dignity of a universally free and enlightened man- 
 hood ? 
 
 We have come here to-day, my friends, to gather lessons of 
 wisdom from the simple annals of the fathers who on this 
 spot filled their spheres of duty with honor and fidelity. We 
 have come here to call up tlie memories of the past, and to 
 wipe away the moss and dust which have been gathering over 
 the names of loved ones, which affection had carved upon the 
 head-stones that niark where they are sleeping. We have 
 come to spend one more day amidst scenes and associations 
 over which memory sheds a soothing and a lioly culm. 
 
31 
 
 To-morrow wc shall again join the busy throng, and mingle 
 in the bustling activities of an anxious world ; and a new cen- 
 tury will take up its record, to be read when another jubilee 
 shall again call back the sons of Leicester to the homes of 
 their fathers. With some of us that record is soon to close. 
 But the mind will, again and again, recall the memories which 
 this day has awakened, till, one after another, we shall all 
 have joined that procession which has been passing off this 
 stage ever since our fathers planted on this spot the institu- 
 tions of civil liberty and Christian civilization, a hundred 
 and fifty years ago. 
 
32 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LEICESTER IN THE LATE WAR. 
 
 There were representatives of Leicester in nearly every regi- 
 ment that left Massachusetts during the war, also in many 
 regiments out of the State and in the United States navy and 
 regular army. 
 
 Her sons marched at the first call of the President for the 
 defence of the capital, and were the first armed troops to reach 
 Washington. They received their first baptism of fire in the 
 streets of Baltimore with the old Sixth Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment, April 19, 18G1 ; Col. Jones, its commander, and others 
 among its officers and men, being natives of Leicester ; — were 
 next under fire at Big Bethel and Ball's Bluff"; — many of them 
 participated in the Burnside expedition to North Carolina; — 
 were the first men to land on Roanoke Island, commence the 
 battle, and the first to enter the rebel batteries there ; — were 
 the first men to enter the battle of Newbern, and also the first 
 to break the rebel line and enter their fortifications. They 
 were in nine regular battles in North Carolina ; and one held 
 an important command on one of the gunboats, which, under 
 Admiral Goldsboro, swept the rebel fleet from the waters in 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Again in Virginia, they were with McClellan in all his Pe- 
 ninsular campaign, from Yorktown to Malvern Hill; — with 
 Pope at second Bull Run and Ciiantilly, at Soutii Mountain 
 and Antietam again with McClellan, with Burnside at Freder- 
 icksburg, with Hooker at Chancellorsville, and with Mead at 
 Gettysburg, experiencing with the Army of the Potomac its 
 varied fortunes. 
 
 Leicester had her representatives at the taking of Forts 
 Walker and Beauregard on the South Carolina coast, at the 
 
33 
 
 siege of Fort Sumter, at the blockade of Wilmington and 
 Charleston, at the taking of Fort Pulaski, Ga., Forts Macon 
 and Fisher, N. C, with Farragut in the passage of the forts at 
 the mouth of the Mississippi (on the frigate Pensacola), also 
 with him in his great naval battle in Mobile Bay. 
 
 In the West, a Leicester boy was in the battle of Mill Spring, 
 and witnessed the fall of the rebel General ZoUicolTer, was at 
 Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., and Corinth, Miss. ; — had several 
 representatives with Rosecrans at Perrysville, Stone River, and 
 other battles; — with Grant at Chattanooga, — one of his 
 batteries, which helped break the rebel centre on Mission 
 Ridge, was commanded by a Leicester boy, — also at Franklin 
 and Nashville under Thomas, with Banks at Port Hudson, and 
 with Williams in his heroic defence of Baton Rouge. 
 
 They were with Sheridan in all the hard fighting in tlic 
 valley of the Shenandoah, at Fisher's Hill and Winchester 
 battles, and other battles there ; — went with Grant from the 
 Wilderness to Richmond, in many of the battles at the siege 
 of Richmond and Petersburg, to the surrender of Lee ; after 
 that marched with Schofield to join Sherman " coming up from 
 the sea," and after the battle of Wise's Forks joined him in 
 his last blow at armed Rebellion in the South. ^ 
 
 There were something over three hundred men in all, and 
 the names of over one hundred regular battles in which Leices- 
 ter boys participated can be given. By land and sea they 
 always did their duty nobly and well. We know the names of 
 twenty-one killed in battle or died of wounds, of nine who died 
 of disease while in the service, besides many who died after 
 their return in consequence of exposure and hardship while 
 there. 
 
 Upwards of forty were wounded, and we know of five who 
 starved to death in Andersonville, Milan, and other rebel 
 prisons. 
 
 These facts speak for themselves. 
 
 1 A son of Leicester iiarcnts commamlcd an Ohio Regiment in Sherman's 
 march " to the sea." 
 
34 
 
 Hon. Emory Washburn. 
 
 Dear Siu, — The above items in regard to the Leicester soldiers I gather 
 from the soldiers' records and from personal knowledge. If you can make 
 use of them and any other information in my reach, it will be given checr- 
 luUy. Very truly yours, 
 
 II. ARTHUR WHITE. 
 
 The address occupied somewhat over an hour in delivery; 
 it was pronounced in a full, clear, and strong voice ; and it was 
 readily heard by the large audience in the grove, and from the 
 neighboring houses. Tlie attention given to it was noticeably 
 close, and continued to the end, when warm and cordial ap- 
 plause gave sign of the general pleasure. 
 
 The band gave a further and varied performance ; at the 
 close of which a benediction was pronounced. 
 
 The Chairman then introduced to the assembly the Cliief 
 Marshal of the day. Captain John D. Cogswell, who gave 
 notice of an intermission of half an hour, at the close of which 
 the procession would be formed, in accordance with an order 
 which he announced. 
 
 Punctually at half past twelve o'clock the procession was 
 formed upon the Common, the right in front of the Town Hall, 
 marched around the Common, and filed, section by section, each 
 under direction of its special Aid, into the spacious tent, whose 
 white and swaying canvas was an ornament to the village. 
 There, at the ample and bountifully furnished tables, over 
 eight hundred of the sons and daughters of Leicester, native 
 and adopted, were quickly seated ; and a more cheerful com- 
 pany, or one more fair to look upon, it were not easy to find. 
 A blessing was craved by the Rev. Mr. Coolidge, Chaplain of 
 the day ; after which the attention paid to the various courses, 
 from fowl to fruit and ice-cream, was as unremitting and as- 
 siduous as the high temperature of the weather would permit. 
 A short breathing spell, during which the band played " Hail 
 Columbia," intervened between the last course and 
 
35 
 
 THE SENTIMENTS AND RESrONSES. 
 
 Joseph A. Denny, Esq., as President of the day, opened 
 the feast of reason and wit, Ijy the following speech of wel- 
 come : — 
 
 Fellow-citizens and Friends, — We have met this day on 
 an interesting occasion, to enjoy together a few hours of social 
 intercourse. We are happy to greet so many of our friends 
 and former fellow-citizens, who have in times past gone out 
 from us for fields of greater usefulness. We are happy to bring 
 to mind our earlier days, and to contemplate together the vir- 
 tues of our ancestors. We have been led back to-day to those 
 times, now far beyond the memory of any of us, when our an- 
 cestors planted their homes on these wild and rocky hills, sub- 
 dued the wilderness, put in operation those moral forces, and 
 established those civil institutions which have been to us so 
 great a blessing. We welcome you now to this festive board, 
 to the homes of your fathers, to our own hearth-stones, and to 
 our hearts. We shall be excused, if on such an occasion, after 
 contemplating as we have done the early history of our town, 
 we express somewhat strongly our honest pride in this review, 
 not only in relation to its first settlers and its Revolutionary 
 history, but with its character and standing down to the present 
 time. Our fathers exerted an important and salutary influence 
 in the councils of the Commonwealth and the nation, in the 
 organization of the State and general governments ; and since 
 that time we have sent out from our homes many of our choic- 
 est sons, who have filled stations of importance in various de- 
 partments of public life, up to the highest civil offices in our 
 Commonwealth. We have sent forth our share of soldiers to 
 figiit the battles of our country in all her wars, and have fur- 
 nished many of the higher grades of military officers, who have 
 honored themselves and their country by their skill and brav- 
 ery. Our sons have been found in the Cabinet of our nation, 
 and in various departments of our general government, — in 
 
36 
 
 tlie executive chair of our good old Commonwealth, as judges 
 of the hencli and lawyers at the bar, as mayors of our large 
 cities, as presidents of our important banking institutions, as 
 managers of our vast railway corporations, as skilful physi- 
 cians, surgeons, and mechanics, and successful bankers, brokers, 
 merchants, and manufacturers, thus taking the lead in the busi- 
 ness affairs of our growing country. You have often heard of 
 the noble Roman matron presenting her children as her choicest 
 treasure, exclaiming, " These are my jewels ; " and with a like 
 pride in our common family, we this day honor our noble ances- 
 tors by pointing to their descendants, who derived from them 
 their habits of industry, their stern integrity, and all the other 
 qualities which go to makeup the successful business man, the 
 good citizen, and the patriotic statesman. " Here they are : look 
 at them." 
 
 We trust that the occasion which has brought you together 
 will cement more firmly the friendship of the citizens of this 
 and the neighboring towns, whose common origin leads them to 
 honor the same worthy ancestry, and to increase, if possible, 
 the love of our absent sons and daughters for their early homes, 
 our affection for them, and our interest in their future pros- 
 perity and welfare. Not because you have been prodigal in 
 wasting your substance in riotous living^ but because you have 
 been prodigal in dispensing to the world around you the bless- 
 ings which you have inherited from your ancestors, we have 
 this day killed for you the fatted calf, and called you back to 
 the homes of your fathers ; and again, in the name of the citi- 
 zens of old Leicester, I bid you all a cordial welcome. 
 
 At the close he introduced the Toast-master, Dr. John N. 
 MuRDOCK, who gave as the first sentiment, — 
 
 1. " The Scattered ChUdren of Leicester. Though our narrow bounda- 
 ries adbrd not scope for the energies nursed in their blood, ajid they, true 
 sons of the Pilgrims, must themselves be pilgrims, and ' sing the Lord's 
 song in strange lands ;' wherever their lot may be cast, may they be true to 
 the traditions of their race, and always turn with yearning hearts towards 
 home." 
 
37 
 
 The President remarked, — I am happy to know that there 
 is a hirge number of iVieiids present who could with propriety 
 be called upon to respond to this sentiment, but I see one near 
 me whose family have taken a prominent part in the business 
 of the town for nearly a century past, who was himself born 
 here and spent his youth and active life in our midst, fdled 
 many town offices, and ably represented us in both houses of 
 our State Legislature, but who has for many years past been 
 prominent in the management of the financial affliirs of our 
 State capital, — and called on lion. Waldo Flint, of Boston, 
 who said : — 
 
 He supposed he had been called upon to respond to the toast 
 just read, on the presumption that he could uot have lived so 
 long without having learned something which might interest, 
 for the moment, the large audience before him. He was not 
 disposed to deny his age, inasmuch as, in that neighborhood, 
 it could easily be proved against him ; nor did he deny that 
 the supposed presumption, as a general rule, was fairly deduci- 
 ble from the fact of his age; and yet, as everybody knows, 
 circumstances alter cases. Some live long and learn very lit- 
 tle, — at least, little that is worth talking about ; others, who 
 have really treasured up sometliing of what they have seen and 
 heard, have not the happy faculty of telling what they know 
 in an agreeable manner; and then, again, memory is exceed- 
 ingly capricious in its moods, sometimes refusing to give out 
 what is wanted until the occasion for using it has gone by, and 
 then volunteering to give the information when nobody wants 
 it. His own memory, he supposed, might be an average one, 
 but in no respect equal to that of his friend who had so felici- 
 tously instructed and entertained them in the forenoon. For 
 himself, he must confess that he remembered nothing which 
 happened before he was born ; but were his friend just referred 
 to, who had so diligently studied the history of the town from 
 its foundation, to be quietly " interviewed," it would be no mat- 
 ter of surprise to any one who knew the loving interest he takes 
 in the subject, to hear him claim that he was personally ac- 
 quainted, more or less intimately, with most of tho original 
 
38 
 
 settlers. The speaker's memory ran fairly back into the last 
 century. One event near its close (he was not sure about any 
 thing earlier), an event which spread a deep gloom over the 
 whole land, he certainly remembered, — the death of Washing- 
 ton ; but even that might have gone into the receptacle of things 
 forgotten, but for the simple fact that he, and all the other 
 children wlio attended Aunt Hannah's school, wore a badge of 
 mourning on the left arm. 
 
 " The scattered children of Leicester ! " Scattered^ indeed ! 
 for there was not, probably, a State or Territory in the Union 
 where some of them were not to be found. Could his hearers, 
 and especially those in middle life, take in, readily, the full 
 meaning of the word ? Could they easily realize the marvel- 
 lous changes which had taken place, not since this small mu- 
 nicipality was organized a hundred and fifty years ago, but 
 only during the present century ? Seventy years ago the bounda- 
 ries of the United States were Maine and Georgia, the Atlantic 
 and the Mississippi ; though even then that great river of the 
 West was, to most persons, little more than a myth, — a small 
 French settlement at New Orleans, a military post or two on 
 its upper waters, to look after the Indians, visited by a few 
 wandering trappers, and that was about all : almost as little 
 known as when La Salle floated down its current in his little 
 canoe, a hundred and twenty years before. A large part of 
 Pennsylvania and New York, and the whole of the territory 
 north-west of the Ohio, was an almost unbroken wilderness. 
 Less than seventy years ago a young man and his wife con- 
 cluded to remove from Leicester to what was then called the 
 Black River country, in Northern New York, not far from 
 Sacket's Harbor. The enterprise was considered so bold and 
 daring that it was for weeks the principal topic of conversation 
 at every fireside in the town. New England was then the 
 East. Some twenty years ago the speaker met a young gentle- 
 man from Wisconsin, and asked him whether he had ever been 
 East before. " Oh, yes, sir," he replied ; " I have been to Ohio 
 several times." What was now the East he did not know. 
 The present boundaries of the United States were the Atlantic 
 and Pacific, Oregon (saying nothing of our recent purchase 
 
39 
 
 from Russia), and the Gulf of Mexico. What will tlicy be 
 when the children come up liere to celebrate their next jubilee, 
 fifty years hence ? Who can tell ? Speaking for himself alone, 
 he would say that, inasmuch as there were now good natural 
 boundaries on the cast and west, and a fair chance for expan- 
 sion latitudinally, he was inclined to believe that neither Eu- 
 rope nor Asia would be annexed before that time ; but further 
 he would not venture to express an opinion. 
 
 The toast expresses the hope that her scattered children may 
 ever retain a kindly regard for the place of their birth. He had 
 no commission to speak for others ; many were present to an- 
 swer for themselves ; but he liad no doubt what their answer 
 would be. For himself, he would say that he loved the dear 
 old town from the bottom of his heart. He could apply to it 
 in all sincerity the words of the sweetest of English poets, — 
 
 " Where'er I roam, whatever lands I see, 
 My heart, untravell'd, fondly turns to thee." 
 
 How could it be otherwise ? Where does the sun rise in such 
 glory, or set in such a flood of splendor ? And where has any 
 wanderer from the fold ever found a more health-inspiring at- 
 mosphere than upon his own native hills ? Indeed, it had been 
 said that the old law of life — "threescore and ten" — was 
 overruled in Leicester, and that few died there .under the age 
 of ninety. But the charm for him was not, solely nor mainly, 
 in external nature. It was something more closely intwined 
 round the heart. He could not help associating with the place, 
 nor fail to remember with the deepest gratitude, the parents 
 now sleeping in yonder graveyard, who watched over his child- 
 hood and youth with the tenderest care and love ; nor could he 
 ever forget the acts of kindness and the words of encourage- 
 ment which he received from all the inhabitants of the little 
 village, men and women, old and young, and wdiich made his 
 early life one long summer day of enjoyment ; nor could he 
 forget the many friends, still living, wiio, as often as he visited 
 his native home, greeted his coming w'ith a most cordial wel- 
 come. He would be glad to present sketches of some of his 
 
iO 
 
 early friends, long since passed away ; but he was already 
 trespassing on time which belonged to others, and he must 
 close. 
 
 The growth of the town had been very slow. In 1765, when 
 the first State census was taken, the population was 770. In 
 1805 it was 2,527, — an increase of only 225 per cent in a 
 hundred years, or only 17^ a year. The increase, however, in 
 material wealth, and in the comforts of life, had been much 
 greater. This slow growth (he was free to confess it) suited 
 his old-fashioned notions ; it argued firmness and stability, and 
 was in harmony with tiie character of its inhabitants. They 
 had never been a fast-going people, but still always making 
 headway, though sometimes obliged to beat up against wind 
 and tide. 
 
 He begged leave, in conclusion, to propose a toast which he 
 thought would meet the approval of the older, and he hoped 
 would give no offence to the younger, portion of the audience. 
 
 " The Frosperity of my Native Toivn. May it be in the future what it has 
 ever been in the past, — sure, though slow." 
 
 2. " The Old Leicester and the New. On both sides of the sea." 
 
 The President said that in all the preceding remarks of the 
 day, we had only gone back to the organization of this town ; 
 but we were ready for any emergency, and he was happy to in- 
 troduce a gentleman to respond to this sentiment who was old 
 enough to have been born in Old Leicester of Old England, and 
 who early in life came to this town, was an honored and resi)ccted 
 citizen for many years, was one of the " fathers " of the town, 
 and faithfully represented us in the State Legislature. He had 
 now for many years acted a prominent part in the management 
 of one of our great railroad corporations, and he hoped that 
 he and the directors of the Boston and Albany Railroad Com- 
 pany who were present would live long enough to improve 
 their road by bringing it where it ought first to have been built, 
 passing very near this and the centre village of Spencer. He 
 called upon Abraham Firth, Esq., of Boston, who said, — 
 
41 
 
 Mr. President and dear Friends, — I have abundant rea- 
 sons to remember gratefully this town. Your kind introduc- 
 tion, sir, and this generous welcome, are in harmony with all 
 the past. I was always treated as one of your kith and kin. 
 The name of Leicester is near my heart for all this, and also 
 because it is that of the city of my birth on the otiicr side of 
 the sea. 
 
 But before I go further, let me thank the Committee of Ar- 
 rangements and whoever first suggested this gathering. There 
 are generous men, you know, who decry giving prominence to 
 places, and who advocate a cosmopolitanism which would indeed 
 almost put them beyond our remembrance or serious thought ; 
 but I am of those who believe, undoubtingly, that he who is 
 the best son, brother, husband, and father, the best lover of 
 his native or adopted town, state, and nation, is the very best 
 citizen of the world ; and that these relations prepare the way, 
 and are the indispensable steps to the larger citizenship. 
 
 And but for the committee, we should not have had, on this 
 charming day, the pleasure of the many meetings of long-tried 
 and, in so many cases, long-separated friends ; nor the retro- 
 spect of the past honorable history of this town, by one of the 
 ablest and most loyal of her sons, to which we have all lis- 
 tened with so much delight to-day. 
 
 Your toast speaks of the old and new. To the child, yester- 
 day is old ; but the higher and broader the culture of the ma- 
 ture man, the farther away is the old, and the contrasts of time 
 are but the shifting scenes in one great drama, while 
 
 " To Thee ! there's nothing old appears : 
 Great God ! there's nothing new." 
 
 But the old, on this occasion, refers to our personal recollec- 
 tions and experiences in this town. Mine go back forty-four 
 years, or nearly one-third of the time since the town had a 
 municipal organization. 
 
 I remember tlie drinking habits of that time vividly. The 
 country store in the east village kept an open bar, and no 
 thought of shame attached to it. Strong liquors were ollered 
 on all social occasions ; at weddings and funerals ; drunken- 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 ness was common ; and the general opinion was that all efforts 
 to change these ancient customs were fanatical and absurd. 
 Experience was on their side, and all experience was against 
 the new reform. I remember Dr. Nelson, then in his prime, 
 happily yet spared to witness, although not to participate in 
 these services, I remember his* coming into the school-house, 
 and telling us the time had come to abstain wholly. Scoffs 
 and jeers passed idly by him. I honored him then, and have 
 honored him ever since for tlie kind, pious, and brave way in 
 which he delivered the truth on this subject. And there 
 came with him " Addison " Denny to circulate the pledge. 
 All thanks and honor to him for that. To-day he is our 
 honored President. 
 
 You know, sir, it is sometimes said that the temperance 
 efforts of the past did little permanent good ; but every one 
 whose memory runs back no farther than mine, and contrasts 
 that time with the present, knows better. But don't let me 
 deny there were fanatics. Why, sir, how rare it was and is 
 to find a man whose reason is so clear that he always maintains 
 a true poise ; who neither inclines to the right hand of preju- 
 dice nor to the left hand of wilfulness ; wlio is open to the re- 
 ception of all truth ; who is 
 
 " Strong witliout rage, 
 Without o'erflowing, full. " 
 
 Rare indeed ! How preposterous, then, to expect organizations 
 to be always led by such men. No ! no ! we must continually 
 act with the fanatics for good, or the fanatics for evil ; for tem- 
 perance, or against it. And the appeal then wisely was to be 
 right on that grand issue, no matter who were for or who 
 against. 
 
 Mr. President, another of the well- remembered facts is the 
 long days of labor. In the summer time the factory bell 
 rang in at five in the morning, and out at seven and one-half 
 in the evening ; one half-hour being given to breakfast, and 
 another half-hour to dinner. During the winter it was rung 
 later in the morning and later at night, the number of hours 
 not being lessened. In other factory villages I have heaid 
 
43 
 
 of, more hours wove required and given. Oji the farms, in 
 the shops of carpenters, blacksmiths, and all other trades I 
 knew any thing of, no given number of hours were recognized 
 as a day's work. The right of every human being to be pro- 
 tected by law against the unreasonable demands of employers, 
 and the fact, whicii later observations have demonstrated, that 
 more work is usually done in the shorter time, were un- 
 recognized, if not unknown. Inventions since tiiat time have 
 also powerfully aided discussion in awakening the thought of 
 the civilized world, from which has come the legislation here 
 and in Europe on this subject. I hail it, as I pass, with devout 
 thankfulness and hope. 
 
 Wednesday was a memorable day then, Mr. President, be- 
 cause it brought us tlie " Massachusetts Spy." Worcester had no 
 daily paper, nor was a daily paper taken in the east village. One 
 semi-weekly paper, the " Courier " from Boston^ had one sub- 
 scriber. When I was in the post-office in the centre of the town, 
 in 1832, only four dailies were taken. They were all from Bos- 
 ton, and arrived the day after their date. Perhaps no one prod- 
 uct of human skill and thought more conclusively shows the 
 quickened intelligence and larger activities of the present, as 
 compared with the past, than the newspaper. Of course the tele- 
 graph, the wonder of wonders, has done much in effecting this 
 change ; but the extent of it, and the power of the press as one 
 of its results, are among the many memorable things of our 
 time. Last year, let us remind ourselves, we read of the battles 
 of the Franco-German war before their smoke had passed away. 
 Tiie Louvre and the Hotel de Ville were yet burning as we 
 read the astounding news. Forty years ago, no miracle 
 would have been more marvellous than this ! Contrast these 
 with the declaration of war against Turkey, made at St. Peters- 
 burg, April 26, 1828, and which was published in the Boston 
 papers June 18, fifty-three days afterwards. The bursting of 
 the Thames into Brunei's Tunnel occurred May 17, 1827 ; 
 and the account of it appeared in the Boston papers of June 
 Z^ ^ forty-four days afterwards. 
 
 I turn now, Mr. President and friends, to a few of the men 
 whom I most distinctly call to mind. One of great age was 
 
44 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Watson, many of wliose descendants are before 
 me. He went about in bis "one-boss sbay." He always 
 sat in tbe pulpit, because be could tbere bear best tbe public 
 service. Over tbese bleak bills be came in all seasons. I 
 was a boy, but tbe impression be made on my mind of a saintly 
 man yet remains. Wben I bave seen in certain pictures ven- 
 erable and exultant faces, waiting for tbe summons to depai-t 
 hence, tbey bave brougbt to my mind tbat bumble and rev- 
 erent listener. 
 
 Anotber was Mr. Solomon Parsons. He was in tbe battle 
 of Monmoutb, and told often in my beaiing of tbe oppressive 
 heat of tbat day, and of tbe wounds and sufferings be passed 
 through, which bad disabled him for life ; but I remember 
 most distinctly of all bis account of General Washington. My 
 friend, Hon. W. Flint, who has just sat down, told us he 
 remembered his death. This man had often seen him, had 
 fought under him, and spoke in such terms of him as one might 
 fitly use of a being from another and brighter sphere. 
 
 One whom I need not name was a militia " Captain," — the 
 first I had ever seen. He would sit in " that" store and tell 
 how " we had whipped tlie Britishers," and " how we always 
 should whip them." They were, indeed, a very contemptible 
 foe. Now you will readily believe a good deal of what he said 
 was new to me. He told the other side of the oft-repeated 
 story. I was no little indignant. Ofteii he seemed to me to 
 impersonate Mars. Yet a later experience has shown that the 
 captain in real war may give a different lesson. Did you not see 
 how the sentiments of peace were applauded to the echo lately 
 in Boston, when the war-scarred veterans of the Army of the 
 Potomac were in council ? And bave you not also beeii glad- 
 dened by the sight of our greatest leader in the recent war — 
 he who received Lee's sword at Appomattox — taking the initia- 
 tive in the Treaty of Washington ? So that the grandest title 
 of all shall be his, great as were those which went before ; the 
 divinest of all benedictions : " Blessed are tbe peacemakers, 
 for they shall be called the children of God." And to-day we 
 all see, behind the dark visage of that brave warrior of ours, 
 a genuine love of his country. 
 
45 
 
 Dr. Austin Flint has been referred to, who was known so 
 well as the " Old Doctor." No boy of my time will forget him. 
 Ilis grasj) was like that of a vice, and he had great joy in 
 giving us a welcome by hand-shaking. It showed no want of 
 respect when we sometimes went out of our way to avoid his 
 all too affectionate greeting. And what a loyal, firm, cheerful, 
 trusty citizen he was ! Townis and States and Kingdoms, 
 under God, rest upon such men, and rest securely. This 
 town was fortunate in having some men of great nobility of 
 character, of which class Dr. Flint may stand as a type. 
 
 And there was a " Young Doctor ; " a true son of the old. 
 " Doctor Ned," we then called him. There he sits ; but he does 
 not now rank among the young men, nor do we now address 
 him by his given name. The truth requires me to say that, as 
 boys, we had mingled feelings towards him professionally ; but 
 it may be some satisfaction to him to know that some of us 
 have since gone farther and fared worse. 
 
 Mr. President, one of the events of each day in that former 
 time, as you well remember, was the passing of the stages to 
 and from Springfield and Albany, How we all stopped to 
 watch them as long as they were in sight ! and well we might ; 
 for they were the product of large and long experience ; of 
 great capital, judged by the standard of that day, and met and 
 were themselves the evidence of the increasing intercourse 
 among men. Here the stage is not quite among the things of 
 the past, and some people are glad of it. They don't like 
 changes, and tliey don't want railroads. A few weeks ago an 
 Indian chief from the far West was in Boston. His name was 
 " Stone Calf," and he said, '" Save us from railroads;" "Don't 
 have them built through our territory ; " " They bring there 
 bad men ; " " Railroad men are had meny I fear he spoke 
 from a bitter experience, and it was reason enough for him. 
 I was asked to say something on railroads. It is plain that 
 you cannot compete with other communities, on equal terms, 
 in any branch of industry, while you are without one. It is 
 the fact which explains your slow growth. To be without a 
 railroad, to use an expressive phrase, "is to be out in the 
 cold." Your young blood and enterprise go elsewliere, aiul 
 
4f) 
 
 will more and more ; your wealth will slowly follow. You 
 cannot stand still ; you must feel the throb of a growing and 
 expanding life in your material interests, or that torpidity 
 which is the sure symptom of decay. Allow me to say, 
 friends, you are abundantly able to su|)ply this want, and the 
 expenditure would repay your community many fold. I think, 
 too, you will have to depend upon yourselves for it. 
 
 There are two reasons why you are not likely to get a rail- 
 road in any other way. 
 
 1st. Branch roads have not generally been found profitable, 
 and stockholders don't expect their Directors to do what will 
 not pay dividends. 
 
 2d. The managers of existing lines have great outlays be - 
 fore them to keep abreast of their urgent needs. Take, for 
 illustration, the Boston and Albany. It ought to have a great 
 passenger station in Boston on the scale of some of the mag- 
 nificent London stations. It is to have a great one in Worces- 
 ter in due time. It needs, and is building and buying 
 more and more cars, for its urgent necessities. It is intro- 
 ducing steel rails ; laying new tracks ; straightening its curves ; 
 increasing the number and quality of its trains. And to do 
 all these things, many hundreds of thousands of dollars are, 
 or will be required. I respectfully submit, then, that there is 
 no just ground of complaint, if the Boston and Albany will not 
 build your road. 
 
 Of course, Mr. President, a road may be built by, and be 
 profitable to, a town, although it may never pay a dividend. 
 Am I asked how to proceed ? Ascertain the best points of 
 connection and the best routes. Look it through thoroughly. 
 Then the question of gauge must have careful attention. If 
 the common one of 4 feet Sh inches is chosen because of its 
 manifest advantages in enabling the rolling-stock of other 
 roads to pass over it; in saving the breaking of bulk, and in 
 enabling you to make better terms with the trunk line with 
 which you would connect, build one of that gauge and accord- 
 ing to your means, having regard mainly to safety. 
 
 Consider, however, the claims of the narrow gauge, which 
 means one between 2 feet and 3 feet 6 niches. For branch 
 
47 
 
 lilies, or for main lines in mountainous districts, it is received 
 with deserved favor. Last summer I went out of my way to 
 North Wales, between one and two hundred miles, to see the 
 Festiiiiog railway, pronounced, truly, the most wonderful road 
 in the world. Its gauge is 23 inches. It is about 13 miles long, 
 and climbs up 700 feet among the Welsh hills to bring slate to 
 the coast at Portmadoc. It has been the most profitable one 
 in Great Britain. Its dividends have averaged 12^ per cent 
 upon its total cost, after all its changes from horse to steam. 
 1 rode upon it at a speed of not less than twenty-five miles an 
 hour. The best engineers said before parliamentary commis- 
 sioners it was too narrow for steam to be used upon it with 
 safety, and tliey thought it impracticable ; and but one locomo- 
 tive firm, the Messrs. England, of Hatcham, would undertake 
 it. But the impossible was accomplished. Its speed was 
 restricted to twelve miles, on the ground again of safety, but 
 experience showed this was a mistake ; and it is now unre- 
 stricted. With its Fairlie engines, which have proved very 
 successful, its capacity has been greatly enlarged. Mr. Spooner, 
 its engineer, who has had more experience with the narrow 
 gauge than any other man living of his profession, advises a 
 gauge of 2 feet and 6 inches. It is his opinion that even the 
 business of the London and North-western might be done 
 upon it. 
 
 In the early part of last year a body of engineers and com- 
 missioners of several foreign governments, all of the highest 
 character, visited this road, and, after careful observations 
 agreed in opinion " that the common gauge is far beyond ordi- 
 nary requirements." Captain Tyler, government inspector 
 of the English railways, has said that a system of narrow- 
 gauge lines would cost only two-thirds as much, and be main- 
 tained at three-fourths of the expense of those in general use. 
 
 But how came this " battle of the gauges " ? Tracks were 
 used, as you know, in the coal-mines, on which cars were 
 pushed by hand. Afterwards these tracks were extended, 
 outside of the mines, and drawn by horses. No one knows 
 when, or why, or by whom, it was decided tbat the first 
 wuoden tracks siiould be 4 feet 8^ inches wide. It was 
 
48 
 
 enough that they answered their purpose. When, however, 
 Stephenson made his locomotive for the Liverpool and Man- 
 chester road, the question of gauge seems not to have had 
 much attention. That of the mines was adopted, as of course ; 
 and that decision, as we now see, settled the question for 
 nearly all the great lines since constructed. Afterwards Mr. 
 Brunei took the ground it was too narrow for speed, comfort, 
 and safety; and the Great Western, of England, was built 
 with 7-ft. gauge. On this side we had the Erie, of 6 feet ; the 
 Ohio and Mississippi, the same; the Great Western and Grand 
 Trunk, of Canada, 5* feet. The decision has been made to 
 change the Great Western, of England, to the 4 feet 8i inch 
 gauge ; the Ohio and Mississippi has been changed already, 
 and the Great Western, of Canada, has a third rail, giving it 
 the same gauge. And now, Mr. President, the battle con- 
 tinues ; but the position of the parties has changed. It is 
 no longer between the 4 feet bi inches and the wider, be it 5, 
 or 6, or 7 feet. In tliat contest the narrower is master of 
 the field, to find itself on the defensive, and assailed by the 
 same arguments its friends so successfully urged against its 
 rivals. 
 
 But my toast speaks of an old Leicester ; and, in conclusion, 
 let me say a few words about the Leicester beyond the sea. 
 It is a city of some 90,000, and is known, wherever stockings 
 are worn, for its hosiery trade. One account 1 have seen states 
 the number engaged in it there at 60,000. Tradition dates the 
 settlement of the city as far back as 800 years before the Chris- 
 tian era, when a King Lear lived there. Shakspeare received 
 from it the chief incidents of the tragedy of that name, 
 varying, however, in this, that the old chronicler had the 
 abused king and Cordelia restored to their rightful authority. 
 It was near Leicester that Richard III. was killed, and there 
 he was buried, giving the great dramatist another subject to 
 make as immortal as our English speech. Cardinal Wolsey 
 died in its Abbey with the pathetic words, — 
 
 " Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies." 
 
49 
 
 It has parts of the old wall behind which it withstood 
 sieges of Cromwell and Rupert. To the antiquarian there are 
 Roman, Danish, and Saxon memorials, of which time will not 
 allow me to speak. It has a Castle in which courts of Justice have 
 been held for five hundred years. A house is shown where 
 both Bunyan and Wesley preached. Wycliffe is believed to have 
 spoken in St. Mary's, and Milman tells us the city was full 
 of his followers. It has old churches, — St. Margaret's is one of 
 them, — which Saxon and Norman helped to build, and whose 
 roofs have heard the prayers of many centuries. The chapel 
 is shown where the noble missionary Carey once labored, and 
 in which, also, Robert Hall delivered sermons which have gone 
 wherever our language is spoken. De Montford, one of its 
 Earls, called the Oxford Parliament in which representatives of 
 boroughs had seats, and from which dates the House of Com- 
 mons. His statue, and that of other benefactors of the town, 
 adorn a handsome modern memorial structure, in one of its 
 squares, known as the " clock-tower." And now, friends, as 
 we have with that really old city, a common name, faith, 
 speech, and literature, ought they not to awaken a common 
 interest in each other's history, past and future? I think 
 so. And to that end your excellent free public library, it is 
 hoped, will soon be enriched with Nicholl's " History of 
 Leicester and Leicestershire," a work full of local details, and 
 illustrated with pictures of churches, castles, abbeys, Roman 
 remains, and private residences. To the Literary and Philo- 
 sophical Society of that city will be sent Washburn's History 
 of our Leicester, together with such other publications as may 
 interest an inquirer there who may desire to know what the 
 Leicester men and women of this new world have thought and 
 done. 
 
 W^ith profound thanks for your close attention, I close with 
 this sentiment : — 
 
 " The Leicester of '71. Too higli for a railroad, it has been said ; too low 
 to be contented without one. A libtTal public spirit, courage, and the XAU- 
 i?o\v GAUGE are the reconcilers by which its valleys may be exalted, its rough 
 places made smooth, and the locomotive be brought to the ' Hill.' " 
 
 7- 
 
50 
 
 3. " The City oj Worcester. While pure water bears health to her 
 homes, she cannot forget its source in the green hills of Leicester. The 
 current of her busy life is strengthened by our sons and daughters; and she 
 honors us by choosing for her chief magistrate an Earle of Leicester." 
 
 Hon. Edwakd Earle, Mayor of Worcester, was introduced 
 to respond, which he did, as follows : — 
 
 Mr. President, — It does me good to look over an audience 
 like this, and feel that I hold such a connection as this occasion 
 denotes with so much intelligence and worth as is here repre- 
 sented. I was invited to be present at this time and respond 
 to the sentiment just read by the Toast-master; and feeling 
 that if I was titled by Worcester I could not do her justice 
 without a few words in reply, but hearing five minutes was 
 the time not to be exceeded, concluded as much less as was 
 convenient might be chosen, and prepared a short set speech, 
 which I now give you. 
 
 My few months' study in yonder academy did not embrace 
 rhetoric, neither did our alma mater endow all her sons with 
 the gift of oratory, like the one we have listened to with so 
 much interest this forenoon. But of the city of my adoption 
 I feel a just sense of pride in saying she ever stands ready to 
 accord to all her neighbors full credit for all these good things. 
 And who can say she has not laid some pipes and pulled many 
 wires for Leicester ? Her bulwarks are her shops of industry 
 and her temples of education. Her palaces are the homes of 
 their directors ; her people proclaim with open arms, Come one, 
 come all ; all may come that will come. 
 
 Now, my friends, the five minutes, and the three times five, 
 which one if not both of those who preceded me have occupied, 
 seems to give me liberty to say a few words in regard to my 
 position. Till within a little more than two years past my life 
 had been an active, practical one, so much so that I felt my 
 time had come for some change ; and with a view to devote 
 much of my future to charitable, benevolent, and patriotic pur- 
 poses, 1 closed my most active business connections, and had 
 truly enjoyed the benefit and comfort of the change. Last 
 autumn 1 was called upon to spend three months out amongst 
 
51 
 
 the Indians in connection with the measures being carried on 
 by Friends, under the peace policy of President Grant. On my 
 return the first of the year, the city of Worcester had not for- 
 gotten to mourn for him who had so long and so faithfully 
 served them as their chief magistrate. He had been taken 
 from tliem by a sudden and unlooked-for death in my absence, 
 and they were now to look for a new man, and soon api)roaciied 
 me. I could not listen to it at all for a time, and resisted as 
 long as I honorably could, but to no purpose. Tliey over- 
 powered me, and bestowed upon me what they termed an honor 
 (I iiave often thought they must have been hard pushed for a 
 candidate) ; as the world goes it is esteemed an honor, and it 
 was honorable both to Leicester and Worcester, in one point, 
 for the present incumbent was elected really as a temperance 
 man, — which is the general character of Leicester men. 
 Were I to take myself back in memory fifty years, I could talk 
 in a broken way for a long time ; but fearing I might stand in 
 the way of others and weary you, I will now close, feeling that 
 this day is one that all of us must remember with much joy. 
 
 4. " Spencer. Our eldest daugliter, — child of our youth. Though she 
 has far outgrown her parent, we glory in her enterprise, Industry, and 
 wealth. Her children are as welcome as our own." 
 
 Emerson Stone, Esq., responded. He related the difficulties 
 experienced in procuring the act of incorporation for Spencer 
 in 1742, twenty-one years after the incorporation of Leicester, 
 at w^hich time it passed the General Court, but was vetoed l)y 
 Governor Shirley ; seven years later it was again attempted, and 
 again vetoed ; but in 1753, an act of incorporation w^as granted, 
 and the town was named Spencer, in honor of Governor Spen- 
 cer Phips. He spoke of the years of toil and hardship experi- 
 enced by the settlers after they set up in a town hy themselves, 
 until, after thirty-three years of uncertainty and homesickness, 
 they had been smiled upon by prosperity at every decade, and 
 from five houses the number had grown to six hundred, with 
 nine boot shops, four woollen mills, two wire mills, and a 
 l)opulation of four thousand. He added that if Spencer con- 
 tinued to prosper, she might yet be able to take charge of her 
 
5'2 
 
 mother town of Leicester, like a dutiful and affectionate child ; 
 and then, perhaps, further prosperity would enable her to take 
 charge of Worcester, which city would then be able to vote 
 " No" on the beer question. 
 
 5. " Paxion. A oLild that lias inherit* d the qniotj easy disposition of 
 its parent. Unambitious of wealth or fame, her ways are pleasantness, and 
 her paths are peace." 
 
 H. W. Hubbard, Esq., responded as follows: — 
 
 Paxton is pleased to be recognized by old Leicester on this 
 glorious Fourth of July. She has not increased in population 
 as some of the otiier daughters ; cannot show such mammoth 
 warehouses and gigantic manufacturing establishments ; but 
 she hopes to gladden the old mother's heart by that inward 
 purity and grace that is so becoming to little people and towns 
 of the size of Paxton ; she is young, and few in years, — being 
 only about one hujidred years old or so, — while Leicester is 
 one hundred and fifty. 
 
 Oh ! strong ma}' be Paxton in the power of loveliness and 3'outh, 
 And rick in her hearts' treasured dower of strong, unchanging truth. 
 
 6. "A^iburn. The only portion of our original territory which can be 
 described as a ' village of the plain.' May it more and more entitle itself to 
 that other appellation which Goldsmith gave its prototype, and all men con- 
 fess it to be the ' loveliest,' as it is the youngest of the family." 
 
 John Mellish, Esq.*, responded. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — After what we 
 have heard from the distinguished and learned gentlemen who 
 have so fully furnished the intellect with its treat, nothing re- 
 mains but to respond as I may, in few words, to the sentiment 
 which embraces the name of the town which I have adopted as 
 my home. 
 
 JJy the act of incorporation of the town of Ward, Leicester 
 lost its south-easterly corner, in form approximating that of an 
 equilateral triangle, and containing about 2,500 acres. Worces- 
 ter contributed about 2,200 acres ; and the rest of the town 
 was taken from the towns of Sutton and Oxford, and from an 
 
53 
 
 unincorporated tract of land called the " Oxford North Gore." 
 It was named in honor of Major-General Artemas Ward, of 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 In 1837, the name of the town was changed from Ward to 
 Auburn, not, as some have seemed to suppose, for the reason 
 that the latter is the more poetic name or more euphonious 
 word, but mainly because the name of the town of Ware so 
 nearly resembled that of Ward, when not carefully written, as 
 to cause provoking delays in letters arriving at their intended 
 destination. 
 
 The sentiment designates Auburn as the " village of the 
 plain," for the reason, it may bo, that the eminence on which 
 it is situated is less in its altitude than is the " hill " on wliich 
 this beautiful village of Leicester is built ; or from the idea asso- 
 ciated with the village called its prototype, referred to in the 
 sentiment. 
 
 But let me say of Auburn, It is a place where " industrious 
 habits reign ; " hence it is a place of thrift ; and here, if any- 
 where, it is that the poet's idea of the " golden mean " is 
 realized ; where none 
 
 " Feel the Avants that pinch tlie poor, 
 Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door." 
 
 Auburn is a peaceful town ; so that no pettifogger would be 
 able to incite litigation sufficient to furnish him the most mea- 
 gre support. 
 
 It is also a healthy town ; so that a physician, however skil- 
 ful, must to a great degree rely for support on such practice as 
 may be obtained outside of its limits. 
 
 Auburn has also a healthful regard for moral and religious 
 principle ; consequently its inhabitants, in goodly numbers, 
 obey the summons of the " church-going bell." 
 
 Some interesting facts pertaining to the history of the town, 
 or anecdotes of its people of by-gone generations, might here 
 be related ; but I refrain from trespassing on your time for 
 that purpose, and only ask, Mr. President, permission as an 
 old man to offer a single piece of advice to such of the young 
 in this great company as enjoy the perusal of books which 
 
54 
 
 shall at once afford amusement, entertainment, and instruction. 
 I say, let them for a time give the go-by to the newest novels, 
 and rather obtain and road the " Historical Sketches of the 
 Town of Leicester," by Emory Washburn. 
 I will close by giving you — 
 
 " The Towns of Leicester, Spencer, Paxton, and Auhvrn. May tln'ir 
 prosperity be secured for the future by their continuing their hal)its of in- 
 dustry, and their regard for moral and religious principle." 
 
 7. ^^ Our Soldiers in the late War. We delight to cherish the n.eniory 
 of their deeds, with those of their Revolutionary sires. ]May their I'xaniple 
 ever inspire their countrymen in the hour of peril ; may they live well- 
 rounded lives, as happy in the future as they have been glorious in the past, 
 and fnid in the honor and prosperity of their country their highest reward." 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Titus, of Worcester, responded as 
 follows : — 
 
 Mr. President, — It is not my purpose to pronounce an 
 eulogy on the conduct of your brave citizen-soldiers. That 
 duty properly belongs to others who surveyed the field with 
 more disinterested tl\Dught and observation. 
 
 . But I may be indulged for a moment in an effort to uphold 
 the patriotic rectitude which summoned these men to the con- 
 test when the country whose birth we celebrate was threatened 
 by its disorganizing foes. That hour, indeed, tried men's souls ; 
 ignorance of duty then bespoke a nerveless and sickly ambi- 
 tiou, beautiful in the serene atmosphere of peace, but helpless 
 and useless in the moment of exigency. 
 
 Not such, however, was the spirit which animated the breasts 
 of the noble men who represented the ancient town of Leices- 
 ter in the late war. They responded to a sublime principle 
 of true patriotism, and offered their services on every field. 
 
 The detached records kept by the various men who served in 
 separate organizations, and on widely separate fields, disclose 
 the interesting and important fact that in nearly every impor- 
 tant campaign of the war, and in most of its principal battles, 
 old Leicester was represented by some brave son. 
 
 This fact, with its details, forms the nucleus of a luminous 
 
55 
 
 chapter in the history of the Leicester of to-day ; and the mate- 
 rials slionld be at once intrusted to the hands of a faithful and 
 discerning historian. 
 
 The veterans of to-day, with a proud conception of the duty 
 done and of the institutions perpetuated by their efforts, as- 
 semble here to share with you the abundant fruition of their 
 labors : they boast of no inborn inspiration to noble and patri- 
 otic deeds and sufferings, but fully attribute to their country, 
 and their country's religion and law, the credit of educating 
 them to the rational defence of civil liberty. 
 
 Those of us who bore a humble part in the war gladly recog- 
 nize, in the age in which we live, the courage to do and dare 
 which was so illustrious in our Revolutionary fathers. The 
 iron blood matured in their veins by frequent conflict with in- 
 justice, has not turned to water in its transmission to us through 
 three generations of their successors ; their motives, their prin- 
 ciples, their fidelity and resolution, have been faithfully reflected 
 in the conduct of their children. 
 
 They planted seed whose product has enriched the soil that 
 nourished it. To iis has fallen the duty of preserving this 
 rich patrimqny from unskilful and thriftless management. 
 
 The present comes to us laden with weighty responsibilities 
 and trusts : with these responsibilities properly performed, and 
 these trusts faithfully discharged, the future will be safe. The 
 history of the past is sealed, l)ut not without its testimony to 
 the brave and true. The names of the dead shall be the choic- 
 ests relics of the household shrine. Their memories shall 
 gather deeper verdure and fresher fragrance as time glides on. 
 Heaven grant that the living, with their enviable and glorious 
 experience, with their recollection of the past fraught with 
 danger to freedom, and their renown resting on their heads, 
 may, by a strict adherence to truth, transmit the legacy of their 
 fathers to worthy sons, having enriched the bequest with 
 all the embellishments of wisdom, and the achievements of 
 progress ! 
 
 Fellow-soldiers ! Fame has bestowed on you her richest 
 praise. Our flag, unsullied, waving serenely over our country 
 and her commerce ; our laws, assuring justice and ecjuality to 
 
56 
 
 every sou of Adam ; our institutions of learning, scattering their 
 treasures among all classes of our busy po})ulation, — these 
 and the thousand other blessings clustering about our govern- 
 ment, all saved by your efforts, shall, by their beneficence 
 at home and their power abroad, perpetually repeat, through 
 coming generations, the encomium which is ever the greatest 
 reward of the sincere and faithful citizen. 
 
 A choir of singers, on a raised platform at the west end of 
 the tent, here sang the " Star-spangled Banner," accompanied 
 by a piano and several band pieces, with fine effect. 
 
 8. " The Orator of the Day. A son of Leicester, who, in the Legisla- 
 ture, at the bar, on the bench, in the chair of the chief magistrate, and in 
 that of a professor of Harvard University, has reflected honor upon the 
 place of his birth. We rejoice that his fondest memories linger here, and 
 that through his living efforts our local history has been preserved to pos- 
 terity." 
 
 Mr. Washburn, in response, said he had already taxed the 
 indulgence of his friends too severely that day, to be willing to 
 trespass upon their attention again, if the sentiment had not 
 made certain personal allusions, which ought not, to pass un- 
 noticed. His fondest memories were, indeed, connected with 
 tiiis spot, because they were associated with the scenes of his 
 cliildhood, and the hopes of his early manhood. Every object 
 around him on which his eye rested had a story to tell of 
 happy hours spent here, and brought back the recollection of 
 friends whose kindness he could never forget. He would not 
 have referred to the marks of public favor which he had shared, 
 to which allusion had been made, if it had not been to acknowl- 
 edge, as he desired to do, how much of whatever of success he 
 had enjoyed in life he owed to the aid and encouragement 
 which he received from friends here in his early life. They 
 had taken him by the hand and helped him on his way, and 
 had been willing to overlook the follies and mistakes of his 
 youth, while they cheered him in his efforts with words of hope 
 and encouragement. But above all he ought to acknowledge 
 that he owed whatever he had achieved to one whose memory 
 would ever be sacred in his thoughts. They all knew that by 
 
57 
 
 the early death of a fatlicr, ho had been left an orphan boy, 
 dependent alone upon the kindness of a mother for his support, 
 and upon her counsels for guidance and direction in his child- 
 hood, and for whatever aid or patronage he had received in 
 fitting him to start in life. And it was to her influence and 
 example that he was indebted for whatever claims he might 
 have been supposed to have evinced for the favor with which 
 he had been regarded. 
 
 And in paying this humble tribute to his own mother, he 
 was but doing that justice which was due to the mothers as a 
 class, who, in his early days, were emulating the example of 
 those who had illustrated the noble sphere of woman, by in- 
 spiring the traits of, character in this community which had 
 honorably distinguished the town in its earlier history. The 
 proprieties of the occasion would not admit of calling these by 
 name, and he must content himself with offering as a senti- 
 ment, — 
 
 " The Memory of our Mothers. Their influence sanctilied and their wisdom 
 helped to form the policy and opinions which in times past have made Leices- 
 ter honored among her sister communities." 
 
 9. " The Clergy. New England owes much of her greatness to their 
 liberal and scholarly Christian spirit; and Leicester, on this anniversary, 
 gratefully recognizes her indebtedness to her own ministry, whose interest 
 is manifest in her character and in all her best institutions." 
 
 Joseph L. Partridge, Esq., responded to this by reading the 
 following letter from Dr. Nelson, whose age forbade his re- 
 sponse in person : — 
 
 Fellow-townsmen and Friends, — Leicester has been set- 
 tled as a town one hundred and fifty years. Ten years more 
 than "half of this whole period I have lived in the world ; and 
 nine years more than one-third of it I have been an inhabitant 
 of the town. 
 
 The first time I saw Leicester, in about 1800, I rode on 
 horseback from Worcester behind my uncle, who was then at- 
 tending the Academy. I went into the Academy building with 
 him, which was long and shapeless in its form, and situated 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 quite down to the road. It was interesting to rac, as Leicester 
 Academy was then famous, not only in the county, but through- 
 out the Commonwealth. Besides, the building, as I understood, 
 had been the trading-house of a rich company of Jews during 
 the Revolutionary war, of which I had heard marvellous 
 stories. 
 
 In 1812, I began my permanent residence in Leicester ; and 
 now the memories, the associations, and the attachments of all 
 but sixty years from that date cause me to feel, as it were, 
 fused into it, and to become almost a native. It is indeed a 
 trial that age and weakness must prevent my being present 
 with the Jmnil'/j gathering to-day, if only as a specimen of its 
 antiquity. Much more I regret it, as tljese infirmities must 
 prevent my expressing by the living voice the many good 
 things I would be glad to say of the old homestead. 
 
 Certainly it would give me pleasure to call attention to a few 
 of the interesting occurrences and changes that have taken 
 place during the long time of my residence in the town. But 
 this, if it were otherwise desirable, is rendered unnecessary by 
 the fact that the Orator of the day, always interested in his 
 native town, and always devoted to its honor and welfare, has 
 gone side by side with me in his observations, and put on rec- 
 ord more of the history of Leicester than I could have gathered 
 from the failing storehouse of my memory. But the old man 
 and the scarcely less aged companion and fellow-pilgrim of his 
 long and favored life can and do unitedly send their cordial 
 greetings to Leicester's gathered sons and daughters with their 
 friends and guests. May Heaven's choicest blessings rest on 
 them, and the coming generations that may dwell in these val- 
 leys, or that may emigrate from them ! 
 
 The President then introduced Rev. A. C. Dentson, of Mid- 
 dlcfield, Ct., who was settled in Leicester, as the first colleague 
 of the Rev. Dr. Nelson, in 1851, and was for five years the 
 much-loved junior pastor of the original society in that place. 
 
 Mr. Denison said : — 
 
 Mr. President, — With great satisfaction has one of the 
 wandering prodigals to whom you have referred, accepted the 
 
59 
 
 invitation to return to-day to this paternal board. But not 
 with equal satisfaction can he respond to the call witli which 
 he has been so unexpectedly honored, of contributing to tliia 
 entertainment. For after that feast of reason (and turkey) 
 and flow of soul (and the cup which cheers but not inebriates) 
 with which we have been so sumptuously regaled, he may well 
 fear that the few crumbs which he may bring will be stale and 
 insipid enough. There are a thousand tongues here to-day to 
 which he would much rather listen than to his own ; and this 
 shall soon be silent, that those may be tlie sooner and the 
 longer heard. 
 
 In behalf of my profession, however, I would gratefully ac- 
 knowledge the compliment which your toast pays the clergy of 
 New England. And having personally so little claim to the 
 credit it ascrilJes to the clergy of Leicester, I may the more 
 freely speak of those to wiiom such honor is justly due. I 
 need not speak (as my heart would prompt) of the character 
 and ability of those now on the stage of active life ; for tlieir 
 acceptable and beneficent labors are actions which speak louder 
 than words, and render words superfluous. Nor need I speak 
 for those so abundantly able to speak for themselves, to wliose 
 dissent I cheerfully accord my assent, and whose names and 
 memory Leicester will never cease to cherish. But, on such an 
 occasion as this, we surely cannot forget one who has been so 
 long and so closely identified with all the interests of this 
 town, and who is himself so prominent a part of its history for 
 about two-fifths of the entire period of its corporate existence. 
 It were well worth the journey hither to see again that vener- 
 able form, and to hear a few words from the lips which have so 
 often tauglit our willing ears lessons of heavenly wisdom. But, 
 though we see him not before us here to-day, we cannot fail to 
 see all around us the impress and reflection of his character 
 and influence. The temporal prosperity of this community, the 
 temperance, morality, industry, public spirit, and good order 
 which here prevail, are the result in no small degree, as has 
 well been said, of his teachings and example. It is a blessing 
 which falls to the lot of few communities to enjoy so long the 
 labors of such a man, — a blessing whose value is not easily 
 
60 
 
 computed ; and in the present case we rejoice to say the time 
 for justly estimating it has not yet arrived. It is to the credit 
 of this good pastor and this good town, that each has appre- 
 ciated the other so well as to live together so long and so 
 happily. 
 
 History tells us that an ancient potentate, to commemorate 
 his memory, caused a mountain of rock to be carved into a 
 likeness of himself, hoping thus to perpetuate his features to 
 the remotest time. Our venerable friend has done better than 
 this. Not with selfish ambition or for ostentatious display, but 
 in the earnest, quiet labors of a Christian pastor and friend, he 
 has impressed his moral features on what is more imperishable 
 than the mountain rock, — these thousands of loving. Chris- 
 tian hearts. These shall be his memorial when the mountains 
 shall crumble, and tlie rocks decay, and the -elements melt 
 with fervent heat. How many of these have already gone be- 
 fore to welcome him to the heavenly land ! How many yet on 
 earth " rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the 
 old man, and call him blessed " ! How many can unite in that 
 prayer, uttered for another in another age and tongue ! — 
 
 " Serus in codum redcal," — 
 
 " Late may he return to heaven." 
 
 God bless the dear old pastor of this dear old First Church ! 
 May the sun of his life set in peaceful serenity, after its declin- 
 ing rays have long gilded, with a gentle radiance, the scenes 
 which its mid-day beams have made so bright and fertile ! 
 
 The President then said, — We have another member of the 
 honored clergy among us, who belongs to a different religious 
 denomination from that just represented, and who was for 
 many years the loved and respected pastor of one of our 
 churches in the village, and always a valuable member of our 
 community, — and called on Rev. Samuel May for remarks. 
 
 Mr. May said : The kind and courteous introduction of our 
 President deserves and has my warmest acknowledgment. 
 And 1 wish to join, sir, in the heartiest and most unqualified 
 
61 
 
 manner, in the tribute of respect now paid to the clergy of this 
 town, and of New England generally. I speak now of the regu- 
 lar Congregational ministry of New England for two hundred 
 and fifty years. It is impossible to account for the confessedly 
 high character which New England, as a whole, has borne, 
 without giving a large and leading place to the influence of her 
 clergy. This is recognized not less by the evil than by the 
 good elements of American society. There are those who 
 strive and desire to break down that influence ; but none who 
 value intelligence, probity, high principle, and manly character 
 are of the number. For fully two centuries the influence of 
 tlie New-England ministry and pulpit overtopped all others, 
 not excepting the press. And, that their influence was essen- 
 tially good and sound, the appeal may safely be made to that 
 rule, — the only rule I know which can justly claim the char- 
 acter of infallibilify, — "Ye shall know them by their fruits." 
 Not only theology and religion and good morals, but all the 
 interests of good learning, of science, of popular education, 
 depended chiefly upon them. Even the shaping of our social 
 system, the enactment of wholesome laws, and the support of 
 an honest and beneficent government, were for a long period 
 almost exclusively with them. 
 
 Others have more appropriately represented to-day, than I 
 can pretend to do, the great body of the New-England minis- 
 try. Let me, then, speak a few words for the clergy of dis- 
 sent, — for the heretical clergy, as the phrase is, — for wdiat in 
 England is called the non-conforming ministry ; and let me 
 put in, without vanity or boasting, a claim on their behalf for 
 valuable services rendered to New England's best institutions 
 and character. 
 
 It isn't well for anybody, you know, Mr. President, to have 
 too easy a life. So, sir, if the lesser and heretical sects did no 
 other good, they were useful, perhaps, on the principle of " the 
 thorn in the flesh," in stirring up their orthodox brethren to 
 more vigorous efforts for the faith committed to their charge. 
 The heretics were doubtless not untruly accounted troublers of 
 the New-England Israel ; but they also afforded favorable sub- 
 jects for the spiritual doctors to exercise their dissecting skill 
 
62 
 
 upon, and so kept those gentlemen in good dialectic and rhe- 
 torical i)ractice, and their instruments from getting dull and 
 rusty ; and it must be confessed that the latter were not back- 
 ward in administering some very vigorous treatment to such as 
 came in their way. 
 
 But seriously, sir, tlie influence of dissent, in a moral and 
 religious sense, is an important one, and not to be lightly es- 
 teemed. 
 
 What, sir, is the great Protestant body, the world over, to 
 which nearly every one of us present belongs, but a dissenting 
 body ? a forsaker of the One only Apostolic and Catholic Cluirch, 
 as it calls itself. Who were the Puritans, the very fathers and 
 founders of this New England of ours, but seceders from the 
 established Church of their country, disturbers of the English 
 Israel, leaving the long-trodden ways of their fatiiers, and com- 
 pelled to fly, for conscience' sake, from their homes and native 
 land, under pains and penalties, and in peril of their lives ? 
 To-day we all honor them, and deem our descent from them 
 our highest honor, and the heritage they left us our best pos- 
 session. Yet in their day they were accounted pestilent fel- 
 lows, and old England thought herself a great gainer in being 
 well rid of them. 
 
 Sir, but for dissent, but for that spirit which asserts its free- 
 dom against all ecclesiastical as well as kingly authority, our 
 New England had never been ; and whatever she has contrib- 
 uted to the good of our couiitry and the world would have 
 been lost. That spirit agitates and purifies the world's moral 
 atmosphere. When guided by a sense of duty and allegiance 
 to truth, it is the mightiest power for reform and re-creation 
 that the world can know. It is the divinity itself stirring 
 within the soul, contending sharply and vehemently sometimes, 
 yet striving for the " more light to break forth from God's 
 .word," and giving strength to rise above persecution, and hard- 
 sliip and dangers, and death even. By its means, too, we get 
 that unity in diversity which St. Paul so eloquently describes 
 when he speaks of " differences of administration," of " diver- 
 sities of operation," but " the same spirit, the same God, work- 
 ino- all in all." 
 
63 
 
 On tins theme it were easy and pleasant to enlarge, bnt the 
 time does not allow, and I forl)car. 
 
 We all recognize to-day the high character and valuable 
 services of" the New-England clergy. Let us also willingly 
 and even gladly honor the j)rinciple of dissent; for of that 
 principle we and our fathers all were born. Let us not fear to 
 follow the motions and leadings of the soul within us. Let us 
 encourage the search for all truth, and make it fearless, 
 while we keep it reverent and modest. And let us willingly 
 believe that, " after the way some call heresy," men may tr\ily 
 " worship the God of our fathers." 
 
 So to-day, sir, we cheerfully recognize the good work done 
 for Leicester and for all New England by her clergy of every 
 name. Most of all must we honor them, when above all forms 
 they prefer the life and freedom of the human soul ; when their 
 service is rendered " in newness of the spirit, and not in the 
 oldness of the letter ; " when, with a manly and far-reaching 
 vision, they subordinate all ecclesiastical rules and arrange- 
 ments to the freedom and growth of God's children upon the 
 earth. 
 
 Nor can we forget, sir, on this historical occasion, that por- 
 tion of the people of Leicester, of whom scarcely more than a' 
 single member now remains, who accepted no clergy, recog- 
 nized no special ministry, — the so-called "Friends." Once 
 they were numerous here, and that within the recollection of 
 most of this audience. But now their house of meeting and 
 worship stands silent in yonder woods, and the venerable forms 
 of men and women which once gave such a dignity and charm 
 to those precincts lie around it in many unnamed graves. We 
 do not, and we cannot, forget their worth, the influence of their 
 peculiar spirit, the lessons of integrity they taught here, the 
 courtesy and good-will of their simple manners. 
 
 Therefore we rejoice to-day in all these memories, in all that 
 God has done for us and for our fathers. We recognize, joy- 
 fully, his providence upholding all, leading us all, saving our 
 nation in many a fearful peril, even with a mighty hand and 
 an outstretched arm. We gratefully bless him for the peace, 
 prosperity, and ample field of progress in knowledge and in 
 
64 
 
 justice, which he grants us ; and reverently say, May God be 
 with us and our children, as he was with our fathers ! 
 
 10. " Leicester Academy. Coeval in its orijiln with the American Repub- 
 lic, and like it still ilourishing in vigorous and useful life, its benign influ- 
 ences have been felt for nearly a century in every part of the land. May 
 it remain to tell future generations of the wisdom and liberality of its 
 founders." 
 
 Joseph L. Partridge, Esq., of Lawrence, responded, in the 
 absence of Judge Chapin, as follows : — 
 
 Mr. President, —I do exceedingly regret, and I know that 
 this large company must much more regret, that the gentleman 
 who was expected to respond to this sentiment fails to do so. 
 
 It certainly is appropriate, on this day of so many hallowed 
 and happy reminiscences to this asseml)ly, that Leicester 
 Academy should receive honorable mention. 
 
 Li the failure to which I have allnded, you may perhaps, 
 sir, have been led to call upon me for a response, by the fact 
 that I am now the oldest surviving principal preceptor of the 
 institution. Unexpectedly called upon, as I am, my remarks 
 will have one element which I know will be acceptable at this 
 late hour, — they will be brief. 
 
 This Academy, chartered in 1783, — the third in the State, 
 — was early among the leading influences in shaping the civil 
 and religious institutions of the Commonwealth. Highly 
 creditable, too, has been her standing among scientific and lit- 
 erary institutions, as they have multiplied from that period to 
 the present. 
 
 Li her material embodiment here, she stands looking down 
 upon her sons and daughters with silent approval, in the midst 
 of these festivities. But her spirit pervades the continent. 
 
 We have had portrayed to us, by the Orator of the day, the 
 origin and the progress, from her infancy, of this among the earli- 
 est townships of the colony, the influence of her civilians in 
 the legislative councils, and the prowess of her soldiers on 
 numerous battle-fields, early and recent, which established and 
 have secured the nation's liberties. We point with pride to 
 this Academy as among the chief sources of this influence. 
 
65 
 
 We have been reminded, too, how widely scattered, from 
 North to South, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are the 
 sons and daughters of Leicester, and of their honorable posi- 
 tion wherever located. 
 
 In a word, then, sir, as the most fitting response that can be 
 made to the sentiment you propose to " Leicester Academy," I 
 appeal to the hii^^k standing in intelligence and virtue of the suc- 
 cessive generations whose characters have been formed under 
 the shadow of this institution, both those who have " tarried 
 by the stuff," and those who, in person, have disseminated this 
 influence to the boundaries of the nation. 
 
 The band was called upon to play at this point, the regular 
 toasts having been disposed of; and voluntary sentiments and 
 speaking were called for. 
 
 The President remarked that, in the address of this fore- 
 noon, allusion had been made to the resistance offered to the 
 passage of the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers 
 through the streets of Baltimore in 1861, and said that he saw 
 before him an honored son of Leicester who commanded that 
 regiment at the time, and could tell us all about it. 
 
 He introduced General Edward F. Jones, of Binghampton, 
 N. Y., who responded as follows : — 
 
 Mr. President and Friends of my Boyhood, — I came here 
 to-day to mingle my greetings with yours, not expecting to 
 speak ; but I should be sadly wanting in courtesy, did I not at 
 least thank you for the compliment conveyed by your call ; 
 which I heartily do. Your toast implies that you expect me 
 to recount the scenes of the first blood of the Rel)ellion, when 
 the mob attacked the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment (which I 
 had the honor to command) on its passage through Baltimore, 
 on the 19th of April, 18G1. Those scenes, long since passed, 
 furnish a prominent page in the history of our country; and, 
 being so familiar to all, need not be further adverted to here, 
 except to say that the sons of Leicester did not disgrace their 
 
66 
 
 old mother on that occasion, nor in the hundreds that followed, 
 in which they were engaged with either the army or the navy. 
 " Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh." How 
 can I, on such an occasion as this, think, much less s})eak, on 
 any subject but the scenes of my childhood ? Their memory 
 crowds away all other subjects ; and I am for the moment a boy 
 again, and feel as if I could only with trembling lips say, — 
 
 " You'd scarce expect one of my age 
 To speak iu public on the stage." 
 
 But, my friends, if I must talk to you about the army and 
 navy, the only picture of the army that is at all fresh in my 
 mind is that of my barefooted playfellows, who, with tin pan 
 for a drum, wooden swords, and broomsticks for gims, made 
 every neighborhood which we invaded uninhabitable, more 
 from the din of our music than the devastation of our march ; 
 and as for the navy, none is at this moment rememberable, 
 unless it be the two old fiat-bottom boats that were on Upper 
 Tophet Pond. 
 
 As I came into town this morning, after an absence of more 
 than twenty-five years, I stopped for a moment at the house of 
 the Rev. Dr. Nelson, that good old man who has been so feel- 
 ingly referred to in to-day's proceedings, and who fills so large 
 a place in the hearts of the people of Leicester. The grasp of 
 his hand did not seem to satisfy me ; and, had I followed the 
 impulse of my heart, with bended knee would I have craved a 
 blessing from this patriarch in Israel. 
 
 Passing up the street, by the residence of Dr. Flint, the 
 remembrance of an old grudge against him came fresh to my 
 mind. I am sorry that he has left, but will appeal to your 
 sympathies, and ask if there is not justification for a painful 
 recollection of him. After suffering beyond my boyish endur- 
 ance with the toothache, it was finally decided that nothing but 
 a judicious application of cold steel could stop it. After re- 
 peated failures 1 finally mustered up sufficient courage to start 
 for the doctor's ; but it seemed to be a question whether I had 
 pluck enough to last me the quarter of a mile I had to go, 
 but got there somehow. You no doubt have heard the say- 
 
67 
 
 ing, " The sight of you is good for sore eyes ; " well, the sight 
 of the doctor cured my toothache, and I wanted to go liomc, 
 but it was of no use ; it was a very healtliy season, and 
 the doctor had a plenty of leisure and but few patients ; he 
 was bound to have that quarter, the mercenary wretch ; it was 
 finally compromised by his agreeing to give me a ninepence, 
 and I, like a fool, sat down on the floor and trusted my head 
 between his knees — ough — do any of you remember his old 
 turnkey? he was a tender man, he was ; and so, not to hurt 
 my mouth with his old snag-puller, he took his red bandanna 
 and wound around the instrument so that it filled my mouth 
 and some to spare ; and what added to the enjoyment of the 
 occasion, as if any addition was necessary, the doctor took 
 snulT, — bah ! — and to this day I have never been able to decide 
 which was the worst, the toothache, the snuffy handkerchief, 
 or the pulling. Did any of you ever get as much for a nine- 
 pence? 
 
 Sitting here to-day on these hard seats brings to mind those 
 other hard seats over there in the Academy; and, in further- 
 ance of the illusion, there sits our old preceptor, Mr. Partridge. 
 Whispering to a friend just now, I looked up and caught Mr. 
 Partridge's eye: he either did not see me whispering, or 
 thought he would overlook it for this once. 
 
 But, my friends, with all our hand-shakings and glad greet- 
 ings, there is a sad side to our festivities. To those hkc my- 
 self who have not been here for many years, there seem many 
 vacant places at this festive board. Many a face whose smile 
 of welcome we expected has vanished from earthly scenes. 
 We miss the warm hand-clasp of almost numberless expectant 
 friends. In my first greetings this morning, I gayly asked after 
 the absent ones, but the answer, dead, shocked and startled 
 me by its frequency ; so 1 gladly welcomed those I saw, and 
 asked not for the absent, for 'tis pleasanter that one's friends 
 should live in memory than to know that they are dead. 
 
 Again thanking you for your kindly welcome, I bid you good- 
 by, hoping that you will not let many years pass before you 
 bid your sons and daughters home again. 
 
68 
 
 The President read the following volunteer sentiment: — 
 
 " Hon. Nathan Sargent. An lionored descendant of a patriotic aneestoi* 
 of the same name, who has exhibited in the civil sorvice of the government 
 the sterling honesty and integrity of character he inherited from his 
 ancestors." 
 
 To which Hon. Nathan Sargent, of Washington, D. C, 
 responded as follows : — 
 
 Mr. President, — In rising to respond to the sentiment you 
 have kindly announced, I must first express the very great 
 pleasure it ha*^ given me to receive an invitation to be present 
 at this celebration. 
 
 Though not one of the sons of Leicester, I am, at least, a 
 grandson.) since both of my parents were " to the manor born," 
 and Leicester holds within her bosom all that was mortal of my 
 grandparents, paternal and maternal, and great numbers of 
 others of my kith and kin. Her soil is, therefore, sacred 
 to me. 
 
 You have been pleased to remember, on this occasion, the 
 Sargent family : and it strangely happens that I am the only 
 representative of that family now present, bearing the Sargent 
 name, though one of them owns and occupies the old homestead 
 where he whose honored name I bear settled about one hun- 
 dred and thirty years ago, and upon which he lived fifty-six or 
 fifty-eight years, and his second wife, my grandmother, seventy- 
 one years. The name of Nathan Sargent was therefore, for 
 the period of two generations, familiar to the Leicester people, 
 and few were more respected. 
 
 But, Mr. President, I came not to pronounce a eulogy upon 
 my ancestors, nor to exhume them ; but, representing and 
 being expected to say something of them, though in the brief- 
 est manner, I will simply illustrate their character by one or 
 two personal anecdotes. 
 
 And first, let me say, their characters were formed, as others 
 are, by the times in which they lived, the general mode of 
 thinking, the soil they tilled, and the climate by which they 
 were surrounded. The two latter were rough and ungenial. 
 Nothing could be obtained from the soil but by ceaseless labor ; 
 
69 
 
 and, during the few months of seed-time, growth, and harvest, 
 they had to provide the necessary food and clothing for them- 
 selves and families, and sustenance for their stock during the 
 long months and short days of snow and frost. 
 
 They had little time or money to spend in amusements or 
 pleasure, and none to throw away ujjou the luxury of lawsuits. 
 I hope the anecdote I am about to relate may be as character- 
 istic of the good people of Leicester now as it was a hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 One of the judges of tiie county court, wliich sat at Worces- 
 ter, in conversation with Colonel Heth Washburn, asked him how 
 it happened that there were never any suits in that court from 
 Leicester. Colonel Washburn replied, "Because our land is 
 poor, cold, and rocky, and we have as much as we can do to get 
 a living off of it, and no time nor money to spend in lawsuits." 
 But they had time and money to spend in establishing an 
 Academy, which is a monument to their appreciation of learn- 
 ing, their desire to benefit their children and their children's 
 children, and an enduring honor to the town. 
 
 Mr. President, anticipating that I might be called upon to 
 contribute my mite to this entertainment, and expecting to tell 
 you something about the " Sargent family " which was not 
 familiar to you all, and which should at the same time illus- 
 trate the average character of a Leicester man a century ago, 
 I had got together a nice string of anecdotes, set off with a 
 few brilliant thoughts and wise reflections, which I calculated 
 would be received with great attention, interest, and applause, 
 amidst which 1 should resume my seat full of calm delight and 
 self-appreciation. But 
 
 " The best-laid sclieines o' mice iin' men 
 Gang aft a-gley." 
 
 And so did mine, and that highly interesting speech I was 
 to make here was knocked in the head ; for, on looking over 
 Washburn's " History of Leicester," I found, to my chagrin, 
 he had written it all out there a dozen years ago. 
 
 He has told you that my grandfather, discovering that the 
 company of" mimite-men," connnanded by Captain Washburn, 
 
70 
 
 which had halted in froiit of Mr. Sargent's house, on its march 
 to Boston, were destitute of bullets, took the weights from his 
 clock and had them run into balls, and that the company was 
 thus supplied. Now there is no doubt of the truth of this 
 anecdote ; and I have here one of the very bullets thus cast, 
 which was picked up on Bunker Hill twenty-odd years ago, 
 where that company was engaged in battle. If any one doubts 
 whether it is one of the clock-weight bullets, let him prove that 
 it is not. 
 
 My paternal ancestor, like the Leicester people generally of 
 olden time, had a kindly, benevolent lieart hid away under a 
 rough exterior, with a sturdiness of manner more resembling 
 the rough climate of Leicester than that of the palm and the 
 orange, as will be illustrated by the following anecdote, not to 
 be found in Washburn's " History of Leicester." 
 
 There were seasons in the olden time when, owing to late 
 or early frosts, the crops, and especially the corn crop, failed. 
 To you, peoi)le of Leicester, it is now matter of small moment 
 whether your corn crop is a full or a short one, because you 
 depend mainly upon other parts of the country for your bread- 
 stuffs, which are brought to your doors by means of cheap and 
 rapid transportation. 
 
 Not so with our ancestors ; no railroads or steamboats ena- 
 bled them to draw supplies from distant parts ; nor did those 
 supplies then exist. They had to depend solely upon what they 
 themselves raised ; and when an early frost deprived them of their 
 necessary supply of corn, they were reduced to great straits. 
 During one of these seasons. Colonel Washburn came down, 
 like the children of Israel of old, to buy corn, not of Joseph, 
 but of Nathan, who, owning and running a mill, had corn to 
 sell. " Have you the money to pay for it ? " asked Mr. Sar- 
 gent. " Yes," was the reply. " Then you can't have it," said 
 Mr. Sargent. " Why not ? " asked Colonel Washburn. " Bo- 
 cause you have money, and can go into some other town and 
 buy what you need ; the poor of our town have no money, and 
 can't get it elsewhere ; and my corn is for them." 
 
 Such was an old-time Leicesterian,or, in the language of the 
 day, " a representative man," honest, kind, benevolent, consid- 
 erate, plain-si)oken. 
 
71 
 
 My friend and kinsman, the Orator of the day, and the 
 Historian of Leicester, has spoken with filial respect and 
 affection of his mother ; and has said that, if he deserved any 
 of the honors that had been so liberally (and permit me to 
 say justly^ bestowed upon him by his native town and State, 
 he owed it all to the influence of his mother. 
 
 Let me follow' his example, and say that, if I am deserving 
 of any of the kind expressions contained in the toast you have 
 done me the honor to announce, I owe it to a mother born 
 and reared in Leicester ; a woman not unworthy of the exem- 
 plary and patriotic mothers and daughters among whom she 
 was reared, — a pious, intelligent, loving " mother in Israel." 
 I was reared under all those influences which formed the 
 character of both my parents, and which have come down to 
 us all here present from the first settlers of Leicester, our 
 noble ancestors. What I am, therefore, I owe in a great 
 degree to Leicester. 
 
 Mr. President, I will detain you only to express the hope 
 that those who shall celebrate the two hundredth anniversary 
 of the organization of this town, aipong whom I hope may be 
 my grandson, Nathan Sargent, may find themselves as far in 
 advance of us in all that contributes to the health and comfort 
 of man, in the industrial arts, education, and general diffusion 
 of knowledge, as the present age is in advance of those who 
 first put the plough into the rocky hills of your now beautiful 
 town. 
 
 I give you in conclusion, — 
 
 " The Mothers of Leicester. To tliem wc owe a dubt of gratitude for the 
 moral and religious principles they instilled into the minds of those whose 
 lives daily illustrate them at home, as well as those who have carried them 
 to distant parts, to take root and spread abroad." 
 
 The toast — 
 
 '^^ Mulberry Grove, — the Home of the Friends. Their firesides were 
 love and affection; their thee and tliou, the ever-ready welcome" — 
 
 was responded to by T. K. Earx^io, Esq., of Worcester, as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
72 
 
 As I turn back the record of the past, and live again in the 
 " scenes of my childhood," — " the orchard, the meadow, the 
 deep-tangled wildwood, and every loved spot that mine in- 
 fancy knew," — there comes such a rush of memory, such 
 an avalanche of thought, that the poor common words of ex- 
 pression can give no measure of the heart's intensity. " Mul- 
 berry Grove ! " "What a volume in a word ! The hill of my 
 home, the home of my boyhood, tlic joy of my youth, the 
 strength of my manhood ! Oh ! as memory goes back to those 
 summer Sabbath mornings, I see, in the valley of its worship, 
 the gathering of its people in silent devotion, where in the 
 stillness of the hour they called for tlie prostration of the soul 
 before the Majesty of lieaven, for the offering of spiritual sac- 
 rifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 
 
 There was no architectural display, no external rites and 
 ceremonies, no delusive charms of musical excitement, save 
 the pine-tree's anthem, the warbling birds, and the babbling 
 brook. These remain, all else is gone. Their sweet melody 
 is ever sounding a requiem over tlie departed, and " Mulberry 
 Grove " has ceased to be, and footsteps of angels mark the re- 
 pose of its simple people. 
 
 But why look mournfully into the past ? It comes not back 
 again. Wisely improve the present : it is ours. Let us go 
 forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with manly 
 hearts, for it is big with momentous events. We are strug- 
 gling in the throes of a new birth : a mighty revolution is 
 upon us. 
 
 This labor question will move the foundations of society, 
 social and political. Very few comprehend its magnitude. 
 Let us read aright the signs of the times, that we may carry 
 it to its successful issue ; and by the light of the glorious 
 gospel, our wills falling in with God's, the problem shall be 
 solved. 
 
 Mr. Washburn asked permission to remind the company of 
 what he had already spoken in his address, — the sources of the 
 growtli and present prosperity of the town. It led him to re- 
 call the changes tlu-ough which the productive industry of the 
 
73 
 
 town had been passing within his own recollection. He re- 
 called an incident which served to mark some of these changes. 
 They were all familiar with the succession of manufacturing 
 establishments along the stream which flows towards the east 
 into the Blackstone, that arc now in constant and successful 
 operation. But they should remember this was the result of 
 artificial skill and enterprise. He well recollected that, when he 
 was ten years old, he, in company with some mates, attempted 
 to " go in a-swimming " in that stream, but could not find a 
 spot where there was sufficient depth of water to admit of doing 
 it. It was upon that stream that a woollen manufactory was 
 commenced in 1814, and became the pioneer enterprise of all 
 the establishments which were now in operation in the town. 
 The name of the individual to which the town owes so much 
 ought to be gratefully remembered ; and he begged, therefore, 
 to offer as a sentiment, — 
 
 " Samuel Watson, the father and founder of the woollen-manufacturing 
 of Leicester. Let his name be honored, for his enterprise has blessed his 
 native town." 
 
 Isaac T. Hutchins, Esq., of West KilUngly, Ct., who mar- 
 ried the daughter of Samuel Watson, Esq., and who was 
 seated by the side of his venerable father-in-law, responded by 
 saying, — 
 
 Mr. President, — Although uninvited and unannounced, 
 and withal almost an entire stranger, I cannot keep my seat 
 while a father near and dear to me has been so highly com- 
 plimented, as well in the address to which we have listened as 
 here. I was, I confess, as one l)orn to him out of due time ; and, 
 what may appear anomalous, I am honored by being his oldest 
 as well as youngest child. I am thinking that it is about time we 
 dispersed ; else we may perchance, like the three disciples, desire 
 to make tabernacles, and remain here permanently. It has 
 seemed to me, while listening to the laudations of this locality 
 as if, through some oversight, a circuit hereabouts was omitted 
 in the otherwise universal apostasy. Indeed, I cannot avouch 
 for the truth of the assertion ; but I have often heard it said 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 that long ago the citizens of Massachusetts, both male and 
 female, met and without a dissenting voice formed themselves 
 into a mutual admiration society. I hail, sir, from the land 
 of steady habits, — unfortunately as steady to bad ones as 
 good ; the first State in the Union and probably spot on the 
 globe where education was made substantially free, and will 
 probably be the last to exorcise the foul taint of slavery from 
 its Constitution. I do not wonder, Mr. President, that you are 
 proud of your Commonwealth, among the oldest in the sister- 
 hood, — although I have allowed myself to speak thus lightly 
 of her. Rev. Mr. May was truly magnanimous, as well as 
 eminently just, in his estimate of our Puritan fathers and their 
 stern orthodox religious faith. I felt myself personally com- 
 plimented, for 1 claim to be a descendant of one of the passengers 
 of the Mayflower. Mr. President, did it ever occur to you that 
 the two greatest discoveries made in the world, during the 
 period you to-day celebrate, were made by the two sons of 
 Massachusetts Congregational clergymen ? — the one having 
 taught us to speak so loud as to be heard around the world, 
 and the other having instructed us how to send messages of 
 love, thanksgiving, and praise through the depths of the ocean, 
 thus making " dragons and all deeps " to utter the praises of 
 their God. Do you doubt, sir, — I do not, — that both of 
 these were rocked to sleep in their infancy by the music 
 of Watts's cradle hymns, and that both were in their boyhood 
 faithfully instructed in the now nearly obsolete Assembly's 
 Catechism. 
 
 That one of these was thus early instructed in the puritanic 
 faith is faintly shadowed forth by his reverent repetition of a 
 passage of Scripture, at the recent unveiling of a monument 
 erected to his honor : " Not unto us, not unto us, but to Thy 
 name be the praise." I will detain you only to add that while 
 thus taking a cursory retrospect of the vast discoveries made, 
 and the signal events which have transpired, during the last 
 century and a half, the inquiry comes unbidden. What shall 
 come to pass during the same period in the future ? We at- 
 tentively listen, and the only response which returns back to us 
 is the faint whisper, What ? 
 
75 
 
 Simon P. Hastings, Esq., of Philadelphia, was then called 
 out, who said, — 
 
 It is with mingled feelings of pain and pleasure, of joy and 
 sadness, that a crowd of reminiscences, covering a i)criod of 
 more than fifty years, come rushing in upon me, in spite of 
 myself and all I see around me. Recollections of innoccncy 
 and tender childhood, of a devoted and dearly beloved 
 mother, my father and eleven loving brothers and sisters, — 
 eight of whom, with father and mother, have gone to their 
 reward. 
 
 The fathers and mothers of fifty years ago, and their children 
 who were my play and school companions, — where are they? 
 With few exceptions, their perishable bodies lie in yonder cem- 
 eteries, mouldering and mingling with the common earth, the 
 way of all flesh. 
 
 Forty-seven years have been numbered with the past since I, 
 a lad of thirteen, left, with her blessing and benediction, the 
 hospitable home of the sainted mother of the honored, beloved, 
 and respected orator who has to-day charmed us with his 
 eloquence ; and to-day I am permitted to return to the loved 
 scenes of childhood with a heart overflowing with gratitude to 
 our Heavenly Father, whose loving kindness and tender mercies 
 have followed me all my life long. I congratulate you, my 
 fellow-townsmen, on the success which has attended the cele- 
 bration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 organization of the town of Leicester ; and I tender the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements my thanks for giving mo the opportu- 
 nity of being present on this occasion : it has afforded enjoyment 
 and pleasure that will go with me through the remaining days 
 of my life. 
 
 " Dear old Mother Leicester. May she ever be, as to-day, by her devo- 
 tion to the cause of education, by her enterprise, her industry and prosperity, 
 a spring of joy and pride to her returning sons and daughters ! " 
 
 The following sentiment was announced from Rev. James 
 Thurston, of West Newton : — 
 
76 
 
 " The Oood Totvn of Leicester; one luindred and fifty years of age, her 
 sunny hills, her shady groves, her fertile fields, her happy and cultured 
 homes, her sons and daughters far and near. May her future prosperity be 
 as conspicuous as her hills, as refreshing as her groves, as fertile as her 
 fields, as lovely and attractive as her homes, as honorable to the community 
 as her sons and daughters." 
 
 From Miss Philena Upham, Leicester : — 
 
 "When Governor Corwin, of Ohio, returned after a long absence at 
 Washington, he thus addressed a gathering of neighbors : ' I rejoice once 
 more to bathe in the faces of the people.' The crown and comfort of this 
 exultant day to us is derived from our expectations fulfilled and our design 
 accomplished. The sons and daughters of Leicester, who from time to time 
 have taken flight, are now returned to the parent nest ; and once more, ere we 
 wrap the drapery of our couch about us and lie down to pleasant dreams, 
 we can ' bathe in the faces of the people ; ' once more we can greet them as we 
 were wont to greet them in our greener years, and with doors free and open 
 prate to them of 'ye olden time.' This occasion gives us, as Viola said, 
 ' a very echo of the seat where love is throned.' May this festival be rose- 
 mary in our remembrance till we ' hear the rush of angel wings upon God's 
 errand speeding'! " 
 
 From Mrs. Caroline H. Metcalf, Worcester : — 
 
 " The memories of the fathers are the inspiration of the sons. May the 
 spirit of our fathers be revived in their children to the latest generations." 
 
 From J. Partridge, Esq., Paxton : — 
 
 " May the policy of the government of the United States with foreign 
 nations be the same in the future as it has been in the past, — to ask notbing 
 but that which is right, and to submit to nothing wrong." 
 
 Rev. Mr. May read the beautiful lines from Dr. Holmes, as 
 expressive and pertinent : — 
 
 " There arc no times like the old times, — they shall never be forgot ! 
 There is no jilace like the old place, — keep green the dear old spot ! 
 There are no friends like the old ti-iends, — may Heaven prolong their lives ! 
 There are no loves like our old loves, — God bless our loving wives ! " 
 
77 
 
 " Yankee Doodle " and " Auld Lang Sync," by request, 
 played with spirit and earnestness by the band, at half past five 
 o'clock, were the last of the exercises. The success of the day 
 was complete. The gun that awakened the good people of the 
 town at sunrise, spoke again at sunset ; and a concert by the 
 band on tlic Common was the chief feature of the evening;. 
 
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